122 Best Releases From the Genre Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Dead Boy Detectives
SimilarFantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, The Avengers: United They Stand,
Dead Boy Detectives is, by its nature, a strange beast. Both a spinoff of MAX’s now-finished Doom Patrol series and Netflix’s own Sandman, it began as a sort of backdoor pilot two and a half years ago in the third episode of Doom Patrol Season 3. However, this series tossed the actors portraying the Boys and their living friend Crystal for an entirely different trio of performers. Now George Rextrew plays Edwin, the uptight turn-of-the-century boy. Jayden Revri steps into the jacket of Edwin's late 80s punk adjacent partner Charles. Finally, Kassius Nelson portrays their modern and still of this mortal plane third wheel, teen medium Crystal Palace.
Soon after meeting and freeing Crystal from the clutches of a demon named David (David Iacono), the boys take her in, although Edwin is less than thrilled at the idea. Missing large chunks of her memory, she is anxious to throw herself into the boys’ work investigating cases for and about ghosts, usually in the name of sending them off to the Great Beyond. Their first case as a trio takes them away from their English home to Port Townsend, WA. Unfortunately, even after they close the case, forces conspire to keep the three stuck in the town. With only time to waste, they decide to make the best of it by solving the problems of Townsend’s surprisingly bustling phantom population.
Kassius Nelson accesses those spooky-ooky powers. (Netflix)
This kind of “neither here nor there” of the show’s beginning and the characters’ “house arrest” soon reveals itself as a kind of meta reflection of the series itself. Steve Yockey, the writer of that backdoor pilot episode and the creator of this series, clearly has enthusiasm and love for the concept and the characters. The central relationship between the spectral friends has a striking sweetness without being cloying. The two's connection never feels in doubt, even as they bicker or revelations of unrequited sexual attraction come to light. The scripting deftly avoids needless "can their friendship survive" melodrama or after-school special syrupiness. It doesn’t hurt that, despite the roster change, Rexstrew and Revri wear the roles like comfortable clothes. They give Edwin and Charles a casual depth that extends behind their simple archetypes. Continue Reading →
The Big Door Prize
SimilarKONOSUBA – An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, M*A*S*H, Monarch of the Glen,
Planet of the Apes Roswell Tales from the Neverending Story, The Shining, The Strain, The Wimbledon Poisoner, Troubles,
Watch afterDexter: New Blood, Severance,
Silo The Night Agent,
StarringJosh Segarra,
In Season 1, The Big Door Prize felt like a cracked mirror version of a small-town Stephen King story. When the Morpho Machine—a device that spits out a card revealing the user’s “potential”—arrives in Deerfield, it does indeed disrupt life. However, most Deerfield residents are nice. Or, at least, they're not mean in the “could be tempted by Randall Flagg or Leland Gaunt” way. As a result, the disruptions were more of a “the principal buys a motorcycle” and “that dad grieving the death of his son declares himself sheriff without ever abusing power.” No escalating series of pranks culminating in out-and-out bloodshed or betraying one’s former friends to the dark embodiment of evil found here.
For those expecting The Big Door Prize Season 2 to start stacking the bodies like cordwood, I have bad news. It keeps the King’s small-town vibes without wandering into King’s “the secrets we keep will literally tear us apart” territory. Opening moments after Season 1’s end, the Morpho machine has stopped spitting out cards, instead offering the town folk a move to the next level. While the result is, essentially, yet another projective test, the results bring a distinctly different flavor to the mix. While the series retains a certain goofiness, it also gains a sadder complexity. The longer we look at the characters, the more forced their good-time silliness becomes. Instead of the exception, Season 1's Father Reuben (Damon Gupton) centric fourth episode feels more like Season 2’s template.
Mary Holland and Josh Segarra nail the couples' costumes category. (AppleTV+)
To find that tone, the series does reshuffle its character decks. Many of the students we met last year are nowhere to be seen, for instance. New characters are introduced, including a music teacher played by Justine Lupe. Others, like Cass’s (Gabrielle Dennis) best friend Nat (Mary Holland), get a much bigger spotlight. The overall result gives the series a stronger ensemble feel, even if it is not necessarily without downsides. Continue Reading →
Fallout
SimilarBlack Scorpion, Dark Angel, Dark Skies, Knots Landing, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Noah's Arc,
Planet of the Apes Sonic the Hedgehog, The Tribe, ThunderCats, Thunderstone, World's End Harem,
Few titles in the world of video game RPGs are as stylistically significant and cherished by fans as Interplay Entertainment’s Fallout. First published in 1997, the post-apocalyptic RPG has spawned countless sequels (including the acclaimed Fallout: New Vegas) and garnered millions of devoted fans through meticulous worldbuilding and its (now signature) atomic age-inspired retrofuturist aesthetic.
