About Me
Who are you?/What's your story?
I'm Dawne. I've had a KI/WO fansite in different places around the Net for almost 10 years. There's a lot of generic info about me here. I've been a Kids Incorporated fan since the series started. After the move to Disney, it was a while before we started subscribing, and I realized how I had taken it for granted. Late '86 (a billion years ago to some of you guys!) we started paying, and the rest, as they say, is history. This is my story

Do you like MMC/Hannah Montana/KidzBop?
I watched a few episodes of MMC, but I couldn't get into it. I didn't like how some cast members wouldn't be on every show, and I didn't like that there was a live audience, because it never let you forget that you were watching a show. It was like Saturday Night Live for kids, and it didn't have the personal connections that KI did.

I'm a bit too old for Hannah Montana. I guess I understand why people are into it. I wish that MGM would see this and allow KI to be run in syndication again. People miss musical kids' shows!

I can't stand KidzBop! For the record, it has very little to do with KI. Those kids' voices are made to be high-pitched and annoying, where our KI allowed kids to sing in normal voices that sounded just like the real thing. Also, every KidzBop commercial I've seen is incredibly blinding and grating. Why do kids have to listen to watered-down versions of songs they've more than likely already heard on the radio? Kids Inc made minimal changes to the lyrics, and the music didn't sound like something out of a Tinkerbell jewelry box.
*Also, for those of you that continually make the mistake, the records that Renee has been doing vocals for are Disney's Super Star Kidz, NOT KidzBop (Although I can barely stand the child vocalists in those, either - Renee is the one saving grace for the whole CD).



About the KI Site
Do you know Renee/Stacy/Martika/Rahsaan/Ryan/Thomas Lynch/someone from the show??
No, I don't. It's nothing negative - no one on any of these fansites knows the cast or crew members, despite claims to the contrary.

Now, as far as Martika goes...that's questionable. I was a regular on Oppera's message board when the duo was still present and involved in it, and I did get several personal messages from her. They haven't been around the site in ages, and Martika has been upfront about the fact that she wants to move on from KI.

I'm Renee/Stacy/Martika/"Rashaan"/Ryan/Thomas Lynch/from the show, and "you're" site "sux"!
No, you're not. Somehow I highly doubt you have the time to rip into random webmasters. Also, I would like to think that successful executive producers can spell. In fact, I'm sure of it.

Celebrities can contact me just the same as us regular folk, by email. I'm not entirely sure that they would, and it's hard to tell, but why would they use 133t sp33k? Rahsaan would also know how to spell his own name (that is how you spell it, by the way, with the "h" first).

Oh, and Ryan hates websites. It used to say that on Elephone's official site before they went to MySpace, so I would expect him to feel the same way about mine. :P

It says "updated" on the KI/WO page, but when I looked, I didn't see anything updated?
Okay, you got me. Some people only go to the KI main page, or my site's main page, and they don't always see that I have a forum with all the updates listed. All the news ends up in the forum which you can see on the portal or in the forum itself. Make sure to click "Updates" to see what's happening in other areas.

Aren't you worried about being shut down by MGM?
Of course. I worry about that every day, as most fansite webmasters should. However, I've done some research, and since I don't have full episodes or attempt to sell anything on my site, I should be in the clear. There is a small section of U.S. copyright law called the Fair Use Doctrine, and while it is very subjective, I personally feel that I'm not doing any damage to the show's marketability with this site, which is the crux of the matter, really. There would be no reason for you to not watch the show in syndication or buy officially licensed DVDs because of this site's existence.

Have you seen all the episodes? Have you seen The Beginning? Have you seen Rock in the New Year/Chartbusters/Best Of?
Yes.
I have seen all 9 seasons of the show, including the Rock in the New Year special when it was aired. Chartbusters and the Best of Kids Inc I didn't get to see until much later. Same with The Beginning. But yes, I have seen all of the Kids Inc. shows/specials. I seem to be one of the few people who watched the show all the way to the end.

Do you have all the episodes?
Yes I do!! I was very lucky to recieve them from my boyfriend. All the captures and pictures and whatnot on my site since the move are from my new set.

