10 sci-fi, fantasy and history shows to binge over Thanksgiving break
By Dan Selcke
Supernatural
Supernatural began over a decade ago on The WB, an assuming post-Buffy the Vampire Slayer drama about a pair of photogenic brothers — Sam and Dean Winchester — traveling the country in a beat-up Chevy Impala hunting down monsters, ghosts, ghouls and the like, and driving them from this world.
Fifteen seasons and one network name change later, the show finally wrapped up on The CW, leaving a legacy that is undoubtedly impressive, even if the show isn’t your thing. But hey, with well over 300 episodes to sample, if it is your thing, it could keep you entertained from this Thanksgiving clear through to the next.
Like I said, Supernatural is available on normal old TV, but if you’re doing your binging on streaming services, you can find all but the last handful of episodes on Netflix.
The Expanse
If The Last Kingdom is Game of Thrones with no dragons, then The Expanse is Game of Thrones but in space. This sci-fi drama ran for three seasons on SyFy before being cancelled and picked up by Amazon Prime Video. The fourth season was a success, there’s a fifth on the way in December, and it was just renewed for a sixth and final go-round. Might as well get caught up before the big finish!
It’s the future. Humanity has spread throughout the solar system, setting up functioning societies on Mars and the asteroid belt, in addition to the people who remained on boring old Earth. None of these groups particularly like each other, and the prospect of interplanetary war is looking more likely by the day.
Plots are hatched, lines are crossed, and alliances are made and broken. We follow the crew of a small space frigate at the center of it all, going back between one group and the other in an attempt to make peace, or at least avoid apocalyptic war. It’s a good yarn with lots of intrigue, sci-fi with a human touch.