I voted for SG-1
Best Space Opera TV of This Decade?
- Thread starter Kegg
- Start date
I voted for Firefly and BSG -- both of which are series I have criticized (sometimes heavily) in the past. But Firefly, at least, was entertaining when it worked. Its characters and camaraderie were praiseworthy in their presentation. And BSG, regardless of how bad it got in Seasons 3 & 4 was so good in its first two seasons that it was, for a time, one of the better shows out there.
Farscape was serialized, and ended badly as most do, and its characters were all over the map. But for power of invention its only competetion in recent memory is Lost.
Voyager, even though a bbs whipping dog, was the best Berman Trek, made when Berman was more experienced, but still influenced by Star Trek.
Stargate SG-1 remains the best comedy/space opera ever made.
As for the rest, Dr. Who is actually pretty good, but really doesn't seem like a space opera. I guess it's time travel opera? Enterprise was technically Berman's best but the careful excision of Roddenberry made it less appealing to me. Firefly had some good dialogue but was really pretty bad in most other ways. Most of all, I fear, the list reminds us of how ghastly most sci-fi tv really is.
Voyager, even though a bbs whipping dog, was the best Berman Trek, made when Berman was more experienced, but still influenced by Star Trek.
Stargate SG-1 remains the best comedy/space opera ever made.
As for the rest, Dr. Who is actually pretty good, but really doesn't seem like a space opera. I guess it's time travel opera? Enterprise was technically Berman's best but the careful excision of Roddenberry made it less appealing to me. Firefly had some good dialogue but was really pretty bad in most other ways. Most of all, I fear, the list reminds us of how ghastly most sci-fi tv really is.
Farscape. Although SG-1 and Firefly were both fun and entertaining.
From what little I know of the franchise it seems to have enough bells and whistles to qualify. We've got extraterrestial beings like the Daleks and the Cybermen and Sontarans and the Doctor himself is an alien, and on occasion I'm told they go to the home planets of these species and/or other worlds. Even if that plays a small role in the series and it's very Earthcentric, that wouldn't that at least constitute a space opera component?
Again, I'm uncertain so Whovians are invited to make sense of my confusion.
Flash Gordon wasn't really space opera IMO. I mean, there was another planet but no *space*, it was all portals. There is a subgenre sometimes referred to as Planetary Romance which would better fit it.
I don't really think of Doctor Who as Space Opera, and SG:Atlantis fits better than SG1. I don't really think of Firefly as Space Opera either despite the fact that I really enjoyed that series.
I picked Farscape and BSG that fit my picky definition of Space Opera just to not be too inclusive but I got a lot of enjoyment out of many of those series, even the ones I don't consider "best".
For the purposes of defining space opera TV I'd tend to consider planetary romance as space opera. Naturally, one can find that disagreeable but I'd consider the two genres to have enough in common to warrant it.
Hookay, that's a bleeding hard choice.
Doctor Who, as much as I like it, isn't really what I consider to be a space opera. Not enough space for one thing.
Stargate Universe - Too early to tell.
Stargate SG1 - Hmm difficult, early on it was great, but later seasons weren't.
Battlestar Galactica - As much as I dislike almost everything about it, it is one of the more popular ones.
Star Trek Voyager - Umm no
Star Trek Enterprise - Nope.
Firefly - It's good, certainly out of the selection we have it's probably the best series. That said it's not much of an "opera" is it, so can't really vote for it.
Andromeda - Started out okay then went s*** pretty damn fast.
Farscape - Pretty good, lost interest somewhere about the fourth season. Still it was a good go at a space opera.
So I suppose I'm voting for Farscape and Battlestar Galactica.
To be honest out of the ones I consider to be Space Operas, none of them were really all that great.
Doctor Who, as much as I like it, isn't really what I consider to be a space opera. Not enough space for one thing.
Stargate Universe - Too early to tell.
Stargate SG1 - Hmm difficult, early on it was great, but later seasons weren't.
Battlestar Galactica - As much as I dislike almost everything about it, it is one of the more popular ones.
Star Trek Voyager - Umm no
Star Trek Enterprise - Nope.
Firefly - It's good, certainly out of the selection we have it's probably the best series. That said it's not much of an "opera" is it, so can't really vote for it.
Andromeda - Started out okay then went s*** pretty damn fast.
