Geektown Awards – Best New & Returning Animated Series
This year, we added two new categories to The Geektown Awards in recognition of the outstanding animated shows which have been produced in recent years – ‘Best New Animated Series’ and ‘Best Returning Animated Series’. Partly fuelled by the pandemic, and the fact that animated characters can’t catch COVID, there has been an explosion of animated shows in the past 12 months. From superheroes to space drama, and musicals to family sitcoms. These series have proved you can bring a depth of emotion and action in animation that rivals, or even surpasses, their live-action counterparts. Here are the shows you voted for.
Best New Animated Series
Nominees: Arcane: League of Legends – Netflix, Invincible – Amazon, Marvel’s What If…? – Disney+, Masters of the Universe: Revelation – Netflix, Monsters At Work – Disney+, M.O.D.O.K. – Disney+, Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Disney+, Star Trek: Lower Decks – Amazon, Solar Opposites – Disney+
Bronze: Monsters At Work – Disney+
Silver: Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Disney+
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: Marvel’s What If…? – Disney+
It comes as no great surprise that Disney dominated both the animation categories, but really outdid themselves with the new shows, winning all top three places. Predictably, the top two spots were a battle between Star Wars and Marvel, but in the end, ‘Marvel’s What If…?‘ crushed the competition, landed double the votes of its nearest rival.
‘What If…?’ reimagines famous events from films in the MCU. Creating a multiverse of infinite possibilities, featuring features fan-favourite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor and more. All of this happening under the gaze of Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher.
The series does a wonderful job of allowing Kevin Feige and the Marvel team to play around in the MCU toybox, mixing and matching from across their rich universe, but also building on what currently exists within that world. The show appears to follow an anthology-like format, but that all changes when you hit the final episode. As intricately constructed as any other Marvel film or series, ‘What If…?’ is a great addition to the MCU canon.
Best Returning Animated Series
Nominees: Archer (Season 11) – Netflix, Central Park (Season 2) – Apple TV+, Disenchantment (Season 2) – Netflix, Duncanville (Season 2) – E4/Disney+, Family Guy (Season 20) – Disney+, American Dad! (Season 18) – Disney+, Harley Quinn (Season 2) – E4, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Seasons 2, 3 & 4!) – Netflix, Love, Death & Robots (Season 2) – Netflix, Rick and Morty (Season 5) – E4, Solar Opposites (Season 2) – Disney+, Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season 2) – Amazon, The Simpsons (Season 32) – Sky/Disney+
Bronze: Rick and Morty (Season 5) – E4
Silver: Family Guy (Season 20) – Disney+
And the Gold goes to …
Winner: The Simpsons (Season 32) – Sky/Disney+
I don’t think the top three shows in this category should come as a shock to anyone, it was more a case of in which order they would land. As it enters its 33rd year on TV, ‘The Simpsons‘ are still on top, although it should be noted that ‘Family Guy’ was not all that far behind.
What can you say about this series which hasn’t already been said?… Matt Groening’s sitcom about Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, along with the other residents of Springfield has become a global institution. It’s part of the worldwide DNA at this point. Whilst its US viewing figures may have been in decline in recent years, for many, it’s hard to imagine a world where ‘The Simpsons’ is no longer on TV… Not that we have to worry about that yet, as the show has been renewed up to at least Season 34, with Season 33 landing on Sky Showcase from 16th January 2022 at 6pm in the UK.
