MY TOP TEN SCI-FI AND FANTASY SHOWS

When I read in September 1995 that Knightmare was imminently to be shown on a cable channel called Sci-Fi, I found myself wondering whether my beloved show really fitted into the category of science-fiction. I still have my doubts, but for the purposes of this, my latest fascinating one-off article, I have taken even greater liberties by broadening the category to include science-fiction and fantasy shows, which really does cover a multitude of sins. Anyway, after much soul-searching, I have decided upon a final countdown of my top ten favourite sci-fi and fantasy shows, and now I’m going to share them with you.

10. Bravestarr (1987 – 1988)

This was the last cartoon ever produced by Filmation, which was the company that brought us He-Man and She-Ra, as well as a whole host of cartoons that never made it out of the USA. There was a strong sci-fi element to this show, mainly as it was set on the distant planet of New Texas, and there were plenty of spaceships, laser guns and weird-looking aliens thrown in for good measure.

There was also a distinctly Wild West feel to the show, as both cowboy-like and Indian-like characters featured prominently; Marshal Bravestarr himself had strong elements of both cowboy and Indian about him, which may have been slightly misleading to the cartoon’s young audience. Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed this show – it’s not nearly as good as He-Man or even She-Ra, but I have very fond memories of watching it as a nipper, and I still enjoy it today. By far my favourite element of the show is Marshal Bravestarr’s magical ability to call on his four great animal powers – Eyes of the Hawk, Ears of the Wolf, Strength of the Bear (by far the most useful) and Speed of the Puma. Cool!

9. The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy (1981)

The BBC’s television adaptation of Douglas Adams’s famous sci-fi yarn has been a favourite of mine ever since I discovered the show on BBC2 in 2001, when it was repeated in homage to its then recently deceased author. The radio adaptation was far more successful; the TV version only managed one series of six episodes, but I find it great fun to watch and very funny in places. By today’s standards, the special effects look very cheap indeed, but this only adds to the charm of the show, in my eyes. I would certainly much rather watch this than the more recent movie adaptation, which largely sacrificed the story in favour of special effects, which is never a good idea. In fact, an effect that I think the TV show pulls off really well is the animated screens of the Guide itself – they look like they’ve been done on a computer, but they were actually produced by painstakingly writing and drawing onto sheets of glass! You certainly wouldn’t find a labour of love like that in modern television productions!

My one objection to the show is that there is not enough interaction between the characters and the Guide itself – Arthur Dent carries the book in his dressing gown throughout the entire show, but he really only interacts with it during the first episode. Thereafter, the voice of Peter Jones pops up during the story to give us snippets from the Guide that are pertinent to the story, even though the characters themselves are unaware of this. I suppose the situation was the same on the radio, really, but as you couldn’t see the characters, it was not so obvious.

Of course, one of my favourite bits of fun trivia is that no less than three Knightmare actors appeared in The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy – Rayner “Skarkill” Bourton as a galactic newsreader, Michael “Brother Mace” Cule as a Vogon guard, and David “Pickle” Learner as Marvin the Paranoid Android. Of course, as David mentioned in his TES interview, he doesn’t do Marvin’s voice and you really can’t tell it’s him, but it’s good to know that he’s in there anyway!

8. Red Dwarf (1988 – 1999)

This BBC sci-fi sitcom from the minds of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor was staple viewing in my household throughout the 1990s. It tells the story of Dave Lister, the last human being in existence, who is forced to face the prospect of living out his days on a spaceship (called Red Dwarf, surprisingly enough) in deep space, with only a senile computer, a superficial and highly evolved cat, a clapped-out android and a supercilious hologram of his dead room-mate for company. As you can imagine, Lister found this situation very trying at times.

