Imperiets Arvingar vs My Dad the bounty hunter
"Imperiets Arvingar" and "My Dad the Bounty Hunter" are both children's sci-fi media that takes place in a futuristic setting and share a lot of concepts, plot-lines and themes, so I wanted to compare them.
My Dad the Bounty Hunter:
Both shows feature a pair of siblings who are dragged into adventures in space. Both have a parent who is revealed to be alien royalty and some social themes about oppression, imperialism etc.
Imperiets Arvingar (Heirs to the Empire) is a Swedish middle-grade sci-fi children's book about siblings Alice and Elias who live in a suburb in Sunnersta, Sweden with their mother and ex-rock musician father. One day, their mother disappears under strange circumstances, and while trying to search for her they end up abducted by aliens who are revealed to be her former crew-mates on the ship Stillheten (The Stillness). It turns out that their mother is an Alonai, a species that look like elves with blue or green photosynthetic skin and furthermore that she is a princess from the Alonai empire's imperial house, making them heirs to the titular empire.
Similarly, in MDBH (My Dad the Bounty Hunter) Lisa and Sean's mother Tess is revealed to be a princess from a human-like alien civilization, the Doloorami.
In my opinion, Imperiets Arvingar is a far more mature book with darker themes and characters who are much more complex while MDBH feels like a kiddie toon.
From the beginning, the Alonai empire aren't good guys; they've conquered a large part of the galaxy which is why even Alonai commoners are treated with a great deal of respect and privilege, and they've destroyed multiple civilizations in the past. Even good characters aren't free of prejudice and we learn that one of the most celebrated rulers in Alonai history is seen as a reviled tyrant in another, responsible for destroying a whole planet.
In contrast, the Doloraami empire are depicted as idealized and mostly good guys despite the "empire" in their name. The king and queen are wise and open-minded rulers while Alonai aristocracy are hedonistic snobs who backstab each other quite a lot.
The characters in Imperiets Arvingar feel much more complex to me; despite the simplistic writing common in Swedish kid's lit they all have deep personal fears, struggles and so on, while the characters in MDBH feel more archetypical and generic.
For example, Alice is a tomboy with an interest in biology and wants to assert her own identity in the face of being told she is a princess and treated like royalty. Sean and Lisa on the other hand, while endearing don't have the same amount of personal struggle.
