Author: Tiffany Jablonowski

How far can you stretch your mind? Pushing the boundaries of our world and minds is an essential feat in science fiction, one Octavia Butler is exceptional at. In Dawn, published in 1987, Butler carries this out by creating an alien species. She imagines how humans would react to this species by looking at how we handle the differences we see in each other.

Lilith Iyapo is the heroine of Dawn, and she must face an impossible situation. She is human in a world of non-human beings. The natural, human responses of anger, fear, and desire for human companionship that Lilith has to her situation often make it more difficult for her. Yet it is her humanity — her ability to understand other humans and the very DNA her cells contain — that makes her useful to her captors. Read more …  She wakes up alone in a room after watching her entire world be destroyed. Everyone that she loves has died, and she knows, though the room has no entrance or obvious surveillance devices, that she is not truly alone. Eventually, a being enters her room, its very strangeness so repellent that she can hardly bear to be in the same space with it. The being is shaped like a human, but its skin ripples with tiny feelers. It has no eyes yet can still see her.

Slowly, Lilith becomes acclimated to her captors and comes to understand why she and other human survivors are being held captive. Her captors call themselves the Oankali and depend on genetic exchanges with other species to survive. She comes to trust that they mean to save the human species. But do their goals really match up with hers? What price can she accept for the survival of her species? And most importantly, what does it mean to be human? The thought Butler puts into exploring these questions and her characters’ responses to them made this book unforgettable for me — and hopefully will make it equally unforgettable to you

In a world of the usual bad movie releases, there also come terrible superhero reboots. Sorry DC Extended Universe, but I’m looking at you. In 2022, though, we were finally graced with what I believe is the best live-action Batman movie to date. The Batman (2022), stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne and Batman. The movie sets itself apart from all the other Batman reboots, not only because of its killer soundtrack, but also for skipping his overstated and already well-known origin story. Instead, it jump right into a case at the start of the film on one of the most haunting days of the year, Thursday, October 31st.

While yes, many other Batman films have their moments and great actors, the biggest difference between them and Pattinson’s Batman is the use of his character’s investigation skills. We still get the fun action sequences with this Batman, but the choice to focus more on his investigation and crime-solving mindset allow the film to show a new side of the beloved character — something that allows the film to be considered one of the better superhero reboots to grace our screens

Another aspect that helped to make The Batman an incredible reboot was the change in villains. For so many years, we’ve seen every Batman face multiple Jokers and a few other enemies along the way. However, with the 2022 reboot, we got to start fresh with his first on-screen villain: The Riddler.

Both of these changes in The Batman’s storytelling allowed the viewers to enjoy the character’s amazing detective skills, which were significantly lacking in other Batman movies and reboots.

Streaming on Max. 

When my family first got Netflix, I was getting off my Disney high at the time. I thought that since I was going into high school, I should start watching more mature programming. But at the time, none of those shows really appealed to me. The one show I was remotely interested in at the time was very Disney Channel-like. That show was Julie and the Phantoms, created by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, Descendants, etc).

Julie and the Phantoms centers around Julie (Madison Reyes), a teenage girl who is trying to find her love for music again after the passing of her mom. During this, she accidentally summons a ghost band from 1995, Sunset Curve. They find out when they play their music, living people can see them as if they were alive. Throughout the 10-episode series, Julie along with the three ghosts: Luke (Charlie Gillespie), Reggie (Jeremy Shada), and Alex (Owen Joyner) go through the troubles of starting their band while dealing with crushes, rivals, and a 1920’s ghost cult.

After rewatching the show, I can see why I liked it so much.

The characters were likable, the story was engaging, and the songs were amazing. There were also a lot of topics covered that usually don’t get addressed in regular kids’ media. The topic of grief is a big one, since both Julie and Luke go through the stages in their own unique ways. Another thing is Alex coming to terms with being gay and starting to fall for another ghost named Willie (Booboo Stewert). These topics felt so natural, and more kids need to see this regularly in kids’ media.

Where the show left off, Julie could physically feel the guys, while the villainous Caleb Covington (Cheyenne Jackson) possessed Julie’s crush. Things were going to get crazy, and I was excited to see where this story went. So, I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Until I read the news of its cancellation.

Netflix is notorious for canceling good shows, but this was the first time I was angry about it. Julie and the Phantoms was something special, and it could have been a huge hit. I wasn’t the only one who was mad about it, either. Many people tried to help renew it by signing petitions, but nothing came of it. All of the actors have moved on to bigger and better things, and the show is left with only 10 episodes and an epic soundtrack.

Overall, Julie and the Phantoms is a great show for both kids and adults. If anything, go listen to the soundtrack to support the actors and studio. If we see another musical TV show on Netflix, let’s pray it sticks around for a couple of seasons.

Coming from the minds of legendary British acting troupe The Six Idiots, I present to you, Ghosts! Ghosts is a British horror-comedy that follows the lives of Allison Cooper and her husband Mike after inheriting property from an unknown dead relative of Allison’s. The property is called Button House, a place with extensive history, water damage, skeletons in the basement (literally), and did I mention it’s being haunted by ghosts? Yes, Button House is haunted by ghosts, many ghosts in fact. These ghosts include a gay WWII Captain, a caveman, the most innocent Georgian-era woman who ever lived, and an ’80’s scoutmaster who was killed by his own scouts. The house is surely haunted, but Allison only becomes aware of this fact after falling from a window.

When Allison gets back home from the hospital, she discovers that she can speak with the dead, and more than that, they don’t want her there. Allison goes through the stages of grief as she navigates her new ghostly abilities and the fact that she lives with a lot more people than anticipated. Worse of all, she is also now stuck in Button House because her husband took out a tremendous amount of loans to pay for repairs on the home.

The show follows this wacky group of living and non-living roommates and explores heartwarming themes of found family, types of love, and grief. Sadly, this amazing show had its airtime cut short as the creators decided to end it after season 5 instead of continuing to a planned season 6. Luckily for lovers of the show, an audiobook and paperback book version have been made as additional material for Ghosts fans! If you don’t prefer British television, there is also an American and a German version that are still being aired.

You can watch Ghosts on YouTube or through Amazon Prime Video.

Trigger warnings: mild gore, talk of suicide

Do you like coming-of-age stories, dark comedy, and being really mad about being left on a cliffhanger? If you do, I Am Not Okay With This is the show for you! The show got a whopping one season consisting of seven 20(ish)-minute episodes before it was canceled. The story follows 17-year-old Sydney, who is struggling after the unexpected death of her father. While still dealing with the grief from losing her father, she is battling with all the things normal teens deal with: boys, acne, friends, and supernatural powers that she can’t manage and doesn’t have a clue how they came about.

Sydney is left feeling completely out of control after her father’s death. Her relationship with her mother is strained, her best friend Dina has a new boyfriend who is a jerk that takes up all of Dina’s time, and weird things have been happening around her. When Dina starts spending more time with her boyfriend Brad, Sydney is left with no one else to hang out with — until her neighbor Stanley comes into the picture, that is. Stan is the awkward loner type, but the pair hit it off and start hanging out more. With all the changes that have been happening in her life, she has had a harder time controlling her anger, and when she gets angry, weird things happen.

Objects move by themselves, Sydney gets payback on Brad for being rude, and many more mysterious occurrences keep happening until it is almost too much to bear. There are lots of mysteries, and while some don’t get answered due to the its cancellation, the show is still worth a watch for its intriguing plot line, relatable characters, and twisted humor.

Streaming on Netflix.