OT - Good sci fi TV shows?

QuarianRex · #1 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 · #2 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.

dogscoff · #3 February 13th, 2003, 04:46 PM

Anyone else remember Alien:Nation? There was a bunch of refugee aliens living in some American city, and the story follwed a Tenktonese cop teamed up with an initially xenophobic human.

There were a few films of it, but the series was best. The best bits were the explorations of Tentonese culture - they got drunk on sour milk and had all these strange biological functions only ever hinted at.

Omega_Prime · #4 February 13th, 2003, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atrocities:
VOYAGER = bad tv. I command you to stop putting it on your top 10 lists!

Oh I agree. "The Janeway Gambit" never failed to piss me off.

She would do something retarded and it would be just the trick. She could defeat the borg at will, and repeatably. I mean, she would not flinch at sidling Voyager up to a borg ship. (The fact that her ship's name is too appropriate for the thin premise of the show was bad enough by its self.)

They TALKED an advanced borg into being "good". They destroyed the "borg nexus". (The idea of a borg nexus, really should have begged the question, "Why is there still a Federation?")

The show was an exorcise in mis-use and abuse of plot device. A black-eye on the face of sci-fi, if it can even be called that.

Of course, the borg can travel through time too. In fact they are so powerful, they never won a battle.

It's a wonder sci-fi has survived that drivel.

Rodenbery has done worse though.
Earth: Final Crap-fest.

Jesus Rodham Christ. This show was more "Trekie" than TREK! It didn't just ignore past seasons, it could actually ignore the very Last episode, change its history at will, and cycle through main characters as fast as bad Japanimation.

Alternate twin universe, evil twin, new tech mentioned just in time to be used for today's story, mumbo-jumbo in the guise of sci-fi...this has Rodenbery stink all over it.

UPDATE: Let me just add, though, that the first season of EFC was pretty watchable, if not on the edge of entertaining.

[ February 13, 2003, 15:11: Message edited by: Omega_Prime ]

Omega_Prime · #5 February 13th, 2003, 05:52 PM

10 most awful sci-fi TV shows ever.

1. Earth: Final Conflict
2. Voyager
3. Farscape (After it started sucking)
4. Cleopatra 2525 (watchable on mute)
5. Lost in Space
6. Andromeda
7. Highlander: Raven
8. Enterprise (is there a petition to kill this?}
9. Greatest American Hero
10. Manamal

ten best:

1. Stargate SG1
2. B5 (Though very dry chemistry wise)
3. Sliders (first season at least)
4. Battlestar galactica
5. X-files (early on)
6. Night Stalker (horror/mystery/scifi)
7. Twilight Zone
8. 6 million dollar man
9. Farscape (Before it started sucking)
10. Outer Limits

I didn't mention shows like Scorpian/Nightman/Manta because they are pretty much the same bad show, with different actors.

orev_saara · #6 February 13th, 2003, 07:26 PM

Did somebody claim that Stranger in a Strange Land was a good book? Maybe I am a stranger in a strange land, but it seemed to me that Heinlein was just indulging in some of his odd fetishes a little too much in that book. Don't believe me? Read Glory Road or Job: A Comedy of Justice. Good writing occasionally, but the man had issues. If you're looking to read good sci-fi, I recommend Asimov or Cherryh. Or Zelazny, for something a little wierder. Or Card. And Saberhagen sci-fi ain't bad.

Baron Munchausen · #7 February 13th, 2003, 07:47 PM

Omega Prime, you missed the 'revival' Galactical 1980 on that list of the worst SciFi of all time. It belongs at the TOP of the list, too! The Buck Rogers series follows closely behind it.

Orev Saara wrote:

Quote:

Did somebody claim that Stranger in a Strange Land was a good book? Maybe I am a stranger in a strange land, but it seemed to me that Heinlein was just indulging in some of his odd fetishes a little too much in that book. Don't believe me? Read Glory Road or Job: A Comedy of Justice. Good writing occasionally, but the man had issues. If you're looking to read good sci-fi, I recommend Asimov or Cherryh. Or Zelazny, for something a little wierder. Or Card. And Saberhagen sci-fi ain't bad.

Yes, Heinlein re-wrote the same book(s) many times over. Stranger in a Strange Land is nearly identical with Friday, for example. Too bad he didn't know when to quit.

[ February 13, 2003, 17:48: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]