The history of the Kitten

[drlloyd11]

Hello,
I'm an old timer and I have been putting together a history of the Kitten, especially the 2000-2002 era. I was going to cover the spoiler world, the feud with the Bronze, the Cliche, the good times, and all that. I will be putting it in this thread for a time, and expanding it. If I get anything wrong, please let me know, and if you have anything to add or correct I would love to hear it.
Feel free to Chime in with any comments.
The rough outline is as follows

1."Did you see that on Buffy?, who was that girl?"
2.New moon rising and the first spoilers
3."these spoilers all suck"
4.The first summer.
5.Counting the air time..
6. There is no number 6
7.The Body to The Gift.. the salad days of death and madness
8.Herc the jerk..the first bad spoilers
9.The kitten video game (yes , really)
--update-- while the author of the game dropped off with serious mental health problems after the death of his mother in 2005(skwirle) I may have found the last copy of the game. I would love to find him..
I put it up at http://www.mediafire.com/?91tfcm655q84182 have fun..
10.The spoiler hunt is on
11. Huddling together for support by the pale glow of chat.
12.I become a spoiler queen
13."Who told you this?"
14. False Hope.. over his dead body..
15."Fuck..Fuck..Fuck"
16.Waiting for the bad news
16.5: xita rocks
17. Kaboom
18. The cool kids at the Bronze
19. The succubus club and how to be a jerk to your fans
20. Revenge!
20.5 :Xita rocks II
21. The Trollhammers..sworn to avenge Tara or just ruin the bronze
22.The Advocate and media
22.5:Moonlight rising..my brief moment of pseudo-lebrity.
23. Steve Deknight says "oops"
24. Joss says "oops"
25. The end of the show
26. Joss kisses up
27. Today

28. The missing Kittens
I have more, but this is the rough outline. It will take about 4 weeks to finish it, but I will have daily installments, but in the order they are finished. So 18 may be written before 5 for example. I will include screen shots and emails when I can, and will probably make all my old spoiler sources get fired
Let me know what you think

[gorn]

I think this is one of the most wonderful things I've seen on the Kittenboard in a while. Wish I'd been there back in the day, but I'd love to read about what it was really like. Looking forward to this.

[drlloyd11]

Prologue:
Before I start I this I feel like I need to write about the worst part first. There will be lots of happy and interesting, but I need to get this out.

Season 5 of Buffy was from "The Body" to "The Gift" not only one of the best runs of episodes but it was the best time to be a Kitten.
Every episode seemed to show a new depth to their love and make what we had only imagined seeing about a year ago a reality. It was freaking great.
After the end of Season 5 when they show was going to move to UPN at the height of its critical success we were over joyed. There was talk of two more spin offs, a looser standard on displays of affection, and above all the promise that the girls were at a perfect place. They had a fight and survived, Tara was hurt and they saved her, Willow got powerful and pretty bad ass in her defense. Some of the most romantic lines I had heard were between the girls.
Spoilers before the had mostly been incorrect. Only a handful had been right, and most had be wildly off or poor readings of scraps of script.
But on July 4, before I headed out to an amusement park, I saw there were new spoilers had been posted by "Aint it cool news", a fanboy website know for its gushing praise of everyshow ever. When I looked, I saw a list of spoilers of intense detail all the way to the end of season 6. Normally spoilers had at most a 2 or 3 episode lead, and were vague predictions of doom or unlikely guest starts. This looked odd..

and then I saw this..
.
That looked unlikely, where was Tara?

and then I saw this

and my blood got cold. I was struck by the kind of feeling you get when you realize things are Not Going To Be OK. That maybe you failed the test, or you ran over a median or took the wrong dose.

But that was impossible, how could this half-wit know all that? And didn't Joss sing the praise of Witchy love for months, and basked in our love?
This seemed ridiculous, but somehow...I could not dismiss it all.
So the start of many many troubled days began on a bright summer day. Even after the fireworks it was still nagging in my head
"How could any of this be true"?

