Favorite non-FIREFLY sci-fi shows
POSTED BY: reginaroadie
UPDATED: Saturday, May 14, 2005 13:00
VIEWED: 9003
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I know this thread topic might've been done a long time ago and who knows how many times, but I felt like starting a thread that could be hijacked into discussions about one of these shows.
Some of us here are hard core sci-fi geeks. Others only have a mere assicoation with sci-fi in general. I was just wondering what are some of your favorite non-FIREFLY sci-fi shows.
THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959-64): All sci-fi tv can be traced all the way back to this show. Social commentary about humanity and all it's aspects disguised as fascinating sci-fi stories. I've been watching these eps all over again on DVD and the emotional power of some of these shows still pack a punch. "The Monster's Are Due on Maple Street" is a great commentary on mob mentality and prejudice. "The After Hours" is a great little horror piece that still scares the crap out of me. "Pitch for the Angels" is a sweet parable on love and death. I've only just scrathced the surface on these timeless stories.
STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES and VOYAGER: Of the six series in the franchise, these two are my favorites. The former a great relic of nostalgia and late 60's culture, as well as being a fascinating start to an enduring mythology that's permeated our culture and society. The latter is IMHO, the only spinoff to have both the integrity and the adventure, as well as humor, of the original series.
V and V: THE FINAL BATTLE: The best sci-fi serves as allegories of humanity at it's best and worst. The miniseries perfectly captures the horror of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany and serves as a good political allegory.
X-FILES: Fairly obvious. I didn't mind the addition of John Doggett during the last two years. Duchovny always had that laconic attitude that made him look and sound like he was about to fall asleep. But Robert Patrick really gave the series a shot in the arm of energy and adrenaline.
SLIDERS: I never saw QUANTUM LEAP, so I never thought of this as a knockoff of that. This was a cool adventure series that was always a thrill to tune in to see what kind of world they'd land on. Plus, John Rys-Davis's Prof. Arturo is by far the most intriguing character on any sci-fi series I've ever seen. The show really went downhill after he left. I wish that if FIREFLY was still on, Davis would've eventually guest starred on it. Would've been perfect to see him put the fear of God into Jayne. "WHY!!!!! BECAUSE I AM AN ENGLISHMAN, YOU BLISTERING IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!"
FUTURAMA: This is sci-fi comedy at it's best. With a cast and universe as colorful and distinct as our BDH's, this show might've only lasted a quarter length as the SIMPSONS, but was funnier in it's entire length than SIMPSONS have been during the last 6 to 8 years. And it ended on such a perfect high note.
DR. WHO: I had only seen one ep of the Tom Baker Dr. Who run. But the recent Chris Eccleson version of it is great stuff. Been watching it on CBC and I get now why it's such a phenom. The T.A.R.D.I.S. has to be the ultimate sci-fi vehicle ever imagined and the Doctor is another bizarre intriguing character. Can't wait to see what happens next.
And there's also the two big miniseries (TAKEN and THE 4400) that also really impressed me. Can't wait to see the follow up for 4400. Wonder when they're going to be on. And isn't Summer going to be in that as well? Figured she'd be one of them. Oh, and I almost forgot. I've seen the miniseries and the first ep of the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. I like what I've seen so far. Got a bunch of the eps of the 1st season. Still havn't gotten around to watching them.
So who here likes the shows I've mentioned?
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And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?
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Space: Above and Beyond: Wonderful sci-fi military series that of course ran on Fox and was cancelled before all the story lines could be finished. The only big flaw that got on my nerves about the show was the sound in space thing. Otherwise most of the acting was great, the cast worked well as an ensemble, and the writing was good.
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Star Trek (original)- don't own 'em 'cause I got 'em stored in my head with every detail (I'm like V'ger that way).
STTNG - gotta love Picard.
Outer Limits (original most/recent series pretty good)- favourite ep Demon With A Glass Hand.
Dark Angel - anyone reading threads knows how much of a NUT I am for this one!!!(I could go on and on, but there's two other threads here I did that on).
