…a story of love, adventure and steam power.
The Doclopedia #846
Fandom Across The Multiverse: Fans Of “Parrots & Perils”
Now days, there are hundreds of roleplaying games to choose from. No matter what genre or sub-genre or sub-sub-genre you want to play in, chances are you can find an RPG that covers it. But back in the early days of roleplaying, there were very few games to choose from. You had Dungeons & Demons, Ruinquest, Tunnels & Troglodytes and that was about it. They were all pretty similar, both in rules and in settings. There were some minor differences, of course, but nothing too radical.
Until Parrots & Peril came along. It pretty much turned roleplaying upside down.
Right off the bat, it was different because players took the role of parrots trying to free their homeland from the evil Raven Brotherhood. No humans anywhere in the game or game world. Secondly, rather than have a hundred or more pages of rules, P&P had 32 pages of them and that was all it ever had. Finally, P&P had great looking production values, way better than any other RPG at the time.
The game, pardon the pun, flew off the shelves the first year it was out. It became the most popular RPB of the time…until games for superhero, science fiction and horror started coming out. When that happened, P&P started to fade. When all of the other fantasy RPGs had good luck with second editions, P&P came out with a super deluxe second edition that had updated rules and an expanded world to play in. It outsold all of the others.
Today, tens of millions of people play P&P, either on the computer or at the gaming table. There are huge P&P conventions and a television series. Fans dress up as their favorite characters from the 186 P&P novels, the 4 movies or the 2 different television series. They have websites, blogs, print fanzines and YoohooTube video blogs about the game. Most fans also collect P&P toys and other items. There are businesses dedicated to just providing a place to run and play P&P games. Parrots & Perils and it’s fans are here to stay.
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The Doclopedia #847
Fandom Across The Multiverse: Fans Of “Mr. Squiggle’s Magic Hour”
From 1965 to 1993, the animated educational series “Mr. Squiggle’s Magic Hour” was a huge favorite among kids from 4 to 10 years of age. The show taught them about science and nature and being a good person. Parents and teachers liked the show because it taught tolerance and acceptance while improving math & science skills. In fact, the only reason the show went off the air was to make room for “Mr. Squiggles & Squiggletown”, also a one hour educational series.
The fond memories of the original show followed those children into adulthood. MSMH fan clubs, magazines and other products were created and sold well. References to the show found their way into big budget movies, television shows and popular music.
Since many of the kids who watched the show went on to careers in science, it came as no surprise that MSMH characters would pop up in places like screen savers, atop Mt. Everest, drawn onto the head of a pin using a laser, painted on the side of the space shuttle and, most notably, drawn huge on the surface of the moon for the whole world to see using robots.
In 2003, PBS revived the series and it is still running today.
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