Okay, so anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that “revealing my inner fangirl” is something that I do quite a bit. Actually, I’m not even certain that there is anything “inner” about my fangirl.

I also had the odd and marvelous luck of attracting the attention of my editor at Berkley, Cindy Hwang, because we shared the same fangirl desire: namely, a deep and abiding need for Batman and Wonder Woman to fall in love, strip off their spandex, and hump like mad. There’s just something about a dark and repressed guy and a woman with a rope that’s gets my imagination going.

But these two superheroes weren’t the first fictional characters that had me squeeing with glee, typing “OMG!!!” in various message boards, staying up late to watch a marathon, and dying for the next issue or episode. Before that, there was the X-Men, and my uber-fangirl ‘shippy love for the woman who can’t be touched and the charming Cajun thief. He-Man. No, my fangirl history is a long one, but I’ll save anyone the pain of reliving it with me…except for the highlights.

Forever Knight — This television show may very well be the reason that I write what I do now. Nick Knight is a vampire, formerly a
medieval knight (holy crap, that sounds kind of familiar) turned police detective who is trying his best to resist the lure of blood. I used to sneak out of bed when I was twelve and thirteen to watch this. It had the best freaking opening music ever, Nick was way hawt (totally squee-worthy) and his supporting cast fantastic. And this was one show where the romantic interest wasn’t the main draw for me: I didn’t really care about Natalie that much, but Nick’s vampire companions? Loved them. (Fangirl crossover note! The chick who played Natalie also voiced Jean Grey in the 1990’s X-Men cartoon … which also had killer opening music.)

One of the best things about Forever Knight was that, for the most part, they stayed true to the characters at the end of the show. I won’t give away how the series ended … but it wasn’t the copout that I might have expected. I didn’t necessarily like the ending, but the writers made a tough decision and stuck to it, and it worked.

The X-Files — is there really anything to add about this show? Though Scully’s hair went through stages of frump and they had THE SEASONS THAT MUST BE FORGOTTEN … god, this was an addictive series. I still miss them. I still can’t roll past a re-run on television without stopping and watching.

Quantum Leap — Even his name is designed to get a geeky reader’s attention: Sam Beckett. Poor guy jumps through time forever, the ultimate hero who rights terrible wrongs in regular people’s lives, cross-dressing and singing, with a randy hologram for a friend. Those were good times.

Finally, almost anything that Joss Whedon comes up with hits my fangirl list. And not just the romantic relationships, imagined or real — it’s the interactions between all of the characters, their development as the series progresses (a moment of silence, please, for Firefly and its too-short life. sob You burned so brightly, Firefly … and then you were gone. sob Serenity was but a brief eulogy for one taken too soon from us sob).

And imagine my boundless happiness to learn that Whedon will be directing the upcoming Wonder Woman movie — two of my favorites, together in one. There will be many a squee heard from a theater near me on that wondrous day, I’m sure … or, as is sometimes the fangirl’s fate, a scream of pain when something beloved and incredible is changed beyond recognition (and now let us have a moment of silence for Cordelia Chase.)

But there is always consolation in the form of DVDs. (And, as busy as I’ve been and as little TV I’ve watched lately that hasn’t been Dora the Explorer or the WonderPets, DVDs are going to be the only way for me to catch up on a million new shows that I just know will inevitably lead me down that fangirl path: Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes.

So, what gets your inner fangirl excited? What have been your favorites, have there been any betrayals by the creators — and what are you addicted to now?