Thanks to shows like The Last of Us proving naysayers wrong and paving the way for high-budget, critically acclaimed video game adaptations, Prime Video has joined forces with Bethesda to bring the Fallout franchise to the small screen with an eight-episode series of the same name. Bolstered by source material with a baked-in sense of aesthetics and a pair of winning leads in Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins, Fallout is a clever, twisted apocalyptic odyssey that soars as both a video game adaptation and a standalone series.
Starring Purnell, Goggins, and Aaron Clifton Moten, Fallout follows Lucy (Purnell), an idealistic, sheltered “Vault Dweller” who has spent her entire life in an idyllic vault built to keep wealthy Americans happy and healthy in the event of nuclear devastation. When surface raiders disrupt her vault’s peaceful existence and kidnap her father, Lucy is forced to leave the safety of Vault 33, encountering all manner of unlikely enemies and allies along the way. Continue Reading →
Star Trek: Discovery
Similar3rd Rock from the Sun,
Battlestar Galactica Ben 10: Omniverse, Blake's 7,
Caprica Crusade, Dark Skies, Doctor Who, Duck Dodgers,
Earth 2 Eureka Seven Farscape,
Firefly First Wave, Flash Gordon, Future Man, Hyperdrive, Intruders, Inuyashiki: Last Hero,
Justice League Lost in Space, Marvel's Rocket & Groot, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Out of This World, Quark, Red Dwarf, Space: 1999,
Star Trek Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,
Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Voyager Star Wars: Droids, Stargate Atlantis, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, The Ark, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Transformers, Threshold, ThunderCats, Torchwood, UFO, Ultraman,
StarringAnthony Rapp, Blu del Barrio, David Ajala, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, Sonequa Martin-Green, Wilson Cruz,
The 1960s Star Trek show did not have the chance to do a true series finale. All of its successors did though, until now. From The Next Generation to Deep Space Nine to Voyager to Enterprise to Picard, every show had the opportunity to make a final statement and sum up the years of adventures in some fashion. Yet, despite being the primogenitor of the franchise, The Original Series just sort of ends, with the sense of the conveyor belt simply stopping, and its last output accidentally becoming an end, if not quite the end.
And yet “Turnabout Intruder”, infamous though it may be, is a surprisingly fitting finale for TOS. It features the good notions and abiding themes of the 1960s show: the idea that this crew knows their captain well enough to sniff out a fake; that become a well-functioning team that can work through even the most unorthodox problems, and that after seventy-nine episodes’ worth of outlandish adventures, they remain open to new and unexpected possibilities. It also features the bad ideas and problematic elements that plagued series time and again: from a mixed-at-best perspective on women to William Shatner’s over-the-top acting. In that, the show’s final outing is an inadvertent but strangely apt swan song for the series.
In its new season, Star Trek: Discovery follows in those hallowed, unexpected footsteps. This is Discovery’s fifth and final year on the air, but as reported by the cast and crew, they didn’t know that when writing or filming it until the last minute. Despite the promise of a hastily-shot coda to give the show an air of finality, that makes this last leg of Discovery’s mission an accidental ending, not unlike the one endured by the original Star Trek series. Continue Reading →
X-Men
Regardless of what one thinks of nostalgia—a toxic force or a pleasant refuge from the chaos that is existence—there’s no denying its significant role in shaping and guiding our pop culture. Rather than simply rallying against it, we must, from time to time, acknowledge it and evaluate its accuracy. The launching of X-Men ’97 gives The Spool a unique opportunity to look back at ’97’s progenitor, the early 90’s series X-Men, also commonly known as X-Men: The Animated Series.
However, this is not a task for one person. An objective of this size requires a team-up, in the Merry Marvel Tradition. Tim Stevens, The Spool’s steadfast TV Editor, whose stoicism conceals a maelstrom of doubt and rage, much like ruby quartz holds back optic blasts, tackled the first half of the series. Then, Justin Harrison, our near-feral writer with a gift for mentorship and a head full of implanted memories, closes things down with his take on the second half of season 3 and all of seasons 4 and 5.
