I have been thinking about something like this since I read about the Operation Life Support folks getting the custom t-shirts (small compensation, considering what they
didn't get
). Some sort of rolling credit list would be great. Not only would it impress the hell out of our friends, but after all we've been through, it sort of needs to be in the history books, if only as a footnote. A sort of MSCL DVD Veterans Memorial Wall...
(The distant future) A couple of scruffy old vagabonds sit on a bench outside a shopping mall. They are wearing threadbare, faded MSCL shirts and are clutching rusty lunchboxes. A young man walks briskly out of the mall, holding a bag from the entertainment store. One of the derelicts gets up and hobbles toward the youth. "Leave the kid alone, it ain't worth it!", calls his companion. "He
has to know!", barks the first, grabbing the youngster with surprising strength.
"You think it's all so easy, eh, young'n? Anytime, you can just waltz up to the automated vendor, drop in a few coins, and presto! All your favorite holovid programs on one little isolinear rod, in living 3-D! But you don't know what it was like back then, for us! You don't know the
hell we went through to pave the way for ungrateful punks like you! I remember it like it was yesterday... Of course, I wasn't around when they raised the first army, in '95 I think, to fight the network. Many thousands strong they were, and hell bent on their task, but the network was stronger then. Those were sad years that followed, wandering from channel to channel, getting our fixes where we could. Aye, there was VHS here and there, bootlegs mostly, but 'twas slim pickings. In 2000 we 'ad the first glimmer of real hope: the entire series on DVD! Yes that's when I joined the cause. Pity, that battle was over before it began; we pulled out with just three eps! Now I was lost, blind in the smoke, but little did I know the others were already regrouping! By 'ought-two they were on the offensive again and soon I heard the drums and fell in step. Ah, that was a fine regiment, to be sure, but the worst was yet to come!
Listen! The campaign went well, at first, and we thought we could see a June victory, but 'twas not so. The march dragged on and our casualties mounted: first the double charges, then threes and fours! Poor communications broke up the ranks, and spies lurked among us. I was one of the lucky ones, only grazed for twenty bucks. Maybe sensible folks would have quit then and there, but we pressed on! Success was nigh at hand, and
still our enemies fought us tooth and claw, flinging shipping problems in our path. Yet our triumph was inevitable, if dearly bought: some of us didn't make it. No one remembers us now; these rusty tins are about the only proof left that we ever took the field."
The old man slackens his grip on the youth, wide-eyed with terror and wonder.
"Why do you think we stuck with it, my boy? For the show? Aye, it was great, yes, but that wasn't the only reason. No, lad, we fought so
you wouldn't have to."
The old campaigner collapses, crying. His friend walks over and lays a hand on his shoulder.
"It's OK, man. Let it go. The pre-order's over, man. It ended a long time ago."
Perhaps that was a tad bit melodramatic, but I can dream, can't I?
