Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Animated Films (Complete & Revised 2026)

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“Steamboat Willie” – the animated short film that was the debut film distributed for Disney’s Mickey Mouse and one of the first cartoons with synchronized sound – now in public domain!

 

 

TOP 10 ANIMATED FILMS

 

Animation is my favorite medium, albeit more for TV series than film – my favorite TV series are always animated TV series. However, animated films aren’t far behind as there’s something about the animated medium that seems to retain creativity beyond the point where live-action medium counterparts exhausts it.

Of course, part of that might be the advantage the animated medium has in being able to depict things on screen through its definitive animation of art, which can only be replicated in the live-action medium, if at all, through practical or CGI effects. For me, live-action CGI effects still lag behind their animated counterparts, even that of digital animation – ironically both in terms of realism seamlessly with the live action components on screen and the emotional expressiveness of depiction. An example of the latter is that of animals, where animated art can depict them with more human-like features or expressions. For me, that was one of the issues with the recent Disney trend of live action remakes of their animated films. If your live action remake needs to be substantially or predominantly CGI to replicate the original animation or its characters, then you are essentially substituting one form of animation for another – and an inferior one at that.

Another part of my enjoyment of animated films – and hence my separate top ten for them – following from the above is their versatility for depicting fantasy or science fiction. The medium of animation seems ideally suited to fantasy or SF, perhaps even more so than the live-action film medium – except for the human attachment to seeing the human actors on screen, rather than hearing their voices from their animated avatars. Hence, my Top 10 Animated Films is effectively a subset of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, as each entry is either fantasy or SF and I will note the extent of each entry as such. As a general rule, animated films lean towards fantasy, while films adapted from comics (for which I have a separate top ten) lean towards SF.

They also tend to be comedic in nature, with the animated medium being ideal for visual as well as verbal humor – such that they might also effectively be a subset of my Top 10 Comedy Films and again I will note the extent of each entry as comedy.

Anyway, these are my Top 10 Animated Films.

 

Screenshot of the protagonist K-pop demonhunter or Huntrix trio from the opening sequence song “How It’s Done” – “Golden” may have (deservedly) got the airplay but this song and its sequence are up there!

 

 

(10) KPOP DEMONHUNTERS

(SONY / NETFLIX 2025)

 

I tend to reserve my tenth place as a wildcard entry for the best of the present or previous year – and for 2025, what else could that be but KPop Demon Hunters, as “the most-watched original title in Netflix history with over 500 million views”?

I am as surprised as you are. Initially, I had seen it in my Netflix menu and skipped over it, inferring (correctly) that I was not the target demographic. I watched it at the suggestion of a work colleague who was the target demographic – a young mother of young girls. And you know what – it transcended its target demographic. It was fun, it was slick animation, it had some banger tunes, and I liked it.

“KPop Demonhunters is a 2025 American animated musical urban fantasy film…The story follows a K-pop girl group, Huntrix, who lead double lives as demon hunters. They face off against a rival boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons.”

It may have been an American film but it wore its Korean origin on its sleeve, and of course in its title. The writer Maggie Kang “wanted to create a story inspired by her Korean heritage, drawing on elements of mythology, demonology, and K-pop to craft a visually distinct and culturally rooted film” and “the visuals were influenced by concert lighting, editorial photography, music videos, and anime and Korean dramas”.

It also had its tongue firmly in its cheek with its story. Even the demons laugh at the idea of a demon boy band until the latter strikes a pose – “oh yeah, totally gonna work”.

“KPop Demon Hunters received acclaim for its animation, visual style, voice acting, story, and music” – as I said, I don’t know so much about the story which it playfully subverts but that’s boosted by all the other elements that are, dare I say it, popping.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

If the demonhunters of the title didn’t give it away as fantasy…

 

COMEDY

 

Part of its charm – lyrical, verbal and visual comedy!

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2025

 

 

 

Poster art of the film’s extensive character cast

 

 

(9) ZOOTOPIA

(2016 – with sequel in 2025)

 

Who doesn’t love anthropomorphic animals? Of course, Zootopia is a whole world exclusively of anthropomorphic animals (and it won’t be the only such world in my top ten animated films), a world very much like ours but with every other mammal in our place.

Although…when you take it too seriously (and I take my fictional worlds way too seriously), Zootopia is not quite the utopia its name suggests. As Cracked has pointed out, for the sake of a few rabbit sex jokes, Zootopia is about to go post-apocalyptic from total ecological collapse – in about a week or so. “Zootopia is a movie about the brief halcyon days of an imperious city as it remains wilfully blind to its inevitable doom”.

Alternatively, as I have mused before, is The Island of Doctor Moreau the grim backstory of Zootopia? You know, after he unleashed his army of beast-men and women on an unsuspecting humanity…

But enough of that – Zootopia is a film that is equally cute, funny and heartwarming, a “3D computer animated buddy cop comedy mystery adventure film” as cute protagonist rabbit police officer Judy Hopps, pairs up with slick fox con artist Nick Wilde.

The animation is lush and visually spectacular – they developed fur-controlling software (iGroom) – with thoughtful themes for the contemporary society the animal world reflects.

I’m looking forward to the sequel film coming out in 2025.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Well perhaps SF with some extensive genetic engineering but I’m going to rank this as fantasy – classic beast fable mode!

 

COMEDY

 

Definitely a comedy – from the odd couple protagonists to gags on animal characteristics as adapted to what would otherwise be an human urban environment.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

 

 

(8) INSIDE OUT

(2015 – with sequel in 2024)

 

The depiction of a mental landscape may not have been an entirely original concept, but it was executed superbly in Pixar’s Inside Out.

The first film was set in the mind of a young girl Riley, dominated by a console or control panel run by five personified emotions – Joy, Sorrow, Fear, Anger and Disgust (color-coded for your convenience!)

The control room overlooks an imaginative mental landscape, primarily consisting of islands of memory or personality about the memory dump – which is a literal memory abyss or hole (or a metaphorical Lethe of forgetfulness). The plot revolves around a typical odd couple pairing of Joy and Sadness, as the two are accidentally sucked into Riley’s long-term memories and try to return to the control room, as the mental landscape deteriorates into outright collapse around them in something akin to emotional breakdown (due to Riley’s family moving from Minnesota to San Francisco). Of course, while Joy is paired with Sorrow (and helped by Riley’s imaginary friend), it leaves only Fear, Anger and Disgust to run her psyche (or as Honest Trailers quipped, leaving her psyche to be run by “your average YouTube comments section”. Or any internet comment section for that matter, as well as the X formerly known as Twitter).

Although now that I think about it, it would be interesting to see the (adult) Freudian version of the film, particularly with the superego, ego and id. (But then again, I am my own id. I’m all id, baby!). Or perhaps, the Jungian version, with all those mythic archetypes…

There was the sequel film in 2024 which added a few more adolescent emotions headed by Anxiety to Riley’s mental landscape.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Given it’s the emotional or psychological landscape, it probably evades easy genre distinctions but I’m going with fantasy.

 

COMEDY

 

Comedic – but not surprisingly it has many emotional (heh) moments.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

 

 

(7) WRECK-IT RALPH

(2012 – I’ve decided to discount the sequel film even if it had its moments)

 

Disney film Wreck-It Ralph took us inside video games with its protagonist as the eponymous villain in a 1980’s 8-bit video game (reminiscent of Donkey Kong, with Ralph as Kong), who rebels against his role and dreams of being a hero ‘off-screen’. He sees his opportunity in another game of Hero’s Duty (a more modern first-person shooter game in the style of Halo and Call of Duty among others) – unfortunately, his efforts lead to one of its self-replicating alien bug antagonists escaping to yet another game, Sugar Rush (a kart racing game in the style of Super Mario). And things get worse from there…

The plot is fun but the true delight of Wreck-It Ralph is the exuberant abundance of video game references – in visual gags and characters. These are introduced from the outset – Ralph’s support group of video game antagonists (Bad-Anon) includes Bowser from the Mario franchise and Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as M. Bison and Zangief from the Street Fighter. That’s just for starters – there’s Tapper (from the Tapper game, who runs an off-screen bar in the same style as his game for video game characters), Sonic the Hedgehog, other characters from Street Fighter, Pac-Man and ghosts (Blinky, Pinky and Inky), Dig Dug, Frogger, Q-bert and more. Even that most basic original video game, Pong. There are video game references in the most amazing (and fleeting) details, such as sound effects and graffiti – “Aerith lives”, “Shen Long was here” and “All your base are belong to us” among others.

Ralph returned for a sequel breaking (surely that should have been wrecking?) the internet but it just didn’t have the same clever play on its subject that the original film had for video games.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

I’m saying fantasy – but technofantasy, given the premise is based on computer game characters, not unlike the programs in Tron.

 

COMEDY

 

Definitely a comedy – including many gaming in-jokes.

 

 

RATING: 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Screenshot from its standout opening sequence – which includes its iconic song Fearless Hero

 

 

(6) PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

(2022)

 

“Who is your favorite fearless hero?”

I would never have thought I’d have ranked this Shrek spinoff series in my top ten, at least based on the first film – until it hit it out of the park with the second film.

“The film’s voice cast includes Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek reprising their respective roles as the titular character and Kitty Softpaws…The story follows Puss in Boots…(teaming up with Kitty Softpaws) to find the Last Wish of the fallen Wishing Star to restore eight of his nine lives. They race against other fairy tale characters seeking the same treasure, while a sinister wolf hunts Puss himself.”

Firstly, there’s the film’s visual style, diverging from previous films in the Shrek franchise (including the first Puss in Boots film) for “a painterly style to resemble a fairy-tale story”, as well as the most vivid animation I’ve seen outside the Spiderverse films.

Secondly, there’s the surprising darker tone and depth from, well, death – Puss’ mortality and fear of death, as he is relentlessly pursued for his last life by one of the most terrifying villains in animated film.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Fairytale fantasy!

 

COMEDY

 

Like all films in the Shrek franchise, it leans heavily into comedy but has some serious emotional beats along with its darker tone, including one of the most genuine depictions of a panic attack in film.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(5) MEGAMIND

(2010)

 

“Oh you’re a villain alright, just not a super one!”

