To this day there’s never been a show to capture the weekly hype that surrounded each new episode of Game of Thrones, writes streaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

The epic Game of Thrones fantasy series may finally have a contender on its hands.

Now streaming on Disney Plus is Shogun, a show set in feudal Japan that’s already being called a “masterpiece” and has many comparing it to the early seasons of Thrones.

Set in the year 1600, the story opens with fearsome Lord Yoshii Toranaga (played by Hiroyuki Sadana) discovering a marooned European ship with secrets on board that might just turn the tide of war in his favour.

He’s just one player in the sprawling samurai skirmish for power that unfolds.

Shogun tracks the stories of multiple deep and dark characters whose lives cross over as their plans for power entangle with one another.

Audiences might recognise Sanada from 2003’s The Last Samurai but apart from him this compelling cast of characters is made up of screen newcomers who will no doubt put their names on the map with this new series.

Throw all that together sequences of intense and bloody sword fights and you’ve got a samurai version of Game of Thrones ready to serve.

That’s not to say Shogun hasn’t carved out its own sense of identity.

Stunning cinematography in a setting not widely seen in TV gives this new series flair.

The first three episodes are out now with more dropping weekly although at this stage it seems Shogun will sadly only have one season. Can it dethrone Game of Thrones? Guess it will all come down to that ending

EVERY so often Adam Sandler shows off a serious side of his acting talent that always manages to stir up a buzz.

In recent years he’s put on incredible performances as an obsessive basketball scout in Hustle and a dubious jeweller in Uncut Gems – both Netflix films which garnered new appreciation for the 57-year-old. Quite the U-turn from Happy Gilmore indeed.

Now he’s teamed up with the platform yet again for a foray into outer space.

Spaceman is a new sci-fi thriller where Sandler plays Jakub Procházka, an astronaut from the Czech-Republic sent on a solitary mission to the edge of the solar system.

It’s not long before things take an eerie turn when Jakub discovers an uninvited guest on board, a mysterious creature from the beginning of time hiding in the bowels of his ship.

Arachnophobes beware. It just so happens this creature takes the form of a gigantic spider voiced by Paul Dano. Yes, this cosmic creepy crawly talks.

A premise like that can either get cerebral or stupid very quickly. Spaceman frustratingly wobbles between both for the entirety of its two-hour run time.

It all sounds like a horror premise on paper, but the film is more in the vein of psychological slow burn than anything.

This creature is no hungry xenomorph like in Ridley Scott’s Alien, but rather a contemplative being that speaks with Jakub tries to help him in his own existential crisis, eventually becoming something of an eight-legged marriage counsellor.

This may all seem absurd, but the sheer originality has been enough to allure audiences. This week the film cracked Netflix’s top 10 and it’s perhaps a credit to Spaceman that it brings any kind of seriousness at all to its far-flung premise.

That’s in large part thanks to Sandler, who is on his absolute A-game here. It’s a shame his good work wasn’t put to better use.

But despite all its problems, Spaceman is a strange beast indeed in that its creepy, bizarro plot beats are enough to hold attention right through until the end.

This is a movie that shoots for the moon, misses, and soars well off into space but for sci-fi fans it might still well be worth going along for the ride.