Well, folks, another year has come and gone and before we ring in 2013 tonight, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on and celebrate the year that we've had here together in 2012.
First, 2012 was our first full year of being "open for business" here at The 12th, which makes it very special indeed! It has been a year of great conversation, bonding together, sharing stories, and celebrating all of the joy and passion that we have for this show.
We had a number of meets this year as well, with our members gathering together in Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta, as well as the annual Castle Convention in LA just a month and a half ago. I was lucky enough to meet a whole bunch of you lovely people at the Detroit meet and it was such a wonderful experience! Truly, it was one of the highlights of this year! Putting faces and voices to the screen names and posts here, feeling as if I was not meeting strangers but rather reuniting with old friends, and getting a chance to share in such a wonderful event that brought many of us together in such an incredible way, all of it was just so amazing and unforgettable.
2012 also brought us the second half of Season Four, leading us into some of the most emotional and epic episodes of the entire series. Of course, it also brought us "Always"... an episode that will forever be remembered by us fans as THE game-changing episode and those final minutes will always be cemented in our minds as the moment that Castle and Beckett finally dove in together. Never will we forget those words... "You. I just want you" just as no "Friends" fan will ever forget the words, "I got off the plane"... only, for us Castle fans, the series didn't end there
2012 was the year that sparked the beginning of Season Five, a season that is already arguably the best of the series. You'd be hard-pressed to find true Castle fans out there who aren't enjoying this season as a whole, even though every other season has found fans with mixed emotions. Me, I LOVED season four but I know a lot of fans out there who really didn't care for it. Same with season three. Personally, I know a lot of people loved seasons one and two but, for me, they were not even in the same league as the past two seasons. We all have our personal preferences and there are those out there who still want more from this season, specifically the relationship itself (ie: more romance / lovin')... but outside of that, the vast majority of the fanbase is in agreement that the show has been pretty darn amazing this season. Luckily for us, I'm pretty certain that 2013 will be bringing us the best of the best in this second part of the season...
This past year also brought us into a wonderful new partnership with TV Fanatic, with our members being able to join Christine and her round-table panel at TV Fanatic for each new episode. For those who have participated so far, I have heard that it has been a fantastic experience, and for those waiting to have their turn, I'm sure they are excited to do so. It has been a great way to celebrate this season with all of the other Castle fans out there and has also brought new readers and posters to our site here. I can not thank Christine and her team at TV Fanatic enough for giving us this honour and opportunity and I'm so happy that it has worked out so well so far!
We also saw the launch of CBR talk radio this season, with former STR host, Pam, breaking off to start her own show with her wonderful co-hosts, Beth and Mary. In just these first few months of the season, they have brought us some truly wonderful interviews with cast members Penny Johnson Jerald, Jon Huertas, and Tamala Jones, as well as crew members Alfred Sole, Claire Kaufman, Tim Swope and Dan Jennings from the art department, and editor Warren Bowman. It has been a packed season so far and I'm sure Pam will have many more wonderful guests lined up in the new year as well. The show is always entertaining and the interviews with these guests are fantastic and it does such a wonderful service to the Castle fandom as Pam brings us these interviews to help us get a better understanding of how much goes in to bringing us a new episode each week and it gives us such an increased appreciation for the hard work that each of the talented cast and crew members put in to each episode. What we see in one hour each week takes days and weeks of work and true passion from each of these cast and crew members, and it's such a wonderful thing to be able to hear their experiences and their takes on this show as well.
Pam and CBR have also been very good to us here at The 12th, constantly promoting us on the air and welcoming our members as listeners and callers as well. Personally, I have been very blessed to have been able to join Pam, Beth, and Mary for a number of shows this season and have been given the wonderful opportunity to participate with them in their panel discussions, read my TV Guide Canada reviews on the air, and ask their guests a few questions myself before the phone lines opened up to the rest of y'all. It has been a wonderful few months of fun and laughter and debate (lol) and I have had a ball. So thank you to Pam, Beth, and Mary for all of your hard work on CBR and for being so kind to both myself and everyone here at The 12th!
2012 was a year of ups and downs and things have not always been perfect around here or for each of us personally. There have been troubling times here and issues that had to be dealt with that led to more troubling times. Outside of The 12th, we have all experienced our own ups and downs, as is usually the case each year. We have watched harrowing news stories of tragedies and natural disasters and we have, perhaps, experienced our own tragedies as well. But through it all, we have all had this place to escape to and we've had each other here to turn to. This is what makes our community and our family here so much more special than just a message board about a television show. We can come here to share our love for this show, of course, but we can also share ourselves and we can share our lives... our triumphs, our failures, our happiness, our sorrow, our disappointment... we can share as much or as little as we want, but we know there are always those here who will be willing to listen and lend us their support and encouragement and well-wishes. That is a wonderful thing and we are all blessed to have this home away from home and this second family here, as I know I certainly am.
With that said, on behalf of myself and my incredible fellow administrators and moderators here, I would like to thank each and every one of you for making 2012 a year to remember! Whether you are a poster or a lurker, you are part of this family here and part of our community. 2013 is shaping up to be a grand year for Castle and a grand year for us here at The 12th. We will have much to celebrate with this second part of the season and with the launch of our new and improved Proboards site here soon.
So let us wind down the final hours of this amazing year and celebrate all that we have experienced together here over the past 365 days. But let's also look to the future, to the prospect of a wonderful new year that will begin in just a few more hours, and let's send out our wishes for a 2013 filled with joy and fun and laughter! Cheers to each and every one of you and I wish you all a happy and safe New Year's Eve and New Year's Day as you celebrate and ring in 2013 and I hope that you will all join me back here in the new year as we begin a new chapter here together as well!
Happy New Year, everyone!!
Q
