Sci Fi TV Recommendations

[kirk55555]

Kirk, you mentioned the reboot Battlestar Galactica, but have you ever tried the original? I've seen a few episodes and it is cheesy, but it's also pretty fun. It's pretty much the complete opposite of RDM's version.

Yeah, I've seen the first episode or two and its a bit too old school cheese even for me. The robot dog/monkey and kid companion kill it completely for me. I mean, I'd rather watch it then rewatch the reboot, but that's not much of a complement.

 

[JD]

If that's to cheesy for you then I guess there's no point even mentioning Lost in Space . That show is epic levels of cheesy.

 

[kirk55555]

If that's to cheesy for you then I guess there's no point even mentioning Lost in Space . That show is epic levels of cheesy.

Yeah, I would never touch Lost In Space. I'm ok with some cheese, but usually when it exists in a generally serious story. Classic Doctor Who and TOS did that well, stuff like LiS is just a farce, and what I saw of old BSG wasn't much better.

 

[JD]

Yeah, LiS even got to cheesy for me at times, and I usually love cheesy old stuff.

 

[kirk55555]

Since its about one of the recommendations, I figured I'd talk a bit about Blake's 7. Its...interesting. The production quality is ok. It reminds me of Tom Baker era Doctor Who, actually. The story is mixed. The first episode was kind of pointless, it honestly could have been done as a voice over at the beginning of episode 2 and you wouldn't miss anything but a few characters who die at the end of episode 1 anyway.

The second episode was a bit hard to get through, mostly because the title character is a fairly useless moron. It was a good suggestion, but I don't think this show is for me. I just don't like the characters, and that basically kills the show for me.

Next I guess I'll try Killjoys. It being generally considered inferior to Dark Matter (which lost me around Episode 9 of Season 2 but I put on the "like" list because it was pretty good until then and I want to see more like it) makes me a bit nervous, but hopefully it will catch my attention.

 

[JD]

I actually like Killjoys better, so make of that what you will......

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'd be curious of Kirk's opinion on Killjoys. I myself think it's weaker than Dark Matter and just passable enough as a timekiller and because indeed it is a space show.

 

[kirk55555]

Well, I watched the first episode of Killjoys. Despite Aaron Ashmore co-starring (I liked him on Warehouse 13 and Smallville), I couldn't get into it at all. I didn't like the characters, story or what bits of the universe they showed/talked about I could see how someone could like those elements, but it just didn't end up grabbing me at all, so much so that I was mostly tuned out by the halfway point.

At this point, I feel like I might as well just give this up. Its tough being a space opera fan. Well, really nowadays its hard being a fan of genre TV, superheroes are the only nerd/sci fi type thing that gets any amount of good stuff produced. I like that we get a bunch of cool superhero shows, but sometimes I just want a good space show that I don't already know. Hopefully Discovery will fill that lack. At least Doctor Who is only a few months away from returning, so I'll get my modern sci fi show fix then.

Until then, I'd probably be better off rewatching something, or do something like finally finish up watching the TOS episodes I never got around to seeing. Outside of my regular superhero shows, there really isn't anymore sci fi stuff around right now. Heck, come to think of it, my other go to genre (Fantasy) also has nothing I'd watch on TV except The Librarians (which is kind of a mix of genres), and that just had its season end. As much of a superhero fan as I am, I wish some of the other stuff got a chance to shine more nowadays, and that space opera in general had more stuff I wasn't already in to.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

How about SF literature? That offers a lot more depth than most Sci-Fi TV shows.

 

[kirk55555]

How about SF literature? That offers a lot more depth than most Sci-Fi TV shows.

I like to read, and I mostly read sci Fi and Fantasy, but for Sci fi books I generally don't like to read stuff that isn't a Star Trek or Star Wars book, and I can find that easily. But, I'm not really in the mood for a book anyway.

