Saturday 26 November 2016

10 Years of the Wertzone: Listing the Classics

Occasionally I award a particularly special book, video game, movie or TV show the honour of being a "Wertzone Classic". To be a classic, the work has to both be excellent and also to have withstood the test of time and emerged as a true defining work in its field.

The following is a complete list of all works to be awarded a "Classic" award since the start of the blog in 2006. I would strongly recommend all of these works to anyone interested in science fiction and fantasy, be it in print or on screen.


Books

Non-Stop, Helliconia Spring and Helliconia Summer by Brian W. Aldiss
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
Blood Music by Greg Bear
Startide Rising and The Uplift War by David Brin
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
The Black Company, Shadows Linger and The White Rose by Glen Cook
Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney
The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
The Scar by China Mieville
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jnr.
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon
Guards! Guards!, Small Gods, Lords and Ladies and Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
The Affirmation, The Prestige and The Separation by Christopher Priest
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
The 900 Days by Harrison E. Salisbury
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny




TV Series

Babylon 5: Seasons 2-3
Band of Brothers
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1
Deadwood: Season 1
Firefly
Red Dwarf: Seasons 3-4
Rome: Seasons 1-2
Spaced: Seasons 1-2
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 3
The Wire: Seasons 1-4
Ultraviolet


Films

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi 
The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three 


Video Games

Anachronox
Company of Heroes
Dungeon Keeper
Fallout: New Vegas
Far Cry
Ground Control
Half-Life 2
Homeworld
Homeworld: Cataclysm
Hostile Waters
Mafia
Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Portal
Portal 2
StarCraft
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
Star Wars: TIE Fighter
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I like Walter Matthau as much or more than the next guy, and Robert Shaw is always good value for money, but The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three seems out of place on this list. What is it about this film that you enjoy so much?

Adam Whitehead said...

It's a very well-crafted film that's withstood the test of time. It's not deep or immensely thematically complex, but it is a damn good movie that I've introduced lots of people to and it always goes down well. And of course, it's far superior to the attempted remake.

The slightly incongruity of the list is more down to the fact that I've reviewed very few movies on the blog. There's a lot more films that would be on there if I'd reviewed them (like the movie version of BATTLE ROYALE), and I suspect some more recent movies may withstand the test of time to end up on there (like ARRIVAL).

Unknown said...

If you liked Pelham 123, and you haven't yet seen it, try Charlie Varrick for another neat turn from Walter Matthau. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069865/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_39

Anonymous said...

Why are these two titles bolded?

The Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney
Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

Adam Whitehead said...

I've waited ten years for someon to ask me that.

Bolded titles refer to series and italics to individual books. THE MONARCHIES OF GOD and DYING EARTH are series (of five and four volumes, respectively), the rest are all individual novels.

It's a format I blatantly stole from the old UK Visual Imagination magazines (STARBURST, THE CULT TIMES and TV ZONE), as I quite liked it.

Anonymous said...

Hostile Waters. What a great game. Loved it.