My Favorite Obscure Stories About Heroes

This week on the podcast we talked about superpowers. This concept always amazes and fascinates me. I love reading stories and watching shows about superheroes. Some of the most popular shows and movies today are about superheroes and I love them, especially Marvel Superheroes. X-Men, to be exact. While popular, Marvel superheroes are not my favorite superhero stories. I prefer some of the everyday stories about heroes not necessarily wearing capes.

My favorite obscure TV shows about heroes:
The Gifted: Remember this show? It exists in the X-Men universe. It’s about two parents who go on the run after discovering their children have mutant abilities. The show aired for two seasons on Fox and I was enthralled by it. I enjoyed the everyman aspect of the father (played by Stephen Moyer) discovering that he had mutant children in a world where mutants are hated. The concept applies to real life where anything different than the normal is generally hated. I felt like the show was canceled too soon, and I found both seasons to be enjoyable.

Heroes: Heroes is, and always will be, one of my favorite superhero shows. The show is about ordinary people who discover they have extraordinary abilities told in a comic book style. Some of my favorite characters include Syler (the villain turned hero), Peter (the hero with all of the abilities), Claire (the strong cheerleader), and Hiro (the man who could stop time). This show, in my opinion, emulates the rise and fall of good television and the pressures of some stories to remain popular after they have outplayed their popularity. It also represents how a show cannot bounce back from unfortunate events. Altogether, the show boasted five seasons aired on NBC including a short-lived reboot series. The fate of this show was purely circumstantial, and I believe that it could have been a longer-lived show if the second season hadn’t been a victim of the 2007-08 Writers’ Guild of America Strike.

Alphas: Alphas is a superhero/crime drama that follows a group of individuals with superhuman abilities as they investigate the crimes of other “Alphas.” This show aired on the Syfy network and only lasted two seasons as well, despite having a great cast led by David Strathairn. Unfortunately, as with the cast of a lot of TV shows that I like, the show was a victim of the second season rating slump after starting strong. What I liked the most about the show was that it was action-packed and the superhero element wasn’t at the forefront of the story as the main characters worked for the department of defense and aimed to take down terrorists.

My favorite obscure movies about heroes:
Push: Push is a 2009 movie about ordinary people with superhuman abilities banding together against a government agency seeking to enslave them to create super soldiers. In my opinion, this movie does not get the credit it deserves. It also boasts an all-star cast including pre-Captain America Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning. The film didn’t do well at the box office and it earned a B movie rating, but I still enjoy watching it. This is another low-budget wasted potential project that let the backstory and character development fall through the cracks in the editing process. 

Chronicle: Chronicle was a beautifully filmed found footage movie following three Seattle seniors (including Michael B. Jordan) who gain telekinetic powers from an unknown object. They begin to chronicle their rise to superherodom until one of the three boys begins to use his powers for evil. What I like most about this movie is that it shows the dark side of having superpowers and flirts with the thin line between good and evil with a single act.

The Watchmen: This is another film that shows the dark side of having superpowers. This movie is set in the alternate historical year 1985 and follows the second generation of superheroes called The Watchmen during a time when it is illegal to be a superhero (or vigilante). The movie was beautifully filmed and features one of my favorite actors, Jeffery Dean Morgan. Although the film didn’t get much credit for the masterpiece that it is, it did spawn a TV show that aired on HBO and lasted one season.

My favorite obscure book series about heroes:
The Darkest Minds: The Darkest Minds is a young adult series by Alexandra Bracken about a group of children who develop psychic powers. The children were rounded up by the government and placed in rehabilitation camps. The story centers on Ruby, who can control people, which makes her one of “the darkest minds.” Ruby escapes from the camp with the aid of a group that seeks to advocate for psychic children, but at the same time, use them for political reasons. The series follows Ruby as she runs from the government and tries to free her fellow teens from rehabilitation camps. I enjoy this story because it takes a different perspective on unwilling superheroes and illuminates the struggle a teenager goes through to be seen and heard in a world that takes teenage voices for granted. In 2018, a movie version of the first book in the series hit the theaters to bad reviews and criticism.

