'Dune: Part Two' vs. 'Wicked' and 'Star Trek' vs. 'Doctor Who' among Hugo Award nominees for dramatic presentation

As I promised yesterday, I'm covering the Hugo Award nominees for dramatic presentations and video games as the first Sunday entertainment feature of August. Here are the nominees for those categories from Twitter/X and the Hugo Awards website.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Dune: Part Two, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Legendary Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures)
• Flow, screenplay by Gints Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaža, directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio)
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, screenplay by George Miller and Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• I Saw the TV Glow, screenplay by Jane Schoenbrun, directed by Jane Schoenbrun (Fruit Tree / Smudge Films / A24)
• Wicked, screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, directed by Jon M. Chu (Universal Pictures)
• The Wild Robot, screenplay by Chris Sanders and Peter Brown, directed by Chris Sanders (DreamWorks Animation)

I'm going to be a good environmentalist and recycle from 'Dune: Part Two' at the Critics Choice Super Awards: "Picking the winner is trivial; it will be Dune: Part Two." It's won the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation over I Saw the TV Glow and Wicked, which answers my gripe about Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie at the Critics Choice Super Awards that "This could have been a more interesting contest if the Critics Choice Association (CCA) had nominated Wicked." At least some of the writers will vote/have voted for the Hugo Award, too. Electorates matter, and I'm not expecting a different fan choice to win like last year.

[T]he Hugo Awards staged a revenge of the nerds by awarding Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves the rocket trophy. This reminded me of the Saturn Awards voters voting for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny over Barbie for Best Fantasy Film. I guess Barbie was too much of a normie movie for the nerds' and geeks' tastes.

I think the fans will vote for Dune: Part Two.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• Fallout: “The Beginning” written by Gursimran Sandhu, directed by Wayne Che Yip (Amazon Prime Video)
• Agatha All Along: “Death’s Hand in Mine” written by Gia King & Cameron Squires, directed by Jac Schaeffer (Marvel, Disney+)
• Doctor Who: “Dot and Bubble” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Fissure Quest” created by Mike McMahan and written by Lauren McGuire based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Brandon Williams (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: “The New Next Generation” created and written by Mike McMahan, based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Megan Lloyd (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)
• Doctor Who: “73 Yards” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)

This category poses more of a challenge. While Doctor Who “Dot and Bubble” and all of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 earned nominations at the Nebula Awards, since both franchises have two nominees, they might suffer from vote splitting. If so, it will open the door for either Agatha All Along or Fallout, winners of Best Superhero Television Series and Best Science Fiction Television Series at the Saturn Awards, respectively, to walk through and claim the rocket trophy. If so, I think it will be Fallout. If not, then I predict it will be the Doctor Who episode, “Dot and Bubble.”

Best Game or Interactive Work

• Caves of Qud, co-creators Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinblat; contributors Nick DeCapua, Corey Frang, Craig Hamilton, Autumn McDonell, Bastia Rosen, Caelyn Sandel, Samuel Wilson (Freehold Games); sound design A Shell in the Pit; publisher Kitfox Games
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard produced by BioWare
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom produced by Nintendo
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes produced by Simogo
• Tactical Breach Wizards developed by Suspicious Developments
• 1000xRESIST developed by sunset visitor 斜陽過客, published by Fellow Traveller

1000xRESIST was the only game nominated at the Hugo Awards also nominated at the Nebula Awards, but I don't think that will sway the fans because they probably weren't playing it. Instead, they'll vote for a game they actually played. Based on watching streamers on Twitch, I think the most played games in this field were Dragon Age: The Veilguard and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Between those two, I'd vote for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, as popular and fun as the Zelda games are.

I'm making an observation on Best Related Work before I conclude this entry. I suspect r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge will win, but I'm rooting for “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson. It's her second Hugo nomination, and it examines an experiment that apparently succeeded critically but definitely failed commercially. Since Disney is in business to make money, it closed.

That's a wrap for today's Sunday entertainment entry. I plan on following through with "something...historical" tomorrow by embedding Bright Sun Films video on TGI Fridays bankruptcy. Stay tuned for the Retail Apocalypse!