The 5 best current Science Fiction (Not fantasy) shows

[RAMA]

Much like the sci-fi film explosion of 2013, TV has a wide variety of live action scifi. From the UK Dr Who, Primeval. Canada has Continuum, Orphan Black, Primeval: New World. The USA: Person of Interest, Intelligence, Almost Human, Falling Skies, Defiance, Warehouse 13, Marvel:AoS, Revolution, Arrow, The Tomorrow People. Web series include H+, Heroes of the North, Progress.

The 5 best:

1. Person of Interest: The show is evolving into the best scifi series in years, with an excellent mid-season cliffhanger to end off 2013. This show has an interesting look at strong AI and now it appears there may be more than one "Machine" in the world. What is the motive of the Machine, since it appears humans are not in control of it despite it's "good deeds". Let's hope the answer is not typical of Hollywood.

2. H+: Who needs a network? H+ looks like a more expensive show. It has a really complicated, non-linear plot and probably the best webseries acting around.

3. Continuum: The show that came out of nowhere. Though the premise might need more explanation (why do we really care if the corporate run future is changed) there's probably more to this than meets the eye. That's one of the best parts of the series, as the story reveals it's secrets. There are some good FX, better than avg, though imperfect future speculation and charismatic characters.

4. Arrow: The best superhero show ever on TV. DC comics had a great year in 2013. Believable and well executed.

5. Doctor Who: Day of the Doctor was one of the best Dr Who shows of all time, a rousing, high budget spectacular special, the rest of the current season...not so much. It's increasingly silly and over the top, with too many non-sensical episodes, with fewer standouts as in past seasons...yet it's popularity is at a high.

Honorable mention: Orphan Black. Looking forward to April. So far the show has excellent and suspenseful.

RAMA

 

[Mistral]

I agree with you about Continuum. Arrow is pretty darn good, too. Despite the knocks its gotten, Agents of Shield is fairly well done. Almost Human is, I think, a lot of fun. Despite the uneven character development and sometimes head-scratching writing, I think Revolution is also fun. Can't speak to the other shows you mention, as I don't watch them.

 

[Relayer1]

I've watched and given up on most of the new shows over the last couple of years. There's just nothing exciting me - even the ones I've stuck with. The last ones I dumped were Arrow and Continuum.

I'll probably watch Defiance season two and I'm still watching Doctor Who. Haven, Revolution and Walking Dead are all hanging in there but are likely to get binned too. Maybe I'm just old and jaded...

P.S. I'm still watching Agents of Shield as it's part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I don't like it.

 

[tomalak301]

I don't watch many scifi shows currently, but my two favorites are Orphan Black and Doctor Who. Looking forward to April 19th and the return of the Clones.

 

[Taylirious]

ARROW
Revolution
Almost Human
The Tomorrow People



ETA: Does Beauty & The Beast count? The beasts are created by a military contractor.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Continuum

Almost Human

The Walking Dead

Don't care about or actively dislike any others listed so far.

 

[Avro Arrow]

2. H+: Who needs a network? H+ looks like a more expensive show. It has a really complicated, non-linear plot and probably the best webseries acting around.

Huh. Never heard of this. Where does one find it, and is it viewable outside of the United States?

3. Continuum: The show that came out of nowhere.

Well, British Columbia, actually.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Doctor Who is surely fantasy, no?

Doctor Who is certainly the most playful, lot of fantastic concepts to play with and chew on.

I guess I'd round it out with:
Almost Human
Defiance
The Walking Dead
Agents of Shield
Falling Skies

Yeah, ended up with six...

Curious about the Helix show on Syfy...

 

[Takeru]

Doctor Who is surely fantasy, no?

Yes and so is Arrow ... and Person of Interest, just because they called their oracle a machine doesn't mean it's not fantasy.

I'm not even sure why the thread title specifies "not fantasy" when they are very similar and overlap, most sci-fi is just fantasy with technology instead of magic.

 

[AvBaur]

I'm not sure if all of my top 5 even deserve to be called "top" shows:

1. Orphan Black
2. The Walking Dead
3. In the Flesh
4. Arrow
5. Doctor Who

The first four are all great or at least pretty good, but Doctor Who has been extremely hit and miss lately. The anniversary special was great, but the episode before it and the christmas special were pretty bad imho.

As far as other shows go, Agents of SHIELD has its moments, but it's definitely not living up to its potential. The characters are mostly boring and it feels very cheap and small compared to the MCU movies.
I've also just started watching Person of Interest season 1. It's too much of a procedural for my taste, but I could imagine it getting more interesting when the sf elements become more pronounced in the following seasons.
I have watched a couple of episodes of Falling Skies and Revolution, but both failed to keep my interest.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Well, duh, Doctor Who, Almost Human, and Continuum are the only ones I watch. So I can't really say if other shows are better.

 

[Kimi3013]

The only sci-fi I actually watch is Doctor Who and Warehouse 13. All the other shows managed to make me not care about them very quickly.

 

[DevilEyes]

Äkta människor (Real Humans) is pretty good.

 

[Greg Cox]

Doctor Who is surely fantasy, no?

He's an alien who travels through the universe in a time machine, employs a "sonic screwdriver," and fights evil robots, cyborgs, and aliens.

How is that not sci-fi?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Doctor Who is surely fantasy, no?

He's an alien who travels through the universe in a time machine, employs a "sonic screwdriver," and fights evil robots, cyborgs, and aliens.

How is that not sci-fi?

I needed to add a smilie to that. It is science fiction as you point out, I think that the show has a lot of essentially magic elements though.

 

[Greg Cox]

Doctor Who is surely fantasy, no?

He's an alien who travels through the universe in a time machine, employs a "sonic screwdriver," and fights evil robots, cyborgs, and aliens.

How is that not sci-fi?

I needed to add a smilie to that. It is science fiction as you point out, I think that the show has a lot of essentially magic elements though.

Well, that applies to most sf series. Universal translators and time portals and what-not.

On other hand, I would argue that Warehouse 13 is more fantasy than sci-fi, despite a fig leaf of quasi-scientific technobabble to rationalize the flying carpets and magic mirrors and other supernatural artifacts . . ..

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Yes and so is Arrow ... and Person of Interest, just because they called their oracle a machine doesn't mean it's not fantasy.

I'm not even sure why the thread title specifies "not fantasy" when they are very similar and overlap, most sci-fi is just fantasy with technology instead of magic.

The Machine on Person of Interest is an artificial intelligence that has seemingly achieved sentience. The show has gone to great lengths to explain the complexities of how it operates and distills information. It appears omniscient but its actually just current technology's speculative evolution -- which makes it science fiction and not fantasy.

 

[sidious618]

Doctor Who is the only one I watch as most of the others hold little to no interest for me. I might check out Helix even though what I heard has been iffy.

 

[bigdaddy]

Orphan Black by a mile is the best sci-fi on TV. The acting, the filming, it's all stunning.

Doctor Who is great, un and can be insane and off the wall as much as it wants.

Falling Skies was bad it's first season, great it's second, bleu it's third. I don't have high hopes for a fourth season with super kid.

 

[Relayer1]

Orphan Black by a mile is the best sci-fi on TV. The acting, the filming, it's all stunning.

Doctor Who is great, un and can be insane and off the wall as much as it wants.

Falling Skies was bad it's first season, great it's second, bleu it's third. I don't have high hopes for a fourth season with super kid.

Falling Skies is another show I dumped after season two. Tired old unimaginative crap...