With that, there’s no time to waste. Hop in the Blackbird and come with us for a look at the highlights—and occasional lowlight—of the X-Men! Continue Reading →
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
SimilarAnnie Hall (1977), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Constantine (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), From Russia with Love (1963), Ghost (1990), Goldfinger (1964), Hellboy (2004), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), King Kong (1933), King Kong (2005),
Live and Let Die (1973) Manhattan (1979), Men in Black II (2002), North by Northwest (1959), Ocean's Eleven (1960), Scrooge (1951),
Shaft (2000) Snakes on a Plane (2006), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Superman Returns (2006), The Apartment (1960), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Green Mile (1999), The Terminal (2004), Volver (2006),
StudioColumbia Pictures,
There are few names as deeply ingrained in the fabric of American pop culture as Ghostbusters, the action-comedy franchise spawned by Ivan Reitman’s beloved 1984 film. Nonetheless, despite its staggering financial success (netting nearly 300 million against a 25 million dollar budget) and pop culture permeance, Sony has had trouble recapturing the magic in later entries. Neither 1989’s Ghostbusters II, 2016’s Ghostbusters, and 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife have neared the original’s success.
Despite that, it seems the Ghostbusters franchise has finally found a sequel concept it’s willing to forge ahead with. The franchise’s latest installment, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, is a direct sequel to Afterlife. It once more reunites Egon Spengler’s (Harold Ramis) children with the three living original Ghostbusters— Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray. Despite an intriguing subplot for Phoebe, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is an incohesive, unoriginal entry. It coasts on fan service to carry a paper-thin plot and a lukewarm crop of characters, new and old.
Bill Murray and Paul Rudd discuss their love of fog machines. (Sony Pictures)
Picking up two years after the events of Afterlife, Frozen Empire follows the Spengler family (Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard) to New York City. After the previous film's tradition-breaking decision to unfold in rural Oklahoma, this returns the franchise to its true home. Bankrolled by the uber-wealthy Winston (Hudson) they're back operating out of the old Ghostbusters firehouse. There the Spenglers struggle to juggle ghost-hunting with their interpersonal dynamics. That's all while working to keep the mayor (William Atherton) from shutting the family business. Continue Reading →
X-Men '97
SimilarBatman, Batman: The Animated Series, Birds of Prey, Captain Midnight, Captain Star, Deadly Class, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Flash Gordon, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, GoGo Sentai Boukenger, Inazuman, Invincible,
Justice League Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, Power Rangers, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Silver Surfer, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Super Crooks, Tales from the Crypt, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Avengers: United They Stand, The Flash, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: Evolution,
As the saying goes, only '90s kids will remember the severe cultural impact X-Men: The Animated Series had on a particular strain of latchkey millennials. For many, the show, which ran from 1992-97 on the Fox Kids programming block, was the arguable apex of the Marvel superhero team's on-screen representations. It was thrilling, exciting, and for the time, surprisingly mature in its handling of the sociopolitical issues that spawned the comics in the first place -- racism, xenophobia, homophobia. It carried an element of serialized storytelling that was rare for kids' TV and took its characters and their respective issues seriously. Plus, that theme song just slammed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQjdm8BdJO4
Disney+, in its infinite wisdom, knows how to keep the franchise going while they anxiously figure out how to incorporate the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Deadpool & Wolverine should give us a portent, however grim) -- and to keep the '90s kids satiated with a heaping helping of nostalgia while we wait. So goes X-Men '97, a straightforward continuation of The Animated Series that updates its "too sophisticated for kids" remit all the way to the present day and lands on something interesting, if far from perfect, in the process.
Picking up months after the original series' finale, X-Men '97 shows a world reeling from the death of Charles Xavier in the final episode of the animated series: Mutants are mistrusted more than ever, and a growing fifth column of right-wing human militants called the Friends of Humanity are gathering up mutants and taking them down with stolen Sentinel technology. Naturally, it's up to the X-Men to stop them -- if they can pull themselves together and work as a team. Scott Summers (Ray Chase) is the next natural choice for leader, but he's torn between his duty to his fellow X-Men and his desire to start a family with Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), a move that has ol' Wolverine (Cal Dodd) itching with jealousy. Continue Reading →
Created byDave Filoni,
SimilarThunder in Paradise,
StarringDee Bradley Baker,
The final season of the Star Wars side adventure goes to some unexpectedly moving places.
