What qualifies as a fan these days?

Star Wars fever sweeps the nation in '77

When I was a little kid, I got caught up in all the hype and fanfare over Star Wars. It was a cultural moment. I got toys, comics, books, the works. Later on I even played the RPG and bought miniatures to go with it. 

I read a ton of sci-fi as a teenager, and watched all (most) of the Star Trek shows. I watched Doctor Who as a kid, too, from around age 6 or 7.

And then... it all kind of faded away. I stopped reading sci-fi, stopped playing RPGs and boardgames, stopped watching the TV shows. 

Over COVID, I picked up some RPGs and boardgames again, and watched the Trek I'd missed decades ago. 

Do I still qualify as a fan? 

I had (have?) this card

I think I did as a teenager, and while I still love the original era of Star Wars and Star Trek and Doctor Who (some of which is better not rewatched lest the nostalgia goggles fail), I've never really jibed with the newer installments. I liked the new Doctor, but it was never quite as good as the old stuff. Or perhaps more to the point, I was no longer as impressionable and open to it. 

The media we consume between say, 8 and 18, can have a greater impact than anything subsequent. Our minds are sponges. We soak up everything we can and then seek out more. 

For some people, this never ends. They remain hard core fans their whole lives. 

If I think, hey, I'm a fan of X franchise, I can look over (on the Internets, it's figurative, just roll with me) at uber fans who live and breathe it. I still have some books and merchandise. They have the pajamas, compendiums, encyclopedias, costumes, games, books, films, fan films, their own podcast, tattoos, etcetera. 

Now THAT'S a fan

My enthusiasm pales by comparison to insignificance. Can I still call myself a fan? 

Given that 'fan' is derived from 'fanatic', maybe not. 

The awesome Hildebrandt poster, painted at the last minute on next to no reference, was on my door for years.

Franchises are story machine loops, constantly cycling, the same but different, running decade after decade. Eventually, we start to cotton on to how they work. How many times did they blow up the Death Star? How many times did the transporter get blocked by a magnetic storm or barrier or what have you? How many times did a paradox blow up a computer? How many times were they separated from the TARDIS? How many times did the ally turn out to be the enemy? How many times did Kirk get his shirt off?

You get the idea.

The most impactful material is what you first ingest, because that's the freshest, even if it isn't. Fresh is relative. A ten year old watching a tired old show will think the new stuff is the bomb because they haven't soaked up the previous 40 years of material yet. 

So... I like certain franchises, and within them, I like certain eras, largely because that's what I first saw. Of course, they're also better than any other era, I mean obviously, but it's a waste of energy trying to convince others of that.