Media fanzines grew out of science fiction APAs (Amateur Press Association publications), mostly mimeographed. 9/10ths of APAs went out to subscribers and were written by SF fans, some of whom went on to become professional SF writers. Many media zine writers have gone pro over the years as well.

While some reviewing of SF and Fantasy movies & TV shows went on in the APAs, as well as some original fiction, the start of the entirely media fanzine began with a female fan, Devra Langsam, who, with Sherna Comerford, started a Star Trek zine titled "Spockanalia", a partly fiction, part fact, part speculation of Vulcans and their world, with a special emphasis on Spock. The 1st issue appeared before the 1st season of Star Trek  finished out. Devra went on to publish many issues of her next zine, "Masiform D", founded Poison Pen Press, the 1st of the great fanzine presses, and was on the comittee of all of the International Star Trek Conventions in New York City, the 1st of them held at the Commodore Hotel in 1972.

I attended the 3rd & 5th of the 5 International Star Trek cons, and that's where I discovered fanzines. It was a revelation! You see, I'd been writing Trek Fanfiction long before the series was canceled. While I had met many another Trek fan, I'd never before met anyone who wrote their own stories.

Since then, thousands of Trek zines have been published, and thousands more of other media fanzines, from A-Team to Xena. Name a TV show or movie, & I'll lay odds I can find you a story or two, or a hundred.

Classifications of fanzines:

1) GEN: This once included pretty much everything printed--short for generic or general, whether the zine contained plot-driven stories or novels, or adult, relationship-driven stories, it was a term that originally differentiated non-slash from slash zines. Now it means "no sex at all please, we're gen here."

2) SHIP: For Heterosexual Relationship, once referred to as 'Adult'. A decade or two or three ago, there were much more of these zines published. Very little anymore; ship is now much more of an internet phenomenon. You'll find whole sites of SG-1 Jack/Samantha or Sam/Daniel. Or Buffy/Spike. You aren't likely to find anything any more explicit than the average bodice-ripper available in any chain bookstore.

SLASH: After the / key, where a same-sex professional partnership goes beyond friendship and into a very personal and sexual partnership. Again, nothing more than is often available at any mainstream bookstore, though its existance was once couched in secrecy. As with all sorts of fanfiction, it started with Star Trek (Kirk/Spock). Starsky/Hutch soon followed, and then pretty much any other male pairing you might conceive of, and some that you might never consider, which brings us to another, smaller subset:

FEMSLASH: Female/Female pairings. One of the 1st mixed adult/slash zines had a 2 page Janice Rand/Christine Chapel story. I remember a Cagney/Lacey & a couple of Thelma/Louise. There have been a few scattered stories in femslash-friendly zines (On The Edge, No Holds Barred) & a couple of all femslash zines (For the Love of a Woman), but again, this is much more of an internet phenom. Lots of Xena/Gabrielle on the web, for example