Fantasy, Fun for all

One very under-appreciated form of entertainment comes in the form of fantasy and sci-fi shows.  Many of them are written off as for "geeks," while other people scoff at the low-budget special effects.  But I, in turn, scorn at those who are anti-sci-fi.  We get some of the best characters in all of fiction from the fantasy world.  Harry Potter, Buffy Summers, and Frodo Baggins have shaped my upbringing; so to write off fantasy television shows seems silly to me.

I guess I'll start first with the example of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  First of all, Buffy totally kicks butt and has super funny catch phrases.  The plot is extremely engaging as well.  I relished the seven seasons until the last episode.  One of the biggest criticisms of Buffy is that the special effects are horrible.  Okay, this is completely true, but keep in mind this was in the late '90s to early 2000s, and technology for this kind of thing was not that advanced.  Also, Joss Whedon, the AMAZING producer of this show had a pretty small budget to work with (especially compared to his most recent film, The Avengers).  Buffy may have lame special effects, but that's part of what makes it so great.  When a vampire comes out looking like a disformed, yellow-eyed freak, you can't help but giggle a little bit.  Having really funny- looking monsters adds a comedic element that would be lost if they were actually fearsome.  My personal favorites are the werewolves that look something like evil clowns in gorilla costumes.  My favorite episode of Buffy is when a monster comes to town that makes everyone sing and dance their feelings.  The downside to this is when you get too into the music, you spontaneously combust.  Buffy is really funny but also in the fantasy genre, so it takes on some serious topics.  It has a great balance of drama and comedy and is one of my favorite shows.

One of my other favorite shows is a rather new one called Once Upon A Time.  It is made by the same people who made Lost.  If you've never heard of Lost, you probably live in a hole because I'd guess that it's one of the three most popular fantasy TV shows, the others being Star Trek and The X Files.  If you've ever seen Lost, you know that there are a lot of twists and turns, and the exact same is true with Once Upon A Time.  The premise of the show is that all of the characters used to live in one world where they were all characters from our fairytales.  Everyone existed from Snow White and her Prince Charming to Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio.  One day, an evil queen cast a spell that sent everyone in the fairytale world to our world.  Now everyone there is stuck in a town called Storybrooke, Maine.  Only one little boy who is adopted knows the truth.  He finds his birth mother and tries to convince her and everyone else in the town that they are really under the queen's spell.  To many, this may seem a bit childish, but I find how the past and the present, the real and the unreal are weaved together to be fascinating.  Again because it has a TV budget, the special effects aren't very good, but I really don't think you need them.

I absolutely love sci-fi and fantasy television shows.  I acknowledge that I'm a bit of an oddball, but there's something about them that keeps drawing me back.