Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Round 1 Nominations:

Best Anime Series:
I thought about this for awhile. Naruto I never really cared about, and Mushi-Shi just never grabbed me. Astro Boy I like, and Death Note has kind of grown on me. But this vote is going to be all about nostalgia. My choice doesn’t have the most intelligent or intricate plots, and it certainly doesn’t have the best animation. It only has my undying devotion—okay, maybe that’s an overstatement but I really do like it—and that’s enough for me to pick:

Speed Racer

Best Cartoon (non-anime):
A surprisingly easy choice, once I threw out Wallace and Grommit—just don’t care about it—and glanced at the rest of the contenders. The Simpsons was the most obvious choice but I’m not really thrilled with Hulu’s selection so it went next. Family Guy and King of the Hill are both excellent choices but after what Fox did to my choice I decided it deserved my vote (that, and the fact that it’s the funniest of all of these to me):

Futurama

Best Animated Short:
Even though I voted for all of these, except Metro—which I frankly don’t understand making the finals at all ( two words: “bore” and “ring”)—this was a pretty easy choice as well:

Nun Fight Club

Round 2 Nominations:

Best Travel/Leisure Show:
The problem here is really that I just don’t watch much tv, and that’s mainly because so much of it is like these shows. It’s not so much that I think they’re bad, it’s just that I don’t care enough about any of them to watch them regularly. I did wade through and find some that seemed all right, though:

1. Destination Truth - Mostly paranormal, sort of interesting at times.
2. Dr. Danger – I thought this was all right, except that I could easily see this guy as a cannibal for some reason.
3. Three Sheets – A guy being paid to go all over the world and drink. I’m so jealous!
4. Uncorked – Not a wine drinker but then I don’t watch much tv either.
5. Wild On – Beautiful women are always good, especially the ones who have gone wild.

Best Cooking/Food Show:
1. Ace of Cakes – I saw one once where the guy made a zombie head cake. That’s enough for me.
2. Kitchen Nightmares – A Samantha favorite from before. I’ll dust it off for this list.
3. Top Chef – Not awful.
4. Paula’s Home Cooking – I love Southern cooking, y’all.
5. Everyday Italian – Watchable, especially the hostess.

Worst Reality Show:
Five of my original six made it so this was easy:

1. Battle of the Bods
2. Hey, Paula
3. Denise Richards: It’s Complicated
4. Jackass
5. Make Me a Supermodel

Round 3 Nominations:

Best Classic Movie:
While wondering how John Carpenter’s The Thing isn’t a classic…

1. Night of the Living Dead (’68 ) – Romero’s original masterpiece is a landmark film which I have written full review of not long ago. An all-time favorite.
2. Some Like It Hot – My favorite Monroe film. I’ve seen it four times in the past month.
3. The Pride of the Yankees – Probably my second favorite baseball film of all time (the first being A League of Their Own). Just a great, great film.
4. The Crawling Hand – There had to be four and Carnival of Souls has always left me cold.

Best Action TV Series:
1. 24 - I don’t watch much but this looks all right and everyone I know just loves it.
2. Chuck – Same as above.
3. The Crow: Stairway to Heaven – Much better than I thought it would be, kind of like The Highlander tv series.
4. Flipper – Anyone with the nerve to cast a poor unsuspecting dolphin in a clone of Baywatch has to be lauded for something.
5. She Spies – Cool idea, and it has the alien from Species with all her clothes on (yeah, I know her name but tv has so much fun treating women as objects I thought I’d try it).

Best Web Original:
1. Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog - I think John pretty much captured this one in his Week 9 list.
2. Space Rip – Pretty excellent show for anyone who loves astronomy.

Worst Web Original:
I didn’t think too much of most of the web originals here but only one really angered me…

1. Retro Minute – They sink an interesting premise and history lesson with an even dumber Talk Soup-style host segment. I clicked on this thinking it would be something good and this is what I got. Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh!!!!

(Editor’s Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)