Geektown Awards – Best New & Returning Sci-fi Or Fantasy Series
Now we get into the geekier categories of the Awards, with the ‘Best New Sci-fi Or Fantasy Series’ and ‘Best Returning Sci-fi Or Fantasy Series’. There was strong competition in both categories this year, particularly from the streaming services that dominate on both lists. Whilst the winner of the “new” category may not be a huge shock, the “returning” winner did take an interesting turn… Here are the results.
Best New Sci-fi/Fantasy Series
Nominees: Fate: The Winx Saga – Netflix, Foundation – Apple TV+, Invasion – Apple TV+, Raised by Wolves – Sky, Shadow and Bone – Netflix, Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Disney+, Sweet Tooth – Netflix, The Nevers – Sky, Wheel of Time – Amazon
Bronze: Wheel of Time – Amazon
Silver: Sweet Tooth – Netflix
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Disney+
Last year, this award went to ‘The Mandalorian’ (because, of course it did), and this year proved that the force is also strong in animated form, as ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch‘ takes the gold.
Acting as something of a continuation to ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’, the drama, created once again by Dave Filoni, follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch – a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army – each possess a singular exceptional skill that makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew.
The series does a wonderful job of playing in new areas of the Star Wars universe, whilst also managing to stay familiar, and drop various easter eggs for fans along the way. Dee Bradley Baker does a wonderful job working overtime as all members of The Bad Batch, aided by Michelle Ang as the young Omega, and a host of guest stars from the previous animated series and live-action shows. A second season is due to arrive on Disney+ in 2022.
Best Returning Sci-fi/Fantasy Series
Nominees: Black Summer (Season 2) – Netflix, Doctor Who: Flux – BBC, For All Mankind (Season 2) – Apple TV+, Lucifer (Season 6) – Netflix, Motherland: Fort Salem (Season 2) – BBC, Servant (Season 2) – Apple TV+, Snowpiercer (Season 2) – Netflix, Star Trek: Discovery (Season 4) – Pluto.tv, The Expanse (Season 5) – Amazon, The Walking Dead (Season 11) – Disney+, War Of The Worlds (Season 2) – Disney+
Bronze: The Walking Dead (Season 10/11) – Disney+
Silver: Doctor Who: Flux – BBC
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: Lucifer (Season 6) – Netflix
Ever since we started the Awards 10 years ago, there has been a general observation that, if we put ‘Doctor Who’ in a category, it wins… But it turns out, you can’t beat the devil, as the sixth and final season of ‘Lucifer‘ take the top spot.
‘Lucifer’ follows Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), the original fallen angel, who became dissatisfied with his life in hell. Retiring to L.A., he inadvertently teams up with an LAPD detective (Lauren German) to help punish criminals. Joining him on Earth is his angelic brother Amenadiel (D. B. Woodside), and his former head torturer demon turned bounty hunter Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt).
This win really shouldn’t come as a huge suprise, given the fans love of the series effectively saved it from cancellation, not once, but twice. The show was originally axed by Fox after 3 Seasons during the May 2018 Upfront bloodbath. “Luci-fans” pushed the series to be the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter, leading to Netflix stepping in to save it for a 4th Season. It was then renewed in June 2019 for a 10-episode 5th and “final” season. However, a month later in July 2019, Netflix announced they had expanded the order to 16-episodes, which would be split into two halves of 8-episodes. The numbers on the drama were so strong for the streaming service that they then reversed that decision, and ordered a 6th, and now definitely final season in May 2020 which aired last year. Whilst we’re sad to see it go, it ended on its own terms, and for that, we are eternally grateful!
