Favorite Fantasy TV Series

[Kai "the spy"]

It's still basically magic, even after the Midichloreans. A lot of fantasy stories, like The Dresden Files, tend to give bring realistic science into their magic, but it's still magic, and the stories IMO are still fantasy.

If you say so. I don't really care enough (unless there's somebody making silly claims to argue against me). I just thought it would be funny, because I don't think anybody but Georg Lucas ever liked the idea of the Midi-Chloreans and Abrams actually had to state that he wouldn't adress them in the new movies, but apparently, nobody else thinks it's funny.

I'm honestly not sure, that is a hard one to classify. As far as I remember, I haven't watched it in ages, other than talking dinosaurs there really wasn't anything else fantastic (as in out of the ordinary, this is a comment on the show's quality) going on.

Not a comment on quality, I take it. And, yes, talking dinosaurs and similar scientific irregularities (ancient technology, cavemen living in the same period as dinosaurs), as well as some fantastic concepts introduced briefly for the sake of a joke (a TV talk show announcing guest star Godzilla to talk about his newest film, year numbers being counted backwards and the son asking the father what they're counting down to).

 

[eschaton]

Not a comment on quality, I take it. And, yes, talking dinosaurs and similar scientific irregularities (ancient technology, cavemen living in the same period as dinosaurs), as well as some fantastic concepts introduced briefly for the sake of a joke (a TV talk show announcing guest star Godzilla to talk about his newest film, year numbers being counted backwards and the son asking the father what they're counting down to).

I don't think that something happening in a show which could not happen in real life is enough for it to be labeled fantasy. For example, Six Feet Under involved ghosts, but it's not typically considered a fantasy series. Also, The Simpson often have gags which involve things that cannot happen, but it's not fantasy.

Historically, fantasy has been more defined by having a distinct setting from the real world - whether an entirely separate world (like classic D&D settings), a supposed place far back in time before recorded history (like Tolkien, or the Conan stories) or an alternate world which is accessible through magical gateways (Alice & Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Narnia, etc). But with the rise of modern urban fantasy, a lot of this sort of fictional work now takes place in "our" world.

 

[JD]

Not a comment on quality, I take it. And, yes, talking dinosaurs and similar scientific irregularities (ancient technology, cavemen living in the same period as dinosaurs), as well as some fantastic concepts introduced briefly for the sake of a joke (a TV talk show announcing guest star Godzilla to talk about his newest film, year numbers being counted backwards and the son asking the father what they're counting down to).

Yeah, I missed the not.
The more I think about it, the more I'd say it's just kind of it's own thing that isn't really either sci-fi or fantasy. I don't think any of the stuff you mention would really qualify it for either one.

 

[Timewalker]

Highlander:The Series(1992-1998)
Fantastic Journey(1976-1977)

Highlander, definitely, plus Highlander: The Raven

It was annoying that Highlander: The Raven was canceled. We never got to find out what happened to Nick.

Not sure why The Fantastic Journey is classified as fantasy. Granted, I don't buy into this Bermuda Triangle nonsense and ancient alien-Atlantis is equally silly... but it wasn't all fantasy.

I don't know if I've watched a lot of fantasy series. Maybe Doctor Who, which features a phone box time machine and a screw driver that does scans?

I wouldn't consider Doctor Who to be fantasy. Well, at least not Classic Who. The new stuff (starting in 2005) might as well be called fantasy for all the dumb Capaldi-era stories that might as well have been lifted from the children's fairy tales section of any library.

Joan of Arcadia

I watched most of that series. Fun Fact: The actress who played Joan used to be a regular on the General Hospital soap opera - a show that had some really wacky storylines sometimes, involving aliens, mad scientists who wanted to freeze the world, and vampires.

Xena: Warrior Princess
I Dream Of Jeannie

I still enjoy both of these.

Robin of Sherwood

It took awhile to get used to this one, since I'd only ever seen the Richard Greene version of Robin Hood.