Can you make me some screencaps or get me some pictures of ______?
Email me and I'll see what I can do.

Are you going to have videos?
I'm working on making some composite videos of clips from the show, but as far as putting up full episodes or songs or clips from episodes, that's not necessary anymore.

Firstly, it's pushing copyright laws to make videos of something you don't own. Also, with sites like YouTube, people can get their video fix without me having to make any.

How come you don't have an episode guide/cast list/cast bios/song list/etc.?
I'm expanding the site's informative content to include more of these things for the newbies. It won't be the same as other sites, but it will be just as useful.

Where do you get your info from?
Watching the show, first and foremost. I watch episodes over and over again to look for things.

I also learn from: articles, other websites, friends, Wild Orchid articles and interviews, the Wild Orchid fan club and its newsletters, Fergie articles and interviews, Martika articles and Oppera live chats, other TV shows, official cast member sites/MySpace pages, all sorts of places.

Sometimes I theorize, and those opinions cannot be counted as fact, which I acknowledge. I also think about my own life experiences and try to put myself in the shoes of the actors and the characters that they played. It's a trick I learned from being a writer. If I have a real reference, I'll add that, otherwise, it's just conjecture on my part, and I never claim that something I made up is real. See the next question for more on that.

You wrote on this page that so-and-so said this or did that. That didn't happen! You made that up!
Or:
What season did that happen on because I don't remember that?
Yes, that is why it's called fanfiction. Anything on the fanfic pages, unless it's on the Inside Jokes and References page, didn't happen on the show. I wrote those stories in the style of real episodes and refer back to real ones, but the events in them never happened (unless it's a prequel, those stories are based on what really happened). I would never claim my interpretation of the show's events as real (although I'm flattered that anyone would mistake them for the real thing). I attempt to write the characters the way they were presented on the show, and choose situations that would be likely to happen. I am a firm believer in canon. I also think that's why my site confirms to Fair Use and doesn't damage the show's reputation.

Things that really happened on the show are referenced on the Inside Jokes page by episode, season and year.

Stacy! Fergie! No, it's STACY!!!!! NO, FERGIE!!!!
Everyone's right!
I'm not about to tell somebody what to call her. Neither name is forbidden on my site. Since my site mostly deals with the past, I'm more inclined to use Stacy, but I post current Fergie news.

In case you're wondering how I feel about it, I consider anything from the year 2000 and back to be Stacy. I figure that's about the time the schism with WO happened. Fergie is for the recent stuff. However, that's not cast in stone, and it's no big deal. As long as you know that we are talking about the same woman, you can call her Peter Pam for all I care. I am sure it doesn't say Fergie on her driver's license or wedding invitations.

Some people are new to the KI world. They know her as Fergie first. People somehow think they are being disrespectful, but which is actually worse: "Stacy has such a beautiful voice!", or "Fergie sucks and she can't sing!" Old habits die hard, and what flashed on the screen is what fans are more liable to associate these people with. It's like having a teacher get married, or coming back to school after winter break. You take a while to adjust.
In related info, I am more inclined to say Love instead of Jennifer as well. I don't think she's as concerned with nomenclature as much as Fergie, though.

Did you know that Ryan and Stacy dated? Are Renee and Stacy cousins? Did Connie and Richie use their real voices? Is it true Stacy got kicked off the show because she wanted more money?
I am willing to tell you whatever I do know about the show. However, there is a difference between knowing and having a theory. Some of this stuff is just rumors, but if you want to know what I think, I'll tell you. Keep in mind, though, that it's not a fact unless I have a source to show you.

Renee and Stacy aren't related at all, not even by marriage. Stacy's own mother has addressed this twice in WO fan club newsletters and I do have them scanned to show you if you'd like.

Connie has said before that she wasn't even aware that they switched her voice for Devyn at the last minute. However, it's not a comfortable thing for her to talk about, and I've elected to honor her wishes and not have endless threads about it.

Stacy only says that Ryan gave her a card and a kiss when she left the show. Whether they actually dated, I don't know. Her story changes a lot in different interviews. I also don't think it would be like her to demand more money all of a sudden, but I can't verify that, either.


