The Sci-Fi Series Thread

[KleptoKat]

This thread is for those who are fans of Sci-Fi series and want to a) debate which show is best recommend new shows that most people might not know about and c) explain nerdy things and give people information on how to watch certain shows.

If you have anything you want to add to the original post, (eg. your top ten Dalek quotes or a map of the alpha quadrant) just feel free to make a post! You'll get full credit AND a thank you. Top of the line right there. (If I'm not updating this post, or forget about it, bug me to bits. Please. I like it when you bug me like that :3)

Do you have a Sci-Fi show that you are raving about? Ask to get it added here or recommend it to the rest of us! (A star is placed from each recommendation.)

Star Trek****

Doctor Who***

Alphas

The Walking Dead***

Stargate*****

Firefly***

Battlestar Galatica*

Warehouse 13** (Steampunk!)

Fallen Skies*

Outcasts*

Space Brothers*

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Planetes

Rocket Girls*

Moonlight Mile (Sexually explicit)

Farscape

Babylon 5*

Exosquad

Hyperdrive*

- Star Trek: The Original Series

- Star Trek: The Animated Series

- Star Trek: The Motion Picture

- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

- Star Trek V: The final Frontier

- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

- Star Trek: The next Generation(First Five Years)

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1st Year)

- Star Trek: The next Generation(6th Year)

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2nd Year)

- Star Trek: The next Generation(7th Year)

- Star Trek Generations

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (3rd Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (1st Year)

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (4th Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (2nd Year)

- Star Trek: First Contact

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (5th Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (3rd Year)

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (6th Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (4th Year)

- Star Trek: Insurrection

- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (7th Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (5th Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (6th Year)

- Star Trek: Voyager (7th Year)

- Star Trek: Nemesis

- Star Trek (2008)

- Star Trek: Enterprise

Just to get this discussion rolling, which Sci-Fi shows have you recently watched that you have just RAVED about. Personally I'm excited for The Walking Dead. Season three comes out October 14th 2012, which is also zombie day! Anyone else excited for The Walking Dead?

Edited October 6, 2012 by KleptoKat

[ddavis425]

My favorite Sci-Fi shows are Stargate and Doctor Who. Really sucks that Netflix got rid of the first 2 Stargate series. And yes, definitely excited for the new season of Walking Dead, just finished watching season 2 recently.

[KleptoKat]

What's Stargate like? I've heard good things about it I've just never had the chance to take a look. Is it anything like Star Trek?

[ddavis425]

Haven't actually seen Star Trek so I can't really compare, but Stargate SG1 and Atlantis are basically about a group going to different planets and solving people's problems. The third series, Universe, takes place on a starship and is a lot more dramatic, whereas the other two are a bit comedic.

[phoenix_ca]

The only thing similar about SG-1 to Star Trek is that sometimes SG's episodes also follow a purely self-contained narrative. A series in stargate is most similar in narrative style to season 3 of Enterprise. Worth watching, but decidedly not Star Trek.

As for The Walking Dead? I really don't like The Walking Dead, but I like The Walking Dead.

[Ziff]

You should definitely add the Firefly (T.V. Series) and Serenity (Movie) to that list, they really are epic Sci-Fi. Too bad the T.V. show didn't pick up more interest when it first ran.

Battlestar Galatica also deserves a place on that list. Obviously these are older shows that you have to catch on Netflix, reruns, or the net.

If you like steampunk sci-fi stuff, Warehouse 13 is pretty awesome. Also, I personally enjoyed the first season of Fallen Skies, not sure how it's been since then, I have limited free time so I can't watch everything.

I am so pysched for The Walking Dead. I've been a long time reader of the comic book and I thought I would hate the show but the differences from comic book -> tv show is what keeps it exciting and fresh for me. I mean honestly, I am still not 100% sure who will live and who will die. It's freaking awesome. It's been too long a hiatus though. Also, I seriously hate Lori in the tv show. If I was part of that group, Lori would have had an 'accident' somewhere during season 2.

[phoenix_ca]

I dont really get the appeal of the show. The only thing I'm ever sure of is that I want to see all the characters dead.

[RedDwarfIV]

Warehouse 13 and Firefly are certainly good ones.

