Big Wolf on Campus
Happy Werewolf Wednesday, everyone! This week I’m going to talk about a show that I’m not sure anyone remembers but me – Big Wolf on Campus.
For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about (which I’m assuming is most of you), Big Wolf on Campus was a supernatural “monster of the week” style show that ran on Fox Family from 1999 to 2002. Presented in delightfully easy to digest thirty-minute chunks, the audience was invited to follow the quirky, often funny and always action-packed adventures of Thomas “Tommy” P. Dawkins, who was bitten by a werewolf during a camping trip in the woods a week before his senior year of high school. Thus transformed into a powerful Alpha lycanthrope, he fights against vampires, werecats, ghosts, zombies, and other supernatural entities to keep his hometown of Pleasantville safe with help from school goth Merton. All this he does while trying to avoid capture by the locals and thwarting the plans of the nefarious Werewolf Syndicate.
If that sounds like an absolute blast, let me tell you something: IT WAS. I watched the show religiously when I was a kid and there is little doubt that it sparked a love for the supernatural in general and werewolves in particular that has clearly never gone away.
I hadn’t thought about this show in years, though, until I was asked to consider where some of the inspiration for my own werewolf creation came from. Hungry is the Night (hitting shelves August 22 of this year) couldn’t be more different than this kid-friendly supernatural romp — and yet, I can’t deny that it’s fingerprints can be seen if you look closely. I love the idea of monsters as heroes, of protagonists shouldering the burden of being ‘othered’ by society, and I love a good quip! Thanks, Big Wolf on Campus for infecting me with a love for the quirky and offbeat early in life!
Is there a show or movie or even book from your past that you maybe haven’t thought about in a while that has made you who you are today? Is there a TV show from the nineties or early 2000s that you think slipped under most people’s radars? Let’s chat about it in the comments!
Robin Jeffrey 