Dark Visions: This is one of my favorite young adult series by L.J. Smith. The series follows a group of teenagers living in an institute for psychic abilities. As the series progresses, the teenagers learn that the institute only exists to use the teens’ psychic abilities as weapons for unnamed corporations. The story centers on Kaitlyn, who can see the future. Kaitlyn and the other members of the institute escape and join with allies to help defeat the institute and their army of dark psychics. The first book in the series was the first of many books I read by L.J. Smith and it quickly became a favorite series of mine. The series features a cast of characters from many interesting backgrounds and perspectives and focuses on the dark side of human experimentation.

Dirk and Steele: “The Dirk and Steele” series is an adult romance series by Marjorie M. Liu. The series follows a supernatural detective agency called Dirk and Steele and its various members with hidden supernatural abilities as they navigate the modern world in hopes to make it a better place. Each book in the series focuses on a different character, and as the series unfolds, the secrets of Dirk and Steele unfold as well. I like this series because it perfectly mixes science fiction, fantasy, and romance. Each book has a powerful storyline and a unique perspective from the main character.

Stories about heroes, villains, and vigilantes continue to fascinate me, especially the obscure ones that sometimes fall through the cracks. I want to hear from our readers. What are your favorite superhero movies, books, or tv shows? Do you like mainstream superhero stories or obscure ones like I do? Let’s continue the conversation below.

Christen's Favorite Holiday Tradition

Back a couple weeks ago I was talking about my December bucket list, and some of the holiday traditions that I love. One of the newer traditions that I have stated recently is really just an old tradition that has evolved over the years, and it’s one that I seem to look forward to the most. It has kind of formed its own bucket list of sorts. Mom and I have been compiling a list of Christmas themed movies over the past couple of years, and we select certain ones we want to watch; we literally take a vote each year and plan movie nights together. Please tell me other families are as neurotic as mine? So far we have watched the traditional movies everyone knows and remembers as well as some not-so traditional holiday movies. The debate is still up about some of them like Diehard and So I Married an Axe Murderer. In addition to those holiday movies, there has been a binge fest of Terminator, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. This  year I am thinking Marvel is a good idea, as my mom hasn't even seen Aquaman yet!

This nonsense all started with those old Christmas movies that I grew up watching, like the stop motion The Year Without a Santa Claus or the animation Frosty the Snowman, both of which were produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. Anyone my age can recall watching these films growing up. They originally aired on TV, and still do if you keep an eye out for them. We even watched them in school countless times.

As I got older, I wanted to watch more and more of the holiday films and I discovered Hallmark one lazy afternoon. My best friend and I sat at her mom's house one day from morning till night watching back to back movies. The three of us snuggled up on the couch just lazing the day away, each dozing off into tiny naps. I have to have my snuggle days in the winter time, I guess the combination of the weather and warm drinks and food that just make me want to hibernate. What’s more enjoyable than cuddling up on the weekend and watching some cheesy holiday movies? Once I discovered the ridiculousness of Hallmark Christmas movies I was hooked! 

I try to watch as many Christmas themed movies as humanly possible during the holiday season. It does take some planning if you need to include the kids or want to have a holiday watch party. If you are flying solo, Hallmark takes the guesswork out of it. There is basically a new movie every two hours all day every day. If you have a DVR you can record the ones you miss while at work. If you ditched cable or can’t seem to get in sync with the network channel and you need your movie fix ASAP, Netflix has been really pulling out the stops for their holiday movies. Last year, we enjoyed Klaus, Jingle Jangle and Christmas Chronicles 2 as a family. I also enjoyed watching all of the Princess Switch movies. If you have children in your watch party, I recommend spending about 10 minutes on Netflix adding all the holiday movies to the watch list on the kids profile. This will keep the movies streaming for hours. I especially like to have these on while I am doing my holiday baking, because I have seen them all a thousand times and don’t have to be 100 % engaged. I can sit down, watch a few minutes of Home Alone in between cookie batches while I rest my feet.

This year, I am also excited to bring out all of the old Christmas classics from the 70’s that my husband and I enjoyed growing up that I mentioned earlier. My mom recently cleaned out her movie collection and gave us all of the VHS tapes, and she had all those favorites. We plan on blowing the dust off of the VHS player soon and popping those babies in for some throwbacks!  If you are interested in looking up the old animated films that we all loved to watch growing up, here is a great list of holiday themed movies; just scroll down to the 'Television Specials' graph and you will see all your favorites and more. 

What is your favorite holiday movie? Do you think Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Let me know of any little gems that aren't as mainstream because I have the desire to watch them all and want to add them to my Ultimate Holiday Movie List – Coming soon!