Farscape - Pretty good, lost interest somewhere about the fourth season. Still it was a good go at a space opera.
So I suppose I'm voting for Farscape and Battlestar Galactica.
To be honest out of the ones I consider to be Space Operas, none of them were really all that great.
My choice is BSG for all-around excellence. It was a complete show that was really solid from beginning to end, and the strength of powerful actors like EJO coupled with other factors like McCreary's stellar scores make it both memorable and highly re-watchable. I'd probably call it my second-favorite TV show ever, behind Lost. Too bad Lost isn't a space opera, that's perhaps one of its only major flaws 
. I also voted for Firefly because it's just so much fun, but it got cut down way too soon for it to ever go anywhere. One of the best ensemble casts ever.
I mostly enjoyed Voyager and Enterprise for what they were, but only stuck with them because of their Star Trek status. Both shows completely squandered every single ounce of the enormous potential they started with, especially Voyager. Sometimes I think of BSG as being kind of like what VOY could have been. VOY could have (and should have) taken the big-idea concepts like being completely alone and having intense ideological differences and ran with them, making for something truly remarkable and lasting (moreso than even BSG) because it was set within the Star Trek universe and had such a great history to call on. I still go back to re-watch some of those individual stand-out eps VOY did, but it hurts knowing they exist in their own little bubble and have little to no impact on the series as a whole.
The EMH is one of my all-time favorite TV characters, incidentally. An episode like "Latent Image" is a huge example of a really cool sci-fi concept that could have been made into a fascinating arc, but it was nothing more than a one-off, and the Doc was back to normal the next week.
I've seen a smattering of SG-1 episodes and it seemed reasonably entertaining, but I've never been intrigued enough to really check it out. Ditto for its spin-offs. I've only seen the first season of Farscape, but plan to see the rest eventually as it seemed to be getting better and more interesting towards the tail end. I saw the first few episodes of the new Dr. Who with Christopher Eccleston, but it really didn't appeal to me so I didn't go further. As for the rest of the options, I haven't seen 'em. Quite an extensive list! I haven't even heard of some, like Hyperdrive.
. I also voted for Firefly because it's just so much fun, but it got cut down way too soon for it to ever go anywhere. One of the best ensemble casts ever.I mostly enjoyed Voyager and Enterprise for what they were, but only stuck with them because of their Star Trek status. Both shows completely squandered every single ounce of the enormous potential they started with, especially Voyager. Sometimes I think of BSG as being kind of like what VOY could have been. VOY could have (and should have) taken the big-idea concepts like being completely alone and having intense ideological differences and ran with them, making for something truly remarkable and lasting (moreso than even BSG) because it was set within the Star Trek universe and had such a great history to call on. I still go back to re-watch some of those individual stand-out eps VOY did, but it hurts knowing they exist in their own little bubble and have little to no impact on the series as a whole.
The EMH is one of my all-time favorite TV characters, incidentally. An episode like "Latent Image" is a huge example of a really cool sci-fi concept that could have been made into a fascinating arc, but it was nothing more than a one-off, and the Doc was back to normal the next week.
I've seen a smattering of SG-1 episodes and it seemed reasonably entertaining, but I've never been intrigued enough to really check it out. Ditto for its spin-offs. I've only seen the first season of Farscape, but plan to see the rest eventually as it seemed to be getting better and more interesting towards the tail end. I saw the first few episodes of the new Dr. Who with Christopher Eccleston, but it really didn't appeal to me so I didn't go further. As for the rest of the options, I haven't seen 'em. Quite an extensive list! I haven't even heard of some, like Hyperdrive.
I voted for Dr. Who. Firefly, while a great show, lasted only 13 episodes and failed to stay on the air. No way I could vote ofr it because of that even if I think ti shouldn't have been cancelled.
I likely would have voted for BSG but I hated the last 10 or so episodes so completely that it ruined the series for me. I've never despised a series closing episodes more than I did for this show. It utterly RUINED the series for me and took it from greatness to crap.
That leaves Dr. Who. I enjoyed both of the Doctors and Tennant is brilliant in the role. Great stuff. I would also add Torchwood to the list.
I likely would have voted for BSG but I hated the last 10 or so episodes so completely that it ruined the series for me. I've never despised a series closing episodes more than I did for this show. It utterly RUINED the series for me and took it from greatness to crap.
