SFA

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SFA Activities Fair booth in Fall Term 2005

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Alliance (SFA) is Carleton's sci-fi/fantasy club. It is an informal group, without strictly defined membership, and all students are welcome to drop by at Sci-Fi House, attend events, and vote at meetings. Its history as a student organization goes back over 20 years to the Doctor Who Club, founded in 1985.

The SFA has a tight relationship with Sci-Fi House, and sponsors most of the events held there. It also has a moderately active conference on Caucus, for general discussion of sci-fi/fantasy and events, along with spin-off conferences such as Mutant Enemy (for discussion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and other Joss Whedon-related series).

Contents

Events

The SFA regularly holds events open to Carleton students, staff, faculty, and their guests. Typically, there is a "Sci-Friday" showing of TV shows each Friday evening, and an additional event each Saturday, planned at the previous week's Sci-Friday. Games are also frequently played during these events, especially Settlers of Catan. Posters advertising each Saturday's events can be seen across campus each week.

Sci-Friday

The Sci-Friday schedule is determined by vote on the first Friday of each term. The following was the schedule for Spring Term 2006:

ERPL

ERPL (Experimental Role-Playing Laboratory) is a role-playing game event that happens during one weekend each term. Several people announce games that they will moderate, and others sign up for those games. Popular games include Dungeons & Dragons and Deadlands.

History

The SFA traces its roots back more than 20 years, and has undergone numerous format changes and name changes in that time.

The Doctor Who Club

In the fall of 1985, a frosh named Linnea Johnson arrived at Carleton and immediately began to search for other fans of the long-running BBC series Doctor Who. She took out an NNB ad to organize a club devoted to viewing the adventures of the peripatetic Time Lord and managed to get a small group together to watch Doctor Who on Saturday nights as it aired on KTCA (Channel 2) in Myers lounge.

Over the next few years, the Doctor Who Club (often shortened to just Who Club) became a regular weekend fixture in Myers lounge. The group occasionally watched prerecorded episodes of Doctor Who on Friday nights as well as viewing them as they aired on Channel 2 on Saturday nights.

In the fall of 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation began its seven-year run. There was a considerable overlap between Who fans and Trek fans, and the Doctor Who club began viewing Star Trek episodes as well. Not long after the BBC canceled Doctor Who in 1989, Channel 2 ceased airing the show. The Doctor Who Club, however, continued by watching recorded episodes of the series and branching out into other forms of Science Fiction. During the 1989-1990 school year, the club installed a signal enhancer on the Myers TV set to ease the VCR hookup task. Complaints about the device led to its removal and subsequent immortalization on that year's T-Shirt.

The Doctor Who (and Other Types of Science Fiction) Club

From 1990 to 1992, the Doctor Who (and Other Types of Science Fiction) Club continued its existence in various lounges on weekends, watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as it aired at 6pm Saturdays on KARE (Channel 11) and prerecorded episodes of other series. Which dorm lounge was used varied from week to week based on availability, but during the 1990-1991 year was mostly in Myers lounge, and during 1991-1992 the club settled semi-permanently in Watson lounge. The popularity of Star Trek meant that a large number of students would meet to watch the episodes as they aired, and Watson lounge was the only one large enough to handle crowds of that size.

In the spring of 1992, the Doctor Who Club was reorganized into a CSA chartered organization. Blake Bramhall '94 and Karen Swanberg '94 were named co-presidents.

The SFA is Formed

Since the club was no longer regularly viewing Doctor Who, Blake and Karen decided to change its name to the Science Fiction Alliance. Flyers printed up for the Activity Fair in the fall of 1992 included the current SFA logo, and at the first meeting of the year, they announced the name change. There were no objections.

The SFA continued to operate out of Watson Lounge on Saturday nights. The normal viewing schedule for 1992-1993 consisted of Star Trek: The Next Generation as it aired at 6pm, then disbanding and reconvening at 10:30 (allowing other groups to use the lounge in the early evening) for Blake's 7. In January of 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 began airing on Tuesday nights. The episodes were recorded and shown at 7pm on Saturdays. As attendance, especially for the two Star Trek series, continued to grow, the SFA made a push to get an interest house for the next year so they wouldn't have to take over a dorm lounge for a significant amount of time every weekend. The petition was successful, and Residential Life granted them Parr House.