Also, Star Wars is and always has been Fantasy, being that it's basically King Arthur in space.

I never once got that impression.

Babylon 5 draws on the concepts and/or terms of Lord of the Rings, but it has always been described by JMS as being officially and determinedly Science Fiction, whereas Star Wars has always been described by Lucas and others as Space Fantasy in addition to blatantly correlating with the Arthurian Legends on a 1-to-1 level nearly across the board.

What are these 1-to-1 correlations?


My own favorite fantasy TV series not mentioned above include H.R. Pufnstuf, Wizards and Warriors, and The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
American Gods
Game of Thrones
Angel
Xena Warrior Princess
Dead Like Me
Penny Dreadful
Supernatural
Once Upon A Time
True Blood

That was a really hard list to make. I think I could possibly list every fantasy show I've ever enjoyed even a little bit and not get higher than the mid-20s. And I still can't decide if The Good Place is fantasy (if so, it takes the number 1 spot).

 

[DigificWriter]

A few of the 1-to-1 correlations between Arthurian Legend and Star Wars:
- Obi-Wan is Merlin
- Vader is Mordred
- Luke is Arthur
- Lightsabers represent Excalibur
- Kyber Crystals represent the Holy Grail
- During the events of the Prequel Trilogy, Anakin is Lancelot and Padme is Guenevere

And that's just the stuff I can come up with off the top of my head. I know there's more that I'm not thinking of right now.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

A few of the 1-to-1 correlations between Arthurian Legend and Star Wars:
- Obi-Wan is Merlin

Or Gandalf. Or the wizard Shazam. Or any of the other Wise Old Wizards from mythology, literature, etc.. It's a trope. One that is mostly based on Merlin, but still a trope.

- Vader is Mordred
- Luke is Arthur

Aside from the mix-up in the father-son relations there, what makes Vader Mordred other than being the villain? And what makes Luke Arthur other than being the hero? Luke is no king, and never was.
There's also the biggest problem that makes your claim fall on its face: Arthur was the ruler of his kingdom, and the villain Mordred was the rebel. If anything, Vader is Arthur, and Luke is Mordred. There was no Evil Empire in Arthurian Legend.

- Lightsabers represent Excalibur

There've been a lot of Excaliburs is Arthurian Legend, I take it?

- Kyber Crystals represent the Holy Grail

What Crystals?!

No, seriously, I know they're the crystals from the lightsabers and kinda rare, but they weren't nearly prominent, or rare (there was only one Grail) enough to serve as a 1-to-1 equivalent.

- During the events of the Prequel Trilogy, Anakin is Lancelot and Padme is Guenevere

So, Lancelot becomes Mordred, and Luke is married to his mother?!

Okay, jokes aside, who was Arthur in that scenario?

And that's just the stuff I can come up with off the top of my head. I know there's more that I'm not thinking of right now.

Please, go on. Because I'm really waiting for any real foundation for your bold claim, and what you came up with off the top of your head, well ...

 

[Snaploud]

And I still can't decide if The Good Place is fantasy (if so, it takes the number 1 spot).

I can't think of an argument for keeping it out of fantasy...unless you think it's a documentary.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

First off, you may not have registered the tongue-in-cheek nature of my post, though I though my using the #NeverForget in this context would have made that obvious. But even so, by the parameters @JD gave as what differentiates SF from Fantasy to him, the subatomic particles which dictate if and how somebody is able to use the Force, clearly pulls it out of the Fantasy category and puts it completely into the SF genre.

What if a show connects to the Force using mushrooms? Does that make it science fiction or fantasy?

 

[Snaploud]

What if a show connects to the Force using mushrooms? Does that make it science fiction or fantasy?

Do the mushrooms contain midichlorians?

Are they bigger on the inside? If so, is it because of a magic totem or a pocket dimension?

