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crack_van2003-10-01 02:25 am
phantomas.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2003-10-01 02:25 am
Entry tags:
The Professionals: An Overview
Well, it is difficult to have spoilers for a series 30 years old, so I guess there will be no surprises here :)
Warnings for excessive rambling ~g~
PICS & BIOS
The Professionals is a British TV series, filmed and broadcast between 1977 and 1983.
At the times, the US format of 20 or so episodes per season wasn't yet a given, therefore we have only 57 episodes, now available on DVDs (practically no extras worth mentioning and average quality, since the original footage is 'lost')
Moreover, The Professionals - or Pros, as fans call it - was a typical series of the 70s, which means that each episode was more or less completed in itself and the concepts of continuity, story arch and characters development were very much left to each episode's writer's whims.
Television series in the 70s were almost all created for quick consumption and sheer entertainment values with not much thought for aesthetics, cop shows in particular.
Creator of the series and writer of several episodes is Brian Clemens, also creator and producer of The Avengers - he was asked to present London Weekend Television (LWT) with ideas for a series, and Pros was one of those ideas, obviously somewhat inspired to the extremely successful US Starsky & Hutch.
These are the protagonists of the series (from left to right):
Raymond Doyle (Martin Shaw) Agent 4.5
George Cowley (Gordon Jackson) The Boss of CI5
Bodie (Lewis Collins) Agent 3.7
The actors playing around.
There are many articles and interviews proclaiming how tense the atmosphere was on the set, mostly due to Martin Shaw being denied to leave the series early on and to his initial hostility toward Collins (the two had previously worked together in the episode 'Obsession' of The New Avengers).
However, from this and other pics and articles it seems that the animosity was mostly directed at the production team.
Publicity pic of Doyle with rifle.
Actually, Doyle is not the weapons fanatic of the team (that would be Bodie).
Doyle is the New Man, the one with a conscience, the one that cooks and listens to classic music. Doyle is the scruffy one.
Bodie, in his usual rollneck (white or black).
Bodie is more of a cynic, or pragmatist.
Bodie yells only when he's scared for the people he cares about, namely Doyle or Cowley. Otherwise, he likes to play it cool.
Bodie (especially in the first season) is the smartly dressed one. For the times. Ahem.
OVERVIEW OF THE SHOW
The logo of the series
Bodie and Doyle are agents in CI5, an official but quite secret organisation dedicated to fight terrorism and crime-related activities in the UK.
CI5's brief extends to wearing guns (something that normal British police don't do), having no need for search warrants and having D-notice powers.
Bodie and Doyle are 'chalk and cheese', Bodie has a perverse sense of humour and sometimes is quite judgemental, whereas Doyle keeps an open mind. They both lose their temper with each other, and their banter is proverbial.
Bodie is an ex-merc (Africa), ex-para' and ex-SAS. Doyle is an ex-cop, Drug Squad.
They spend lots of time driving around, chasing villains, shooting and fighting.
Doyle suffers beautifully and gets beaten up a lot (episode 'Man Without a Past') and is also shot in the heart (episode 'Discovered in a Graveyard').
Bodie likes drinking, good food, girls "as long as they are under fifty, warm and come across".
Bodie's full name is William Andrew Philip Bodie (episode: The Rack "All the princes, I was such a regal looking baby", he says of himself) but he answers only to Bodie.
In his introductory speech to new agents, Cowley says:
"You'll be paired off and from then on you're the Bisto Kids. The slightest whiff of anything and you move in, shake'em down, crush'em before they even start too grow, like an alley fight. And that's what it is, an alley fight. So kick him in the goolies first. Do unto others now what they're still thinking about. Oh, there'll be squeals. And once in a while you'll turn a law-abiding citizen into an authority-hating anarchist. There'll be squeals and letters to MPs, but that's the price they have and we have to pay to keep this island clean and smelling, even if ever so faintly, of roses and lavender!"
Bodie and Doyle are said to be the best agents in CI5, and these are some of the antics they get up to.
They don't have regular girlfriends.
Canonically, Bodie and Doyle spend quite a lot of their free time together, with or without the girlfriend of the week.
Bodie says he 'truly loved' once, but the girl was killed. Another important woman in his life, Marika, is killed as well (episode: Fall Girl).
Doyle has one serious relationship during the series (episode: Involvement) but the girl leaves him due to a conflict between her beliefs and his job.
But more than once, they leave everything they are doing to solve a case, and often Bodie abandons his plans/date to trot faithfully after Doyle.
