Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Books (Special Mention: Revised Entry): (9) John Lindow – Norse Mythology

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(9) JOHN LINDOW –

NORSE MYTHOLOGY: A GUIDE TO THE GODS, HEROES, RITUALS & BELIEFS (2001)

 

“We come from the land of the ice and snow

From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow

The hammer of the gods

Will drive our ships to new lands

To fight the horde, sing and cry

Valhalla, I am coming”

 

I won’t tire of quoting the lyrics of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song for Norse mythology, whether for its third place entry in my Top 10 Mythologies, or here for this special mention for the leading reference work on Norse mythology.

Of course, Norse is something of a misnomer, as it was a Germanic or Scandinavian mythology that extended throughout much of northern Europe, although it is most identified with Norway and Iceland (and Vikings!), also the source of its surviving texts.

“Norse Mythology explores the magical myths and legends of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Viking-Age Greenland and outlines the way the prehistoric tales and beliefs from these regions that have remained embedded in the imagination of the world.”

The book is essentially divided into three parts, with a postscript for print and non-print resources about Norse mythology. The first part is an introduction for the historical background of Scandinavian mythology (including “cult, worship and sacrifice”). The second part is a chapter on mythic time. The third and predominant part is effectively a reference dictionary of entries in alphabetical order “that presents in-depth explanations of each mythological term… particular deities and giants, as well as the places where they dwell and the varied and wily means by which they forge their existence and battle one another”.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

Top Tens – History (WW2): Top 10 Nazi-Soviet Wars / Nazi-Soviet War Iceberg (Part 2: 4-5)

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German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941 to 25 August 1941 – public domain image map by the History Department of the US Military Academy

 

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

(4) SOVIET-JAPANESE WAR

 

Japan is one of the two limited exceptions for Germany’s Axis allies that could and did fight the Soviet Union separately from Germany, albeit not too well.

Indeed, that was the issue for Germany, that its strongest ally Japan fought its strongest enemy, the Soviet Union, entirely separately from Germany itself – before and after Germany’s own war with the Soviet Union (with the former mostly before Germany even invaded Poland to commence the war in Europe).

Hence, Japan was conspicuous in its absence from the Nazi-Soviet war, so the impact of this entry is more one of omission than commission. Not that Germany particularly sought out Japanese involvement in its war against the Soviet Union – at least not until Germany’s initial victories began to wane to the point that Germany considered it might need Japanese involvement after all, by which point it was too little too late.

Japan had signed the Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact on 13 April 1941, a little over two months before Germany invaded the Soviet Union – reflecting how little Germany had coordinated with or even informed Japan with respect to its intentions.

In large part, that reflected the defeat of the Japanese army by the Soviets in war between them in 1939 that both combatants mostly kept secret from others – a war which also underlay the Soviet reasons to divert war with Germany away by the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Given the weakness of the Japanese army against the Soviets, particularly in mechanized and armored forces, I am not sure whether any Japanese involvement in Germany’s war against the Soviet Union would have actually made any difference to the outcome, even in 1941 when it was most optimal for Japan or Germany.

Both the Soviet-Japanese war and the war in my next entry were also entries in my Top 10 Second World Wars.

 

(5) SOVIET-FINNISH WAR – WINTER & CONTINUATION WARS

 

Finland is the other of the two limited exceptions for Germany’s Axis allies that fought the Soviet Union separately from Germany, although it was more the Soviet Union that was allied to Germany than Finland at the time of the Winter War and it was not Finland’s choice to fight the Soviets as the latter invaded Finland.

The Winter War has quite the notoriety within Second World War history, primarily for the obvious Soviet expectations of a walkover only to be undone by the Finnish underdog against the odds, although ultimately Finland had to negotiate while they still had the means to avoid worse defeat.

That prompted Finland to participate in the German invasion of the Soviet Union in what the Finns called the Continuation War to reverse the losses of the Winter War, although it tried to do so as separately from Germany as possible. Finland held itself aloof from Germany, even to the extent of identifying as co-belligerent rather than ally and not signing the Tripartite Pact. Finland also refused to advance beyond certain points and had to demobilize part of its army from economic necessity in 1942.

Finland was also the first to see the logic of German defeat if Germany could not secure a quick victory, attempting to start peace negotiations with the Soviet Union as early as autumn 1941.

As a result, both of fighting as separately as possible and following the logic of German defeat as well as its successes in its own defence and Allied sympathy, Finland alone of Germany’s allies (and Germany itself) in the wider Nazi-Soviet war avoided occupation.

As noted in my previous entry, not only were the Soviet-Japanese war and the Soviet Finnish war both those two limited exceptions to Germany’s Axis allies fighting the Soviet Union separately, but they were both also entries in my Top 10 Second World Wars.

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Animated Films

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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.

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (Part 2) Neolithic & Mesolithic

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Map of the world showing approximate centres of origin of agriculture and its spread in prehistory: eastern USA (4000-3000 BP), Central Mexico (5000-4000 BP), Northern South America (5000-4000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5000-4000 BP, exact location unknown), the Fertile Crescent (11000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9000 BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9000-6000 BP) by Joe Roe for Wikipedia “Neolithic” licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

 

 

(2) NEOLITHIC

 

The New Stone Age to the Paleolithic’s Old Stone Age and equally indisputable as second among my Top 10 Stone Ages, except perhaps to dispute that its more dramatic developments – often characterized as the Neolithic Revolution – are such that it eclipses the Paleolithic. Certainly, without it the subsequent balance of human history would not have occurred as it did, and we’d all still be in our happy hunting grounds.

It varies by geographical location but generally is considered to commence in 10,000 BC or so (in the ancient Near East) and continued to the development of metallurgy, variously from 4,500 BC in the ancient Near East to 2,000 BC in China.

“This ‘Neolithic package’ included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement”.

 

(3) MESOLITHIC

 

Sigh – I suppose I have to count it in god-tier as part of the iconic tripartite division of the Stone Age but I don’t really believe in the Mesolithic as the amorphous period of transition between the Paleolithic and Neolithic, even if that period was generally millennia and varied by location.

