I have always found it difficult to form a decent opinion about the Harry Potter series: somehow something has never felt completely right.
As you may have seen they are not on my list of best fantasy series and the movies are placed 7th on my list of best fantasy movies but mainly because of their huge popularity. On the one hand I appreciate the books and enjoy watching the movies but on the other hand they just do not seem to be able to catch my attention.
Not my type of fantasy?
I can think of several reasons why Harry Potter is not my thing. Sure, the story itself is pretty good, the characters are quite well established and the magical elements often are cool and original. However, it just not be the type of fantasy I am into. The series is not particularly epic in scale nor is it mysterious or dark and it lacks the humor I like. Therefore, the series simply lacks the qualities I appreciate in fantasy.
Generation gap?
Another reason for not being a fan of Harry Potter is the fact that I don’t fit in the target age group. Many will say that the series can be read by young and old but I feel that the books but especially the movies are focused on a specific ‘age bandwidth’. The first movies are aimed at very young teenagers and book by book the content and style of the series gradually changes to match this group. Given that I am not a teenager anymore, Potter always appears just a bit childish to me. The Halfblood Prince was even ‘snoggy’ at times.
Conclusion
I can think of other reasons, like Harry Potter being too commercial for its own good but in the end I know that I shouldn’t complain to much. To be honest, we have to be grateful to J.K. Rowling for providing a very nice introduction to fantasy for a couple of million young people. Looking at it like this, she did the entire genre a favor and not just her bank account. However, the series has been quite one-dimensional and personally I believe it to be a good thing that the series is finished and that movies are also coming to an end.
To me there are probably only two fantasy television series that have been really worth-while watching: “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and its spin-off “Xena: Warrior Princess”. That is why I have placed these series at the top of my list of best fantasy TV series.
Produced by the same director (Sam Raimi: also responsible for the great movie Army of Darkness and the new television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand), with many of the same actors playing in both series and filmed at the same locations in New Zealand, Hercules and Xena have very much in common. Both have a light style, with lots of humor and action with as few casualties as possible. However, there are enough differences between the two series to justify the question: which show was best?
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Kevin Sorbo plays the role of Hercules, the half-god Hercules who travels around with his friend Iolaus through Ancient Greece saving innocent villagers from tyrants and monsters while the gods try to involve him in their games.
It is the typical story of good versus evil: Hercules is the personification of everything good who will never do an bad thing, while his opponents are evil to the bone. Combine this with unrealistic fighting in which nobody ever gets hurt badly or dies, cheap television sets and over the top acting, and you may expect Hercules to be one of the worst television series ever. But quite to the contrary, for some reason it all comes together in a rather brilliant show. The light storylines, cheesy humor and the loads of action somehow make the episodes very easily watchable and entertaining, which make you accept the moralistic points raised in the stories.
Xena: Warrior Princess
As a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena had similar story lines, often the same actors and also the same look and feel. However, the series also brought some extra spice to the screen. Xena, played by Lucy Lawless, used to be a bad-ass rebel herself but, inspired by Hercules, decides to change her ways and help people.
Compared to Hercules, Xena had a bit more of a dark edge, both in the storylines as well as in the kind of humor used. For one thing, a lot more people get killed. The stories were also less focused on the games played by Greek gods and more open to other mythologies.
The series gained more of a cult status than Hercules, with a climax being the supposed lesbian relationship between Xena and her companion Gabrielle.
My favourite is… Xena
It is not an easy choice but if I have to pick my favourite out of these two shows, I would go for Xena: Warrior Princess. Of course, we have to give credit to Hercules: Xena would never have gotten her own series without the popularity of Hercules. However, whereas Hercules remained a series about a nice, friendly half-god always doing the right thing, Xena became more exciting, with more spicy and better story lines.
As indicated, it’s a close call but in the end being a man, I rather watch Xena and Gabrielle hitting it off than Hercules and Iolaus strolling through the wilderness.
I have created a page about the best fantasy movies ever. It contains a listing of my favourite fantasy movies. As with fantasy in written form, fantasy movies come in many different styles. I have a preference for epic/ high fantasy which also shows in this list but I didn’t only pick movies from this type of fantasy. I have simply included and ranked those fantasy movies that I like best and believe to be the most important in the genre.
Of course I included movies like Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and Conan the Barbarian but you may come across movies you haven’t seen yet or have never heard of. If I have left out a movie that you think should definitely be included then let me know!
As you may have noticed, this website has been slightly modified over the last couple of weeks. Several minor technical aspects have been changed, hopefully without you noticing it, which will allow the website to run more smoothly and pages to open faster.
One noticeable change to the website is the placement of some Google Adsense advertisements. I am not trying to get rich through FocusonFantasy.com (and trust me: I won’t!), I would just like to earn back a bit of the time and money I invested and will invest in this website.
The reason for mentioning the fact that changes have been made is that these changes may have had results I did not foresee. Of course I have looked into the effects of the changes and have tested them but I may have missed something causing (parts of) the website to no longer function as intended.
If you come across an error or have any feedback, positive or negative, please let me know through the contact form so I can continue to improve FocusonFantasy.com!