There are some fantasy TV pilots that simply nail it from the opening moments. Sure, they didn’t all remain high-quality shows after that first episode, but the opening moments drew us in and made us need to know more.
Fantasy covers a wide range of topics, whether it’s superheroes, ghosts, witches, vampires, or others. There can be high fantasy or low fantasy, depending on whether you want it to be completely fantastical or rooted in reality.
I have no judgment on any type of fantasy for this. I’m simply looking at the first moments of an episode to see if it’s a show that immediately got our attention, and these are the 10 fantasy TV pilots on my list.
Game of Thrones
While there is a lot of hate toward the final seasons (I’m sorry, I don’t see the finale as bad as everyone else), there is no denying that the start of the series was excellent. In fact, the opening moment of Game of Thrones is arguably what drew a lot of us in.
It opened with events happening North of the Wall. Who didn’t immediately become intrigued by the White Walkers as they saw the circle of horse heads and the attack on the men who headed out, only for just one to return alive (and to end up executed for running from his oath)?
The Good Place
Yes, this NBC comedy is a fantasy series when you consider the fact that everything takes place in the afterlife. The opening moments told us everything we needed to know about the humor in this show, and even the topics that would routinely come up.
What happens when we die? It’s the question we all ask, and within minutes, we get to see what The Good Place is all about. It’s immediately clear that Eleanor is in the wrong place, and then we’re pulled into this story of her fitting in and then finding out that something a lot darker is going on. There’s no forking way I couldn’t put this on the list.
Supernatural
I will forever be a Supernatural stan. At least, for the first five seasons. That’s the point where I like to pretend that it ended and everything else is some sort of fever dream or alternate reality. However, none of that overshadows the way Supernatural started.
Look, when you get a character burning on the ceiling and a dad desperate to get his sons outside, you just know that there’s something to keep an eye on. One of the great things is that figuring out who killed Mary would come later in the season, giving us a chance to learn about the world and the monsters before going on a mission of revenge.
The Walking Dead
Again, the series did start to go downhill around the fifth season, but the opening moments of The Walking Dead’s pilot episode gave us the horror and intensity that we would experience in the rest of the episode. It brought up plenty of questions, as we got to know a couple of questions, and then suddenly had no idea what was going on.
That was the beauty of the show. We knew there were zombies, but we learned everything through the eyes of Rick Grimes. Opening the way it did pulled us straight in and allowed us to connect to this character we would come to care about for years.
Lost
There’s no denying that the opening moments of Lost immediately had us hooked.
We got a sense of the terror and the confusion as Jack woke up and looked around at the beach. There were glimpses of some of the characters we would come to know, love, and mourn, and we got that real feeling of dread as everyone realized what had happened and the people they had lost. This set things up for the confusion we would feel for six seasons as we learned what the island was and what happened to everyone.
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Once Upon a Time
How would someone not know that they are a mother? I think that’s the first question we had as Henry came to Emma to say, “You’re my mom.” That look on her face suggested that she had no idea that it was possible, and we instantly wanted to know more.
Of course, it was quickly explained. She knew she had a kid out there, but she put him up for adoption. However, Emma quickly grew attached to this young boy, as she got him back home and realized that there was much more to the town that he lived in. It really was a town of fairytales.
Stranger Things
I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Stranger Things, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the opening moments. Whenever there’s a sudden disappearance from something unknown, I do end up wanting to know more. I want to know what type of fantasy creature has been introduced.
Stranger Things does that. To top it off, it’s a kid that we watch just cycling down the road in a time that is supposed to be safe. We’re instantly worried for the other kids in the story, so why wouldn’t we be hooked?
The Wheel of Time
I’m still salty that The Wheel of Time was canceled, and the opening moments of the show continue to be those that I think about. This is one of those high fantasy shows that immediately set the tone of what to expect and established the world.
To be honest, I’m not usually a fan of narration in a show, but The Wheel of Time worked, as it gave us a look at the power of the Dark One and the powerful but ancient struggle against him. We had that knowledge that would set up the tension for the seasons to come, as the hunt for the Dragon Reborn.
Good Omens
Again, while I’m not a fan of narration to tell a story on screen, sometimes, it just works. And that was certainly the case with Good Omens, as we got a look at the world where the apocalypse is about to happen. One of the great things is that the narration brought us the wit that we expected for the rest of the story.
The opening moments set the tone while introducing us to the world. We got that contrast between mundane and fantasy, creating a comedic touch to what should have been a dark story.
Orphan Black
Finally, we come to a TV series that was a masterpiece from start to finish, and it all began with those opening moments. Orphan Black didn't give us any time to process what was happening, pulling us into the world that the main character, Sarah, was pulled into.
How would you react if you got off a train one day to see your doppelganger? And how would you feel if that doppelganger took her own life right in front of you? Those are the questions we immediately needed answers to, and we were hooked for the rest of the story as we learned more about this world, the clones, and so much more.