Twilight Zone (again, original most/recent series okay)- Richard Matheson my favourite writer on the series!
Battlestar Galactica (here's a twist: original okay/recent series ROCKS!!!!!)
UFO- dated, but it still holds a special place in my heart.
Oh, I almost forgot...Airwolf (S1 only)- I know it only barely makes it into the sci-fi catagory(if at all), but that first season was a doozy! Writing almost worthy of Joss! (dvd comes out the 24th of this month, BSMH*!)
Another one!! Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr.- this show completely ROCKED!!!Wild Wild West on acid! Love Bruce, baby.
Safe from spoilers on this thread(I hope) Chrisisall
* Be Still My Heart -C
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I loved Sliders when it was one...but my brother and I bought the season 1 & 2 set for my sister... man was it pretty hoakey. Especially Wade...she's a terrible actress...and now she has a job on Numb3rs...good thing cops don't have to emote. =D
Futurama is good as well.
My absolute favorite non-Firefly show would have to be an anime show called TRIGUN. I guess I have a thing for futuristic space westerns, because that's what Trigun is. =D
Similarities:
~Both lasted for a season or less
~take place on planets not earth as earth was milked of all its natural resources.
~involve various characters with great faith in God, and others with absolutely none.
~Both have mysteries surrounding the characters that aren't ever quite fully revealed, leaving the fan to draw conclusions.
~Both have characters who'll avoiding killing as much as they possibly can...but if it comes down to it...bang.
~Both have preachers with shady pasts
I highly recommend it! It's on Adult Swim on Mon-Wed at a scheduled time of 1 am...but it plays at 10 here on the east coast, since Cartoon Network only has one air time, Or i suggest renting it from NetFlix...as the DVD set is pretty damn spendy. (100+ dollars 
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Early: I only hurt people because they keep getting in the way of me finding you. Tell her.
Simon: What am I? Your advocate?
Early: You are starting now.
Simon: He's really very...gentle...and fuzzy. We're becoming fast friends.
Early: You folks are all insane.
Simon: Well, my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Dark Angel - anyone reading threads knows how much of a NUT I am for this one!!!(I could go on and on, but there's two other threads here I did that on).
Ahh, yet another show that FOX murdered without a finale. I remember that I began watching it, merely to make fun of it...then became a regular viewer. Incidently, that's exactly how i became a Buffy fan.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Early: I only hurt people because they keep getting in the way of me finding you. Tell her.
Simon: What am I? Your advocate?
Early: You are starting now.
Simon: He's really very...gentle...and fuzzy. We're becoming fast friends.
Early: You folks are all insane.
Simon: Well, my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.
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Brisco County, Jr. suffered the same unfriendly fire from Fox almost a decade earlier, shoulda known back then they were a bunch of lilly-livered skanks. Where's the gorram dvd of that ??!!??!!
(I added it after you posted, sorry.)
A Swill brother at heart Chrisisall
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all of Star Trek (well, except for 'Enterprise', but I'm still watching that...I would never just ignore it)
Star Wars ep 4-6 only
original Twilight Zone
X-files the earlier seasons
all of Babylon 5
all of Farscape
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Galaxy Quest
I'm starting to get into the more recent version of Battlestar Galactica
but I've never felt as strongly about any of them as I do about Firefly/Serenity....
I've never wanted to live in their world as much as I want to ride through the black on board Serenity!
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My opinions are like to make me real unpopular. But since when does that stop me.
Star Trek DS9: Of all the Treks, this one played fast and loose with the rules, and was most responsible for turning Roddenberry's original brilliant allegory into a living, breathing universe. The station itself is what sold me; dark, gloomy, depressing, unapologetically alien. . . and yet home. It was a trend-setter offscreen as well, and the DS9 reboot novels paved the way for Pocket Books' current unified Trek franchise. Trek may be going off the air, but as long as I have books to look forward too, I'll always live just a turbolift-ride from the Promenade.
