Suggestion regarding the forum.

[fenris]

It's been over two and a half years since Hex ended in the UK, and a year since the last episode was screened in America. Understandably, activity on the forum has slowed to a trickle. Members' interests are focused elsewhere, and although the forum still receives an average 50 - 70 visitors a day, only a handful of us still post.

Therefore, I suggest that instead of being solely about Hex, the forum be jointly dedicated to a second show - Shine's forthcoming series The Last Van Helsing. orokiah and I have been monitoring this show's progress on the Zoe Tapper in Hotel Babylon thread on the Hex board. Not only is it being made by Shine, but several former Hex personnel are on board: producers Julian Murphy & Johnny Capps, writers Lucy Watkins & Peter Tabern, and Zoe Tapper (Gemma in Hex's first season) is playing main female character Mina Harker.

The Last Van Helsing will be screened on ITV1 and is reportedly intended for a primetime Saturday slot. Regarding what type of show it's going to be, my guess is that it'll be similar to Primeval and Doctor Who - a family show that's eventful and packed with monsters, but without anything too complex or really frightening to confuse or scare the kiddies watching with their parents. Admittedly, quite a different prospect compared to the post-watershed grittiness of Hex.
However, both series apparently share a common starting point - a reluctant teenager discovers they're the last descendant of a bloodline that's destined to play a major role in the battle between good and supernatural evil.

Ultimately, The Last Van Helsing is a horror/fantasy series from the company that made Hex, with the same producers as Hex, and some of the writers from Hex. There's an old saying: if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck - it's a duck. Using that logic, The Last Van Helsing is the closest thing to a sequel/spin-off/follow-up to Hex that we're going to get.

The Last Van Helsing is still in production, and as far as I'm aware no fansites or message boards dedicated to the show yet exist (I'm sure orokiah or I would have already found them if they did). Therefore, if this forum is converted to a joint Hex/Last Van Helsing forum, it'll be the first about the new show on-line. True, it's a gamble - when it's broadcast in the autumn The Last Van Helsing could turn out to be crap. But creating a board on the forum specifically about the new show (and moving the Zoe Tapper thread into it, for starters), then mentioning it on other boards/forums (IMDB, etc) could drum up interest and breathe new life into this forum.

Thoughts anyone?

[orokiah]

It's an interesting idea. Whether it's workable or not is not my decision to make (and an influx of new members might create as many problems as it would solve) but there's no denying that this board has slowed to a crawl - there are so few of us who post here now. Adding a new, related fandom could be a way of sustaining it.

Admittedly I'm biased: I've got high hopes for The Last Van Helsing, not least because it's by the makers of Hex, and I'd like somewhere to discuss it. And as fenris points out, there isn't anywhere else to go; while that's because the show hasn't actually aired yet, when it does there's going to be an instant fandom needing some place to share their love/hate.

I think it would be an avenue worth pursuing if there was the will to do it.

[matsee]

Not a bad suggestion.

By the way The Last Van Helsing is now known as Demons:
www.imdb.com/title/tt1157595/

[DreamDangerously]

Hi guys.

Sorry I've been an absent member for a while, I had a host of computer problems for a while and really limited access. A shiny new pooter should resolve that though. Part of the problem now is that Strangethoughts no longer exists and so traffic that would have directed itself via that route and other linked sites isn't happening anymore.

As last Mod standing I'm taking it upon myself to say that I think reformatting slightly would be a great idea.

I've contacted kneetroll again about being made administrator so that I can do things like clean up the spam, archive threads and add the things that you guys want.

I also have a domain and webspace and I'm happy to put up a frontpage on my server that will direct traffic towards the messageboard a little bit more. Because a lot of time is taken up by my teaching I'm very keen to a) take advice on content/focus etc and to b) set it up in a format so as to allow a couple of other people to help me add info. I don't have time for a full on bells and whistles fansite but maybe an attractive information page about shine projects or about Hex and Demons with an ep guide or suchlike...

I dunno...what are people's thoughts?

[orokiah]

Good to see you back DD!

My first thought was to buy the strangethoughts domain name so we could restore any existing links. Unfortunately I checked and it's already been taken, which puts paid to that idea.

I think the priority is to get the access you'd need to the forum and that really depends on Kneetroll. As far as reformatting goes, everything else follows on from that. Otherwise all we can do is set up a Demons thread somewhere.

I do think the idea has huge potential though. I'm really excited about the new show and it definitely has a fandom in waiting. If we could provide a place for them it would bring some badly needed new life to this board. Maybe even inspire some belated interest in Hex - who knows.

It's really kind of you to offer your webspace to direct more traffic here. I'd be more than willing to help with content and whatever else needed doing. I think it might be better to limit it to Hex and Demons though rather than extending it to other Shine projects, just to keep things simple. Maybe keep it as brief as possible - a paragraph on each, a couple of pictures and links - and put as much information as possible on the forum..?

Ideally I'd like to do episode transcripts instead of just a guide but it would take up space and would also take forever to do.

[fenris]

Welcome back, DD.

I agree with most of what orokiah has said. It's very kind and generous of you to offer to use your webspace to promote the forum. I also agree that a fanpage is more sensible and practical than a more-extensive fansite. I think Hex and Demons should be the main focus, but I wouldn't be adverse to a short list of TV shows that are produced by Shine or otherwise Hex-related (the likes of As If, Sugar Rush, Sinchronicity, Lost in Austen and Merlin) with a brief paragraph about each, pointing out the common personnel (producers, writers, actors) they share with Hex and/or Demons.

As for reformatting the forum, obviously that depends on Kneetroll being agreeable. But apart from my previous suggestion of a section dedicated to Demons, I can't really offer any further ideas on the technical side, as I'm mostly a dunce where computers are concerned.

[DreamDangerously]

Awesome. Well give it a few days to see if I hear anything from Kneetroll first of all.

I think a simple fanpage will work well, with a few sections on eps and a kind of 'if you like this...' sort of thing. It's very straightforward to code and design and there are some handy scripts like cutenews that would make it easy for me to give you guys access to post info direct to the website if you're up for helping out with content, which would be fab.

It's a bit frantic at work at the moment but I have a quiet weekend coming up so I'll have a play with a layout and what not.

The other option with the board if I don't hear back is to start a new board and pin a topic here pointing people to the new board and pin a topic on the new board pointing people back here as a kind of archive. It's the worst case scenario but it would at least allow for full admin and moderating capabilities.

[fenris]

And so it begins... Still over a week and a half to go before the first episode of Demons is broadcast, and an enterprising & eager fan has already got a forum up and running;

www.demons-2009.proboards.com/