Welcome to My Lady Lorna
You
know you're a dedicated fan when...
- You can recite scenes word for word on command.
- You insist on having an Exmoor wedding and un-invite your cousin.
- You've taken out a loan to cover the expense of visiting England simply so
you can stand on the moor and look down upon Doone Valley.
- You sue the poor farmer who owns the property for taking down the
"rooks' nest."
- You show up at your ex-significant other's wedding with a revolver. You
don't intend to use it, and it has no bullets anyway, but it gives you a
feeling of satisfaction.
- You find a significant sinkhole on the moor, and every year send a
delivery of flowers to be dropped into it.
- You have the book, video, DVD, and have lobbied for a soundtrack. A&E
has banished you from their boards and cut off your account due to your
pestering them for the music - of course, threatening to take a stick to
them if they didn't comply might not have helped.
- You own the DVD - and don't have a DVD player. Or better yet, you own all
subtitled versions, and have yet to learn another language aside from
English.
- You have a room dedicated to Lorna Doone, John Ridd, and Carver
Doone.
- You've rewound and rewatched all the folk dancing scenes so you can get
the footwork right. This impresses your dancing teacher, who is convinced
that you're not telling her something.
- You can mimic any expression on-demand, and have taken on the
characteristics of one or more characters.
- You wear a corset, just so you can "feel closer" to Lorna.
- 98% of all e-mails that come in are from the Lorna Doone Obsession Group,
the Lorna Doone Message Boards, or LD Anonymous.
- You check the message boards every morning before doing anything else...
including showering.
- You've died your hair dark brown. Your husband, who's a blond, can't
understand all this talk about hair extensions.
- You watch the movie 1) at least once a week, or 2) at least ten minutes
every day, to protect yourself from the "real world."
- You've written any or all of the cast members for an autograph. And
personally delivered it.
- Your computer breaks down because of LD overload. Those sixty files, each
with sub-categories and double-links, overflowed into the network, and now
the boss wants to know who Carver is.
- You have this unexplainable urge to buy any magazine that even remotely
mentions Lorna Doone or its cast.
- You have a Lorna Doone Scrapbook.
- You have a reproduction of Lorna's necklace.
- You call your uncle "Counselor."
- You have a separate file for Lorna Doone sites in your
"Favorites."
- $11,000 doesn't seem too steep to pay for a renaissance wedding
gown.
- You find yourself quoting, more often than not, from the film.
- Your boss can't understand why you gave up a prime position in a fortune
500 company to grow wheat and milk cows.
- You have 1) changed your name to that of a character in the movie; 2)
named a child after a character; 3) named a pet after a character; 4) made
your husband change his name to "Ridd."
- You've resisted your significant other's come-on's in the woods. Or,
you've forced him to meet you secretly in the woods.
- You cannot write an e-mail, letter, article, review, or novel without
mentioning in some way or form, Lorna Doone. This includes quotations,
signatures, and/or any mention of the names of the cast.
- You've printed out over a $100 worth of quality-photo paper with Carver
and John plastered all over it. Your niece caught you kissing one.
- You write fan-fiction so that Carver lives.
- You write fan fiction so that Lorna marries Carver.
- You've dreamt of being in the movie.
- You've written to the director and the BBC, begging for a sequel... or
maybe a series...
- Severe depression takes over when your cousin leaves for London on
holiday. You believe you'll never see her again, and down 6 consecutive
glasses of brandy. It takes awful, and you can't help but gag, but find it
reassuring to know that you're still remotely human.
- You bought the movie on "pre-release" so that it was sent to you
the minute it reached the store.
- You take pride in revealing that you've worn out six tapes and one DVD.
- Anyone has saved a Lorna Doone review/article/interview for you.
- You've started a petition to bring Lorna Doone to the theaters.
- You know how many days it's been since the movie premiered on A&E.
You've lit a candle for every day Carver's been dead.
- You refuse to watch the pre-ending, where Carver meets his doom, on
principle.
- Your Home Page opens up to My Lady Lorna... ;)
- You've begged the BBC to release a "Making of" video.
- You've traveled more than a 100 miles from home to see the premier of one
of the main cast's new films.
- You now own every film that Adian Gillen, Amelia Warner, or Richard Coyle
has ever starred in. You don't know the plots, since you only f-forward and
watch the scenes where they're present.