[JustSkipIt]

Wow. I still get that sinking feeling in my stomach when I read those spoilers even though they are so far from spoilers now. Amazing. Also - I think maybe your second image is not the one you meant to link. It is the same as the first?

[drlloyd11]

Thanks! It's corrected now.
Did you watch the show at the time?

Wow. I still get that sinking feeling in my stomach when I read those spoilers even though they are so far from spoilers now. Amazing. Also - I think maybe your second image is not the one you meant to link. It is the same as the first?

[Babbles4Twillow]

This is awesome. I'm fairly new to the board, and always wished that I had found it way back when. I always wondered what it was like to be a Kitten when the show was actually on.

[WebWarlock]

Hey Dr. Lloyd!

From one old-timer to another, welcome back!

Neat to see all this history again. Some of it I have forgotten, others I only wish I had forgotten.

Looking forward to seeing all of this unfold.

Tim

[Azirahael]

God, i can feel it!

A lot of this is remembered pain for me, in some ways it's brand new. Still not sure why a simple TV show (even a good one) affected me like this.

Keep up the good work, this is like techno-archaeology.

I will definitely be watching with interest.

Nice to see Webwarlock is still around.
Hi!
Really enjoyed your Dark Druid and Dragon & Phoenix work.

[WebWarlock]

Azirahael,

Thanks so much! Lots of history here at the Kitten. We did some good things.

Tim

[drlloyd11]

The group banner said
This is an adults-only list for those who believe that something is starting to happen between Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fanfic, subtext discussions, and other craziness dedicated to *the* new couple of the season. You must be a legal adult to join.
This was the original Kitten board.
Its still there on yahoo groups. There is no mod anymore, the last one's email is bouncing, and there is no way to promote from within.
The board is overrun like a vacant lot with thousands of messages serving as spam, there has not been a "real" post since 2007.
But it started there.

The first post was on January 31, 2000 by "Mister D" who said

As for any subtext. I feel there is some there. We saw willow cast spells with
giles and her little coven of Amy and Michael. And there was no connection like
Willow had with Tara with the few spells they worked together.

the next poster was a bit more daring

I thought the Tara/Willow interaction in this episode was amazing! There is
no doubt in my mind now that Tara has a crush on Willow. It was so cute when
she was trying to give Willow the crystal. Then, when Willow showed up at her
door, the look on her face was so cute! What can I say? I really like Tara
and I think she's perfect for Willow.

The first fan-fic was called "A New Love" and it was made after "The I in team" and it
was quite chaste and they literally only held hands and were "friends".

When Hush aired I came home late and my better half told me she had taped Buffy and said
there was something I might find interesting. I was already a huge fan of the show, but I was never a shipper
and was not invested in any character. I loved the characters, it felt like people who you wish you knew in High School.
The reminder of a small group of friends trying to stick together in a hostile world, but that was all. Your friends.
I watched the episode and saw them hold hands for the spell. I rewound and checked again. Maybe it was
something? But TV shows did this all the time. Stunt casting. I was not convinced she would even appear again.
Amber Benson was so mysterious to us at the time. There was no streaming video or anything so unless you caught
"bye bye love" or "the crush" on cable you didn't know her at all.
But we were all so fascinated. I remember us all speculating and asking questions and gossiping.
A video clip of a short interview she did for "Hollywood,PA" showed up and because of bad editing it left the impression she might even be gay. But not much else. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/willtara/message/808
In retrospect, this was like the start of love. When you deny anything is going on and it's all casual, but you find your self fascinated with every thing
she did and her every quirk catches your breath, She was not in the next episode "Doomed" , and I assumed that was it. That it was just a fluke.

But she showed up again in "The I in team", and while she had so little air time it made the tiny bit so fascinating. The mystery of it all.
I would guess maybe 10% of the people expected her to stay, and even less stay with Willow. But everyone hoped it.
It was like a stream that started into a river,

[Azirahael]

Tim: Doing good things. We're still here and still going strong.

Kittens forever!

