scifi

Netflix Stream Team – a family pick of scifi, history and humour

Netflix Stream Team – a family pick of scifi, history and humour

nao

So far this Irish Summer has been a bit of a washout. As I type, the wind is howling and the rain is sheeting down. We brave it when we can, and, when we can’t, we come up with indoor activities to amuse us. Sometimes though, there is nothing for it but to take out the blankets and turn on Netflix.

Here are some of our viewing recommendations this Summer. I’ve noticed a bit of a trend when comparing the adults choices to the children’s… both seem to include scifi, history and humour – not a bad mix!

THE CHILDREN

Scifi – the  children were delighted to see Guardians of the Galaxy come to Netflix (this movie has a 12s rating) and it has already served them well as a ‘movie night’ option with friends.

Tech – We have introduced a bit more coding in the house this Summer, after a wonderful introduction from Galway’s Coderdojo classes. The children have loved the hour of code and have completed the Minecraft and StarWars challenges. This has sparked their coding imagination, and now they have found Gaming show (in my parents’ garage) they are completely hooked.

Gaming show IMPG

History – Horrible Histories is a constant entertainer in this house, even the adults have watched most of the episodes. It is amazing how the children are quoting historic facts, learned from the programme. When they finish the series they just start again from the beginning.

Humour – Apart from the giggles they get from Horrible Histories, the children are also loving the newest series of King Julien. I often pop my head in the room to find three laughing children snuggled on the couch.

THE ADULTS

Scifi – we stumbled across a scifi film called Push and loved it. It certainly deserves more than the three stars it currently has in the rating. The movie is about people with special powers, some can read minds, see the future, implant memories in people’s heads and move objects with their minds. And when the good guys and the bad guys have similar talents the story line keeps moving at quite a pace.

History – I am lucky if I get near the remote control these nights, since the second series of Marco Polo arrived on Netflix my husband has been binge watching. He is curious about the Mongol empire and enjoys the way the drama is portrayed.

Humour – The full second series of Better Call Saul is now available on Netflix. Although the plot thickens and the story gets a little darker, there is still plenty of the humour that so impressed us from the first series.

bettercallsaul

Image credit: Ben Leuner/Netflix

Regardless of what we watch, we usually round off the night’s viewing with a good belly-laughing episode of The Big Bang; It is consistently brilliant!

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Disclosure: As a member of the Netflix Stream Team I have received a year’s subscription to Netflix, free of charge, and an Apple TV, for streaming purposes. As part of Netflix Stream Team I will be posting regular updates on what we are watching and what is on offer.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Netflix Stream Team – the SciFi edition

Netflix Stream Team – the SciFi edition

nao

I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of Tom Cruise (to put it mildly) so I resisted for a while when Oblivion came up on my Netflix profile; eventually curiosity got the better of me though and, once I got over the Tom Cruise bit (which took about 20 minutes), I actually quite enjoyed the movie.

oblivion

One of the few remaining drone repairmen assigned to Earth, its surface devastated after decades of war with the alien Scavs, discovers a crashed spacecraft with contents that bring into question everything he believed about the war, and may even put the fate of mankind in his hands.

I find that SciFis are often just a repeat of a similar theme, but this one had an original story and that’s what I liked about it. Worth watching, and, if you actually like Mr. Top Gun then you’d have a BIG bonus!

Then there is The 4400 and Heroes… they definitely have what it takes to lure you in until you are hooked and tempted to watch them back to back. Both with a common theme, people with special powers, how we love them and fear them all at the same time. I love the concept of real life superheroes and the humanness of how they are ultimately seen as a threat. I would recommend them, but be warned… the 4800 series was never finished… I discovered this at series three (of five) and pulled out cold turkey style. I couldn’t take the possibility of being left hanging in mid-air, in the middle of some crisis, with the lives or well being of characters I had grown to love and loath sitting in the balance. No doubt I missed some excellent episodes by pulling out when I did. I have been reliable informed that Heroes has an actual ending!

The 4400
The 4400

And of course I have spotted that Netflix has Alphas, another great series along the same theme and another one likely to draw you in. I saw some of these episodes before we had Netflix so I’m delighted to see that I can jump right back in there, and with the control of pause, rewind and back to back episodes. Netflix… I love you!

Netflix, you know me well. I have just spotted a new SciFi type series appearing on my time line. It will be released on 5th June but your ruse worked, I watched the trailer, it’s one big juicy carrot! When I saw that Sense8 is created by the people behind The Matrix there was no more convincing needed… the date is in my diary.

Here is the trailer in case you are as easily tempted as I am…

Disclosure: As a member of the Netflix Stream Team I have received a years subscription to Netflix, free of charge, and an Apple TV, for streaming purposes. As part of Netflix Stream Team I will be posting monthly updates on what we are watching and what is on offer.  All opinions expressed will be my own.