Written March 1, 2004 by Alexander von Thorn, a frequent contributor to this site.

• Why this is important
• Group favourites among movies and TV episodes
• Personal top ten TV episode list, and more ...
• References and resources
• Now it's your turn
• Tell me what you think
• A final note

Why this is important

Each year, the World Science Fiction Society presents the Science Fiction Achievement Awards (also known as the Hugo Awards) at the World Science Fiction Convention (a.k.a. Worldcon). The Hugos have been presented for the past 50 years and have become the most prestigious award for literary and media science fiction. Hundreds of people nominate and vote for the Hugo Awards, which is a large enough sample to be statistically representative of a significant proportion of SF readers and viewers. However, the number of nominations is small enough that a handful of nominations can make the difference between making the ballot or not.

In order to be eligible to nominate, you must either have been a member of Torcon 3, or else you must be a member of Noreascon Four, this year's Worldcon. Nominations must be received by March 25, 2004. If you are not already either a member of last year's or this year's Worldcon, it's too late to nominate; the deadline for joining Noreascon in time to nominate for the Hugos was January 31. But you should still become a member of Noreascon to be able to vote for the Hugos, and of course to attend the Worldcon itself. There are a couple of other lists that offer recommendations for Hugo nominations, listed at the end of this article. The purpose of this article is to provide a particular focus on television and films, or "dramatic presentations" as they are listed in the Hugo categories. In 2003, a new category for "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form" was created to acknowledge television as an art form distinct from movies.

However, some long-time fans of written science fiction don't have the same appreciation of the visual media. By enhancing awareness of the breadth and quality of offerings in media SF, and especially in television series in the genre, we can improve the quality and variety of nominations. Thereby, we can enhance the level of awareness and respect for both the Hugo awards and for science fiction and fantasy on television.

The most important link in this article is the 2004 Hugo nomination online form. We'll get back to this later.

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Group favourites among movies and TV episodes

I polled a few friends for suggestions on our favourite television and movie offerings of 2003. We're interested in feedback on this list. We'd like to make this an annual list, so next year we will be looking for a few more qualified opinions to add.

Movies

Television episodes

            Key

avt      Alex von Thorn
bd       Bobbie DuFault (and Jerry Gieseke)
kb       Karen Bennett
pp       Patrick Plante
rs       Robert J. Sawyer
msk   Marah Searle-Kovacevic
lc        Lynda Ciaschini

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Personal top ten TV episode list

I have a television running most of the time when I'm at the computer writing or working on other projects. I mostly watch genre shows (hey, someone's got to watch to be able to tell others what's worth watching!). Here are some of my favourites from 2003:

1. Smallville, "Rosetta": Teen angst has become a cliché, especially on networks such as Fox and WB that aim at a youth demographic. It's a cliché when a show is (a) a vehicle for product placement, and (b) uses trendy clothes, makeup and hair to support the sexual subtext and pop culture references as a shortcut for setting development. But the coming-of-age story is a classic literary mode in which characters must deal with moral choices that will define the rest of their lives. Smallville uses the coming-of-age motif for stark and dramatic conflicts in which not only the life and death of individuals are at stake, but in some cases the fate of groups or even communities of people.

   "Rosetta" stands out among many stellar episodes because it is a keystone for the whole story arc. The show pulls at the audience's heartstrings in casting Christopher Reeve (of Superman movie fame) as Dr. Virgil Swann, a Bill Gates/Stephen Hawking archetype who has deciphered interstellar signals as messages from Krypton. He invites young Clark to visit him so that he can reveal a message from Clark's biological father, Jor-El. As the message is revealed, the theme music from the Superman film swells as a hint of Clark's destiny. And Jor-El's message indicates that what is at stake is not merely the life or death of some of Clark's friends, or the future of Smallville or Luthorcorp; Clark may be destined to use his powers to rule Earth. The defining conflict of the series is outlined in this moment. It also sets off a story arc element regarding Jonathan Kent's health that results in a heart attack several episodes later (an element from early versions of the Superman mythology, though with a stronger effect here than in other versions). Other noteworthy episodes include "Insurgence" and "Perry."

