Gargoyles - This show was what began my love affair with fantasy elements in a futuristic (or at least contemporary) settings. It spoiled me with longterm storytelling, well-rounded characters, compelling and likeable antagonists, a diverse cast, consequences, reasonable aesops, Shakespeare characters because why not... it was So Much for little me. It set a high standard of quality storytelling that I either expect everything I consume to reach or will happily rip it apart if it does not. You would think it would not be difficult to surpass a children's show with a twenty minute run time. However!
The love of fantasy elements in sci-fi settings has stayed with me to this day. A fantasy setting by itself needs a strong story or well-rounded characters to keep me invested; a fantasy setting that's actually post-apocalyptic sci-fi in disguise? Sign me up, I don't care if everything else about it completely falls apart (also known as Attack on Titan).
When I was a kid, I also read a lot of Lois Duncan and Christopher Pike (to the point where I knew of the latter as an author before a Star Trek character, and only learned a few years ago that his pen name was deliberately picked in reference) - and that shit was dark for a nine year-old. In fact, I remember showing some friends a passage in one particular Lois Duncan book concerning feminism in the seventies and they were scandalised--I didn't realise it at the time but it was basically a rape scene and involved some tongue gore. Christopher Pike, on the other hand, was very much bad end supernatural on a world-ending scale. It was all very bleak and hopeless and basically forced me to reconcile the insignificance of my own existence at a very young age. With all this in mind, I shouldn't wonder why I'm constantly searching for the most brutal horror and throw myself headlong into dark themes!
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Gargoyles - This show was what began my love affair with fantasy elements in a futuristic (or at least contemporary) settings. It spoiled me with longterm storytelling, well-rounded characters, compelling and likeable antagonists, a diverse cast, consequences, reasonable aesops, Shakespeare characters because why not... it was So Much for little me. It set a high standard of quality storytelling that I either expect everything I consume to reach or will happily rip it apart if it does not. You would think it would not be difficult to surpass a children's show with a twenty minute run time. However!
The love of fantasy elements in sci-fi settings has stayed with me to this day. A fantasy setting by itself needs a strong story or well-rounded characters to keep me invested; a fantasy setting that's actually post-apocalyptic sci-fi in disguise? Sign me up, I don't care if everything else about it completely falls apart (also known as Attack on Titan).
When I was a kid, I also read a lot of Lois Duncan and Christopher Pike (to the point where I knew of the latter as an author before a Star Trek character, and only learned a few years ago that his pen name was deliberately picked in reference) - and that shit was dark for a nine year-old. In fact, I remember showing some friends a passage in one particular Lois Duncan book concerning feminism in the seventies and they were scandalised--I didn't realise it at the time but it was basically a rape scene and involved some tongue gore. Christopher Pike, on the other hand, was very much bad end supernatural on a world-ending scale. It was all very bleak and hopeless and basically forced me to reconcile the insignificance of my own existence at a very young age. With all this in mind, I shouldn't wonder why I'm constantly searching for the most brutal horror and throw myself headlong into dark themes!