The rush of having these six genre (aka nerd-friendly) series release within a couple of weeks brings me back to the days of watching dozens of new series whenever the fall season kicked off on network TV. Nevertheless, I now relish the flexibility of being able to watch them at my own pace (and savour the shorter-than-a-dozen-episodes runs that each of these series make in a full season. So far, I’ve watched only two episodes of each, but it’s great to see so many series that suit my tastes (especially in these days where strikes are making the near future of TV quite uncertain) — it’s an embarrassment of riches.

Wheel of Time

While I love the epic book series by Robert Jordan, the Wheel of Time series on Amazon Prime Video fell far short of meeting my expectations in season one. I managed to enjoy it somewhat only because I disassociated it from the original story in my mind and thought of it as just another fantasty TV series (which we could always use more of). As I am currently reading my way through the novels again, the characters, plot, and world-building details are still pretty fresh in my mind, which would only make it a lot more difficult for season two of the show to measure up. Nevertheless, so far I have enjoyed this new season a little more than the first. The main characters are now mostly split up around this fantasy world, pursuing their own ends. After their outrageously OP battle last season where they slaughtered an entire monstrous trolloc army (and were restored from death, even) Nynaeve and Egwene are in the White Tower, training as novices to be Aes Sedai sorceresses. Perrin is pursuing the legendary Horn of Valere, which was stolen by the villainous Padan Fain at the end of last season (and they don’t really seem to discuss how Loial, the gentle giant ogier, survived his own apparent murder to join Perrin’s little team). Moiraine and Lan are in retreat at some kind of Mediterranean villa. And Rand, the super powerful Chosen One, is apparently shacked up with the landlady and volunteering at the nearby mental hospital… the Wheel truly weaves as the Wheel wills. I can enjoy this season more because it’s become second-nature for me to ignore how this show has derailed itself from the original. My brain has convinced me that these episodes are more like “deleted scenes” that didn’t make it into the original novels, or alternate takes on the story, as if there were a Robert Jordan multiverse. From that position, I can enjoy the acting, the character scenes, and the lovely locations and some of the set design (I still don’t really love the costumes — Why does White Tower clothing look like a more deluxe version of American pioneer garments? And I think that even though it’s kind of grand, the White Tower itself is not nearly as magnificent as the one in my head canon). Nevertheless, I believe that this season holds promise to at least be more interesting than The Rings of Power was — Amazon can’t mess this up again.

One Piece

A new show on the list, One Piece brought with it an ocean’s worth of expectation. Compared to Wheel of Time, this show has even more to live up to, with its voluminous original manga, and the decades-long anime adaptation both being hugely successful and popular with fans. I only discovered the anime recently as I’ve been trying to watch more anime series, but I have watched only about 35 episodes, so I think I’ll barely be covering the plot of this first season of the live action adaptation on Netflix. So, I’m not a megafan, but at least I recognize the main characters of this light-hearted pirate tale: Luffy, Nami, and Zoro. Without doubt, I am enjoying the live action series more than the anime. This series is already quite over-the-top, with insanely costumed heroes and villains (like the messy clown Buggy from episode two), some of whom have unearthly, superhuman powers (like Luffy’s Gum Gum stretchiness or Buggy’s Chop Chop ability to hold his body together or separate into floating fragments). This show is interested in fun over all. The actors I’ve seen so far are very good, and do an excellent job inhabiting these characters, despite the broadness of the series (and the cartoonish colours of various characters’ hair). I enjoy characters now that I didn’t notice and definitely didn’t like from the anime, including: gentle-but-courageous nerdling Koby, bombastic pirate queen Alvida, and duplicitous navigator Nami. The relatively unknown cast are surprisingly good as well. Iñaki Godoy brings the perfect free spirited joy to the character of Monkey D. Luffy, the stretchy boy who wants to be (nay, believes he will be) the king of the pirates. Mackenyu (with the single name) brings a lot of his own personal coolness to the fan-favourite character of Roronoa Zoro, the triple-sword-wielding pirate hunter; and though he has K-pop-friendly boyish good looks, he still manages to excude that strong silent toughness that is Zoro’s trademark. Finally Nami seems a lot more fleshed out in her portrayal by Emily Rudd. More than the somewhat whiny self-serving character that she appears to be in the anime, now she seems more the clever manipulator and schemer. There is clearly a lot of care put into these series, not to mention plenty of big-budget action, fights, and locations, plus plenty of special effects. The show looks epic and sunny at the same time. I recommend this show to fans of fun, regardless of whether you’ve had any exposure to either of the previous incarnations of this very long story.

