Project FANGARIUS: The Eighth Fanger

Standing By Jerry O’Connell

As it was aforementioned in past entries, I never originally used celebrities as models for Fanger until his Fifth Incarnate.  The Sixth Incarnate was genuinely a fluke since I wasn’t even trying to illustrate John Ritter, whereas the Seventh Incarnate was based on a rejected character by Martin Short.  So how exactly did Jerry O’Connell wind up being the basis for the Eighth Fanger?

It all started with Mr. O’Connell’s first film and a bet I had made with my aunt.  My Aunt Cassandra and I would stay up and watch late night movies.  As a quirk, my aunt loved reading tarot cards on celebrities as we watched their movies, and she’d predict their futures.  Turned out one night we were watching the classic ‘Stand By Me,’ with Wil Wheaton and (naturally) Jerry O’Connell.

At the time, you recall Mr. O’Connell’s role was Vern Tessio, the rotund boy who was usually picked on by the group.  Yet, without him, I doubt the story would’ve gotten started, since he informed his friends about going and search for a dead body.  In one scene, where the group has Vern carry their packs, the character fumes as he’s attempting to catch up along the tracks.  At one moment when Vern grumbles, ‘I’ll show them all,’ my aunt was reading his fortune and noted in real life, Mr. O’Connell would actually become more famous than Mr. Wheaton.

Considering the time, I made a wager with my aunt, if her prediction came true, I’d base one of Fanger’s Future Incarnates upon Mr. O’Connell.  Who knew ol’ Jerry would make it big with My Secret Identity and, later, Sliders?

Ironically, it was Sliders which not only rekindled the bet, but also inspired the Eighth Fanger on the rumour behind The Doctor’s return.  Although the series had come out one year before the film itself, back in 1994, there had been murmurs about the possibility of Mr. O’Connell being cast as the US counterpart of The Doctor.  Despite the fact there was no validity to the report, the concept had intrigued me, since Quinn Mallory did possess a bit of a Time Lord persona.

In fact, the Fourth Fanger had once encountered the Sliders due to a mishap with the TARDIS 2 and Quinn’s Timer (which Fanger identified as a Charged Vacuum Emboitment Transit).  Thus, keeping my word with my aunt, when Project FANGARIUS was done, I had used Jerry O’Connell as the basis for the Eighth Fanger.

The Eighth Fanger

Absent for almost a decade,  Fanger’s Eighth Incarnation would prove being somewhat of a challenge for me.  Although I had the basis, I had wondered what direction I should take his new persona.  One reason was because, if you’ve been keeping up, both the Sixth and Seventh Fanger had not been legitimately around for their personas to genuinely form properly.

Here’s was the condensed recap:  The Sixth Fanger possessed a serious guise with a bit of a temperament to match, while the Seventh Fanger ended up being a bit more bohemian, if not erratic, nature.  Thus, the main problem was, at the time, I absolutely had no idea on how the next Incarnation should act and behave.  Not to mention I really had no scope model to go on.

Essentially, despite the fact Fanger ended up appearing like Quinn Mallory, I really didn’t want to make F8 into a clone of that character.  Subtly as I was fleshing out the character’s initial design, I decided on adding a bit of elements from the previous Incarnates and see how it would fly.

Turned out the end result was the Eighth Fanger being somewhat of an inquisitive sort with a reckless innocent nature and a bit crotchety at times.  Mainly because although Fanger did emanate a youthful appearance, in reality, he’s about (at the time) over 650 years old. 

The interesting catalyst which helped his new persona was the lack of the TARDIS 2.  Unlike Jon Pertwee’s Doctor being exiled to Earth, one interesting concept was when I deciding on starting the Fangarian World Series specials, was Fanger would not have his TimeSpace craft to rely on for getting him out of jams.  Instead the Eighth Fanger solely relied on his resourcefulness, while transversing the Multiverse to locate his craft’s components and reassemble the TARDIS 2.

Although the specials were about eight episodes, they were enough to develop Fanger’s new self into a whole new character.   Even if it proved in being a bumpy ride along the way.