It’s that time of year when, as we have done for the last decade or so, we have dragged ourselves from the revelries here at SFFWorld to try and put some sort of order to our favourite (and not so favourite!) stuff from 2019.
And so, here’s the third and final part of our attempt to show what we liked (or didn’t) this year. Taking part are Rob Bedford (Rob) and Mark Yon (MarkY).
The first part, looking at Fantasy/Horror books is HERE.
The second part, looking at Science Fiction books is HERE.
Part 3: Films and TV
Mark Yon’s thoughts
Perhaps the strongest changes in genre at the moment are those in film and television. Genre material here has been genuinely world-changing, with material being broadcast around the world to global audiences in increasingly popular manners.
3A. Film
Once again, the genre has created the box office blockbusters of the year.
It has also been a year of endings, with both the Marvel universe and the Star Wars universe drawing things to a close – before no doubt beginning new incarnations in the future.
Of the two I found Avengers: Endgame the better one. Whilst The Rise of Skywalker looked great, and I enjoyed it more than The Last Jedi, there were many unresolved plot points that seemed to be down to a muddled script and being left to tidy things up to an ending.
Whilst those two obviously dominated the box office there were others worthy of a watch. Disney continued its reimagining of its animated movies with The Lion King, Aladdin and Dumbo. Frozen 2 was also an expected smash. Toy Story 4 was unnecessary but greatly received.
In terms of comic heroes, the box office was not just about the Avengers: Endgame. Captain Marvel also did very well, as too Shazam!, although I really disliked it myself. By comparison, X-Men: Dark Phoenix was a major flop in a tired franchise that brought little new for fans to see, although it was better than the dismal box-office takings would suggest. Battle Angel: Alita did moderately well and was quite good, although many were creeped out by Alita’s eyes. The latest in the Spiderman franchise, Far From Home, was well-liked. Godzilla: King of Monsters was received with a somewhat mixed response, with many decrying that there was too much human plot and not enough monsters. Terminator: Dark Fate was well-reviewed but did so poorly at the box office that the future of the franchise must be in doubt.
In the horror genre, Midsommar really wanted to be a new take on The Wicker Man. Us started well but in my opinion was overrated. There was a resurgence of Stephen King movies this year. The remake of Pet Cemetery was unnecessary, Doctor Sleep was well reviewed, IT Chapter Two was a good ending to the two-movie series.
There were few genre movies not part of a series this year. Matt Damon’s Ad Astra was well received by some, but was felt to be a little dull and over-long by others. The only stand-out for me was the phenomenal-looking documentary Apollo 11, which rightly drew attention to the bravery and endeavours of those involved in the Space Race in 1969.
The overall winner this year however has to be the divisive Joker, which some loved and others hated but made phenomenal profit. Last time I looked, it had made over $1 billion against a cost of $70 million. Expect a sequel at some point.
Rob’s thoughts
Like Mark, I thought Avengers: Endgame was a more successful closure to a cinematic franchise than Rise of Skywalker. In fact, I thought Rise of Skywalker near the bottom half of all Star Wars films and one of the weakest of all the films in the franchise. It was a narrative mess, with plot points introduced and never resolved, MacGuffins introduced that turned out to be unnecessary, and a unsatisfying villain reveal. Or, to put it another way, the only reason for me that Rise of Skywalker wasn’t as big of a frustrating ending to a story is because we had the final season of Game of Thrones this year.
I thought Shazam! was a big bright spot in the DC Cinematic Universe – a film was imbued with a great deal of fun, with Zachary Levi donning the costume of the Big Red Cheese very successfully. Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson was a fun entry in the MCU, too. Godzilla: King of the Monsters was another fun movie with more Kaiju action than the predecessor film in the franchise. I avoided Joker so I can only judge on hearsay, but from what friends said about I’m glad I avoided it but I suppose once it hits streaming or cable, I’ll watch it.
