![]() ![]() ![]() Photo: Marcos Cruz/Vagrant Productions/SYFY It’s kind of like Firefly Yet those chestnuts still feel refreshing when used to portray a relationship between two highly competent women who are willing to do anything for each other. Garrard uses some classic “will they, won’t they” tropes, like having the two characters pressed up within kissing distance while sneaking around, or having Elida repeatedly try to talk Amae out of following her, because she’s afraid the mechanic will get hurt. But there’s a charming budding romance between her and Elida, who wants to protect Amae from danger, but also shows cracks in her hardened persona whenever they’re together. ![]() While references to Valkyrie being bisexual were cut from the film, Vagrant Queen is overtly queer.Ĭhipper ship mechanic Amae (Alex McGregor) is introduced while hooking up with another woman in her shop, and she tends to find someone new to flirt with anywhere she goes. Photo: Marcos Cruz/Vagrant Productions/SYFY It’s kind of like Thor: RagnarokĪlong with being similar to Rey, Elida is also a lot like the version of Valkyrie introduced in Thor: Ragnarok: a fierce, hard-drinking woman running from her past even though it seems inevitable that she’ll eventually reclaim her former glory. By taking its time with that plot, Vagrant Queen provides the nuance the Star Wars sequels were lacking, as Elida struggles with the burden of expectations, and her reservations about trusting anyone. Both are stories of tough, loner scavengers living on scraps, even though they’re heirs to a galactic ruler with terrible power. The show is also filled with wretched dens of scum and villainy, weird-looking aliens, and dangerous monsters.īeyond that, Vagrant Queen also provides a glimpse at what Rey’s plot might have looked like if her connection to Emperor Palpatine was established in The Force Awakens, rather than feeling tacked on in The Rise of Skywalker. (Isaac even points out in the first episode how similar to Stormtroopers they are, as two different groups of good guys dress up in the goons’ uniforms for versions of Star Wars’ Wookiee-prisoner gambit. The show’s primary villain, Lazaro (Paul du Toit), is a former noble cruising around in a ship that looks suspiciously like a Star Destroyer, complete with goons in full body armor. Given that Star Wars is the world’s most famous space-opera franchise, it’s no surprise that Vagrant Queen repeatedly references it. Photo: Marcos Cruz/Vagrant Productions/SYFY It’s kind of like Star Wars Music doesn’t play nearly as big of a role in the show as it does in Guardians, but a karaoke segment in the second episode is the highlight of the season’s first half. The first two episodes even feature a tiny, highly violent dog-man who was invented for the show, seemingly as a nod to Rocket Raccoon. Much of Vagrant Queen’s story involves an extremely powerful magical rock, similar to the Infinity Stone at the center of the first Guardians film. Isaac is faithful to his wife on Earth, so he also isn’t currently engaged in a romance arc, with Elida or anyone else. Freed of that responsibility, Isaac is devoted to comic relief, serving as an audience stand-in who can comment on the craziness of the action around him while making relevant pop-culture references. In an improvement over Guardians, Elida is the center of the story, so the audience doesn’t have to ask why the group’s least competent member gets to play leader. But like Guardians’ far-from-home human mercenary Star-Lord, he’s more prone to messing things up than he is to actual heroism.Įlida’s somber, cautious attitude, impressive combat skills, and complicated family makes her feel fairly similar to Guardians co-star Gamora. Not yours.” He’s become a gunslinging scavenger in hopes of earning enough cash for a ride home to his wife and child. One of Queen Elida’s allies is Isaac (Tim Rozon of Wynonna Earp), an Earth lawyer who’s been stranded in what the show and comic just refer to as “Another galaxy. It’s kind of like Guardians of the Galaxy The series isn’t as memorable as the genre darlings it borrows from, but fans of these works might find something to love in Vagrant Queen’s low-budget, high-octane antics. But she’s added plenty of new characters and plots to stretch the content, building on aspects of the world only hinted at in the source material. Showrunner Jem Garrard put together a fairly faithful adaptation of the comic, channeling Visaggio’s goofy sense of humor and neon-hued psychedelic visual style. As the last member of her royal bloodline, she’s out to survive and retake her throne. The 10-episode first season, based on Magdalene Visaggio’s 2018 Vault Comics series, is set in a distant galaxy, where titular renegade monarch Elida (Adriyan Rae) tries to evade the forces that overthrew her family. Syfy’s space-opera TV series Vagrant Queen feels simultaneously novel and deeply familiar. ![]()
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