2009 Non-print Media Awards

This year, I’ve lumped film, video games, and television into one post. My sampling of video games and television has been limited this year (mostly because television sucks), and while I’ve seen a lot of films this year, there haven’t been a great deal of stand-outs for me to really sink my teeth into.

Television Nominees

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4.5

Season 4.5 of BSG wrapped up earlier this year with an ending that was…something. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I think Starbuck was an angel, God wanted Cylons and humans to interbreed, and somehow, a star-faring culture gave up their technology to live in peace with nature. The only way this ending could have been less satisfying is if Ron Moore drove to my house and personally kicked me in the nuts. Yet, for all of it’s dark meanderings, it did wrap up the best science fiction series ever to appear on network television. And that has to count for something, friends.

Torchwood: Children of Earth

I guess the Torchwood production team found themselves a real writing staff. After two seasons of very hit or miss episodes, they managed to wrap up the story of Jack Harkness and his (remaining) crew with an emotional, tension-filled roller coaster ride that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. I was amazed, nauseated, and elated throughout the production. Bravo to our friends across the pond.

Stargate: Universe

I find this series to be strangely watchable, despite the missed opportunities on characterization. Friend and former writing instructor John Scalzi saves the show from being a disaster on the technical end (although if I see those damned blue “trading places” stones in one more episode, my reality motivator will blow a gasket). If the producers listen to their fanbase and amp the character interactions, put a leash on the (epic fail) Chloe/Lt. Matthew Scott romance (I want to see Eli knock that booty out the park), and provide  a little more adventure to the story arc, this could be a strong second season winner. After all, other great science fiction shows are full of awkwardness in the first season–Babylon 5 or Star Trek: Next Generation ring a bell for anyone?

The Tudors

Sex, elaborate period costumes, and sex makes this an interesting study in intrigue, revisionist history, and drama. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is brilliant as Henry, and his rapid succession of wives and advisors provides fodder for a soap opera written in the blood of the beheaded and anti-Catholic rhetoric. This entire series is magnetic.

Honorable mention: Fringe
Biggest missed opportunity: Dollhouse

Video Game Nominees

Dragon Age Origins

This is the best RPG I’ve ever played. Period. This beats the greats of the past–both Neverwinter Nights, Oblivion, Fallout (although I haven’t played Fallout 3), World of Warcraft, Dungeon Siege, Titan Quest, Diablo, etc. Never has a game grabbed me by the heart and led me on a tale that had me emotionally invested in characters within the world. For the first time outside of a tabletop experience, I played a role in the game world, and I played it consistently and with trepidation at the consequences.

Borderlands

I’ve beaten this game with friends Kate and PoorYorick not once, but twice, looking for elusive loot and tough enemies. It is the definitive coop experience on the PC, ranking, in my estimation, even above our last nominee on this front.  What is particularly striking is the cel-shaded graphics, which provide an excellent style for the mood of the story. While the game does have flaws (the last boss battle is the very definition of anti-climatic), and the humor and sarcasm that made the game so endearing early fades in the last parts, this is definitely a strong contender for game of the year, if only because of the sheer enjoyment I derive from playing it.

Left 4 Dead 2

This is supposed to be the penultimate coop experience, but it feels a little too much like “been there, done that” for it to work in the same space. This feeling is salvaged somewhat by the awesome “scavenge” mode, new infected boss types, and a new characters to play, but at the end, you’re still killing lots of zombies.

Honorable mention: Plants vs. Zombies
Most frustrating game ever: Demigod

Film

Avatar

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Is the story designed to make white people feel guilty for their ascendancy? Yes. Is it a retread of the classic “someone from advance culture goes native” idea? Yes. Where it differs are the sounds, the emotional impact of the actors (both real and motion-captured), and the visual effects. I could watch this movie again and again.

District 9

Low budget, unknown director, and set in South Africa–those three things make it sound like a trifecta that would lead this movie to the bargain bin. Instead, we have an intelligent thriller, shot documentary-fashion, that serves as a modern day tale on the dangers of apartheid. The special effects (performed by WETA, Peter Jackson’s effects house) rival any big-budget movie, and are all the more powerful for their judicious use in the story.

Inglorious Basterds

This one gets the nod in the science fiction/fantasy category only because it is alternate history. I’ve long been a Tarantino fan, but he takes the cake here with his easy-going, cold-blooded villain Hans Landa, his psychotic American platoon leader Brad Pitt, and brilliant cameos by several actors throughout the course of the movie. The dialog is amazing, mixing the mundane with the important, but the real scene stealing happens whenever Brad Pitt is on the screen.  This is Tarantino at his finest–an anti-Nazi revenge fantasy that re-writes the end of World War II.

Honorable mention: Watchmen, Zombieland
Epic Fail: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Funny People