Planetnamek.com is back... sort of!

[Dayspring]

What exactly are "OPS"?

I think it was an abbreviation of "operator status." It meant getting admin powers so as to be able to control the chatroom. In short, normal IRC chats would use this to appoint moderators, but on PN's chat they were a whole other beast.

Also, I remember hearing that Sean Schemmel used to be on the chat there.

He'd drop info there from time to time. He originally showed up when he was mad that SSJ Leia's petition complained specifically about his Goku voice, then later became a fixture.

I don't know if that was the reason or not, but yes, he used the chat now and then. He used the usernames "Schemmel" and "SeanSean," usually the former. I think the latter was when he didn't want to be bugged to death by the nooblets, but I may be mistaken. This IS 14 years ago, after all.

http://web.archive.org/web/200107201259 ... namek.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/200107201956 ... namek.com/

I forgot about these sites- man did I love them!

I totally forgot about the Drummond mini-site!

I remember Kienzan being pissed when PN went down so shortly after they finally convinced him to move his site to their servers. There's no way they didn't know they were planning on letting their hosting and domain accounts expire. Also, nostalgia REALLY hit me when I took a quick look at Kienzan's message boards. Canadian Gohan was a high school friend of mine whom I haven't seen since graduating, so thanks for sharing that link.

[Chuquita]

What exactly are "OPS"?

Also, I remember hearing that Sean Schemmel used to be on the chat there.

He'd drop info there from time to time. He originally showed up when he was mad that SSJ Leia's petition complained specifically about his Goku voice, then later became a fixture.

Wow, that almost-exactly happened here years ago too. Schemmel made an account on the then-Daizex forums and one of the now-banned users really laid into him. Only this time he got so upset he left and never came back.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I always feel sorta bad, or like I missed out, when I hear about good old websites that I somehow missed, despite most of the sites I did frequent back then having huge link sections. Hell, I also used to go to Anime Web Turnpike all the time to find new websites to check out, and there's still a bunch that I just don't remember ever even hearing about before.

[GS7X7]

I always feel sorta bad, or like I missed out, when I hear about good old websites that I somehow missed, despite most of the sites I did frequent back then having huge link sections. Hell, I also used to go to Anime Web Turnpike all the time to find new websites to check out, and there's still a bunch that I just don't remember ever even hearing about before.

Don't sweat it! I mean, we all (or most of us) missed out on Woodstock and seeing the original Star Wars in theatres, didn't we?

There's always the web archives to help deliver.


Also, I remember Sean's VERY first chat. It was considered a really big deal at the time (they'd never had someone from the company in a chat, let alone the VA for Goku) and he mentioned being upset about the petition.

The chat was saved and posted on several others boards/sites is how I knew about it. I think a few other Schemmel chats were saved, but those savings were more random/sporadic.

I remember one guy bragging that "Schemmel threatened to beat me up!" but the bragging guy was probably bluffing. In any case, he may have attracted a few trolls which could have limited his posting.

[ABED]

Don't sweat it! I mean, we all (or most of us) missed out on Woodstock and seeing the original Star Wars in theatres, didn't we?

Were you dying to go to Woodstock? At least we got the 1997 special edition rerelease, that was fun. I get your point, though.

As much as I miss DBZ's heyday sometimes, I don't miss not having the episodes at my disposal and not having to deal with a lot of false information back then.

[GS7X7]

It's easy to watch the episodes subbed now.

In the old days you had to find a "source" for fansubs- usually you'd have to spend $20-25 on a tape of random quality (from decent to horrendous) so it was a real pain in the ass to watch the show back then. Funimation's releases could be slow and often cut things (mainly episode previews) plus Psaros's "Ginyu Assault review" was the first impression of Funimation DVDs which tended to haunt the company for years.

Plus you had shitty quality fansubs floating around, and countless scammers on ebay and elsewhere. I know that not all fansubbers were unethical but, once DBZ became popular a HUGE market of "anything goes, seller is God" came into being that tended to crowd out the few ethical subbers left.

I remember EX once wrote an editorial criticizing Planet Namek for raising their price for fansubs from $6 to 8 and heavily chastizing them- which got them to back down in response to the controversy. All the rules of "play fair" with subs vanished once demand hit infinity.

PN gave up on fansubs once ad fees got ludicrously high for em- I remember in one year they earned like $100,000 or something, I read that Mr. E. paid his way through college just on the money from the site. (that was back during the "advertising bubble" of the internet, before ad fees dropped tremendously)

[Dayspring]

I think what amused me most about Mr.E was how witty he thought his username was. Really? You ripped off an obscure DC Comics name in the exact same way that 99% of your users rip off Dragonball names. "Ok, but it's still a mystery as to what it signifies." NO. No it isn't. It's a pun. It's a pun on the word 'mystery.' In the same sense that E. Nigma (Edward Nigma, the Riddler) from Batman is a play on the word 'enigma.' YOU ASS.

