OT - Good sci fi TV shows?

orev_saara · #1 February 13th, 2003, 05:52 AM

Well, Farscape was the best show on television, but I'm afraid you missed the boat on that one. So did a lot of people, which was the problem really. Produced by Jim Henson's creature company, the show had outstanding production values. The stuff didn't have that sleek, expensive look you expect from any recent ST shows, but it was very imaginative. Picture "The Dark Crystal" as a sci-fi TV show.

Sadly, Farscape was too good for it's own good. It had strong plot development throughout the entire four-year run, and intricate character arcs. So anyone who hadn't been watching couldn't just jump in and have any idea what was going on. And since Sci-Fi, like any good network, doesn't care as much about the quality of a show as the quantity of its viewers, it got cancelled.

Sometimes I blame Stargate, but that's just petty, I know.

I can't believe, though, that several people have rated the best sci-fi of all time and forgotten the best TV show ever, "The Prisoner"! This show was great! Psychological philosophy disguised as entertainment! And darned entertaining too! If any of you haven't seen the show in its entirety, I command you to rent it or buy it immediately and go mend!

Omega_Prime · #2 February 13th, 2003, 07:00 AM

I not only have the complete Prisoner series on tape, but several McGuin interviews and the Gurps Prisoner RGP.

I don't think of it as sci-fi though. You never know if it is a dream, aliens, his government, another government. Instead of a sci-fi mythos, it builds psychological tension using fantasy/action elements, sometimes in the guise of science. I think that is a different animal, but it is one of my all-time Favorites.

Battlestar Galactica was canceled not because of a lack of interest, or return on capital invested, but because George Lucas kept suing the production.

He claimed he owned "capsule shaped laser fire", sound in space, the design for the viper, etc, etc. He litigated one of the best Sci-fi series ever, off the air.

He is a hack at best, and the best of the Star Wars universe was written by other people than himself. Jealous of real talent, he went after Galactica with every tool at his disposal.

I wish him well on his new project. To make himself look like a Death-Star. It is coming along nicely. Soon he will not be able to leave his own home, and will spend his days playing his level 60 necro on EverQuest.

[ February 13, 2003, 05:00: Message edited by: Omega_Prime ]

Grandpa Kim · #3 February 13th, 2003, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidG:
IMO if you want good Sci-Fi forget the TV, get a book or even better, a magazine like Analog

Absolutely!! Hollywood is at least 50 years behind what is being written for book publication. Do you think anyone in Hollywood has the guts to produce "Stranger in a Strange Land" for the motion picture audience? And that was published in 1962!

Kim

Cheeze · #4 February 13th, 2003, 09:26 AM

Maybe I'm getting my shows mixed up, but Taken was a 10-episode miniseries. It had its good points, but with a great deal of interesting build-up and mystery I felt kind of disappointed by the wrap-up and ending. It seemed to fall short.

I had a similar reaction to the conclusion of Babylon 5's Shadow wars saga. Not necessarily the entire series, but that significant part ended on an odd and somewhat underwhelming note. And much as I liked the show, the story seemed to lose punch without that focus, but it did find interesting ways to recover. Much as I liked the 'rangers' concept, you didn't think that one human would have pointed out that the name of this elite covert Minbari group came from an ancient Earth novel? I might have liked that better if they were named the Rangers by some humans and had kept some other Minbari name.

Stargate becomes more enjoyable the more I watch it, and Farscape is awesome....but some of those wacky episodes from the previous new episode release Last year were far out there. I was lucky, I caught up with Farscape during a two-week period where they seemed to play every most-exciting and pivotal episode, so I think I caught up on the action just as they went into a new season. And I still have some season 1 stuff I'm sure I haven't seen yet.

Andromeda is fun, but a little too silly sometimes. I'll keep watching it. Earth: Final Conflict had me hooked, but somewhere in the end of the Taelons I just didn't keep up. Enterprise is one of the few shows I consistently watch.

I can't get enough of the Star Treks, although I miss much of Voyager. As much criticism as Roddenberry's vision gets, I rather like the idea that in the future we haven't just progressed in technology but that humanity has become better. That kind of optimism is rare in entertainment and current sci-fi, and it is refreshing.

Atrocities · #5 February 13th, 2003, 10:21 AM

Quote:

I wish him well on his new project. To make himself look like a Death-Star. It is coming along nicely. Soon he will not be able to leave his own home, and will spend his days playing his level 60 necro on EverQuest.

"No Luck, The Force is not with you! Do not attempt to penatrate this new Death Stars exhoust hole!"

Quote:

10. Star Blazers

Good cartoon but like almost all Jap Cartoons, hooky in many ways.

VOYAGER = bad tv. I command you to stop putting it on your top 10 lists!

[ February 13, 2003, 08:26: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

QuarianRex · #6 February 13th, 2003, 11:00 AM

[quote]Originally posted by javaslinger:
What's that god awful series wehre people crash land on some planet. There some kind of underground race there called diggers?
[quote]

Are you talking about Earth2? IIRC the premise of the show was that a small group of volunteers were sent to colonize a virtually earthlike world. The aliens were a mix of gaia-loving druid meets Swamp Thing who would stad around and do some choral moaning before dropping back into the ground. It got a little wierd/sappy when the kids who were 'techno-sick' got better by communing with nature and walking through the dirt themselves.

Another show I liked was Earth: Above and Beyond. A large part of it was actually a war story but it had some good backstory. And the final episode was pretty interesting when you found out the real reason for the war with the 'chiggs'. I always wondered where they would have gone with that.

I was also fond of Invasion America. A surprisingly good american cartoon (or perhaps not so surprisingly since it was done by Spielberg).

As far as books go, I have to say that Dan Simmons Hyperion series is one of the best I have ever read. If it was ever to be made into a movie, and made right, I would crap an eggroll in joy.

[ February 13, 2003, 09:01: Message edited by: QuarianRex ]

gregebowman · #7 February 13th, 2003, 04:12 PM

After I posted Last night, I remembered a couple of more good shows that I enjoyed and haven't seen mentioned: X-Files and Quantam Leap. Can't forget these shows.

I'm all for reading books. I think I spend more time in a week reading than I do watching TV (mostly because the wife has her hand on the remote control!!!). I read mostly sci-fi, but I'm hooked on Stephen King, Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler books also. Unfortunately, due to the costs of even paperbooks, there are a lot of sci-books I haven't had the chance to read, and probably never will. Like the Hyperion series just mentioned. I have to work on teh weekends, so I don't have the chance to go to flea markets and garage sales, which used to be a major source of my book collecting in the past.