Shōgun
I remember in the old times, in the early days of Game of Thrones, when you got to watch a show that was thrilling, and clever. It had the right level of historical inspiration without being awkwardly bound to real history.
I’ve told everyone who will listen that Shōgun is like Thrones back then... but I think I’m short-changing Shōgun with that comparison. It’s almost certainly better than that.
Why am I even bothering to write this, when the show’s greatness is self evident from the myriad awards it has won and critical reception it has received? It’s not entirely clear to me. But I’m not going to bother pointing out all the fantastic things about it, not even Anna Sawai, despite her just being heart-achingly compelling. Let’s just take that as read.
Instead I’m going to say, Shōgun feels like science fiction, in the best way possible.
I assume in part, this is because all my favourite science fiction stories were inspired by this history. Multiple dominant empires vying for control of their domain. A mysterious new civilisation being discovered for the first time. Clashes of both cultures and technologies. People finding themselves unexpectedly changed by new perspectives.
So if that sounds like the sort of stuff you’d like to watch if it involved spaceships and alien planets... don’t go shunning Shōgun.[1]
- I swear, the whole post wasn’t just to lead into a shit pun. ↩︎