2. Andromeda, "The Unconquerable Man": There is a theme among my recommendations: Among the episodes I think are noteworthy, I particularly like those which capture the essence of the series. The best Andromeda episode of 2003 was the season premiere: "The Unconquerable Man." It's a twisted It's a Wonderful Life take on the show, told from the perspective of the original antagonist, the Andromeda's executive officer, Gaheris Rhade.

   In "The Unconquerable Man," the characters flash back in time, courtesy of the tesseract machine Harper created in "Ourobouros," one of the best episodes of the previous season. Suddenly we're in a universe where Rhade killed Dylan Hunt at the edge of the black hole and Rhade is the captain of the Andromeda, leading the crew through a dark version of the entire series in which Rhade reluctantly finds himself imitating the decisions Hunt had made at each step. Throughout the episode, Rhade plays Go with a holographic version of Dylan, who acts as a sarcastic mentor guiding Rhade to make the right choices with cryptic variations of "I told you so." Rhade makes some missteps, and the universe becomes gradually worse and worse (even compared to the adventures Dylan and crew had gone through in the original timeline). Rhade is forced to kill Tyr, Beka leaves the crew, the galaxies become more chaotic and disunited, and Rhade's dream of a Nietzschean-ruled civilization recedes further and further away. In the critical moment where Harper builds the tesseract machine and it begins to malfunction, Rhade is about to destroy the machine, but future (gold) Trance confronts him and tells him that Dylan is the hero who will reunite the Commonwealth. Rhade goes into the past to the battle at Hephaestis where the Nietzschean uprising began; he kills his alternate self and goes to the bridge to face Dylan. In that initial battle, knowing the choices of the futures, Rhade allows Dylan to kill him, restoring the original timeline. The episode captured the whole story line of the series, linking each decision together into a hero's destiny.

   This was one of several episodes in early 2003 worthy of consideration. I would also have considered "The Dark Backward," "Point of the Spear," "Twilight of the Idols" and "Soon the Nearing Vortex."

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Chosen": I discovered Buffy the Vampire Slayer playing on YTV back in 1997. The show had its ups and downs, with great story arcs and sinister villains up to the fourth season, and then more diffuse and weakly comical antagonists in the fifth and sixth seasons, just as the anti-media faction of fandom became aware of it. But the final season returned to the show's strengths, with a complex and invincible foe and strong growth within and between the major characters.

   Buffy is about female empowerment, and this theme is brought to a conclusion in the season finale. When Buffy drowned briefly at the end of the first season, a second Slayer was called. The existence of two Sslayers created an imbalance in the struggle of good versus evil, which an amorphous force called "The First Evil" used to its advantage. This enemy appeared in the third season, then faded into the background, which means that elements of the final season of Buffy was planned years in advance. In the final season, Buffy discovers the origin of the Slayers, and finds a weapon used to slay the last of the ancient true demons. Buffy gets Willow to cast a spell to release the power of the artifact, which becomes shared among all the potential Slayers in the world, creating a new army for good. This small army of Slayers descends into the underworld beneath the Hellmouth, where they fight a vast army of ultra-powerful undead. But Buffy's new champion, Spike, wields a medallion which channels the cleansing power of the sun down into the underworld, destroying all the vampires there (including Spike himself, in an act of sacrifice). Sunnydale is destroyed, a potent metaphor for the old saying that you can't go home again, but the world is a better place in this triumph against evil. With an explosive action climax, this episode's real greatness was in its thematic conclusion to the premise of the series.

   This was an easy call, though "Storyteller" and "Lies My Parents Told Me" could have made this list if "Chosen" hadn't been as great as it was.

