Science Fiction

I was wondering if you guys can recommend any sci-fi shows?

Every once in a while get into a certain mood and want to dive into the Great Unknown. The "deep space" kind, that is. I often dig out some old space strategy games then, only to put them aside again after a day or two, because unfortunately I'm not really into strategy. Anyway, I was wondering if there are any series I've missed?


My favorite sci-fi series with that Deep Space feeling were:

Star Trek -- all of them, galactic scale
Babylon 5 -- epic, defines the term "space opera" for me
Farscape -- crazy aliens, otherworldly stuff
Red Dwarf -- fantastic comedy series, but also very Deep Space-esque.
Surface -- not Deep Space, but Deep Ocean. Similar vibe.


Others I liked a lot, but which had a slightly different focus:

Doctor: Who -- has some incredible episodes that look deep into the future, but otherwise has a different feel to it
Firefly -- western sci-fi, not really deep space, although great on it's own.
Stargate SG-01 -- first couple seasons were decent, the Asgard brought some great depth into the whole story. After that and with it's spin-off series, that sense was lost (although I still liked everything).
Battlestar: Galactica -- more of a character study than deep space sci-fi
The Tripods -- medieval, apocalyptic sci-fi, that's what my memory tells me. One of those childhood series you'll never forget


So what did I miss? I'd love to hear of others that fit the space opera genre. Or something with a "distant" vibe that makes you feel lost in time/space/reverie. Maybe something older? Or are there any new series being produced? Movies are fine too, although I haven't mentioned them.

Space: Above and Beyond
Only made it one season, but I enjoyed it. Probably doesn't really fit your "deep space" mold since its essence is Starship Troopers. I loved it. Even dropped the bucks to buy the DVD set.

Invasion
This ran the same time as Surface. More an alien thing than a space thing, but you mentioning Surface reminded me of this one.

dteowner said:

Space: Above and Beyond

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This one was better than expected.

You also got Lexx which is my favourite sci-fi series. Starts with a 4 part mini-series. It's pretty vulgar but highly imaginative.

Ah, Lexx... hence your name, hishadow?

Lexx *ruled.* I pretty much quit watching TV in disgust when the channel showing it here dropped it after the Heaven and Hell season. "I'm good with pain..."

Since I don't watch TV anymore, I can't recommend any shows, but I can recommend an author. Iain M. Banks. I particularly liked Use of Weapons, The Player of Games, and The Algebraist, but it's not a bad idea to start with Consider Phlebas, the first in his Culture series.

Jaz said:

Ah, Lexx... hence your name, hishadow?

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Kinda obvious now..

Prime Junta said:

Lexx *ruled.* I pretty much quit watching TV in disgust when the channel showing it here dropped it after the Heaven and Hell season. "I'm good with pain..."

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Season 4 had the cheapest looks (on an already cheap production) so to the uninitiated is might look no better than a porn production. You can get all seasons though on DVD from ezydvd.com.au (it's a re-release).

It never was about looks, was it? Unless the looks belonged to Zev/Xev, of course...

You pretty much got it covered with your list, I'm afraid. There aren't many of these shows - and my personal favorites are ones you've already seen: TNG, B5, and DS9.

Some people seem to enjoy Earth: Final Conflict - but I didn't last beyond the first couple of shows. I think it's worth a shot, though - as it wasn't THAT bad. Come to think of it, I can't even remember what was wrong with it.

Beyond that, Farscape has been mentioned - and I think that might be the closest to your preference. Not for me, but I hear it's very good.

If you want a handful of "decent" earth-based sci-fi episodes, I actually enjoyed Threshold while it lasted. I was surprised to see it canceled, as I thought it worked pretty well and was interesting.

DArtagnan said:

Some people seem to enjoy Earth: Final Conflict - but I didn't last beyond the first couple of shows. I think it's worth a shot, though - as it wasn't THAT bad. Come to think of it, I can't even remember what was wrong with it.

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If I remember correctly they killed of some characters etc. Another more "earthly" series is V (there's a remake coming soon too).

More in line with Lexx there's also the BBC version of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Lexx rings a bell, I think I caught one or two episodes when it was running in TV back then. Was it the one with Herc.. I mean, Kevin Sorbo? These kind of shows can be hard to get into when you haven't seen them from the beginning -- which I love. Looks like it has quite a fellowship too, so I'm going to check this one out first.

dteowner said:

Space: Above and Beyond
Only made it one season, but I enjoyed it.

