The Other Kingdom is a live-action fantasy series. It was created by DHX Media and aired on Nickelodeon. The first and only season has a total of 20 episodes.
The show follows the fairy princess Astral, who is sent to a human world high school as part of an exchange program for 90 days, after which she must choose to stay in the human world and become human, or go back and eventually assume the throne of Athenia. For her time in the human world, Astral takes the place of a foreign exchange student named Winston who is sent to Athenia in her place. From there, typical high school hijinks ensue, as well as an overarching plot about Astral's decision to stay in the Other Kingdom or claim the throne.
Most of the series is available to watch for free on Dailymotion
.
This series contains examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Thanks to the show's abrupt cancellation after one season, there are a ton of storylines that were set-up but didn't get properly resolved, or in some cases, never even started.
- It seems like there was going to be a storyline involving Versitude and her plans for "aligning the kingdoms" which she had sent Oswald to assist with. But aside from a few lines during the last two episodes, we barely get any information or context on Versitude's or King Reed's plans.
- The Season 1 finale ends with Tristan finding out he was the long-lost prince of Spartania (although he knew he was a fairy all this time) prophesied to bring chaos to Athenia, and that his father was the Spartanian King. Although he clearly doesn't want to follow him or bring chaos to Athenia. Had the series been allowed to continue, Tristan would have had quite a compelling storyline with Athenia and Spartania's frosty relationship.
- The final episode has Winston receive a fairy heart from Oberon and Titania as a reward for taking part in saving Athenia from destruction, which would make him unable to lie and ensure he "has empathy for the broken, cares for the world and faces all difficulty with courage". What exactly he's going to do with the fairy heart is anybody's guess as we never get any proper closure for Winston's story arc.
- Since Devon's father is a fairy, and his (unseen) mother was a muggle, this makes Devon a Half-Human Hybrid who's part fairy. The show's established that fairies aren't born with their powers or their wings, rather they gain their powers and grow their wings at a certain age but the exact age differs from fairy to fairy. Devon potentially growing wings in the near future was mentioned in some lines of dialogue, but the arc seems to get abandoned midway, and it certainly doesn't get a resolution.
- Devon had previously got to see King Oberon (who's also his uncle) after the latter showed up at the Quince residence to have a talk with his brother Petrithon (Devon's father). Oberon also stated that he feared Devon would grow up to follow his father's footsteps and harm the environment, which Astral would have to talk him out of and convince otherwise. It seemed as if Oberon was learning come to terms with him and accept Devon as his nephew. But once again, the plotline never resolves itself.
- Petrithon, Oberon, Titania and even Oswald have all been on their own other walks long before the events of the main series, with Petrithon even staying in the human world and giving birth to Devon. Although, not much is known about Oberon, Titania and Oswald's "other walks", which the series doesn't get around to explore.
- Aesop Amnesia: No matter how many times Astral messes things up or screws others over, she could never quite learn that charming people and forcing love and adoration towards others (and especially towards herself) is never a good idea. Granted, Astral's a teenager and she never actively tries to bring harm, but she'd always try to justify her attempts and doesn't take responsibility for her errors.
- Alpha Bitch: Haily Grimm, who wants Tristan by her side as she climbs the social ladder and is determined to prove there's something weird about Astral.
- An Aesop: Astral's misadventures in the human world throughout the show would often have some of a moral that she (and occasionally other characters) would learn. They'd often be referenced during Astral's crystal recordings and end (and sometimes beginning) of certain episodes, for Athenia to learn from.
- The New Kid: Everyone's trying to fit in somehow and it's okay to have someone to help guide you, but you have to make sure you know the right people to trust, and recognize when someone's just using you and isn't a true friend.
- Thanks a Latte: People are always shifting emotions rapidly. This often creates friction towards others, which is a usually bad thing, but sometimes when things come together in the right way, it could create something special. The results are very unpredictable.
- Witch!: Various events and outcomes that may at first seem bad usually have a silver lining, or an upside or opportunity to take advantage of. You just need a new perspective and this events can often turn out to be a good thing.
- Cold Season: Be aware when you're feeling sick or unwell and don't force yourself to work if you don't think you can handle it.
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Friendship is important. It helps carry you through life and is people at some of their best. Don't take it for granted.
- I Got This: You can't force someone else to love you. It needs to happen naturally; You shouldn't try to be someone that you're not as your unique traits are what make you special.
- Trouncing the Council: Sometimes you have to do what's right, rather than taking the easy route.
