Fishing for Fantasy Movie and Television Suggestions

I’m finally starting to feel a bit better after the annual Christmas cold. I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. Another non-game related post today (and I suppose a bit of a rant). My wife and I settled in last night to watch a few shows on the tube after all of the holiday chaos. As I don’t have cable TV, all our TV watching is via DVD or Internet. We’d just finished watching the Dresden Files last week and wanted to try something new. My wife suggested that we try Legend of the Seeker (which is unlike her as she is usually bemusedly tolerant of my fantasy predilection). So we tried it. I guess it started off decent enough, but soon I found all of the tired fantasy tropes coming back into play. Essentially the first two episodes pretty much encapsulate the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. I’m not sure why the heck anyone in TV or movie land can not get fantasy right. Superheroes took some doing and are still hit or miss sometimes, but by and large, they seem to get that right more often than not. Si-Fi is pretty much nailed down and a TV and cinema staple. But why, oh why must EVERY fantasy movie involve a farm boy going on a quest to destroy the evil kingdom? I think we’re ready to try other things. I mentioned the Dresden Files and feel that that was a step in the right direction. I LOVE fantasy, but I am tired of the same old things. I actually haven’t been reading much, if any mass market fantasies lately (at least the new stuff). The pathos seems to be too overdone, the clichés too entrenched, the characterization too typecast, the dialogue too stilted… it all just comes across as a bunch of fan fiction. Maybe I’m just getting too old and cranky, I’m not sure. At any rate, I’d be interested in any suggestions on some good fantasy watching. I need to recharge my batteries!

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 26, 2010 at 11:43 AM

    Legend of the Seeker takes quite a few episodes (8+) to find itself and get beyond light episodic fluff, but once it does, it gets quite a bit better and there are some episodes later on that are very good, in my opinion.

    As for movies, you've probably seen most if not all of them before, but try Jason and the Argonauts, Princess Mononoke, Conan the Barbarian, Ladyhawke, and Excalibur. The second Dungeons and Dragons (Wrath of the Dragon God) is better than the first, though probably not the escape from cliches you are looking for.

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  2. AnonymousDecember 26, 2010 at 12:08 PM

    I recommend Hawk the Slayer, it is very low budget and use some fantasy tropes while twisting others. Well worth seeing in my opinion.

    Krull is also an interesting fantasy movie, not good, but full of interesting ideas.

    Fantasy TV series are pretty rare, almost vanishingly so. Urban Fantasy is a bit more common.

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  3. XyanthonDecember 26, 2010 at 1:19 PM

    @Johnmorrow - thanks. Perhaps I'll watch a bit more and see if it picks up. Not with my wife though, she's defintely off it.

    @Seaofstarsrpg - I love Hawk theSlaer (even though that totally fits in with the cliches I railed against). I haven't seen it in about 20 years though. As a kid that movie was totally D&D to me. I also love Krull. I have that on DVD.

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