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Interesting, because it seems lots of shows I liked were dropped after only one season. Pity, too.

@Prime Junta: Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll keep them in mind. Speaking of books, I actually liked Dune better the further the books progressed, even though most people have it the other way around. The first books were, well, normal in a way. But the later books were the ones that provided so much scope and scale to the universe with all those generations after generations and grand schemes. Loved that! As for the adaptations - I liked the movie better for the dusty atmosphere, the TV series was too clean, even if more faithful to the books.

@hishadow: I've seen the BBC version of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. That, I would say, is a genre of its own.

Oh, and I found out about Blake's 7 while searching for inspiration, a show from the 70's from some of the makers of Doctor Who. (How to get into rebel space opera Blake's 7). Has anyone seen that? From the sound of it, there's much to be liked (and a little to be disliked too, apparently).

Will check out the others mentioned here, too. Thanks so far!

Oh, and I found out about Blake's 7 while searching for inspiration, a show from the 70's from some of the makers of Doctor Who. (How to get into rebel space opera Blake's 7). Has anyone seen that? From the sound of it, there's much to be liked (and a little to be disliked too, apparently).

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I used to watch this when I was VERY young. If you can get past the extremely kitsch style it would have today - it's actually pretty good. Sort of a mix between Doctor Who and Star Trek.

DArtagnan said:

If you want a handful of "decent" earth-based sci-fi episodes, I actually enjoyed Threshold while it lasted. I was surprised to see it canceled, as I thought it worked pretty well and was interesting.

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THAT's the third one. I remembered watching 3 really good shows back then (Invasion and Surface being the other two) but couldn't put my finger on the name of the 3rd one. Thanks for that.

I put those shows (along with a few others that weren't really space related) in the "Post X-Files" group. None of them were really given a chance to get established before they got cancelled, and the writer's strike pretty well finished off any new entries to the entire group. Real pity, too. I don't watch anything but hockey and football on TV anymore. I even gave up on Lost and 24 when they came back after the writer's strike, although I might eventually pick those up on DVD.

Arhu said:

Lexx rings a bell, I think I caught one or two episodes when it was running in TV back then. Was it the one with Herc.. I mean, Kevin Sorbo?

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Nope, that's Andromeda. The series was cheesy as well, but in, err, another way.
I remember that when I watched the first episode of the Lexx miniseries, I was shocked. Because I thought they were serious. Then I noticed that it was really, really funny...
I used to watch those series while I was still doing field duty... Wednesday nights in hotels were boring without the SciFi shows on RTL2. Usually watched 4 in a row, then I fell asleep.

I enjoyed Blakes 7 back in the day, but I'm not sure I could watch it now. Production costs were kept to a minimum!!

I found a list of 100 science fiction movies. Sadly, I know almost all of them already, most notable exceptions include everything that was made before ~1975.

Hmm ...

Arhu said:

Sadly, I know almost all of them already, most notable exceptions include everything that was made before ~1975.

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You´ve probably seen all of those, but just in case:

Stalker, Night of the Living Dead, THX-1138, Metropolis, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: Space Odyssey, Plan 9 from Outer Space

Most under-the-radar of those is THX-1138 I guess, so I´d like to emphasize its qualities especially. It rulez!

Firefly - It's my all time favorite series and one tv movie. Even more so than Babylon 5 and I'm a die hard fan of that series.

I can't really think of any great sci-fi shows that haven't already been posted, but no one has mentioned Quantum Leap. I liked that show when I was a kid. I haven't seen an episode of that in a long time, though. So nostalgia might be playing a huge role in my recomendation of it.

DeepO said:

Most under-the-radar of those is THX-1138 I guess, so I´d like to emphasize its qualities especially. It rulez!

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I never heard about it. Strange, with a title as catchy as that, you'd imagine it'd be a runaway hit straight away... (Looking it up now.)

My friend is totally off the deep end about "Firefly", he's given me the complete series today at work and demands me and my girl start watching it this weekend. Supposedly it was a really good series that had a rabid following... and was promptly canceled after one season. This in turn caused a category 4 nerdstorm, which prompted a movie to be made.

Ive been instructed to watch the full series, and then and only then will I be permitted his special copy of the subsequent film. I'll let you know how it turns out

I've never seen any of the Firefly episodes, but I have the movie (Serenity) and it's pretty good. I'll probably get the series eventually.