On the darker side, Jordan Peele’s Us was released to great fanfare, had some striking visuals, but I felt it was ultimately a very muddled film. What surprised me was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, an adaptation of the popular Young Adult series of books, neat visuals, fun characters, and a film that seems destined to start a franchise.
3b: Television
Mark Yon’s thoughts
I may have said this before, but I believe that it is true, perhaps more than ever – we are living in a Golden Age of genre television. There is now more available to watch than ever and it is globally popular. In addition, whilst there has always been a certain amount of dross, generally the quality is higher than ever, with many series having as big a budget as film, and as more and more is now globally streamed it reaches more viewers than ever before.
With this in mind, let’s deal with the proverbial elephant in the room – the final series of Game of Thrones which in my opinion (and many others!) was awful and a shadow of its former self. To be fair, whatever was eventually on screen would have been derided by someone, such was the investment made by fans.
But there was so much wrong – serious contradictions, plot lines thrown away, characters lovingly nuanced earlier turned into parody or given extra space merely because of their fan-value – there’s a lot that could have been better.
The series had the potential to be an all-time great, something that others in the future would use as a benchmark and now is generally derided by fans knowledgeable and novices alike. It is a great shame that so much time, effort and skill was expended to produce something so disliked.
I actually preferred The Witcher, shown on Netflix at the end of the year – smaller budget, smaller cast but handled with better respect. Let’s move on.
Other successes for me has been Ronald Moore’s For All Mankind, an alternative Space Race story made by Apple TV. It sagged in the middle but won me over enough to like it. I am pleased to see that there will be a second series.
Similarly, and despite Disney’s baffling decision to release its streaming service in Europe five months after it started in the US (which meant that many potential subscribers in Europe saw it by other means) The Mandalorian was also a great success that didn’t overreach itself. It was unpretentious, kept its plotting in check and used its budget well.
Other series continued to meander with varying degrees of success. This was the year I finally gave up on Supergirl whilst The Flash and Arrow still seemed to be there without being particularly noticed beyond their solid fanbases. The Batwoman seemed determined to be controversial but generally was badly received. Harley Quinn the cartoon series was better liked by critics but based on the few episodes I did see to me seemed to be trying too hard to develop a more adult audience.
Talking of securing new audiences, Doctor Who in its newest form took a break for the year. It’ll be interesting to see whether it has changed in its second season with Jodi Whitaker, although I suspect not. A new series starts in the UK on January 1st. I await with a certain trepidation, hopeful yet resigned to the fact that I might not like it.
Generally, even without Doctor Who, the BBC had a mixed year. The much-delayed re-imagining of the War of the Worlds was truly awful. Not quite as bad in my opinion, but also receiving a mixed response, a new version of A Christmas Carol re-imagined by Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight was sadly guilty of similarly trying to bring things up to date with modern values yet failed by trying too hard to be gritty, although Guy Pearce as Scrooge was brilliant.
in contrast, the much-vaunted series of His Dark Materials was a deserved success, and What We Do in the Shadows, (on the BBC here but FX elsewhere) was a TV series developed beyond the original movie version and managed that rare thing of actually being funny. I am waiting with some trepidation for the new Steven Moffatt/Mark Gatiss version of Dracula due here in the first week of New Year. I am hoping that it will be brilliant but am rather afraid that it will not be.
I really liked Good Omens (on Amazon Prime here but on the BBC in January 2020), though admittedly I love the two lead actors anyway. They didn’t disappoint. I finally managed to get beyond Season One of The Expanse, though whether the momentum will continue to Season Four remains to be seen. The new season on Amazon Prime seems to be well regarded.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch seemed to flounder in its second part after being well received for the first part. Nevertheless, it returns in January for a new series. Lost in Space also returned on Netflix for a second season but as it had only just appeared as this summary was being submitted has yet to be seen. The Tick fizzled out in its latest incarnation on Amazon. Similarly, Amazon’s Carnival Row with its sexy fairy stuff had its fans but to me looked great but plot-wise seemed rather dull. In contrast, Star Trek: Discovery improved enormously in its second series, with Anson Mount as Captain Pike being particularly impressive. Unlike many, I thought Stranger Things was running through the motions a little. It took me much longer to be bothered to watch the season this time around, and more effort to stick with it.
