The RRDatabase

Introduction:

These awards took place in 1999, the 10th anniversary of Chip'N'Dale's Rescue Rangers appearing on broadcast television. Both this preliminary organizational document, and the award ceremonies themselves, were written by Matt Plotecher. This means that, at this point (2006), they're more a historical snapshot of what particular writings and artworks were deemed to be the greatest at the time. Thus, they don't represent the more recent years of excellent works that Rangerphiles have subsequently produced, but even so, much of what's nominated or awarded here will be very familiar to the community - the Plato awards tend to reflect what people seem to consider to be the great "classics" of the community's output, and the classics, generally, never die. Thus, the Platos do still hold some relevance beyond a mere historical curiosity of the community.

The Platos were originally intended to be a one-time special event in the CDRR fan community, and for several years, nothing comparable to it was repeated. However, the Golden Acorn awards, occuring annually (starting in 2002, repeated in 2003, 2004, 2005, and anticipated to recur indefinately thereafter), have now risen to fill the same role. The Golden Acorns owe much to the Plato awards as an inspiration.

I (Winston) added these preliminary notes to help explain the context and point in time in which the Platos took place. As mentioned, the awards themselves and the remainder of this initial document were written by Matt Plotecher, and everything that follows is his work. Enjoy!

- Winston

I remember a saying that someone made over the concept of evolution, talking about how when the first creature crawled out of the ocean, if it could have ever dreamed of Shakespeare's written works. Likewise, I have to wonder if when Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove were first producing the Rescue Rangers, they had an inkling of what it would become today. The Rangers only had 65 episodes, spanning two years, and then a constant stream of re-runs. Mr. Stones and Mr. Zaslove, after all, had new projects to work on. The Rangers time was over.

Well, not quite.

Over a decade later, fans of the Rangers are still cropping up. Thanks largely in part to the Internet, scores of fans are still writing stories, drawing up pictures, and building web pages in tribute to a show which has seemed to carve a small place in their hearts.

While fandom such as this on the web may seem common at first, the Rangerphiles are more impressive in their endurance than anything else. The Internet was just a popular speculation when the Rangers first appeared - by the time the World Wide Web exploded with full global service, and long before GeoCities and Angelfire cropped up to give everyone their own webpages, the Rangers stint on syndication was over. For most fans, the fire of the Rangers was dormant, with nothing around to stoke it back into a flame.

But, several years later, nearly every online Rangerphile did their first web search for the Rangers, and undoubtedly hit either the Gadget Archives or the Everything Rescue Ranger websites. Finding the Rangers alive and well in the ether was a great kick, naturally, but even more inspiring was the fact that such webpages not only had screen grabs from the shows, but they posted original works from other people! Which means that all those stories you wrote, all those drawings you made - you weren't the only one! Far from it!

The fire rekindled, people began writing and drawing anew. And - as the Internet grew - building new webpages devoted to the Rangers. Just a few years ago, the two mentioned websites were the only known places to find the Rangers. Nowadays, they number close to seventy. There was a time when you could carry all the Ranger fanfics in one folder. Now you need a large bookshelf, at least. And not too long ago, there was basically one or two Ranger artists on the web. These days you could write up a textbook on the history of Ranger art.

Fans put the "fan" in "fanatic", after all.

And that's what the Platos are all about: awards to recognize the long years of dedication, passion, and love that fans from around the globe have poured into their works, not for money or fame, but the joy of creating and then sharing it with others. The Rangers survive these days - thrive, even - based solely on this power source. It's a fearsome responsibility, but one the Rangerphiles carry out with a grin.

"Rescue Rangers, away!"
- The Ranger's rallying cry

Okay, now that we got the sappy opening speech out of the way, let's get to the good stuff: The top five nominations are listed here, and the winners can be found in the Platos Ceremony up above.

The Database wishes to thank everyone who took the time to e-mail in their nominations for the Board's consideration - it was your nominations which enabled works to even get on the ballot in the first place, so thank you for participating in this celebration of Ranger fan work. Note that just because a work of yours isn't listed, it doesn't mean that nobody nominated it. Some categories had over fifteen nominations made, so not everything nominated could be included.

What did make it in, however, is truly an excellent representation of the high standards of quality that Rangerphiles strive for - and expect. Regardless of who winds up winning, everyone in this final round is in good company.

A few rules that were used in the nomination process:

- Fanfics must be completed stories in order to be considered for nomination.
- All works must be rated PG-13 or lower to be considered. (This is an all-ages cartoon, people.)
- Nominations do not have to be listed on the Database to be considered, so long as a copy of said work is obtainable for review.