I like my Stone Age as twofold division of Paleolithic and Neolithic, Old Stone Age and New Old Age. Apparently, I’m not the only one – the term was controversial for that reason upon its introduction in the nineteenth century but has subsequently been considered a useful concept.

The term Epipaleolithic is sometimes substituted, particularly for the prehistoric Near East.

Top Tens – History (WW2): Top 10 Nazi-Soviet Wars / Nazi-Soviet War Iceberg (Part 1: 1-3)

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German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941 to 25 August 1941 – public domain image map by the History Department of the US Military Academy

 

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) NAZI-SOVIET WAR

 

Well, obviously. My top entry has to be the baseline of the conflict itself as a whole, which I look at in more detail as the top entry in my Top 10 Second World Wars. It might also be considered not just as a baseline but also as the superstructure of war between two ideological regimes – Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union – in the Second World War that overlaid the similar conflict between the two imperial states of Germany and Russia in the First World War.

In many ways, they were similar conflicts or even the same conflict. As German historian Fritz Fischer proposed in the so-called Fischer thesis (or Fischer controversy), Germany had the same fundamental aim in both world wars. That aim was to forge Germany as a world power (and pre-empt the rise of Russia as one) by the German domination of Europe (Mitteleuropa) and the annexation of territory, particularly from Russia itself.

The ideological conflict between the two regimes just added another layer to this German aim in both world wars – in large part heightening the brutality of the conflict (particularly towards civilians) as well as the much higher casualties of the Second World War compared to the First.

Ironically, despite their deadly ideological opposition, the two regimes had many traits in common, as indeed they were to find in their brief rapport with each other that enabled Germany to fight its British and French opponents first – and also which in effect had each regime feed off the other in developing their own regime or power.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(2) RUSSO-GERMAN WAR

 

Wait – what? Didn’t I just do this in my previous entry for the Nazi-Soviet war itself?

Well, not exactly. As I emphasized, that entry reflected the ideological conflict between the two regimes in the Second World War that overlaid the more traditional contest between their two states continuing on from the First. The war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was both a Nazi-Soviet war and a Russo-German war, the latter with a fundamental continuity of purpose and conflict from the First World War.

It also illustrates two important distinctions, one on each side.

Firstly, on the Axis side, Germany was not the only combatant, something which seems to be often forgotten, particularly by those counting up casualties on each side to somehow demonstrate German military “excellence” or “superiority” and usually overlooking the other Axis combatants to only tally up German casualties against all Soviet casualties.

Yes – Germany may have been the predominant combatant on the Axis side, without which the other Axis combatants, with two limited exceptions, could not have fought and did not fight the Soviet Union separately, but it remains that Germany did have other Axis allies fighting alongside it. The most substantial of these essentially comprise other entries in this top ten, although that does not include more minor combatants such as Slovakia or the approximately one million or so foreign volunteers or conscripts fighting with Germany against the Soviet Union – including from the Soviet Union itself, such as dissident ethnic groups or the Russian Liberation Army under General Vlasov.

Secondly, on the Soviet side, Russia itself was only a part, albeit the most substantial part, of all Soviet forces – which also drew, often critically, on the forces from the Soviet republics other than Russia or from the ethnic groups other than Russians within the Russian republic itself.

 

(3) NAZI-SOVIET PARTISAN WAR

 

The war between Axis forces and Soviet partisans behind Axis lines deserves to be considered in the highest tier of Nazi-Soviet warfare, even if it remained subordinate to and could not have achieved victory without the primary Soviet war effort.

Although in some cases, partisans were not subordinate to the Soviet war effort, fighting both the Axis and Soviet forces in turn.

And in others, those ethnic groups or Russians that actively allied themselves with Germany against the Soviet Union as noted in my previous entry might effectively be considered partisans on the Axis side, albeit ones that did not so much fight irregular partisan warfare as such but within conventional German military forces.

 

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (1) Paleolithic

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Hunting a glyptodon – painting by Heinrich Harder c1920 (public domain image)

 

 

(1) PALEOLITHIC

 

The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is indisputably first among my Top 10 Stone Ages – “as almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology”, as indeed it is of human existence, prehistoric or historic.

Its defining characteristic is the use of stone tools, extending from the first use of such tools by hominins about 3 million years ago to the end of the Pleistocene Epoch or what is more colloquially known as the Ice Age in about 12,000 BC – the Stone Age largely overlaps with the Ice Age.

The Paleolithic has a tripartite division as the Lower Paleolithic (3 million years to 300,000 years ago) marked by hominins using stone tools, the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago) marked by the evolution of anatomically modern humans (and their migration out of Africa), and the Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,000 years ago) marked by the emergence of behaviourally modern humans (and their migration beyond Africa and Eurasia).

I always find it striking that the terminology of Upper to Lower Paleolithic goes from more recent to less recent – with the Lower going very low indeed to over 3 million years ago. Hence, I was tempted to coin the term Deep Stone Age, but it is essentially synonymous with the Lower Paleolithic. As I noted in my introduction, I was also tempted to use each of these subdivisions – Upper, Middle, and Lower Paleolithic – as entries in this top ten but considered I should be more creative.

However, that terminology would match up with the Stone Age as iceberg meme, moving from upper to lower with the latter indeed proportionate to the 90% or so proportion of an iceberg under the surface that is the premise of the iceberg meme. Arguably a true Stone Age iceberg should do the same, in terms of going deeper into what I dubbed the Deep Stone Age, but I’ve inverted it with the Paleolithic on top to reflect its prominence rather than depth of time.

 

RATING:

S-TIER (GOD-TIER – OR IS THAT STONE-TIER?)

Top Tens – History (WW2): Top 10 Nazi-Soviet Wars / Nazi-Soviet War Iceberg (Introduction)

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German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941 to 25 August 1941 – public domain image map by the History Department of the US Military Academy

 

 

TOP 10 NAZI-SOVIET WARS / NAZI-SOVIET WAR ICEBERG

 

The Nazi-Soviet war – fought from commencement of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941 through to German surrender on 8 May 1945 – was the top entry in my Top 10 Second World Wars.