Series I dropped were The Man in the High Castle, now a million miles beyond its original source marerial, but one where there was at least an ending, I understand. Many viewers seemed to like the newly invigorated Lucifer, but I stopped back in Season Two. Mr. Robot also got to an ending, with its star Rami Malek having moved on to bigger and perhaps better things. It was generally well liked, although I gave up on it a while back.
Of the remaining series I managed to complete and enjoy, The Boys was good but wanted to be a gory and less subtle version of Watchmen. But it was popular and already has a second series in production.
Talking of Watchmen, the television series was the one that totally surprised this year. For me it stood out head and shoulders above the rest, barely referencing the source material yet in the end being intelligent, literate, confusing and occasionally mind-blowing. It was that rare series, one which transcended its original form and ended up somehow better. I sincerely hope that they are not tempted to make a second series.
Rob’s thoughts
All television, genre or otherwise, begins and ends with Watchmen. A superb cast (Jean Smart and Regina King will at least be nominated for many awards), a great story, stunning visuals made for Event Television and finalizes Damon Lindelof’s redemption arc, which began with The Leftovers from a couple of years ago. I’ll echo Mark’s sentiment, Watchmen should be only one season. I’ve read the original graphic novel at least a half-dozen times and the HBO show brilliantly expands the story, reveals elements the comic left unrevealed and completely honors the legacy of the original story far better than Zack Snyder’s film ever did.
On the other hand, as mentioned above, Game of Thrones goes down as perhaps the worst conclusion to any television show. Badly plotted and poorly written characters made for crap stew.
The CW continued to grow its DC Universe of superhero shows, Arrow is coming to a conclusion and Batwoman launched. I’ll say this for the CW, they sure know how to start a series because Batwoman is probably their strongest offering this year. After an execrable season in 2018-2019, The Flash seems to have rebounded fairly well. All of these shows would benefit from having their episode-per-season cut down to 10 or 12 episodes rather than the 20 or so standard. Also on network television is Evil starring Mike Colter of Luke Cage fame as a priest in training, who has partnered with Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers of Leftovers and Westworld) who counters his religious analysis with psychological analysis as they investigate supposed supernatural incidents. Michael Emerson (Ben Linus of Lost fame) is having a grand old time as the scenery chewing antagonist in the series.
Mr. Robot ended in excellent fashion and flew under the radar largely by virtue of airing on the same night as Watchmen. For as strong a performance as Rami Malek gave in his award-winning first season, he may have outshone himself in the final season.
On streaming services, at the end of the year, The Expanse relaunched on Amazon Prime after a brief time of being cancelled. The show is superb science fiction and is probably the best looking SF show on “television.” I’ll again echo Mark’s thoughts about Good Omens – great fun indeed. I sort of gave up on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina midway through season two because of a few very illogical storytelling choices, which saddens me because I thoroughly enjoyed season one. What I absolutely *loved* on Netflix was The Dragon Prince, easily one of the best Epic Fantasy stories put to screen. It hits many of the well-loved fantasy tropes, but brings a refreshing modern sensibility to the story, too. I found a great deal of resonance between The Dragon Prince and Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and Shadowmarch sagas. Another surprising delight is Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a full puppet production prequel to the beloved Jim Henson film. Lots of famous actors lend their voices to the characters, and there’s a beautiful blending of puppetry and CGI.
And that’s it for another year. We hope that you enjoyed some of the comments we’ve made, regardless of whether you agreed or disagreed with them.
I’m sure that we can all agree that, however good or bad the genres were in 2019, we hope 2020 will be better. Here’s hoping!
