The Star Wars Universe
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What's Good - I love Star Wars, even the prequels, and I believe that the real thing that attracts the millions of fans of George Lucas' world long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, isn't the dialogue or the plot, but rather the impressive universe and lore that Lucas has created to inspire not only hundreds of novels, spin-offs, games and fanfiction, but the imagination of young kids and adults alike. My love of Star Wars comes from my father dutifully taking me to see the original trilogy when they were re-released in cinemas in the nineties, and since then I've wanted to be a Jedi, Bounty Hunter, X-Wing pilot, and during my riotous teenage years, a Sith Warrior. Who wouldn't want to fly around at lightspeed? Who wouldn't want to live on a planet made up of one huge city? Who wouldn't want a lightsaber or a furry friend who can rip the arms out of whoever pisses you off's sockets? I know I would.
What's Bad - So in the original trilogy, you're governed by an evil Emperor, which wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the army that used to police the Empire. Stormtroopers are generally rubbish at shooting the people that matter, can be thrown off the scent of fugitives by an old man waving his hands, and don't have any quarrels with burning people alive. If you want to be a Jedi, you have to wear girly robes all the time and seem to be banned from having any real fun. And your quality of life is probably dictated by what planet you end up on. I imagine living on Tattooine must be a pretty rough life, what with it being run by massive talking slugs, sandstorms, and slavery in open view. And unless you study the books that came after the films, you'd be hard pressed to find a good planet to raise a family on, if you were so inclined. Tattooine's out. Hoth? A frickin' ice planet. Mustafar? A world of lava. Geonosis? A rocky planet with weird bug-like locals. Coruscant works; not so much for farmers and the like. And Alderaan? Well, we know what happens there.
Middle Earth
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What's Good - The Peter Jackson films did an excellent job of bringing Tolkien's work to life, and a lot of that was down to the lush lands of New Zealand. In any case, where Star Wars has spaceships and lasers, Middle-Earth has magic, swords and mountains. If you wanted a simple life; you can drink ale and grow vegetables with the Hobbits. Mystical lands of elves such as Rivendell and Lothlorien would fill anyone with intrigue. If things that are shiny tickle your fancy, join the dwarves in the mines where hearty meals are valued just as much as valuable metals. Gondor has white buildings of grandeur, and Rohan has glorious lands stretching along the West. Watching the Fellowship traverse these lands just made me want to emigrate to New Zealand and walk the mountains and greenery on my own with a sword at my side. Weird? Maybe, I'd take it over sitting at home at a computer everyday.
What's Bad - Yeeeeah so there are creatures running around that are all about killing and eating people, and pretty unsightly to look at. Then you have these weird cloaked figures that send chills down your spine and ride around on massive winged black beasts. There are fiery demons, vicious giant wolves, gigantic trolls, and one great overlord who pretty much wants to kill everyone from his aptly named Mount Doom. And that greenery I was admiring? The trees can come alive and decide to kill you, if they so please. Lovely.
Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova regions (Pokemon)
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What's Good - The Pokemon games and cartoons were and still are one of the more popular franchises to come out of Japan, largely because of the imagination behind the monsters and the adventure that you would have to find them all. Just think; at ten-years old you're given a little companion to take out into the big wide world. With this little monster, you get to go out and capture more monsters in an attempt to bolster your party so that you can compete in battles between your Pokemon companions and other Pokemon collectors you bump into on your journey. You can prove your worth as a trainer in Pokemon Gyms or against the Pokemon Elite, or you can simply live your life with the help of your Pokemon in whatever life you choose to follow. The amount of characters that you would meet in the games or see in the cartoon who were simply living life with a Poke-pal showed how well thought-out this universe was. For people who love pets, why wouldn't you love a pet who also seems to have superpowers?
