Geektown Awards – Best New & Returning Sci-fi Or Fantasy Series
We’re going to end today’s Award announcements (more coming tomorrow) heading onto our home turf with ‘The Best New & Returning Sci-fi Or Fantasy Series’ categories. Whilst there were some great returning genre shows, we also had a superb new line up of series arrive on-air from some huge franchises, along with some interesting adaptations. These are always extremely hard-fought categories, but here are the shows you picked.
Best New Sci-fi/Fantasy Series
Nominees: Brave New World – Sky One, Cursed – Netflix, Motherland: Fort Salem – BBC Three, Snowpiercer – Netflix, Star Trek: Picard – Amazon Prime, The Mandalorian – Disney+, The Witcher – Netflix, Upload – Amazon, War of the Worlds – FOX (UK)
Bronze: Star Trek: Picard – Amazon Prime (CBS All Access)
Silver: The Witcher – Netflix
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: The Mandalorian – Disney+
Jean-Luc might be one of the best Star Trek captains of all time, and Geralt might be handy with a sword, but nothing can compete with ‘The Mandalorian‘… and Baby Yoda, of course! Mando did have the slight advantage of having two seasons air within the voting period this year, as we didn’t get Disney+ until March in the UK, but I still think it would have come out on top.
Set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order, ‘The Mandalorian’ follows the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic. Over the course of season one, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), aka “Mando”, finds himself with a bounty to kill a target, only to discover that the target in question is something very different to what he expected… When greeted by the adorable face of “The Child” (aka “Baby Yoda”… aka… well, that would be a Season 2 spoiler!), Mando takes the infant into his protection, leading to the hunter becoming the hunted.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni did a spectacular job exploring parts of a galaxy far, far, away, which we hadn’t seen before, whilst still retaining the essence of the ‘Star Wars’ we know and love. The second season may have put in some more “fan service” elements, but even that was done with skill and purpose, without seeming like favourite characters were showing up for no apparent reason.
‘The Mandalorian‘ has been renewed for a 3rd Season, which is due to air late 2021/early 2022, and will be joined by a series about another famous bounty hunter, along with a huge stack of additional Star Wars shows.
Best Returning Sci-fi/Fantasy Series
Nominees: Altered Carbon – Netflix, Doctor Who – BBC One, His Dark Materials – BBC One, Kingdom – Netflix, Lost In Space – Netflix, Star Trek: Discovery – Netflix, Supernatural – E4, The Expanse – Amazon Prime, Westworld – Sky Atlantic
Bronze: Supernatural – E4 (The CW)
Silver: His Dark Materials – BBC One
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: Doctor Who – BBC One
I think it’s fair to say, whilst people generally loved the arrival of Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor and “the fam”, 2018’s Season 11 of ‘Doctor Who‘ came under some criticism for the lacklustre overarching plot… and that’s something showrunner Chris Chibnall seemed to take personally! When the show returned for Season 12 in January 2020, the Who team crafted a series-long arc which massively alters the history of the character forever. Throw in The Master, and the legendary Captain Jack (John Barrowman), and you had a brilliant return to form for the long-running series.
‘Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks’ special is currently on BBC iPlayer, and Season 13 of the show is due to arrive later this year, adding actor/comedian John Bishop as new companion “Dan”.