About the WO Site

Do you know Wild Orchid?
Sadly, no. I wish I did!

Where do you get your info from?
WO articles, interviews, TV spots, Fergie interviews and articles, the WO fan club and its newsletters.

Do you have WO on _______?
Nearly all the WO appearances I have are on my Tape Trading page. The few things that aren't listed there are in very bad condition and I wouldn't think anyone would want my copy of them.

I started putting WO appearances on YouTube because hardly anyone else had anything on there, and I found out that many people were clueless as to what Great Pretenders was. Also, many people heard Fergie talking about WO, and didn't remember who they were.

Do you have Fire? Do you have Hypnotic?
Yes, I got the tracks from Fire from several different WO sites. Unfortunately, RCA fixed it so that's the only way we can get them. The only songs you were able to buy in stores were "Stuttering" and "Lies".
Hypnotic was sold by WO through their website. The website is down, and now you can no longer purchase that, either. I guess it's file-sharing for Hypnotic, too.

What's Great Pretenders?
Great Pretenders was a show that WO hosted on Saturday mornings on Fox Family which became ABC Family. I believe there were 4 seasons in total, along with an hour-long "Family Style" special which had guest stars No Authority and in which WO themselves sang "World Without You" (which would have been on Fire).

The show was about teenagers dressing up and lip-syncing to songs. The audience would then judge them and pick a runner-up and a winner, who got trophies and prizes. In the last season of the show, they did 6 "Karaoke Style" episodes, in which the contestants really sang, and the prize for the winner was a recording session. All WO did was sing the theme song, announce contestants, interview them, and read off the winner (after much struggling with the sealed envelopes!). I heard Stefanie say that they actually taped several shows back-to-back in one day. For the first two seasons, the girls were joined by a D.J., who introduced WO, cracked jokes, and for some reason spun records, although chances were slim that the kids' music was on those discs. Later, he was replaced by children in the audience introducing WO, one of whom turned out to be Stacy's cousin, Bridget. (For the Family Style special, Stacy's grandmother Lynn introduced the group's one musical number)

The show itself wasn't bad, but some of us felt that it was underutilizing WO and distracting from the fact that they were more than just pretty faces, they were recording artists. ABC Family made up for this a bit by giving them a spot in one of their Front Row Center concerts, but by then, the damage was already done.

Why do you hate Stefanie?
I don't. I'm hurt by her actions 4 years ago. I've tried explaining it the best that I can on my WO site. I haven't had any contact with her and I feel that both of us got screwed over and lied to by WO.com's original webmaster and the other fans. The difference between us is that I feel badly about it and tried my best to remedy that.



Other

I want to make a website. Can you help me?
I can certainly try. I won't do it for you, but I can talk you through most of the stuff. The thing you ought to know is that most free sites won't let you have a forum and community on your website, so you'll have to decide what you want out of a site.

Can I use some of your stuff on my site?
"Some" is the word. Don't take the entire site content and put it on your webpage. That's stealing.

If you'd like to use some excerpts from my work or some graphics, let me know what you're using, and be sure to credit me with a link or a mention. Most importantly, NO HOTLINKING! This is linking to the actual pictures on my site, which takes up my bandwidth that I pay for. You can download graphics and save them to your own server, or ask me for the ones that are right-click disabled. If you don't understand, I can show you.

I will not have anything from my site associated with a hate site. Any site that says, "Look at how gay this dumb show is! See! These are ugly pictures!" will not have my permission to link to or use my graphics. I do this for fans, and I want my work to be shared with fans. Why would you waste time like that when you could be building a site for something that you really love? Leave us to enjoy our show in peace and go bother someone else.

What's "canon"?
Wikipedia defines it as such:

"Canon, in the context of a fictional universe, comprises those novels, stories, films, etc., that are considered to be genuine or officially sanctioned, and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have existence within the fictional universe. In order for a setting to appear cohesive, especially in fictions that contain multiple parts, both creators and audiences sometimes find it useful to define what has and has not "actually happened" in that universe.
Material that is considered canon usually comes from the original source or author of the fictional universe, while (some) spin-offs and adaptations to other media are more likely to be non-canon and fan fiction is almost always non-canon."