Poll: Battlestar vs. Stargate

[twaddle]

Stargate but I'm still left with the WHY DID YOU CAN ATLANTIS!!!!!!!!!! question good series but I'm not to fond of SGU.

well at least they ended it better than universe. at least u got some sense of finality in the fact that they turned all the wraith to humans and they flew the atlantis to earth. yes there are plot hole but at least it had an ending unlike universe where everybody went to fucking sleep drifting into oblivion. And at least atlantis did not end like bloody soprano's ending in mid sent-........

 

[Smooth Operator]

Start off with StarGate because it's very light hearted (also very shallow), BSG on the other hand is some heavy stuff.
And that Caprica is just some cyberpunk soap drama shit.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

The brainy guy will always find a solution (and always be a guy)

lolwhat? Did you even watch stargate? XD the brainy one was Carter (See: a woman).

 

[ElectroJosh]

It really depends.

I prefered BSG by a long shot but what do you want in a show?

1) Drama and a progressively intricate plot?

VS

Light-hearted action Sci-fi?


2) BSG is option 1 and Stargate option two (in case I had to spell it out).


The thing is BSG represent more of what I like in my television (I love shows like the Wire, Sopranos, Deadwood and Game of Thrones) but it isn't to say Stargate is bad (although it will appear aged in the sfx and cinematography department) just not my cup of tea. The funny thing is that most here who are arguing for one show over the other seem to be doing so on those sort of grounds too.

Objectively, as stated above, the sfx and cinematography in BSG is superior to Stargate (in the same way Stargate is superior to ST:TNG) but apart from that consider what you would rather watch in a TV show.

 

[EuZic]

Actually, Daniel was kinda brainy too

Both shows are light entertainment, with Stargate taking itself a lot less seriously than Battlestar.

BSG is grittier and more dramatic, with sci-fi elements taking the backseat so that it's more a story about people, while Stargate is pure science-fictioney, one-case-per-episode fun So it actually depends on what you and your gf like. I personally prefer BSG, as it's a bit more mature. And I like shows that know when to end.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Really silly comparison. Stargate, especially SG1, has a completely different feel and atmosphere than Battlestar Galactica.

Battlestar Galactica is a social drama set in space. Stargate SG1 is a light hearted adventure show. Both do their respective settings justice, and I'd watch both depending on my mood and fancy.

actually, i really thought BSG was not (that) deep. and on a way too big part it felt like watching some soap-opera; especially late season 1 to somewhere 3-ish, if memory serves. although it got a lot more watchable after that. but sometimes it was relly hard to watch an episode to the end.

Because a soap opera can't be deep? Look, BSG is mostly a character-driven piece. Ordinary people set in an extra-ordinary setting and having to deal with all kinds of dilemmas and issues and seeing said people grow and change accordingly over time. If that's not 'deep' enough that I have no idea what would be.

It's funny by the way that you find season 4 'more watchable', when that's the point where most BSG fans agree that the show jumped the shark a bit. It started to sway away from the amazing character development and started to focus on the weird mystial mumbojumbo.

 

[Plinglebob]

Stargate SG1 is a Sci-Fi action comedy often with a heavy emphasis on the comedy. While it does have a few duff episodes, its very fun to watch partly because it feels like everyone involved know they are trying to entertain rather then win awards. The spin-off Atlantis was cut short and went a bit serious in Season 4 & 5, but is also well worth watching as (in my opinion) the cast and setting is much better then SG-1.

BSG is a Sci-Fi action drama with a very heavy emphasis on the Drama. Its got well written characters and covers some interesting areas, but it really went off the deep end in its last season and got too tangled up in its own myth arc. Also, it often felt like the only reason its called BSG and set in space is for the name recognicion and so they could get away with things that wouldn't be acceptable if set on Earth. My other problem is that got very soapy which ended up being very annoying. Some episodes felt like Eastenders in space.

Overall, if you're more interested in light entertainment, go Stargate. If you want dark, depressing drama then pick BSG. If you can chose something else, go for either Farscape to see that its possible to balance action, comedy and drama in one show, or Babylon 5 to see how arc based sci-fi drama is really done.

i also enjoyed Andromeda quite much (watched it... dunno, five or six times?). especially season 2 and parts of 3, where i actually sat there and tried to figure out what this was all about. talking about some crazy stuff and wtf?!-moments here and there xD
it most certainly has it flaws, no denying that, but for me it worked; it has a certain charm about it. most of my friends didn't like it that much; i fell for it from the first minute ^^

I've heard of Andromeda before, but only the name. How does it stand in tone compared to other Sci-Fi as I'm looking for something new to watch now I've finished Quantum Leap.

 

[Belaam]

The brainy guy will always find a solution (and always be a guy)

lolwhat? Did you even watch stargate? XD the brainy one was Carter (See: a woman).

I did. Of Carter and Jackson, who was brainy enough to ascend?

Carter is half soldier half, brainy. Daniel is pure brains.

 

[Mister Eff]

BSG (the re-imagining) is some of the finest television ever. Bar none. Let alone sci-fi, it's just a complete and utter fucking masterpiece.

Also, I don't really like Stargate.

