A further thought about this interesting topic.
What counts as peculiar (again, let’s not say unique) is in the eyes of the beholders. (No, not that Beholder!)
If all your players know Flash Gordon really well, or if they are all medievalists on the job, the web of common references is thicker in that direction and you have less explaining to do. If you are playing with young kids who simply lack extensive experience in the varieties of fantasy available in the various globalized media of our time, any setting may be peculiar and full of wonder.
So, peculiarity of setting and the need to bring players up to speed on your world depends on their experiences. The more your setting includes features familiar to them from other sources, the less peculiar it is. Where everybody has setting expectations that overlap, genre exists.
By the same token, if you are trying to blow their minds with something weird, dig into sources that they have no connection with. The risk is that you alienate them, giving them a setting that they can’t relate to.