- Let There Be Cake: It's okay to reveal a truth to someone else, but you need to take into consideration just how the other person will rather to finding out said truth. Not everyone will handle the reveal very well.
- Get a Job: Nothing in life is free.
- Bad, Bad Fairy: Winning can be a powerful thing, but you shouldn't let a victory corrupt you into becoming insensitive to those around you.
- Love Hurts: When someone makes up their mind about something, it's difficult to change their mind. Thinking before you do something may occasionally be a good thing, though it's usually not. Trying to change someone's mind doesn't always work, but when you know something's very important, nothing should stop you from doing what's right.
- You Can't Go Home Again!: Even though different people come from different cultures, they all share the same emotions and there's no reason you can't get accustomed to the changes and get along.
- Cliff Anger: Having a powerful position is a huge responsibility, and you have to make sure to look out for others, especially if they can't defend themselves. You have to sacrifice on own wants for the needs of many, and places your team/group before herself, even if it means making a decision you may not be comfortable with.
- Bag of Holding: When Astral first arrives in the human world in the pilot episode, she's seen unpacking various clothing from a medium-sized handbag... but then she's also seen pulling out a lamp of all things that should not have been able to fit in the bag. This should have tipped Devon off that Astral wasn't an ordinary girl.
- Become a Real Boy: Astral wants to learn about human ways and is excited to become human and live life without the use of her powers... although that's easier said than done.
- Breather Episode: "Get a Job" and "Bad, Bad Fairy" serve as a pair of light-hearted, low-stakes, relaxing episodes, especially since they take place right after Devon discovers Astral's a fairy and right before Athenia ends up back in danger and Mr. Quince's true identity is revealed.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: Fairies are shown to be incapable of telling even a white lie, meaning they have to speak what's on their minds. It seems that this trope only applies to the fairies, as trolls and elves are shown to be capable of lying.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Astral's emotionally torn apart over whether she should stay in her magical kingdom of Athenia to be their newest queen, or stay in the human world to live as an "other" forever. Part of the show's central conflict is how she'd have to make a choice after 90 days.
- A Day in the Limelight: "Let Their Be Cake" has Astral's story about her journey in the human world get mainly pushed aside briefly with Hailey getting a larger role in the episode.
- Dénouement Episode: Season 1's penultimate episode, wraps up Mr. Quince's storyline of nearly bulldozing Evermore Woods and destroying Astral's homeland. The season finale (Hidden in Plain Sight) is a light-hearted episode where the main teen cast prepares for and goes to their high school dance, although let's just say... there's a reason the episode's called ''Hidden in Plain Sight''.
- Dodgeball Is Hell: "Bad, Bad Fairy" plays on this where Morgan's shown to have a fear of dodgeball, and Astral lets her pride get to her head after winning a game. She quickly becomes one of the class's best players, but Morgan feels like some kind of darkness was taking over her.
- Double-Meaning Title: The Other Kingdom can naturally refer to the fact that there's a second kingdom away from the magical land of Athenia, but the more subtle meaning of the title is that said kingdom's inhabitants are referred to as "others" by the Athenians and Astral's journey to the human world is about her getting to properly learn about humanity's nature.
- The Ending Changes Everything: The ending reveal that Tristan is a fairy himself puts everything he does in previous episodes in a new light.
- Evil Chancellor: Versitude is a female example, secretly wanting the kingdom for herself.
- Exact Words: Being a fairy, Astral's incapable of lying or any major dishonesty, which makes it very hard for her to keep a secret — including keeping her fairy status under wraps. To get around this, she tends to make vague terms which are technically true, just not the full truth.
- Despite posing as Devon's foreign exchange student from England, she never actually says she's from England or that she was British. Devon instantly assumed that was the case due to her arrival.
- Prior to Morgan and Devon learning her secret, Astral secretly enchanted three girls to fall in love with Devon. But the spell's only temporary, and when it wears off the next day — leaving Devon confused as to how the girls forgot who he was — Astral stated that enchantments didn't last forever. Morgan quickly assumed she meant fairy spells, but Astral quickly follows up with "love", as in "Love [didn't] last forever". In this case, both were on the right track.
- When her cousin Brendoni first arrives in human world and has to stay at Devon's place, Brendoni tries to craft an explanation for his presence without mentioning anything related to Athenia or his status as a fairy-troll, so he claims Astral's parents sent him there... then Astral finishes his statement, claiming he was learning about "different cultures". Considering he was sent to learn about the "others" and how much they and the fairies needed each other, this is technically correct.