 

[Mr Awe]

I'm not saying its bad, but its not for me. I hate hard sci fi, and The Expanse doesn't even have interstellar travel. Its also hardly a space show (at least the type I'm looking for). It all takes place between earth, mars and the asteroid belt, which is not something I'd be interested in even if it wasn't hard sci fi. Its also space opera-ish, its a show about a detective solving a crime. All of that, plus the fact that even positive reviews I've read say the characters are weak, just make the show something I wouldn't want to see. So, no, I'm not eliminating it "out of hand", I have good reasons and I don't intend to argue about it. I'm not saying its a bad show, its just not for me.

If you hate hard SF, that might make it difficult for you to like The Expanse. Although I'd classify it as only partially hard SF to be honest. It does deal with some real world space issues that aren't usually covered in SF series, but it's done in interesting ways and doesn't dominate the story (i.e., it's covered in brief, in passing).

However, your comments about its other aspects are completely off. It IS a space show. In fact, it feels more like a space show than some of the Trek series because it actually involves real space. While it takes places within the solar system, everything in all space shows travel at the speed of plot--so it feels as large as it needs to be able to tell a good story.

Yes, there is a detective that is working on a missing persons case but that is one part of his storyline and there are many other characters. And, the investigation into the missing woman leads to a larger mystery. No, I wouldn't say the characters are weak at all. Quite the opposite.

It just seems that, based on your own criteria, you'd like The Expanse and that you're operating under some misconceptions. But, it's your own choice of course.

My suggestion would be to try the first 2 episodes. That's only 90 minutes of your life. Although episode 4 is stellar, so you might want to get up to that one at least.

And, no, don't worry, no more pressure to watch it after this post. But, had to respond to some of your thoughts about the show.

Mr Awe

 

[Hugo Rune]

Given you are the most mercurial poster on this board this feels like a wasted gambit, but...

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - for cheese, sill SF, fun concepts, space travel and suicidal robots. Still, more English than Yorkshire Pudding, so...

Space: Above & Beyond - space dogfights, weird aliens, James Cameron ripoffs, marine warfare, rebellious AI's. Mostly entertaining (even if the SFX have dated poorly), but only one season and a cliffhanger ending.

Lexx - very strange, but hyper-imaginative German/Canadian SF production with planet-destroying ships, undead assassins, half-lizard love-slaves, and insane (and inane) plots about the destruction of the universe. Oh and sex. Quite a bit of sex. Purposefully gratuitous. YMMV. I dipped in and out of the show (never having really watched all 4 seasons), but for all its campy silliness there was a lot of invention and fun. Start with the 4 tele-movies under the name Lexx: The Dark Zone Stories. If they float your boat then you have 57 more episodes of insanity to plough through.

Frankly you appear to have either seen, or written off, most of the space-based shows out there. They have always been far and few between, especially the good ones.

Hugo - S:AAB is your best bet for a better lager

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I like to read, and I mostly read sci Fi and Fantasy, but for Sci fi books I generally don't like to read stuff that isn't a Star Trek or Star Wars book, and I can find that easily. But, I'm not really in the mood for a book anyway.

There are also audiobooks, of course. Some are excellent cast dramatisations such as the ones of Frank Herbert's Dune novels produced by Macmillan Audio. Single-reader audiobooks, including Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (read by Scott Brick), Iain M Banks' Culture series and his other novels, the Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series, Dan Simmons's Hyperion and Endymion series, and the Night's Dawn and Commonwealth Saga series by Peter F Hamilton might be of interest and they're all space opera. I've read all of these in print but it's quite nice to just listen to them as well provided the reader isn't annoying to the ear.

 

[JD]

Well, I watched the first episode of Killjoys. Despite Aaron Ashmore co-starring (I liked him on Warehouse 13 and Smallville), I couldn't get into it at all. I didn't like the characters, story or what bits of the universe they showed/talked about I could see how someone could like those elements, but it just didn't end up grabbing me at all, so much so that I was mostly tuned out by the halfway point.

