Below is a list of the best fantasy TV series like “The Tenth Kingdom” and “Once Upon a Time” in the fantasy genre.
Tell Me a Story (2018 – present)
What the series is about: In each episode of the series, three main storylines are intertwined at once: the story of a couple who decides to get married and three men who decide to rob a jeweler. The girl who, after the death of her mother, moved to New York and started a forbidden relationship; brother and sister who take refuge from justice.
Why it is worth watching: all the acting characters are analogs of the characters from the well-known fairy tales, and the plot lines are fairy tales, but in a different, and not always positive, version of reading.
Alice in Wonderland / Alice (2010)
What the series is about: Modern Alice lives with her mother and meets a boyfriend. After another date, the latter offers her a hand and a heart, but the girl refuses and, in order not to give him hope, decides to return the donated ring. On the way to his house, she discovers a mysterious white rabbit, follows him and, passing through the mirror, finds herself in a completely different, but so familiar to us all world – Wonderland.
Why you should watch: This series, although it has many references to the original work of Lewis Carroll, is not an accurate adaptation of the book. Nevertheless, the director of the series, Nick Willing, has already dealt with the fairy tale about Alice. 10 years before the release of the mini-series, he filmed it in the form of the film “Alice in Wonderland”, which closely followed the plot of the original.
The Tenth Kingdom / of The 10Th Kingdom (2000)
What the series is about: Our time. Virginia lives with her father Anthony on the outskirts of Central Park in New York City. One day, while heading for the robot, she accidentally knocks down a stray dog. The girl takes him with her and soon her life is gaining rapid and absolutely fabulous momentum: a strange man pretending to be a wolf tries to eat her grandmother, her father is drugged with fabulous beans, and three strange, either a bum or a troll, are hunting with might and main for no less strange , and already her dog.
Why watch:The Tenth Kingdom is undoubtedly the best guide to classic fairy tales in their natural habitat. There are no allusions or readings in a new way, except, perhaps, the first episode. The main characters, traveling in a parallel almost-like Middle Ages, stumble upon what remains of the life and reign of all famous heroes – Brave Jack, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, etc.
Haven (2010 – 2015)
What the show is about: FBI agent Audrey Parker arrives in Haven, a small town in Maine, in search of a fugitive. Over time, she learns that Haven, seemingly the most ordinary and unremarkable town, has long served as a haven for the most unusual, dangerous or very strange people. The locals call their peculiarities “troubles” and are waiting for the savior, who, in their opinion, is Audrey.
Why it is worth watching: if the works of Stephen King could be called fairy tales, then in this series, the plot of which is based on King’s story “The Boy from Colorado”, there are many vivid references to heroes and places from the writer’s works.
Grimm / Grimm (2011 – 2017)
What the show is about: Modern Portland. Murder detectives Nick Burkhardt and Hank Griffin begin to investigate strange and mysterious crimes that look more like stories from children’s fairy tales than ordinary, average murders.
Why watch: “Grimm” is a classic police procedural, where each new episode is a story about a separate crime that detectives have to solve. The peculiarity of the series is that all crimes are tied to the fabulous plots known to us, most of which are taken from the collection of the Brothers Grimm.
Penny Dreadful ( 2014 – 2016 )
What the show is about: Victorian England. Lord Malcolm Murray decides to assemble a team of people whose exceptional talents must help in the search for his daughter Mini, kidnapped by the sinister Master.
Why it is worth watching: the heroes of “Scary Tales” – Van Helsing, Dracula, Victor Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and others, although they are not real heroes of fairy tales, are so deeply rooted in pop culture that they can easily compete with the latter. After all, both the first and the second have a well-known book primary source and special popularity among readers.
Once Upon a Time (2011 – 2018)
What the show is about: Emma Swan lives in Boston and works as a collector. On her 28th birthday, a son, a 10-year-old boy Henry, whom she gave up for adoption, is announced on the girl’s doorstep. He convinces Emma to take him to his foster parents in Storybrooke, on the way, revealing that all the inhabitants of the city, including his family, are once fairy-tale heroes who have fallen into a trap and are forced to live in a place where there is no happy ending – in the usual modern world.
Why watch:“Once Upon a Time” is not only one of the longest-running fairy-tale series, but also the most famous. It is noteworthy that there is not only a modern reading or a classic plot from a book. The story of each fairytale character is told in two dimensions at once: how he was in the magical world, and who he was forced to become in Storybrooke.
Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (2017 – 2018)
What the show is about: The world of Philip K. Dick, based on many interesting stories, comes to life through the adaptation of the most significant of them. In the episode “Hoodman”, based on the writer’s story of the same name, we see a world in which people live without the use of modern technology, but have telepathy.
Why watch: “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams” is an anthology series based on the stories of the famous Philip K. Dick, an American science fiction writer, whose plots could be called a fairy tale four decades ago, but now, in the era of augmented reality , high technologies and theories about parallel universes – do not sound so fabulous.
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (2013 – 2014)
What the series is about: Victorian London. Alice, a young and attractive girl, is undergoing compulsory treatment, because in her, as doctors think, crazy stories, there are living playing cards, talking animals and other, no less fantastic details of Wonderland.
Why Watching: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is a spin-off of Once Upon a Time, which focuses entirely on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Nevertheless, despite the fairly high-quality scenery, as well as a simple but beautiful love story, the project did not find the glory of its predecessor, and was closed after two seasons.
American Gods ( 2017 – present)
What the series is about: The main character, Shadow, just got out of prison. He was released a few days earlier, but he still did not have time to see his wife, so one day earlier she died in a car accident. On the loose, the Shadow meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who draws the Shadow into a war between the gods.
Why Watching: American Gods, based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, is more enticing than any of the above series despite its rather muddled plot description.
