Overview: Big Wolf on Campus

[anenko.livejournal.com]

Big Wolf on Campus

The Overview

Big Wolf on Campus (BWoC) is a half-hour “children’s” show that ran for three seasons (and is currently in syndication in Canada on YTV).

Big Wolf on Campus is a goofy show that has enough wisdom not to take itself seriously at all. The show is filled with pop culture references, and most episodes are a play upon a movie, television show or book villain and/or premise (Frankenstein, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Terminator, The Phantom of the Opera, boy bands and so on).

A running joke involves Merton comparing the gang’s current predicament to the movie on which that episode pokes fun (“this reminds me of. . .”). When Tommy proceeds to ask for details, Merton moves into a meta discussion of the film in question. This is followed by Tommy’s exasperated cry of: “in the movie, Merton!”

Big Wolf on Campus: a goofy show, sure, but it’s also a whole lot of fun. I hope this overview will encourage people to give the recs for this fandom a chance.







Tommy Dawkins (played by Brandon Quinn)





At the beginning of his senior year at Pleasantville High, Tommy Dawkins is attacked by a wolf. His wounds heal quickly, and shortly thereafter, strange things begin to happen: Tommy’s eyes flash yellow, his teeth elongate, and his speed increases tremendously.

Tommy is a werewolf!

The full moon and strong emotions such as lust, pain, anger and fear transform Tommy into a werewolf (the werewolf has had several different looks, but the transformation basically provides Tommy with big hair, big sideburns, long teeth, claws and big feet). Tommy is also the only known werewolf who is not evil, and he uses his new powers to fight the many monsters and villains who appear in Pleasantville.

Tommy plays football for Pleasantville High’s team (the Badgers)—indeed, he becomes the team’s captain in the pilot. His werewolf powers add a little oomph to his game, but they also threaten his position on the team as Tommy is constantly bailing to fight monsters.

While not dumb, Tommy isn’t overly intellectual. For example, in The Bookmobile, Tommy mistakes a coincidence for irony (upon learning that a possible cure for his lycanthropy could be enacted that very night, and only that night, Tommy states: “that’s ironic.” Merton responds: “That’s coincidental. Irony would be if it were yesterday.”) However, Tommy can surprise his friends with how smart he really is. In Save The Last Trance For Me, Tommy comes up with a plan to defeat the villain—a plan that Merton reluctantly admits is better than any he could have thought of.

While Tommy is usually good-natured, he is occasionally shown as being angry and resentful towards the werewolf as it interferes with his “normal” life. Fighting monsters keeps Tommy from establishing a relationship with Stacey Hanson in season one (while she gives him numerous chances, Tommy always ends up running out on her because of wolf-related business). While Tommy has had several opportunities to rid himself of the werewolf (The Bookmobile, Flugelhoff, Dances Without Wolves), circumstances and Tommy’s morality keep him from following through with said opportunities.

Because of his good looks, easy charm, and position on the football team, Tommy is very popular. However, Tommy does not abuse his position. He is very kind, if sometimes thoughtless, as is shown in the season one episode Scary Terri in which Tommy deals with an unpopular girl’s crush on him. Tommy is occassionally shown as being concerned with maintaining his popularity, and makes moves to distance himself from Merton--as in Exor-Sis, Pleased to Eat You, and Flugelhoff--but his friendship with Merton always wins out in the end.

However, Tommy and Merton do have an incredibly strong friendship, and this friendship is the show’s primary relationship. Tommy protects Merton, and puts up with Merton’s may schemes--going so far as to don a unitard for one of Merton’s bad, derivative plays. In turn, Merton provides Tommy with help in dealing with his condition. The season finale finds Merton and Tommy rooming together at university--there’s a reason why slash is more common than het in this fandom.

Merton J. Dingle (played by Danny Smith)





Merton Dingle is the president of the Gothic Fantasy Guild, and is the school punching bag (he is the only senior still being stuffed into lockers). Merton is highly intelligent, computer-savvy, a scientist, a would-be Hollywood writer, and fascinated with the supernatural. He is also decidedly eccentric, which does not endear him to the rest of the school’s population (he lives in his parent’s basement, which he calls the Lair, decorated with gothic paraphernalia; he drives a hearse and wears a coffin-shaped backpack).