“Yeah, what’s the difference?”

“PRESEN-TATION!”

 

And how! Now THAT’S how you do a supervillain protagonist in a superhero comics movie.

Megamind is an inversion, subversion and deconstruction of superhero mythos, particularly Superman. In the words of TV Tropes:

“What happens when you take the Superman mythos and give the point of view (and ultimate victory) to Lex Luthor/Brainiac instead?”

Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) – as indicated, an alien supervillain combination of Superman villains Lex Luthor and Brainiac, but more resembling a blue Brainiac in appearance – consistently fails in his plots against Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt), the film’s Superman counterpart (based in Metro City), usually by kidnapping Lois Lane counterpart, the equally alliterative Roxanne Ritchi (voiced by Tina Fey). For what it’s worth, Megamind is helped by his hordes of robots as well as Minion, his – ah – minion, a sapient talking alien fish in a somewhat inexplicable robot gorilla costume.

However, in their last confrontation, Megamind actually manages to destroy his nemesis, much to his own surprise, although he doesn’t waste much time celebrating his victory by taking over Metro City.

After initially gloating over his victory, Megamind soon realizes that winning isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And so he dreams up the creation of a new superhero adversary, only for it to go horribly wrong when his new nemesis doesn’t play by the same rules as Metro Man…

“So what’s the plan?”

“Well, it mostly involves not dying!”

“I like that plan!”

Hmm – sounds like most of my plans…

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

One of the rare SF entries in my Top 10 Animated Films, albeit on the softer side in the same vein as Superman.

 

COMEDY

 

One of the more comedic entries, not surprisingly given its voice cast but also its premise of superhero parody.

 

RATING: 

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

*

In this undated animated still frame released by Pixar, The Incredibles family: speedy 10-year old Dash, left, shy teenager Violet, second from left, the strong and heroic Mr. Incredible, center, and ultra-flexible Elastigirl appear in this scene from “The Incredibles.”

 

 

(4) THE INCREDIBLES

(2004-2018: INCREDIBLES 1-2)

 

“You sly dog! You got me monologuing!”

This is how you do a Fantastic Four film. Yes, my fourth place entry, Pixar’s The Incredibles, is not actually a Fantastic Four film, but it deftly handles a similar superhero family or team ensemble with almost the same powers. In the words of TV Tropes, “it’s an affectionately parodic Decon-Recon Switch of the superhero genre, happily hanging lampshades on many conventions”.

Superheroes have been forced into government-sponsored retirement, due to public liability lawsuits. Damn lawyers! Of course, financial issues for superheroes are not often addressed in comics – or indeed, in many fictional narrative in popular culture. One exception is writer Grant Morrison, with his characteristic deconstruction or subversion of superhero tropes – as a female bystander wails while her car is totaled in a superhero battle in Morrison’s Animal Man, “I don’t have superhero insurance!’

Anyway, super-strong Mr. Incredible and rubber woman Elastigirl are now just Bob and Helen Parr, trying to live a quiet suburban life with their superpowered children, Dash (who has super-speed), (shrinking) Violet (who can project force fields as well as become invisible – essentially the same power set as Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four) and baby Jack-Jack (who doesn’t seem to have manifested any superpowers). Trying being the operative word – particularly as Bob finds his employment and suburban life chafing. And so he jumps at the chance offered by a mysterious woman Mirage to use his superpowers – only to find himself in more trouble than he can handle on his own at the hands of a new supervillain with ties to his past.

Just remember – no capes!

And there was a long-awaited sequel in 2018, which although it did not quite live up to the original, maintained much of the same spirit.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Like Megamind with its origin in Superman, I’m going to go with SF for this one, consistently with its origin in The Fantastic Four (although FF leans more into SF, what with the space travel and all). Even if some of those superpowers push the boundaries into fantasy.

 

COMEDY

 

And also like Megamind with its affectionate superhero parody, The Incredibles also leans to the more comedic end of the scale – also with its affectionate superhero parody – although not at much as Megamind with its outright comedic cast.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

*

 

(3) KUNG FU PANDA

(2008-2016: KUNG FU PANDA 1-3. Yeah…I just can’t bring myself to count the fourth film)

 

“Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend”

What’s not to love about Dreamwork’s Kung Fu Panda, or for that matter, the rest of the trilogy (discounting the fourth film)?

It’s set in an anthropomorphic animal version of pre-modern China – that alone would be enough to make it awesome.

And then there’s the story, deftly balanced between comedy and epic magical or wuxia martial arts action, with CGI animation and beautiful art – for even more awesome, such that will make your enemies go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness. And just like the titular Panda, I love kung fu, or more precisely, my kung fu movies ever since seeing Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon

The eponymous panda, Po, is a hopeless fanboy of the kung fu masters, particularly the Furious Five, composed of animal homages to kung fu styles (Tiger, Monkey, Crane, Viper and Mantis) – hopeless, that is, until he is thrust, by fate and fireworks, into the position of the legendary Dragon Warrior. Worse, he has to fight the dangerous snow leopard Tai Lung (awesomely voiced, as always, by Ian McShane), who seeks the title of Dragon Warrior for himself…

However, my favorite kung fu panda in the film trilogy is not Po, but the red panda Master Shifu – voiced by Dustin Hoffman, who combines just the right amount of wise mysticism with worldly exasperation (usually at Po).

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Very much the fantasy side of the scale – combining both wuxia fantasy and animal fable.

 

COMEDY

 

Very much the comedic side of the scale as well.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

 

 

(2) SHREK

(2001-2010: SHREK 1-4. Yeah, the third film is lackluster but I didn’t mind the fourth)

 

“I’m not the monster here, you are. You and that fairy tale trash poisoning my perfect world”

What’s not to love about Dreamworks 2001 film Shrek? Or its 2004 sequel for that matter?

The ultimate fractured fairy tale, the film has all the ingredients of the fairy tale – an adventurer on a quest to save a princess in a castle guarded by a dragon – except that the adventurer is the eponymous green-skinned ogre, who just wants to regain the solitude of his swamp from the fairy tale creatures who have been exiled there by (ahem) Lord Farquaad. To do so, he undertakes to save the princess Fiona for marriage to Farquaad, accompanied by the obnoxiously conversational talking donkey, named Donkey of course. And that’s where things go even further astray from your traditional fairy tale.

“Notorious for its humor, both witty and slapstick, for turning everything we knew from fairy tales upside-down, and for a ridiculously modern feel of its medieval fantasy setting”, it was the winner of the first Academy Award for Animated Feature.

Some would argue that the sequel Shrek 2 was even better than the original – even if that would make it an exception to my Stark Law of Sequels that the original is always the best. On the other hand, I just can’t resist Antonio Banderas’ purringly-voiced Puss in Boots.

No one argues the third film compares to the first two but I don’t mind the fourth. We’ll have to see how the fifth film turns out.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

 

 

(1) TOY STORY

(1995-2010: TOY STORY 1-3 and beyond?)

 

“To infinity and beyond!”

The flagship of Pixar Animation Studios and of course my top ten animated films, Toy Story was the first computer animated film (and therefore an extraordinarily influential part of what TV Tropes labels the Renaissance Age of Animation). It also was the flagship of the Toy Story franchise, with two film sequels that maintain the quality of the original (although Stark’s Law of Sequels still gives first place to the original) – I particularly like the interpretation that the third Toy Story film is about the afterlife, with a metaphorical representation of every major version of the afterlife in Western popular culture.

Toy Story itself, both film and franchise, needs little introduction – a story about toys that come to life when their owners are not around. The film introduces us to a group of toys belonging to a boy named Andy, led by Andy’s favorite toy – Woody, a classic cowboy doll with a pull-string vocalizer. (“Reach for the sky!”). Unfortunately for Woody, Andy acquires a new favorite for his birthday – in the form of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. To complicate things further, Buzz believes that he is actually an astronaut adventurer rather than a toy. What ensues is a buddy comedy adventure film, as Buzz and Woody have to work together to overcome mutual perils.

Terry Gilliam praised the film as “a work of genius” – “It got people to understand what toys are about. They’re true to their own character. And that’s just brilliant. It’s got a shot that’s always stuck with me, when Buzz Lightyear discovers he’s a toy. He’s sitting on this landing at the top of the staircase and the camera pulls back and he’s this tiny little figure. He was this guy with a massive ego two seconds before… and it’s stunning. I’d put that as one of my top ten films, period.”

And as you can see, I’ve put it at the top of my top ten animated films, albeit I’ve confined this entry to the classic trilogy of films from Toy Story 1 to 3. The franchise does include other works, notably the fourth film in 2019 and the fifth film in 2025 – I actually think the fourth film is decent but I just couldn’t compare it to that original trilogy of Toy Story 1-3 as a near perfect trilogy.

 

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 ANIMATED FILMS (TIER LIST)

*

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

*

(1) TOY STORY

Yes – I’ll count the first three films as a near perfect film trilogy, with the second film as perhaps the best. The fourth film was decent but just doesn’t compare to the first three films.

(2) SHREK

Again – I’ll count the franchise, although I’d swap out the lackluster third film for the fourth, with again the second film as perhaps the best.

(3) KUNG FU PANDA

Like Toy Story, I’ll count the first three films – but with the first film as best. The fourth film is lackluster.

*

If Toy Story is my Old Testament of animated films, then Shrek and Kung Fu Panda are my New Testament.

*

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

*

(4) THE INCREDIBLES

I’ll include both films but the original shines over the sequel.

(5) MEGAMIND

Sticking with the superhero parody theme from the previous entry, I just have a soft spot for this underrated gem.

(6) PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

I had not expected such a stunning performance from what is a sequel to a Shrek spinoff – but there you have it.

*

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

(7) WRECK-IT RALPH

Yes – I’m only counting the first film

(8) INSIDE OUT

(9) ZOOTOPIA

*

X-TIER (WILD TIER – BEST OF 2025)

*

(10) K-POP DEMONHUNTERS

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Extinction Events (Special Mention)

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The famous Edwards’ Dodo painted by Roelant Savary in 1626 (after naturalist George Edwards who gave the image to the British Museum after it came into his possession)

 

 

TOP 10 EXTINCTION EVENTS (SPECIAL MENTION)

 

But wait – there’s even more extinction events!

