Sunday, January 2, 2022

My Saturn Award votes versus the winners for National Science Fiction Day 2022


Happy National Science Fiction Day! I foreshadowed today's topic on Boxing Day, when I told my readers "I plan on covering this year's Saturn Awards winners on National Science Fiction Day, January 2, 2022" as the first Sunday entertainment feature of the new year. Follow over the jump the comparison between my votes and the actual winners.


MOVIES

Best Comic-to-Motion Picture Release: My vote — Joker; actual winner — Joker. One for one.

Best Science Fiction Release: My vote — Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker; actual winner — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Two for two. This is the big winner among the movies with five awards, which is why I used the image above to introduce this section.

Best Fantasy Film Release: My vote — Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood; actual winner — Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood. Three for three.

Best Horror Film Release: My vote — Doctor Sleep; actual winner — The Invisible Man. Three for four. Despite my vote going to a loser, this result heartens me, as "The Invisible Man" won Best Horror Movie at the Critics Choice Super Awards and I was very tempted to vote for it even though I hadn't seen it. Maybe I should have.

Best Action/Adventure Film Release: My vote — 1917; actual winner — Mulan. Three for five. I'm not surprised, as "Mulan" had more nominations than the rest of the nominees in this category and I didn't think "1917" would win.

Best Thriller Film Release: My vote — Knives Out; actual winner — Knives Out. Four for six. This is the second biggest winner among movies and also won one of the home entertainment categories for a total of four, which is why I illustrated that section with a promotional image for this film.

Best Actor in a Film: My vote — Joaquin Phoenix (Joker); actual winner — John David Washington – Tenet as Protagonist. Four for seven. I thought Washington was one of the major alternatives to Phoenix, but I didn't think enough of the Saturn electorate would choose him. Surprise!

Best Actress in a Film: My vote — Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man); actual winner — Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man as Cecilia "Cee" Kass. Five for eight. I'm glad, as I thought the Saturn electorate would pick Margot Robbie in a match-up of Critics Choice Super Awards Best Actress winners, Moss for horror movies and Robbie for superhero/comic book movies.

Best Supporting Actor in a Film: My vote — Adam Driver (Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker); actual winner — Bill Hader – It Chapter Two as Richard "Richie" Tozier. Five for nine. I thought Hader, as gifted a comic actor as he is and a two-time Emmy winner, was over-matched in this field. I was wrong.

Best Supporting Actress in a Film: My vote — Ana De Armas (Knives Out); actual winner — Ana de Armas – Knives Out as Marta Cabrera. Six for ten. Here's to De Armas earning more accolades for her role in the James Bond film "No Time to Die."

Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Film: My vote — Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit); actual winner — Kyliegh Curran – Doctor Sleep as Abra Stone. Six for eleven. I'm not surprised, as I thought Curran was a worthy choice and she won the only award for "Doctor Sleep."

Best Film Director: My vote — Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood); actual winner — J. J. Abrams – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Six for twelve. Very definitely the popular choice over the professional one.

Best Film Screenplay: My vote — Joker (Todd Phillips, Scott Silver); actual winner — Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Six for thirteen. Looks like the original screenplay won over the adapted one.

Best Film Editing: My vote — Knives Out (Bob Ducsay); actual winner — Bob Ducsay – Knives Out. Seven for fourteen.

Best Film Production Design: My vote — Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (Barbara Ling); actual winner — Barbara Ling – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Eight for fifteen. From here on, my batting percentage goes downhill.

Best Film Music: My vote — Parasite (Jaeil Jung); actual winner — John Williams – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Eight for sixteen. Definitely the popular and nostalgic choice.

Best Film Costume: My vote — Jojo Rabbit (Mayes C. Rubeo); actual winner — Bina Daigeler – Mulan. Eight for seventeen. Not surprised, as I thought this would be the Saturn electorate's choice. They like flamboyant costumes.

Best Film Make-Up: Maleficent: My vote — Mistress of Evil (Arjen Tuiten, David White); actual winner — Amanda Knight and Neal Scanlan – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Eight for eighteen. Not the professional choice, but not a bad one, either.

Best Film Visual / Special Effects: My vote — Tenet (Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher, Mike Chambers); actual winner — Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Eight for nineteen. Like music, definitely the popular and nostalgic choice.

Best Independent Film Release: My vote — Palm Springs; actual winner — Encounter. Eight for twenty. Who?

Best International Film Release: My vote — Parasite; actual winner — Parasite. Nine for twenty-one.

Best Animated Film Release: My vote — Frozen II; actual winner — Onward. Nine for twenty-two. The actually went for the professional choice over the popular one. Surprise!