THE FANDOM
They look so *right* together :)
The Fandom was born around 1980 and it was a SLASH fandom since the very beginning.
There were a few gen stories, as well, but the fandom was and still is overwhelmingly a slash fandom.
The OTP in Pros is B/D, but there a number of stories considering B/C, D/C and one author in particular wrote Cowley as Bodie's father.
The first stories were circulated among friends in the UK (the Circuit) and only later an exchange between US and UK started, with lending libraries on both sides of the pond.
Pros is mostly a zine-based fandom, with a modest web presence in comparison to the more recent fandoms.
Nonetheless, Pros as a fandom - with conventions presence, songvids, zines and regular meetings of fans - has been going on steadily for the past 26 years.
In the past three years or so the Gen contingent of Pros has become very productive, both in relation to writing stories and by organising yearly Pros locations tours (visiting filming locations in and around London).
Maybe the reason why so many fans are Doyle fans: Martin Shaw was reasonably generous with showing himself. He appears bare-chest in a few episodes too.
Also, many fans would proclaim the virtues of Doyle's bum, of his green eyes, his charming all-white-teeth smile and his powerful rages.
Many AUs fictions introduce Doyle as the creative type: dancer, singer, actor, model... (canon-based: Doyle says that he went to art classes).
Lewis Collins was more protective of his charmes. Very few inches of skin have been seen. However, many fans can point out at photographic evidence (see in particular episode 'Rogue') of a generous portion of his anatomy - and no, it's not his tummy - look lower ;) Plus, he has lovely dark-blue eyes and long dark eyelashes...
Bodie is usually considered the one with a shady past (canon-based: he is 'cagey about his past', says Doyle).
FICTION ARCHIVES & LINKS
Pros fanfiction is mostly slash (as far as I know, the gen archive is not accessible to non-members of the mailing list) and also characterised by a profusion of AUs, Elves stories, Death stories, Rape stories and in general, based on my own experience and fans' comments, is generally a shade darker than other fandoms. Also, some of the original authors don't want to have their stories on the net.
That said, we have however many long and happy ending novels, too.
Another characteristic of Pros fanfiction was the almost total lack of warnings and disclaimers; however, more recently the fandom has adapted: the Proslib email library warns about death, rape and gen stories; both the Circuit Archive and the Hatstand websites offer optional warnings.
Also, older fans are always ready to provide newbies with recs, reviews and information on older stories.
Even though Pros fandom have always been mostly zine-based, it now has its place on the web, as you can see from the following list:
DAVE MATTHEWS' authorised WEB SITE
All you wanted to know about the series, the whole cast, the cars, the locations,
the episodes, the DVDs and actors' careers is here.
Slash Archives:
The Circuit Archive
Not only a fiction archive, but also art and songvids, new and re-mastered classic ones
The Hatstand
An archive of Professionals slash fan fiction, and an extensive resource
for the series (transcripts, characters files, sound files, etc)
Proslib Email Library
(also in CD format with pics, art, a few songvids too)
Check the Files and Links area for a variety of background information, including zine publishers contacts and flyers, anthology zine contents, lists of stories by themes and pairings, episodes transcripts, Cassie Ingaben's database of stories
Prosfanfic (Gen Fiction) UPDATED: 18 April 2007
A Prosfanfic website for the Pros Gen Yahoo Group's fanfiction, listed by author.
Web-based Forums UPDATED: 18 April 2007
A Pros Chat Forum, a year old, where you can chat Pros daily
LiveJournal communities - UPDATED: 25 April 2007
The Professionals Newbie Guide
A short guide to the Pros fandom on LiveJournal
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ci5hq
CI5 Headquarters is a slash-oriented (but gen/het friendly) rec,
discussion and news community for The Professionals.
the_safehouse
This community is a place for discussions to be had, fan creations (everything from fiction
to icons to song-videos) to be posted and for new fans to be introduced to The Professionals
fandom.
discoveredinalj
a seasonal Pros slash* and gen-friendly community dedicated to celebrating halloween, christmas and various other festivals, large and small, as the mood takes us, with our lads - Bodie, Doyle, and the Professionals.
pros_vid
A community for those who fanvid the classic British tv show The Professionals.
pros_pearl
A community to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Professionals television show.
santa_pros
A Secret Santa Pros community.
