Uplifting sci-fi that isn't Star Trek

[JD]

If you are open to animation, I'd say Adventure Time and Steven Universe are both pretty positive shows.

The Syfy series Vagrant Queen coming out March 27 looks like it should be fun.

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Yeah, I saw the trailer when they released it a week or two ago, and it looks like a lot of fun.

 

[Jayson1]

I would toss in a few comic book stuff like Smallville and Agents of Shield.

Plus some more older stuff would be Buck Rogers and the old Battlestar Galatica. and Lois and Clark.


Jason

 

[Velocity]

"Voyage to see what's at the bottom" 60's TV show ( stolen title from the Mad Magazine satire of it )

Hee!

We used to call it "Kill it Before it Multiplies!" because it seemed someone yelled that at least every other episode.

 

[Farscape One]

I would say these shows are uplufting and not dystopian by nature...

ANDROMEDA (the first season, in particular)
BABYLON 5
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978)
DEAD LIKE ME
DOCTOR WHO (classic and current)
EARTH 2
EUREKA
HERCULES THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS
THE ORVILLE
PUSHING DAISIES
QUANTUM LEAP
SEAQUEST DSV
STARGATE SG-1
STARGATE ATLANTIS
WAREHOUSE 13
WONDERFALLS
XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS


Off the top of my head, those are some shows I find inhetently undystopian. And I always recommend FARSCAPE because it was an excellent series. A wild ride from start to finish. Plus, if you think about it, it is true to the ideals of STAR TREK. The entire crew of Moya are outcasts and criminals who work together and become a family for each other.

 

[Phil123]

Grateful for all the suggestions coming in, some I'm familiar with but so many that I am not.

I'm also really looking forward to the Lower Decks cartoon. I like Discovery and Picard more so, but Lower Decks looks like it might be a little more light-hearted.

 

[Christopher]

The Syfy series Vagrant Queen coming out March 27 looks like it should be fun.

The first episode's free on YouTube:

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Mixed feelings. It's kind of fun, and I like that it goes all-out with the cheesy alien makeups, with only one human character in the whole show; it's a refreshing change after so many space shows set in human-only universes. But at the same time, the culture of this "other galaxy" is identical to Earth's with the same idioms, beverages, etc., which is weird. Visually, it's very "alien" and exotic, but culturally, it's not even trying to be. And it's too violent for my tastes, with the "heroine" cold-bloodedly murdering a defeated foe in the first scene. Not only that, but the CGI gore is not well-blended into the live-action.

 

[Ovation]

"Stardust" for a very fun, uplifting adventure

Strongly seconded. This is a wonderful film that should be far more popular and famous.

 

[Kerock]

Terra Nova was good too bad it only went one season. I really liked Farscape.
Firefly would be my best choice.....and dare I say "Legend of the Seeker" although of course that is fantasy - a lttle cheesy I know but fun....Zed was great.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Mixed feelings. It's kind of fun, and I like that it goes all-out with the cheesy alien makeups, with only one human character in the whole show; it's a refreshing change after so many space shows set in human-only universes. But at the same time, the culture of this "other galaxy" is identical to Earth's with the same idioms, beverages, etc., which is weird. Visually, it's very "alien" and exotic, but culturally, it's not even trying to be.

I thought it went farther in that direction than Dark Matter and Killjoys (IMO) but it's very much the Syfy comfort food one would imagine. That said, we all enjoy some pizza and beer from time to time. It comes off to me as being a Syfy take on Guardians of the Galaxy. That's OK, I have a soft spot for the "scoundrels in space" genre.

I found it amusing that according to the captions there's two types of music: "80's synth music" and "menacing house music".

And it's too violent for my tastes, with the "heroine" cold-bloodedly murdering a defeated foe in the first scene. Not only that, but the CGI gore is not well-blended into the live-action.

I was a little surprised they didn't try to frame it more as self-defense (granted they would've killed her given the chance). I'm not necessarily opposed to that but it seemed at odds with the atmosphere of the show.

 

[Christopher]

I thought it went farther in that direction than Dark Matter and Killjoys (IMO) but it's very much the Syfy comfort food one would imagine.

It seems to me like it's trying to be a replacement for Killjoys, another far-future action-comedy space opera with a hot kickass heroine and lots of wisecracks. But it feels like it's trying a bit too hard. And Adriyan Rae is okay, but she's no Hannah John-Kamen.

Also, Killjoys had rich and fascinating worldbuilding, a whole far-future culture with a lot of depth and texture, even though it was a (nearly) human-only universe. The world was as engaging as the characters, and the ideas kept it rich even when the budget fell short. Vagrant Queen goes all-out on the makeup budget and the space-opera atmosphere, but the worldbuilding is bare-bones, the culture indistinguishable from ours aside from having a deposed monarchy. Killjoys had substance, but this is all surface.

I think the saving grace is Elida's situation of being caught in the middle, being pursued by factions on both sides of the conflict and not wanting to be what either of them sees her as. Still, I'm not fond of the fact that the pro-royalty faction is portrayed as less evil than the anti-royalty side. As an American, I think that's got it the wrong way around. Although it's true that revolutionaries are often just as bad as the systems they overthrow, so that much is at least plausible. (If anything, the most amazing thing about America is that our armed revolution didn't lead to another tyranny like most armed revolutions do. Thank goodness for the Constitution.)

 

[JD]

Any idea how the show compares to the comic?

 

[diankra]

In some ways, Blake's 7. Yes, there is a tyrannical regime, and things often go badly for them, but they do escape to a ship that is almost out of a dream...

 

[Christopher]

Any idea how the show compares to the comic?

There are a few sample pages here:

https://vaultcomics.com/comic/vagrant-queen/

Looks pretty similar.

 

[MANT!]

"Babylon 5", (currently re-watching my DVDs..I've the entire series as well as it's aborted follow-up "Crusade").. "The 5th Element", "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets",
some classics "Forbidden Planet", "2001 a Space Odyssey", "2010 the Year We make Contact"..and some hard to find gems "Mission to Mars", "Moon Zero Two" as well as
"The Last Starfighter".

 

[Mysterion]

How about uplifting science fiction that isn't a movie or TV show or adapted from one?

 

[JD]

The Ratchet & Clank, and Jak & Daxter games are very fun, silly, feel good sci-fi.
There is some pretty dark stuff in the Mass Effect games, but a big part of the first trilogy is everybody coming together to fight a common enemy, so I'd say in the end they could be pretty uplifting.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Looking thru the posts and my collection I see a couple that have been left out - Robinson Crusoe on Mars and the Back to the Future trilogy.

 

[Mysterion]

Speaking of Forbidden Planet, this (found at SFDebris) has got to be the best one-line synopsis EVER: "Leslie Nielsen stars as the daring commander of a flying saucer sent to check on survivors from a previously lost ship, while Gene Roddenberry takes careful notes.". Says it all, really.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The Orville is full of hopeful optimism and light-hearted moments in amongst some great story telling and amazing visuals.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

This thread is exactly what I’ve been looking for, especially stuff from the 90’s/early 2000’s.

I want to give Farscape another try, and Andromeda.