However, the concept behind that list – one of my tongue-in-cheek top ten lists I look at a subject which has a fundamental continuity but which also can be demarcated into distinct parts in their own right – can also be applied to the Nazi-Soviet War given its primacy and scale, as I noted in its entry.

If you prefer, you can think of this as a Nazi-Soviet war iceberg meme. To be frank, it can’t be so clearly demarcated into distinct or effectively separate parts as the Second World War, given the more far-flung scale and span of the latter. The components of the conflict which I identify as ‘wars’ within it for entries in this top ten are mostly much more overlapping and difficult to separate from the conflict as a whole.

Even so, I think looking at them as separate components of or ‘wars’ within the conflict – in the form of this top ten list or iceberg – can be instructive and potentially offer new perspectives on the conflict as a whole.

However, reflecting that most of the entries are much less distinct parts of the conflict as a whole than in my Top 10 Second World Wars, this will be more one of my shallow dip top tens – with shorter entries – than the deep dive of the latter. Essentially, almost all entries have a focus on particular combatants within the war. A few entries effectively repeat entries from my Top 10 Second World Wars so will be mostly abbreviated to links or references to that top ten

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (Introduction)

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Gjantija Temples in Gozo, Malta, 3600-2500 BC, by Bone A and used as the feature image for Wikipedia “Stone Age” under license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

 

 

TOP 10 STONE AGES / STONE AGE ICEBERG

 

It’s my Top 10 Stone Ages!

Wait – what? Wasn’t there only the one Stone Age?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, as in it’s another one of my (mostly) tongue in cheek top ten lists where I look at a subject which has a fundamental continuity or unity but which can also be broken up into distinct parts or perspectives. Alternatively, you can think of it as my Stone Age iceberg meme.

And no, as in when you have an “age” that is over 99% of human history (or more precisely prehistory) extending back 3 million years (and hence well before our present human species, homo sapiens) with a complexity and versatility to match its duration, it can readily be broken up or classified into smaller parts.

And indeed, it usually is, with one of the best known demarcations breaking it up into three parts – which account for my top three entries – albeit they are hardly equal parts with the first part as the overwhelming majority of the Stone Age.

Beyond that, I could have relied on further subdivisions of the traditional three-part division but I chose to get a little more creative instead with different perspectives to round out the balance of entries. I could also have relied on geographic divisions as the Stone Age persisted longer in different parts of the world, arguably even to what is otherwise the modern period of history elsewhere.

As such, like my other top ten lists for “ages”, this will be more one of my shallow dip top tens – with shorter entries – than my deep dive top tens on other subjects.

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Golden Ages (Special Mention)

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Gold bars (also called ingots or bullion) by Ariel Palmon for Wikipedia “gold” under license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

 

 

TOP 10 GOLDEN AGES

(SPECIAL MENTION)

 

But wait – there’s even more Golden Ages! Given that it has been adapted for common usage to connote peaks of history or culture, real or idealized, virtually everything has its own Golden Age. Indeed, too many to choose from that I had to narrow it down to twenty of the most golden for my usual number of special mentions.

 

(1) GOLDEN AGE OF ANCIENT EGYPT

 

Not surprisingly for a civilization spanning millennia, ancient Egypt had a number of golden ages, albeit apparently not sufficient for their own Wikipedia entry unlike other historical golden ages. The golden ages usually identified for ancient Egypt include the Fourth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom – 2613 to 2494, embodied (or is that entombed?) by the Great Pyramid of Giza built in the reign of pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) – and also the New Kingdom, when Egypt was an empire.

 

(2) GOLDEN AGE OF CHINA

 

China has multiple golden ages – prolific enough for their own Wikipedia entry, although this seems to identify a golden age for each imperial dynasty. Notably the golden age of China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing is its peak from 1662-1779, prior to its spectacular decline in the nineteenth century or its Century of Humiliation. Apart from the Qing, the usual golden ages of China are identified as those in the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties.

 

(3) GOLDEN AGE OF INDIA

 

Much like China, numerous golden ages are proposed for India (again prolific enough for their own Wikipedia entry). I tend to prefer the Gupta empire (as the golden age of Hindu India) but others include the Mauryan empire, Vijayanagra empire, Chola empire, and Mughal Empire (as the last golden age of India)

 

(4) ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE

 

The golden age of Islamic civilization, usually proposed as the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun-al-Rashid from 786 AD to 809 AD, with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in the imperial capital of Baghdad, with the city itself representative or symbolic of the golden age. Think the Arabian Nights and you have the legendary depiction of the Islamic Golden Age

Since 23 years or so seems short for a Golden Age, it is usually proposed extending beyond the reign of Harun-al-Rashid through to “the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the siege of Baghdad in 1258”, although I think that understates the decline and fragmentation of the caliphate before that. Some extend it beyond that – to 1350 to include the Timurid empire or even to the 15th or 16th centuries to include the rise of the Islamic gunpowder empires. Sometimes a separate Golden Age is proposed for Spain under Islamic rule or Al-Andalus.

And yes – the Islamic Golden Age gets its own Wikipedia page in that name.

 

(5) GOLDEN AGE OF BYZANTIUM

 

The Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty – at least dubbed as such by the historian Robert Browning. It seemed only fair as I included the period of the Five Good Emperors as a Roman golden age in my Top 10 Golden Ages.

 

(6) PORTUGUESE GOLDEN AGE

 

My first special mention for the golden ages proposed for a whole host of European nations – I limited myself to five such special mentions (from sixth to tenth place special mentions) but it seems to be a common trope used for the political or cultural history of European nations or even regions such as Flanders so that was hardly exhaustive. I could readily have done a top ten (and perhaps even special mentions) just for golden ages proposed by European nations. As it was, my top ten included entries for the French golden age (Grand Siècle and Belle Epoque) and for the English or British golden age (Merrie England – with a shout out to the Elizabethan era for England and the Victorian era for Britain). If you count the Roman Empire and classical Greece or Athens, my top ten included entries for those as well.

