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What makes a good fan site?
We have been indexing and linking to fan Web sites since 1996. Along the way, we have looked at some absolutely awesome sites which no longer exist, and we have muddled through some absolute dreck.
What makes YOUR Web site stand out above the rest? Different things. Uniqueness is important but not always necessary. For example, the episode summaries we link to really don't provide much more detail than any others. In fact, some sites out there may provide MORE details. So, you can do what everyone else does and still get some recognition.
Fancy graphics, flash animations, and popups are a big turnoff. If your site looks like it should be selling ad space in the hundreds or thousands of dollars per month range, then why should we believe you're a sincere fan? Yes, you may do that stuff for a living and just want to express yourself on your own personal site, but we can usually tell when someone is just doing neat, cool things and when someone is trying to generate an income.
For us, it's the passion that matters most. If you love the topic your Web site is devoted to, that will show through. Your work might be slick enough to include in a graphic designer's portfolio, or it might be even simpler in design than our own. But if you care enough about Battlestar Galactica to say something you want to share with other people, that rings a bell with us. That is what we do.
If you bash or write negative reviews, we're most likely going to pass you by. Why? Because if the show bothers you THAT MUCH, you can find something else to write about which should make you feel better. Sadly, we find way too many SF fans spend their energy bashing and abusing actors, writers, directors, and shows and movies. While we're not looking for mindless cheerleading squads, we just don't want to promote the gross, immature negativity that seems to prevail in many corners of online fandom.
So, love what you do, love what you are creating your site for, and do the best job you can. We cannot promise to highlight every good site, but we WILL highlight GOOD sites.
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- Hart's Battlestar Galactica Episode Guide at Blast.Net
One of the more well-balanced episode guides we found, Hart's Battlestar Galactica Episode Guide includes two reviews per episode with adjoining reviews of the novelizations. Reviews include cast credits and special points of interest, including anecdotes and links to lost scenes.
- Battlestar Galactica Size Research (also called "Battlestar Galactica Ship Sizes")
Fans love to analyze everything in a good SF television show, and this site pulls no punches. Looking at every possible shot of the Galactica which might provide some indication of how large the ship would be in proportion to an average-size human, it tackles a monstrous question with no real hope of providing a definitive answer (official blueprints notwithstanding). But this site's appeal lies chiefly in the well-articulated study of the often-fuzzy details of video images.
- Battlestar Galactica Fan Club.Com
As of this writing (late January 2005) there is no longer (or not yet) an official fan club sanctioned by the trademark owners, but this forward-looking site has been endorsed by Richard Hatch and BattlestarGalactica.com, so it will be interesting to see how things play out if SciFi decides to introduce an official fan club. That said, this site provides archives, galleries, and discussions for fans of the classic Galactica. Yes, these sites sell merchandise, but they have good content nonetheless (and they are well-known in the BG fandom).
- Battlestar Galactica Original Costume and Prop Museum
One of the multitude of aspects about the original series which made it so appealing was that Glen Larson and universal invested so much time and money in creating original costumes and props. Of course, Star Trek and Space: 1999 had done that in preceding years as well, but the BG uniforms and costumes just looked so cool (in a 70s kind of way). You just knew they were practical in some way or another. The data archives section of this site is extensive and well-researched (we don't guarantee 100% accuracy). It's a great introduction to the history of the Galactica phenomenon.
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