At this point, I feel like I might as well just give this up. Its tough being a space opera fan. Well, really nowadays its hard being a fan of genre TV, superheroes are the only nerd/sci fi type thing that gets any amount of good stuff produced. I like that we get a bunch of cool superhero shows, but sometimes I just want a good space show that I don't already know. Hopefully Discovery will fill that lack. At least Doctor Who is only a few months away from returning, so I'll get my modern sci fi show fix then.

Until then, I'd probably be better off rewatching something, or do something like finally finish up watching the TOS episodes I never got around to seeing. Outside of my regular superhero shows, there really isn't anymore sci fi stuff around right now. Heck, come to think of it, my other go to genre (Fantasy) also has nothing I'd watch on TV except The Librarians (which is kind of a mix of genres), and that just had its season end. As much of a superhero fan as I am, I wish some of the other stuff got a chance to shine more nowadays, and that space opera in general had more stuff I wasn't already in to.

Since you mentioned fantasy, I'm just wondering what show's you've tried, because there's a lot of great stuff out there.
Of course Game of Thrones is the obvious one, but there's lots of other stuff out there too.
The Magicians is one of my favorite shows right now.
If you're into vampires, werewolves, and witches, then the Originals is great. It is a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, but, IMO at least, it's better and you could probably get away with jumping right into it without TVD. Outside of a couple of appearances by TVD characters there isn't much of connection between the two.
Emerald City just started airing last month and so far I've been enjoying it.
The Shannara Chronicles was a pretty fun LOTR style epic fantasy, although not anywhere near as good.
Lucifer is pretty good too, although that's more of a cop show with some fantasy elements. There wasn't a ton of fantasy stuff in Season 1, but there's been quite a bit more in Season 2.

 

[captainkirk]

Something you might be interested in that isn't a TV series even though it should have been, is the Mass Effect video game trilogy. I never actually played it but I did watch a playthrough on Youtube which for me gave it a bit of a TV feel. Even if you have played it there is the new one coming next month.

 

[Relayer1]

Since its about one of the recommendations, I figured I'd talk a bit about Blake's 7...the title character is a fairly useless moron. It was a good suggestion, but I don't think this show is for me. I just don't like the characters, and that basically kills the show for me.

You're watching the wrong characters. Avon, Vila and Servalan...

 

[kirk55555]

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - for cheese, sill SF, fun concepts, space travel and suicidal robots. Still, more English than Yorkshire Pudding, so...

I watched and enjoyed both the 80s BBC mini series and the 2005 movie.

Space: Above & Beyond - space dogfights, weird aliens, James Cameron ripoffs, marine warfare, rebellious AI's. Mostly entertaining (even if the SFX have dated poorly), but only one season and a cliffhanger ending.

The name sounds familiar, but I've never seen it. It seems interesting.

Lexx - very strange, but hyper-imaginative German/Canadian SF production with planet-destroying ships, undead assassins, half-lizard love-slaves, and insane (and inane) plots about the destruction of the universe. Oh and sex. Quite a bit of sex. Purposefully gratuitous. YMMV. I dipped in and out of the show (never having really watched all 4 seasons), but for all its campy silliness there was a lot of invention and fun. Start with the 4 tele-movies under the name Lexx: The Dark Zone Stories. If they float your boat then you have 57 more episodes of insanity to plough through.

I actually have the first two seasons on DVD. The movies (aka Season 1) were entertaining (although they lose a lot of points with me for the nudity). I've never gone past the second episode of the second season. Its really weird and seems to mostly just be weird for the sake of weird. I might get back to it eventually, but it doesn't really have the type of story I'm looking for.

Frankly you appear to have either seen, or written off, most of the space-based shows out there. They have always been far and few between, especially the good ones.

Yeah, that makes sense. I just figured that other people might have ideas I hadn't considered, and to be fair they have.