Like Knightmare, I think Red Dwarf suffers from a very weak (and final) eighth series. In theory, Red Dwarf VIII should have been excellent, as all four original regular cast members (Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett) were back in place for the first time since the end of series 2, and the crew had finally caught up with Red Dwarf itself, which had been AWOL for more than two series. However, it was NOT excellent AT ALL, and the final moments are just as disappointing to me as those of Knightmare! Still, I’d better not harp on about it…

7. The X Files (1993 – 2002)

This witty US sci-fi drama helped me to survive my teenage years with a smile on my face and, occasionally, a stab of fear in my heart. Special Agent Fox Mulder was in charge of investigating all the strange, paranormal cases that the rest of the FBI wanted to sweep under the carpet with a minimum amount of fuss. Mulder was a true believer, as he had witnessed his sister being abducted by aliens when he was twelve. Consequently, he investigated every X File with gusto, which is why Special Agent Dana Scully (a medical doctor with a purely scientific outlook) was brought in to discredit his “crazy” theories.

Inevitably, Mulder and Scully developed a close bond, and the simmering sexual tension (which was finally resolved in series 7) between lead actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson was one of the major ongoing themes of the show. Mulder and Scully investigated many strange cases together, some of them involving a particular race of aliens and their involvement in the disappearance of Mulder’s sister, which eventually led to Scully’s acceptance of the existence of things that go bump in the night. With David Duchovny’s appearances in the final two series severely reduced, Robert Patrick was brought in as Special Agent John Doggett, who became the non-believer that Scully was trying to win round, which was a nice little twist.

The show eventually ended (after nine series) with Mulder and Scully going on the run from the FBI and the world in general, but realising, after everything they had seen and been through together, that there was a lot more to life, the universe and everything than they had ever thought before, and being content in that knowledge. Profound! Apparently, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have both signed up for a follow-up movie, so look out for it!

6. Blazing Dragons (1996 – 1999)

This one definitely falls into the fantasy section – it’s a cartoon based on the legends of Camelot, with the main characters appearing as dragons! The word that best describes this show, I think, is fun! It certainly kept me in stitches for thirteen weeks during the summer of 1996. Monty Python’s Terry Jones came up with the idea behind the whole concept, which started life as a computer game.

In theory, the show was about the heroic escapades of King Allfire and the Dragon Knights of the Square Table, but it was actually Flicker (squire to the lazy Sir Loungelot) and Princess Flame (King Allfire’s daughter) who prevented Camelhot from falling down around everyone’s ears, or falling into the hands of the evil Count Geoffrey (one of the show’s few human characters), each week.

Unfortunately, the second series of the show was vastly different from the first, as it was obviously aimed at a younger audience. The overriding difference was that the blossoming romance between Flicker and Flame was almost completely disregarded, which was a complete travesty! CITV started showing the second series in January 1998, but they didn’t get round to finishing it until the summer of 1999 – obviously it wasn’t just me who thought the show had taken a nosedive! However, as Rosey has since convinced me, you have to appreciate series 2 for what it is, and it’s actually still very funny in places. Comparing it to series 1 just doesn’t work, as they are so vastly different. And I guess I’m just going to have to live with that…

5. Mona the Vampire (2000 – 2005)

The realm of fantasy and imagination is an overriding theme of this cartoon, which is why I’ve allowed myself to include it here. I went on about Mona the Vampire at some length in the last issue, so I won’t bore you with the details again. However, it is one of my favourite modern shows, and I couldn’t compile this countdown without giving it a mention – believe me, I tried. Kudos to you, Emma Taylor-Isherwood, for bringing the fantastic character of Mona “the Vampire” Parker to life, and keeping me watching for the past eight years.

I was watching a film called Bridge to Terabithia recently, which is a rather beautiful yet bittersweet story that explores the tantalising idea that reality – or what different people perceive to be reality – can be shaped and even controlled by the boundless power of the imagination. About fifteen minutes into the film, I started thinking Hey, this is just like Mona! For the next forty-five minutes, I was quite right. Just like Mona the Vampire, Bridge to Terabithia mixes reality and fantasy to such an extent that you’re sometimes not quite sure what’s real and what isn’t, or indeed if there really is any difference between the two. (Of course there comes a certain point in the film where it ceases to be very much like Mona at all, and it’s time to get the hankies out, but that’s beside the point.)

As with Mona, some people might be of the opinion that the fantasy world presented in the film is somehow less of a reality than the worlds of Harry Potter or Narnia or the Lord of the Rings, because it exists only in the imaginations of the two lead characters. I, however, am of precisely the opposite opinion. There is more power contained in imagination than a lot of people realise, particularly once they pass a certain age, and Mona always helps me to remember that.