What's Bad - With all these ten year-olds running about with fire-breathing monsters, you gotta think that maybe they should have spent a while somewhere to learn a thing or two about the world around them. When I was ten, I don't think I'd survive too long out in the world alone, and if there are monsters running about that are literally three times my size, I don't think I'd feel too safe. Surely, if in our world, when a tiger gives in to the call of nature and kills some fool who tries to take a picture with it, and the tiger is eventually killed, then there must be a helluva lot of dead Arboks and Charizards around. And I'm guessing (or at least hoping) that if you live in this world, then you have to be a vegetarian, or else, what do you put in your hamburgers? Is there a special group of Pokemon collectors who only catch the tastier ones? We all know that there's a Pokemon that looks like a cow, and a sheep, and there are loads of bird-based Pokemon, so hitting Nandos would be a pretty gruelling experience. With that in mind, I would be in constant fear of living in this world, because the Pokemon in this series seem to have a certain amount of intelligence at least, and I have a feeling that once they figure out that their kind are caught, forced to live in a small ball, forced to fight one-another, or eaten, they'll go all Planet of the Apes on us and show us who's boss. That is, if they aren't all eating each other...it'd be a pretty terrifying thing to witness.
The Dragon Ball Universe
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What's Good - This franchise took up a lot of my younger life; I loved Dragon Ball Z with the grunting and quirky characters to boot. Most boys who watched it wanted to be a Super Saiyan, and have the ability to fly, and shoot lasers, and fight at the speed of sound with muscles that ripped your clothes from your body and bulged every time you tensed. And the world was pretty cool too; there were aliens, dinosaurs, magic wish-granting balls, dragons, giant beasts and a lot of humanoid animals...
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...and there are even these weird little capsule things that release everything from a motorbike to a fully functional apartment with all the furnishings...what could go wrong?
What's Bad - So if you weren't one of these special superheroes with super-strength and the ability to fly and all that jazz, then you could have a pretty normal life being...well, normal. The thing is, apparently living on a planet with such variety seems to attract people who, well, just want to destroy the world. And you know what, these magic dragonballs that grant wishes to whoever collects them all? It seems like only the superhero characters can ever find them, and these guys are hardly the great minds of our world. There should be a council, or a mass debate on whether to end poverty, cure a fatal disease...I don't know, maim Justin Bieber? But no, instead they decide to revive their most useless allies who seem to be intent on dying, all the time. Couldn't bring back someone actually important, no, just that guy who blew himself up while climbing on the back of a bald alien. Awesome.
The Black/The Firefly Universe
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What's Good - One of the most underrated and unjustly ended shows of the last twenty years, Firefly was Joss Whedon's creation after finishing with the Buffy and Angel series. Well written dialogue, lovable characters and a healthy injection of science-fiction amassed a cult following of Firefly, and I am proud to be one of these obsessive fans. The mix of western and sci-fi genres worked perfectly and had me yearning for a spaceship so I could speak like they do in True Grit, with a pistol on my hip and at the same time fly from planet to planet looking for the best way to earn some gold. It was a great story of people just battling to get by, and for the people who preferred the roguish Han Solo to Luke Skywalker (everyone) would want to live in this world too, to soar the skies, have shoot-outs and evade the authorities. And guess what. Not only is prostitution legal, but it's widespread and a respecting form of entertainment. These aren't the scary toothless prostitutes you hear about, rather ravishing, beautiful women who seem to hold a high public standing in this universe. How? Who cares! If Earth's fate really does go in this direction, I hope I'm around to see it (I won't be)
What's Bad - So yeah, the reason people are struggling to get by is because unless you're lucky enough to have grown up on one of the Alliance run planets, you have a pretty rough and impoverished life. Crime lords run the show on the outer-rim worlds, and if you weren't trying to avoid getting tied up with them, you'd be trying to avoid getting in the way of this Alliance entity that worked as the oppressive law that stamped down on the little man. But this is a mere annoyance compared to the real problem with living in this universe, the problem that scares even the gruffest of space cowboys; Reavers.
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Reavers are terrifying. To quote Zoe, if you are unfortunate enough, which is an understatement, to be caught by reavers; "...they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing - and if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order"......WHAT??!! Screw that.
There are many more worlds, but I'm out of time...add more!
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