Note also the usage for political or cultural history – the denomination of golden age tends to connote not just a zenith of power but also of culture, although those things tend to overlap with each other. Not always, however, as is the case with one of my European golden age special mentions.

The Portuguese Golden Age is usually proposed from 1415 to 1518, corresponding to when Portugal was at the forefront of the European maritime discovery and trade – “possibly the European power of the time most proficient in sailing” – and as such, the first European power to being building a colonial empire in the so-called Age of Discovery. Indeed, for a century or so, the Portuguese were effectively the Age of Discovery.

The Portuguese may have been eclipsed, both in history and popular imagination, by the subsequent and more spectacular Spanish role in the Age of Discovery (and Conquest of the Americas) and their empire may have been more modest – with the exception of Brazil – than Spain or other European powers but it endured from being the first to being one of the last, with its imperial holdings in Africa or East Timor lasting until the 1970s.

Speaking of Brazil, a second Portuguese Golden Age is often proposed revolving around its empire in Brazil and particularly the Brazilian gold rush from the late 17th century to the 19th century. Brazil was the crown jewel of the Portuguese empire – indeed, it was the ruling seat of the empire by the Portuguese royal family in exile during the Napoleonic Wars – and certainly the empire was not the same after Brazilian independence.

 

(7) SPANISH GOLDEN AGE

 

The Spanish Golden Age or Siglo de Oro – also known as the Golden Century, although it’s usually stated to be for a longer period, from 1492 to some point in the seventeenth century.

“The Spanish Golden Age is broadly associated with the reigns of Isabella I, Ferdinand II, Charles V, Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV, when Spain was at the peak of its power and influence in Europe and the world.”

1492 of course coincided with the final defeat of the Muslims in the Reconquista, as well as Spain’s unification into a single state under the union of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand II. 1492 also coincided with the discovery by Columbus of the New World – which was ultimately to result in Spain achieving heights of empire in the Americas and elsewhere previously undreamed of solely in Europe.

It’s in common enough usage to get its own Wikipedia page in that name.

 

(8) POLISH GOLDEN AGE

 

It’s somewhat surprising to think of a Polish Golden Age coinciding with or even commencing before the Spanish Golden Age, potentially in the fourteenth century or so, and similarly extending through to the seventeenth century – reflected in the territorial extent of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as one of the largest kingdoms of Europe – “at its peak…from modern-day Estonia in the north to Moldavia in the south and from Moscow in the east to Brandenburg in the west”.

And yes – it gets its own Wikipedia page.

 

(9) DUTCH GOLDEN AGE

 

The Dutch Golden Age resembles the Portuguese Golden Age – as the zenith of a smaller European nation punching above its weight in maritime trade and empire. 

The Dutch Golden Age “roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the Rampjaar occurred” – the Rampjaar, or Disaster Year, following the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch war.

Another Golden Age that gets its own Wikipedia page – as does the Golden Age of Dutch Painting with which it largely coincides. There’s also the Golden Age of Dutch cartography, again largely overlapping the Dutch Golden Age in general.

 

(10) DANISH GOLDEN AGE

 

Something of an exception to the rule of Golden Ages for nations in that the Danish Golden Age usually connotes “a period of exceptional creative production in Denmark, especially during the first half of the 19th century” without coinciding with any corresponding peak of Danish political power or empire. (If it did refer to the latter, it would probably refer to the height of Danish power in the Viking Age or at least when Denmark had a colonial empire beyond Greenland and the Faeroes).

Yet another Golden Age with its own Wikipedia page.  

 

(11) GOLDEN AGE OF THE BARBARIANS

 

Sadly, not a term in popular use but one coined by James C. Scott in his book Against the Grain, in which he wrote that until about 400 or so years ago humanity was in the Golden Age of the Barbarians, an era in which the majority of the world “had never seen a tax collector”. In part, this was due to “barbarian zones” – areas where “states found it either impossible or prohibitively difficult to extend their rule”, typically due to geography or terrain. “Not only did this place a great many people out of the reach of the state, but it also made them significant military threats to the state’s power.”

I’m not entirely sure about Scott’s thesis although one might identify a Golden Age of the Barbarians in the Migration Period or barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire. More broadly, other historians have written of the recurring impact or military power of Central Asian steppe empires or peoples, the so-called steppe effect, punching well above their weight in population.

 

(12) GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY

 

Scott’s Golden Age of the Barbarians prompts to mind a term that is in popular use (so much so that it gets its own Wikipedia page) – the Golden Age of Piracy, typically from 1650 to 1730, “when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans”.

 Apparently, some historians subdivide it into three periods – the buccaneering period from 1650 to 1680 or so (characterized by Anglo-French pirates based in the Caribbean attacking Spanish colonies and ships in the Caribbean and Pacific), the Pirate Round in the 1690s (characterized by longer voyages from the Americans to prey on East India Company shipping in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea), and the post-Spanish Succession period when former English sailors or privateers turned to piracy.

Of course, fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise know the Golden Age of Piracy came to an end when the East India Company took control of Davy Jones and killed the Kraken.

 

 (13) GOLDEN AGE OF CAPITALISM & GILDED AGE

 

The Golden Age of the Barbarians and the Golden Age of Piracy naturally prompts to mind the Golden Age of Capitalism.

At first glance, it might seem somewhat surprising that the Golden Age of Capitalism, at least in the Wikipedia article of that name, is used for the twentieth century postwar economic expansion after the Second World War to the 1970s but it really shouldn’t. It was a period of unprecedented economic expansion in which North America, Europe and eastern Asia (particularly the “Four Asian Tigers”) “experienced unusually high and sustained growth”, including countries devastated by the war

It was period in which the term economic miracle came or has come to be commonly used – for Japan, for West Germany and Austria (the Wirtschaftswunder or Miracle on the Rhine), South Korean (Miracle on the Han River), Belgium, France (Trent Glorieuses), Italy (Miracolo economico), Greece, Sweden (Record years), and even Spain and Mexico.