When possible, each work has been linked directly from here, but in the cases of multiple part tales, the link leads to the webpage it can be found on (usually the listings on the Written Work page), or to some offsite page. That said, here are the final five in each category:

Fanfics:

Best Story

Consummation - Roy Neal Grissom
Fly to the Light - Matt Plotecher
Home is Where You Hang Upside-Down - Roy Neal Grissom
Rainbow's Gold - Meghan Brunner
Rhyme & Reason - Mike Demcio

Best Author

Meghan Brunner
Mike Demcio
Roy Neal Grissom
John Nowak
Matt Plotecher

Best Comedy/Adventure

Chariots of Fur - Matt Plotecher
Culinary Disaster - Meghan Brunner
Home is Where You Hang Upside-Down - Roy Neal Grissom
The Hooded Menace - Jeff Pierce
"There and Back...AGAIN?" - Matt Plotecher

Best Drama

Final Curtain - Meghan Brunner
Fly to the Light - Matt Plotecher
To Catch A Rainbow - Meghan Brunner
Rhyme and Reason - Mike Demcio
Under the Bridge - John Nowak

Best Short Story

A Simple Investigation - John Alan Davidson
Bedbugs - Matt Plotecher
Chip's One Year Vacation - Karl Schenk
Foxy's Special Day - Julie Bihn
Revelation - Christopher "Malachite" Sweeters

Best Parody/MiSTing/Satire

A Syllabus of Comedies - Roy Neal Grissom
A Twit's Ransom - Candy Courtnier
Crossroads of Time - John Alan Davidson
Under the Bridge - MiSTed - John Nowak and Matt Plotecher
The Rangers of NIMH - MiSTed - Hakan Svensson and Keven A. Pezzano

Best Original Male Character

Johnny O'Brie - Created by Jeff Pierce
Juergen - Created by John Nowak
Erick Rosebush - Created by John Alan Davidson
Tham - Created by Matt Plotecher
Wescott - Created by Edward Baird II

Best Original Female Character

Caprice - Created by Meghan Brunner
Widget Hackwrench - Created by John Nowak
Sarah Haley-Hackwrench - Created by Meghan Brunner
Ivana M. Killjoy - Created by Mike Demcio
Kan Sune - Created by Matt Plotecher

Best Original Villain

Widget Hackwrench - Created by John Nowak
Juergen - Created by John Nowak
Ivana M. Killjoy - Created by Mike Demcio
Mittens - Created by Julie Bihn
Victoria - Created by Matt Plotecher

Best Interaction

Gadget "seeing Geegaw off" : Fly to the Light - Matt Plotecher
Foxglove interacting with the X-files characters : Home is Where You Hang Upside-Down - Roy Neal Grissom
Monterey and Dale vs. Gadget's thinking and Widget's son : Icarus - John Nowak
The Christmas love confession scene : Revelation - Christopher "Malachite" Sweeters
The "infamous" Chip and Gadget end scene : Rhyme and Reason - Mike Demcio

Best Characterization of the Rangers

Consummation - Roy Neal Grissom
Culinary Disaster - Meghan Brunner
Rhyme and Reason - Mike Demcio
Somemouse to Watch Over Me - Matt Plotecher
Under the Bridge - John Nowak

Best Use of a Preestablished Character (One Shot)

Bubbles/The Hooded Menace : The Hooded Menace - Jeff Pierce
Foxglove : Consummation - Roy Neal Grissom
Foxglove : Home is Where You Hang Upside-Down - Roy Neal Grissom
Sparky & Buzz : Somemouse to Watch Over Me - Matt Plotecher
Tammy : Rescue Rangers X: The Short Series Episode 101: A Force Reborn - Edward Baird II

Best Use of a Preestablished Character (Reoccurring)

Fat Cat : Consummation - Roy Neal Grissom
Fat Cat : Under the Bridge - John Nowak
Mole : Consummation - Roy Neal Grissom
Nimnul : Somemouse to Watch Over Me - Matt Plotecher
Nimnul : "There and Back...AGAIN?" - Matt Plotecher

Best Script

A Matter of Life and Death - Michael Gibby
Dreams of the Rarebit Rangers - Don Weatherwax
Gadget and Goliath - Don Weatherwax
Somemouse to Watch Over Me - Matt Plotecher
Trite Fright Night - Matt Plotecher

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Artwork

Best Artwork

HBGadgCa.jpg - Herwig "Harry" Bartalszky
Gadget Reclining - Liz Kalter
Geegaw and Gadget - Murad Ismailov
Little Foxy - Charles Williams
Tapestry - Charles Williams

Best Artist

Herwig "Harry" Bartalszky
Larry deSouza
J.L. Solis
Matt Plotecher
Charles Williams

Best Colored Image (flat)

afdlfx01.gif - Bryan Moe
Geegaw and Gadget - Murad Ismailov
The Kiss (Colored) - Matt Plotecher (drawing) and Chip Lundsmark (coloring)
MIRoller.gif - Murad Ismailov (Gadget on roller skates)
Sharing A Memory (Colored) - Matt Plotecher (drawing) and Chip Lundsmark (coloring)

