Science Fiction

I totally know this kind of mood and unfortunately there are never enough tv series and movies around .
Have you ever tried anime ? some random searching in youtube revealed that there are animated firefly episodes (!!!), also full episodes of Star Blazers are uploaded there ( Japanese animated space opera of late 70's or early 80's)



X universe is NOT about strategy , it is exploration and dog fighting

Originally Posted by JDR13
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.

I watched the movie first as well. I didn't think that much of it. It was good, but it would of been a heck of a lot better if I had watched the series first.

My mom was the one that told me I HAD to watch the series. She is one of those crazed fanatics of the series and thought it was bullcrap that the series only lasted one season. I think she was part of the 'nerdstorm' Sammy was talking about. The power of the nerd is a wondrous and dangerous thing

After watching the series, I agree with her 110%. The movie was ten times better the second time I watched it.

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

Thanks. I've heard about THX-1138 before when reading about the THX sound system. I know Metropolis, A Clockwork Orange and 2001, the rest sounds familiar but I'm not sure.

Logan's Run was pretty good to. At least I *think* it was Logan's Run. There's this one movie I saw on TV once that I zapped into which I closely yet vaguely remember because one scene in it reminded me completely of a Star Trek (TOS) episode, something where a bunch of people were herded in a small space behind glass walls or so. Fuzzy memory, but I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
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

My advice: sit back and enjoy!

Originally Posted by Tragos
Have you ever tried anime ?

Yeah, though I could only remember two pure *) Sci-Fi series that I really liked.

- Infinite Ryvius is like one of those social experiments where you put a bunch of people in a place together without access to the outside world, a la Lord of the Flies. Interesting character designs.

- Crest of the Stars / Banner of the Stars felt very deep because the aliens had their own complete language including an alphabet and their own culture. Think along the lines of Tolkien's Elves. This was more of a space opera with intergalactic politics and all.

Others I've tried I couldn't really get into, often due to bad animation. (If I want 4 FPS with lots of repeated frames I'd rather watch South Park … ) Perhaps I should be more forgiving, lest I rob myself of what I'm actually looking for.

*) "pure" because fantasy and sci-fi are often one and the same in Japan, contrary to us Westerners, who make a clear distinction between (high) fantasy and (space) sci-fi.


Come to think of it, there's probably more in Anime than I first thought, OVA series and movies included. I'll write more when I actually remember their names.

Did any Battlestar Galactica fans catch the premier of Caprica last night?

It was good, a lot better than I expected to be honest. It has a similar feel to BSG, but very different at the same time.

For those who don't know about it, Caprica takes place on the planet Caprica that was featured in the early seasons of Battlestar Galactica. The events in this series take place 58 years before the beginning of BSG.

I wasn't sure how directly connected Caprica would be to BSG, but after seeing the premier, it's obviously *very* connected. At the same time however, you wouldn't need to be a BSG fan, or have any knowledge of BSG lore to enjoy it.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Did any Battlestar Galactica fans catch the premier of Caprica last night?

It was good, a lot better than I expected to be honest. It has a similar feel to BSG, but very different at the same time.

For those who don't know about it, Caprica takes place on the planet Caprica that was featured in the early seasons of Battlestar Galactica. The events in this series take place 58 years before the beginning of BSG.

I wasn't sure how directly connected Caprica would be to BSG, but after seeing the premier, it's obviously *very* connected. At the same time however, you wouldn't need to be a BSG fan, or have any knowledge of BSG lore to enjoy it.

I saw the very first 3 episodes of BSG and loved it but for some reason or another missed the rest… been meaning to get it on DVD but waiting for the price to go down, still more than I'm willing to pay with TV series going for pretty cheap these days.

Cool, so no need to have watched BSG? I may try to catch that then.

Originally Posted by Arhu
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 …

Great list! Wow, I've watched maybe 80% of those.

I see a few that don't belong their chart positions though, hehe (Dark City was good, but not top 25 good). Nice to see 12 Monkeys getting some love though, that one was underrated.

And I loved Dr. Strangelove and V for Vendetta but how were those Sci-Fi?

And what the hell? The Star Wars Prequels were horrible.

Originally Posted by Relayer
Cool, so no need to have watched BSG? I may try to catch that then.

