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| Khaleesi ain't nothin' to fuck with. |
Between Jan 23-29, IMAX screens will show the final two episodes of Game of Thrones fourth season (I gushed about it already). Not only that, the showings will contain an exclusive trailer to Season 5 of the series. I'm sure the "exclusive" trailer will make its way online eventually. All else aside, I'm absolutely going to see this. Game of Thrones is an incredibly cinematic show on its own, but it will be further enhanced to show "Watchers on the Wall" and "The Children" with proper IMAX quality. How many times will I see this? As many times as my wallet and every day activities allow me to.
I started thinking, what other shows would benefit from an IMAX viewing experience? I thought of 7. Remember, this isn't about what is most likely to be shown but rather – in no particular order – what I would like to be shown on the biggest screen possible.
Firefly - Serenity/Out of Gas
No, not the movie. Firefly isn't quite as cinematic as some other shows on this list. The pilot "Serenity" almost plays as a feature film with some surprisingly cool visual spaceship chases. Then follow the pilot up with the other best episode of the series, Out of Gas, which details how the crew of Serenity came to be. It leaves the audience with a warm feeling and we're all reminded of how much we love this little show about a ragtag mishmash of space pirates. Damn you, Fox.
LOST - Through the Looking Glass/The Constant
There hasn't been anything like LOST. It inspired cardboard copies with every show billing themselves as "the next LOST" but nobody captured that excitement, the intrigue. What LOST always excelled at was the giant season finales. Man, those things packed a punch. LOST aired on ABC and it still had the feel of a cinematic experience. None broke ground in that department more that Season 3's "Through the Looking Glass" an episode that had everything from great action to heartbreaking goodbyes.OR, get really ballsy with this concept and show what is arguably the most mindfuck episode of television in the history of the medium. If you haven't seen LOST, WATCH LOST, just so you can get to this episode. "The Constant" is a beautiful, scary, Twilight Zone-esque episode of a show that never failed in revealing a new aspect of mythological storytelling.
Angel - Not Fade Away
To date, I've never seen a show pack as much emotion as Angel did in its finale. Hell, Angel strayed away from its own central conceit in Seasons 2-4 and still managed to tie it all back for a great final season and, in my opinion*, the best television finale of our time. Angel was in a constant state of evolution when it was on air, but this was ultimately a crime noir with a vampire. What better way to celebrate that with a series finale that calls back assassination sequences like The Godfather?*It's not so much opinion. I've never heard a convincing argument for another series finale being better than Angel's. Buffy was the better show but Angel's finale wins by several miles.
Avatar: The Last Airbender -
Sozin's Comet (Phoenix King, Old Masters, Into the Inferno, Avatar Aang)
Oh, Avatar franchise. How I miss thee already. TLA's finales always aimed for more cinematic scopes than most animated series; For my money, only "Sozin's Comet" gave me a feeling like I was watching Star Wars or Lord of the Rings for the first time. Don't get me wrong, the others were pretty high fantasy in their own right (it's Star Wars with kids and even Eastern philosophies so yes you should watch it). The difference is that "Sozin's Comet" is basically structured as a feature length movie. It's a perfect series finale and deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible down the road. |
| "And this is for slashing our budget!" |
Legend of Korra -
Any Book Finale OR Beginnings
If you don't like The Legend of Korra you can go fuck yourself. I kid, but even if you weren't head over heels for it like I was/am, we all know the action in this animated series could rival anything brought to us by the crew on The Raid films – only with more bending and spirit shaplooey. Unlike TLA, Korra's finales all felt too big for the small screen. Book 1 ends with a battle for Republic City, similar to The Dark Knight Rises. Book 2 culminates with the spirit world and human world being merged together and a kaiju fight that is actually thematically resonant (Like, did we all just forget how good Book 2 got at the end?). Book 3's finale was more personal but it brought us the best action the series ever offered, with Korra and Zaheer chasing each other through the air as the young Avatar cut a mountain in fucking half to throw at the terrorist. Book 4, well along with being action packed as hell, it also ends with the most progressive moment in animated television history.OR you could show the history of the original Avatar, Wan (Like ONE, get it?). "Beginnings" is probably the best episode of any animated series and is on some par with the best of Hayao Miyazaki's works. There's no wrong choice here.
Flash/Arrow - Flash vs Arrow/The Brave and the Bold
Superhero television has never been better. That's not setting the bar very high, but if you told me Green Arrow and Flash would have commercially and critically successful shows while maintaining good quality 5 years ago, I would've said you were insane. Were there any better episodes than the two-part crossover event for both series? Maybe. But only these episodes gave me the same feeling I had when I came out of The Avengers (different quality, but I only wanted both series to focus on crossovers from now on). From teaming up to fight fun villains, to fighting each other in the streets of Central City, the Flash/Arrow crossover is what superhero fan dreams are made of. The actual DC Cinematic Universe hasn't hit these heights since Nolan's Batman Trilogy.
Agents of SHIELD - What They Become
It's already part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Why not get people pumped for the Inhumans by showing the episode that fully introduced them to the universe? Season 2 has been such a vast improvement over season 1 (I generally liked it and grew to love it). Part espionage, part treasure-hunting adventure (The search for the lost city was straight-up Indy), this show would rock the big screen. The production isn't quite there yet, but if it's all connected, let it be even more connected on the big screen.
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