“Estimates of the number of major mass extinctions in the last 540 million years range from as few as five to more than twenty. These differences stem from disagreement as to what constitutes a major extinction event, and the data chosen to measure past diversity”.

So more than enough for my usual twenty special mentions, although I don’t quite go so far as twenty extinction events, as I finish up with a few wilder entries – and start with a few more basic ones.

.Speaking of which…

 

(1) EXTINCTION

 

Well, you can’t have an extinction event without extinction!

So my first special mention has to go to the basic concept of extinction, which as it turns out is not so basic after all.

Coextinction, de-extinction, ecological extinction, extinct in the wild, functional extinction, extinction debt, extinction risk, extinction threshold, extinction vortex, latent extinction risk, local extinction, pseudoextinction, quasi-extinction – more than enough for their own top ten.

 

(2) EXTINCTION CAUSES

 

Of course, the Earth getting whomped by a whopping big asteroid will do it.

But apart from that…

As I said, you can’t have an extinction event without extinction – and you can’t have extinction without causes of extinction.

So my second special mention of extinction causes naturally follows from extinction itself as my first special mention – and it turns out that causes of extinction aren’t so basic either, particularly in the Holocene.

Climate variability and change, genetic erosion, habitat destruction, human impact on the environment, invasive species, Muller’s ratchet, mutational mayhem, overabundant species, overexploitation, overshoot, paradox of enrichment – more than enough for their own top ten.

 

(3) HUMAN EXTINCTION

 

For us, this would be the big one – THE extinction event.

You could also argue that it would be the last extinction event. Sure, extinction events would still happen – at least one in the next special mention – but unless another species evolved (or visited) to measure them, then they’d be like so that Zen tree falling in a forest with no one to hear it.

Of course, one might quibble with human extinction as an extinction event, given the former by definition is the extinction of one species, contrary to the high extinction rate of the latter.

Firstly, it’s like the old quip about the unemployment rate – the unemployment rate is 100% to you if you’re the one out of a job. Ditto human extinction for us with extinction rate.

Secondly, given contemporary humanity with its geographic spread and technological resources, I’d wager that any extinction event that can take us all out would have to take out a whole lot of other species as well.

The usual discussion about human extinction is the extent to which it would arise from natural risks – or anthropogenic ones of our own making. The consensus tends to be that the former involve relatively low risk of near-term human extinction, the latter not so much.

Anyway, human extinction is a subject that could have a top ten list of its own, although it largely overlaps one of my favorite recurring subjects that could have many top ten lists – apocalypse.

 

(4) FUTURE EXTINCTION

 

The Earth isn’t done with extinction events either – we know there will be a gauntlet of extinction events in the future, the last of which will ultimately involve a 100% extinction rate for any life living on the planet.

That’s not even including “random celestial events” that “pose a global risk to the biosphere, which can result in mass extinction” – impact by comets or asteroids, near-Earth supernova, and so on.

Of the more predictable long-term impacts, the most substantial is the steady increase in the Sun’s luminosity. In about half a billion years, that will result in atmospheric carbon dioxide falling below the levels required for photosynthesis and hence the extinction of plants.

Any life that does make it past then – presumably simple or microbial life – will face an uber-greenhouse effect with runaway evaporation of the oceans at about a billion years.

Any life that persists in the isolated pockets that remain remotely hospitable for it – at the poles, underground, and so forth – will face an increasingly impossible gauntlet of extinction that will be total at some point or other, whether when the whole planet surface essentially becomes a game of the floor is lava, or when the Sun expands enough to swallow it all up.

It’s a sobering thought to think that Earth only has a window of opportunity for complex life of about a billion years or so – and that we’re presently about halfway through it. At least, that’s what Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee propose in their book The Life and Death of Planet Earth.

Of course, a billion years is a long time, but it is only a small proportion – a twelfth or so? – of the planet’s duration, and even that is punctuated by numerous extinction events.

Even if humanity gets off the planet (taking whatever other life with it), other habitable planets have the same issue – and there’s an even bigger gauntlet of cosmic extinction events to run in the wider universe…

 

(5) BACKGROUND EXTINCTION

 

Extinction is kind of like the Hulk in The Avengers film – it’s always angry.

Extinction is always there as part of the natural evolutionary process – it just hulks out with a higher rate during extinction events. For example, our present Holocene extinction rates are estimated at 100 to 1000 times higher than the background extinction rate, hence qualifying the Holocene as an extinction event.

The background extinction rate is estimated on different scales but one such scale is the lifespan of species. Apparently, on average species typically exist for 5-10 million years before going extinct, but mammal species have a higher rate as typically existing for only 1 million years.

 

(6) SILURIAN – IREVIKEN, MULDE & LAU

(433 MILLION, 427 MILLION & 424 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

And now we come to special mentions for actual minor extinction events – events that are classified as extinction events but not, ah, extinction-y enough for the Big Five (or Six). Because let’s face it – if it’s not one done by us, the one that killed dinosaurs, or the Great Dying, I mean who cares, really?

Anyway, there were these three minor extinction events during the Silurian Period – basically evolution gunning for the trilobites again. Oh – and other marine species I don’t really know.

 

(7) CARBONIFEROUS

(305 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Killing trees, I guess.

But seriously, it’s described as the Carboniferous rainforest collapse – in which rainforests fragmented and shrank from their former coverage, taking their flora and fauna with them.

 

(8) OLSON’S

(273 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Dress rehearsal earlier in the Permian Period for the Great Dying at the end – named for the person who identified the hiatus in the fossil record.

 

(9) END CAPITANIAN

(265-259 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Another dress rehearsal in the Permian Period for the Great Dying, by smaller volcanic eruptions (the Emeishan Traps) than the latter (the Siberian Traps).

 

(10) CARNIAN PLUVIAL

(234-232 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Climactic change event in the Triassic Period, with evolutionary winners and losers – among the winners were the dinosaurs.

 

(11) TOARCHIAN

(183 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Extinction event in two pulses during the Jurassic Period, with the second oceanic pulse as the larger one. Didn’t really affect the dinosaurs – or the Park.

 

(12) TITHONIAN

(145 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Another Jurassic extinction event towards the end of that period which didn’t really affect the dinosaurs or Park – minor and selective as extinction events go.

 

(13) APTIAN

(116-117 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Minor oceanic extinction event in the Cretaceous Period – didn’t really affect the dinosaurs.

 

(14) CENOMANIAN-TURONIAN

(93-94 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Minor oceanic extinction event in the Cretaceous Period. Didn’t really affect the dinosaurs – look, you need an asteroid for that.

 

(15) EOCENE-OLIGOCENE

(33.4-33.9 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

“Large-scale extinction and floral and faunal turnover, although it was relatively minor in comparison to the largest mass extinctions” – in the Age of Mammals but mammals didn’t seem to be much affected.

 

(16) MIDDLE MIOCENE

(14 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Minor extinction event of terrestrial and aquatic life from global cooling in, you guessed it, the middle of the Miocene Epoch – more a disruption than an event, hence its alternative title of the Middle Miocene disruption.

 

 

(17) PLIOCENE-PLEISTOCENE

(2 MILLION YEARS AGO)

 

Apparently also known as the Local Extinction Bubble, hypothesized as a spike in extinction for some marine life from supernovae disrupting the ozone layer. Wait a minute – when did megalodon become extinct? (Spoiler – earlier, at about 3.6 million years ago)

 

 

(18) EXTINCTION MASCOT – DODO

 

Dead as a dodo.

Okay, I admit this isn’t really an extinction event, at least for everything else that wasn’t a dodo – it sure was an extinction event for them. As I quipped for human extinction, when you’re the one going extinct, the extinction rate is 100%.

In a sense, though, it was an extinction event for more than just the dodos. This poor flightless bird in the remote island of Mauritius had the unfortunate, unenviable and ultimately unrivalled distinction of becoming an extinction mascot – iconic of our human-driven Holocene Extinction. I suppose becoming extinct so dramatically will do that.

“The extinction of the dodo less than a century after its discovery called attention to the previously unrecognised problem of human involvement in the disappearance of entire species” – the dodo “has since become a fixture in popular culture, often as a symbol of extinction and obsolescence”.

 

(19) DECLINE IN AMPHIBIAN & INSECT POPULATIONS

 

The poster children of the ongoing Holocene Extinction, not least with respect to their own entries in Wikipedia.

I first became aware of the decline in amphibian populations from David Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood, in which he attributed it to global warming, with their vulnerability in marked contrast to reptile populations.

I became aware of the decline in insect populations from reports of the decline of insect pollinators – no, not the bees! – and of the anecdotal windscreen phenomenon, as in fewer insects smeared on windscreens.

Lack of high profile attention has been attributed to the “comparative lack of charismatic species of insects” (as opposed to mammals and birds) but the insects most affected ARE the charismatic ones – bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies. (Cue the pun about damsels in distress). I mean, could it not be the insects people don’t like, such as flies or mosquitoes?!

And if we’re going to have a decline in insect populations, could we at least have a matching arachnid one?!

 

 

(20) FERTILITY DECLINE (STERILE INSECT TECHNIQUE)

 

I try to reserve my twentieth special mention for my kinky (or kinkier) entry where the subject permits, so I took that personally – as a challenge when it came to extinction events.

After all, I’m fond of quipping that my preferred cause of death would be from s€xual exhaustion, so why not expand that on a grand scale to cause of extinction? Ideally, extinction from s€xual exhaustion? Now there’s an extinction event I can get behind.

Less extinction events, more s€xtinction events, amirite?

While I could (disturbingly) imagine other s€xtinction events, not all of them as pleasant, the contemporary decline in human fertility was the closest I got, circling back to human extinction – that or the sterile insect technique used to control insect populations. Funnily enough, I learnt of the latter through its most famous example used as a title for James Tiptree Jr’s short story “The Screwfly Solution” – as a scenario of human extinction (from alien invasion).