However, it might have seemed that the Golden Age of Capitalism would apply to the rise of industrial capitalism in the nineteenth century, particularly when combined with laissez-faire free market political policy. And indeed, the term of the Gilded Age is used for the 19th century, at least for United States history from about 1865 to 1902 or between the Reconstruction Era and the Progressive Era. Apparently, historians in the 1920s sourced the term from one of Mark Twain’s lesser known novels contemporary with it, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today in 1873. As the term gilded implies, it is not as complimentary as the term Golden Age – suggesting a thin gold gilding or veneer of economic expansion over robber barons, materialist excess, political corruption and social problems.

 

(14) GOLDEN AGE OF PHYSICS

 

Or rather Golden Ages of Physics, as more than one period of dramatic advancements or achievements in physics, including cosmology and astronomy or astrophysics, have been dubbed as golden ages, arguably going all the way back to Galileo or Newton.

Perhaps the most prolific use of Golden Age of Physics is for the first thirty years of the twentieth century, or even more narrowly the few years from 1925 to 1927 or so – although even this seems to have been immediately followed by a Golden Age of Nuclear Physics, potentially through to the fifties (in turn followed by a Golden Age of Non-Linear Physics or Golden Age of General Relativity from the 1950s or so to the 1970s). A Golden Age of Cosmology is often proposed from the 1990s to the present.

 

 

(15) GOLDEN AGE OF SF

 

From the Golden Age (or Ages) of Science (or Physics), it’s only a small step to the Golden Age of Science Fiction usually proposed from 1938 to 1946 or through to the 1950s – after the ‘pulp’ era of SF in the 1920s-1930s and ending with New Wave science fiction in the 1960s.

The start of the Golden Age of Science Fiction is usually identified with the editorship of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction by John W. Campbell and particularly the July 1939 issue – as well as SF authors Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, who wrote stories for Astounding Science Fiction.

 

(16) GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS

 

The Golden Age of Science Fiction largely overlaps with the Golden Age of Comics, usually identified at least from 1938 to 1945 but variously through to the 1950s. Essentially, this was when comics in their modern form were born as well as the superhero archetype and the enduring holy trinity of comics (or DC Comics) – Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

 

(17) GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN ANIMATION

 

The Golden Age of Comics prompts to my mind at least that related medium I associate with comics as a guilty pleasure, animation – although the Golden Age of Animation actually preceded the Golden Age of Comics, starting in 1928 (with the advent of sound in cinema) through to the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started losing out in popularity to television. Many or most iconic animated characters originate in this period, most notably those in the Disney canon such as Mickey Mouse or the Warners Bros canon such as Bugs Bunny.

 

(18) GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION

 

Indeed – two Golden Ages of Television.

The first Golden Age of Television is proposed for the era of American television from 1947 to 1960 “marked by its large number of live productions”.

A second Golden Age of Television is proposed for American television in the 21st century as having “such a number of high quality, internationally acclaimed television programs”.

 

(19) GOLDEN AGE OF RACE QUEENS

 

Well, I just couldn’t resist special mention for the Golden Age of Race Queens or promotional models. Indeed, there are two Golden Ages of Race Queens – “the first was the swimsuit clad race queen bubble of the late 1980s to late 1990s and the miniskirted second golden age of race queen of the 2000s, when the influx of models came with the ability to draw the same as or bigger popularity than some of the drivers competing in the events.”

 

 

(20) GOLDEN AGE OF P0RNOGRAPHY

 

I tend to reserve my final twentieth special mention for a kinky entry. I believe I’ve fulfilled that obligation with this entry, but there is indeed such a proposed Golden Age and it even gets its own Wikipedia page.

The Golden Age refers to the period from 1969 to 1984, “in which s€xually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the general public”. It ended when video supplanted films or theaters as the predominant distribution medium.

 

TL;DR – TOP 10 GOLDEN AGES (SPECIAL MENTION) RECAP

 

(1) GOLDEN AGE OF ANCIENT EGYPT

(2) GOLDEN AGE OF CHINA

(3) GOLDEN AGE OF INDIA

(4) ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE

(5) GOLDEN AGE OF BYZANTIUM

(6) PORTUGUESE GOLDEN AGE

(7) SPANISH GOLDEN AGE

(8) POLISH GOLDEN AGE

(9) DUTCH GOLDEN AGE

(10) DANISH GOLDEN AGE

(11) GOLDEN AGE OF THE BARBARIANS

(12) GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY

(13) GOLDEN AGE OF CAPITALISM

(14) GOLDEN AGE OF PHYSICS

(15) GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION

(16) GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS

(17) GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN ANIMATION

(18) GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION

(19) GOLDEN AGE OF RACE QUEENS

(20) GOLDEN AGE OF P0RNOGRAPHY

 

Top Tens – TV: Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series (Complete Top 10)

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Poster art for Archer Season 10, titled Archer:1999 – a reference to the 1975-1977 SF TV series Space: 1999 (and hence a nod to the anachronistic retro vibe of Archer’s main continuity)

 

Sigh. My Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series may be the most fluid of all my top ten lists.

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 quality – or they endure too long, waning until they limp into their final season and fail to stick the landing. The recent archetypal example, for me as it was for so many others, was 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.

Hence, I tend to have a high turnover for shuffling or ranking entries into my special mentions, with so few entries having the consistent or enduring quality to rank in the top ten itself – or remain there. And to be honest, most of my present entries are pretty shaky.

In fairness to myself, there’s also my separate Top 10 Animated TV Series, in which my entries are somewhat more enduring – and animation by its nature tends to be fantasy or SF. Indeed, all but the top entry in my present top ten are clearly fantasy or SF, and the top entry (Archer) has so many substantial SF elements as to be borderline SF. (One season was outright SF – the one I use for my feature image – and there’s a reasonable argument for the other seasons as alternate history given their anachronistic timeline and divergence from our own world in which they are nominally set.)

