Heard a pipe, thought of you

I've been a Beauty and the Beast fan from day one, broadcast one. Of course, I fell for Vincent and Catherine at first sight. I watched the show accidentally, because it aired after a news blurb about the pending fates of the Loew’s Brook and Delman Theaters. It tapped into my goofy love affair with Lost Causes — and my deep suspicion "The Third Level" by Jack Finney is real. In my mind, Beauty and the Beast became linked to everything magical in this life. In the real world, I was being stalked by a sociopath; in the tunnel world, I was safe. In the real world, the powers that be conspired to tear down the last two remaining neighborhood movie theaters in my city; in the tunnels, they preserved books and music and ideals as a matter of course. Above, there was ugliness. Below there was romance and comfort. And pipes. There was always the sound of pipes.

They tore down the Delman the day "A Happy Life" first aired. I have a tape of the original broadcast fronted by a special news story about my childhood friend. It was apt. Memories of the last balcony segued into "A Happy Life." It made me believe that we could save her sister theater and that the fairy tale would go on forever. Of course, we couldn't and it didn't and I got the hell out of Dodge.

But the romance that was Vincent and Catherine stayed with me and shaped me somehow. "You can take the girl out of the tunnels, but you can't take the tunnels out of the girl."

BATB fandom was different in those early days. It was more trusting and less political. Before season three, fandom was solidly united by the one goal of saving Beauty and the Beast. After season three, it became sharply divided and remains so until this day. I dropped out of BATB fandom before I could really become heavily involved because of the central conflict. Every once in a while, I would make stabs at connecting with fellow fans only to drop out again because of the wonkiness. I've never been to a BATB con because of the rabidity — and frankly I have a low tolerance for conflict. What memorabilia I own came from Trek con dealer's rooms or from the secondary market.

Beauty and the Beast fandom isn't like Star Trek fandom at all. Trek fandom was and is IDIC. (IDIC= Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.)

But by all accounts (mine included) the early days of Beauty and the Beast were halcyon.

You must understand, Beauty and the Beast is more than a TV show to me. It is the one connection I have with my Spent Youth — and the secondary line of demarcation of who I was Before. Vincent and Catherine belong to that place of dreams most secret and the land of should have been. I suppose I could connect Catherine's death by injection to the Morpheus the God of dreams, but that would a cop out and a lie. Like mine, her life was stolen. Together, we slipped into an irreparable and dreamless twilight.

By nature, dreams do not die a peaceful death. As my own life has subsequently proven, dreams don't die at all.

Beauty and the Beast, Vincent and Catherine, the tunnels — they are all living, breathing extensions of a shared vision. It may not be perfect, but it's ours. All of ours. Classic and not. V&C and not. Only Pascal remains neutral. He sends all of our messages down the line and out into the world. If only the rest of life were that simple.