Favorite Sci-Fi Series (TV)
POSTED BY: millernate
UPDATED: Friday, July 4, 2008 14:56
VIEWED: 18498
PAGE 3 of 5
Forgot about Space: Above and Beyond. Still think about Wang and Damphousse and West.....I miss that show....and Babylon 5 is great stuff....
But NOTHING touches Farscape....
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i'm obsessed with smallville and alias (dunno if alias is considered scifi but close). i was also obsessed with roswell. i watch x-files, lexx, so weird, star trek, twilight zone, and outer limits when they're on but never really loved the shows, i just watched certain eps that looked good. and of course i'm obessive over firefly!
http://www.geocities.com/mandolinmonster/
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And don't forget VR-5 and Max Headroom
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And don't forget VR-5 and Max Headroom
gosseyn2
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I gotta agree with the Odyssey 5 suggestion. I have just gushed all over it in another thread, but it is the best thing on (UK) tv just now, and has a strong chance of becoming my favourite SF ever. Writing and acting is uniformly brilliant, watch it if you can.
And as for Prey - I had totally forgotten about that, Debra Messing (pre Will and Grace), and the fella that went on to be Darien in the Invisible Man (sorry forgot his name). It was on at like 1.30 am here in the UK, but I stayed up for it every week (hey, who needs a VCR anyway?)
Fave SF so far would be: Twilight Zone, X Files, B5 and I swing between Farscape and SG1 depending on my mood.
oh, and I have been watching reruns of Sliders on Scifi recently - it is much much better than I remember.
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yeah i watched sliders every once in a while and first wave and alien nation.
http://www.geocities.com/mandolinmonster/
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1) Babylon 5. The high-water mark for TV sf. Top-notch story, challenging ideas, strong ensemble. Firefly posesses a similar mix of gravitas and whimsy.
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.
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.
4) DS9. Easily the best of the Treks for me--maybe because it's the only one that isn't so utopian. Some of its story arcs were B5-ish epic, but its true strength was in its characters. No other Trek dared to have characters as layered and morally ambiguous as Dukat, Kira, Garak, Kai Winn...the list goes on.
5) Firefly. The second-best new series of the year behind Boomtown, and gaining fast. Boomtown's character arcs are secondary to the weekly stories (which are brilliant), but Firefly's arc is really pulling me in. That and great characters coupled with an ensemble that may prove to surpass B5's. I'm certain that if it has the chance to continue, it will be building a story as compelling in its own way as B5's. And Firefly hasn't even had its "Signs and Portents" yet. When it does, I'm sure it'll blow the arc wide open, and it'll move up several notches on my list.
6) Highlander. A guilty pleasure next to the others, maybe, but the characters (especially guest characters like Fitz) were terrific, and I was just a sucker for the idea of the show even when the execution didn't live up to expectations.
7) Buffy. The best genre show on TV until Firefly started its run. I've only been a fan since the beginning of Season 6 (though I've caught up a bit on the mythology). As with Firefly, it's all about the characters, the wit, and the moral depth and complexity. It's a thing.
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.
I'm about talked out now, but to round out to a top 10 list:
9) Star Trek TNG.
10) Stargate: SG1.
10.5) The X-Files. Sometimes. Esp. "Jose Chung."
Chris
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Farscape
If your not watching it your missing out. The writing is truly amazing. Very innovative. If you do not have cable you can still catch up to the story on p2p. Has the best character development of any show I have ever seen.
Firefly
I am really starting to enjoy this series. I like how you see things you might not see in other more "scripted" series (i.e. star trek) My favorite was when Mal kicked Claw through the engine when he wouldn't take the money back. I really like the way the characters talk. Very different.
Stargate
Good, but slow. Writing is predictable. Its at its end.
Enterprise
This show blows. Its like watching paint dry.
Space Above and Beyond
I recently downloaded the first and only season. It wasn't as good as I remembered.
Andromeda
Hercules in space.
Babylon 5
Didn't see enough to really comment. I heard the story lines were excellent.
DS9
Watching grass grow
I yearn for the dumpster - Scorpy Clone
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I knew I wouldn't be able to resist a thread that encouraged making lists. Love me some lists.
Favorite Sci-Fi(other than FF)Random order:
Farscape: I don't always love every episode, there are in fact a couple I downright loathe, but there isn't a single one that bored me. The constant inventiveness of the show and its ever-evolving characters are comparable only to Buffy in my mind.
Buffy: As much as I like Farscape I've never been nearly as invested in the characters and the world as I am with Buffy. Even when I hate what a character is doing I've never failed to find something in it that was utterly believable to the character. In the first two seasons especially the monster as metaphor method was strong and intriguing, if occasionally anvilly. And no other show has ever been able to make cry as hard as I did when Joyce died.
Eerie, Indiana - I don't know if anyone else remembers this, but this so called "kid's show" was smart and innovative and so, so funny. I have a few on DVD and they're still as fun as I remember them being when I was 12. It was also the first sci-fi series I was truly addicted to and layed the groundwork that made me that fanatic I am today.
The X-Files - I was a fan of the stand alone episodes mostly so I stopped watching regularly sometime around season 4 when I just couldn't stand the conspiracies any longer. But I've seen most of the stand alones from the rest of the seasons and I've enjoyed nearly all of them.
Honorable mentions:
Angel, second season: Gunn still had balls. Wesley was just the right mix of goofy incompetence and new found confidence. Cordelia was embracing her inner goody two shoes, but hadn't lost the snark. And Lindsey was lovely...okay, I'm a little shallow. All in all, the second season was pretty close to perfect.
Twin Peaks: The first season was amazing. Now if I could just take a pair of scissors to the second season and excise all that boring crap, like freakin' James Hurley and that damn Marsh woman. Argh!
Aww, I love lists, its like therapy, only free.
"I was gonna get me an ear, too." - Jayne
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