Be it a book, movie, TV show, game, or whatever!
Here are mine in no particular order:
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Pokemon and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
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Ori and the Blind Forest
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Warrior Cats
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Over the Garden Wall
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The Netflix Voltron series (the earlier seasons)
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Disenchantment
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Fox and the Hound (both the book and the Disney movie)
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Final Space (Netflix series)
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Persona
Many of these gave me goosebumps (or tears) the first time I saw them, which IMO is a pretty good benchmark for a good story.
I’ll second Over the Garden Wall. The adventure and the way the story wraps up is absolutely amazing. The art and atmosphere makes this a series I watch every halloween!
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Here’s some stuff that I’ve discovered recently or not so recently:
Scifi
- The fifth element (1995 movie) - personal bias, don’t ask me why
- Legend of the Galactic heroes (1988-1997 anime) - it appeals to all audiences, whether you like Machiavellian politics, romance or classical music, based on a novel. Best anime of all time
- The Orville (2017- series) - star trek parody, in a way, Seth MacFarlane’s humour
- The Foundation (book) - by Isaac asimov
Fantasy
- Your Highness (2010 movie) - I’m trash who likes this sort of thing
- Jobless reincarnation (2021- anime) - definitely the best another world anime so far
- Madoka magica (2011, 2012, 2013, 2020- anime) - I don’t know if goethe’s Faust is meant to be fantasy
Avoid spoilers at all cost for all of the animes and the foundation
The world in The Fifth Element is super cool, and the aliens are fun
the “born sexy yesterday” trope really kills it for me though :(
To each their own, the fifth element is undeniably trashy. If you’re looking for something more proper, have a look at the other ones, they’re made with love and care.
Adding ontop of what has been said already, the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series is really great. I love the complex political world in the fantasy setting. The show (which only had 6 seasons) was great but the books are much better (still reading them).
Right now I’m really getting back into Stargate SG1 since I got Sugarbaby hooked on it. Probably gonna watch Atlantis with them after that.
I enjoy Stargate SG-1 but looking back on it as an adult it does get somewhat American-exceptionalist especially in the Earth episodes where they deal with other nations.
SG-1 season 6
There’s literally an episode where foreign ambassadors are recommending full public disclosure, and then Thor just shows up and tells everyone to let the Americans handle everything
It took me a long time to get into Lord of the Rings, because the first book was kind of slow. I stopped in the middle of it and didn’t come back to the series for years. But when I did, I found the next two books much more enjoyable.
I read more fantasy books as a kid/teenager. My favorites were Harry Potter, Narnia, Percy Jackson, and the Eragon books.
I’ve also played Dungeons and Dragons a few times. It’s super fun, but feels like a big time commitment if you take it seriously.SG Atlantis is one of my fav so started with SG universe but not getting the same satisfaction.
Series:
- The Expanse
I’m a horror fan, lately I came across “Evil” which is a lot fun to watch
Movies
- Fifth Element
- Predestination
Sci-Fi:
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Fantasy:
The Lord of the Rings by John R.R. Tolkien or The Chronicles of Narnia by Clive S. Lewis.
I’d like to write my motivations but I’d just obsess over it for hours, so I’m only listing the items.
Show:
- Black Sails
- The Expanse
- All 4 (or was it 5?) seasons of Game of Thrones
Books:
- The Expanse
- Blindsight
- Remembrance of Earth’s Past (aka Three Body Problem)
- Children of Ruin
Films:
- Lord of the Rings
There are others I enjoy despite (or regardless of) their quality, for reasons such as nostalgia, certain characters or unique atmosphere. They’re too subjective to be of much interest to anyone else though, probably.
Alastair Reynolds’ “Revelation Space” books are quite cool. Dragonlance holds a place in my heart too.
Star Trek is definitely my favourite sci-fi. Just chewed through the original series and am now about halfway through The Next Generation. It’s great if you want to feel hopeful and inspired, but also goes over some heavy topics that might leave you feeling a bit sad afterwards. I’ve been liking the novels so far as well.
I really wanted to like the Southern Reach Trilogy, but the second book was impossible for me to get through (and I usually muscle my way through every book I start). The movie Annihilation is fantastic though, as well as the first book in the trilogy. The stories have some interesting differences between them, so if you enjoy the movie I highly recommend reading just the one book. It can exist as a stand alone (thankfully).
As for fantasy, I just started reading Game of Thrones, and it is just so much better than the show already. As a kid I really loved Redwall, and even now I find myself going back to Watership Down every now and then. A great book!