TELEVISION

Best Superhero Adaptation Television Series: My vote — Watchmen; actual winner — The Boys (Amazon Prime Video). Nine for twenty-three. Since "The Boys" would have been my choice in a normal year as well as a four-time winner at the Critics Choice Super Awards, I'm not unhappy about it.

Best Science Fiction Television Series: My vote — Westworld; actual winner — Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access). Nine for twenty-four. The Saturn electorate rallied around "Star Trek: Discovery" to resolve the matchup created when the two science-fiction television series categories merged.

Best Fantasy Television Series: My vote — Outlander; actual winner — For All Mankind (Apple TV+). Nine for twenty-five. I thought "Outlander" would win again and didn't even consider "For All Mankind" a contender, not least of which because I consider it a science fiction show, not a fantasy. Surprise!

Best Horror Television Series: My vote — Lovecraft Country; actual winner — The Walking Dead (AMC). Nine for twenty-six. Not the least bit surprised. This will be a very different category in two years once "The Walking Dead" has finished its run.

Best Action/Thriller Television Series: My vote — Better Call Saul; actual winner — Better Call Saul (AMC). Ten for twenty-seven. I'm glad to be on the right side of the vote again.

Best Television Presentation (under 10 Episodes): My vote — The Mandalorian; actual winner — The Mandalorian (Disney+). Eleven for twenty-eight. And I expect season two to give "Star Trek: Discovery" a run for its money at the next Saturn Awards.

Best Animated Television Series: My vote — Rick and Morty; actual winner — Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Disney+). Eleven for twenty-nine. Not surprised, as I wrote "the Saturn electorate loves animiated 'Star Wars,' so 'Clone Wars' has a good chance of winning." By the way, this victory gave "Star Wars" as a whole seven trophies, the most for any franchise. DC Comics came in second with four, while "Star Trek" had three.

Best Film Presentation on Streaming Media: My vote — Enola Holmes; actual winner — Enola Holmes (Netflix). Twelve for thirty. Whew!

Best Actor on a Television Series: My vote — Sam Heughan (Outlander); actual winner — Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: Picard (CBS All Access). Twelve for thirty-one. Not surprised, as Stewart was my second choice.

Best Actress on a Television Series: My vote — Regina King (Watchmen); actual winner — Caitríona Balfe as Claire Fraser on Outlander (Starz). Twelve for thirty-two. Definitely the popular choice over the professional one, but I'm happy for Balfe, who won over an excellent field and was one of the two actresses I thought was most likely to win. So was Starz, who I remarked was apparently the only channel or network bothering to run an awards campaign. They even acknowledged her win with this image.


My wife and I are looking forward to "Outlander" returning this year, ending the "Droughtlander."

Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series: My vote — Doug Jones (Star Trek: Discovery); actual winner — Doug Jones as Saru on Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access). Thirteen for thirty-three. I tweeted to Jones three years ago that if more professionals voted, he'd have a better chance of winning. He liked that tweet. Since then, he's won twice. I wonder if he took my advice to recruit more professionals as voters?

Best Supporting Actress on a Television Series My vote — Tessa Thompson (Westworld); actual winner — Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow / Frost on The Flash (The CW). Thirteen for thirty-four. A surprise to me and definitely a fan choice, not a professional one.

Best Performance by a Younger Actor on a Television Series My vote — Isa Briones (Star Trek: Picard); actual winner — Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore / Stargirl on Stargirl (DC Universe). Thirteen for thirty-five. Not surprised. I expect the same people who voted for Panabaker above and Cryer below voted for Bassinger.

Best Guest Starring Performance on Television My vote — Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Picard); actual winner — Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor on Supergirl (The CW). Thirteen for thirty-six. Well, at least Cryer is a pleasant surprise, as he conveys the character's intelligence and menace well.

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HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Best Classic Film DVD/BD Release: My vote — Robocop (Director’s Cut); actual winner — Dr. Cyclops (Special Edition).

Best Television Series DVD/BD Release: My vote — The Librarians: The Complete Series; actual winner — Creepshow (Season One).

Best Film Collection DVD/BD Release: My vote — Hitchcock: British International Pictures Collection; actual winner — Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 (The Criterion Collection).

Best 4K Film Release: My vote - Jaws 45th Anniversary; actual winner - Knives Out.

I got none of these right, so my record ends up as thirteen out of forty. While that's fewer votes that agree with the winners than two years ago, the 32.5% success rate is not much worse than my previous 34.9% because the number of categories went down as well. Still, I have a lot of room for improvement. Here's to my votes being more in line with the winners at the next awards, whether through my better judgment or through better able to pursuade other voters. Either will work for me. In the meantime, congratulations to all the winners!

Previous entries about the 2021 Saturn Awards
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