summer_of_78
Summer of '78 is an anonymous fic exchange for The Professionals fandom.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flares_r_us
Flares R Us is a small community dedicated to studying the Lads' outfit and sense of fashion...or lack thereof *G*
Various sites
Oblique Publications
Transfering all its zines on the web
High quality writing and layouts (also Blake 7, Due South, Phantom Menace and others)
Pros songvids 'Wicked Ways' and other songvids, by PR ZED, here:
http://www.przed.com/vids/
The Bisto Kids, a zine publication, is here:
http://zoerayne.slashdom.com/infinity/infarch.shtml
A Pros Recs site is here - UPDATED LINK:
http://www.alijot.net/The_Professionals_Recs.htm
UPDATED: 23 April 2007
A Pros Recs site by Nell Howell:
http://nell.ckrweb.net/recpros.html
UPDATED: 23 April 2007
Palely Loitering
A site (work-in-progress, given the sheer amount of stories) dedicated to the listing of Pros zines and fic, with links to reviews
Fanfiction sites:
Home of Sebastian Slash
Sebastian also hosts a forum where Pros chatting is more than welcome
Helen Raven's stories:
http://www.kelper.co.uk/helenraven/
Barbara Thomas and Claire Dobbin's stories:
http://claired.populli.net/
Thomas' Den, with three Pros stories:
http://mediafans.org/thomas/index.html
http://www.derry.anejo.nu
http://www.prosfanfic.bravepages.com/
Sites focused on images:
Black Tauna has stories and extensive screen captures:
http://www.blacktauna.com/slash/pros.html
Dana Jeanne's Professionals Screen Scans and Images library
http://wordsmiths.net/DJ/
Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library
http://www.framecaplib.com/
The Pros Gallery
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~janicea/pros.html
A Pros Links site
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/4778/ProfessionalsLinks.htm
Mailing Lists:
Pros-Lit-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Slash, emphasis on uninhibited story discussion)
CI5alltheway-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Slash)
ProsStoryfinders-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Slash and gen)
UPDATED: 23 April 2007
Pros Language
A resource for fans of The Professionals who are interested in discussing
authentic language use and other background information in the context of
the show, late 70s to early 80s.
Pros Slash
Yahoo groups focused on Pros slash
Lewis_Collins@yahoogroups.com
(dedicated to the actor)
TheProfessionals_AngelFishFanFiction-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(slash, gen, het, emphasis on Doyle)
Bodiesanna082347-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(slash, gen, het)
And if you are a Sims fan:
ProsSims-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The GEN list:
PROSFanfic-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Warnings for excessive rambling ~g~
PICS & BIOS
The Professionals is a British TV series, filmed and broadcast between 1977 and 1983.
At the times, the US format of 20 or so episodes per season wasn't yet a given, therefore we have only 57 episodes, now available on DVDs (practically no extras worth mentioning and average quality, since the original footage is 'lost')
Moreover, The Professionals - or Pros, as fans call it - was a typical series of the 70s, which means that each episode was more or less completed in itself and the concepts of continuity, story arch and characters development were very much left to each episode's writer's whims.
Television series in the 70s were almost all created for quick consumption and sheer entertainment values with not much thought for aesthetics, cop shows in particular.
Creator of the series and writer of several episodes is Brian Clemens, also creator and producer of The Avengers - he was asked to present London Weekend Television (LWT) with ideas for a series, and Pros was one of those ideas, obviously somewhat inspired to the extremely successful US Starsky & Hutch.
These are the protagonists of the series (from left to right):
Raymond Doyle (Martin Shaw) Agent 4.5
George Cowley (Gordon Jackson) The Boss of CI5
Bodie (Lewis Collins) Agent 3.7
The actors playing around.
There are many articles and interviews proclaiming how tense the atmosphere was on the set, mostly due to Martin Shaw being denied to leave the series early on and to his initial hostility toward Collins (the two had previously worked together in the episode 'Obsession' of The New Avengers).
However, from this and other pics and articles it seems that the animosity was mostly directed at the production team.
Publicity pic of Doyle with rifle.
Actually, Doyle is not the weapons fanatic of the team (that would be Bodie).
Doyle is the New Man, the one with a conscience, the one that cooks and listens to classic music. Doyle is the scruffy one.
Bodie, in his usual rollneck (white or black).
Bodie is more of a cynic, or pragmatist.
Bodie yells only when he's scared for the people he cares about, namely Doyle or Cowley. Otherwise, he likes to play it cool.
Bodie (especially in the first season) is the smartly dressed one. For the times. Ahem.
OVERVIEW OF THE SHOW
The logo of the series
Bodie and Doyle are agents in CI5, an official but quite secret organisation dedicated to fight terrorism and crime-related activities in the UK.