Friday nights at 9PM on Syfy. They're also replaying the premier quit a few times over the next week.


http://www.syfy.com/schedule/index.p…h_text=Caprica

Originally Posted by Relayer
I saw the very first 3 episodes of BSG and loved it but for some reason or another missed the rest… been meaning to get it on DVD but waiting for the price to go down, still more than I'm willing to pay with TV series going for pretty cheap these days.

Cool, so no need to have watched BSG? I may try to catch that then.

BSG is great if you are willing to accept it's more space soap opera than action series. People are forging alliances back and forth, characters are thrown into the brigg as traitors and then are the star of the next two episodes, etc. There are a couple of very surprising revelations as the series goes on. Things get a lot faster in the 3rd and 4th season, but faster also means more illogical. The actors are great throughout the whole show. Visuals and rythm also remain the same, so the creators didn't give in to the mainstream.
The whole show has two endings. They had to make a temporary ending in the middle of the last season because the writers' strike started and they couldn't be sure the production wouldn't be flat out cancelled. The producrer gor the okay for the increased budget for that episode on Sunday. Munday morning the strike started and all writers and the show runner (also lead creative) had to leave. Director and actors had to shoot the whole thing without the chance to change a single line and without knowing what the future would bring. As it turned out this was the perfect mood for this episode. One might argue they should have stopped here. No further comment on the details, to avoid spoilers.

Do yourself a favour and watch all 4 seasons within a short time. The impact is much bigger if you watch 2 or 3 episodes per evening because you might still remember what past events they're refering to. I think I burned through season 4 in one weekend. Interesting experience. :/

Originally Posted by Arhu
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 …

Nice list. A lot of great movies in there. I'm especially happy to see classics like The Fifth Element (8.) - an underrated movie with lots of memorable scenes, Forbidden Planet (11.)- SciFi Shakespeare, Brazil (20.) - a masterpiece, and The Andromeda Strain (45.) on the upper end of the list.

I think I know ca. 85% of these films. Only a couple of movies by directors with Russian names are missing and very few of the classics. Some mainstream stuff like the new Star Wars trilogy is too high on the list. Put them on #50 and I'm happy.
If you want to watch one of the most efficient low budget sif-fi / horror movies ever I can recommend Them! (1954). Quality work, although the director was not Jack Arnold like in many other films of the same series (Tarantula, Creature, The Thing, etc.).

Has anyone seen Falling Skies yet? How is it?

After watching Bab5 with the GF (fifth time for me, first for her) - I'm after a fresh new sci-fi show.

Let me guess, they've not made any good ones lately?

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
After watching Bab5 with the GF (fifth time for me, first for her) - I'm after a fresh new sci-fi show.

Let me guess, they've not made any good ones lately?

You guessed right. You can try the SCFY channel but most channels are dramas or teen shows now. I'm waiting for a new sci-fi show myself.

I could recommend Terra Nova or Battlestar Galactica.

I've seen most of BSG - but didn't care for the later seasons. Terra Nova? Hmm, will check it out.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I've seen most of BSG - but didn't care for the later seasons.

Yep, BSG started out incredible. The mini-series and first two seasons were some of the best sci-fi television I've ever seen, but that last season was just… weird.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Yep, BSG started out incredible. The mini-series and first two seasons were some of the best sci-fi television I've ever seen, but that last season was just… weird.

Indeed, I was very impressed by BSG at first. I stopped watching after the third season, so I don't know how it ended.

Originally Posted by Arhu
Has anyone seen Falling Skies yet? How is it?

Sounds like my kind of series. Im gonna check it out today.

I found it (Falling Skies) boring, predictable and boring .

The end of Season 1 of Falling Skyes had me scratching my head, but I found it enjoyable overall. Not super great, but has some potential to get better.

Originally Posted by Jaz
I found it (Falling Skies) boring, predictable and boring .

Yes, and it didn't really make a lot of sense to me most of the time. I need my characters to at least behave like they're slightly believable or have some kind of intelligence. They're running a military operation, right? Earth has been taken over, we have lost but fighting back. Why are we tolerating idiots compromising a military operation? And what's with the Christian overtones?

Sorry, just too much drama bullshit in what should be a fight for survival. Some nice ideas, terrible execution.

What Christian overtones?