The Great 'Which Universe Would I Rather Inhabit Tournament' Semi-Final 1

The Great 'Which Universe Would I Rather Inhabit Tournament' Semi-Final 1

We've reached the final four here - some strong contenders are already out (Star Wars being perhaps the biggest upset), but there's no doubting the pedigree of the semi-finalists.

Before we begin, I was meant to say which time period I would have preferred to live in for each of the losers in the last round, which I promptly forgot to do (except for Heroes), so for completion's sake:

Star Wars - Right after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, just so I could help build a new future and join Luke Skywalker in training Jedi at the Jedi Academy that he would undoubtedly found (well, he did in the Expanded Universe of course, but will he in the films?).

Ultima - It would have to be during the Age of Armageddon, with the rise of the Guardian, as I know that period best through the Ultima Underworld games, and Ultima VII.

Marvel - Just the good old present. Nothing more to say.

Anyway. That's over and done with.

Let battle commence.

Buffy vs The Elder Scrolls

Universe of slayers, vampires and magic vs Universe of heroic adventurers, dragons and magic.

As I've already made arguments for why these two universes are awesome twice now, it's hard to think of new reasons, although it's good to have a new opponent to play off against. It's really a case of deciding do I want to live in a fantasy world set in our universe or a fantasy world set in a made up universe. Let's analyse that for a minute, just to help us along, because that's the key issue that will decide the winner here.

There's something that has always appealed to me about discovering that magic and demons exist in our universe, right from when I was a child. When I played with my friends and we pretended to be wizards and other fantasy creations, it would always be set in our reality, rather than making up our own fantasy land (although many computer games that I loved were set in fantasy lands). Getting very deep and philosophical here, I've always thought that one of the main reasons I love fantasy so much is that I have absolutely no spiritual or religious belief in anything out of the ordinary, so a fantasy world is my way of imagining something other-worldly in the same way that a religious person believes there is more to this world than we can physically see. So, to believe that our world contains these fantasy elements but I just haven't discovered them yet contains great appeal - to be part of the part to stop them, even greater so.

On the flip side, going off to a fantasy land completely different to our own takes that imagination to the next level, and the explorer/adventurer in me has always loved this part of gaming, television and film. Yes, you can encounter fantastical beasts in our world if it takes on a fantasy element, but think of the look of a fantasy land, particularly it's cities and environments - we have some stunning places to visit on Earth, many that feel other-worldly, but a fantasy world takes these to the next level. For example, take the floating mountains in the film Avatar - they're inspired by the Chinese Zhangjiajie Mountain range, which are an absolutely stunning set of mountain peaks, shooting up into the sky like vertical columns, but Avatar takes that to the next level by having them float in the air. A fantasy world takes the best of our world and cranks it up a notch. Even if a fantastical place suddenly appeared in the real world on a show like Buffy, it wouldn't really be our world any more - it would have become a place of fantasy. To me, it's not so much those fantasy creatures that make it a fantasy world - it's all about the setting.

So, where does that take us to? Well, at heart, even though experience has taught me that the slightest fright tends to have me curling up in a ball whilst still standing, I like to think I'm an explorer/adventurer. In my imagination at least. I like to travel to a new world, knowing that I'm lost in an adventure in a world I could never hope to visit, and for this reason, I'm going to have to send The Elder Scrolls through to the final. Any time Buffy loses out is a sad occasion, but an Elder Scrolls victory means that the joy outweighs the sadness. I just can't shake the feeling that I'd prefer to be exploring the lands of Tamriel and undertaking quests than I would stopping vampires and demons in our world. Hell, I'd be guaranteed to come across all these fantasy elements in Tamriel; there's no guarantee I'd ever even discover a vampire in this universe. Especially if Buffy is doing her job properly.

Winner: The Elder Scrolls

Red Dwarf	Heroes	Buffy	Elder Scrolls
Heroes
Buffy	Buffy
Battlestar Galactica
Star Wars	Star Wars	Elder Scrolls
Aliens
Elder Scrolls	Elder Scrolls
Terminator
Narnia	Ultima	Star Trek
Ultima
Star Trek	Star Trek
Middle Earth
Firefly	Marvel	DC
Marvel
DC	DC
Doctor Who