Favorite Sci-Fi Series (TV)
POSTED BY: millernate
UPDATED: Friday, July 4, 2008 14:56
VIEWED: 18498
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My List.
1 Firefly (I love everything about this show)
2 Dark Angel - First Season (Always been a huge James Cammeron fan)
3 Babylon 5 (All Sci-Fi shows should be this well thought out)
4 Battlestar Galactica (The only reason I became a Star Trek Next Generation Fan is because Battlestar Galactica was to ambitious for it's time and was canceled premiturly, though it's time will come).
5 Star Trek The Next Generation (Patrick Stewart, need I say more)
I should also mention X-Files, Farscape, Space Above & Beyond, Harsh Realm, Roughnecks: Starship Trooper Chronicles, Space 1999, Blake 7, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, Original Star Trek and Buffy (I know it's not Sci-Fi but if it was it would be in my to five) and I hate Stargate with a vengeance (bad acting - bad writing - directing) how could the Sci-Fi Channel cancel one of the best TV shows ever (Farscape) and keep one of the worst (I'm still bitter).
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I enjoy the following shows:
Star Trek, both Classic and Contemporary, because that show demonstrates the potential that we have and the spirit of exploration that humans possess.
Lost In Space (Jayne ain't got nothing on Dr. Smith 
when it comes to screwing over the cast) is a classic sci-fi show that had good scripts that not only had a tongue in cheek approach but explored several sci-fi issues.
Though Babylon 5 was a good show, I think it should be classified as a massive series rather than a mini-series and therefore doesn't count toward favorite TV series.
^5 to Quill and Trickster, Space Above and Beyond was definitely a good series and demonstrates why fans should circle the wagons. Had Space been given a longer run, we may have seen an exceptional series come into its on.
And the absolute best, at least in my humble opinion was Farscape. The show had strong scripts, exceptional f/x, chemistry among the cast which translated well onto the screen, and for the first time I actually identified with the lead character. What would it be like to be lost on the other side of the galaxy/universe from your homeworld, and how well could a person adapt?
And let's not forget about Firefly 
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DOH!!! Double post !!
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I had some interesting additions to your comments so here goes:
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2) The New Twilight Zone. 1980s incarnation helmed at first by Harlan Ellison (the best were under him) and later JMS. Stories of deep humanity, with a more complex and slightly less pessimistic vision than either the current TZ or, dare I say it, the original. For "Her Pilgrim Soul" alone, which among other things turned me on to the poetry of William Butler Yeats, it needs to be high on the list.
One minor nitpick: Harlan Ellison, while deeply involved with the production (his title was "creative consultant" and I believe he picked out the scripts that aired from the freelancers), was not the man in charge of NTZ. That individual was Philip DeGuere (more on him later). Incidently: I have a bunch of these episodes in their 1/2 hour syndicated form that I keep meaning to watch ("Dead Run", "A Small Talent for War", "Misfortune Cookie", "The Trance", etc.) but can't seem to find the time to watch the tapes.
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3) Max Headroom. Watching this in reruns on TechTV recently, I was disappointed in how poorly it had aged. It feels very stuck in the 80s. That's the danger of trying to go 20 minutes into the future. Its vision of a wired world is somehow less than what we've actually ended up with. But I still have to rate it this high because of how good, how new, how risky, and how compelling it was at the time. Broke the mold for TV sf, so of course it was too good to last.
remember how I mentioned that there would be more on Philip DeGuere? Well, if you are talking the 1987 version of this show (I believe there was another one), then I should mention that DeGuere (who incidently recently came out of a 15 year retirement to script an episode of USA's The Dead Zone this past season) was also in charge of this. Its interesting to note that many regular contributors to The New Twilight Zone (James Crocker, Rebecca Parr, Michael Cassutt) also wrote for Max Headroom.
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8) Doctor Who. I haven't watched it in over 10 years, but it's still a sentimental favorite from my dorm-tv-lounge days. Favorite Doctor: Baker or Davison, depending on mood. Favorite companion: Sarah Jane, by a mile.
Have you gotten a chance to check out the DVD(s) (I saw one collection, I'm not sure if there are others)? I do believe there is one from the Baker as Doc period.
As an aside to everyone else: I'd like to mention that I've recently got to watch the first three episodes of Red Dwarf and think very highly of them. A video store in my area has several VHS tapes of the show available for rent and I do believe I'm going to take a look.
I'm sure you're all tired of Nathan expounding on old Sci-Fi TV so I'll leave now
Nathan
"It looks like a great adventure...That's what it is; that's what it feels like. When I saw the pilot, it was really engaging. It was exciting. It was unusual. It threw me off every now and then. I think people will be grabbed by it." - Ron Glass, on the pilot, during an interview with the Indianapolis Star
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Co-founder of the Evil Writing Crew - causing hell, one hero at a time!
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Gee...tough call on favorites.
I'll likely get decked for it, but while B5 was good, daring, etc...it just didn't grab me as much as most.
Blake's 7...I found this in college after reading a couple books on the history of fanfic and concluding I had to see the stuff. Yes - Firefly seems a combination of Blake's 7 and Magnificent 7. ("Mal's 9?") Gotta love Servalan - an Evil Overlord that apparantly read the list.
X-Files - Could be funny, scary, tragis - usually was all three. The last season was awful. How could they have made "Jump the Shark?!"