4. Dead Like Me, "A Cook": One of the things I look for in television, or in any form of storytelling, is originality, in some concept that I've never known or considered before. Dead Like Me delivers this every episode, in its unique way. It is grim but not dark, comic but not silly, demented and yet still comprehensible within its own strange logic. The one thing you can count on with this show is that you won't know what to expect. The show stars Ellen Muth, who perfectly exemplifies the confused nihilism of 21st-century underachievers. Mandy Patinkin plays Rube, the icy but gentle leader of the flawed band of grim reapers.

   A frequent setting of the show is Der Waffel Haus, a purgatorial 24-hour breakfast place where Rube doles out assignments to the reapers over eggs and coffee. In "A Cook," Rube is dissatisfied with the meal. When the cook (named "Angus Cook") challenges him on his complaint, Rube says, "Is it the cook, or is it the chicken? Let's blame the chicken." When Cook dies in a freak accident, Rube offers to work in the kitchen, where of course he meets the ghost of Cook, who had not been guided to the other side. In a series of encounters, Rube comes to appreciate the life Cook led, while Cook releases enough of his anger to be able to pass on.

   The primary plot alone would have been more than enough to make the episode worth nominating, but the subplot has Georgia (usually called "George") with a dog on her hands after taking a woman's soul. Georgia tries to take the dog home, but her (freeloading) roommate Daisy kicks her out, and she is forced to seek shelter with her day-job boss, Delores. At first glance, Delores appears to be simply an imagination-free drone armed with an endless supply of clichés and simplistic folk wisdom, but it turns out that Delores has an array of webcams in her tiny apartment showing her cleaning and doing other household projects. Delores ends up kicking Georgia out because her website clients give unfavourable feedback about Georgia's slacker attitude. Georgia is obliged to give JD ("Just Dog") to her living family, and then she tells Daisy to find her own place to live.

   No summary can convey the layers of irony and surreal humour found in every minute of this show. I can only assure others that watching it will be worthwhile. This season had only 14 episodes, but so many of them were excellent that there is little point in even giving a short list of potential nominations; they're all worth considering.

5. The Dead Zone, "Zion": Loosely based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Dead Zone is part of a recent trend of shows about psychic protagonists, though this series is far better than network series such as Tru Calling and 1-800-Missing. The Dead Zone has a strong alternate-history flavour, with what-if and what-might-have-been scenarios being important fulcra that turn the plot at key junctures.

   While the main protagonist, Johnny Smith, is the one who possesses the power of the "dead zone" in his brain, in the episode "Zion" it is Johnny's companion Bruce who experiences a vision of an alternate history at the funeral of Bruce's father, who had been a pastor in a Baptist-style congregation. Johnny brushes against a number of people and sees his own death, falling from an arena catwalk with a sniper rifle in hand. Later in the funeral, Johnny puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder while Bruce is touching his father's body at the funeral, and they share a vision of Bruce leaving home as a young man. But in Bruce's vision, Johnny disappears, and Bruce sees himself as an elder in the church, whipping the congregation into a frenzy that generates rich donations. Bruce finds himself preaching the Gospels while living a life which lacks spiritual integrity. As he remembers his "true" life, he tracks down Johnny in this alternate reality and finds Johnny has become a stalker who tried to assassinate Congressional candidate Greg Stillson, but Stillson's security team thwarts the assassination by killing Johnny. Bruce finds him too late, lying on the floor dying, and Bruce takes Johnny's hand, triggering a vision within the vision. In this scene they are back at the original funeral of Pastor Lewis, but here, the funeral is frozen in time, and Johnny, Bruce and Pastor Lewis are all able to move through the scene. Pastor Lewis looks down on the coffin and sees himself lying there, and he explains to Bruce and Johnny that in the moment of death, a man looks back on his own life. It turns out that this was Pastor Lewis's deathbed vision, in which the pastor was thinking of his son's destiny, and he tells his son that Bruce's destiny is to be at Johnny's side. The visions conclude and they are returned to reality. Bruce decides to accept his past as a path to his present rather than as a path of conflict, and shaves off the dreadlocks that had served as a gesture of rebellion against his father.