CI5's brief extends to wearing guns (something that normal British police don't do), having no need for search warrants and having D-notice powers.
Bodie and Doyle are 'chalk and cheese', Bodie has a perverse sense of humour and sometimes is quite judgemental, whereas Doyle keeps an open mind. They both lose their temper with each other, and their banter is proverbial.
Bodie is an ex-merc (Africa), ex-para' and ex-SAS. Doyle is an ex-cop, Drug Squad.
They spend lots of time driving around, chasing villains, shooting and fighting.
Doyle suffers beautifully and gets beaten up a lot (episode 'Man Without a Past') and is also shot in the heart (episode 'Discovered in a Graveyard').
Bodie likes drinking, good food, girls "as long as they are under fifty, warm and come across".
Bodie's full name is William Andrew Philip Bodie (episode: The Rack "All the princes, I was such a regal looking baby", he says of himself) but he answers only to Bodie.
In his introductory speech to new agents, Cowley says:
"You'll be paired off and from then on you're the Bisto Kids. The slightest whiff of anything and you move in, shake'em down, crush'em before they even start too grow, like an alley fight. And that's what it is, an alley fight. So kick him in the goolies first. Do unto others now what they're still thinking about. Oh, there'll be squeals. And once in a while you'll turn a law-abiding citizen into an authority-hating anarchist. There'll be squeals and letters to MPs, but that's the price they have and we have to pay to keep this island clean and smelling, even if ever so faintly, of roses and lavender!"
Bodie and Doyle are said to be the best agents in CI5, and these are some of the antics they get up to.
They don't have regular girlfriends.
Canonically, Bodie and Doyle spend quite a lot of their free time together, with or without the girlfriend of the week.
Bodie says he 'truly loved' once, but the girl was killed. Another important woman in his life, Marika, is killed as well (episode: Fall Girl).
Doyle has one serious relationship during the series (episode: Involvement) but the girl leaves him due to a conflict between her beliefs and his job.
But more than once, they leave everything they are doing to solve a case, and often Bodie abandons his plans/date to trot faithfully after Doyle.
THE FANDOM
They look so *right* together :)
The Fandom was born around 1980 and it was a SLASH fandom since the very beginning.
There were a few gen stories, as well, but the fandom was and still is overwhelmingly a slash fandom.
The OTP in Pros is B/D, but there a number of stories considering B/C, D/C and one author in particular wrote Cowley as Bodie's father.
The first stories were circulated among friends in the UK (the Circuit) and only later an exchange between US and UK started, with lending libraries on both sides of the pond.
Pros is mostly a zine-based fandom, with a modest web presence in comparison to the more recent fandoms.
Nonetheless, Pros as a fandom - with conventions presence, songvids, zines and regular meetings of fans - has been going on steadily for the past 26 years.
In the past three years or so the Gen contingent of Pros has become very productive, both in relation to writing stories and by organising yearly Pros locations tours (visiting filming locations in and around London).
Maybe the reason why so many fans are Doyle fans: Martin Shaw was reasonably generous with showing himself. He appears bare-chest in a few episodes too.
Also, many fans would proclaim the virtues of Doyle's bum, of his green eyes, his charming all-white-teeth smile and his powerful rages.
Many AUs fictions introduce Doyle as the creative type: dancer, singer, actor, model... (canon-based: Doyle says that he went to art classes).
Lewis Collins was more protective of his charmes. Very few inches of skin have been seen. However, many fans can point out at photographic evidence (see in particular episode 'Rogue') of a generous portion of his anatomy - and no, it's not his tummy - look lower ;) Plus, he has lovely dark-blue eyes and long dark eyelashes...
Bodie is usually considered the one with a shady past (canon-based: he is 'cagey about his past', says Doyle).
FICTION ARCHIVES & LINKS
Pros fanfiction is mostly slash (as far as I know, the gen archive is not accessible to non-members of the mailing list) and also characterised by a profusion of AUs, Elves stories, Death stories, Rape stories and in general, based on my own experience and fans' comments, is generally a shade darker than other fandoms. Also, some of the original authors don't want to have their stories on the net.
That said, we have however many long and happy ending novels, too.
Another characteristic of Pros fanfiction was the almost total lack of warnings and disclaimers; however, more recently the fandom has adapted: the Proslib email library warns about death, rape and gen stories; both the Circuit Archive and the Hatstand websites offer optional warnings.
Also, older fans are always ready to provide newbies with recs, reviews and information on older stories.