- When Cliff acts snobbish towards Tristan and claimed that Astral had asked him (Cliff) out, much to Tristan's surprise, Astral would later try to clarify things with Tristan, while also stating that Cliff was simply "the son of one of [her] dad's business associates", and that they weren't actually lovers. This is technially true, considering Cliff's father was Spartanian King Reed, who worked with her father — the Athenian King. Not that Astral mentions this part.
- Foreshadowing: Compared to a lot of the other students who get caught up in Astral's hijinks involving her fairy magic, Tristan's nearly always unfazed by any of it. He always stays calm, and even as he becomes aware that Astral's a Weirdness Magnet, he never holds a grunge on Astral, even when she messes up, and he still remains great friends with her, unlike say... Hailey. This actually makes sense, considering Tristan turns out to be a fairy himself.
- Forgot About Her Powers: "Trouncing The Council" has Astral, Brendoni and Morgan needs to get into Mr. Quince's workplace to stop construction from taking place in Evermoor Woods — where the main tree, containing Astral (and Brendoni)'s homeland is. Except the room where Mr. Quince was holding the conference was locked from the outside, but Astral notices a nearby vent and she and Brendoni crawl through it, clearly being cramped inside, as a means to get directly above the room. Apparently, Astral and Brendoni forgot that they could simply transform into small fairy sprites and fly through the vent. It's more efficent and they wouldn't be so camped in there.
- Friendless Background: Morgan once told Astral she didn't have a lot of friends growing up, and her father would give her a book about fairies and tell her she'd never be lonely if she believed in fairies, as a way to console her, which is how she gained her obsession over anything-fairy related.
- Girls Love Chocolate: Astral's seen eating for the first time at the beginning of episode 3, and she loves every second of it, especially she's never had access to any during her time in Athenia.
- I Am Who?: Tristan turns out to be the lost prince of Spartania, and Devon turns out to be a half-fairy and Astral's cousin.
- Innocuously Important Episode:
- "Get a Job" is for the most part a relatively low-stakes episode with Astral trying to find a job, so she could earn enough money to afford a dress and other supplies for her fairy-themed school dance, and a B-plot with Brendoni also looking for a job so he could afford a replacement TV set after accidentally destroying the Quinces'. ... But then the final scene of the episode shows Versitude having a chat with a mysterious hooded fairy — behind King Oberon and Queen Titania's backs — who wanted Astral out of the way so he could take over. Said fairy turns out to be King Reed of Athenia's rival kingdom Spartania, who plays a recurring antagonist role for the rest of the show. Bonus points for happening in the show's 13th episode.
- "Bad, Bad Fairy" seemed to be setting itself up to be one as well, with another seemingly harmless episode with Astral getting exposed to competitive sports for the first time, with some dodgeball, but Astral would quickly start to let her competitive side get the best of her, and turning insensitive and ruthless in the process. Morgan would notice something weird was going on with Astral and stated that she read that a darkness could take over a fairy if they weren't careful. And indeed, Astral's dark side does nearly corrupt her when she continues to play dodgeball competitively, luckily Astral's able to snap out of it in time. But the episode ends with Versitude noticing that Astral had a dark side and vowing to make it go out forever. However, we still have yet to see an episode where the "dark fairy" concept plays a major role in the story again.
- Left Hanging: The series abruptly ends with Tristan revealing to be the lost fairy prince of Spartania, forcibly getting taken to his homeland of Spartania, and Astral being forced to make a choice between her world and the other world. On top of that, there are various additional unresolved plot points that never had a chance to properly get resolved or answered, such as:
- Why exactly does Athenia hate Spartania so much? ... Aside from their arrogance and snobbiness.
- What exactly went down to cause the fairies to isolate themselves from humanity or "others" as they call them? Is there some Greater-Scope Villain of the franchise? Granted, Peaseblossom briefly stated it was due to polluting the land, and overtaking it with buildings, cars and sewage forcing them to put up a wall, but it still feels like more detail could have gone into explaining the fairy world's relationship with humanity.
- What's the deal behind King Reed?
- What is Versitude's plan specifically and what was her history like?
- What was Tristan's life in Spartania like prior to coming to the human world, and why didn't he know about his true heritage prior to that point?
- When will Devon be getting his fairy powers, since his father's actually a fairy, and Astral and Brendoni are actually related?