Like my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series leans predominantly towards SF. I’ve ranked four entries  as fantasy although the distinction between SF and fantasy seems far fuzzier in most of the other entries than it does for SF films. As I did for films, I will note each entry as fantasy or SF, but with a section (Fantasy or SF?) for the fuzziness of the distinction.

It’s also interesting how much supernatural or SF horror features in my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series, as well as how many superhero comics adaptations – both of which I will note in each entry.  Half of the entries, including the top two entries, clearly fall within the horror genre (with arguable horror elements in the others) – and an entry is an adaptation from superhero comics, albeit far removed from the A-list characters of comics.

Anyway, these are my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series.

 

 

Amazon Prime promotional poster art for Fallout

 

(10) SF: FALLOUT

(2024: SEASON 1+)

 

Yes, I’m running with this series and its 2024 debut on Amazon Prime as my wildcard tenth place entry as best of 2024.

For one thing, there wasn’t much else I saw by way of debut fantasy or SF TV series to outrank it in 2024. For another, as flawed as it was, it was fun, even if that fun was carried by its lead Ella Purnell (who, as voice actress for Jinx in Netflix’s Arcane really seems to be having a banger year or years recently on television) as well as the always reliable Walter Goggins as the Ghoul (also having a banger year or so in television as voice actor for Cecil in Prime’s Invincible). The two of them pairing up was the highlight of the series.

Yes, it’s cheesy, but then so are the games from which it is adapted and you could hardly expect high art from it. It’s your standard post-apocalyptic wasteland, albeit from nuclear war between the United States and China in an alternative twenty-first century with retro-futuristic 50s chic.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Classic post-apocalyptic SF – after a nuclear war in an alternate history timeline to boot. Of course, post-apocalyptic SF can often have elements of fantasy

 

HORROR

 

And more often, elements of horror – as here, notably with the ghouls.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2024

 

 

 

 

(9) FANTASY: HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

(2022 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-2+)

 

For six seasons, Game of Thrones reigned supreme in my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series, albeit the first four seasons set the gold standard while the fifth and sixth season started to show signs of silver or bronze wearing through.

Then came the seventh season in which it slipped from its supreme reign – but even worse, its eighth and final season, in which it definitely did not stick its Kings Landing, or perhaps, stuck it somewhere winter never comes and painfully at that. I don’t think it’s overstating just how bad this season was to state that it undid all the previous seasons – perhaps not to the point of erasing it from my memory but at least to shuffling it off into my special mentions instead for fond reminiscence of its golden seasons.

And there I thought Westeros and the world of Game of Thrones would remain, to be politely passed over for new fantasy fare.

So imagine my surprise that just when I thought I was out, the prequel series, House of the Dragon – or Hot D for short – pulled me back in. The first season seemed a return to the quality of the early seasons of Game of Thrones – or at least seasons 5-6.

In fairness, quality fantasy fare is hard to come by on screen – which is why my top tens for cinematic or television fantasy & SF is predominated by SF. For some reason – or indeed a number of reasons – directors and producers just seem to adapt SF better than fantasy to the screen, albeit usually with fantastic elements rather cold hard SF.

Also in fairness – once bitten, twice shy. I still have that taste in my mouth from Season 8 of Game of Thrones, particularly as I know that’s how it all ends up, even this prequel series set nearly 200 years earlier – and season 2 showed some signs of sagging or treading water.

But so far so good with that classic Westeros territory – wars of succession and civil wars. Also dragons – only more of them and bigger. And casting an Australian girl as the young Rhaenyra Targaryen, even if they then time jump to another actress for her as one of the two rival claimants for the throne (for the Blacks against the Greens, named for their house colors).

I’m at least in it for the next season.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

The most fantasy of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series. No SF to be seen!

 

HORROR

 

Perhaps some elements but not as many as the original Game of Thrones series, with its wights and White Walkers…

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Netflix promotional poster art

 

 

(8) FANTASY (HORROR): SWEET HOME

(2020 – 2024: SEASONS 1-3)

 

Monster apocalypse!

Adapted from a webtoon, apocalyptic horror hits South Korea, as people turn into monsters inside and outside an apartment building – with the second and third season expanding the setting from the original building, as well as featuring the remnants of the army and government studying the monsters in hope of finding a cure.

It’s distinct from a zombie apocalypse – as while the transformations have symptoms of onset, the transformations themselves are not contagious and don’t have the qualities of viral infection of your standard zombie apocalypse. Also, the monster transformations are metaphysical or even karmic in nature, usually reflecting some character trait in the person being transformed. Hence, some monsters are more monstrous than others, in appearance or in morality.

I mean, the first episode sets the tone with the series protagonist hears his neighbor complaining she’s hungry as she eats his ramen (ransacked from the package delivery outside his door) – and her cat.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Unlike a zombie apocalypse which usually is more SF than fantasy, the monster apocalypse is a little too metaphysical for SF and so I’ve ranked it as fantasy. However, it still retains some SF trappings, for being set in the contemporary world with the government or military trying to study the monsters for a possible cure.

 

HORROR

 

What part of monster apocalypse did you miss? You can pretty much rank it as straight-up horror.

 

RATING: 4 STARS****

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Netflix promotional poster art

 

(7) FANTASY: GIRL FROM NOWHERE

(2018 – 2021: SEASONS 1-2)

 

A little like my previous entry Sweet Home – in that I’ve found myself dipping into east Asian fantasy televsion series…you know, in the absence of consistency of enduring quality (or in some cases initial quality) in Western fantasy television series.

I’ve only dipped into this Thai series on Netflix just a little, but enough to find it intriguing. It prompts to mind Japanese anime (or live-action adaptation) in its staple school setting – one wonders why an apparently immortal supernatural being spends her time hanging around high schools as one of their students but why not, I suppose?

That supernatural being is the titular trickster Girl from Nowhere, who seems to delight in serving up karma with a side of mind-screw to wrongdoers – made even better by her beaming smile in her guise of how nice she is helping them to their own self-destruction.

Funnily enough, it prompts to mind one of my special mentions, the forgotten gem of American Gothic, where Sheriff Buck played a similar role but more in the way of deals with the devil (with himself as the devil of course).