The Parr House Year

Parr House was not the best location for a Science Fiction Interest House, due to its small size and remote location. Therefore, for the 1993-1994 school year, the SFA continued viewing Star Trek: The Next Generation (now in its seventh and final season) in Watson Lounge as it aired at 6pm Saturdays (but now on Channel 29 rather than Channel 11). The crowd for this show often exceeded 75 people, a historical high for the club. Following TNG, those who wished to continue an evening of SF viewing made the trek to Parr House for prerecorded episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Blake's 7, The Prisoner, and two half-hour episodes a week of Doctor Who. When Babylon 5 began regular airing in February, that too was added to the schedule.

Now that it had a regular home, the SFA began keeping a library of donated and loaned science fiction and fantasy books, with approximately 200 books total at this point. A major part of the budget approved by the CSA this year went toward the purchase of a television set and VCR to be owned by the club. Televisions were fairly rare on campus at this point (generally, there was a television in the main lounge of each dorm capable of receiving broadcast signals only, and one TV with a cable hookup in Sayles-Hill, making the SFA a somewhat unique entity.

Cookies were baked each week, most often by alum Fer Horn '92. To subsidize the cost of ingredients, the SFA sold soda/pop for 50 cents a can, earning about 25 cents for each purchase.

The SFA again applied for an interest house the following year. In their application, they cited high attendance figures and inadequate space in Parr as motivation for getting a house with a larger living room. Res Life agreed, and granted the group Berg House.

The Berg House Years

1994-1995

During this school year, for the first time since the club's inception, no local television station was showing science fiction on Saturday nights. Despite this, the SFA continued viewing recorded shows every Saturday night in Berg House, with attendance (for Babylon 5 in particular) regularly topping 40 people. They successfully petitioned Res Life to get cable installed in the house-this was a controversial decision since at the time, the only cable TV on college property was in Sayles-Hill, and watching television was considered antithetical to studying. However, as the SFA was charged with archiving SF shows, and broadcast reception from the Twin Cities was unreliable, SF House was allowed this unique luxury. A Wednesday-night Story Hour was organized, wherein people read short stories-some of them self-penned. Among those in attendance at Story Hour was Naomi Kritzer '95, who lived in the house this year and is now a published fantasy author. The SFA library grew dramatically this year thanks in large part to donations from the Northfield Public Library. Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Babylon 5
  • The Prisoner
  • Blake's 7
  • Doctor Who
  • The X-Files (usually on Friday nights)

1995-1996

The SFA celebrated its tenth anniversary during this year. It was again centered in Berg House, with SF viewings nearly every Saturday night, with other events on most Friday nights. Among the Friday events this year were two science-fiction themed dance parties (both DJ'ed by house resident Chris Johnson '96) and a round-table discussion with Twin Cities science fiction and fantasy authors Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Pat Wrede '74, and Pamela Dean '75. (Steven Brust was also invited but forgot about the event and went to a poker game instead.) Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • The X-Files
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Babylon 5
  • Star Trek: Voyager (after it premiered in January)
  • Doctor Who (4-hour marathons on alternate Fridays)

1996-1997

During this year, the SFA was once again centered in Berg House. Attendance at the regular Saturday events (and occasional Fridays) began to drop, averaging around 10 people (including a few alums). However, the library had by then reached the point where it could no longer be held on shelves in Berg House's living room, so an old storage room (nicknamed "The Den of Iniquity" or "The Pit of Despair" for its unappealing, mildewed walls) was remodeled, cleaned up, and turned into the library. Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Babylon 5
  • Star Trek: Voyager
  • Doctor Who

1997-1998

This was a watershed year for interest houses. Despite the decreased attendance at SFA events, the SFA was once again granted Berg House for this year. However, other long-standing interest houses, specifically Women's Awareness House and Black House, did not receive houses. These (and other) houses that were designed for establishing a cultural comfort zone for students felt that they should have precedence over those (such as Science Fiction House) that existed for purely entertainment reasons. A task force on Interest Houses was formed that year, which resulted in the creation of Institutional Houses. Meanwhile, the SFA had been granted Berg on probation due to the drop in attendance the previous year. Attendance failed to improve for the regular Friday and Saturday night events, and (especially with fewer houses available due to the creation of Institutional Houses), the SFA's request for a house the following year was denied. At the end of the year, the library, now approaching 1,000 volumes, was dismantled and moved into storage. Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Babylon 5
  • Star Trek: Voyager