 

[Triangulon]

BSG by absolutely miles. Not a single poor episode and even the ending isn't too rubbish considering where they took it.

Stargate is a brilliant film.

If you haven't seen Firefly (and Serenity) you shouldn't even be discussing these shows yet (although BSG is the only series I like as much as Firefly)

 

[Twilight_guy]

I find Battlestar boring. It just seems like boring drama... IN SPACE... AND WITH ROBOTS! Stargate is cheesy but its exciting and it has the greatest character of all... macgyver! (okay so its only the actor that plays macgyver but if you imagine that it actually is macgyver only changing his name and going into the military it makes thing interesting).

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Battlestar Galactica and Caprica are some of my favourite sci-fi shows, so definitely voting for them.

Stargate Universe was alright, but it never really got off the ground for me. But Galactica? Holy crap I was so into that show. I'm still watching through Caprica (got 2 episodes left) and after that I am immediately going to watch the entire run of Battlestar Galactica again.

 

[Polarity27]

I've heard of Andromeda before, but only the name. How does it stand in tone compared to other Sci-Fi as I'm looking for something new to watch now I've finished Quantum Leap.

*jumping in*

Andromeda is probably my all-time favorite SF show, so I'm quite biased, but I think it's excellent. So long as you keep one rule in mind: Beware of everything after the second season. Kevin Sorbo canned executive producer/writer/developer Robert Hewitt Wolfe (who you might recognize from Star Trek), and the show went down the toilet.

I found this excellent summary elsewhere on the net: "Andromeda star Kevin Sorbo, who's an idiot, demanded that Executive Producer and head writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe be fired. Wolfe is also the developer of the show. Wolfe was the man who turned Gene Roddenberry's Arby's napkin scribbles into a television series. To quote Sorbo: "Robert is a genius, but he was writing stories too complex and too complicated for the rest of us to follow." In other words, the head writer and man responsible for getting the show on the air and making it the "Highest Rated syndicated action show" as it was advertised, is now suddenly wrong. To put it in more words, Wolfe was writing stories that viewers could follow but Kevin Sorbo couldn't, and he had him fired. Needless to say, after the removal of Wolfe, the program received "record lows" in the ratings. Or to quote Media analyst Marc Berman: "The ongoing erosion of sophomore Andromeda this season was the biggest surprise of the first-run weekly hours." Well, it wasn't a surprise to all the upset fans."

I loved the early show, though, and the complex relationships between the characters as they followed, for their own reasons, the mission of a man who had been stuck in time for 300 years to restore the galaxy's lost order and government. I would put up the episode "Angel Dark, Demon Bright" against just about anybody else's good SF, so when Andromeda is good, it's very very good. Just... avoid the later stuff.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I think the Stargate film is superb but SG-1 was passable at best, I didn't like the comedy/lighthearted aspect which I thought clashed with the whole concept of the ultra top secret Stargate system and their budget and its management were frequently appalling with some absolutely terrible bottle shows. I thought Universe was showing a lot of promise until it was sadly rather unceremoniously binned.

I strongly disagree with the post earlier about Stargate being for sci-fi people and BSG for the rest, as a sci-fi fan I didn't like that Stargate seemed very derivative with far too many technologies lifted straight from other sci-fi and Dell XPS laptops that came with alien ship control interfaces. Even some of the episodes bore a striking resemblance to some of the Star Trek episodes even containing the same twist.

John

 

[james0192]

Stargate SG-1.
One of my favourite TV programs. I like it because of the way everything builds up as they go along. They don't start with a load of futuristic technology - just the stargate. Then through the seasons they build up their knowledge and technology. That way it becomes more about the stories and characters rather than the technology.
Though towards the end, especially in the 9th and 10th seasons, it becomes a bit of 'lets go find the super duper ancient MacGuffin that will save the day!'

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

The brainy guy will always find a solution (and always be a guy)

lolwhat? Did you even watch stargate? XD the brainy one was Carter (See: a woman).

I did. Of Carter and Jackson, who was brainy enough to ascend?

Carter is half soldier half, brainy. Daniel is pure brains.

So you'd really call Daniel the 'genius' of the group over Samatha? XD

Whenever there was a problem for the genius to solve, it definitely wasn't Daniel doing the solving. He only became the problem solver when it involved translating ancient languages and other non-scientific stuff. In the same way that they other characters were the problem solvers when it involved their own area of expertise.

Its not genius that let him ascend, its spiritual enlightnment. 'Immediately knowing the candlelight is fire so that the meal was cooked a long time ago' and what have you.

The show isn't sexist like you were making it out to be and you know it. Dont make me have to find a list of all the times where it was because of Carter and Carter alone that the day was saved. XD
(more than her fair share, I can tell you now).

 

[siffty]

Both are well made shows. Each can hold there ground for what the represent. I suggest watch both. Take some time and watch one ep of each show.

 

[Moochkin]

BSG is an amazing series but id also give stargate Universe a look as well. Its only 2 series long as with everything decent they stopped it just as it was getting going. I enjoyed SGU alot more than i did SG-1 (later series) and atlantis for its better story, gritty mood and character development. all in all it was a great show that im sad to see stopped.

so yes, watch SGU and THEN Battlestar Glactica