The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation was first presented in 1958.  Beginning in 2003, it was split into Long Form (more than 90 minutes) and Short Form (90 minutes or less).

At last year’s Business Meeting, there was a proposal to split these categories into four categories:  Long Form, Episodic Form, Short Form, and Series.  (See section D.8 of the meeting minutes archived at WSFS.org for details.)  It was referred to a committee which will be looking over all the Hugo categories.  As with similar proposals for Best Novel and Best Related Work, I’d like to see categories clarified and changed rather than adding more.

 

The first of the two existing categories is Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:

Any theatrical feature or other production, with a complete running time of more than 90 minutes, in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during 2017.

 

So far I have the following two movies on my ballot:

• Blade Runner 2049
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

I’m hoping to look at a few more things before the ballots are due:

• Get Out, Logan, and Wonder Woman, three of the finalists for The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation (presented at the Nebula Awards), are all available on HBO right now.  [Update 3/12/18: added Wonder Woman to my ballot.]
• Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 are both available on Netflix.  [Update 3/10/18: added Beauty and the Beast to my ballot.]
• A 2016 Japanese anime called your name. (Kimi no Na wa.) was not generally released for U.S. or English-language viewing until after last year’s nominations were closed.   Therefore, the 2017 Business Meeting accepted a proposal to extend its eligibility for this year.  It’s now available to rent for online streaming.
• Coco, Oscar winner for Animated Feature Film, is also available to rent for online streaming.
• The Shape of Water, Oscar winner for Best Picture and Ray Bradbury Award finalist, will be available for rent on March 13.  [Updated 3/13/18: added to my ballot.]

Any other must-sees that I should squeeze in?

 

The other current category is Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:

Any television program or other production, with a complete running time of 90 minutes or less, in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during 2017.

 

My dance card is almost full for this category:

• Doctor Who, “Twice Upon a Time” (2017 Christmas Special)
• Game of Thrones, “The Dragon and the Wolf” (Season 7, Episode 7)
• The Magicians, “Lesser Evils” (Season 2, Episode 9)
• Orphan Black, “To Right the Wrongs of Many” (Season 5, Episode 10)

Right now I have two more episodes of The Expanse to watch, and I’m pretty certain one of the season’s episodes will capture that last slot.  [Update 3/8/18: Added The Expanse, “Caliban’s War” (Season 2, Episode 13) to my ballot.]

 

There are so many other shows I’d like to eventually check out or catch up on:

• American Gods (Starz)
• Black Mirror (Netflix)
• The Good Place (NBC)
• The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
• Outlander (Starz)
• Stranger Things (Netflix)

Anything else I’m forgetting?  Maybe I’ll get to it before next year!