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What are the best fantasy TV shows and movies?
And followup question: why are there so few of them??
I LOVE the escapism of fantasy, but mostly I have to find it in books, because the movies and TV shows I see tend to be A) too cheesy, B) poor production/effects quality, C) way overly dramatic, or D) some combination of the above.
Aside from Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, what are other good fantasy movies and shows to get into? I'm specifically looking for things that are more high fantasy, not stuff like Vampire Diaries or whatever that, while it falls in the fantasy category, doesn't really transport you to another world.
And why are there so few, compared to SO MANY apocalyptic/postapocalyptic ones? Do you think with how popular Game of Thrones is, we'll start to see more good fantasy?




It is weird that there is such a lack of good high fantasy on TV. I would blame it on having auch poor (and expensive) effects technology until recently but that hasn't held the scifi genre back one bit.
Though admittedly it is a little harder on the budget to have the special effects required in addition to a "period" feel for location, props and costuming.
I do think we will see more due to the success of GoT, like with Shannara Chronicles (though just see Craig's TV and Jelly recaps to see how that is working out for them). But frankly I'm surprised we haven't seen even more considering GoT is starting their 6th season.
I would recommend the BBC show Merlin though. It has its cheesy moments but is mostly pretty good.
Yeah, I haven't heard good things about that show. I hadn't seen those recaps though. Those are funny!
It's so disappointing though! I love the genre so much, but only when it's good. And there aren't that many fantasy shows or movies that get made, and so many of them that do get made are so terrible that they get canceled pretty quickly, and I think because they do poorly, also end up continuing the precedent of not a lot of other shows being made. Terrible continuing spiral.
Merlin is a pretty good fantasy show, though yes.. Cheesy at parts.
I think trends in shows, movies and the like tend to reflect what people in the society need to see. With so much doomsday weaponry, financial crises, wars and the like, I'm not surprised to see shows revolve around some form of "what if the world broke".
I would think that people would prefer the escapism side of high fantasy, but I believe that to the average viewer it's still viewed as a younger generation's topic, or "silly". I'm pretty sure game of thrones destroyed that misconception. :) I'm hopeful that in the next few years there will be more available.
Here's hoping!! I'll definitely check out Merlin. I think someone mentioned it to me a long time ago, but I had forgotten about it. Looking forward to trying something new!
Responded via video, but had to start a separate thread (no embedding video in comments, I guess). Or you can watch it on YouTube.
Basically, I think Geoff's largely right that it's about budget. But I would also say a lack of trust in the audience plays a big part, and is why Shannara sucked when it could have rocked. Post-apocalypse = easy and familiar-ish ("Hey, it's a Texaco gas station with lots of weeds!"). High fantasy = tough to grasp quickly ("Okay, so that castle is by that giant wall, which is in the north, by this town which is not quite so far north, lorded over by people in the south, who are at war with people from the east...").
Also, just remembered this movie that I really enjoyed as a kid (about 10 or 11). I watched it again when I was a little older and it doens't quite hold up as well. But if you ever wanted to see Ridley Scott direct a fantasy movie starring a very young Tom Cruise with Tim Curry playing a gigantic horned red demon then this is for you! Legend Official Trailer #1 - Tom Cruise Movie (1985).