   Even if the whole plotline was an excuse to change the actor's hairstyle, this was still a fine example of speculation and storytelling. Again it seems like my choices lean to a review or re-examination of the entire premise that shows what is best about a particular show. Other very strong episodes of this series include "Misbegotten," "Cabin Pressure," "The Man Who Never Was" and "The Hunt."

6. Tremors, "Flora or Fauna": Science fiction and comedy are natural partners, for science fiction is about the unexplored and comedy about the unexpected. Tremors combined these elements very effectively. Like Buffy, the TV series was a great step up; the movie went for shock and absurdity, but the TV series adds the level of routine, that people are trying to live their normal lives and conduct business, even market the place as a tourist destination. Also like Buffy, the series opened out from the original premise of the Graboids, Shriekers and Ass-blasters to include new threats each week, by way of a secret government lab breeding monsters for possible military applications—just the thing to justify the paranoia of protagonist Bert Gummer. The TV series cranked up the satire and contemporary social commentary to a higher level. The action sequences were just a backdrop for the conflicts among environmentalists, survivalists and businesses in the town and between the town and overt and secret government agencies about the future of Perfection.

   But in "Flora or Fauna" the threat moved to the plant kingdom. Perfection Valley became carpeted with a plant-animal hybrid which attacked its prey with jets of digestive acid. But what set this episode apart was the introduction of two distinctive recurring characters. Cletus Poffenberger, played by Christopher Lloyd, was a former government scientist who helped create the monsters that infested the valley. He had the same hairstyle as Dr. Brown from the Back to the Future films, but Cletus was a more sardonic and burned-out scientist, having seen the error of his ways and knowing the dangers of unrestrained experimentation. Even funnier than Cletus, if such were possible, was Larry, an archetypically geeky sci-fi fan who expressed his sense of wonder at all of the wrong moments. Even as one laughed at Larry's unerring sense of bad timing, it was hard not to stand in his shoes and share his joy in seeing the strangeness of science come alive.

   "The Key" and "Project 4-12" were also memorable episodes, featuring Larry and Cletus respectively.

7. Angel, "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco": Angel, the series about the vampire detective, is one of those popular shows that people watch even when it doesn't hit the mark. The fourth season had a string of lame stories built around the Connor character, an unfortunate effort to get a story use from Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy. The Jasmine storyline was cute, but too short to have much depth, and it was further weakened by removing the character of Cordelia from the action altogether with a mystical coma.

   But in the fifth season, the series found its creative footing again. In "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco," Angel delves into the world of Mexican wrestling. Five brothers who battled in the sport of Lucha Libre in the 1950s had faced and defeated the Aztec warrior Tezcatcatl. Four of the brothers were killed, and the one who is called Number Five carries a mystically-enhanced survivor's guilt until Angel meets him pushing a mail cart in the corridors of Wolfram and Hart. Tezcatcatl has risen again to carve out the hearts of heroes, and Angel and cohorts challenge a reluctant Number Five to do battle one last time. But Number Five decides instead to go to the cemetery to join his fallen brothers. Instead, the brothers rise to join him in a last battle against the demon warrior.

   A subplot running through the episode is Wesley's reminding Angel about the Shanshu prophecy, which says the vampire with a soul may be granted a new mortal life. The theme of this episode is the reluctant hero, dealing with the conflict between great power and a past of great darkness, which is also the underlying theme of the entire series. This was the first episode in which Angel found its thematic centre. Among the fifth-season episodes that demonstrated the show's new, stronger storytelling style, this was the only one that aired during the calendar year 2003. It was the sole episode that I felt was worthy of serious notice throughout the year, though "Life of the Party" was a lot of fun to watch.