That leaves Dr. Who. I enjoyed both of the Doctors and Tennant is brilliant in the role. Great stuff. I would also add Torchwood to the list.
I voted for Voyager and Enterprise.
So there.
So there.
Nowhere Man
Commodore
Same here
I must say the results don't surprise me much, with Battlestar Galactica and Firefly neck-and-neck with Farscape trailing none too far behind. Not only are these three quite honestly excellent series in my estimation, they're just fantastically popular with the general space opera fanbase to the best of my knowledge (I myself voted for Farscape and Battlestar Galactica, which are two very, very different series and despite their weak stretches seemed overall quite excellent to me.)
Somewhere behind those are Stargate and Dr. Who, which I'd assumed to be fairly popular - if nowhere near as so as the first three titles (I never got into either, as observed, though I did enjoy the odd episode of SG-1). That the Star Trek titles are near the bottom rung is also not a great surprise - honestly, this was not a great decade for Star Trek on TV, at any rate our beloved franchise has certainly done better - the 90s, the 60s.
There are votes for every other little show there (Lexx and Voyager tied? Sacre bleu!), except for Hyperdrive, but hell, not only does nobody know what it is (I've only vaguely heard of it myself) but from what I hear it's generally disliked.
Very interesting results guys, and thank you so much for the rather elaborate opinions as to such. The present and future of space opera on TV is something I find tremendously interesting for some reason, however obviously uninformed I may be on the particulars (as has been pointed out above).
Somewhere behind those are Stargate and Dr. Who, which I'd assumed to be fairly popular - if nowhere near as so as the first three titles (I never got into either, as observed, though I did enjoy the odd episode of SG-1). That the Star Trek titles are near the bottom rung is also not a great surprise - honestly, this was not a great decade for Star Trek on TV, at any rate our beloved franchise has certainly done better - the 90s, the 60s.
There are votes for every other little show there (Lexx and Voyager tied? Sacre bleu!), except for Hyperdrive, but hell, not only does nobody know what it is (I've only vaguely heard of it myself) but from what I hear it's generally disliked.
Very interesting results guys, and thank you so much for the rather elaborate opinions as to such. The present and future of space opera on TV is something I find tremendously interesting for some reason, however obviously uninformed I may be on the particulars (as has been pointed out above).
My votes go to GINO nuBSG and Dr Who.
Just purely for your information on Dr Who spinoffs, Torchwood is the adult version of Who and for the first two seasons it mainly meant that the cast will kiss anyone and anything. The third season, also known as Children of Earth, is a 5 episode mini-series that dealt with BSG-style dark themes. The series is completely Earth based with aliens and creatures coming through the Torchwood rift, a tear in space and time.
Sarah Jane Adventures (SJA) is the children's version of Who, however the stories are complex enough to keep adults entertained. While the series does have visiting aliens and spaceships, SJA is also completely Earth based.
Since the cast of both shows never travel beyond England, I guess they cannot be considered space operas.
Just purely for your information on Dr Who spinoffs, Torchwood is the adult version of Who and for the first two seasons it mainly meant that the cast will kiss anyone and anything. The third season, also known as Children of Earth, is a 5 episode mini-series that dealt with BSG-style dark themes. The series is completely Earth based with aliens and creatures coming through the Torchwood rift, a tear in space and time.
Sarah Jane Adventures (SJA) is the children's version of Who, however the stories are complex enough to keep adults entertained. While the series does have visiting aliens and spaceships, SJA is also completely Earth based.
Since the cast of both shows never travel beyond England, I guess they cannot be considered space operas.
We've had polls like these in the past and they always come down to BSG and Firefly. And what's interesting is that Firefly seems to be universally loved while BSG is very polarizing. People either really love it or really hate it.
Serenity, though, is polarizing, but it's seperate to Firefly. I suspect the series would be more polarizing had it gone on for longer. I notice a lot of people who have problems with BSG were those who liked it at first also.
More problematic for me I guess is that Farscape tends to trail behind both shows in any such discussion. I get completely blank faces when bringing it up far too often in casual sci-fi circles, particularly when they're discussing those two shows, that it's insanely depressing. Granted, the show with the muppets is packing no punches here in being at a decently respectful third, but that's only really with space opera crowds that I hear it brung up at all.
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