- You wrote a letter of complaint to A&E for premiering Horacio
Hornblower the night that Wives & Daughters came on
PBS.
- You've complained more than once that they could have run Lorna Doone
instead of Hornblower.
- Your library doesn't have a copy of the movie. You buy one and donate it.
- You hogtie your best friend and rope her into watching the movie.
- You use lists of obsession signs like this one as therapeutic assessment
tools.
- You're still on the edge of your seat the whole time every time you see
the movie.
- You rewind/replay favorite scenes at least six times per viewing
- You're working on a "Re-release" campaign.
- You're writing the script from memory.
- Your mother thinks you're an idiot for leaving your most expensive jewelry
laying on the bedside table.
- You buy a gelding. You name him "Winnie."
- You can never just ride a horse... not without your authentic revolver and
peasantry garb.
- You stand mesmerized whenever you see even a glimpse of red.
- You name your estate "Whitehall." It's an infringement on
copyright, but those disloyal English can go to the Doones.
- You're thrilled when your search for "Doone" brings up a Carver.
He lives in Arabia and is short and fat, but somehow... you don't mind. You
remind him repetitively to stay away from sinkholes.
- You have an autographed original script. You have the autographed original
script framed and hanging in the place of honor.
- Whenever someone says, "It's just a movie!" you angrily respond,
"It is NOT 'just a movie'!"
- You disapprove of your sister's fiancé, Tom. He never does know why.
- You like to drink from tin cups.
- You've ever lost your temper and smashed someone's face into the
salad.
- You are the "Keeper of Carver's Braids."
- You spend roughly half a million re-creating the waterfall in your back
yard. The city can't understand how the water pressure's suddenly gone down
dramatically.
- You put pressure on the school drama teacher to perform "Lorna
Doone" as the play this year.
- You have acted the film out, scene by scene, with excellent mimicry and
director's notations, for a stranger.
- Your blood turns cold whenever someone mentions Monmouth.
- You paid $5,000 for an authentic rifle to hang over the fireplace.
- You can't resist sneaking up to people's houses.
- You send the cast and crew "Wish You Were Here!" cards every
summer.
- You've said, "I don't have a Lorna Doone problem. I can handle
it."
- You've told that to your therapist.
- You've explained just why it's your favorite movie of all time and worthy
of every award known to man... and all the checker asked was, "Will
this be cash or charge?"
- The last time you tried to get rid of your obsession - namely by not
mentioning Carver or John for a period of thirty consecutive days; nor
watching the movie more than once in 60 - you wound up in the
hospital.
- Your non-profit organization has but one goal - to see to it that everyone
in the world sees Lorna Doone at least once.
- You keep a journal of your like-Lorna experiences.
- "Carver Doone" is listed as your next-of-kin.
- Richard Coyle has a restraining order against you.
- You've told your dad, "I listened to you once, and look what
happened!" He can't remember you ever listening to him.
- Your family disinherits you for wanting to cremate Grandpa on a funeral
pyre in a final farewell.
- You hold a 1 year anniversary party on the night that the BBC originally
premiered the film.
- Tom Cruise? Who's Tom Cruise?
- Your term paper is entitled "The History of the Doones." Your
English teacher is delighted at your magnificent grasp of storytelling and
fiction - you can't make her understand that it's not fiction.
- In the school play, you foul things up in the courtroom scene by
screaming, "Don't be such damn fools!"
- Your best friend eventually leaves because she can't stand your
accusations that she keeps stealing your letters.
- You write a letter and then see to it that it never reaches your significant
other.
- You don't even want to know about your ancestry. Whenever the subject
comes up, you turn green and leave.
- You erect the "Carver Doone Memorial" in Exmoor.
- Your study is a reproduction of the counsel house.
- You actually consider highway robbery as a profession.
- You propose first, before he ever gets around to it.
- You know when John Ridd's birthday was. You celebrate it every year.
- You've taken up removing bullets as a profession.
- Self-punishment involves locking up the movie and giving your husband the
key.
- You've been known to become uncontrollable when deprived of your LD
instant messenger for more than six hours.
- You can hum the theme song, Carver strain, Lorna melody, and Battle music
by heart.
- Having spent an hour actually away from your VHS tape in reading this, you
decide to watch the movie again..