4. The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982 – 1983)

As I have mentioned before, my passion for this epic cartoon has been reignited in recent years. I feel quite justified in classifying The Mysterious Cities of Gold as a sci-fi show, as it is set in the sixteenth century, but features a plethora of solar-powered devices, such as the colossal flying machine known as the Golden Condor, the solar ship Solaris, and even a giant solar crystal with the power to regenerate human cells. It also tells the story of how Atlantis was wiped out by a nuclear war that was fought with laser guns, which wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Star Wars film! (I wonder whether Lissard took part.)

However, it is the overwhelming sense of great adventure and the strong, engaging characters that make this show an absolute triumph in my eyes. The main character, Esteban, is brave, skilful, loyal, compassionate and steadfast, as every hero should be, but he has his doubts and fears (principally a fear of heights) just like the rest of us. His surprisingly intense relationship with Zia (the young Inca princess) is very compelling, and the wider friendship between Esteban, Zia and Tao is subtly yet powerfully done.

Another very strong character is Mendoza, the Spanish navigator, who really cannot be classified as either good or bad, which (as I have said before) is something you’d never see in modern kids’ shows. Like Esteban, he is brave and skilful, but he is certainly not loyal and compassionate to any consistent degree. Mendoza obviously has a lot of respect and affection for Esteban, and looks on him in a fatherly way, but his overriding desire throughout the series is to find a City of Gold and become very rich indeed. Having said that, I think Mendoza comes off essentially as a positive character in the end, when he decides to stay and help Esteban and the Mayas fight the evil Olmecs instead of sneaking off to procure some gold for himself, but you’re never quite sure where his loyalties really lie, which is what makes him such a good character. Anyway, a brilliant show!

3. Raven (2002 – present)

Definitely a fantasy show, this one, with a strong medieval theme, very much like Knightmare. Raven has featured in almost every countdown I’ve done over the past five years, but then that’s only to be expected, as it fits into all the categories I’ve written under. Again, I won’t hash over old ground, but I will reaffirm my enthusiasm for this show, and thank CBBC for finally pulling their heads out of their backsides and making a decent children’s programme.

2. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983 – 1985)

I had to put this one near the top because it really was my absolute favourite thing in the world when I was very young, which is an honour that was soon supplanted by Knightmare and has not changed again in the twenty-one years that have since passed by. He-Man has elements of both sci-fi and fantasy, being set on another planet (Eternia) and containing a lot of paranormal elements, including mythological creatures such as dragons, trolls and manticores, several characters with magical abilities (principally Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Orko and the Sorceress of Grayskull, but there are plenty of magical guest-stars as well), and of course Prince Adam’s ability to transform into the muscle-bound title character when he holds aloft his magic sword and says By the Power of Grayskull!

Like The Mysterious Cities of Gold, this show had very strong characters and engaging stories, but unlike The Mysterious Cities of Gold, it was side-splittingly funny in places and contained stand-alone episodes rather than a thirty-nine part continuous plot, which perhaps made it more accessible for youngsters. She-Ra Princess of Power was a spin-off from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and was also a very good show, although I’ve never enjoyed it as much as its parent.

My favourite character is and has always been Skeletor, the main villain, who is one of the few TV characters that can pull off being very funny and very scary at the same time. In Knightmare, Lord Fear managed to achieve this effect quite well, but I tend to think that Skeletor is a much more ruthless and effective villain than Lord Fear – you wouldn’t catch Skeletor blabbing all his plans to his minions (of which he had plenty) through a spyglass!

1. Knightmare (1987 – 1994)

I doubt if any of you have ever heard of this show, but it used to keep me amused for twenty-five minutes at the end of a long week at school over a period of eight years. A blindfolded kid would wander around a computer-generated Dungeon environment, guided by three friends, in an attempt to complete some kind of quest. The show starred Hugo Myatt as Treguard, the Dungeon Master, whose most prominent feature was his beard, I seem to recall. Knightmare was cancelled in 1994 and I think I was quite upset about it at the time, but to be honest, I’ve hardly given the show a second thought since then.