 

Top Tens – TV: Top 10 TV Series (Complete and Revised 2026)

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Yes – it’s an Emmy!

 

Exactly what it says on the tin – my Top 10 TV Series.

Well, perhaps not quite exactly as my Top 10 TV Series list is easily my most fluid top ten.

That is because TV series suck – at some point or other, usually when ending or in their final season but sometimes simply not being able to match the quality of their standout first season. That’s right, I went there, but I’ve been betrayed too many times now to pretend otherwise – first Game of Thrones and then Stranger Things, to name only the big names or higher profile series.

And that’s if I make the ending. Many, perhaps most, simply miss the mark for me at the outset. Those that do hit the mark generally fall away quickly or don’t have an enduring (or consistent) quality – or they endure too long, sadly waning until they limp into their final season, and even if they end on their own terms (or perhaps especially if they end on their own terms), they don’t end in a satisfying way. Stranger Things wasn’t quite so bad as the archetypal example, for me as it was for so many others, of Game of Thrones, in which the failure to stick the proverbial landing – or dare I say it, King’s Landing (heh) – in the final season left a bitter taste that filtered back throughout the series or at least its later seasons.

Even when a TV series does endure in quality or finish with a satisfying conclusion, they can often just become dated – particularly for fantasy & SF TV series, reliant as they are on technology for special effects, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer perhaps being the archetypal example.

Hence, I have resolved these issues in two ways.

Firstly, I tend to have a high turnover for shuffling entries into my special mentions, particularly as series conclude or wane, with so few entries having the consistent or enduring quality to rank in the top ten itself – or remain there.

Secondly, I’ve given up on trying to maintain separate genre lists for fantasy & SF TV series or comedy TV series – with the notable exception of my separate Top 10 Animated TV Series, as those are more enduring. Hence, if it’s live action – whether fantasy or SF, comedy or otherwise – I rank it all in one top ten list. As a general rule of thumb, with the exception of a few series that endure in my esteem – or my re-watch list – after finishing, entries in my top ten list are series that are either presently screening (as in they have ongoing or upcoming seasons) or that I persist in wanting to revisit or see through to the end.

This is distinct from my top ten lists for films, where I do maintain separate lists for different genres. I know you can make similar complaints for film franchises, particularly in fantasy and SF, as I do for TV series, but it just seems easier to compartmentalize the good films from the bad films. Of course, individual films tend to be more self-contained, while TV series tend to have an ongoing narrative from season to season – such that a bad conclusion in the later or final seasons can sour the narrative in earlier seasons.

That said, I will mark entries as fantasy / SF or comedy. Also, occasionally fantasy or SF elements pop up in my non-genre TV series, which I’ll also note in entries. Also, almost every TV series has comedic elements or at least the odd gag – after all, one could classify almost every narrative work by the comedy-tragedy dichotomy of classical Greek drama – so I’ll note thoese as well.

Anyway, these are my Top 10 TV Series.

 

 

 

 

(10) FANTASY & SF: THE ETERNAUT

(NETFLIX 2025 – PRESENT: SEASON 1+)

 

Argentinian SF TV series on Netflix scored my wildcard tenth place entry for best of 2025 with its first season in that year. This one surprised me, particularly as I heard about it in the most roundabout way – I would not have picked it otherwise, or picked that I found it as intriguing as I did.

It starts with an intriguing premise – a post-apocalyptic scenario of a toxic snowstorm (where the snow is instantaneous lethal to the touch) of unknown geographic extent, potentially global, combined with an EMP effect and only gets more intriguing from there, as it is only the start of something worse. Much worse – with each twist making it worse dropped in cliffhangers, including the season finale.

Bonus points for being based on a comic – obviously an Argentinian one to reflect its origin.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

One of two fantasy or SF series in my top ten TV series (as opposed to special mentions), post-apocalyptic SF to be exact. As post-apocalyptic SF, there’s not many comedic elements.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

Netflix promotional art

 

(9) GUY RITCHIE – THE GENTLEMEN

(NETFLIX 2024-PRESENT: SEASON 1+)

 

“Everything you want from a Guy Ritchie caper”.

 

My usual wildcard tenth place entry for best of the present or previous year – in this case, The Gentlemen as best TV series in 2024. (Disclaimer – I have yet to see Shogun, which from what I heard might well have eclipsed The Gentlemen for this spot).

The Gentlemen is a spin-off created by Guy Ritchie for Netflix from his 2019 film of that name. By spin-off, I don’t mean a spin-off from a character or characters in the film, or even the plot, but the premise of the film of English aristocratic estates fallen on hard times and seeking a reversal of fortune by high times instead, by growing cannabis on a plantation scale.

Like the film, it profits from a charismatic cast with good chemistry – and the usual Ritchie narrative twists or gags, such as that chicken suit from the standout (black) comedy scene of the series.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

Not really – Ritchie tends to steer clear of fantasy or SF elements, except perhaps for a certain comedic surrealism.

Speaking of which…

 

COMEDY

 

The works of Ritchie tend to be action-comedies – and The Gentlemen is no exception, albeit Ritchie’s comedy tends to be black, character-driven, and dry.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

(8) BEEF

(NETFLIX 2023-PRESENT: SEASON 1+)

 

Beef was my favorite (non-genre) TV series of 2023 (and hence former wildcard tenth place entry as best of 2023).

It’s a series by Korean-American showrunner Lee Sung Jin, featuring an Asian-American cast led by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong – and is virtually a parable or fable of the all-consuming, self-destructive nature of vengeance as its two star-crossed leads escalate a feud originating from random road rage into a roaring rampage of revenge. And oh boy – that leads to some very dark place indeed.

Originally a mini-series, there’s a second season on the way – but by way of anthology series, with a new cast to a similar premise.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

Not really – except for some literally toxic trippy moments

 

COMEDY

 

Yes, indeed – dark comedy

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

 

(7) BARRY

(2018-2023: SEASONS 1-4)

 

Its unprepossessing title belies just how much this series rocks as dark comedy and drama, named for its protagonist, a Marine sniper veteran from the war in Afghanistan turned hitman now seeking to take a much more bizarre turn into something completely different…acting. That happens after he stumbles into a theatric acting class of laughably bad amateur actors while stalking his latest hit in Los Angeles, a fitness instructor having an affair with a Chechen mafia kingpin.

Unfortunately for Barry, he’s a good hitman – with a stone-cold combat-honed talent – but not so good an actor. Even worse, his career as a hitman is not so easy to quit – or in the words of the third Godfather film, “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” – as it constantly throws out its tentacles to ensnare his best efforts to escape it. Not least by his former associates – his slimy “agent” Monroe Fuches (masterfully played by Stephen Root) – and by his former client (and fanboy), Chechen mafia lieutenant NoHo Hank (hilariously played by Anthony Harrigan).

Bill Hader absolutely, dare I say it, kills it with his performance as the titular protagonist – showing his dramatic chops as well as his comic roots, particularly in the penultimate episode of the first season which won him an Emmy, as he showcased all his character’s emotional turmoil as Barry delivers a single line in his bit part in Macbeth with breathtaking intensity.

 

FANTASY & SF / COMEDY

 

Not really much fantasy or SF – but I could well have classed the series as comedy for its dark comedy.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

*

 

 

(6) FARGO

(NETFLIX 2014-2024: SEASONS 1-5)

 

What can I say? Given how highly I rank the Coen brothers – Joel and Ethan Coen – in my top 10 Films, it was only to be expected that I would rank this TV series based on their film of the same name highly. Although the Coen brothers only take the role of executive producers, the creator and primary writer is Legion’s Noah Hawley, who seamlessly adapts their cinematic style to the TV screen – so much so that it is essentially Coen Brothers The Series. It’s an anthology series, with each season as self-contained storyline and new set of characters at different points of time in the wider Fargo-verse in Minnesota and the Dakotas, although each season “retains similar themes and tropes that ultimately keep them connected” (and just enough trademark Coen fantasy or surreal elements)

The first season remains my favorite as it follows insurance salesman Lester Nygaard – played by Martin Freeman in a distinct turn from his more characteristic nice-guy roles – descent into his heart of darkness after shady ‘fixer’ Lorne Malvo – played by Billy Bob Thornton with more than a hint of the actual devil about him (not to mention No Country for Old Men’s Anton Chigurh) – influences him to stop absorbing the disappointment of his mundane life and start lashing out against those who belittle him. (And how!)

 

FANTASY & SF

 

Characteristically for the Coen brothers, there’s more than a touch of surreal fantasy or SF – as noted above, Billy Bob Thornton’s Lorne Malvo has more than a hint of supernatural devil about him in Season 1, while there’s recurring UFO visitation in Season 2.

 

COMEDY

 

Even more characteristically for the Coen brothers, it could well be classified as comedy – albeit black or dark comedy.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

(3) FANTASY & SF: FROM

(2022 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3+)

 

An American SF horror series with labyrinthine twists – the closest comparison is usually with Lost, “as an improved second attempt at Lost” or “what if Lost got a healthy injection of horror”. I understand the comparison to Lost extends to Lost actor Harold Perrineau having a similar role in From, where he is the sheriff and de facto mayor of the town. Now that I think about it, the comparison extends to their titles as four letter words (with o as the vowel). Fortunately, I never saw Lost so I came in clean to this series with no such comparison.

The basic premise is introduced in the very first episode – while on a road trip, the Matthews family find themselves trapped in a “strange small town in middle America”. The town traps those who enter, as the Matthews family find that any attempt to drive away or back the way they came simply has them circling back to the town, in some sort of weird dimensional loop. It also is an eldritch location, drawing people in from different locations throughout the United States.

Worse, you don’t want to be outside – or inside without the protection of a mysterious amulet – at night. The town is literally nightmarish, stalked at night by mysterious shapeshifting but humanoid creatures that kill anyone they find and as gruesomely as possible, as we see in the very first opening scene.

