Best Space Opera TV of This Decade?

[Kegg]

The title's fairly self-explanatory, and if anyone's curious I've chosen to define the series as ones which had episodes or seasons aired this decade even if they had shows prior to that... and also tried to be holistic as far as live action shows go. Which wasn't half bad as I only have a vague idea of what around half of the above are (Hyperdrive is some sort of crap comedy I hear, in it goes.)

I've also decided to be fairly loose with how I define space opera, I figure if I'm not sure it might as well go on the list. Vote for as many or as few as suits your fancy.

My first actual effort with a poll, so be gentle and considerate and such - I'm aware the quality is fairly dismal, but for some reason I rather wanted to put this up for a few months now.

Any series voted for Other should be something which:

Aired between 2000-9, and was live-action - and wasn't just a failed pilot. Needs to be a TV series, even if only a brief one. Legend of the Rangers fans need not apply, in essence. Unfair maybe but less complicated.

 

[Hyperspace05]

I voted Farscape and Children of Dune.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I voted SG-1. Though, it wasn't really a space opera until the last two seasons when, ironically, it was terrible.

 

[Hyperspace05]

SG-1 was space opera from the beginning. I am hesitant to quote Wikipedia, but the have a very good definition of space opera:

"Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale."

 

[Kegg]

I voted SG-1. Though, it wasn't really a space opera until the last two seasons when, ironically, it was terrible.

Well, those were among the seasons aired this decade. Can't say I watched it much, but my impression was they were doing planet hopping the whole time.

 

[Greg Cox]

Does FARSCAPE count as this decade? (It debuted over ten years ago.)

If so, it gets my vote.

 

[Kegg]

Does FARSCAPE count as this decade? (It debuted over ten years ago.)

Yep. Which is why it's on the (badly-designed) poll. Got my vote as well. Some of these shows began earlier than Farscape, also.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I voted for Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Universe. I also want to add Defying Gravity. The soapish drama aspect of the show wasn't the best, but it had an excellent cast and some great stories and concepts in the works.

 

[sidious618]

I voted BSG. It was a no contest for me.

 

[Kegg]

I voted for Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Universe. I also want to add Defying Gravity.

From what I've saw (the first two episodes) it doesn't appear to be a space opera to me. No extraplanetary activity, but if the 'Meta' thing turned out to be aliens (which seems very possible) I guess it would have been space opera by default.

 

[Mistral]

I couldn't decide. Firefly, Farscape and BSG-so i gave them each one.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I genuinely think that BSG is not only the best sci-fi show of the last decade but probably of all time. So it wins.

Dr Who and Firefly are the runners up - the latter might possibly have won had it run for a full 5 or 7 seasons. But with 13 episodes, I don't think it really deserves to beat BSG, much as I enjoyed those 13.

 

[Kegg]

God, I could have sworn I had Stargate: Atlantis on this thing.

And I probably should have tried the Dr. Who spinoff series (there's two or three, right? K9, Torchwood, Susan Jane, something like that) but I really understand that not at all.

That'll uptick the 'other' quite a bit, I'll warrant.

And I should have pluralised 'shows' in the question, now it looks moronic. Well, I feel idiotic, but I suppose such stupidity is a useful learning curve.

 

[Starbreaker]

Farscape and BSG. Loved both the Dune miniseries too, though.

 

[Agent Richard07]

From what I've saw (the first two episodes) it doesn't appear to be a space opera to me. No extraplanetary activity, but if the 'Meta' thing turned out to be aliens (which seems very possible) I guess it would have been space opera by default.

The show was about a mission through the solar system to collect 6 (possibly alien) objects. The first one, Beta, was already on Earth and when the first season ended, a second one known as Gamma was retrieved on Venus. What really intrigued me though was what these objects were doing to the crew.

 

[Starbreaker]

I still need to finish the show. I watched until they revealed what Beta was.

 

[Harvey]

I cheated and votedfor three: Farscape , Battlestar Galactica and Children of Dune, although I'm not sure I'd call the last one space opera. Still, I rather liked it, so it gets my vote.

Couldn't Crusade technically go on this list?

 

[Kegg]

Couldn't Crusade technically go on this list?

Surprisingly enough, no. Its initial run was confined to 1999, which is why I didn't include it here.

I haven't actually seen either Dune series, but I've read the novels and they are very arguably space opera, though they tend to fall into the planetary romance end of that spectrum.

 

[Harvey]

Ah, just checked, you're right. I suppose Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers could technically go on here, but I don't know of many who could handle the shame of voting for it!

 

[Kegg]

Ah, just checked, you're right. I suppose Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers could technically go on here, but I don't know of many who could handle the shame of voting for it!

Well, it could, but I did specifically preclude failed TV pilots and the like.

Because for all intents and purposes the only thing that differs Legend of the Rangers from Mansquito is the latter didn't want to become a weekly series. Stuff like Firefly might have got canned early but at least it was, briefly, a series.