The Year of Exile

In 1998-1999, the SFA made a concerted effort to increase publicity and attendance at their events. The library, though kept in boxes in Campus Activities, was still accessible thanks to the efforts of several students, especially Nathanael Nerode '00. Northfield Option student Waren Overholt '99 kept the television in his apartment and trucked it to events weekly. Meetings were held in numerous dorm lounges, including those in Evans and Nourse, but most commonly the meetings were held in the basement of Watson and in The Cave. The SFA again petitioned Res Life for a house the following year, and were granted Benton House. Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Babylon 5
  • Star Trek: Voyager
  • The Vision of Escaflowne (an anime series)
  • Crusade

The Benton House Years

1999-2000

The SFA's 15th anniversary year was the first celebrated in Benton House. An extreme housing crunch happened this year, as the incoming Class of 2004 was much larger than anticipated. Despite this, the SFA was able to turn one of the rooms in Benton, a double, into the home for the library. In addition to regular SF and anime viewings, several non-television events occurred, including a "feast" wherein students and alums served food from or inspired by science fiction and fantasy, such as breen, gazpacho soup, gagh, and Nanny Ogg's Banananana Surprise. Shows watched regularly this year included:

  • Star Trek: Voyager (?)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (?)

2000-2001

Benton House continued to be the home of the SFA this year, though attendance at the regular Friday and Saturday night meetings began to drop again. Shows watched regularly this year included:

  • Star Trek: Voyager (?)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (?)

2001-2002

This year, the SFA was again granted Benton House, but on probation. Res Life cited, among other factors, a lack of advertising as their reason for probation. The group reacted by running perhaps more events than ever before and advertising like mad. In addition to Sci-fi Saturday, taped radio shows (The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Star Wars) were played in the library on Wednesdays during Winter and Spring terms. Enterprise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were not regularly viewed on weekends, but were instead taped for the library's collection and held reserved time slots as they aired on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Friday nights were usually occupied with a special event. The SFA helped run ERPL (the Experimental Role Playing Laboratory) twice. The count of library books approached an amazing 2000, and new shelves had to be added to the library to accommodate the collection. Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • The Prisoner
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation

2002-2003

The SFA was again granted Benton house this year, off probation. The usual Sci-Fi Saturday line-up of shows was moved to Friday evenings and was re-named Sci-Friday. Saturday was reserved for more unique events each week, including the Halloween Party, the Star Wars Drinking Game movie marathon and others. This year the SFA held a radio show on KRLX. The SFA Radio show included sci-fi related music, news, Klingon Phrase of the Week, and aired radio shows such as The Hobbit and The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The SFA also helped run ERPL again this year. Shows regularly watched this year included:

  • The Prisoner

2003-2004

This year, the SFA operated out of Benton House for a fifth year. The tradition of Sci-Friday and saturday events continued this year. Special events included the a trip to the Minnesota Ren Fest, The Back to the Future Drinking game, and Halloween party. The SFA radio show also continued this year. Shows regularly viewed this year included:

  • Stargate: SG-1
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Smallville

2004-2005

For the this school year, Benton continued to be the SFA's home. Sci-Friday and Saturday evens continued as they had for the past two years. However, there was no revival of the SFA radio show. By this year the library had grown beyond its self capacity once again. A new shelf was added and a book sale was held to clear out some of the redundant titles. The sale was quite sucessful and the money made was used to buy new books that the library lacked. Shows regularly viewed this year included:

  • Buffy The Vampire Slayer
  • Xena: Warrior Princess
  • Quantum Leap
  • Doctor Who

2005-2006

The SFA celebrated its 20th anniversary as a club at Carleton as of this school year, and continued to use Benton House as its home base. Shows regularly viewed this year included:

2006-2007

Sci-Fi house continues to operate out of Benton House as of the current school year. The house now boasts a 50" flatscreen TV, replacing the previous television set that was purchased by the SFA in 1993. House events were affected by a Carleton administration ruling that TV and movie showings could no longer be advertised without permission from the copyright holders, but it continued to hold events throughout the year.

  • Battlestar Galactica
  • Firefly
  • Cowboy Bebop
  • X-Files
  • Futurama
  • Dungeons and Dragons (cartoon series)
  • Stargate Atlantis

Sci-Fi/Fantasy alumni authors

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.carlwiki.org/SFA"
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