Top 5 Science Fiction/Fantasy in Other Media

     The first list I constructed for this topic was much longer than five. At first it was difficult narrowing my favorite movies, video games, and TV shows down to only five until I realized many of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride, The Wizard of Oz, and others were all adaptions of books. Although there was no rule against this, I decided putting adaptations on this list was cheating. After removing anything the creators had to buy rights to produce, I was able to easily shrink my list.

5. Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu

      I never thought that A. a show about Lego people could be any good and B. a show about teenaged ninjas could be any good. This show isn’t a grand cartoon masterpiece, but it isn’t supposed to and doesn’t try to be one. Ninjago is an action comedy with a tiny amount of romance and that’s all it needs to be. Each of the four main ninjas are unique and have their own quirks, how Zane has trouble understanding jokes, and Cole acts like this big tough guy but loves, and is very good at, dancing.

4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

       I love colorful games with fun images to look at. With its adorable cartoony cell-shaded graphics Wind Waker is one of the most visually unique Zelda game. Another nice touch is how Link has a family in this one. His grandmother and sister definitely add to and drive the story. The sailing mechanic really sets this game apart from other ones in the series, and I admit to spending more time exploring the ocean and searching for new islands rather than on the main quest. (I also love how you can chase pigs and carry them around.)

3. Fire Emblem Awakening

     I wasn’t exactly a fan of strategy games before I got into the Fire Emblem series, but now I have warmed up to them and it’s all thank to Fire Emblem Awakening. I do appreciate how units stay dead if they are killed because it makes the game even more challenging. Although, this can be infuriating at times. I will almost be finished with an objective, but an enemy can get a critical hit on one my favorite units/characters, and I have to start the entire thing all over again. There is also a marriage system so if I ship two characters I can, at least in the majority of cases, make it happen. I did find myself spending large amounts of time trying to figure out which characters had the best chemistry together.

2.  Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

     This is my favorite out of all the Star Wars movies. The soundtrack is amazing, and some of the locations, especially Endor are beautiful, and it was an excellent finale to the original trilogy. Also, I actually like the wickets. I find them absolutely adorable even though they could probably kill me. (Spoiler Alert, if you haven’t seen Return of the Jedi, I advise you don’t read the following paragraph)

     I felt everyone’s character arc had closure. Han no longer has to worry about his debt to Jabba, Yoda has passed the future of the Jedi Order to Luke, and Darth Vader finally sees the light and reconciles with his son even if it wasn’t long before his death.

#1

  Earlier I said Ninjago wasn’t a grand cartoon masterpiece, but Avatar the Last Airbender is. This isn’t only my favorite fantasy cartoon. It’s my favorite show of all time.  The animation and soundtrack are breathtaking and the plot doesn’t drag at all. In fact, a few episodes into season 1 a strong sense of urgency is established. All the main characters are memorable and although the show has many serious topics, war, genocide, destruction, there are still a huge number of hilarious moments. There is one thing I also applauded this show for. Character development sticks. I noticed many of the cartoons I was watching around the time Avatar first aired would have a character learn a lesson in a very special episode and then in the next episode he/she would go right back to his/her old ways. Here people do change and if they end up changing back there is an explanation for it, and it’s not glossed over which stood out to ten-year-old me.