And that’s just getting started…

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

One of two fantasy or SF genre series presently in my top ten. Elements of it have a distinct fantasy or supernatural feel to it but I ultimately lean towards it having an extradimensional SF tone. Not surprisingly for a series in which the fantasy or SF has distinct horror elements, there’s no real comedic elements.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(4) IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

(2005 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-17+)

 

The Gang gets ranked in my Top 10 TV Series!

TV comedies tend to rely on unsympathetic comedy protagonists or outright comedic sociopaths, although for best effect they tend to limit this, typically to a single standout character. However, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia takes this to the extreme with the main cast – the titular “Gang” of its episode titles – consisting entirely of unsympathetic comedy protagonists or outright comedic sociopaths. Seriously, they’re all terrible people. The only real question is which is the worst. Spoiler alert – it’s Dennis. D.E.N.N.I.S.

Indeed, it is hard to find the member of the Gang that is the least terrible person. Perhaps Charlie, because you get the sense that much of his terrible character is a result of his profound intellectual limitations or psychological problems. Or perhaps Deandra or “Sweet Dee”, Dennis’ twin sister, because you get the sense that she occasionally has better moral impulses, but is dragged down by the rest of the Gang. Or perhaps Mac, because you get the sense that much of his terrible character comes from his repression. The original Gang of four in the first season became the Gang of five we all love to hate with the introduction of Danny De Vito as Dennis and Dee’s father Frank, who is almost as much an unredeemed terrible person as Dennis.

Together, they (barely) run Paddy’s Pub, a South Philadelphia Irish-themed bar, although that really serves as their venue for their hare-brained schemes or misadventures.

 

COMEDY

 

One of two comedy series ranked in my top ten. (No fantasy or SF elements, except perhaps in the absurdism of its comedy – and it’s hard to imagine its sociopathic cast existing in reality, let alone in some sort of harmony together).

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

 

 

 

 

(3) BREAKING BAD

(2008-2014: SEASONS 1-5+)

 

“I am the one who knocks!”

This needs no introduction – just say the name.

A neo-Western crime drama – or Macbeth makes meth. In this case, Macbeth is mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher Walter White, who takes one hell of a left turn in Albuquerque to rise to the throne as a drug kinpin. However, his three witches are not so much a literal trio of fates spouting prophecies of the throne, but more metaphorical fate and grim prophecy in the form of a diagnosis of inoperable lung cancer, that threatens to destroy his family’s financial future. And his Lady Macbeth is also more metaphorical – although many would be happy to cast his wife Skyler in that role more literally – as not so much his equally ambitious and power-hungry wife pushing him to become king through crime, but the opportunity he sees while on a ride-along with his DEA brother-in-law Hank Schrader. After seeing a former student of his, Jesse Pinkman, escape a drug bust through dumb luck, he sees a potential opportunity to entrap Jesse with a proposition to use his chemical expertise and Jesse’s drug connections to manufacture crystal meth and make them both rich. And after that, like Macbeth, one bloody footprint leads to another as the pair find themselves entangled by the worst kind of attention from both local drug pushers and law enforcement – and even more so toll it takes from their lives, loves and psyches.

 

FANTASY & SF / COMEDY

 

Not really much fantasy or SF – but surprising quite a lot of black comedy, although not predominant enough that anyone would call it a comedy.

 

HONORABLE MENTION: BETTER CALL SAUL

(2015-2022: SEASONS 1-6)

 

Honorable mention within this entry goes to this spinoff featuring one of the more interesting side characters from Breaking Bad, the dodgy lawyer Saul Goodman, and his origin story of how he fell to idealism to become the character we know.

It has one of my favorite openings in any first episode in any series.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

*

(2) BLACKADDER

(1983 – 1989: SEASONS 1-4+)

 

“I have a cunning plan”

“A tastefully vicious” comedy series centered on various generations (or incarnations) of the quintessentially English Blackadder family through history or more precisely, its recurring family member consistently named Edmund Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson. Each Blackadder is similarly saddled throughout history with recurring generations or incarnations of family known only by Baldrick (or perhaps Sod-off Baldrick), as his manservant – or more precisely his dogsbody, in pretty much every derogatory connotation of the term.

As for Edmund Blackadder himself, I’ll quote TV Tropes – “a cynical, snide, and outright caustic British nobleman (he’d be a Deadpan Snarker if he could just stop sneering) who never seems to succeed at most of his schemes, but never quite loses either (except usually at the end, where he dies horribly or wins spectacularly)…His typical foil is a classic Upper-Class Twit of far higher social station than his own, whom he is forced to serve hand and foot”.

A word of caution – I’d definitely recommend not starting with the first season, set in England during a somewhat alternate history of The War of the Roses. Written by Rowan Atkinson and Rowan Curtis, with Edmund in his highest ranking social position as prince, second in line to the throne (and hoping to claim it), it featured Atkinson playing Blackadder closer to the comic buffoonery of Atkinson’s subsequent Mr Bean character, albeit with some devious hints of cunning. Perhaps more jarringly, it features Baldrick as his more clever servant, whose cunning plans are actually…cunning. Accordingly, I’d recommend starting with Season 2 and watching through to Season 4, before trying out Season 1.

Season 2 (and thereafter through to the final season or Season 4) saw the substitution of Ben Elton for Atkinson as writer and the rest is, dare I say it, history – with Edmund Blackadder emerging as the magnificent bastard we all know and love. Season 2 featured “the dashing but impulsive Lord Blackadder” as a nobleman in Queen Elizabeth’s court, hoping to win her favor or at least avoid her capricious vapidity. Interestingly, the further seasons continued to see a decline in Blackadder’s social fortune – with Season 3 featuring “the cool and ruthless E. Blackadder Esq” as butler to Prince George in Regency England, hoping to win fame and fortune (and aptly, as the most evil incarnation of Blackadder, succeeding by unexpected twist) and Season 4 featuring “the weary, rather less evil but more witty and intelligent Captain Blackadder”, hoping to survive the trenches of the First World War. Elton’s writing saw “a greater emphasis on clever dialogue, running gags, and historical subversion” and the series become a comedy institution – as well as through its stars Atkinson and Tony Robinson (as Baldrick), “whose comic instincts combine to produce some of the most delightfully snarky wit that has ever been seen on television”.

 

COMEDY

 

The second of two comedy series in my top ten – still my favorite comedy series of all time and enduring as my second favorite TV series. No fantasy or SF elements, except for comedic purposes.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

 

(1) DAVID ATTENBOROUGH – LIFE

(1979-2008)

 

When you peel back the layers of my mind to the deepest part of my psyche, you will find it narrated by David Attenborough. The man is one of my personal heroes – indeed, he transcends mere heroism to become legend. And he is responsible for my enduring love of natural history and television nature documentaries – with his Life series, particularly the series that started it all, Life on Earth, at the heart of it all. (His books, adapted from his scripts for the series, feature equally as prominently at the peak of my Top 10 Science & Philosophy Books). Indeed, he taught me to see everything as part of the story – nay, grand narrative – of life on earth. It would not be exaggerating to say that Life on Earth is essentially my bible.

David Attenborough himself needs no introduction – in the words of TV Tropes, “a British broadcaster and naturalist, most famous as a nature documentary producer and narrator, long fondly stereotyped and much mimicked for his hushed yet enthusiastic delivery” (similar perhaps to what I like to call the whispered menace of Clint Eastwood) “and ability to find (and make) any plant or animal interesting”. And I would add not just interesting but compelling in his ability to make me think about them in ways I had never imagined previously. And further – “he has long been THE face and voice of natural history, having created what can safely be called the definitive—and usually technically groundbreaking—series of television nature documentaries, spanning all parts of the globe and every type of living creature (yes, including humans)”.

For me, it is his epic Life series that is his definitive work – beginning with 1979’s Life on Earth and continued through 2008 with The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, Life in the Freezer, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth and Life in Cold Blood.

Although his Life series is unequalled, it doesn’t really matter to me if any of the other series he’s narrated as is his work as such (in terms of its writing) as long as he’s narrating them (and they’re produced by the BBC) – they’re all awesome in production and quality.

 

FANTASY & SF / COMEDY

 

None of the former and little of the latter – it is nature documentary after all.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

*

*

TOP 10 TV SERIES (TIER LIST)

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) DAVID ATTENBOROUGH – LIFE

(2) COMEDY: BLACKADDER

(3) BREAKING BAD

 

You know the line – if David Attenborough’s Life series and Blackadder are my Old Testament of TV series, then Breaking Bad is my New Testament.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(4) COMEDY: IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

(5) FANTASY / SF: FROM

(6) COEN BROS – FARGO

(7) BARRY

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(8) BEEF

(9) GUY RITCHIE – THE GENTLEMEN

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2025

 

(10) FANTASY / SF: THE ETERNAUT

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Heroes of Mythology (Special Mention) (18) Jack

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Cover art by Brian Bolland for issue 15 in November 2007 of the Jack of Fables comics series published by DC Vertigo, encapsulating this entry as a recurring character in folklore

 

 

 

(18) JACK

 

“Jacks are nimble. Jacks are quick. Jacks do not get caught in traps. Jacks kill Giants…Jack is a figure, like Robin Hood, who almost certainly embodies echoes of pre-Christian myths. He is a wise Fool, a Trickster. This halo of the chthonic, which is exceedingly difficult to pin down, may well explain the allure of the various Jack figures in innumerable rhymes and fairytales: the Jack who climbs the Beanstalk and rifles the treasure of the Giant; the Jack whose bargains, each of them magical, gains him the king’s daughter; Jack the Giant-Killer, whose four Magic possessions turn him into a Shapeshifter”.

And there are many more Jack figures in mythic folklore and modern fantasy. Of course, not all of them are heroic – although Jacks tend to be ambiguous heroes at the best of times as befitting for tricksters. Some are more neutral or even verging on dangerous – Jack Sprat, Jack Horner, Jack in the Green, Jack O’Lantern. Others are outright villainous – Spring-Heeled Jack, Jack the Ripper, Jack Ketch.

“Jack is an English hero and archetypal stock character appearing in multiple legends, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes. Folktales about Jack date back to 15th century England but have since spread to other countries through English migration and colonialism. Appalachia in particular has a tradition of Jack tales, often told through folk songs…Unlike moralizing fairy heroes, Jack is often thievish, lazy or foolish, but emerges triumphant through wit and trickery, resembling the trickster or rebel archetypes”.

