Andrea also ask about my use of the term, "meta-text" in my BEAUTY AND THE BEAST essay and whether it could be used to apply to fan's conception of stars/ characters. For those who haven't read my writing, the term, "Metatext" refers to the mental construct which fans construct surrounding the series text which includes not only information explicitly offered in the program narratives but also extratextual information (interviews with stars, producers, etc.; novelizations; writer's guides) and inferences by fan critics, etc. I see the metatext as part of the collective property of fandom with much overlap between fans in terms of their interpretation of the series, but also open to idiosyncratic inflection by individual fans so that it generates constant debates about interpretation. The fan meta-text is vitally concerned with issues of characterization, since character is a primary focus of their interest in the series narratives, especially the interplay between characters and the back stories of characters. There is no doubt that they also form some common understandings of the stars, their personalities, etc. Some fans are more star-centered\ than others. --Henry Jenkins Henry The answer makes sense to me(I think). One of the reasons why I pose the question is that I'm finding in talking with Quantum Leap fans (who are quite active on the internet and from what I understand on Prodigy) that there understandings of the actors, are quite colored by the characters they play. I'm not saying that it is the popular fan obssession type of miss understanding but rather a meta-character (if I may use the term) understanding of who the actors are. Example: Scott Bakula is attributed with being very modest and wonderful just like his character Sam. The person that the fans are a fan of isn't just Scott Bakula but a construction that is comprised of the character and the actor. This understanding is mediated by the fan community's understanding of who both Sam the character and Scott the actor are. I guess what I'm getting at is that Quantum Leap fandom at least amongst the women I've interviewed is, to a certain extent, star motivated, and that it seems that the object that they are fans of is an extention of your meta-text but applied specifically to the actors/characters. (Am I making sense?) andrea.