8. Jeremiah, "Letters from the Other Side": It took some effort to confirm show dates, as the series has not been shown in its entirety in the United States. It turns out that my real favourite episode, "Interregnum," was shown in January, so it's not eligible this year. Setting that aside, I would have to pick the two-part season two premiere, "Letters from the Other Side." Jeremiah is a great series, produced by J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame, and the second-season introduction of Sean Astin ("Sam" in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy) is a strange and artful addition to the series. But the image of Meaghan walking into Valhalla Sector, shaking hands as she carried the world-killing plague, was so chilling it still colours my nightmares. Realizing that her interaction with the world can only mean death to anyone, and perhaps to everyone, Meaghan takes her own life to spare the world the danger. Scientists use her biochemistry to discover a cure or antidote for the Big Death, which might give some the incentive to use it again.

   The whole series is watchable and memorable, and the second season is stronger than the first, though of the episodes shown in 2003, only "Letters from the Other Side" makes this short list.

9. Joan of Arcadia, "The Uncertainty Principle": Some might question the inclusion of Joan in a list of genre series at all, but this is a show where divine intervention is routine and foreknowledge of the future a critical element of the plot, which puts it in the same general subgenre as Tru Calling and 1-800-Missing. If this isn't outright fantasy, it's at least a form of magic realism or paranormal story. The show has some of the advantages of Buffy, with a likable protagonist who is trying to live a normal life with abnormal demands on her, as well as the underlying coming-of-age motif.

   Mostly, though, Joan of Arcadia is more teen angst than science fiction or fantasy. "The Uncertainty Principle" had a plot cranked up a notch, with a standoff between police and a troubled gun-wielding high-school student, whom Joan talks into surrendering. While the episode was very well done, what lit it up for me was a discussion of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle during a chemistry study session. The future is in an indeterminate state until we impose order on it with our choices, and the act of choosing is how we are significant. This moment was a metaphor for the entire series, which is all about Joan's choices, and about the choices of others whom she comes into contact with as she catalyzes activity around herself with her quixotic missions from God.

   This series is starting very strong, and if it manages to keep its edge and to not descend into mass-market homilies, it could become even more significant in later seasons.

10. Star Trek Enterprise, "Stigma": One of the purposes of this article, and of other Hugo nomination recommendation lists, is to share perspectives about lesser-known series so that the award will be more one of artistic quality rather than simple popularity. In 2003, two episodes of Angel made the final Hugo ballot—clearly a victory of marketing over merit.

    But the series continues to have potential, and it has the elements that could pull together and hit the mark. In "Stigma" the series achieves a higher level by addressing an issue in a more serious way. T'Pol asks Phlox for treatment for a disease which can only be passed through mental contact. While Phlox tries to keep his inquiries unrelated to T'Pol, her Vulcan superiors quickly deduce that probably the Vulcan crewperson aboard the Enterprise is the one needing treatment for a Vulcan disease, and they begin investigating. The "mind meld" is considered a form of degeneracy among Vulcans, using their latent psychic abilities to share emotions. It turns out that T'Pol was exposed to a mind-meld against her will, but she refuses to explain the circumstances because she considers the label to be prejudicial and illogical. One of the Vulcan doctors helps her because he is part of a minority with the innate ability to mind-meld. When T'Pol faces dismissal, Doctor Yuris breaks her confidence and reveals that she is not one of those with the ability to mind-meld, which obliges him to reveal his own ability. Yuris is suspended, and T'Pol is allowed to stay on the Enterprise under Phlox's care. The AIDS allegory was a bit heavy-handed, but it was handled in a straightforward and sensitive way. If nothing else, the episode shows what Jolene Blalock is capable of with a proper script and direction. "Stigma" exemplifies how Star Trek can act as a mirror for contemporary culture, examining and exposing our assumptions and behaviours and suggesting alternate ways of dealing with issues.

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Honourable Mention

The Twilight Zone, "It's Still a Good Life": I didn't like this episode. In fact, I wasn't really keen on the whole Twilight Zone concept, at least in its current incarnation. I think squeezing a story into 22 minutes of airtime (including opening and closing credits) only leaves room for a single note. The recent series just seemed to go straight to a punchline; it provoked surprise, not thought, which is less than I expect from the speculative fiction genres. Then again, I'm not much for short stories (and especially short-shorts) for the same reason. I believe the lack of depth is what contributed to the new version of the show being cancelled so quickly.