My favorite adaptation of Jack is as Jack of Fables, the title character of the series of comics of that name by Bill Willingham, spun off from Willingham’s Fables series (and Jack’s role as supporting character in that series). Aptly enough for this special mention, he is (almost) every Jack that has appeared in folklore – Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack the Giant-Killer, Jack and Jill, Jack Horner, Jack Be Nimble, Jack Frost, Jack O’Lantern…

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Villains of Mythology (Special Mention) (18) Xipe Totec & Baron Samedi

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Baron Samedi as depicted in his standard design in the Smite video game from the fan wiki

 

 

(17) XIPE TOTEC & BARON SAMEDI

 

“It’s going to be a beautiful day, heh heh heh, yes sir, a b-e-a-u-tiful day” – Baron Samedi in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die”.

 

Just as I felt that these pantheons needed some representation in the special mentions for my top mythological heroes, so too I felt they needed representation among the special mentions for my top mythological villains.

Ironically, that was as strange as nominating heroes from the pantheons. Sure, the whole Aztec and voodoo pantheons might seem villainous to those not familiar with them, although it might be more accurate to describe them as anti-heroic or alien in their morality.

Still, these two deities seemed to me the best nominations as mythological villains for their respective pantheons.

I mean, who else among the Aztec pantheon than Xipe Totec, whose name means Our Lord the Flayed One?

Sure, he earned this special mention on the back (or is that skin?) of his adaptation in Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles – one whose modus operandi seemed to be wearing the skin of his victim’s faces on his own – but there’s his portfolio as a deity.

“In Aztec mythology, Xipe Totec…was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths, liberation, deadly warfare, the seasons, and the earth”.

All but the deadly warfare seems benevolent – except that he connected agricultural renewal with warfare and indeed was believed to be the god that invented war. He also had a strong association with disease – so potentially he had the means to be all Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse wrapped up as one.

Baron Samedi – which translates in English as Baron Saturday – is probably the most famous voodoo loa or deity. It’s a little unfair to rank him as villain rather than the antihero or trickster that he more accurately is.

Apart from his fame and his role as a god of death, what earns him villainous special mention is more by way of adaptation – the first is as the model for the cult of personality by Haitian dictator Papa Doc, and the second is his role as villainous henchman for James Bond in the film Live and Let Die, strikingly played by Geoffrey Holder and perhaps the only genuinely supernatural antagonist for Bond, if his post-credits appearance is anything to go by.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Heroes of Mythology (Special Mention) (17) Green Man

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Green Man sculpture by Tawny Gray at the Custard Factory, Birmingham, England, photographed by Valiantis, Wikipedia “Green Man (Folklore)” licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 

 

(17) GREEN MAN

 

It’s not easy being green – the Green Man, Jack in the Green, Green Knight…

“The Green Man, also known as a foliate head, is a motif in architecture and art, of a face made of, or completely surrounded by, foliage, which normally spreads out from the centre of the face. Apart from a purely decorative function, the Green Man is primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth that occurs every spring.”

It has been argued as “related to natural vegetation deities” or even to represent “a pagan mythological figure” surviving in medieval art and architecture, but sadly the latter is a recent argument not supported by evidence.

However, “the Green Man is a term with a variety of connotations in folklore” – “During the early modern period in England and sometimes elsewhere, the figure of a man dressed in a foliage costume, and usually carrying a club, was a variant of the broader European motif of the Wild Man (also known as wild man of the woods, or woodwose). By at least the 16th century, the term “green man” was used in England for a man who was covered in leaves, foliage including moss as part of a pageant, parade or ritual”.

Hence the argument of the survival of a pagan mythological figure – by Lady Raglan in 1939 – which proposed a kind of Green Man Grand Unification Theory of the Green Man (including its frequent use as a name for pubs), the Jack in the Green folk costume and May Day celebrations.

And that’s just getting started – “The Green Man has been asserted by some authors to be a recurring theme in literature…the figures of Robin Hood and Peter Pan are associated with a Green Man, as is that of the Green Knight”.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Villains of Mythology (Special Mention) (16) Balor & Crom Cruach

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Balor (left) and “the bloody maggot” Crom Cruach (right) as depicted by Simon “The Biz” Bisley in Pat Mills’ Slaine: The Horned God – which won them this special mention (fair use)

 

 

(16) BALOR & CROM CRUACH

 

Balor…of the evil eye!

Balor represents the Fomorians in my special mentions – “a group of malevolent supernatural beings”, essentially the equivalent of demons in Irish mythology. Balor was their leader and “considered the most formidable” of them – “a giant with a large eye that wreaks destruction when opened”.

He’s killed in battle by the god (or demi-god or divine hero) Lugh of the Tuatha De Danaan – and “has been interpreted as a personification of the scorching sun”.

Interestingly, Dungeons and Dragons adapted his name for their in-game demon version of the Balrog to avoid copyright.

Crom Cruach “was a pagan god of pre-Christian legend” – “he was propitiated with human sacrifice and his worship was ended by Saint Patrick”.

Apart from the adaption of Crom’s name as that of Conan’s deity, they earn special mention for their adaptation as eldritch abominations by Pat Mills as the antagonists of the titular hero in his Slaine comic.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Heroes of Mythology (Special Mention) (16) Horned God & Sacred King

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Cernunnos or at least a similar figure on the Bronze Age Gundestrup Cauldron (public domain)

 

 

(16) HORNED GOD & SACRED KING

 

“He is the laughter in the woods.”

Pan and Cernunnos may be the most famous or iconic (the former more so) but there are more horned deities, particularly if you include deities that are represented or symbolized by horned animals.

“Deities depicted with horns or antlers are found in numerous religions across the world. Horned animals, such as bulls, goats, and rams, may be worshiped as deities or serve as inspiration for a deity’s appearance in religions that venerate animal gods”.

Like the Triple Goddess, modern witchcraft and neopaganism have adapted the horned deities of paganism to the Horned God, representing the male aspects of divinity and second only to the Triple Goddess, typically as her consort among other roles.

“The Theme, briefly, is the antique story, which falls into thirteen chapters and an epilogue, of the birth, life, death and resurrection of the God of the Waxing Year; the central chapters concern the God’s losing battle with the God of the Waning Year for love of the capricious and all-powerful Threefold Goddess, their mother, bride and layer-out. The poet identifies himself with the God of the Waxing Year and his Muse with the Goddess; the rival is his blood-brother, his other self, his weird.”

Of course, supernatural horned beings are depicted much more negatively in Christianity, with the devil and other demons typically as horned (or is that horny)? Interestingly, there are the occasional exceptions, with no less than Moses famously said to be or depicted as “horned” upon being radiant or glorified by God. That is usually attributed to mistranslation but has recurred throughout artistic depictions of him, including by Michelangelo.

“The Horned God has been explored within several psychological theories and has become a recurrent theme in fantasy literature” – with my favorite example of the latter being the titular Horned God in “Slaine: The Horned God” by Pat Mills.

And then there’s the mythic figure of the sacred king, overlapping with that of the horned god, at least in modern paganism and a recurring theme in fantasy.

“In many historical societies, the position of kingship carried a sacral meaning and was identical with that of a high priest and judge…The monarch may be divine, become divine, or represent divinity to a greater or lesser extent.”

The figure of the sacred king was famously propounded by Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough – behold the monomyth of the sacrificial sacred king!

“A sacred king, according to the systematic interpretation of mythology developed by Frazer in The Golden Bough…was a king who represented a solar deity in a periodically re-enacted fertility rite. Frazer seized upon the notion of a substitute king and made him the keystone of his theory of a universal, pan-European, and indeed worldwide fertility myth, in which a consort for the Goddess was annually replaced. According to Frazer, the sacred king represented the spirit of vegetation…came into being in the spring, reigned during the summer, and ritually died at harvest time, only to be reborn at the winter solstice to wax and rule again. The spirit of vegetation was therefore a ‘dying and reviving god’. Osiris, Dionysus, Attis and many other familiar figures from Greek mythology and classical antiquity were reinterpreted in this mold…The sacred king, the human embodiment of the dying and reviving vegetation god, was supposed to have originally been an individual chosen to rule for a time, but whose fate was to suffer as a sacrifice, to be offered back to the earth so that a new king could rule for a time in his stead.”

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

Top Tens – TV: Top 10 Animated TV Series (Complete & Revised 2026)

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Iconic image of two of the most iconic animated characters – Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner

 

TOP 10 ANIMATED TV SERIES

 

I’ll be blunt – my favorite TV series are always animated TV series. It was that way when I was a child, watching animated series for children, and now it is that way as an adult, watching animated series for adults.

Hence, my top animated TV series would also tend to be my top TV series in general – as well as ones that I can (and do) watch repeatedly. I look forward to new series or seasons of my favorite series. And whatever the animated series, whether for children or adults, I’ll usually enjoy checking it out, at least for an episode or so.

That said, my Top 10 Animated TV list is more fluid than most of my top ten lists. The top one or two entries may be set in stone, at least for the foreseeable future, but there tends to be a high turnover of entries below them as I tend to turn older series (or series that have run past my enduring interest in them) into special mentions and replace them with newer series at a high rate.

Note also that while I dabble in anime on occasion, it’s nowhere near the extent to which I watch ‘western’ animation on TV – so I keep anime TV series in their own separate lists.

 

 

Netflix promotional poster art

 

 

(10) HAUNTED HOTEL

(NETFLIX 2025: SEASON 1)

 

 

“This hotel has a dark history, Ms. Freeling. Murders, suicides, disappearances. Before it was a hotel, this was an asylum. Before that, a prison. Before that, a different asylum! Evil is drawn to this place, and legends say these grounds hold one of the six gates to hell.”

I usually reserve my tenth place in my top ten lists as a wildcard entry for the best entry from the present or previous year – that is, in the case of TV series, a series with its first season in the present or previous year.

