Update 1 as an admin I will be doing a lot more tidying and reorganising of pages. I won't be doing it all at once, as its a lot to do. But I will be trying to continue the work of previous admins by imposing a universal layout on episode and character pages. If you are reading this, please try and adhere to the layout, to spare me the time reformatting everything.
Update 2: as a recovering Archer addict, I now have less time to commit to the wiki, but I am still notified as to its activity, and do still check in to see how things are going from time to time.
A lot of time was spent preparing all the episode and main character pages for season 10: now they have been laid, it is over to everyone else to add content, as I simply don't have the time or inclination to fill it all out myself.
Archer is a gem of a show - I love the detail of the animation, the lush illustration, the writing style, the attention to cultural references which are popular, obscure and interesting and above all, the multi-layered cerebral and gutter jokes. It is a great example of a post modern work of art.
I found this wiki initially to look up references I didn't get. When I realised some of the connections I'd made weren't on here, and the wiki didn't read as well as it could, I started editing.
What can I say? I fell ass backwards into the rabbit hole of references and now I'm as happy to help update existing pages as to create new ones (although not at an advanced level of coding, but not too shabby either). [Update, I was rewarded with being made an admin for my efforts, which is immensely satisfying!]
I enjoyed reading others' explanations and takes on things and found a few holes that needed pluggin' -Phrasing, boom! - Having learned so much about Archer from reading this wiki, my goal was to help make the wiki a more fun and accurate read for others, and a source of greater learning about Archer along the way by adding either cultural references, links, joke explanations and/or shut up.
Where I stand currently with Archer vis a vis, season 10:
Season 10 was my least favourite (writing-wise it was a massive let down) but, paradoxically, it had the most beautiful graphics. This duality pains me, as I'm sure it does every other 'classic Archer' fan. Much as I love Archer, and will be forever grateful for all it has taught me about comedy, writing and characters, it obviously jumped the shark a while back. One just hopes season 11 brings about a return to writing form. I just wish Reed and his substitute writers consulted the extensive Running Gags section in order to do a real 'fan service' of a series. It's like they forgot who the characters were, and thought that the decade of accumulated running gags were just not something worth calling back to. This seems fundamentally at odds with the soul of Archer as a whole. It is difficult to see it as anything other than an artistic travesty. Many of us fans could've done a better job on the scripts, to be perfectly frank. It has taken the best part of a year to bring myself to write this. I guess season 10 just proves the maxim that we can't have nice things...
*As I have waded in on many pages, I expect others to do the same on pages I create and edit. Please be as respectful and true to Archer in your edits as you possibly can, and as I have tried to be. Please get in touch rather than delete chunks of copy.*
My aim is to improve the quality of this wiki overall, with the goal of making it as interesting and as rewarding a resource as can be for future generations - my motto is to ideally leave a wiki more interesting than I find: if not, at the very least, the same. Never any less. I like to edit bold.
cultural artefact (an idea, theory, film, TV show, music, book, product etc something recognised as significant in some way - is a cultural reference). This is important as it demonstrates how a work of art can be built out of referencing other works of art, and lead to multiple interpretations.
trivia is everything else ie. not an especially important idea being communicated.
Some of the other things which have needed doing are:
Differentiating gaffs from trivia (is a laughing matter)
Adding joke commentary
Reformatting
Adjustments in tone
Hyper-linking - trying to make sure all references link up to an external source, as well as internal linking
Meta-stuff - and more (see below)
Adding photos, categories and quotes (the usual)
I like to leave the plot to others, but will tweak if need be.
Update: as an admin, I shall be doing a lot more of this as there is still plenty to do. It's a seemingly endless task, but with other's help, we will get there. I aim to impose an order which is obvious to others, and hope they can follow my example.
Wrote the introduction to 'Science Experiments ', and began to re-write and re-order his sexual interests - primarily because they are so numerous and unusual as to be hilarious and scary, especially the last one added
contributed a huge amount to the cultural references ('jamaican refs', 'drugs' - noam chomsky was a gift of a find!); created the Rasta Pam page off the back of this.
edited cult refs and added more (freud, horace, newton, robocop); added clarification and links; created insights section; listed running gags and call backs; added to and tidied trivia; created sub-page Skin Game/Insights: Frankenstein Complex
contributed the entire interrogation scene callback; tidied up cult.refs/updated running gags; trivia/gaff split/sorted out the montage scene with explanation and then split that into it's own page, see below.
added and reformatted cult refs - added ruxpin, dick van dyke and argentine coup; callbacks added, trivia differentiated and techniques rule of 3 etc added
added 'vit k' to trivia; cults refs - belgian congo; insights (speculation), and heart of darkness to trivia; cult ref. aljazeera, moved nominations down; added footnotes; created sub-page: Pocket Listing/Insights: Satire of Imperialism
pretty much all the content on this so far (29.04.18) (callbacks, running gags and most cult refs except casablanca) (added st tropez ref and links/pics)
Season 9/Enhanced - created this sub-section to explore the season in greater depth.
Season 9/Enhanced/Dream Themes - exploring the dream themes and connections in Archer's dream world. Big project undertaken to gather all extraneous info about season 9 in an easily accessible place which didn't clog up the main pages.
Updated to include a revised premise and new "Evolution" section. (15/05/19)
Techniques and trademarks - added substantially to existing content, including adding sections on 'rule of 3', 'meta humour', 'crude, lewd and nude' , 'sarcasm, irony or satire?'. 'tone', 'figuratively/literally', 'read a book', 'breaking the 4th wall', 'cultural references'. Moved this content to a separate page. (15/05/19)
page collating all insights/analysis into background of characters, episodes, themes and allusions, as well as joke techniques, show trademarks, narrative devices, and character psychology. Ongoing (Updated 15/05/19)
pretty pleased with this wiki: it's pivotal to Archer so it needed to be dealt with respectfully. It's simple but effective - what was important to convey was the way this sequence threw some chaos into the mix and how it achieved that. Managed to do a pretty neat explainer of it, incorporated all cultural references borrowed from the White Elephant wiki and added a few more, like Terminator and ET.
a major undeveloped area was discovered here: this is an ambitious project that will benefit from others involvement. Season 9: Danger Island and beyond, as well as the personas in Season 8: Dreamland. Much completed; more to do.
The opportunity is there to fill out as much detail as necessary for each dream persona, who they are based on, and how they interact with Archer and one another. (ongoing as season 10 is about to begin; Dreamland and Danger Island to finish).
