Space is the Place

[Slenn]

For the longest time a lot of fiction and fantasy media has taken interest in the stars and the celestial sphere above us. Beyond our own planet lies a plethora of mysteries, including how man would react to being in space. There's extraterrestrials, ships, battles, conflict, politics, philosophy, psychology, and new technologies all explored within space settings. 2001 "A Space Odyssey" and "Gravity" attempted science fiction in space by placing it within our solar system. "Star Trek" used the space setting by giving us a universe of politics and conflict along with a cool navy based chain of command. There's even historical moments in space that have been dramatized, like the movie "Apollo 13".

What is/are your favorite story/stories in any media (show, movie, animation, book, etc.) that involves a space setting? Or what was a particular moment in a piece that was just fun to watch?

Personally, my favorite is Outlaw Star. That series was an amazing adventure, combining a cool Chinese look to the buildings on planets, a nice mix of characters, and some of the coolest ship fights I've seen in animation.


"If we do not destroy ourselves, I believe we will, one day, travel to the stars. When our solar system is all explored, the planets around other stars will beckon." - Carl Sagan.

 

[skywolfblue]

What is/are your favorite story/stories in any media (show, movie, animation, book, etc.) that involves a space setting? Or what was a particular moment in a piece that was just fun to watch?

Homeworld/Homeworld 2

A race of survivors looking for their home, traveling through a galaxy of wonderful and mysterious places, fighting for their very survival along the way. It's an exodus type story done beautifully.

And unlike Battlestar Galactica, they don't waste time bickering and betraying their own crew every episode. The Kushan/Hiigarans are far more noble, willing to make sacrifices so that the last of their race may survive. They work together, not apart.

The religious tones are beautiful, logical, and consistent. Their faith in their destiny is what moves them forward, otherwise they die. Unlike BSG's cylon religion thingy which makes no sense whatsoever.

I guess I'm a hopeless romantic, but I love stories that bring out the best in humanity. And the Hiigarans are very much what I wish humanity would be like.

 

[Queen Michael]

All the Isaac Asimov stories I've ever read. (Well, except for the few that didn't take place in space.)

 

[Asclepion]

Iain M Banks - The Culture [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture]
AI-controlled ships that are millions of times more intelligent than a human, characters who can gland their own drugs and switch gender and species at will, flying knives that zip around and cut people/vehicles/buildings apart with forcefields, despair, humor, sexuality, action sequences of a magnitude that boggles the mind, and locales that span the galaxy. And above all - a fiery optimism, that utopia is attainable, that the future can be a better place.

I always go with The Player of Games as the best introduction to the series.

 

[FalloutJack]

This is hard for me in most cases. I love many things. Let's just say that I do indeed love many things and that a damn good example of damn good space stuff is Heroic Age.

 

[Zhukov]

I quite liked BattleStar Galactia, the 2009 one.

Granted, it went to shit later on, but I loved at least the first two seasons.

Mostly I just loved the whole ragged remnants of humanity thing and the constant tension of them being pursued. Also thoroughly enjoyed many of the characters.

 

[dangoball]

Dune saga by Frank Herbert

For me there is no contest. Politics, philosophy, ethics, complex characters and a compelling narrative all in one neat package. Additions by his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are still great entries in the sci-fi genre, but Legends of Dune have reversed focus (politics and philosophy as grounds for conflict versus conflict as grounds for politics and philosophy of the original), Prelude to Dune had some serious spoilers for the original and as such is not recommended to be read before what Frank Herbert wrote. Their finish of the original Golden Path/Kvisatz Haderach storyline is good but I can't help but wish Frank Herbert had managed to write it himself.

 

[Thaluikhain]

There's a bit in one episode of Farscape when an alien says that they are the superior pilot, but the human responds that they trained to fly in atmosphere against gravity.

I like that, because most space stuff has nothing to do with space. It's just a story set somewhere exactly the same as Earth that isn't Earth. If you are going to set it in space, make the space work like space.

 

[wooty]

Knights of Sidonia. An anime that appeared on Netflix a few months back. The style is a little weird at first, but the animation is gorgeous the story has a feel of Battlestar to it (one human ship, going through space to find home). But most important to me, it made me give a shit about the characters involved and what they're going through.

So I eagerly await a second series.

 

[DocJ]

Battletech. One season of pure awesomeness that was so much fun to watch. I like to play mechwarrior a lot, and as a fan this show was a lot of fun to watch. I was always a sucker for shows that came out in the 90s. Anything with this animation style was my kinda thing, and it even made use of CGI for some pretty badass scenes when contrasted to the traditional animation.

 

[ForumSafari]

Farscape is my favourite for the shoddiness of the equipment, the believable motivations, the awesome villain and the cool ship designs.

I really loved the old beat up tech. Most space shows with ragtag fugitives have them in an 'old ship' that looks state of the art but Moya was clearly pretty dinged up, as was their equipment. There were also things that it would be immensely useful if their equipment could do but that it's made clear it can't, none of this magic wand crap.

It's not perfect, the Scarran and Peacekeeper fleets don't make any sense from an organisational perspective (the Scarran one more so), but it was a damn good attempt.

 

[Zakarath]

Can't say I really have one particular favorite that stands above the rest, but I certainly have a number I really liked.

Some have really neat/cool settings, like Firefly & Knights of Sidonia
Some are just really good at being cool and space-y, like EVE Online, Elite Dangerous
and sometimes it's just a good setting for some sweet action & amusing banter, like Guardians of the Galaxy, Stargate SG-1.

But yeah, space is pretty great.

 

[Tanis]

The Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton


FANATIC series of books about humanity, density, after life, mechanical vs bio evolution, etc.

Plus, Al Capone.

 

[Seishisha]

How has no one mentioned ulysses 31 yet? Dude is basicly space jesus with a gun that's also a lightsaber and he has a jetpack.

Farscape just for dialog and character's some realy great moments in that series, also the stellar puppets.

Starcraft, the game that defined for me atleast what a good rts should have. Even if the art style rip's off warhammer 40k.

Bookwise i honestly don't have a huge amount of space sci-fi books so i have to either go with as already suggested frank herbert's dune or some of the stories by asimov, i guess terry pratchett's discworld could count since it is in space afterall though that realy is more fantasy than sci-fi.