Even though Pros fandom have always been mostly zine-based, it now has its place on the web, as you can see from the following list:
DAVE MATTHEWS' authorised WEB SITE
All you wanted to know about the series, the whole cast, the cars, the locations,
the episodes, the DVDs and actors' careers is here.
Slash Archives:
The Circuit Archive
Not only a fiction archive, but also art and songvids, new and re-mastered classic ones
The Hatstand
An archive of Professionals slash fan fiction, and an extensive resource
for the series (transcripts, characters files, sound files, etc)
Proslib Email Library
(also in CD format with pics, art, a few songvids too)
Check the Files and Links area for a variety of background information, including zine publishers contacts and flyers, anthology zine contents, lists of stories by themes and pairings, episodes transcripts, Cassie Ingaben's database of stories
Prosfanfic (Gen Fiction) UPDATED: 18 April 2007
A Prosfanfic website for the Pros Gen Yahoo Group's fanfiction, listed by author.
Web-based Forums UPDATED: 18 April 2007
A Pros Chat Forum, a year old, where you can chat Pros daily
LiveJournal communities - UPDATED: 25 April 2007
The Professionals Newbie Guide
A short guide to the Pros fandom on LiveJournal
ci5hq CI5 Headquarters is a slash-oriented (but gen/het friendly) rec,
discussion and news community for The Professionals.
the_safehouseThis community is a place for discussions to be had, fan creations (everything from fiction
to icons to song-videos) to be posted and for new fans to be introduced to The Professionals
fandom.
discoveredinalja seasonal Pros slash* and gen-friendly community dedicated to celebrating halloween, christmas and various other festivals, large and small, as the mood takes us, with our lads - Bodie, Doyle, and the Professionals.
pros_vidA community for those who fanvid the classic British tv show The Professionals.
pros_pearlA community to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Professionals television show.
santa_pros A Secret Santa Pros community.
summer_of_78 Summer of '78 is an anonymous fic exchange for The Professionals fandom.
flares_r_usFlares R Us is a small community dedicated to studying the Lads' outfit and sense of fashion...or lack thereof *G*
Various sites
Oblique Publications
Transfering all its zines on the web
High quality writing and layouts (also Blake 7, Due South, Phantom Menace and others)
Pros songvids 'Wicked Ways' and other songvids, by PR ZED, here:
http://www.przed.com/vids/
The Bisto Kids, a zine publication, is here:
http://zoerayne.slashdom.com/infinity/infarch.shtml
A Pros Recs site is here - UPDATED LINK:
http://www.alijot.net/The_Professionals_Recs.htm
UPDATED: 23 April 2007
A Pros Recs site by Nell Howell:
http://nell.ckrweb.net/recpros.html
UPDATED: 23 April 2007
Palely Loitering
A site (work-in-progress, given the sheer amount of stories) dedicated to the listing of Pros zines and fic, with links to reviews
Fanfiction sites:
Home of Sebastian Slash
Sebastian also hosts a forum where Pros chatting is more than welcome
Helen Raven's stories:
http://www.kelper.co.uk/helenraven/
Barbara Thomas and Claire Dobbin's stories:
http://claired.populli.net/
Thomas' Den, with three Pros stories:
http://mediafans.org/thomas/index.html
http://www.derry.anejo.nu
http://www.prosfanfic.bravepages.com/
Sites focused on images:
Black Tauna has stories and extensive screen captures:
http://www.blacktauna.com/slash/pros.html
Dana Jeanne's Professionals Screen Scans and Images library
http://wordsmiths.net/DJ/
Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library
http://www.framecaplib.com/
The Pros Gallery
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~janicea/pros.html
A Pros Links site
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/4778/ProfessionalsLinks.htm
Mailing Lists:
Pros-Lit-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Slash, emphasis on uninhibited story discussion)
CI5alltheway-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Slash)
ProsStoryfinders-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(Slash and gen)
UPDATED: 23 April 2007
Pros Language
A resource for fans of The Professionals who are interested in discussing
authentic language use and other background information in the context of
the show, late 70s to early 80s.
Pros Slash
Yahoo groups focused on Pros slash
Lewis_Collins@yahoogroups.com
(dedicated to the actor)
TheProfessionals_AngelFishFanFiction-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(slash, gen, het, emphasis on Doyle)
Bodiesanna082347-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(slash, gen, het)
And if you are a Sims fan:
ProsSims-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The GEN list:
PROSFanfic-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
no subject
no subject
I need to ask access myself to change Ali's website url.