Best Colored Image (rendered)

Deepsea - Charles Williams
HBgayoun.jpg - Herwig "Harry" Bartalszky
Look at the Moon - Matt Plotecher
JLS48.jpg - J.L. Solis
Tapestry - Charles Williams

Best B&W Image (line art)

"I'm down the hallway" - Matt Plotecher
CWlogo.GIF - Charles Williams
"May I have this chance?" - Matt Plotecher
"Say G'Night, Mate!" - Matt Plotecher
"Shhh...." - Matt Plotecher

Best B&W Image (greyscale)

Gadget Reclining - Liz Kalter
Gunsmith Mice - Herwig 'Harry' Bartalszky
Pirats' Bride - Herwig 'Harry' Bartalszky
"Uh, Gadget? You can hit us with that teleportation spell any time now!" - Matt Plotecher
When the Chips are down... - Matt Plotecher

Best Portrait

Deepsea - Charles Williams
Gadget Reclining - Liz Kalter
Geegaw and Gadget - Murad Ismailov
"Pistachico!" - Matt Plotecher
Tapestry - Charles Williams

Best Illustration from/inspired by a Fanfic

"Daddy." - Matt Plotecher
HBGadgCa.jpg - Herwig 'Harry' Bartalszky
Geegaw's Final Flight - Matt Plotecher
Natalie - Charles Williams
Plots - Charles Williams

Best Illustration - Solo

"I'm down the hallway." - Matt Plotecher
"How I hate to love you." - Matt Plotecher
JLS48.jpg - J.L. Solis
Root n' Tootin' Foxglove! - Charles Williams
When the Chips are down.... - Matt Plotecher

Best Dressing

JLS37.jpg - J.L. Solis
Gadget, Warrior Rodent - Karen Mollet
The Green Hornette - Charles Williams
Pirats' Bride - Herwig 'Harry' Bartalszky
When You're a mathematician, it takes all the fun out of it. - Matt Plotecher

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Website

Best Web Site

The Acorn Cafe
Everything Rescue Ranger
The Foxglove Feature
Internet Gadget Archive
The RRDatabase (note that in this context, this refers to how it used to be under Matt Plotecher's administration, rather than in it's current incarnation)

Best Web Maintainer

Julie Bihn - Julie's Ranger Rama
Honywumpus - The DAFT Hatchlings page
Jaleel - The Foxglove Feature
Natasha Kashefipour - The Acorn Cafe; The Rescue Ranger Zone
Matt Plotecher - The RRDatabase

Best Content

Welcome to the DAFT Archive
The Foxglove Feature
Everything Rescue Ranger
The R-anger Files (currently down)
The RRDatabase (note that in this context, this refers to how it used to be under Matt Plotecher's administration, rather than in it's current incarnation)

Best Layout

The Foxglove Feature
Gadget Hackwrench and the Rescue Rangers
Julie's Ranger Rama
The RRDatabase
Russian CDRR Project Group

Most Informative

Everything Rescue Ranger
Foxglove Feature Page
Gadget Hackwrench and the Rescue Rangers
Julie's Ranger Rama
The RRDatabase

Best Original Section

Gadget's Go-Coaster - Julie's Ranger Rama
International Order of Gadgetphiles - located in The Gadget Hackwrench Homepage (Note: The International Order of Gadgetphiles is now under different administration than it was at the time it was up for this award.)
Kat's Tales from the Messageboards - Gadget Hackwrench and the Rescue Rangers
The Rangerphile Directory - Framwinkle's Rescue Ranger page! (This site has since been taken down.)
Super Gigantic Episode Guide - Julie's Ranger Rama

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Special Awards

Outstanding Achievement - Honorary Ranger

Julie Bihn: For her hard work in spearheading the ROAR effort and now also carrying on the TAOGH series.

Robert Hollingshead: For creating TAOGH, which inspired various people to take up pen and paper and write their own tales.

Natasha Kashefipour: For creating the Acorn Cafe - perhaps the single reason why the online Rangerphile community is so tightly knit today - and for her unparalleled love of the Rangers.

Jeff Pierce: For creating and running W.T.F.B., the Disney Zine which is over seven years old and was an inspiration for the creation of the DAFT list. W.T.F.B. was created as a result of Jeff's attempts at saving the Rescue Ranger comic line, and since has housed the works of Meghan Brunner, Mike Demcio, Matt Plotecher, and Larry deSouza.

Matt Plotecher: For creating The RR Database, and his contributions of artwork and stories.

All nominations (except for the top five), and the exact results, will be kept private. Nominations which were not clear ("The story with Gadget doing that neat thing.") were not counted, but I attempted to figure out which work was being referred to. Works not on the Database have been linked to on this page, or to a page where they can be found.

To view the actual awards ceremony, go to the top of the page and click the picture.