[WebWarlock]

Yes! That is very true.

I plan to interject my own experiences when Dr.Lloyd gets up to them. At this point in the narrative I was Willow/Tara fan, but had not discovered the Kitten yet.

Tim

[Azirahael]

Looking forward to it man, looking forward to it!

[xita]

The group banner said
This is an adults-only list for those who believe that something is starting to happen between Willow and Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fanfic, subtext discussions, and other craziness dedicated to *the* new couple of the season. You must be a legal adult to join.
This was the original Kitten board.
Its still there on yahoo groups. There is no mod anymore, the last one's email is bouncing, and there is no way to promote from within.
The board is overrun like a vacant lot with thousands of messages serving as spam, there has not been a "real" post since 2007.
But it started there.

The first post was on January 31, 2000 by "Mister D" who said

As for any subtext. I feel there is some there. We saw willow cast spells with
giles and her little coven of Amy and Michael. And there was no connection like
Willow had with Tara with the few spells they worked together.

the next poster was a bit more daring

I thought the Tara/Willow interaction in this episode was amazing! There is
no doubt in my mind now that Tara has a crush on Willow. It was so cute when
she was trying to give Willow the crystal. Then, when Willow showed up at her
door, the look on her face was so cute! What can I say? I really like Tara
and I think she's perfect for Willow.

The first fan-fic was called "A New Love" and it was made after "The I in team" and it
was quite chaste and they literally only held hands and were "friends".

When Hush aired I came home late and my better half told me she had taped Buffy and said
there was something I might find interesting. I was already a huge fan of the show, but I was never a shipper
and was not invested in any character. I loved the characters, it felt like people who you wish you knew in High School.
The reminder of a small group of friends trying to stick together in a hostile world, but that was all. Your friends.
I watched the episode and saw them hold hands for the spell. I rewound and checked again. Maybe it was
something? But TV shows did this all the time. Stunt casting. I was not convinced she would even appear again.
Amber Benson was so mysterious to us at the time. There was no streaming video or anything so unless you caught
"bye bye love" or "the crush" on cable you didn't know her at all.
But we were all so fascinated. I remember us all speculating and asking questions and gossiping.
A video clip of a short interview she did for "Hollywood,PA" showed up and because of bad editing it left the impression she might even be gay. But not much else.
In retrospect, this was like the start of love. When you deny anything is going on and it's all casual, but you find your self fascinated with every thing
she did and her every quirk catches your breath, She was not in the next episode "Doomed" , and I assumed that was it. That it was just a fluke.

But she showed up again in "The I in team", and while she had so little air time it made the tiny bit so fascinating. The mystery of it all.
I would guess maybe 10% of the people expected her to stay, and even less stay with Willow. But everyone hoped it.
It was like a stream that started into a river,

I don't remember using yahoo groups for anything more than chat, if you linked me, I could even tell you if that is actually our board. I know the group I later made for chat is still there and I still have ownership. So most of that early history is lost because it was in chat. It was where the board was born. I did lose my old yahoo account and that's probably the group that you are talking about, now that I think about it.

The kitten FAQ actually gives you a pretty accurate early account:

Kitten FAQ[/center]