Into a television landscape suddenly devoid of Star Wars content, The Bad Batch swoops in with its third and final season, a darker yet not grittier adventure that loops its way into the greater Universe’s timeline while still managing to surprise an audience who knows how much of this story ends.
Picking up some time after the end of Season 2 (though there are several short time skips throughout the initial eight episodes), Omega (Michelle Ang) remains imprisoned in the Imperial scientific testing facility in Mount Tantiss. Ostensibly there to assist cloning expert Nala Se and fellow female clone Emerie (Keisha Castle-Hughes), it’s clear to both Omega and the audience that she’s there for more nefarious purposes, including mysterious bloodwork that Emerie has been conducting on all of the clones and of which Nala Se is insistent that Omega not be a part. Omega is the shining star of this season from the first episode; determined, loyal, and brave (not to mention generally smarter than all of her brothers), Omega is the sort of female character on which Star Wars (and internet controversy) thrives. Decried from her very introduction, Omega has cemented her place as the heart of the Bad Batch, both the series and its namesake group. Continue Reading →
Constellation
SimilarCruel Summer, Dexter, Golden Years, Good Job, Intruders, Kamen Rider, Luther, Millennium, Princess Principal, World's End Harem,
AppleTV+’s latest foray into sci-fi is short on resolutions but long on atmosphere.
It is, perhaps, a bit unfair to start a review of Constellation by noting its similarities to The Cloverfield Paradox. Still, they’re undeniably evident in the early going. The show opens with an international collection of astronauts facing an emergency in the wake of an incredible experiment. In the aftermath, evidence mounts that fatalities and damage to the space station were not the only consequences. Those who stayed up late after the Super Bowl to watch the third film in the Cloverfield anthology brand (?) will likely hear how similar that plot sounds. Thankfully, AppleTV+’s new series comes out looking favorable in the comparison.
A significant reason why is Constellation is far more interested in mining horror from what happens when Jo (Noomi Rapace) returns to Earth. As the astronaut left behind longest on the dying space station, her sense of disconnect is initially entirely understandable. However, as her experiences increasingly fail to match the realities of everyone around her, the suggestion that she’s experiencing nothing more than some short-term trauma response breaks down. Something happened to Jo, something she’s brought back to Earth with her. Continue Reading →
Hazbin Hotel
SimilarAmerican Horror Story, Angel, Brimstone, Family Guy, Fawlty Towers, The Shining, Troubles,
StudioA24,
Messy writing keeps this solid cast from shepherding Hotel to strong Yelp scores.
Hazbin Hotel is not for me. That is not a bad thing. If every piece of media appealed to everyone, the homogeneity would be stifling. I can see the appeal of a big, bombastic, gleefully violent, heart-on-its-sleeve musical cartoon for grown-ups (heck, I've enjoyed my fair share of them)—I just don't click with the show's ice-pop made-of-blood aesthetic, and I'm not a huge show-tune guy. Acknowledging the disconnect between the show's vibe and my personal tastes, as a critic, I have two primary takeaways from Hazbin Hotel's first four episodes:
In terms of animation and voicework, Hazbin Hotel is solid—and Keith David's turn as the burnt-out bartending demon Husk is a standout among a game cast.
In terms of writing, Hazbin Hotel is a mess, awkwardly careening between silly and dramatic without precision—most noticeably when it delves into the horrific life of one of its lead players.
Hazbin Hotel's aesthetic is built on contrasts—primarily between series heroine Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen)'s deliberate good cheer, bright smiles, and crayon drawings and the continual viciousness of Hell and most of its denizens. Visually, the cast (both the show's core ensemble and the wider community of Hell) is expressive and distinct. Hell's assorted players and agents are united across factions by the frequent use of red and black either alone or in concert in costume design. Each faction, in turn, has its own visual signifiers—the staff and residents of the Hotel tend towards a hybrid of casual and professional wear, while a powerful gangster clique goes all in on decadence. Heaven's murderous, brotastic angels, meanwhile, opt for a more uniform style. Continue Reading →
What If...?
Disney+'s animated exploration of what could've been continues to intrigue in Season 2, but not all episodes are created equal.
With What If…? Season 2, the time seems right to take a look at both seasons and rank them for your entertainment. Is it wrong to rank art? Possibly, but we’re of the mind that something that feels this good can’t possibly be bad.