Star Trek Enterprise: Yeah, you heard me. I was skeptical at first, but there's so much subtlety there that goes unnoticed. T'Pol's repressed wildness makes her one of my favourite Trek characters, and the only Vulcan on that list (alongside two Cardassians, a Jem'Hadar, an Andorian, a Bajoran, and a human).
Jeremiah: No lasers, no high-tech, no space-travel --the SFnal parts of the plot are over and done with before the first ep rolls. Maybe this doesn't make ir "real" sci-fi. Whatever it is, it's one of the best, most intelligent, articulate, and insightful shows I have ever seen. It deals with The Big Issues in ways that I wouldn't have thought possible. It's no wonder it was cancelled.
Battlestar Galactica: Both versions, though for wildly different reasons. The classic was fun, this one is cool and intriguing.
Space: Above and Beyond: Finally, space dogfighting on a weekly show (this was long before Battlestar Galactica, natch).
Dark Angel: At first I expected a Buffyclone. I was wrong, this was good. And it had a romance, which is a feature too often neglected in action shows, IMHO.
The X-Files: My youthful introduction to the world of conspiracy fiction --a much-underexplored genre, and one I'd dearly love to contribute to someday.
The Matrix: Look around. None of this is real. A bit too glitzy, and the sequels were. . . not what I would've done, but I still loved the ride. And there's no denying that this is one of the defining movies of our generation.
Farscape: Odds are most of you already know why. That's right: Pilot.
Stargate SG-1: Saw the movie, liked it. Read the novelization, loved it. Saw the first season, loved it. Saw the second season out of order, loved it but was confused. Saw the third season, loved it. Then nothing, for four very long years. Now I'm about halfway through the 8th season. Still loving it, characters, universe, writers, and all. Desperately wishing I could watch SG: Atlantis, but I can be patient. I will be patient.
Galaxy Quest and Futurama: I'm listing these together 'cause they both represent a painfully under-done sub-genre: Sci-Fi Comedy.
Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths, and Legends: Show of hands, who's all even heard of this little X-Files-meets-Buffy-meets-M.A.S.K. gem? Those who have: doesn't Logan look like an animated version of David Boreanaz?
Andromeda, Season 1: The concept, setting, and characters of this show were unlike anything ever seen in televised SF, like someone had thrown Star Trek and Farscape in a blender. A civilization based on Nietzsche. Rapacious beings who injected larvae into living hosts to reproduce. A race of communally-living insectoids who weren't a hive-mind. A vast interstellar civilization that didn't have to do with humans. Earth as a bombed-out wasteland and nobody cared. The first season promised a golden age, and gave us possibly the most aesthetically beautiful, sexiest starship to ever grace the airwaves (and I don't just mean the AI avatar, I mean the ship itself). Unfortunately, too many Network Execs spoiled the broth, but for one season, we saw what was possible.
Transformers: It's been reinvented, retconned, and parallel-universed so many times that I can ba
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Quantum Leap
Twin Peaks
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
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I'm kinda a fan of scifi but it's pretty hard these day's ,because these days they mostly make cop dramas and homicidle dramas but any way.
FARSCAPE
pure 100% beauty. I love this show because its such a sight for sore eyes. The set is so
beautiful,that I think I'm looking at a painting , as well the costumes. The writing is at times beautiful but to me just a little bit of sitcom humor but the stories and the situations are well thought out.
EARTH FINAL CONFLICT
I love the writing,it never faulters to the sitcom and scifi world. To me its a grownup look at scifi a bit intelectual.
BEASTMASTER ( yes its a fantasy but it falls in the catigory
What can I say I like a guy in a loin cloth.
Its a bit preachy at times but has some good writing and story lines plus I love toa
THE TWILIGHT ZONE 1950S and 60S
magnigicent story's and spectacular
writing especially
the EP about the guy that wishes that everyone would disappear and the at the end his glasses break (classic)
PS dont watch the new ones because now they are just sick and twisted in a horrific way. Back then they were more suspencful and wierd .
well thats all I guess I have high standerds. Never saw sliders or dr.who I know I suck
men are in lust women are in passion
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