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Fantasy obviously – dark fantasy. Although it would be interesting as an SF variant of Nanno as a telepathic alien – or perhaps AI?

 

HORROR

 

More than a few horror elements – although perhaps in the sense that the creeping doom of tragic drama has always reminded me of horror.

 

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

(6) FANTASY (HORROR): THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE

(2018: SEASON 1. Yes – I’m only counting the first season. It’s an anthology series anyway)

 

As the title indicates, it is an adaptation based loosely on the book of the same name by Shirley Jackson.

It is psychological and supernatural horror, working effectively as both. The supernatural horror – the ghosts of the titular haunting and house itself – are certainly chilling, particularly as the director placed ghostly figures in the margins or peripheral angles of scenes (notably involving the stairs). You often didn’t see them, at least directly, but they were still there, squirming in your subconscious mind to unnerve or disturb you. The ghosts that you do see are unnerving enough, from the titular ghost in the very first episode, “Steven Sees a Ghost” – and from there on in, it’s a white-knuckled ride of suspense and creeping fear. And then there’s the psychological horror of a broken family of broken people, not to mention the occasional existential horror of life itself (such as that speech – you know the one, thank you Theo).

The plot revolves around the Crain family – Hugh and Olivia with their five children – moving into Hill House twenty-six years previously, with the parents intending to renovate it for sale, but the House – and its, ah, family – have their own hungry plans. And to paraphrase my poetic musings elsewhere – the Crain family came back from the black abyss, but they did not come all the way back (or all come back), and worse, they brought it back with them (and left part of themselves or their family behind). The story flips between the past and the present, as the family struggles with the aftermath – and that the House is still hungry for those who escaped it.

And then there’s that red room…

The only flaw for me was the ending, which was somewhat divisive for audiences in its tonal shift – although some have speculated a much darker twist in it.

And yes – I’m only counting the first season. It had a second season, retooled into an anthology series with the second season as an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw (and other works by Henry James). It arguably had a third season, an adaptation by creator Mike Flanagan of the Fall of the House of Usher (and other works by Edgar Allen Poe). However, they just haven’t had the same magic for me as this first season.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Dark fantasy – like all good ghost stories.

 

HORROR

 

Well, obviously – indeed, the entry in my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series that is the most readily characterized as horror.

 

RATING:
B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

 

(5) SF (HORROR): THE STRAIN
(2014-2017: SEASONS 1-4)

 

It’s a vampire apocalypse in a box!

A vampire horror series that portrays vampires as the blood-sucking parasitic abominations they are. (Yes – I have fantastic racism against vampires. Stake them all in the sun, I say. Except hot vampire girls, of course. And there’s none of those in this series). In this case, vampirism is spread by the worm-like parasites that crawl from their bodies, one of which was depicted burrowing into an eye in an infamous promotional poster. (It’s reminiscent of the Lovecraftian vampire parasite things in the pulpy Necroscope book series by Brian Lumley).

It’s a welcome relief from the sexy (or worse, sparkly) vampires of True Blood (or worse, Twilight) and most vampires in popular culture these days – the vampires in The Strain are distinctly unsexy vile abominations of extreme body horror. It’s hard to be sexy when your (male) genitalia have atrophied and dropped off, while your excretory organs have fused together into a cloaca. Eww!

The series is the brainchild of Guillermo de Toro (yes, THAT Guillermo de Toro) and Chuck Hogan, based on their novel trilogy of the same name (albeit one originally conceived as a story line for a television series). The series opens with CDC medical staff called to an airliner in which everyone appears to have succumbed to a mysterious viral infection or disease. Or at least, so the authorities surmise – instead, it is worse. Much worse.

Soon, New York finds itself battling for its very existence against an ancient enemy with humanity itself at stake (heh).

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

I actually hesitated over the genre classification of this one between fantasy or SF – let’s face it, it’s primarily horror and rivals The Haunting of Hill House as the most distinctively horror series in my top ten.

While it evokes the supernatural dark fantasy or horror of the Dracula novel in a number of points, notably in its opening scene and mystery basically as a modern version of Dracula coming to England, its depiction of vampires and vampirism is essentially more the SF trope of the Virus akin to the zombie apocalypse. It’s not just vampirism as viral infection of course – it’s also Lovecraftian parasitic infection to boot.

 

HORROR

 

Well, obviously.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

(4) SF: BLACK MIRROR
(2011 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-6+)

*

Black Mirror – the cyberpunk Twilight Zone of the twenty-first century!

Okay, that cyberpunk label may be overstating it, but it certainly is a series of dark and satirical twists in the tale of the unanticipated or unintended consequences of technology and social media in modern society – or, in the words of series creator Charlie Brooker, “the way we might be living in 10 minutes’ time if we’re clumsy.”

It is an anthology series with no continuity between episodes – each episode has a different cast, a different setting or even a different reality, so you don’t have to watch them in order. Personally, I’d recommend starting with the later seasons and working your way backwards – particularly as the very first episode doesn’t extrapolate so much on technology or social media and can be a little confronting (although unforgettable – let’s just say you won’t feel about pork the same way again).

As for the premise and title of the series, it’s back to Charlie Brooker:

“If technology is a drug – and it does feel like a drug – then what, precisely, are the side effects? This area – between delight and discomfort – is where Black Mirror, my new drama series, is set. The ‘black mirror’ of the title is the one you’ll find on every wall, on every desk, in the palm of every hand: the cold, shiny screen of a TV, a monitor, a smartphone.”

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

SF, as per its title premise – among the least fantasy of my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series.

 

HORROR

 

As is typical for dystopian SF, it has a few borderline horror elements.

 

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

(3) SF (COMICS): PEACEMAKER

(2022: SEASON 1)

 

“I cherish peace with all my heart. I don’t care how many men, women and children I have to kill to get it”

I mean, the opening credits sequence alone would earn a place in my top ten. And Eagly too of course.

Peacemaker was introduced – on screen at least – in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in 2019 (the good Suicide Squad film, not the bad one), along with his credo for “peace” quoted above.

