Fantasy is still going strong on TV thanks to shows like Game of Thrones and its spin-offs, The Witcher, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, among others. But before any of these, there were the classics of the ’90s like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: The Warrior Princess, and Highlander: The Series. And, alongside them, there were those that today seem to have been completely erased from everyone’s memory for all sorts of reasons. If you were born in the ’80s, you may have watched some or may have come across them at some point, but they were so good for their time, they definitely deserve to be dug out of the vault and remembered.
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If you’re a fantasy fan and want a good dose of nostalgia, you’ll find 5 of these series on this list. They may seem a little dated in some ways, but they always had good ideas and episodes that could surprise you.
5) Spellbinder
Spellbinder feels like it was made for anyone who grew up watching TV in the ’90s, not just because of the nostalgia, but because of its idea. It may not be 100% forgotten like some of the other series, but it’s definitely among the productions from that era that most people would be surprised to find someone still remembering. Its story begins when Paul, an Australian teenager, accidentally goes through a portal and ends up in a parallel reality where the Industrial Revolution never happened. There, a society known as the Spellbinders maintains its powers by using advanced technology that the people of that world believe is magic. It’s a pretty creative idea, far from generic, and the show does a great job of exploring its universe.
On top of that, it has something many YA productions from that time had that helped them stand out: no concern about carefully explaining every single thing. Fantasy can be a difficult genre depending on its mythology, but it doesn’t have to be a puzzle either. So, the whole concept behind Spellbinder is good; there is a clear goal for each character, and all the elements support the adventure. It’s not exactly perfect, but it’s definitely intriguing enough to make you want to watch more than just one episode.
4) The Adventures of Sinbad
The problem with The Adventures of Sinbad is that it came out at a time when TV was already exploding with adventure productions, and so it was inevitably pushed aside in the ’90s. Its story follows Sinbad and his crew as they travel the world, facing monsters, sorcerers, curses, and all kinds of supernatural trouble that might come their way. And each new journey can take them to a strange island, put the crew up against a different creature, or introduce some kind of magic, which makes it exactly the kind of show you could start watching without having to worry about whether you had seen the previous episode or not.
And this kind of episodic structure is rare today (if not completely extinct), which makes The Adventures of Sinbad a great choice to revisit. In fact, it’s the perfect option when you want to go back in time and relive your childhood, because it’s dated — and that’s actually a good thing in this case. The series has so much pace, so many characters, and such a willingness to simply embrace the adventure that any visual limitation, for example, doesn’t take away from the experience.
3) Roar
When you think of Heath Ledger, you probably think of his movies, but did you know he once starred in a TV show back in the day? Not many people know about it, since the production unfortunately didn’t become that successful. In Roar, we follow Conor, a young Irish prince who fights against the Roman occupation and tries to unite different clans. This premise is mixed with magic, some supernatural creatures, and Celtic mythology. Overall, it’s pretty typical of ’90s fantasy TV, but you also can’t deny that it had a personality of its own that kept it from feeling like a copy of the bigger shows. Its real problem was that it never got the chance to gain more visibility, with only 8 episodes airing before it was canceled (despite 13 having been produced).
Logically, that problem explains a big part of why it was forgotten. However, it’s worth rediscovering as it’s the perfect combo: Ledger before 10 Things I Hate About You and The Dark Knight starring in a fantasy story — a genre that, even though he explored it in other projects, was never his most popular. Roar didn’t get much of a chance back in its day, but now it would be pretty cool to see it get some attention, even if it’s just out of curiosity.
2) The New Adventures of Robin Hood
Here’s another series that was overshadowed, which is ironic given it’s a production that defined the ’90s and even featured an iconic and timeless figure. The New Adventures of Robin Hood revolves around the title character, Little John, Marian, Tuck, and all the famous characters from the legend, but the goal is not to turn the story into a serious historical drama. In this show, Robin faces tyrants and criminals, while magic regularly makes its way into the episodes (including the wizard Olwyn, who helps the group). Essentially, it’s much closer to the fantasy formula we know than to the more traditional versions of the classic, which, in this case, is what makes it stand out.
Sometimes it’s good to try to reinvent something that, for years, has always been the same thing in most versions. The New Adventures of Robin Hood takes a character everyone already knows and just makes us wonder what would happen if he were placed in an episodic fantasy that was completely symbolic of what TV was like at the time. And for a while, the series lasted for multiple seasons, but it was as if everyone preferred to pay attention to the more popular shows in the genre. But for anyone who liked (and still likes) something new and unconventional, it’s perfect.
1) The Legend of William Tell
For anyone born in the ’80s who grew up and became a Star Wars fan, The Legend of William Tell would have been the perfect show, and that’s because producer Raymond Thompson himself described the project as “Star Wars on the planet Earth.” But why would it have been? Well, it wasn’t widely known, and if it was, it would be hard to find someone who still remembers it. The idea here is to take the legend of William Tell (a symbol in Switzerland and famous for the story of the archer forced to shoot an apple placed on his own son’s head) and turn it into a big fantasy adventure: Tell and his allies face the forces of Xax and Kreel in a fictional world with magic, prophecies, romance, and the supernatural.
Basically, it’s similar to the approach of The New Adventures of Robin Hood. However, because it was based on a story surrounding a legend that wasn’t very popular, it had a limited reach, on top of the show itself being short, with only around 16 episodes. It’s truly a rarity, almost a cultural artifact, and it’s unlikely you’ll find a large group of people who actually remember watching it. The Legend of William Tell had a lot of ambition, especially considering the comparison to George Lucas’ franchise and the fact that several of its locations were later used in The Lord of the Rings, but it’s just a shame that it never got the chance to grow and gain a bigger audience.
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Courtesy of 20th Television Animation