There were a couple of contenders for animated TV series with its first season in 2025. I considered Creature Commandos for this entry but as at this time I’ve only seen the first three episodes – in the limited time that they were available free on Youtube, so the wildcard winner was this series which premiered on Netflix in 2025.

I mean, the horror genre just screams out for comedic parody or satire skewering its tropes and I’ve always had a soft spot for the latter, such as the Halloween specials on The Simpsons – still arguably the best and most enduring episodes of that series (which features in my special mentions). Sometimes the genre even does it to itself but more usually it’s done by animated TV series like this.

Although I’d never quite thought about how many ghost or horror stories are set in, well, haunted hotels, before I was prompted by this series. Of course, the most famous or archetypal is Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining – the most obvious source of inspiration and reference for this series, not least in the name of the hotel as The Undervale mirroring that of The Overlook in the Shining.

Indeed, haunted hotels tend to be fantasy kitchen sinks for horror – that is, the trope in TV Tropes as a punning quip on throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. In the case of haunted hotels, the whole hotel seems to be a hellmouth for haunting or evil supernatural forces, and not just a haunted single room or so.

And that’s pretty much the premise of Haunted Hotel, but with the comedic twist that the ghosts can’t actually do anything threatening being, you know, ghosts – except financially, as the female protagonist struggles to make a business out of the hotel she inherited from her deceased brother, who is foremost among the hotel’s ghosts and in fairness tries to be helpful. You’d think that an actual haunted hotel would be a thriving attraction, particularly when the ghosts can’t hurt you – although there are some supernatural entities other than ghosts that can be threatening.

As per the precis on TV Tropes (without the voice cast names) – “The series follows Katherine, a single mother who inherited a hotel called the Undervale in upstate New York from her late brother Nathan, and is now stuck trying to turn a profit from a hotel filled with ghosts, demons, poltergeists, and pretty much any spooky weirdos you can imagine. Thankfully (or not) Nathan’s ghost has been added to the hauntings of the hotel, providing some dubious assistance. Meanwhile, Katherine’s hormone-addled 13-year old son Ben and scheming, magically savvy daughter Esther adjust to living in the hotel, along with Abaddon, an ancient demon possessing a little boy from the 18th century.”

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

Promotional poster art

 

 

(9) BLUE EYE SAMURAI
(NETFLIX 2023 – PRESENT: SEASON 1+)

 

Who doesn’t like a roaring rampage of revenge?

I liked it as film with Kill Bill. I liked it as (live action) TV series with My Name. And I like it here as animated TV series with Blue Eye Samurai.

So now I have a holy trinity of roaring rampages of revenge. Well, those and John Wick, but John Wick is more my Hail Mary (or Ave Maria) of roaring rampages of revenge. (And yes – that’s a somewhat lapsed Catholic joke about squeezing in a fourth person when you already have three people in a trinity, particularly when that fourth person has their own complicated mythos going on).

Kill Bill even used the phrase – its protagonist Bride stating that she “went on what the movie advertisements refer to as a roaring rampage of revenge” (which Tarantino characteristically borrowed from the tagline to a 1972 film Bury Me an Angel).

Interestingly, all my holy trinity are either east Asian (My Name is Korean) or a fusion of east Asian and Western popular culture. Japanese and Korean film or TV are growing influences in Western popular culture – and they certainly do roaring rampages of revenge well.

This animated series is set in the seventeenth century Japanese shogunate that had isolated itself from the world, in what is called the Edo period, albeit a somewhat alternate historical version given some of the plot details or events.

That makes life even more difficult for our protagonist, the titular blue eye samurai – whose blue eyes immediately mark mixed-race ancestry. That’s on top of another problem for the protagonist in sixteenth century Japanese society, which is something of a spoiler, albeit one easy to guess by the voice (and voice actor) and soon revealed in any event.

Which makes for yet another interesting characteristic of my holy trinity of roaring rampages of revenge – the sex of their protagonist. It’s also interesting to compare the different sources for the roaring rampage of revenge in each case – the Bride is seeking to avenge herself on her ex-lover, the protagonist in My Name is seeking to avenge her father, and the Blue Eye Samurai is seeking to avenge herself on her father.

Its standout feature – consistently noted by reviewers – is “its breathtaking animation quality” and never more so than for its exquisitely crafted fight scenes. Our Blue Eye Samurai is almost supernaturally skilled with a blade (consistent with just a hint of fantasy to the series) but does take a beating from time to time. It’s not just the fight scenes – it’s the visual attention to detail with character and background design.

It’s also not just the visual quality, as important as that is to animation. It has a compelling storyline, with twists and turns, as well as immersion into its setting. And it’s not just the Blue Eye Samurai whose story is engaging – almost every other character, major and minor, including the adversaries or antagonists, are also engaging or intriguing, boosted by the stellar voice cast.

 

RATING:
B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

Season 1 promotional art

 

 

(8) THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA
(PRIME 2022 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3+)

 

“We’re Vox Machina – we f**k sh*t up!”

Yes – it’s Dungeons & Dragons, the animated adaptation of the first campaign of Critical Role, a weekly web video of voice actors playing the game. And it would seem surprisingly effective condensing the story out of what is presumably much messier game play. Let’s just say the alignments tend towards chaotic

So yes – it features its ensemble cast as a classic D & D adventuring party: ax-crazy goliath barbarian Grog, insecure half-elf druid Keyleth, aristocratic human gunslinger Percy, brash gnome cleric Pike, snarky half-elf twins ranger Vex and rogue Vax, and of course everyone’s favorite lecherous comic relief, gnome bard Scanlon.

Because everyone loves bards! Does anyone not play bards as lovable sex maniacs? I’m pretty sure it’s a class feature

The first season also featured a superb antagonist necromancer-vampire duo in Sylas and Delilah Blackwood, the latter voiced by Grey DeLisle, who always does good villainess voice.

And again – Rings of Power take note this is how you do it…

 

RATING:
B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

Promotional art for the series, similar to the opening title credits

 

 

 

(7) SOLAR OPPOSITES

(2020-2025: SEASONS 1-6)

 

“Planet Shlorp was a perfect utopia… until the asteroid hit. 100 adults and their replicants were given a pupa and escaped into space, searching for new and uninhabited worlds. We crash landed on Earth stranding us on an already overpopulated planet. That’s right, I’ve been talking the whole time, I’m the one holding the Pupa, my name’s Korvo. This is my show. Bollocks! I just dropped the Pupa! Ugh, this is ridiculous! I hate Earth, it’s a horrible home! People are stupid and confusing…”

I’ve been able to catch this series now it’s on Netflix (except for the final sixth season) – essentially Rick & Morty crossed with Third Rock from the Sun, with epic fantasy drama thrown in the segments involving “the Wall”. That’s particularly so as voice actor Justin Roiland essentially replayed Rick as the leading alien Korvo, although he was replaced by Dan Steven as voice actor for…reasons. I’m a fan of Dan Stevens so I didn’t mind, particularly as they explain it in series by their recurring gag of “SF stuff””.

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

Yes – it’s that girl from The Witness, one of the episodes from the first season.

 

 

(6) LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS
(NETFLIX 2019 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-4)

 

“Heavy Metal for millennials”

Love, Death, and Robots is an adult – very adult (or perhaps adolescent) – experimental animated SF and fantasy anthology series on Netflix produced by Tim Miller and David Fincher.

And it is very much an anthology series – consisting of stand-alone or self-contained episodes, usually 10-20 minutes (with the occasional shorter episodes) and produced by different casts and crews in different styles. It’s genre-bending (and blending) between science fiction, fantasy and horror, although leaning towards science fiction (particularly cyberpunk) – hence the robots of the title. Episodes tend toward the themes of – well – love, death and robots, albeit the former two are very broad (and often leaning more towards sex and violence). Most of them are adaptions of short stories from notable SF (or fantasy) writers – including Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Alastair Reynolds and Joe Lansdale.

And the tagline comes from its – ah – heavy influence or inspiration from the comic / magazine Heavy Metal, which highlighted original science fiction stories and art, mixed in with erotica, and the “raunchy, absurd 1981 film of the same name which took viewers a step beyond science fiction.”

As an anthology, it’s something of a mixed bag, but there’s bound to be something you like by way of “a striking or exciting style of animation” or “a genuinely shocking twist”.

 

RATING:
B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Season 1 promotional poster art

 

(5) PRIMAL
(2019 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3)

 

Spear and Fang – a Neanderthal and his tyrannosaur. Or is that a tyrannosaur and her Neanderthal?

Those names – Spear and Fang – are never given in the episodes themselves, which are a marvel of mute mood, only in the titles or credits. Mute in that Spear, our Neanderthal protagonist, does not speak any language as such – although he can be very vocal in grunts or bellows and is otherwise extremely expressive in face and body language. Fang, the tyrannosaur is no slouch in expression either. Primal’s creator, Genndy Tartakovksy, is famous for being light on dialog in his work, but in Primal he has achieved an animated masterpiece with no dialog.

The unlikely but powerful bond between Spear and Fang is the beating heart of the series – unlikely in that it arises in very particular circumstances and endures beyond them, but of course in the context of our world where they are tens of million years apart. It soon becomes apparent that, while the creatures of Primal seem drawn (heh) from models in our own, that this is not our world as we knew it – as the waning age of dinosaurs seemingly overlaps much more with the rising age of mammals. And oh boy – how they are drawn, with lush beautiful animation particularly for its creatures and their landscapes, as well as evocative music or sound.

The world of Primal diverges even more from our own as it becomes an increasingly fantastic setting, dramatically so from episode 4 Terror Under the Blood Red Moon or episode 5 Rage of the Ape Men (with its heartbreaking cliffhanger climax).

In my opinion, this leads to the three episodes that are my personal highlights of the first season – with Spear and Fang facing off against, and typically having little choice but to flee from, their most dangerous and fantastic opponents in sequences of genuine horror or terror. A plague zombie dinosaur in episode 7 Plague of Madness, dark magic in episode 8 Coven of the Damned, and a mysterious invisible creature that seemingly kills for sport in episode 9 The Night Feeder.

