Project FANGARIUS: Life Beyond the DW-RPG Club

Although it sounds like something from Extreme Makeover, Project FANGARIUS was really about how Fanger survived the cancelation of his own series, and ended up continuing through his Eighth and Ninth Incarnation.  Despite the fact the DW-RPG Club had been officially disbanded, FANGARIUS had only undergone under hiatus status.

Funny thing, when you work on a series, sometimes the characters end up in obscurity, and at other times they continue on through unusual means.  In this case, the year was now 1988, and I was attending Lee College.  Somehow, while obtaining a Liberal Arts degree, I had ended up on the college newspaper, The Lantern.  Where I had not only composed articles, but illustrated editorial cartoons, some with Fanger as well as other characters.

Consequently, what had really gotten Fanger back on the scene were the odd parallels between his series and Doctor Who, and the fact I had gone to a Sci-Fi/Fantasy and ended up getting FANGARIUS a theme song.

Losing Fanger's Mind:  FANGARIUS' Theme Song

During the late-Eighties, Galveston held a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Con, and some of my former members thought it'd be great if we attended it.  I recalled they had a fanfic section where one could 'pitch' your version of famous shows and films.  My friends had unwittingly submitted FANGARIUS for this little stunt, but due to their unexpected haste, had overlooked one minor detail:  FANGARIUS had sorely lacked a theme song.

The real truth was I had always considered a theme song, but I wanted something a bit different than the typical sci-fi fare.  Some members had considered a Twilight Zonesque theme, however, I had suspected it didn't really fit with Fanger.  Whereas others had wanted something along the lines of Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica, but I had felt they were a bit too pretenous, and they really didn't describe Fanger's overall persona.

Since the DW-RPG Club had always gone straight for the adventure anyway, we had never given the theme song concept any more thought.  Besides, who actually plays a theme song for an RPG, let alone a convention?  Amazingly, Stephen Sondheim, Liza Minnelli and the Pet Shop Boys had gotten me out of a seriously, sticky wicket.


Now I should indicate they didn't directly help me out.  In 1988, the Pet Shop Boys produced a song called, "Left To My Own Devices."  Mysteriously, I had always thought the song fit with the film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Where I would envision Roger and all his friends saving Toontown from Judge Doom.  

Nevertheless, about the time PSB was co-producing songs, they did one with Ms. Minnelli in 1989,called "Results."   And in this collection, there was an updated version of a Sondheim song called, "Losing My Mind."  I loved how PSB gave the classic a Whovian style with the tune itself.  And whenever I heard the overture, I always mentally augment my own lyrics:  Fangarius, where have you gone? Fangarius, where have you been?

Before I had realised it, I had ended up selecting a theme song for FANGARIUS.  Strangely enough, if you listen to the original lyrics, the title and song sort of fit my character since I felt many Companions probably do lose their mind when dealing with the Paranormal Time Lord.

Throughout several years, there have been several mixes of the song, which have also kept with being FANGARIUS' Theme Song.  Some which enigmatically describe each Incarnate's personality.

FANGARIUS: Lost Regeneration Plots & Missing Adventures

If you've been reading this blog so far, you'll note how FANGARIUS parallels with Doctor Who in more ways than one.  Besides the turbulent Sixth Fanger/Doctor year of 1986, about the time I had entered into college, Doctor Who was about to enter the verge of cancellation, even with Sylvester McCoy portraying the Seventh Doctor.

Though the television series was about to go off-the-air, Virgin Publishing and the BBC had come up with a unique way of continuing The Doctor's adventures:  The New Adventures.  Basically, they kept on adding new stories as well as New Companions like Bernice.  But it was Virgin's plan on creating The Missing Adventures which gave FANGARIUS a new leash on life.

Basically The Missing Adventures dealt with Past Doctor tales which took place within The Doctor's Timeline.  Meaning writers could compose stories dealing with any Incarnate of The Doctor.  And the same thing had occurred with Fanger as well.  Yet, the first of the new tales actually dealt with some plots finally revealing what caused the Fourth Fanger into transforming into his Fifth Incarnate.

Fanger's Lost Regeneration Plots

Before I commence with this section, I do need to clarify on some points. When transposing the information from my memoirs to this blog, I had realized I had erroneously made a bit of an inaccuracy.

In reality, during the DW-RPG Club, the Regeneration thing had been unexpectedly dropped on me.  The truth was, I had simply regenerated Fanger without rhyme or reason, with this being Fanger's unknown Regeneration since the Eighth Doctor regenerating into his Ninth.

