So... apparently, I'm the first person in years who's done a review on this show due to its lack of proper exposure. And just in time for the show's 6th anniversary. Well... here goes everything.
Look, I get that a lot of people tend to give Nickelodeon sitcoms, or "Nickcoms" as I call them, a lot of flak for their unfunny humor and unsympathetic characters, dated pop culture references, forced laugh tracks, and the like, to which I say, as someone who actually watched a couple of these shows for myself, I can't say I completely disagree with them. I'm not a huge fan of Henry Danger's first few seasons and The Thundermans I could do without, and you couldn't PAY me to watch Game Shakers again.
But, even with all that, I was able to get past some of the bad stuff for some of those. And then I decided to re-watch a series I remember seeing some time in 2016. And I had definitely noticed that it was pretty different from most of the sitcoms on the network, seeing as it didn't have a laugh track and it contained actual continuity, instead of things instantly being forgotten. Also, no forced attempts of trying to be "cool" or "hip" with the kid and teen audience, so that's a good sign.
The basic premise is that it centers around a fairy princess of a nature-themed kingdom who's set up to become the next ruler of her homeland, although she becomes curious about life in the human world (and gets a crush on a teenage schoolboy), and gets a chance to experience life in the human world as one of them for 90 days, after which she'd have to make a choice between whether to return to her homeland and be the next ruler or stay in the human world forever.
Now, a number of reviewers have called this show a rip-off of a Disney Princess movie and especially Star vs. Evil since that series was on the air at the time. Although, there's a difference between actually stealing from another work and simply being inspired, and it's clear that TOK was taking its own route. But alas, so many people judged the book by its cover and some turned away from the show within its first episodes, without giving it a chance. In fact, someone here called the lead character "unlikeable" for wanting to go her own route and complaining, to which I say: there's a new term out there, it's called "character development". Give the girl some leeway and a chance to prove herself and show what she's capable of.
...speaking of the characters, I was quite pleased with what they did a lot of them. Princess Astral is an optimistic, warm-hearted, and loving girl who initially came to the human realm because of her crush on Tristan, but that became less important as she becomes her own independent woman to the fairies and inhabitants of her realm. Plus who could dislike a girl who loves nature so much? Her half-fairy-half-troll cousin Brendoni started off as a mischief-loving troublemaker who doesn't like "others" viewing them as foolish and mainly seeing them as his to mess with, but would slowly come to genuinely care about Devon and the others and would become a rather good and loyal friend to the group (while still partially keeping his mischievous side), coming to care about the "others". Even Winston (a British exchange student who was supposed to go to a normal high school, but got stranded in Athenia) went through an arc where he grew to care about nature and gain some self-esteem and bravery, while also showing empathy and caring about others. And a lot of the other characters are great too. Morgan and Devon are great friends to Astral with their own unique personalities and quirks, and Tristan seems to have an interesting backstory and is shown to be a very nice guy (and gets a shocking twist at the end of Season 1) despite him not getting a lot of focus, and it's nice to see parental figures in a teen sitcom that AREN'T inept or embarrassing.
Now as for the plot itself, the majority of the episodes are fairly episodic where Astral learns a major lesson from the human world and records it into her crystal. Most of the lessons are actually pretty significant and some that most people would take for granted. Although there is this overall lore about humanity's relationship with fairies and how the fairies had to go into hiding after the humans made a mess of their land. And to this day, the fairies mostly live in fear of humanity as they know what they're capable of. Unfortunately, the show never really gets to explore this concept too much, thanks to the show's abrupt cancellation and not getting enough time to explore the history of the kingdoms properly, so yeah... thanks for that.
Apparently, the network didn't have much faith in the series as it was quietly canceled after a single season, despite all of the unresolved plot points and unanswered questions. I personally see this as a great injustice considering a show with lore such as this sounds very promising. And I won't even get into all the Shakespeare references. I think this was supposed to be one of those shows that starts off slow-paced but slowly starts to get into worldbuilding lore and begins to find its voice a reach a mainstream audience. It's not too late to make this happen for real.
Paramount+, if you're getting this review, this is a Nick series that could actually use a revival sometime in the near future. In fact, the show could actually benefit from one. All the show needs is more respect and attention. Plus, a series that portrays a positive view of nature and discusses humanity's reliance on technology, deserves some merit for that alone. How often do hear that concept in kids' media? There are a lot of open ends and opportunities for potential storylines and character arcs. Plus we still need to see what Astral's final decision's going to be between the human world or her homeland. There are too many loose ends for the show to just end here. Give this (unfortunately) short-lived series a watch sometime and see why it deserved a proper wrap-up. Also, feel free to look at this petition and sign it if you want to see more content from the show: chng.it/ryYMFLTZyv
Thank you for your time, and for reading this lengthy review. (Also, you better look into this, because I lost all my progress typing this review once, and it took me all day to redo this!)
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