Ahsoka

The latest installment in the Star Wars saga is one that I have been anticipating, mainly because I was a huge fan of the Clone Wars animated series, and I enjoy the science-fantasy of the Jedi stories more than the space politics and military sci-fi of the imperial storylines. Ahsoka Tano (like Harley Quinn of Batman fame) was first introduced as a non-movie animated character who became such a fan favourite that she’s popped up in several contexts and now even made the leap to live action, portrayed by the perfectly-cast Rosario Dawson. Having been the padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka’s story has been well embedded into the Star Wars mythos so I’m eager to see where she goes in her own series. So far, it seems that rather than tell an Ahsoka-centred story, the creators have chosen to use her series to continue and potentially conclude the story started in the Rebels animated series (that Ahsoka did join at the tail end), which features other fan-favourite characters such as Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, and the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn, all getting live action portrayals as well. After having watched a couple of episodes, I am fully enjoying the many lightsaber battles (and other Jedi stuff), but so far the character of Ahsoka herself seems very much like an uptight stick-in-the-mud, and has lost a lot of the bravado of her youth. Perhaps that is an intentional story point (after all, her friend and master did become the dark lord Vader) to reflect how her experiences have changed her. There is also a bit of that boringness (is that a word?) that plagues all of the Star Wars live action TV series. Compared to their animated counterparts, it seems like the hour-long episodes don’t do these series any favours and there’s not quite enough engaging content to keep our attentions for the entire time. As the plot picks up, I hope that the balance will tip in favour of thrills and action rather than so much stand-and-talk.

Ragnarok

This Nordic teen super melodrama may have fallen off most viewers’ radars — it’s been over two years since the last season was released. Nevertheless, our hero Magne (as a reincarnation of the god Thor) is still trying to prepare for the final battle (the titular Ragnarok) against the giants (aka the local rich family, the Jutuls). We also pick up with his brother, Laurits (the obvious reincarnation of Loki) having given birth to the Midgard Serpent (which looks like a giant eel), though this is definitely not a horror show. It was always a bit weird that this cosmic, universe-ending battle of Ragnarok is brewing up in such a small scale. You’d think that the gods and giants would incarnate themselves all around the world, not in the tiny Norwegian town of Edda. It’s also odd that despite realizing that they are reincarnated gods and giants, the younger characters still all go to school to live out their divinely manifested teen drama. Austere Nordic artsiness aside, this series is still a show that would fit in well with the CW network’s many other tales of supernatural teens. I still enjoy this show, but I am also glad that this should be its final season. Even though we’re heading for Ragnarok (the mythological battle, not the TV show) I’m anxious to finish it and move on.

Mech Cadets

I’m guessing that you have not watched, or even heard of, this series despite its showing up among the new releases on Netflix recently. I don’t blame you, as it definitely looks like a fairly typical teen/tween/young adult sci-fi show featuring some mechs (as the show’s title more than suggests). While I can’t argue that this show is not those things, it’s got a bit more going for it than your typical CG animated series for kids. Based on a comic book series from 2017 called Mech Cadet Yu (which is also getting a well-timed sequel comic right now), the show features a nice, Asian-heavy cast of actors, including Daniel Dae Kim as General Park. It tells the story of Stanford Yu, a maintenance worker and prospective engineer who ends up bonding with a “robo mech”, which are a species of robots from outer space who come to Earth in small groups to help humans fight against the Shargs (scorpion-like monstrosities who plague a post-apocalyptic Earth). Robos arrive on Earth and mentally-connect to a specific person who can then fly and control the robos in order to fight the aliens. There’s a lot of teen drama in this series (as you might expect) since it is set in a flight school for training prospective mech pilots. In particular, Stanford has a nemesis: Olivia Park, who is the general’s highly-driven and kind of self-centred daughter, and was expected to bond with the next robo before Stanford swooped in and usurped her. School competition-style conflicts ensue. While I am not a fan of teen melodrama, I think the animation is amazing. The robos look cool and they have incredibly fluid motions and awesome fight scenes and flight scenes. The humans are not badly drawn, but they do have a bobble-head aspect to them which undermines the overall visual impression a bit. I have not read the comic, so I don’t know if there are any awesome plot twists coming, but so far we’re on familiar ground. I think the show is worth watching for the polished graphics (and especially if you’re watching with kids who might enjoy some cliché, para-military sci-fi) but it’s not truly fresh enough to justify watching first — especially not ahead of so many other great series more worthy of our eyeball-time.

Lower Decks

After the animation-live action crossover episode that Lower Decks had with Strange New Worlds earlier in the year (which was great, by the way), I have not had enough, and eagerly anticipated ths return of Lower Decks proper. (Sadly, in Canada, I have add a new channel just to watch it, as it has been taken off of Crave, along with the rest of the Star Trek properties). The only surviving animated Star Trek series has the perfect blend of parody, light humour, and fan-service franchise deep cuts. Of the first couple of episodes, the first was way more fun. There were so many callbacks to Voyager episodes that I am certain that I missed a few. The characters are all still so enjoyable (somehow they are singular in their personalities and yet well-rounded). Boimler (still voiced by this decade’s nerd king, Jack Quaid) has matured, but still acts as neurotic as ever. Mariner is still getting into trouble, constantly bristling against her commanders and pushing against authority, but amazingly she actually gets called on her behaviour. Even on cartoons, characters grow. I also enjoy the way the show deals with mundane life on a starship (plus, it points to the paradox of that phrase). This season is already making good use of that theme by giving us some hilarious scenes of “lower deck” characters on other ships, like Klingons and Romulans, showing how they also complain about being given chores to do, but in a way that pokes fun at the established characteristics (or stereotypes) of these fictional races in contrast to our main lower-deck characters: the Cerritos crew. Oh, and there’s something mysteriously destroying their ships! Though the future of the Star Trek grows more uncertain each month, I think this season of Lower Decks will be the right kind of sci-fi fun for Star Trek fans.