 From its earliest days, slash fiction has been particularly inspired by popular speculative fiction franchises, possibly because well-developed female characters may be lacking in speculative fiction, or because the speculative elements allow greater freedom to reinterpret canon characters.However, other large fandoms, such as "Starsky and Hutch" or "The Professionals", are based in non-speculative sources.Slash fiction follows popular media, and new stories are constantly produced.