Dungeons and Dragons: you've probably heard about it at some point in popular culture, that weird board game where it's a bunch of people sitting around a table pretending to be elves and wizards and whatnot. Probably sounded weird and boring to play, even more-so to watch. Critical Role turns all those preconceptions you might have on their head: the players are all veteran voice actors who love to get into character, make each other laugh and create plenty of moments of genuine emotion, drama and intensity. The best way to understand it is to imagine the show Friends, but each of the main six actors writes the script for their own character and the plot is dictated by an equal sharing of their actions, the plans of the head writer and the random chance of the roll of dice, adding a level of unpredictability and suspense that is unmatched by any other form of media. Throughout the show's run, there have been countless moments of excitement, hilarity, horrible tragedy and heartwarming triumph, powerful moments dealing with family troubles, overcoming trauma, self-esteem, loss and more. The show has had such an impact that when they decided to make an animated series retelling their adventures, the Kickstarter campaign met its goal in less than a day, hit 10 times that by the end of a month, and was later picked up for full funding by Amazon.
If that's starting to interest you, but the depths of the show's archive seems daunting, that's understandable: the show is currently pushing over 200 episodes across two seasons at an average of 3 hours a piece, so this is definitely something you're not binging entirely though over a weekend. But if you're just looking to try it out before diving into the deep-end, the cast has also done a number of "one-shots" where they make new characters and have a (relatively) short one-episode adventure, the best of which can be found here. Once you're feeling up for it, I highly recommend starting right at the beginning here; though it technically starts in the middle of a story, (the cast originally played the game at home before being approached by a friend to broadcast their games on Twitch), they give enough context that it's not too hard to get acclimated.
I'm a big fan of channels with the "video essay" format, which manage to be both enlightening, through discussions of philosophy, writing, media criticism or current events, and entertaining, with visual aides, skits or witty editing to supplement their discussion. All the channels I list here have some great, thought-provoking content, so even if it seems like their topics might not be of interest to you, give them a try and they might just surprise you; they've certainly surprised me from time to time.
Extra Credits- video games, the messages and meaning behind their design, and their social and cultural impact.
Highlights: Enriching Lives, Tangential Learning, Incentive Systems and Politics, Light in the Dark (Souls), A Teachable Moment, World of Warcraft Epidemiology
Extra History- retellings of the people, places and events throughout history, both the great and the lesser-known.
Highlights: The Warring States Period, Admiral Yi, Urbino, The Articles of Confederation, Julie d'Aubigny
Extra Mythology- retellings of stories within ancient myths and religions, showcasing some really wild stuff.
Extra Politics- an examination and discussion of our political system from a game design perspective and ways to fix its issues.
Innuendo Studios- features two series discussing the origins of and philosophy behind social and political issues, specifically Gamergate and the Alt-Right.
Philosophy Tube- philosophical discussions of a wide range of modern issues, from politics and gender to personal rights and mental health.
Lindsay Ellis- critical media analysis of movies, books and television
Highlights: The Case for Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Revisionist World of Disney, The Complex Feels of Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Hobbit, We Need to Talk About Game of Thrones I Guess
Super Eyepatch Wolf- critical media analysis of manga and animated television, with some forays into video games and professional wrestling. Pays particular attention to the craft of creating such media, such as panel layouts and character design.
Highlights: The Genius of Dragon Ball, Why You Should Watch Samurai Jack, The Fall of the Simpsons: How It Happened, The Bizarre Modern Reality of the Simpsons, The Impact of Akira: The Film That Changed Everything, Why Professional Wrestling is Fascinating
Fun Extras
Mystery Skulls- A series of animated music videos for the titular band, reimagining their songs as a story about a group of Scooby Doo-style paranormal investigators with a few skeletons in their closet. Beautifully animated and some great visual storytelling.
Special additional mention goes to Magic, which was actually done by a different person and the animation is unfinished, but still manages to convey a fantastic little short story.
TIE Fighter- a fantastic little short animated film paying homage to the excellent series of Star Wars flight sims of the late 90s.
Other Places- a series of short films exploring the fictional worlds created for video games, examining all the great details, vistas and atmosphere birthed into these imaginary worlds by their artists.
Netflix (and Disney +, etc)
The Marvel Netflix shows- Before Disney + was a thing, Marvel partnered with Netflix to produce small-screen companions to their budding film series, and while they have now been cancelled, they're still an overall fantastic collection of shows that are worth experiencing if you haven't already.
Daredevil (3 seasons)
Jessica Jones (2 seasons)
Luke Cage (2 seasons)
Iron Fist (2 seasons)
The Defenders (1 season)
The Punisher (2 seasons)
Agents of SHIELD (6 seasons)
The Marvel film series- Speaking of Marvel's movies, since they've just completed their first major story arc, now's a great time to binge through the whole thing back-to-back and in chronological order. If you're not familiar with them, it's easy to write off Marvel as just some mindless superhero action flicks to shut your brain off to, but there's actually a ton of depth, long-term planning and emotionally-rewarding character development that has gone into these films, with moments in the most recent films carrying a great deal more emotional weight and impact if you're familiar with what came before. So here's the recommended watch order, with some notes on ones that are safe to skip because of poor quality (though there were surprisingly few duds, there were a few) or lack of impact on the overall narrative:
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Thor
Incredible Hulk (safe to skip, movie was so bad they even got a new actor for the character)
Captain America
Avengers
Iron Man 3 (safe to skip, lack of impact)
Thor: Dark World (poor quality but narratively important)
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Captain America: Civil War
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Black Panther
Thor 3: Ragnarok
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Altered Carbon- A fine example of the cyberpunk genre, Altered Carbon features a world where the human mind and memories can be downloaded onto disk, making physical bodies increasingly interchangeable. While it can be difficult to recommend for its unrelentingly adult content, both violent and sexual, the show's writing, plot, world-building and characters are so well executed that it deserves at least a mention.
Almost Human- Interested in cyberpunk but want something a little less graphic? Almost Human has a fairly standard premise, a buddy cop show, with the twist that it's set in the future and pairs a detective with an android designed to be as humanlike as possible. While not particularly groundbreaking, it is incredibly well-executed, with great writing and fun characters that you'll easily have a good time with.
What We Do In The Shadows- Both a film and a television series, WWDITS is a delightfully silly documentary about the day-to-day (night-to-night?) lives of a group of vampire roommates. They were both made by Taika Waititi and unabashedly carry his signature brand of tongue-in-cheek comedy.
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