I was talking to a friendly Mudkip last night on the phone, and he told me to check out the above trailer. The documentary is called Monster Camp and covers the horrifying, shameful, pastime know as Live Action Role-Playing.

I was an avid D&D player when I was younger, but LARPing is where I drew the line (which is sort of like saying "I may fap to Furry artwork and screw people while dressed as a cartoon animal, but at least I don't actually fuck dogs"). Regardless, I'm intrigued by this film, as I am with pretty much any documentary that examines a particular fandom. Here are a few of my favorites:



Trekkies: Hosted by Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar and Sela from ST:TNG), this takes a look at some of the more extreme examples of Star Trek fans. Generated a lot of butthurt when a few of the people being interviewed didn't care for the audience laughing at their bizarre behaviors. The sequel (shockingly titled Trekkies 2) revisits several of the subjects from the original documentary and showcases Trekkies all around the world.



Ringers: Lord of the Fans: Created by a group of contributors to Tolkien fansite TheOneRing.net and narrated by Dominic Monaghan (Merry Brandybuck), this documentary covers the fanbase from the earliest readers of The Lord of the Rings up to the current resurgence in popularity due to Peter Jackon's film trilogy.



Done the Impossible: The story of short-lived but totally awesome show Firefly, and how its rabidly-devoted fanbase helped get get the film Serenity made. Adam Baldwin (the hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne) hosts. The entire thing is free on YouTube, split up into multiple parts. The first is above.



Fanalysis: Bruce Campbell self-produced and directed this short documentary showcasing his interactions with fandom, specifically the Evil Dead and Hercules/Xena geeks. To my knowledge, this has never been released on its own, but you can find it as a special feature on The Evil Dead: Book of the Dead Special Edition DVD. Since I can't find any clips from it, enjoy Bruce Campbell in an Old Spice commerical instead.

There's a few more fan documentaries I've yet to check out, such as Uber Goober (D&D) and Darkon (more fucking LARPers). I've also intentionally omitted films like The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade, since those really focus more on competitive classic gamers rather than the fandom in general.

So are there any major ones out there I've missed that you've enjoyed?