1. Why is it called The Kitten The Witches and The Bad Wardrobe?
A bit of history: The Kitten, as we affectionately call it, is a board dedicated to Willow and Tara from the show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It has its beginning in the willtara mailing list. When Tara first showed up on Buffy some of us saw the chemistry right away. Shortly a mailing list was created. The more dedicated (read obsessed) began chatting regularly. A dissatisfaction with the chat software at egroups (then onelist) led a few to flee to Yahoo. Many a night were spent on Yahoo chat groups discussing the minutiae of the show. Zelda and xita grew tired of not having all the wonderful thoughts saved. We were also frustrated with the lack of leadership on willtara. A quick decision led to the creation of the board at inside the web in the summer of 2000 (problems there led us to Novogate in September 2000, thank you ITW). We would like to thank everyone on chat that night when we all voted on the name. You will never know how many names we came up with before settling on The Kitten (Miss Kitty Fantastico), the Witches (Willow and Tara, surprise!) and the Bad Wardrobe (just look at basically everything Willow and Tara have ever worn). The name is of course inspired by the book report about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that Willow was going to do during her dream sequence in the episode “Restless”. Anyway, mainly we created the board to continue building the bonds of the community we have found through Willow and Tara. Your moderators would like to say that in the years we have spent online we have never found a better community. Willow and Tara bring out the best in us. After a couple of changes in moderators, the Kitten is now in the hands of DrG, bytrsuite, maudmac and xita. The community grew and became 2 forums, the Kitten and Different Colored Pens. The growth spurt was not done and eventually we were kicked off Novogate because they couldn't handle our traffic. We went to ezboard in a quick haste in March of 2002 and kept on growing; in April 2005 we finally grew tired of the ezboard gremlins and moved onto our own space.

I think it was Shay in specific who came up with the name and we all agreed it rocked. Also there are a few of us, Bob included, who also spotted each other in the Buffy Cross and Stake board and gravitated towards each other.

I'd like the good times remembered, we all know how it went after that. I was so involved then. There were days when I barely slept. I thought I was going to pass out at work. That made the crash soo much more worse. I vowed never to get so involved in a fandom again. My wife let me now any way but lol, it's been a fairly easy promise to keep. Once in a lifetime. Kittens were always around to chat, we were up at 5 AM on Sundays to catch the earliest spoilers. And the day Kajun made those kiss caps for us, is a day I will never forget. The joy of a Sunday morning with beautiful w/t kissing pictures to stare at. We thought it would never happen but there it was, proof!

I also remember crying at work because drlloyd confirmed the Tara dies spoiler. Ugh. I have never cried at work for any reason, my friend asked me what was wrong, I had to admit that I was crying over a fictional character's death. But it was sooo much more than that. I knew it would change the community forever. I can't even say that I am not over that. It's hard to not remember it. It's hard to think of Willow and Tara without thinking of that.

[drlloyd11]

I also remember crying at work because drlloyd confirmed the Tara dies spoiler. Ugh. I have never cried at work for any reason, my friend asked me what was wrong, I had to admit that I was crying over a fictional character's death. But it was sooo much more than that. I knew it would change the community forever. I can't even say that I am not over that. It's hard to not remember it. It's hard to think of Willow and Tara without thinking of that.

I thought this too, but then I started looking around and interviewing people and I think this reaction was something off the charts.
A very common thing I have got from the interviews is comments like
"it was the most unique experience ever"
"to this day there's never been anything like it and I've dallied in a lot of fandoms"
"I felt silly that I was so angry and upset, that no one understood"
"I felt like a real death"
Its been almost ten years and people said that to me Last week.

This was special

[Azirahael]

I also remember crying at work because drlloyd confirmed the Tara dies spoiler. Ugh. I have never cried at work for any reason, my friend asked me what was wrong, I had to admit that I was crying over a fictional character's death. But it was sooo much more than that. I knew it would change the community forever. I can't even say that I am not over that. It's hard to not remember it. It's hard to think of Willow and Tara without thinking of that.

I thought this too, but then I started looking around and interviewing people and I think this reaction was something off the charts.
A very common thing I have got from the interviews is comments like
"it was the most unique experience ever"
"to this day there's never been anything like it and I've dallied in a lot of fandoms"
"I felt silly that I was so angry and upset, that no one understood"
"I felt like a real death"
Its been almost ten years and people said that to me Last week.

This was special

Yeah, this is me. it happened/is happening to me and i just don't understand it.
I've never felt like this about ANYTHING, and that includes the death of real people that i know well.
To this day, when i watch one of those Willow/Tara music clip vids on youtube if they include THAT scene, it's like a dagger to the heart.
And i can't even explain it to my friends. You either get it and don't need an explanation, or you don't and no explanation gets the point across.