I wouldn’t have guessed that out of all the characters in that film, Peacemaker would be the one to get his own spin-off TV series, also directed by James Gunn – but it totally works, as Gunn brings his blackly comic signature style from the film to the TV series, with added hair metal flair.

Of course, it helps that the titular anti-hero protagonist is having something of a crisis of faith, not least the whole-heartedness of his credo – notably including guilt and remorse over its casualties, one in particular. And we get to see his traumatic origin, particularly at the hands of his father – played with vile relish by Robert Patrick.

Once again, Peacemaker finds himself being used as a tool – or weapon – by Task Force X, against an invasion by mysterious entities known as Butterflies, prompting Peacemaker to compare it to Operation Starfish in The Suicide Squad.

And it’s not just Peacemaker’s show – the other characters, particularly the other members of Task Force X, bring their A-game as well. My personal favorite is the cheerfully sociopathic Vigilante, although I’m not sure how faithfully his screen incarnation is adapted from the comics.

And yes – this is the one entry that is an adaptation from superhero comics, albeit lesser known characters from DC Comics (including those it acquired from Charlton Comics, notably Peacemaker himself).

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

I’m going with the genre classification of SF – after all, it does involve an alien invasion (and Gunn tends to lean more into the SF side of comics when adapting their properties). However, like most comics or works adapted from them, it’s the distinctly softer kind of SF.

 

HORROR

 

Gunn has roots in SF horror back to his film Slither and it often shows in his works – as here, where there are distinct SF horror elements in the Butterfly alien invasion. I’d argue it has elements of SF horror, but in the usual style of superhero comics and played more for black comedy.

 

RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(2) SF (HORROR): FROM

(2022 – PRESENT: 3 SEASONS+)

 

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 the hardest genre classifications in my Top 10 Fantasy or SF TV series – elements of it have a distinct fantasy or supernatural feel to it, but I ultimately leaned towards it having an extradimensional SF tone.

 

HORROR

 

Did you not see the SF horror reference in my opening line? It could readily be classified as SF horror – one of the clearest such entries in my top ten.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

 

(1) SF (HORROR): STRANGER THINGS
(2016 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-4+)

 

I assume this Netflix series needs little introduction – but my top spot does illustrate my preamble that my Top 10 Fantasy & SF TV Series may be the most fluid of all my top ten lists. Even my other top ten TV lists are not quite as fluid, with more enduring first place entries. The problem for me is that many or most fantasy or SF TV series simply miss the mark at the outset – and those that do hit it are inconsistent or lack enduring quality.

For a long time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my top spot for fantasy or SF TV series, until I ultimately had to shuffle it off to special mention from recognition that while its writing quality and my nostalgia for it endured, it simply could not hold up against the production quality of contemporary TV series. Game of Thrones replaced it – for its first four to six seasons – before the calamity of its two final seasons befell it, particularly that final season.

And so Stranger Things rose to top spot, albeit precariously so, with my second top spot From looking hungrily towards it. However, it too absolutely hit the mark in its debut season but was inconsistent in its second and third season even if I still liked it – before bouncing back to hit the mark again in Season 4.

In the meantime, what’s not to love for fantasy and SF fans?

Eleven! The Upside Down! The Demogorgon and Mind Flayer! Steve Harrington’s magnificent hair (and its secret)!

More broadly, 1980’s nostalgia and pop culture references aplenty! Psychokinetic girls (reminiscent of Charlie, not to mention her adversary, the Shop, in one of my favorite Stephen King novels, Firestarter). Extradimensional alien invasion – evoking Alien and Aliens in Seasons 1 and 2 respectively with more than a touch of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, particularly when it evokes The Thing in Season 3. Mysterious government agencies to rival the nastier versions of men in black (with their black helicopters) – so that’s what the Department of Energy does?

And of course there’s all those Dungeons and Dragons references for this fantasy fan – “I’m our Paladin, Will’s our Cleric, Dustin’s our Bard, Lucas is our Ranger, and El’s our Mage”.

To quote Wikipedia, series creators the Duffer brothers “developed the series as a mix of investigative drama alongside supernatural elements with childlike sensibilities, establishing its time frame in the 1980s and creating a homage to pop culture of that decade. Several themes and directorial aspects were inspired and aesthetically informed by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Stephen King, among others”. Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in the 1980’s, the first season focuses on the investigation into the disappearance of a young boy amid supernatural or rather paranormal events centered on the nearby Hawkins National Laboratory – and the subsequent seasons are even, ah, more upside downier, with the fourth season as the most upside downiest yet with its cliffhanger ending.

On the other hand, I can suspend disbelief in the Demogorgon and Upside Down – but no one ever made it that far in the Dragon’s Lair videogame…

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

One of the harder series to classify from my top ten – it might readily have been classified as fantasy but I ultimately classified it as SF. It just doesn’t have the vibe of fantasy as it much more evokes the ambience of SF, even if of a more paranormal kind.

 

HORROR

 

The horror elements predominate to the extent that I have classified it as SF horror.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****
S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT UPSIDE DOWN TIER?)

 

 

 

 

TL; DR TIER LIST

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) SF (HORROR): STRANGER THINGS (2016 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-4+)

(2) SF (HORROR): FROM (2022 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3+)

If Stranger Things is my Old Testament of fantasy & SF TV series, then From is my New Testament

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(3) SF (COMICS): PEACEMAKER (2022)

(4) SF: BLACK MIRROR (2011-PRESENT: SEASONS 1-6+)

(5) SF (HORROR): THE STRAIN (2014-2017: SEASONS 1-4)

 

B-TIER (HIGH-TIER)

 

(6) FANTASY (HORROR):  THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018)

(7) FANTASY: GIRL FROM NOWHERE (2018-2021: SEASONS 1-2)

(8) FANTASY (HORROR): SWEET HOME (2020-2024: SEASONS 1-3)

(9) FANTASY: HOUSE OF THE DRAGON (2022-PRESENT: SEASONS 1-2+)

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2024

 

(10) SF: FALLOUT (2022: SEASON 1)