 

[Timewalker]

A few of the 1-to-1 correlations between Arthurian Legend and Star Wars:
- Obi-Wan is Merlin
- Vader is Mordred
- Luke is Arthur
- Lightsabers represent Excalibur
- Kyber Crystals represent the Holy Grail
- During the events of the Prequel Trilogy, Anakin is Lancelot and Padme is Guenevere

And that's just the stuff I can come up with off the top of my head. I know there's more that I'm not thinking of right now.

No. Just. NO.

First of all, Luke is Vader's son. Not the other way around. You conveniently forget about mentioning who Han Solo represents, and no wonder. He can't be Lancelot, since if Leia represents Guinevere (there's nobody else available; she's the only female cast member other than Aunt Beru, which would mean Luke married his aunt) and Luke represents Arthur, that's a brother-sister marriage.

And forget the prequel trilogy. I never saw it in its entirety (kept falling asleep from boredom), but I've read enough about it here to realize that there is NOTHING about it that could make it a direct, complete translation of the story of King Arthur. Lancelot may have had his "Dark Side" moment with Guinevere, but he never killed a bunch of children. And she was every bit as guilty of emotional infidelity as he was (depending on which version of the story they either just loved each other, or like in the First Knight movie, they kissed; no doubt there are versions where Arthur catches them in bed together).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The 80's Twilight Zone

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[Qonundrum]

There aren't many, but "Lost Girl" is definitely one of the best. Definitely not for the kiddies, but there's plenty to like about its reuse of various mythologies. And who can't like the Bo/Kensi double act?

Others include the 1960s Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and The Smurfs.

I don't know if I've watched a lot of fantasy series. Maybe Doctor Who, which features a phone box time machine and a screw driver that does scans?

Actually I do sometimes get the whole sci fi and fantasy concepts a little confused.

Would Stranger Things be considered a fantasy series? That has a lot of fantastical elements, like upside downs and monsters.

The original Doctor Who show was made back when police boxes were real items used by the English police force. The ship was said to materialize and blend into its environment. To save on costs, the thing broke down so it was stuck in the shape of a police box. The show, a few years later, created had a sonic screwdriver that only used sound vibrations to remove screws, open tumbler-based locks, detonate mines from a safe distance away (via the vibrations), and other simple things. It became overused in the 1970s, but few times did it go beyond the initially intended function... the problem started with the 1969 story "The War Games" as the screwdriver was used to reverse a localized section of wall panels held together by a magnetic field...

...then the 2005 revival came along and the collective IQ of the audience dropped 50 points as a result of the revival of the thing as a mindless magic wand that can do everything. It's a cheat. Wish it was never invented...

Regeneration, as the show presents it, is pure fantasy, but in nature there are some species that can regenerate organs or even change genders (very rare) without the need of hormone treatments or artificial surgeries.

Containers whose insides are larger on the inside = transdmensional engineering. Like teleportation, it's pretty much limited to fantasy.

Sci-fi = fictional environment but uses real science to some extent, and/or sets up rules the story must adhere to. Even fantasy devices (e.g. warp drive) are given some level of schematics to feel plausible.

Fantasy = anything can happen within the universe being told, ignoring the laws of physics and science altogether. Rules can apply, but they're not followed as stringently - or at all.

Sci-fi/fantasy is a blend of fantasy, mixed with sci-fi elements (and real science, to help bridge a sense of the familiar with the unknown or impossible (suspension of disbelief)) and is pretty much a ubiquitous, de facto standard.

 

[JD]

A few of the 1-to-1 correlations between Arthurian Legend and Star Wars:
- Obi-Wan is Merlin
- Vader is Mordred
- Luke is Arthur
- Lightsabers represent Excalibur
- Kyber Crystals represent the Holy Grail
- During the events of the Prequel Trilogy, Anakin is Lancelot and Padme is Guenevere

And that's just the stuff I can come up with off the top of my head. I know there's more that I'm not thinking of right now.

I'm with @Kai "the spy" and @Timewalker here, I really don't see any of that.

 

[Timewalker]

The 80's Twilight Zone

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One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, of either series.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I can't think of an argument for keeping it out of fantasy...unless you think it's a documentary.