I think the BBC was mad to drop Outcasts. Sure, they faffed around a bit and didn't quite get everything right, but a Season 2 could have fixed all those problems. A Season 2 would also have solved the massive cliffhangar we're left with as Carpathia Transporter 10 arrives over Forthaven to do its worst. I felt that Outcasts had some pretty interesting plots - it didn't develop 'DS9 syndrome' just because it was a fixed setting - and for its part, it maintained a high sense of realism. If humanity in the not-too-far future decided to go nuke itself but send out survival ships to make a colony, you could imagine this being the result. They even used shipping crates for Forthaven's perimeter walls - that's the sort of practical thinking one comes to associate with President Tate. My favourite episode was Whiteout [the episodes themselves didn't have names, but it's quite obvious which one this is if you'd watched it.]

All in all, it's set to be a cult show, and the BBC is contemplating making a made-for-TV-movie instead of Series 2 - which will be good if it does indeed solve the cliffhanger.

[Ziff]

I dont really get the appeal of the show. The only thing I'm ever sure of is that I want to see all the characters dead.

Which one, The Walking Dead I assume?

Warehouse 13 and Firefly are certainly good ones.

I think the BBC was mad to drop Outcasts. Sure, they faffed around a bit and didn't quite get everything right, but a Season 2 could have fixed all those problems. A Season 2 would also have solved the massive cliffhangar we're left with as Carpathia Transporter 10 arrives over Forthaven to do its worst. I felt that Outcasts had some pretty interesting plots - it didn't develop 'DS9 syndrome' just because it was a fixed setting - and for its part, it maintained a high sense of realism. If humanity in the not-too-far future decided to go nuke itself but send out survival ships to make a colony, you could imagine this being the result. They even used shipping crates for Forthaven's perimeter walls - that's the sort of practical thinking one comes to associate with President Tate. My favourite episode was Whiteout [the episodes themselves didn't have names, but it's quite obvious which one this is if you'd watched it.]

All in all, it's set to be a cult show, and the BBC is contemplating making a made-for-TV-movie instead of Series 2 - which will be good if it does indeed solve the cliffhanger.

What is Outcasts like? I haven't heard of that one. Actually, I will probably end up youtubing it to see. The weird thing about what you're saying is that's the same thing that happened to Firefly. It got dropped just as it was gaining momentum and starting to get somewhere. It sounds like they both easily could have had a ramped up second season.

[The Destroyer]

#1:Star trek VOY: Good

#2:Doctor who: Also good

#3:Star trek TNG: Not bad

[phoenix_ca]

Which one, The Walking Dead I assume?

You assume correctly. I just...don't get it. The characters have the collective maturity of a single nine-year-old. O.o

[1of6Billion]

What's SciFi about Walking Dead?

I thoroughly enjoyed all Series and movies of Star Trek and Stargate. The only thing I am watching now AND that has new stuff coming out is off course: FUTURAMA!

All hail Hypnotoad!

[Aescwulf]

If you don't mind anime then I suggest watching Space Brothers. It's about 2 brothers as kids vowing to become astronauts but many years on one managed it and the oldest just got kicked out of his job and his parents made him apply to be an astronaut. And it goes on from there.

Actually it's the series that made me search for a game like KSP

[Person012345]

If you don't mind anime then I suggest watching Space Brothers. It's about 2 brothers as kids vowing to become astronauts but many years on one managed it and the oldest just got kicked out of his job and his parents made him apply to be an astronaut. And it goes on from there.

Actually it's the series that made me search for a game like KSP

I've heard that Legend of the Galactic Heroes is supposed to be very good (though it's long as hell and is focused on "space politics in space" rather than being action oriented so it depends what you like). I've not got around to watching it myself yet though.

[Nikolai]

I've recommended Planetes (yes, there are supposed to be two e's in there) and Rocket Girls in the past. Let me also add Moonlight Mile, even though the characters are a bit larger-than-life (and thus somewhat unrealistic) and it has explicit sexual content (so don't watch it if that bothers you).

[Person012345]

I've recommended Planetes (yes, there are supposed to be two e's in there) and Rocket Girls in the past. Let me also add Moonlight Mile, even though the characters are a bit larger-than-life (and thus somewhat unrealistic) and it has explicit sexual content (so don't watch it if that bothers you).