Merton is a mix of insecurity and bravado, arrogance and vulnerability, cowardice and bravery. He often cowers behind Lori during fights, but he has also gone up against villains without backup (Blame It On The Haim, Mr. Roboto, and N’Sipid). Merton is often flustered around girls in the first season, but he is always willing to put his heart and his pride on the line one more time when he runs into a pretty girl. He puts himself in the path of rejection and ridicule: asking to be included in a bachelor auction, the Pleasantville High “hunks” calendar, and flaunting the fact that he was impregnated by an alien (you heard me--canon mpreg).

Tommy is Merton’s first friend (barring Vince--Mr. Invincible--a psychotic, green-haired, laser-shooting invisible friend), and Merton is sometimes uncertain about his place in Tommy’s life. He fears being forgotten by Tommy should Tommy ever achieve his goal of a normal life. Despite their strong friendship, girls and the supernatural have both led to tension between Tommy and Merton: when turned into a werewolf himself, Merton turned against Tommy; Merton lied to Tommy about killing Cassandra, a werewolf-eating vampire and Merton’s ex-girlfriend; and the guys fought over Lori early in the second season.

Merton has a younger sister named Becky. While they used to be close, Becky distanced herself from Merton when she realized that Merton was too odd to be popular. She denies any relation to him in public, and refers to him as “Freaker.” Merton’s parents are never seen. There is very slight evidence that he is not close to his father (Mr. Roboto), but it appears that he is closer to his mother (she is his agent in What’s The Story, Mourning Corey, and on several occasions, he has called for his “mommy.”)

Though very popular in fanfic, Merton isn’t often written well. Merton is not girly or weepy; he may be melodramatic, but he does not burst into tears at the slightest provocation. Merton’s voice is also hard to pin down: his inflection, facial expressions and gestures are important aspects of the character which don’t cross into writing very easily.

Canon didn’t always seem to have a good handle on Merton’s character, either. The third season found Merton treated as a joke more often than not: he began dressing up in costumes (a sumo wrestler, a fireman, a woman, a sailor); he failed at everything he tried, where Tommy succeeded without even making the attempt ; and he spent an entire episode chasing after a uni-browed hunchback just because she wasn’t interested in him.

Lori Baxter (played by Aimée Castle)





Lori Baxter was introduced in the second season premier, Hello Nasty. A student at Pleasantville Catholic, Lori first appears at Pleasantville High in order to investigate the “Pleasantville High Curse.” Lori, Tommy and Merton team up in this episode to stop a football-obsessed ghost--a scene which ends with a broken trophy display case at Lori’s school, and her covering for the guys. Because of these events, Lori is expelled from Pleasantville Catholic and enrolls at Pleasantville High.

Tommy and Merton are both immediately taken with Lori; she doesn’t encourage Tommy and goes out of her way to discourage Merton (EarlySeaonTwo!Lori can often be found bullying Merton). Lori discovers that Tommy is the Pleasantville werewolf in the season’s fourth episode, The Girl Who Spied Wolf. She is fascinated with the werewolf, and becomes a part of the team. This discovery brings her closer to Tommy, which upsets Merton. In Apocalypse Soon, Merton is outright hostile towards Tommy because he wants to “get the girl” for once--a sentiment that Lori isn’t overly thrilled with (she is, she tells the boys, not a prize to be won).

Three episodes later, in Imaginary Fiend, Tommy and Lori go on their first date. Their relationship lasts six episodes, until Mr. Roboto. Tommy decides to give the “boys=sexist jerks” role a try: he makes fun of Lori’s kickboxing medal, and says that Lori’s fighting abilities aren’t that important in defeating the villains they regularly face. Lori replies that Tommy wouldn’t be able to fight at all if it weren’t for the wolf.

They make up at the worst possible time--just before they confront their robotic mind-controlling academic advisor. Because of this, Merton gets in trouble, and after defeating the villain and saving Merton, Tommy and Lori agree that they can’t carry on as they have been. Tommy wants to stop fighting monsters together; Lori wants to stop dating because she would rather fight side-by-side. Lori speaks up first, and in an attempt to save face, Tommy agrees. Tommy spends the next few episodes angsting about the breakup and trying to get Lori back, to no avail.