This thread is making me remember too many annoyances of oldschool fandom. Quick! Someone remind me of something awesome!

[GS7X7]

Wasn't Mr. E's last name Guillocone or something?

I'm not sure but I think ANN's article didn't spell his name correctly. It's kind of a strange name (I doubt I'm spelling it correctly) and countless people prob. had trouble pronouncing it during
his life. So, he likely took to going by "Mr. E." instead.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... shuts-down

Edit- NOPE! Unless the e was silent in prononciation.... Was it?

He claimed it wasn't a reference to Ecstasy or to "Mystery." What was his name a reference to anyway exactly?

As for ongoing meme jokes, I think he'd also repeatedly joke, "I was with an Asian chick" whenever somebody fussed at him for not doing something in time. "Sorry I don't have the dvd reviewed yet, I was with an Asian chick," heh heh. Well, that's funny like the first one or two times, but he did tell that joke a lot.

God, how do I remember all this stuff? Haven't even thought about it for years.

[Kid Buu]

Tenchi Muyo! having its own section makes me laugh for some reason.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Just to clarify, I don't really sweat it per say - I just feel like I missed out! I mean, I can still go and look at a bunch of these sites via archive of course, but it's not the same. The me that I am now, that knows so much more accurate information about the series, might not get the same level of amusement from some of these sites as I might have back in the day. So yeah. I dunno. Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic for that old point-of-view, where everything was so shiny and new to me? I'unno.

Maybe I'll just veg out and go by Temple O' Trunks for the first time in a while.

[Hellspawn28]

Tenchi Muyo! having its own section makes me laugh for some reason.

Well Tenchi Muyo! was really popular during the late 90's. I can see why it had it's own sub form. It reminds me when the MFG forums had it's own YYH section back in 2004-2006.

[GS7X7]

Is MFG Made From Goats?

[Hellspawn28]

No MFG was My Favorite Games. It was a DBZ website that was popular during the early-mid 2000's and had it's own forums from 2004 - 2010. I was a member from 2005 until the forums was shut down in 2010. The forums got shut nearly 5 years ago but Ace (the site leader) did keep the web site up for people to view: http://www.myfavoritegames.com/

[GS7X7]

Ah, that makes sense. MFG was more of a cult site in terms of popularity.

It was kinda like a meaner, R-rated version of "We Don't Care," both sites of which mocked the Dbzoa. I really liked WDC but MFG didn't quite do it for me as much. (though it did give me a few chuckles here and there)

[Super Sonic]

I remember the We Don't Care site. Was funny. Especially their review of the Toonami season 1 of DB and showing screenshots of the "Mad Cow Technique". Planet Namek I looked at back then as for news and stuff. Was careful on looking at some things to avoid spoilers.

[Dayspring]

Wasn't Mr. E's last name Guillocone or something?

I'm not sure but I think ANN's article didn't spell his name correctly. It's kind of a strange name (I doubt I'm spelling it correctly) and countless people prob. had trouble pronouncing it during
his life. So, he likely took to going by "Mr. E." instead.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... shuts-down

Edit- NOPE! Unless the e was silent in prononciation.... Was it?

He claimed it wasn't a reference to Ecstasy or to "Mystery." What was his name a reference to anyway exactly?

As for ongoing meme jokes, I think he'd also repeatedly joke, "I was with an Asian chick" whenever somebody fussed at him for not doing something in time. "Sorry I don't have the dvd reviewed yet, I was with an Asian chick," heh heh. Well, that's funny like the first one or two times, but he did tell that joke a lot.

God, how do I remember all this stuff? Haven't even thought about it for years.

I remember he modified the site's F.A.Q. at one point to include some questions pertaining to his name. Something along the lines of "Q: So what's with the name? A: I dunno. It's a real MYSTERY, huh? Q: Yeah! Where'd you come up with it? A: ..."

Whatever happened to Skullmac and Kaio? I know the former worked on a Gundam Wing site for a while, but aside from that, I can't remember anything.

[GS7X7]

Didn't Julian and Castor work for PN? At least one of em's gotta know what mystery behind "Mr. E".

[Gaffer Tape]

Julian did indeed work on PN. Castor didn't directly, as far as I know, but Ginga GIRI GIRI was an affiliate/hosted site for a time.

[Adamant]

Nothing makes pre-Toonami old school Japanese fans feel more real than knowing they had just as ridiculous names as the next wave of fans. "GenkiDama99", "Suppa Goten-San", "Freeza" spelled correctly, plus "Vejita".

I had to chuckle at the fact that there was both a "Frieza's girl" and a "Freeza's guy" in that list.

[Sinestro]

Blast from the past. I only browsed there on occasion back in the day.