Back then, Fanger and Nyssa had only hinted on what caused the Paranormal Time Lord's Fourth Regeneration. And considering the fast pace of the DW-RPG Club's series, we had never given it another thought.  That is, until a former member attending the same college had suggested I pen some actual stories leading up to and revealing the cause for Fanger's Fourth Regeneration.

This time using my college life as a basis, Fanger's Fourth Incarnate and Nyssa find themselves secretly enrolled at Lee College, where they continued their adventures on Earth.  More specifically, Baytown, Texas, and also ended up getting married, and of course, Fanger ends up losing his Fourth Incarnation.

However, the dilemma was how did he enter into his next form?  Once again, the truth proves into being stranger than fiction.  During February 1989, Baytown had undergone the worst freeze it had ever known.  Experiencing this phenomenon, I was inspired in composing the plot, DeepFreeze.

DeepFreeze begins where Fanger and Nyssa start noticing how the planet is going through an unusual Northern trend.  Especially when places like Malibu and Orlando are experiencing snow storms.  However, when South America and Australia start undergoing subthermal weather, the Paranormal Time Lord decides to investigate.

Meanwhile, Nyssa notices Lee College has obtained a new satellite transreceiver dish from an unknown benefactor.  Normally it's supposed to help track satellites and weather patterns, but she suspects something afoul when she discovers the places it has been tracking has been hit by the unusually-cold weather.

Fanger later discovers a new type of F-Clone, the Ice-Clones, are responsible for this sudden cold snap.  Yet, the mastermind is not Davroan, as the Paranormal Time Lord suspects, but an unexpected adversary.

Glaceséche, the Last Frigidonian, decides on transforming Earth into the New Frigidonios, and making himself Emperor and Fanger his Prince.  (Due to a miscomprehension, Glaceséche has decided Fanger is now his adopted son.)  As usual, Fanger doesn't share his adopted father's plans, and desperately attempts a way for reversing the Global Ice Age.

Nyssa, and the Lantern Staff, provide the solution: Lee College's dish is actually helping the Ice-Clones transmit a signal to the satellites for controlling the weather.  The only way they can stop it is if they can produce a powerful biofeedback force to override the signal.  Regrettably, not even Fanger's TARDIS can provide the necessary force, so Fanger constructs a Parakinetic Interface and plans on using his powers as the source.

What ensues is a tour de force between Fanger and the Ice-Clones, with Fanger overextending his PK Limitations in the process.  Though Glaceséche escapes before the Paranormal Time Lord unleashes an intense biofeedback signal of PK Force.


The entropic effect from the signal instantaneously destroys the Ice-Clones, but regrettably, the overextension ends up ravaging Fanger's body. Completely weakened, he manages to go back to the Journalism Office, where he collapses and begins entering his Fourth Regeneration.


Fanger's Missing/New Adventures

As I once mentioned, during FANGARIUS' High School Run, the Sixth and Seventh Fangers sort of got shafted when it came to episodes.  Besides working on some odd episodes with the Fourth and Fifth Fanger, I also had let some of my members (now in college) come up with some missing or new adventures dealing with the Sixth and Seventh Fanger.

 

The Missing Adventures mainly focused on plot episodes or ideas I had thought about being a great tale concerning the Fourth and Fifth Fangers.  Whereas some of the Sixth and Seventh Fanger tales focused more on filling in the missing years between the two Incarnates, like what occurred during the Sixth Fanger's Exile in the 22nd Century, and how he managed on regaining his travels.  The Seventh Fanger focused more on his Bohemian nature while he investigated the supernatural and extraterrestrial as he continued his travels throughout Time and Space.

Some adventures went in-depth with Fanger's battle against the Conspirator, while some focused on him just coping with the typical monsters and such, including some battles with The Master himself.

The New Adventures continued where FANGARIUS had left off, where the Seventh Fanger was now dealing with the aftermath behind the Conspirator's plots.  He also encountered advanced versions of the Cybermen and Daleks, not to mention the F-Clones.  Also with the help of some members, the Seventh Fanger had some wild adventures in both the DC and Marvel Universes.  Including one where a malfunctioning genetic device (later it would be the Chameleon Arch) transformed both into a Fangarian Realm (It's a Fangarian World, Baby!) and he had to deal with two imps upon getting things back to normal.

But it was the epic tales and a forgotten promise which brought about something with FANGARIUS:  An entirely new Regeneration.