On that note, let’s not waste a moment more and start counting down from worst to best. The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) hates to be kept waiting! Continue Reading →
American Horror Story
A quick overview of the high highs and middling disappointments in horror this year.
With the social media app formerly known as Twitter now a shell of its former self, horror fans have been forced to return to Facebook to continue such interminable debates as “What does or doesn’t qualify something as ‘horror’?” “What the hell is ‘elevated horror,’ anyway?” “Are remakes inherently bad?” “Have horror movies gotten too ‘woke’?” “Were we wrong for letting women make horror?”
In a year when both David Gordon Green and M. Night Shyamalan released new movies, the horror discourse was especially spicy, and that’s before we get to the really interesting stories, like the surprise viral success of Skinamarink, which, with the way time seems to be passing nowadays, feels like it was released five years ago. Both indie and mainstream horror made daring choices, not looking to appeal to as broad a range of audiences as possible, and treating the genre as a serious art form, as opposed to just a machine that prints money. But the biggest surprise came in October, with the release of Saw X, the tenth film in a seemingly unkillable franchise, which ended up being one of the best, most coherent entries in the entire series. Continue Reading →
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Similar4400, A Step Into The Past, Ah! My Goddess, Amazing Stories, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Astro Boy, Atomic Train, Ben 10: Omniverse,
Eureka Seven Fallen, Family Guy, Flower Boy Next Door, Golden Years,
Hospital Playlist I Dream of Jeannie, Intruders, Kamen Rider, Lost Love in Times, My Holo Love, Nine: Nine Time Travels, Phil of the Future,
Planet of the Apes Power Rangers, Prehistoric Park, Renegade, Scully, Sentimental Journey, Sonny Boy, Stand Up!!, Star-Crossed Lovers, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The 4400, The Dead Zone, The Girl from Tomorrow, The Lost Recipe, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Wallflower, Thunderstone,
StarringKieran Culkin,
The ScienceSaru-produced animated series rebuilds rather than retells Bryan Lee O'Malley's beloved comic.
Late in the final volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's 2004-2010 comic series Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour), once the action's done and the hateful Gideon Graves has been slain, protagonists Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers take a moment to process everything. Defeating Gideon meant facing not only the vicious misogynist swordsman but also their respective character flaws (It's telling that one of Scott's key moments is his realizing just how alike he and Gideon are, and by gaining that understanding, he affirms that, yeah, Gideon has so got to die).
There are a few candidates for Scott's actual finest hour in Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. His after-action conversation/reconciliation/renewal with Ramona is my pick. Bryan Lee O'Malley/Oni Press.
As Ramona says, change is one of life's constants, which applies to Scott Pilgrim's ventures into new mediums. Edgar Wright's thoroughly enjoyable movie shifted around characters and reworked some of Scott's flaws. The colorful, impeccably soundtracked, hair-tearingly difficult Ubisoft-produced video game ramped up the goofy save for one particularly pointed ending. And now, with the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, creator O'Malley—joined by co-writer and co-showrunner BenDavid Grabinski and animation studio ScienceSaru (with episode director Abel Góngora) have changed things up yet again. Rather than retell Scott Pilgrim as it's been since 2004 (a story already told, with riffs, as a comic, movie, and video game), the creative team opts for something more radical. It's a work as much in conversation with the Scott Pilgrim that came before as an adaptation. Continue Reading →
All the Light We Cannot See
SimilarA Fortunate Life,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Alias Grace, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Anna Karenina, Återkomsten, Atomic Train, Blackeyes, Brides of Christ, Cigarette Girl, Cleopatra, Dancing on the Edge, Dark Winds, Elizabeth R, Fallen, Fearless, Further Tales of the City, Gossip Girl, House of Cards, Jack the Ripper, Jewels, M*A*S*H, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monarch of the Glen, Mr. Mercedes, Narco-Saints, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King,
Planet of the Apes Pope John Paul II,
Pride and Prejudice Roswell Scully,
Sherlock Holmes Son of the Morning Star, Soul Land 2: The Peerless Tang Clan, Super Pumped, Tales from the Neverending Story, The Buccaneers, The Gold Robbers, The Lost World, The Moon Embracing the Sun, The Phantom of the Opera, The Shining, The Strain, The Sun Also Rises, The Three-Body Problem, The Wimbledon Poisoner, Three Days of Christmas, Tientsin Mystic, Troubles, Unorthodox, Unterleuten: The Torn Village, Viso d'angelo, White House Plumbers, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Wycliffe,
