What's your favorite science fiction show?

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

A bit offtopic, but it's Farscape that good? I saw a couple times while navegating Netflix and thought "This could be good... But I want to watch something else." I could give it a try if people recommend enough... (Yes, I am asking to you try to covert me to Farscape, so convert away)

Others have already mentioned the good stories and character development (and one of the best villains to ever appear in a series), so I will simply say 2 things about the show in an effort to get you to watch it and give it a try.

First, it is one of the few television programs I loved enough to put down the money to buy the DVD box set. Given how much of a miser I am, there are very few shows I am willing to spend that kind of money on.

Second, it became apparent to me almost immediately from watching the actors interact in character in the show that this was a crew that truly loved coming to work and put their hearts into what they were doing. That really ups the standards and quality of a program for me.

Is the show a little silly at times? Of course. Will it appeal to everyone's tastes? Of course not. But I really do recommend giving it a try. I (and a few others on the board) loved the show. We hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as we did.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

A bit offtopic, but it's Farscape that good? I saw a couple times while navegating Netflix and thought "This could be good... But I want to watch something else." I could give it a try if people recommend enough... (Yes, I am asking to you try to covert me to Farscape, so convert away)

*fires conversion beam*
There you go. Enjoy!

Take my opinion for what it is, an inconclusive one because I am only partway through season 3, but I'm loving it. As with many sci fi shows, it takes a bit to find its footing and season one has some clunkers. I imagine it can also take a while to get used to some of the characters and their foibles, but it turns out that the oddities of this show are part of what make it great. The aliens are not your father's Star Trek-type 'guys with plastic forheads,' they make an effort to be truly different. And don't worry about the animatronics, they are top notch and I for one never get taken out of the show because the actors are talking to puppets.

Second, it became apparent to me almost immediately from watching the actors interact in character in the show that this was a crew that truly loved coming to work and put their hearts into what they were doing. That really ups the standards and quality of a program for me.

Also this. I do love to watch a group of people who believe in what they're making. The goofiness of the show really, really works because the actors are having a blast doing it.

 

[Auron225]

Toss the anime hat in there

Steins;Gate.

Time Travel done correctly.

All of my yes. I got the whole series for Christmas and I'm re-watching at the moment, with my sister watching it for the first time. She just got her mind blown by episode 12 earlier

Take my love, take my land...

Take me where I cannot stand...

I don't care, I'm still free


...Shit, I can't choose between the two of those 0.0 Firefly is my favourite non-anime TV show, but I love anime and Steins;Gate is among my favourite anime.

 

[e033x]

-Battlestar Galactica: Only familiar with the rebooted series (and Blood and Chrome, seen the DVD movies as well, namely Razor and The Plan). Overall, solid series. Season 4 really had issues though, it felt like two seasons being compressed into the space of one. IMO, season 4 should have been everything from Kara's return to Earth, and a season 5 should have covered everything from Earth to 'new Earth'). I understand that this was due to the Writer's Guild Strike as well.

But overall, like it. It does try to be a bit too 'gritty' at times (how willingly characters frak), but overall, solid. Last cast of characters, but many of them get development. Space combat is good, and something we haven't seen before in other sci-fi shows that much (e.g. Stargate, Star Trek). Universe is bare bones, drama is on the ships, but it works. All in all, good job.

As for the low tech aspect, that was another thing that kind of bothered me. We have a society that's mastered FTL travel, but apparently hasn't advanced in any other area. Telephones still use chords, paper is used instead of pads, the weapons are basically pop-guns against Centurions, etc. While it's quintisential to the series, it does remain iffy from a worldbuilding standpoint.

The low-tech stuff was (imo) adequatly explained in the series with the fact that cylons were techologically superior and could infiltrate all computer systems. The colonies responded during the first war by making low-tech warships that had no computer networking and good old paper and phones with cords. Kinda why middle-eastern insergents use the AK47, rather than some high-tech modern european or american stuff. Galactica is described as an old ship, a relic of the last war, and as many remembers, the pilot episode start with it being about to be decomissioned.

OT: BSG (remake) and Firefly. Couldn't really get into Star Trek, tried TNG and DS9, but my interest went downhill after Sisko spent 15 minutes trying to explain time to a timeless beeing. There is such a thing as being philosophical and intellectual, and there is such a thing as trying too hard. /flamebait

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Definitely Firefly. This may be a controversial opinion... but I'm actually kinda happy that it didn't last very long. Don't get me wrong, I wish it could have at the very least finished its first season... but at least it ended strong, rather than fizzling out and fading away (or crashing and burning). It's short and sweet, which makes for easy rewatchability (that's a word now) from start to finish.

The other shows I would consider honorable mentions are Cowboy Bebop, Futurama (though I admittedly found the Comedy Central seasons to be a lot of wasted potential), The X-Files (the monster-of-the-week episodes anyway; the main plotline is pretty bad), and Twilight Zone (not Sci-Fi as a whole, but many of the episodes are).

The shows that are on my radar that I've been meaning to watch are...

1. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - I'm not much of a fan of Star Trek, but this particular series keeps getting recommended to me by friends. I've been told that it's, compared to the other series', significantly more realistic in tone. More rounded character development, occasional gray-area moral issues, machinery that sometimes breaks down from wear and doesn't look like an Apple commercial, and it's not afraid to have some pretty dark episodes from time to time. Sounds like something I'd enjoy, though I'm disappointed that (from what I've been told anyway) there isn't much of the Borg in it. I've always liked them as a villain group in the same way that I like the Strogg from Quake II/Quake IV and the "thing" from The Thing (1982).

2. Stargate SG-1 - I've always liked the original Stargate movie (big Kurt Russell fan). Back sometime in the late 90's my dad picked up a used VHS copy of Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods from Blockbuster because he liked Stargate too and had never heard of this one. I guess it's just the first two episodes reworked into a feature film (curiously with an R-rating for the full frontal nudity that I kinda doubt was in the televised version). At the time I wasn't particularly impressed by it, and kind of forgot about it until I went to college and had a roommate who was a fan of it. For the past few years since then I've been meaning to marathon it.

3. Outlaw Star - I've been told that Firefly shamelessly rips this series off left and right, and that if I liked Firefly and Cowboy Bebop I'd probably like this too. I just wish I'd picked it up while the DVDs were $20 on Amazon, rather than the like $125 that they are now. I guess I'll be waiting for a re-release.

 

[Jiggle Counter]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, before they cancelled it...

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, before they cancelled it...

If they made a Pacific Rim TV series I'd watch the hell out of it, before they cancel it...

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere,
I'm all alone, more or less...

Red Dwarf all the way, baby. Also used to love Voltron, The Clone Wars as a kid. Quite enjoyed Firefly as an adult.