- Who was Devon's mother?
- Who are Hailey's older brothers she mentioned in the pilot episode?
- Locked in a Room: "The Campaign" ends with Versitude locking the main cast (Astral, Morgan, Devon, Tristan, Brendoni, and Hailey) inside the school gymnasium on the day Evermore Woods was planned to be bulldozed, knowing full-well that Astral and Brendoni's powers wouldn't work during the social eclipse and that they couldn't use them to escape in time. The following episode "The Great Escape" focuses on the cast trying to find ways to escape... after everyone in the group (sans Tristan) points fingers at each other over who was to blame for locking everyone in for petty reasons. They gang would split up into three groups (Astral and Tristan would try to escape through windows, Morgan and Devon would go backstage and see if their was anything useful to help get out, and Hailey and Brendoni would try to get out through a room under the building and try to navigate their way out.) Noone's able to escape and the gang's only able to get out at all, thanks to outside interference from Gigi.
- Locked Out of the Loop: For the first half of Season 1, Devon has no idea that his "foreign exchange student" was actually a fairy princess from another land, or than her cousin was actually part-troll, or really anything relating to magic, despite his close friend Morgan knowing the truth for quite some time. This gets remedied in the 12th episode which Astral and Morgan finally open up to Devon about Astral's secret, and he faints from shock when he first finds out.
- Loving a Shadow: Astral initially loves Tristan from afar, and her main motivation to become human is in the hopes that she can get to know him as a person to see if he feels the same way about her.
- The Masquerade: Astral must keep her powers and true identity a secret from the humans.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The main trailers for the show paint the show as just another show where a teenager with supernatural powers goes to a non-magical high school. And while, sure, it is partially that, the show neglects to talk about the more serious aspects of the show, such as the Athenian setting and most of its inhabitants, and their relationship with Spartania. For example, Winston and Brendoni are completely absent for most of the show's trailers, even though they're both key players and important characters in the story. These semi-false promos are probably what turned so many people away from the show.
- New Job Episode: "Get a Job" has two separate subplots where lead characters try to find jobs. One subplot has Astral needing to earn some money in order to afford a dress for her high school costume ball, and another subplot has Brendoni accidentally damage Mr. Quince's TV set and he needs to find a job and earn enough money to get a replacement for it.
- Opposites Attract: Despite having a rough first meeting, Devon and Brendoni start to become close companions and rather fond of each other's ways, even though they couldn't be more different personality-wise — Devon's obsessed with organization and tidiness, and Brendoni's a total slob.
- Poor Communication Kills: In "Witch!", Queen Titania sternly warns Winston not to eat the Brindlebox berries as they were referred to as "The Killer Bees", but she never bothers to properly explain to him just why the berries shouldn't be eaten, and unsurprisingly, Versitude's able to take advantage of this and manipulate Winston to eating the berries and getting cursed into a semi-donkey form.
- Race Against the Clock: Astral has 90 days to decide whether to assume the throne or live out the rest of her life as a human.
- Rewatch Bonus: After you find out about Tristan's shocking secret about his true heritage and background in the Season 1 finale, all of Tristan's scenes in season 1 prior to the big reveal take on a whole new meaning.
- It also creates a minor Plot Hole, since whenever Tristan felt uncomfortable talking about a certain topic, he'd make an excuse saying he has to go [wherever] as an attempt to get away from the speaker, even though it's clearly not true. Since Tristan turns out to be a fairy — a species that's supposed to be incapable of lying — it makes the viewer wonder how he was able to do this. Although, this can be excused for 2 reasons. A) this happened before the big reveal, so it was possibly an attempt to shock the audience and B), it's only a minor case, and he never tells any absolute lies.
- Running Gag: Throughout the first part of Season 1, Hailey's aunt Maddie Williams — who's also the principal of Theseus High — would constantly be reminding Hailey to make up for her failed grade Family Studies, also the details never officially get addressed until her Day in the Limelight episode "Let There Be Cake" which gives Hailey a sympathetic angle.
- Secret-Keeper: Morgan is initially the only one to know Astral's secret. Later Devon and Tristan find out as well.
- Series Goal: Hailey wants to find out what's so odd about Astral and possibly find out her secret.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare:
- The first episode is called "What Fools These Mortals Be."
- Astral's parents are named Oberon and Titania after the fairy king and queen in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In additional to them, there are various additional references to the play, including the fact that, Peter Quince (Devon's father) and wood fairy Peaseblossom are both named after characters from the play.