I only sorta watched the series the first time round 'cos it was on at a stupid time for me. i remember liking Willow & Tara and waiting for them to bring her back, i mean others come back, why not her? when it became obvious that she wasn't coming back i just stopped watching.

Recently i started watching the series again, saw a bunch of episodes i had never seen before (Young dorky Willow is so cute!)
And when i saw THAT scene again i cried, and signed up to become a Kitten immediately and still have no idea what happens in series 7.
Because i needed cuddles and Willow/Tara alright-ness.

that having been said, here's a happy one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVSUAfCHFvs
I guarantee safety and fun

Allow me to add: Kittens gayly forward! Willow and Tara forever!

[WebWarlock]

"it was the most unique experience ever"
"to this day there's never been anything like it and I've dallied in a lot of fandoms"
"I felt silly that I was so angry and upset, that no one understood"
"I felt like a real death"
Its been almost ten years and people said that to me Last week.

Each and everyone of those quotes could have been said by me.

Others I have heard:
"There is a Willow & Tara sized hole in my life"
and my own
"It was rare alchemy. A lot of things came together just right and it's not likely to happen ever again."

Tim

[Kajun]

I'd like the good times remembered, we all know how it went after that. I was so involved then. There were days when I barely slept. I thought I was going to pass out at work. That made the crash soo much more worse. I vowed never to get so involved in a fandom again. My wife let me now any way but lol, it's been a fairly easy promise to keep. Once in a lifetime. Kittens were always around to chat, we were up at 5 AM on Sundays to catch the earliest spoilers. And the day Kajun made those kiss caps for us, is a day I will never forget. The joy of a Sunday morning with beautiful w/t kissing pictures to stare at. We thought it would never happen but there it was, proof!

Oh Yes! I remember being completely floored and thinking: “OMG.. This is HUGE!” I was shaking so bad trying to make caps and got all paranoid about messing up posting them. So.. I turned to the one person I knew would make sure screencaps of Willow and Tara’s first kiss made it safely to the Kitten. (Yes, Xita Rocks!) It was fitting that this very special community was the first place in the entire internet to have visual confirmation. My heart nearly burst with excitement and pure happiness. I knew what it would mean, not just for W/T fans, but for all of society. Good times indeed!

[Redsbird]

This is fantastic! I'm mostly a lurker these days, but still check the board frequently. I wasn't around for the early Kitten days, but find the history exciting. Ahhh, to be involved so deeply with a fandom *sigh* I was more involved with 'Xena' when it was on, so I understand some of the mailing list dynamics! Thanks fo doing this Dr Lloyd!

[drlloyd11]

I went online to find if I was right,wrong, or deluded. I would claim if I was asked that I was just "curious"
and had no interest in the outcome.
What I saw was that a lot of people picked up on what I saw, but a lot more were not so happy.
A typical thread was titled "Why the Willow thing would suck" and lines like
“and I think that there are some people who want to see a lesbian
relationship any time there are two females in the same room.”

and
"I watched "Hush" last night and didn't derive any lesbian hinting whatsoever. "
and that it was all "PC bullshit".
I did notice one particularly passionate defender of the cause named Xita who wouldn't take any crap.
[url]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/willtara/message/198[/url]
I remember Xita, who I was pretty sure was a Chinese grad student ...Maybe in Math..

So I went away for a while longer.
Then an event that would draw me to two important beliefs was for me was when Joss posted on the "Bronze" that
", Willow and Tara's relationship is definitely
romantic"
and
"We're not going to do an ALLY or PARTY OF5 in which we
promote the hell out of a same sex relationship for exploitation value "