Earth: Final Conflict - Guilty pleasure. Good premise, but screwed the pooch unerringly when executing those ideas. Liked the characters, though, especially Ron Sandoval (I always thought he and Scully would get along well), Liam Beckett ("Kincaid"), and Da'an.
Star Wars: Not so much the universe itself, as it is seeing my brother-in-law, his friends, and my sister's pals all turn 13 years old at the thought of more SW.
ST:TNG - good stuff overall. The first season was pretty bad, and the movies were nothing to write home about. Almost everything between them kicked ass!
ST:DS9 - loved it until they tried to be B5 with the "Big War" plot, and brought on Ron Moore's Mary Sue (thinly disguised as Worf). For the first three seasons, it was beautiful, sad, dystopian, mystical, and had a great cast.
Co-founder of the Evil Writing Crew - causing hell, one hero at a time!
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I don't know most of the series mentioned above but I do know some of them.
I've seen ST TOS (some of it), ST TNG, ST DS9 (not all), ST VOY, ST ENT, Andromeda, Babylon 5, Farscape, now Firefly.
I do love Farscape dearly. it's about people like you and me even if some of them are blue and other's look like big frogs. there's no military structure and they don't save the univers once per EP. they try to stay alive and sometimes have fun and other times are sad and so on. my all time favorites are "The Choice" the only real mourning EP I've ever seen on TV, it was too realistic to describe, always makes me sad, "Fractures" the half funny half devastating reunion EP. I love the scene, where MoyaJohn meets Aeryn in the hangar and she just walks past, Crais tells him that the other John died and then, when your heart is about to break, Rygel sniffs the air and smiles about a 'female' being on board and you have to smile too. and to make the circle round "Scratch 'n Sniff" the holiday EP with the weird strory told in an even weirder way (like a pop music video).
I liked Adromeda, when Tyr was a Nietzschean (a real one) and Beka was close to being a Flash addict and the commonwealth was nothing but a dream. now it seems to me like a computer action game on TV.
I like Enterprise. it's predictable and not too innovative but it shows some of the Star Trek universe in a bit of a different light. some of the characters are nice (Reed, Tucker and especially the Doc).
the original ST was never my kind of SF. I've seen some of it as a kid in the german version and that made me see it as a joke (that was intended by the translators, they made it into a funny kids series). and now it's a bit out of time, so I've only seen a few in english and didn't like them much.
TNG was my first SF series ever and that was about 3 years ago. up to then I didn't like SF and generally didn't watch TV at all. I love Data and some of the stories are really good. I bought all the DVDs this year. I hate the captain, as I almost always hate the Captain if there is one and a military structure to make him/her captain. I just hate the structure and the 'position' of captain, I think. or better what it makes out of a man. but I know what I'm talking about here, as with all the series above I've seen every EP up to date and in this case I've seen them at least 3 times each. there's only Farscape to compete with that. I have all those DVDs too, the UK ones up to the end of season 3.
DS9 is darker, there are interesting characters there and it has the great war arc. but I seem to be the only one not liking 'great' stories, say "Lord of The Rings" kinda stories. I still hate the captain. some of the not-war-arc-related stories are quite good. I haven't seen all of it yet.
Voyager is lighter, funnier and altogether un-arc-ish. I think I like it best of all the Treks. I do love Janeway (see I don't hate all the captains). she's erratic and not quite sane all the time but maybe that's what I like in her. I like her best when she carries her big gun around. I liked Chakotay too, in the beginning, when he had something meaningful to say some of the time. I even like Seven, if it weren't for the "romper suit" (looked it up in a dic) she wears. I'm a woman myself so maybe I don't know but I still don't think women in baby-wear are sexy. and most of all of them I love B'Elanna. the Doc was overused and underpunished in the end (should have been re-booted after all of his later 'adventures'). Tom had some good EPs ans was all around a nice guy. It doesn't have to be dark to be good.
last B5. I do like it but I don't see the big arc as it's best thing. I really enjoyed the 5th season that was out of the arc. I liked it because they seemd to have time to tell stories about the people then. I enjoyed Londo and G'Kar, I really really love Lennier, I do want a Lennier of my own! Delenn had her moments ("If you value your life, be someplace else."). and I always liked Garibaldi. I'd love to watch some Duffy Duck with him sometime.
so that's my take on
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darkangel by far
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The Six Million Dollar Man.
Firefly is in the running, tho.
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Spaced (UK) - The SciFi/Comedy where the Simon Pegg & Nick Frost started. Funnier than Buffy the Vampire Slayer at times. Best gunfight ever. There definitely should be an American version.
Battlestar Galactica (GINO) - Strong char dev, excellent CG, good shakey cam. "It sucks you in", as I've heard many times. One of Joss Whedon many current favorite TV shows. Ties with Firefly as my all-time favorite.
X-Files w/ Mulder (non-mythos) - Monster-of-the-weeks were always creepy and well-done.
Twilight Zone (Original Series & Movie) - Classic. Cheese.
Space: Above and Beyond - Loved the chars, good CG for its time. BSG does it better in all areas. 25% thru second watching.
Star Trek (TOS & TNG) - Classic. Very philosophical (which is boring for some people). SciFi may not exist if there were no ST:TOS, or at least be very different. Do people understand SciFi if they never watched ST:TOS?
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