However, the most dramatic change of all occurs in its final episode of the first season, when the world of Primal changes radically again to something very different from all preceding episodes – as we see in the second season.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

Scene from first episode Season 1

 

 

(4) HARLEY QUINN
(2019-PRESENT: SEASONS 1-5+)

 

“No way! It’s got comedy, action, incredibly gratuitous violence, and unlike that Deadpool cartoon, it’s actually coming out!”

Now this is how you do Harley Quinn! (Well that and The Suicide Squad film – the one by James Gunn in 2021, not the other one).

Harley Quinn has split off from the Joker and aspires to become the criminal queenpin of Gotham with best friend Poison Ivy and a motley crew of henchmen – Doctor Psycho, Clayface and King Shark. Of course, setting out to become queenpin isn’t going to be easy – but it does make for a fun f-bomb-dropping adult animated series that is by turns “crude, raunchy, violent and completely shameless about all of it”, not to mention a blackly comic parody of the DC comics and cinematic universes.

Add in a stellar voice cast (led by Kaley Cuoco, who voices Harley Quinn to perfection matched only by Margot Robbie in hot pants) and you’ve got a winning formula, particularly in its “grasp of what makes its titular antiheroine so beloved”. As per Caroline Framke of Variety – “Most importantly, Harley gets to be an entire person all her own, as heartbreakingly naive as she is wickedly strange and funny”. It also demonstrates that she’s more than just eye candy – although she plays that to her advantage – but also surprisingly effective in combat and crime with her gymnastic ability, as well as smart and indeed insightful into her own state of mind (when she chooses to be).

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

 

 

 

Season 1 promotional art

 

 

(3) INVINCIBLE
(PRIME 2021 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3+)

 

“Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power!”

Beware the Superman!

It often seems that the deconstruction of superheroes – particularly along the lines of the trope beware the superman – is more popular these days than the more straightforward narratives of them as heroic figures.

Certainly that seems to be the case for two of the most popular series on Amazon Prime – live-action series The Boys, and this animated series, each adapted from a comic of the same name. In the case of Invincible, it was adapted from a comic series that ran from 2003 to 2018, by none other than Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame – although I prefer Invincible, both for the comic and its adaptation. For that matter, I tend to prefer Invincible to The Boys for the breadth and depth of its superhero universe, which features a more DC or Marvel style universe with aliens, parallel dimensions and supernatural beings – although usually with a twist in the tropes.

We are introduced to the titular superhero as Mark Grayson, pretty much your typical high school student, except that he is the son of Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet – and just maturing into his own superhero powers, inherited from his father.

And that’s where things start to get complicated, as he quickly learns there is much more to this world than meets the eye – with some jaw-dropping twists and turns along the way, particularly concerning his own father – including a season finale montage which indicates things are just starting to heat up for Invincible.

The animated adaptation has an all-star voice cast, most notably with J.K. Simmons as its Superman character, Omni-Man (or Nolan Grayson as he is in his everyday suburban life).

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Season 2 promotional art

 

 

(2) RICK AND MORTY
(2013 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-8+)

 

“SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!! It’s fine! Everything is fine! There’s an infinite number of realities, Morty! And a few dozen of those, I got lucky and turned everything back to normal! I just had to find one of those realities in which we also happen to both die around this time. Now we can just slip into the place of our dead selves in this reality, and everything’ll be fine. We’re not skipping a beat, Morty. Now help me with these bodies”.

As its second place entry indicates, Rick & Morty is the best animated series bar one, ever since its premiere in 2013 – “If you haven’t watched Rick and Morty, a cartoon about the adventures of a mad scientist and his hapless grandson, teleport to the nearest screen and shove every episode into your eyes as soon as possible.”

Rick and Morty was inspired by Back to the Future, if Doc Brown was a caustic alcoholic sociopath and Marty his ever more progressively traumatized grandson – and instead of travelling through time, they hop dimensions throughout the multiverse. It plays with, parodies, satirizes, subverts and deconstructs tropes across the range of popular science fiction and fantasy.

The focus is of course on the titular characters (both of whom voiced by co-creator Justin Roiland) and their bizarre misadventures – as mad scientist (and maternal grandfather) Rick Sanchez constantly pulls Morty Smith, a hapless high school student (whom Roiland voices with the perfect distressed wail), and increasingly, Morty’s older sister Summer, out of their normal lives to go on abstract trips across the multiverse for purposes that are never usually expressed. However, the rest of the Smith family is also comedy gold – particularly Morty’s harried and insecure father Jerry (perfectly voiced by Chris Parnell), who is also increasingly (and often unwillingly) dragged into the duo’s adventures. As such, the general formula consists of the juxtaposition of two conflicting scenarios – the intergalactic or interdimensional adventures of the eponymous duo, intercut with family drama. (Co-creator Dan Harmon has referred to it as a cross between The Simpsons and Futurama, balancing family life with heavy science fiction). At the center of it all is Rick, who drinks and behaves like a jerk most of the time – although he has saved the Earth at least once by getting schwifty.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

Promotional art referencing perhaps the titular protagonist’s most iconic phrase (ahem – phrasing!)

 

 

(1) ARCHER
(2009 – 2023: SEASONS 1-14)

 

“Every single noun and verb in that sentence totally arouses me!”

Indeed, as does every episode of my favorite animated TV series Archer, still running strong from its debut in 2009. Although perhaps a more descriptive tagline might be that used by TV Tropes from this exchange between the titular character, Sterling Mallory Archer (codenamed Duchess) and his mother:

“Most secret agents don’t tell every harlot from here to Hanoi that they are a secret agent!”

“Then why be one?”

Aptly described as James Bond meets Arrested Development, the series is about the title protagonist, a dysfunctional spy, working for a dysfunctional spy agency headed by his mother, in which virtually everyone and everything is dysfunctional. Even the time setting of the series is dysfunctional – it is “comically anachronistic, deliberately mixing technology, clothing styles and historical backdrops of different decades”, not to mention the Soviet Union. (“How are you a superpower?”):

“What year is this?”
“I know, right?”

Archer has a reputation, certainly in his own mind, as the world’s most dangerous spy – and he might well be, but for his negligence or incompetence fuelled by one of his many vices and his tendency to remain oblivious to everything but himself. “His primary interest in the job is the opportunity to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle full of sex, alcohol, thrills, lacrosse, fast cars, designer clothing, and spy gadgets” – hence, my adoption of him as my spirit animal. (After all, who doesn’t want to go on a cobra whiskey bender in Thailand?)

However, he is proficient in field work or stereotypical spy skills – weapons (including an uncanny ability to keep track of every shot fired), combat and driving – although in large part this is driven by the complete lack of any sense of his own mortality or ability to take situations seriously (accompanied by a childlike or adolescent delight in them).

Archer is one of the few (or perhaps only) animated series I recommend to people who are not otherwise a fan of animated series, because in style (including its realistic art style) resembles a live action series – indeed, with a few cosmetic changes, it could be a live-action series. (Well, if only H. Jon Benjamin resembled the appearance of Archer as well as providing his voice – man, I love his voice!). It certainly is a series that improves with watching it (in sequence) over time – as TV Tropes notes, the series’ humor “relies heavily on call backs and running gags alongside a large ensemble cast”, many of whom are recurring and as much a source of character humor as Archer himself.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

 

 

 

TV – ANIMATION: TOP 10 (TIER LIST)

 

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

(1) ARCHER
(2) RICK & MORTY

If Archer is my Old Testament of TV animation, Rick and Morty is my New Testament.

And as an exception to the rule of the highly fluid nature of my TV top tens, Archer has good prospects of enduring in top spot (and my interest) beyond its peak quality and final Season 14, particularly as it’s a series I rewatch with pleasure. After all, Archer is my spirit animal!

 

A-TIER (TOP-TIER)

 

(3) INVINCIBLE
(4) HARLEY QUINN
(5) PRIMAL

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(6) LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS
(7) SOLAR OPPOSITES
(8) THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA
(9) BLUE EYE SAMURAI

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER – BEST OF 2025)

 

(10) HAUNTED HOTEL

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Villains of Mythology (Special Mention) (15) Questing Beast & Wild Hunt

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Arthur and the Questing Beast by Henry Justice Ford (1904) and Wodan’s Wild Hunt by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (1885)

 

 

(15) QUESTING BEAST & WILD HUNT

 

I just can’t resist their evocative names, despite it being arguable whether they were actually villains. The Wild Hunt in particular seems more of a chaotic force.

Sadly, the questing beast is not so named because it was the subject of a quest but for the French word glatisant – hence its alternative name of the Beast Glatisant – related to or signifying barking or yelping, the noise the Beast made.

The Beast itself was a hybrid beast like a chimera – that is a single beast seemingly composed of different animal parts – albeit one often interpreted as a giraffe, from their medieval description as half camel and half leopard.

The Beast doesn’t feature in the main part of Arthurian legendary canon but pops up as cameo as it were, with the hunt for it as the subject of quests “futilely undertaken by King Pellinore and his family and finally achieved by Sir Palamedes and his companions”.

Of course, I also can’t resist matching the innuendo of questing beast with the adventurous bed. On that note, questing beast overlaps nicely with the innuendo of wild hunt.

“The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif occurring across various northern, western and eastern European societies, appearing in the religions of the Germans, Celts, and Slaves” – typically involving “a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by a ghostly or supernatural group of hunters engaged in pursuit. The leader of the hunt is often a named figure associated with Odin in Germanic legends but may variously be a historical or legendary figure like Theodoric the Great, the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag, the dragon slayer Sigurd, the psychopomp of Welsh mythology Gwyn ap Nudd, Biblical figures such as Herod, Cain, Gabriel, or the Devil, or an unidentified lost soul. The hunters are generally the souls of the dead or ghostly dogs, sometimes fairies, Valkyries or elves”.

That list of Wild Hunt leaders is not exhaustive either – indeed, it could be the subject of its own top ten.

“Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to forebode some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it. People encountering the Hunt might also be abducted to the underworld or the fairy kingdom…According to scholar Susan Greenwood, the Wild Hunt “primarily concerns an initiation into the wild, untamed forces of nature in its dark and chthonic aspects.””

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)