Best movie or TV show in a subgenre.

List the subgenre first and then the movie or TV show. The subgenres do not have to be established, you can make up your own as you go along. Just as long it is a theme that has recurred in a good amount of movies, but not in too many movies. The category crime is too broad, but a heist category isn’t. At the same time, the category Cannibal helps the FBI is too narrow, but Films or TV shows about the FBI is O.K.

Middle Earth - LOTR.

Office comedy - Office Space.

Mafia - Sopranos.

City police - The Wire.

High School - Freaks and Geeks.

Time travel - Terminator II.

Comic book adaptation - Sin City.

Hitman - The Professional.

Top Secret Agent - Nikita (sorry Bond).

Considering that Tolkien invented the term “Middle Earth” for the location of his stories (It’s not a ttranslation of “Midgard”, and, although there are similar terms, AFAIK only Tolkien uses this one), this pretty much narrows the field to adaptations of Tolkien, with the only other contenders being Ralph Bakshi’s version of LOTR and the Rankin-Bass versions of The Hobbit and Return of the King. Sounds pretty narrow to me, with weak competition. I think you want to broaden this subgenre a bit.

Best submarine movie: The Enemy Below

Runners up: Hunt For Red October
Torpedo Run
Run Silent, Run Deep

Best Medical Show: House
Best Portrayal of a Doctor: Hugh Laurie
Best Animated Series: The Simpsons

I always thought that middle earth was about any medieval looking place with magic. Thanks for correcting me.

So change the first entry to:

Medieval looking place with magic - LOTR.

Bah! “Das Boot,” all the way. The others are cartoons by comparison.

Honorable mention: Star Trek TOS, “Balance of Terror,” which was a sub movie set in space.

High School (student)- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seasons 1 - 3

High School (teacher) - Teachers

College (serious) - The Paper Chase

College (not-serious) - Animal House

“Middle-earth” isn’t a literal translation of Midgard, but it’s probably the best translation for our purposes, and Tolkien wasn’t the first to come up with it. Middel-erde is the Middle English attempt to translate the name. “Middle-earth” is simply the modernization of that, a fairly straight-forward progression. Makes sense since Tolkien was, in essence, created a mythology for England. And for more of my choices:

Medieval Fantasy - A Song of Ice and Fire (That’s not intended to be a knock against Tolkien. I just feel his masterpiece achievement wasn’t LotR, but something a bit broader than his very strange novel.)

Created Mythology - Middle-Earth (though he doesn’t have much competition there, does he?)

Time Travel - 12 Monkeys

Comic Book Adaptation - Ghost World (with American Splendor a damn close second).

Submarine Movie - Das Boot

Space Western - Firefly

Galactic Empire - Dune?

Superhero - Superman? (first movie)

Comedy Sci-Fi - Hitchhiker’s Guide (book(s))

Evil Robots - Battlestar: Galactica (new)

Best new Pilot: Heroes

Best Time Travel: Time Bandits / Back to the Future

Best Bond: Roger Moore [sup]couldn’t resist[/sup]

Best Space Western – Outland
runner up – Total Recall

Best Comedy Sci-Fi – Buckaroo Banzai

Best Time Travel – Brazil

Best Comic Book Adaptation: Hellboy

Best Galactic Empire movie: Tie: Star Trek and Star Wars

Best Erotic Thriller: Demonlover

Is there a “Teachers” that I’m not aware of? The only one I can think of involved two teachers playing golf through the school and others drinking beer in the school.

-Joe

Agreed, here. If you’re not talking “Das Boot” you’re not talking submarines.

FTM, “The Hunt for Red October” isn’t even what I’d consider a classic submarine movie - it’s a cowboy movie involving ships that sink on purpose. It’s a fun movie, but not the helplessness, cat & mouse, and endurance that I consider to be definative for the true submarine story.

I’d also like to see Murphy’s War as an honorable mention.

More than that, it’s The Enemy Below set in space.

Best time Travel: Blink (TV - Doctor Who episode first aired 9 June 2007)
Best submarine: another vote for Das Boot
Best anti-submarine: The Cruel Sea (book and film)
Best fantasy comedy: Discworld (books)
Best space opera: Nova (book - Samuel R Delaney)

I don’t remember time travel in Brazil. Perhaps you’re thinking of 12 Monkeys? (Same director.) If not, then that’s my pick.

Also:
Police drama: Homicide: Life On The Streets

Best 70s softcore sexploitation detective movie: The Abductors

Best HP Lovecraft-inspired horror movie: Dagon

Teachers

A dedicated but burned-out teacher, an insane patient who becomes a substitute, JoBeth Williams topless…and it actually manages to encapsulate our lives quite well, sometimes.

Ah, thank God. I thought you were referring to Teachers, whose only positive was that it had Sarah Alexander in it.

-Joe

Movie based on a TV show: Star Trek II-The Wrath of Khan

Movie based on a TV show (non-ST category): Mission: Impossible

Best parody of a sub-genre: Back to the Beach

Vermin film: Willard (the original)