Early in For All Mankind Season 4, Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Dani Poole (Krys Marshall) reencounter each other for the first time in years on the Happy Valley Mars base. Smiling warmly, each says, “Hi, Bob,” to each other. For fans of the show, it has an immediate impact. The significance of the silly greeting reminds those audience members of the deep bond between these two astronauts. Newcomers likely won’t grasp the specifics of the importance, but Marshall and Kinnaman’s performances make it quite clear that it isn’t some random bit of silliness. Continue Reading →
Goosebumps
Similar2Moons: The Series,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Amazing Stories, Are You Afraid of the Dark?,
Black Books Brimstone, Cruel Summer, Cybersix, Dark, Dark Winds, Dexter, Fate/Apocrypha, From, Further Tales of the City, Game of Thrones, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Gossip Girl,
HIStory M*A*S*H, Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Monarch of the Glen, More Tales of the City, Mr. Mercedes, Murder Most Horrid,
Planet of the Apes Sherlock Holmes Soul Land 2: The Peerless Tang Clan, Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Neverending Story, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, The 4400, The Alienist, The Family Game, The Moon Embracing the Sun, The Shining, The Strain, The Twilight Zone, The Wimbledon Poisoner, ThunderCats, Tientsin Mystic, Troubles, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Witchcraft,
Do we need another live-action Goosebumps adaptation? After a ’90s Fox Kids series and a pair of 2010s films, one would assume that the ground of turning Slappy the dummy and other frightening beings into flesh-and-blood creations has been well-trodden. Continue Reading →
Doom Patrol
NetworkHBO Max, Max,
SimilarAstro Boy, Batfink, Batman, Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated Series, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Birds of Prey, Black Scorpion, Captain Midnight, Captain Star, Cybersix, Deadly Class, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Flash Gordon, Flower Boy Next Door, GARO, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, GoGo Sentai Boukenger, Golden Bat, HAPPY!, Inazuman, Infini-T Force, Inuyashiki: Last Hero, Invincible,
Justice League Justice League Action, Kamen Rider, Krypton, Madan Senki Ryukendo, Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, Marvel's Rocket & Groot, Marvel's Spider-Man, Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Hero, Naomi, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, Power Rangers, Resident Alien, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Silver Surfer, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Sentinels, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Static Shock, Super Crooks, Superman & Lois, Tales from the Crypt, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers: United They Stand, The Batman, The Flash, The Incredible Hulk, The Mobile Cop Jiban, The Sound of Your Heart, Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Tiga, X-Men: Evolution,
Doom Patrol Season 4 Part 2 dives headfirst into what has consistently been a series favorite topic since the beginning: death. While much of Patrol has pondered what it would be like to live agelessly—essentially without fear of any possible death except the violent and unusual—but still struggle with every other aspect of being human. The members screwed up, had mental issues and physical ailments, struggled with vanity and loneliness, and frequently gave in to any number of self-loathing varietals. They would never age, but they wore their pain the same as the rest of us. Continue Reading →
Loki
Similar4400, A Returner's Magic Should Be Special, A Step Into The Past, Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Amazing Stories, Astro Boy, Batfink, Batman, Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated Series, Ben 10: Omniverse, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Birds of Prey, Captain Midnight, Chuck, CSI: Miami, Cybersix, Dark, Deadly Class, DEAR GAGA, Doctor Who, Echo, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Flower Boy Next Door, Future Man, GARO, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, Go Back Couple, GoGo Sentai Boukenger, Golden Bat, HAPPY!,
HIStory I Dream of Jeannie, Inazuman, Infini-T Force, Invincible, Itaewon Class, Jin,
Justice League Justice League Action, Kamen Rider, Knots Landing, Koro Sensei Quest!, La Femme Nikita, Life on Mars, Live Up To Your Name, Lost Love in Times, Love, Timeless, Love, Victor, Madan Senki Ryukendo, Manhole, Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, Marvel's Inhumans, Marvel's Rocket & Groot, Marvel's Spider-Man, Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Hero, Naomi, Nine: Nine Time Travels, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, Odd Squad, Phil of the Future,
