Modern TV Fantasy/Horror Genre: From Buffy to Legacies

[W_L]

Noticed no one has started a topic on one of Fantasy's genre greatest modern incarnations

 

I think everyone from my generation onward has at least been exposed to Modern Fantasy-Horror Genre, it's basically a mash up of classic monsters/creatures/supernatural issues with a topical story/plot, sometimes a season long arc if it is a "Big Bad", a phrase Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans probably remember fondly.

 

A few of my favorites:

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: without this show I don't know what life would be like. It was cool, romantic, angsty, and had well thought out characters. Basically, the high school plots were fun, College stuff was interesting, and it ages with you. I am of course a Buffy-Angel supporter, though we can all give Spike a home

 

Angel: if I like Buffy, I can't skip Angel, it's a great redemption Noir story with supernatural-fantasy elements. A vampire with a soul tries to do the right thing, while facing off against an evil corporation run by actual demons from Hell dimension

 

Being Human: If you want an interesting story of daily life of supernatural creatures, seriously this is a fun drama. A ghost, a vampire, and werewolf are roomates; the plots are intriguing and the characters are extremely likeable. Perfect show for a twentysomething

 

Legacies: I know most people are vampire-out after all its prequels, but I actually like this new show. I was a casual watcher of Vampire Diaries and the Originals, but neither caught my interest, either due to the stories being over-involve or drama was too grim. However, Legacies gives me hope for this current generation. The plots are interesting, the mystery is unraveling with layers of depth, and the big bad is not only something tangible like an evil corporation, but there's an existential hole in the story that can warp reality itself. This kind of "Big Bad" is really interesting; reset buttons and retcons are hated by audiences, but if characters realize they've been "reset" or "retcon", it adds depth to the story. The mystery in this show isn't just what's in front of you, but what has been removed.

 

Plus the high school setting with Vampires, werewolves, and witches are extremely fun to watch. It's like a darker version of Harry Potter for American teens with more sexual fluidity.

 

Supernatural: I thought this show was dead a long time ago. Sam and Dean Winchester weren't characters I initially liked; Dean was too perfect as an action hero and Sam was too precocious as male version of the damsel in distress. Yet, after 14 seasons of this show, I got to say they have grown on me. I know CW and the show runners are queer-baiting the hell out of their 2 lead characters, going as far as to highlight the Wincest fan-fiction that this show has spawned. It's one of the few shows where shipping 2 brothers and lead characters into a relationship is acceptable and even canonical.

 

Story-wise, I don't know how the writers do it. I thought, Season 6 must be the end, Lucifer and Arch-Angel Michael fight it out and a character makes a sacrifice, plus we got a "mysterious ending" for a certain character, but nope that wasn't the end. Then Season 11, we got the climactic battle between the Darkness and God, you know who that is if you watched, but that wasn't the end either. Seriously, the amount of plot threads this show can weave is a testament to the power of imagination.

 

Lucifer: A show about the Devil solving crimes and falling in love with a human, I wasn't sold immediately on this. However after 3 seasons and a near death experience on Fox Network, where it got cancelled and is now resurrected with support from Netflix, the show has developed an interesting story. Lucifer Morningstar isn't the Devil you think you know, he is sinful and debauchery. He loves sex with everyone, guys and girls, which I am not sure if that makes me happy to see LGBT representation or sad to again have being gay as an evil trait. However, the representation of the Devil is not evil in this TV show. He's a teenager acting out with a controlling father, who actually controls everything, and a mother, who has an ego and destructive issues. When you look at that backdrop, I find it to be more interesting than Good vs. Evil.

 

Beyond the crime solving or heavenly drama, there are fun supernatural plots, characters, and a question of fatalism vs. free will. It's not perfect and I wish they'd be more adventurous and journey into more supernatural Territory, but the characters move the story.

 

 

Feel free to discuss any of these or add new shows

 

 

[Myr]

Would Strange Things fall into this?  I've been naughty and haven't watched it yet.

[W_L]

On 3/22/2019 at 4:29 PM, Myr said:

Would Strange Things fall into this?  I've been naughty and haven't watched it yet.

 

I think Strange Things is modern Sci-Fi with an 80's setting   Sort of like Fringe without being episodic.