In the season finale, She Will, She Will Rock You, Merton is crushed by yet another rejection. Lori tries to comfort him, and they end up kissing (of course, Tommy witnesses this and is angry at Merton). However, the kiss doesn’t lead anywhere between Merton and Lori.

Lori is a tough character: she is an excellent fighter and doesn’t enjoy “girly” things. Lori is a photographer, as seen in Hello, Nasty and Dances Without Wolves (she is also seen doing pottery in Thanks, although that is likely just an excuse to play with the pottery-scene in the movie Ghost: “feel the Swayze. . .”) Though we rarely see her hanging out with anyone other than Tommy and Merton, she is very popular at school.




Stacey Hanson (played by Rachelle Lefevre)



Stacey Hanson is the most beautiful and popular girl at school. Tommy spends the entire season trying to get Stacey to forgive him for continuously ditching her and to give him another chance. Throughout season one, she is also a walking plot device, existing only to be lusted after, kidnapped, and knocked unconscious. Stacey is a cheerleader, a reporter, an environmentalist and a feminist depending on the needs of the episode.

Stacey disappears between the season one finale and the season two premiere--she headed off to college early. Stacey is only mentioned in the second season’s first episode (Tommy mentions that Stacey hasn’t written to him), and is not spoken of again.

Becky Dingle (played by Natalie Vansier)



Becky Dingle is Merton’s younger sister, and a freshman at Pleasantville High. She is embarrassed by Merton and denies his existence--or at the very least, his relation to her.

Becky has a crush on Tommy, but he only sees her as “Beckster.”

Tim Eckert (played by Domenic Di Rosa) and Travis Eckert (played by Rob DeLeeuw)



Tim and Travis Eckert, alternatively known as T’n’T, are dimwitted brothers. They are Tommy’s teammates and bullies (their favourite prey being Merton). T’n’T are obsessed with capturing the Pleasantville werewolf.

Dean Dawkins (played by Jack Mosshammer)



Dean Dawkins is Tommy’s older brother. He is addicted to TV and spends his time in the living-room, watching everything from 60s sitcom classics to infomercials. When Tommy goes to Dean for advice, Dean will reply using examples from his favourite shows (“what would X from TV series Y do?”)

Bob Dawkins (played by Alan Fawcett) and Sally Dawkins (played by Jane Wheeler)



Bob Dawkins, mayor of Pleasantville, is Tommy’s father. Sally Dawkins is a TV news reporter and Tommy’s mother. They only appear in the first season.



Links

BWoC is a tiny fandom, and much of what is out there isn’t of the best quality. The best general info site is Big Wolf on Campus.Org

Jen’s Big Wolf on Campus Fics--see, especially her rundown on BWoC’s slashy moments.

Gothic Bianca’s Werewolf has a few fics. . .

As does Bizarre Love Triangle,

and Delirium.

Vince Fanfiction has some stories about Merton’s psychotic invisible best friend.

The Were and the Goth is a BWoC slash mailing list.

mertonjdingle is a Merton-centric lj community, though it has a heavier focus on squee than fic content.

The biggest source of BWoC fics is Fanfiction.net, but it is heavy on the Mary Sues and bad slash.

I have several BWoC fics up at my own site.

Other author pages will be listed as I rec them.

Comments

[anenko.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting!

Delirium is a lovely looking site--I really like the picture on the front page.

I've considered setting up a BWoC archive myself, but I don't know whether there's interest and fics enough for it.

[mertonfanatic.livejournal.com]

I don't know if there would be much interest in one. Most of the good fic writers don't write BWOC anymore.

There was a big interest in it about 3 years ago, but that was when the show was still on the air. I even started one, but it died quickly. I think the problem is that after the show left the airways the fandom really died down to pretty much nothing. It left us oldbies with not much to go on.

Although lately the fandom has been picking up a bit, however slightly, thanks in part to Danny's band and YTV showing reruns. Although I don't think we'll ever see the in-flood of fics, websites, etc like we did in late 2001-2002.