It's not that I think it's realistic. I just have a hard time imagining LotR and, say Paradise Lost or the Divine Comedy can be considered the same genre. I think the thing that trips me up is that millions of people actually believe in heaven and hell - Middle Earth, Narnia, even historical things like Olympus or Asgard or modern settings filled with monsters are all things that no one would truly consider to exist.

 

[DigificWriter]

I had the Vader = Mordred and Luke = Arthur correlations pointed out to me by one of my High School teachers, so they are there even if you guys want to pooh-pooh them.

Also, the other correlating things from Arthurian Legend that exist in Star Wars may be implemented slightly differently, but they're still correlations.

 

[eschaton]

Sci-fi = fictional environment but uses real science to some extent, and/or sets up rules the story must adhere to. Even fantasy devices (e.g. warp drive) are given some level of schematics to feel plausible.

Fantasy = anything can happen within the universe being told, ignoring the laws of physics and science altogether. Rules can apply, but they're not followed as stringently - or at all.

I'm not sure I agree here on the definition of fantasy. Under that rubric Dungeons & Dragons (and similar RPG systems) are science-fiction, because even though the constructed world violates our laws of physics, there is an internal logical rule system which isn't broken.

What I have heard is something along the lines of "Sci-fi makes the implausible possible, fantasy makes the impossible plausible." Basically something is science fiction if it's a constructed world where nothing conflicts with our understanding of the material universe, while fantasy ignores it entirely. There are some caveats of course, like psychic powers (which came into science-fiction mainly because John W. Campbell - a prominent early publisher - believed it actually existed) and FTL-travel. The more "woo" and bad science a sci-fi work avoids, the "harder" it is.

Sci-fi/fantasy is a blend of fantasy, mixed with sci-fi elements (and real science, to help bridge a sense of the familiar with the unknown or impossible (suspension of disbelief)) and is pretty much a ubiquitous, de facto standard.

The term typically used is science fantasy for a blend between the two - in part because sci-fi/fantasy is too often used for the genre as a whole.

 

[kirk55555]

Live action, and not counting superheroes since I don't count them as fantasy:

Buffy/Angel
Warehouse 13 (borderline, its more of a Fantasy/Sci Fi hybrid)
Xena (Seasons 1-2 and about 75% of Season 3)

That's about it. I love fantasy, but by my definition (meaning superheroes aren't fantasy), and not counting animation, live action Fantasy has never really succeeded on TV in a large scale. Its almost never done right, and is generally crap.

 

[Timewalker]

I had the Vader = Mordred and Luke = Arthur correlations pointed out to me by one of my High School teachers, so they are there even if you guys want to pooh-pooh them.

That's nice. My high school English teacher assigned my partner and me to argue in the affirmative (during our unit on debating) that history should not be taught in schools.

Then in the Q&A part, she got huffy that neither of us mentioned the Bible, claiming it to be "history."

In short: Teachers aren't always right. Your teacher is either misinformed about the relationships between the Star Wars characters, the relationships between the Arthurian characters, both, or (s)he is into incest.

The correlation only fits if it all fits. Your teacher forgot to take Han Solo into account, and since the only reasonable thing would be that he's Lancelot, why should Luke care if Han and Leia fall in love? Luke and Leia are siblings, not husband and wife.

Live action, and not counting superheroes since I don't count them as fantasy:

Buffy/Angel
Warehouse 13 (borderline, its more of a Fantasy/Sci Fi hybrid)
Xena (Seasons 1-2 and about 75% of Season 3)

How can you not count the entirety of Xena as fantasy? There's not a single episode that could be considered science fiction, and the same goes for history. The episodes involving Julius Caesar, Octavian/Augustus, and Caligula are abominations to anyone who is familiar with the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

...live action Fantasy has never really succeeded on TV in a large scale. Its almost never done right, and is generally crap.

Game of Thrones seems to be popular...

(I've never seen it, so I can't offer an opinion as to whether it's any good.)