But as I solicited opinions for this article, a number of people (Robert J. Sawyer and Marah Searle-Kovacevic among others) recommended this episode of The Twilight Zone as one of their favourites. It was a sequel to the episode "It's a Good Life" from the original series, but this one was set a generation later. What truly yanked the reader's gut was how they used the same actors: Cloris Leachman as the mother (now grandmother) and Bill Mumy (of Lost in Space and Babylon 5 fame) as the troubled young man who never quite grew up because he adapted the world to himself, rather than vice versa as the rest of us have to. The man's daughter, and ultimate antogonist, was played by Liliana Mumy, Bill Mumy's daughter. I'm not sure the episode had anything new to say, but the use of the familiar actors and setting, as mentioned in some of the examples earlier in this list, was certainly gripping. I mention it here since many think this episode was Hugo-worthy.

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Omissions

I didn't list anything from Farscape. Again, I didn't like this show. I thought it was too melodramatic, even operatic, with new extreme character conflicts being invented whole-cloth for individual episodes. Some people like cranking up the tension. I guess that's why people watch Alias, but I don't think cranking up the music and the intensity of character expression is a substitute for a good story arc plotline and a credible setting that viewers can identify with. But many people believe Farscape was one of the great works of television in this decade. In fact one of the funniest things I experienced in the past year on this topic was an impromptu debate at a bid party in which Buffy fans argued with Farscape fans about which show was better and which will be missed more now that they have ended. So Farscape fans will certainly want to check out the episode guides, perhaps nominating the three-part "We're So Screwed" (which, in my opinion, epitomized the show's flaws).

I also skipped Stargate SG-1 on this list. That's simply an artifact of how the show is shown, or really not shown, in my local market. The Global network in Canada has this really annoying habit of showing past seasons, so I haven't been able to find recent episodes in any consistent way in the past year. I've looked at episode guides, and a lot of the recent year's shows sound really cool. Stargate fans who were able to watch the show should certainly consider nominating their favourite episode.

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References and resources

Again, the purpose of this article is not to tell you what to nominate, but to help you make an informed decision about which films and television episodes are worthy of consideration. Some references follow.

Movies

A fairly complete list of science fiction and fantasy films released in the calendar year 2003:

Agent Cody Banks
Alien: The Director's Cut

Beyond Re-animator
Big Fish
Bruce Almighty
Bulletproof Monk

The Cat in the Hat
The Cooler
The Core
Cowboy Bebop

Daredevil
Darkness Falls
Demonlover
Dreamcatcher

Elf

Final Destination 2
Finding Nemo
Freaky Friday
Freddy vs. Jason

Gothika

The Haunted Mansion
Holes
House of 1000 Corpses
Hulk

Identity

Jeepers Creepers
Johnny English
Jungle Book 2

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
May
The Medallion
Millennium Actress

Northfork

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Paycheck
Peter Pan
Piglet's Big Movie
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pokemon Heroes

Returner
Rugrats Go Wild

Scary Movie 3
Shanghai Knights
Sinbad
The Singing Detective
Spy Kids 3: Game Over
Stuck on You

Terminator 3
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Timeline
The Triplets of Belleville
28 Days Later

Underworld

Whale Rider
Willard

X2: X-Men United

Television series links

Reference sites

These sites have a wealth of information about many television shows.

• SFTV
• TV Tome
• The Voyageur TV / DVD Briefs

Other Hugo nomination sites

Check out other lists to see if you agree with their recommendations:

• Emerald City
• NESFA

My past recommendations:   Top TV episodes of 2002

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Now it's your turn

The most important link in this article is to the 2004 Hugo nomination online form. Hopefully you will have gone through the recommendations and research resources to come up with your own opinions. Again, only those who were members of Torcon 3 (if you've mislaid your Torcon membership number, here's a list) or who are members of Noreascon Four are eligible to nominate for the awards.