This meant there were important two things.
One that Joss Whedon meant it to be what I saw, and he was promising to be different.
And Two was I began to trust him. Not just on the show but on his beliefs. I felt like his word, even in jest, was something like a contract with the fans.
Idiot.
Years later after the July 4 spoilers I looked back at fan reaction of this event for signs of the future of w/t shippers. It wasn't good. The "Willow/Oz" people got mad online, ranted, and then forgot about it and moved on. It really was not that important to them.
I think that was a big fear of mine later, that it would just vanish.
Looking back as well I saw signs of what was to come.
- Joss posting on a board of syncophants.
- Giving his "Word From On High"
- He was so sure of his ideas.
But then I was just happy.
But I was now also in the game. I wanted to see love even if I had no idea
how they would show it. I mean it was impossible they would let her stay.
But when she gave Willow the Dolls eye it struck a cord. It was love for both of us.
Hereafter I discover angst

[urnofosiris]

Just when you think you are out, they pull you back in... So nice to look at this beautiful soothing dark blue board again. Thank you Brad and of course Xita! And now I will start acting like a proper poster and read the thread before I post again...

[WebWarlock]

Yeah! It's like getting the band back together!

Where is Warduke?

Tim

[urnofosiris]

I wish I knew, he should be here...

[drlloyd11]

--updated--

Here is what I have so far


-found rallyv
-found annenke but we have not talked long
-found urn of osiris and spoke briefly
-found tara22 -she visited the board once,and now is exchanging email with me.
-found bob B that was easy--Intereviewed him for 2 hours for this
-found stepehbooth
-found ben varkentine
-found ammeke
-found rally
-found Kieli

found 3 (now 4) of my old spoiler sources
I am going to try to have a spoiler round table in a chat, so we can all dish.


found but not spoken to
-hugin_len
-dumbsaint
-
found but no word back yet
tommo27 (ruth is the grail on this one)--maybe
the kitten facebook page people. --found
dana_cory e has a radio show in SF now.

Still looking
-lord bowler--found..talked a bit
scifiacid-found via youtube
-froggyfrog
-rona24 (a good friend )---updated.. she just sent me an IM a few minutes ago Happy dance.

-skywrle ..not a kitten , but the guy who make the mkf game. I have made a copy available, but he
feel into deep depression after his mother died, and just vansihed in spite my attempts otherwise
-There are few people who hosted small movies on their sites of W/T and the Kitty.


Tell me what you know about someone, and I will do what I can.

And please look at the photo I posted and let me know who is who:)
Thanks!

[Azirahael]

I gotta say, i love the nostalgia, i love that some of the old guard are still around, i love that some things are too good to let die.

I must admit, as much as i have been curious about those times (I came to Buffy only recently... sorta) i have been hesitant about asking anything 'cos i don't wanna open old wounds, y'know?

Not helped by the fact that when i joined, i asked so many questions about FAQ and THAT episode that one of the mods grumped at me
( i had an attack of ego, wow, could i have been any more noob-ish?)

I guess what i'm saying is that this thread looks to answer all my questions, let me feel a little bit included in the kitten history, and be a bit cathartic of all the pain.

Sorry if i keep bangin' on, it's just that i'm sorta now where you guys 'n' gals were all those years ago and there's no-one else to talk about it with...

yahya choda! long live the fighters!

[Delenn]

Just jumping in here to say that I know Buffy in general and Willow and Tara specifically have a special place in our hearts. After all these years, it is nice to see a revisiting of this board.

While I was a Kitten for a time, I was actually more of an observer (I moved onto Angel and another ship). My husband (Drlloyd11), however, stuck with the Kitten through the thick of it all.

I also remember meeting several Kittens when we went to the Buffy convention of Doom...food poisoning, sickness and creepiness!

[drlloyd11]

New post on friday...sleep

[xita]

I wish I knew, he should be here...

What's that on your head? Did you turn devil on me?

I know Brian is around. I wish I still chatted, but you know, married life!

[Candleshoe]

I'm enjoying lurking this thread - it's like Kittens Reunited!

[urnofosiris]

What's that on your head? Did you turn devil on me?

I look evil and menacing don't I? My horns are wee little coffee milk cups that one of my dearest friends glued onto my head with spit and then proceeded to take a picture for all the world to see, so naturally I look a bit dejected...if he is here he should post, or at the very least add me as a friend on facebook...