- Astral and Tristan being Star-Crossed Lovers, and the fairy prince and princess from rival kingdoms who are forbidden from seeing each other due to their deep love for each other is a possible reference to Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately, thanks to the show's abrupt cancellation, the concept never really got to take off.
- Sick Episode: "Cold Season" has Devon getting a cold and staying home, Brendoni faking a sickness so he'd have an excuse to stay home, and Astral insisting she's not sick and choosing to go to school despite having a "fairy cold", in which she temporarily loses control of her fairy powers and unintentionally causes disorder and risks exposing herself.
- Stranger in a Strange School: Inverted. Astral is a young fairy girl who attends a regular human school.
- Sudden Downer Ending: It's all explained in Yank the Dog's Chain...
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: The last few episodes center around Peter Quince initially planning to bulldoze the main tree serving as the gateway with Athenia during a solar eclipse — known as the Time of the Dimming for the fairies — as the eclipse would leave the fairies powerless and unable to use any magic to defend themselves.
- Villain Team-Up: Versitude and King Reed, the king of Spartania are secretly working together to stage a coup and declare war on the human realm.
- "Walk on the Wild Side" Episode: Devon ends up temperately becoming a party animal and fairly reckless and irresponsible, gaining an alter-ego he called "Devo" in "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", thanks to a Wild Teen Party and some temptation from Brendoni. This would continue in the following episode "I Got This", where even after Devon's father shuts down the party and grounds Devon, he'd still come up with a series of lies about the party in order to gain a crowd of followers.
- Welcome Episode: The pilot episode "What Fools These Mortals Be" has Astral officially travel to the "other"/human world where she ends up meeting most of the main human cast.
- Wham Line:
- "Let There Be Cake" has the following exchange. The line itself isn't a whammy considering the audience knew Astral was a fairy since day one, but the way it's delivered is the real shocker, considering she was willingly exposing her identity to Devon. He even faints in shock afterwards.
— Astral: You have to listen to me! I had to stop the research center.— Devon: Why? Because you're suddenly some expert on what's right for the world? Come on Astral, you're just an exchange student without an accent.— Astral: I'm sorry, Devon, but your dad doesn't wanna see everything that'll happen! An entire world would have to move as a result! And it would be dangerous —— Devon: How about you hop on the first plane home, and we can forget we ever met?— Astral: (Beat) (sternly) I don't need a plane ticket to fly home. (starts glowing and floating in mid-air)— Devon: What?— Astral: I am fairy.- Mr. Quince gets one at the ending of "Love Hurts", revealing that he not only knew full well about the lives he's endangering bulldozing the main tree in Evermoor Woods, but a shocking family revelation. Astral, Devon and the others are simply trying to talking Mr. Quince out of bulldozing the woods, when suddenly...
— Mr. Quince: (furiously) I am not gonna argue anymore with a child! (thunder strikes behind him) You go tell my little brother Oberon the Fairy King ... if he wants to stop me, he should come here himself!- Tristan gets one in the Season 1 finale where were he admires Astral for her love of nature, leaving Astral comfortable enough to reveal her fairy status to him. Then Tristan's silent and she asks for him to say something. His response?
— Tristan: I'm not an other.- And then this is shortly followed up by another shocker when Astral's parents and King Reed turn up. Apparently, not even Tristan knew about this.
— Queen Titania: Oswald discovered that Tristan is the lost Prince of Spartania. - Wham Shot: Tristan transforming into a fairy in the Season 1 finale.
- Wild Teen Party: This ends up occurring in "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" where Morgan wants to have a girls' night at Devon's house and invites a few friends over for a nice relaxing time. But thanks to some meddling from Astral and Brendoni, most of the teenagers of the neighborhood wind up getting an invite to Devon's house and the night out quickly gets out of hand turning into a house party which Devon can't keep under control, eventually giving in and becoming the party "Devo".
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Hailey accuses Astral of being a witch and tries to expose her by splashing a bucket of water on her, thinking it would melt her. Morgan even calls out how that sort of stuff only happened in the movies.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: In the season 1 finale, just as Astral's finally able to have a proper conversation with Tristan and gets to have a dance with him — and reveals himself to be a fairy like her ... Tristan turns out to have been the lost prince of Spartania destined to bring doom to Athenia, and is taken away by his father King Reed against his will, and Astral left all alone, meaning all of Astral's attempts to be with Tristan in the other world were completely in vain.