Rocket Girls (ロケットガール Roketto GÄÂru?) is a light novel written by HÃ…Âsuke Nojiri. Set in the Solomon Islands, it follows the exploits of high-school girl Yukari Morita, who is pressed into service as an astronaut by the Solomon Space Association when it is unable to build a rocket that can lift the weight of an adult male.

Oh, now that sounds very Kerbal.

[RedDwarfIV]

What is Outcasts like? I haven't heard of that one. Actually, I will probably end up youtubing it to see. The weird thing about what you're saying is that's the same thing that happened to Firefly. It got dropped just as it was gaining momentum and starting to get somewhere. It sounds like they both easily could have had a ramped up second season.

Well, here's a clip from my favourite episode, #3.

The guy who's preaching is the bad guy of the series. It's not much of a spoiler since Tate doesn't trust him from the outset. If Tate doesn't trust someone, you tend to find yourself agreeing - so you know he's bad news. He makes an evil face at the window when he thinks Tate isn't looking after Tate tells him he won't veto the proposal to put Berger [that's him] on the Council, at the end of this episode.

[The Stinger]

What's Stargate like? I've heard good things about it I've just never had the chance to take a look. Is it anything like Star Trek?

Stargate SG-1 is space exploration mixed with Ancient Egypt and other ancient cultures. Add snake like Aliens who take humans as their host, and suppress off world humans and make them believe they are

their gods. It's my favorite TV series and I highly recommend it.

If you want to start watching it, then I suggest you start with the movie.

Al tough the show and the 1st movie have some fundamental differences, it's still the start of the TV series.

[Nikolai]

Oh, now that sounds very Kerbal.

Absolutely. The series opens with a would-be astronaut freaking out and fleeing the space agency as they try to figure out a way to cut their payload margins and launch him... by putting him on a very strict diet until launch day. (He ends up showing up later as a taxi driver who's still kind of high-strung.)

But I don't want to spoil everything. Some parts of the show are a bit of a stretch, but if you take it as comedy, it's generally fun... and it sneaks some good rocketry engineering ideas in there (e.g., "The better is the enemy of the good"). Plus, I like seeing the main character (Yukari) grow up from a little bit of a flake to someone seriously concerned with the success of the program.

[Aescwulf]

What about Farscape and Babylon 5 ?

These shows need to be watched!

Farscape is about an astronaut going through a wormhole and ends up in a different galaxy ( half of the Farscape cast ended up in stargate SG-1)

Babylon 5 is basically about a space station it's about diplomacy.

[Tommygun]

All in all, it's set to be a cult show, and the BBC is contemplating making a made-for-TV-movie instead of Series 2 - which will be good if it does indeed solve the cliffhanger.

I hope that happens. It would be nice at least to wrap up the story.

I wish Space 1999 would get a remake. I know the basic premise was implausible, but I loved the show at the time.

I think the show has age well considering it was made in the 70's.

[RedDwarfIV]

UFO was good. It had interesting plots, and while its science was highly unrealistic, it was still fun to watch. The models for all the aircraft and spacecraft and ground craft and submarines were made by the people who worked on Thunderbirds - so you get stuff like this:

Yes, those are nukes on their noses.

Edited October 3, 2012 by RedDwarfIV

[Tauge]

What's Stargate like? I've heard good things about it I've just never had the chance to take a look. Is it anything like Star Trek?

Richard Dean Anderson. Nuf said.

I enjoyed SG-1 until RDA's departure. It was starting to lose steam just before then, but, in my opinion at least, it really started to go downhill after he left. Babylon 5 was great, though having gone back and watching the special effects now...it's not aged well, not that that is a reason to not watch.

[The Stinger]

Richard Dean Anderson. Nuf said.

I enjoyed SG-1 until RDA's departure. It was starting to lose steam just before then, but, in my opinion at least, it really started to go downhill after he left.

Al tough Atlantis was good, Rodney Mckay is great character, and Stargate Universe had a great story idea, they just don't compare to SG-1 with Richard Dean Anderson.

And to me season 8 is the real ending of Sg-1, because it completes the circle with the first movie.

[RedDwarfIV]

Another good show was Hyperdrive - a BBC sci-fi comedy which ran for two series. The HMS Camden Lock, a British warship with a crew of intrepid bunglers who 'solve problems by making them bigger until they go away'. Series 2 was best in my opinion, especially Series 2 Episode 1.