The Other Kingdom

Y' know, I find it hilarious that various adults automatically assume the worst for modern Nick sitcoms. For many people, it's "if the show was released after 2011, it's automatic dated kiddie fare" Now granted there is a pattern for how some of them contain dated jokes, unfunny humor, and characters you can't relate to, but you should at least try to give some of them a chance as there might just be some silver lining amongst the shows. Even a bad show often gets something right at some point and vice versa. But even then, there are a number of shows in this era that are actually surprisingly good and deserve to be reexamined such as "House Of Anubis", "100 Things", "I Am Frankie", "Hunter Street" and this.

Also, keep in mind that modern Nickelodeon has a notorious reputation for canceling shows after 1 or 2 seasons just because they don't become overnight sleeper hits or reach the heights of "Spongebob" and "The Loud House" (How the hell would it even be possible to be as well-known as the longest-running cartoon on the network within the span of so little time?), and then barely so much as acknowledging the show or letting others make their own decisions -- as you may have guessed this show was one of the many unfortunate victims. Having a show be canceled after a single season doesn't automatically make it "bad", it often means the network just doesn't care about it. As somebody who actually watched the series for myself, I can personally say this is one of those hidden gems with great potential that deserved so much better. If possible, you should make yourself some time to at least give this program a watch.

I honestly admit I am a fan of the show Star vs. the Forces of Evil. When I saw this thing on Nickelodeon, I actually TRIED to watch it without any comparisons and judgment of the Disney show in mind. So this review is not gonna mention anything from SvtFoE.

When I watched the first episode, the fairy princess, Astral, was so unlikable. The main/supporting characters were stereotypes with little/no interesting character (Devon's the awkward teenager, Tristan's the popular guy)

Now with the plot... It was mostly just a girl whining to her parents about not being able to see the human world. It's funny how Astral's father, the king, says the existence of fairies is to cause mischief to the other humans. Well, why is she in trouble then because SHE WAS CAUSING MISCHIEF IN THE BEGINNING OF THE EPISODE?

Also, the jokes are also awkward and not funny as well. I didn't laugh once. Well, on the bright side... It doesn't have an annoying laugh track.

AVOID THIS SHOW. If you want a good plot, you won't find it. If you want good laughs, you won't find it either.

I Have watched a lot of series (from 2014 to 2016 over 120). Is this a Super good series compare to other? Its not the best but its one of the better ones. The downside is That's short (22 times 20minutes) If there would be 10 seasons I would watch them all. If I would make a top 10 series this one is at the moment on 7 or 8 If you are looking for a series to watch as a 'younger one' I Recommend this one. I'm a 17,5 year old guy and when I watched this Series I kind of felt embarrassed but the last thing I do is Regretting Watching this. This Series is the best I ever watched for free on Youtube.

Ps: This is the First Series I Review :-) I Hope this is Useful XD Have a Nice time Watching this series (Or a other one) Bye and have a nice day.

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!)

Keep in mind that this review is coming from someone who loves fantasy/romance stories.

Never in my life have I seen such an awful show. It doesn't suffer because it's a ripoff, it suffers because it shows how dead Nick is. This show makes me cringe just by existing. But before we get into the list of shows and movies this show is ripping off, and trust me, it's a long one, let's go into show aspects. First, the acting: It's awful. The cast is dry and often looks like they don't want to be there. Even the cast hates their own show! Now let's talk about the horrendous animation! The affects are so lazy. It looks like used an iOS app or an Apple computer to edit the show. It's absolutely horrible! And then there's the concept. It's all just the stereotypical "girl falls in love with a boy and a mean girl automatically hates her and makes friends with the weird outcasts" It's over used, dry, and boring. I'm willing to bet that this was basically the stereotypical teen sitcom, and decided to add magic "as smart decision" Newsflash: It was a stupid choice. Now for the LONG list of media this show is ripping off:

•Star Vs. The Forces of Evil

• The Little Mermaid

• Lolirock

• The Tinkerbell movies

• Star Darlings

• Sofia the First

• Wizards of Waverly Place

• Every Witch Way

• Every Disney Princess movie ever And there you go! All the reasons why this show is awful! Bottom line: It is the worst Nickelodeon sitcom ever made. And on a list of worst Nick shows in general, it's not number one, but it is EXTREMELY HIGH ON THAT LIST. It's needs to be cancelled. NOW.