Planet of the Apes Power Rangers, Prehistoric Park, Raven's Home, Ravenswood, Ressha Sentai ToQger, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Samurai Jack, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Shuttle Love Millennium, Silver Surfer, Somehow 18, Space Sentinels, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Static Shock, Super Crooks, Superman & Lois, Tabitha, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, The 4400, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers: United They Stand, The Batman, The Bride of Habaek, The Dead Zone, The Flash, The Girl from Tomorrow, The Incredible Hulk, The Lost Recipe, The Mobile Cop Jiban, The Originals, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Sound of Your Heart, Thunderbirds, Thunderstone, Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Ginga, Ultraman Tiga, Word of Honor, X-Men: Evolution,
StarringEugene Cordero Ke Huy Quan, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Tom Hiddleston, Wunmi Mosaku,
One of the common complaints about Marvel’s attempts at multiverse storytelling is that it renders everything meaningless. If there is another Ikaris of the Eternals out there—or a possibly infinite number of them—why should one care if the one in front of us dies? Generally, this writer finds the argument unconvincing. If I told you there were infinite versions of your friend out there in the multiverse you might someday meet, you’d still care quite a bit to see your version die in front of you. Continue Reading →
Quantum Leap
NetworkNBC,
Similar4400, A Returner's Magic Should Be Special, A Step Into The Past, Amazing Stories,
Battlestar Galactica Ben 10: Omniverse, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,
Caprica Dark, Doctor Who, Future Man, Go Back Couple,
HIStory I Dream of Jeannie, Jin, Life on Mars, Live Up To Your Name, Lost Love in Times, Love, Timeless, Love, Victor, Manhole, Mirai Sentai Timeranger, More Tales of the City, My Holo Love, Nine: Nine Time Travels, Odd Squad, Phil of the Future,
Planet of the Apes Prehistoric Park, Red Dwarf, Samurai Jack, Somehow 18,
Star Trek: Voyager Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The 4400, The Dead Zone, The Girl from Tomorrow, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Thunderstone, Torchwood,
After averting the Apocalypse and stopping a more militaristic Leaper from the near future by leaping into his own past, Ben (Raymond Lee) and everyone else at Quantum Leap expected him to leap home. Instead, he was nowhere to be seen. Continue Reading →
Gen V
SimilarAstro Boy, Batfink, Batman, Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated Series, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Birds of Prey, Black Scorpion, Captain Midnight, CSI: Miami, Cybersix, Deadly Class, DEAR GAGA, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Flash Gordon, Flower Boy Next Door, GARO, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, GoGo Sentai Boukenger, Golden Bat, Hina Logic: From Luck & Logic, Inazuman, Infini-T Force, Itaewon Class,
Justice League Justice League Action, Knots Landing, Koro Sensei Quest!, Loonatics Unleashed, Love, Victor, Madan Senki Ryukendo, Marvel's Rocket & Groot, Marvel's Spider-Man, Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Naomi, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, Power Rangers, Raven's Home, Ravenswood, Resident Alien, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Silver Surfer, Space Sentinels, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Static Shock, Super Crooks, Superman & Lois, Tabitha, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Avengers: United They Stand, The Batman, The Flash, The Incredible Hulk, The Mobile Cop Jiban, The Originals, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Sound of Your Heart, Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Tiga, X-Men: Evolution,
Watch afterAhsoka, Invincible,
Loki Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, ONE PIECE,
Secret Invasion The Continental: From the World of John Wick, The Wheel of Time, Twisted Metal,
The Boys is good. Often, it is excellent. However, the Eric Kripke-created adaptation of the Garth Ennis-Darick Robertson-created comic book series sometimes overindulged in juvenilia and “is this too edgy for you, square?” baiting. To be fair, that isn’t exactly unfaithful to the source material. Ennis frequently vacillates between scathingly insightful critiques of the human condition and truckloads of dick jokes (see also, Preacher). Continue Reading →
Der Schwarm
SimilarGolden Years, The Incredible Hulk,
The sea is always a great setting for a story. It’s both soothing and menacing; water is cleansing and purifying, and a consistently replenishing source of food. But it’s also dangerous and uncompromising. Water is one of nature’s greatest antagonists, it can get into virtually anything, softening it, weakening it, eventually breaking it apart. But nothing on earth would survive without it. It’s a brilliant metaphor for so many things, as it’s constantly changing and moving and covers wondrous and monstrous secrets. It works even better in visual mediums like TV and film because it’s beautiful to both look at and listen to. The CW’s new eco-thriller, The Swarm, makes good use of its watery locations in establishing an aura of tranquil menace: everything seems calm and orderly, but there’s trouble bubbling up just below the surface. Continue Reading →