Since you mentioned fantasy, I'm just wondering what show's you've tried, because there's a lot of great stuff out there.
Of course Game of Thrones is the obvious one, but there's lots of other stuff out there too.
The Magicians is one of my favorite shows right now.
If you're into vampires, werewolves, and witches, then the Originals is great. It is a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, but, IMO at least, it's better and you could probably get away with jumping right into it without TVD. Outside of a couple of appearances by TVD characters there isn't much of connection between the two.
Emerald City just started airing last month and so far I've been enjoying it.
The Shannara Chronicles was a pretty fun LOTR style epic fantasy, although not anywhere near as good.
Lucifer is pretty good too, although that's more of a cop show with some fantasy elements. There wasn't a ton of fantasy stuff in Season 1, but there's been quite a bit more in Season 2.

Well, not counting The Librarians, or Warehouse 13, (both of which I kind of consider a mix of sci fi/fantasy) Buffy and Angel are probably the "newest" fantasy shows I've seen. I loathe Game of Thrones, so that's out. Everything I've heard about The Magicians makes it seem like a show I'd hate more then The Expanse. The Shannara Chronicles only seems to get mentioned when people talk about how bad it is. Plus I disliked the book Sword of Shannara (the first book in the series the show is based on) and don't want anything else from the setting. I know what kind of show The Vampire Diaries is, and its definitely a show I'd hate, same with any spinoffs. Emerald City seems to be a grim and gritty version of The Wizard of Oz, and that's not appealing to me. As for Lucifer, I'm really not in the mood for a cop show, regardless of whether it has fantasy elements or not.

Fantasy TV, to me, has had much less good stuff then Sci Fi. While there are a lot of good Fantasy movies and books, for TV shows its basically just: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Warehouse 13 (kind of), The Librarians (kind of) and about half of Xena. I might be forgetting one or two, but I don't think so. I didn't bother to ask for fantasy recommendations, even though I could use a good fantasy show almost as much as a good space sci fi, because I know about all the popular recommendations and I'm even more picky with fantasy then sci fi when it comes to TV.

You're watching the wrong characters. Avon, Vila and Servalan...

I kind of liked Avon, but didn't care about the others. They're just not characters I care to watch a show about.

There are also audiobooks, of course. Some are excellent cast dramatisations such as the ones of Frank Herbert's Dune novels produced by Macmillan Audio. Single-reader audiobooks, including Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (read by Scott Brick), Iain M Banks' Culture series and his other novels, the Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series, Dan Simmons's Hyperion and Endymion series, and the Night's Dawn and Commonwealth Saga series by Peter F Hamilton might be of interest and they're all space opera. I've read all of these in print but it's quite nice to just listen to them as well provided the reader isn't annoying to the ear.

I'm a fan of Dune. I've read the main three Dune books probably 5 times, and the other books (even the Brian herbert/Kevin Anderson stuff) at least twice (outside of the BH/KA stuff set thousands of years before Dune, that never interested me). I also liked both of the TV mini series. I hated the bit of Foundation I could stomach reading. Besides that, like I said, I'm not really looking for a book or audiobook and I'm even pickier with books then I am with TV.

Something you might be interested in that isn't a TV series even though it should have been, is the Mass Effect video game trilogy. I never actually played it but I did watch a playthrough on Youtube which for me gave it a bit of a TV feel. Even if you have played it there is the new one coming next month.

Oh I've played all the ME games numerous times, and I love them (well, ok, the first one is just ok, but I love ME 2 and most of ME 3. As for the new one, when I can afford a PS4 (around the time the PS6 comes out), it will probably be the first game I get.

If you hate hard SF, that might make it difficult for you to like The Expanse. Although I'd classify it as only partially hard SF to be honest. It does deal with some real world space issues that aren't usually covered in SF series, but it's done in interesting ways and doesn't dominate the story (i.e., it's covered in brief, in passing).

However, your comments about its other aspects are completely off. It IS a space show. In fact, it feels more like a space show than some of the Trek series because it actually involves real space. While it takes places within the solar system, everything in all space shows travel at the speed of plot--so it feels as large as it needs to be able to tell a good story.

Yes, there is a detective that is working on a missing persons case but that is one part of his storyline and there are many other characters. And, the investigation into the missing woman leads to a larger mystery. No, I wouldn't say the characters are weak at all. Quite the opposite.

It just seems that, based on your own criteria, you'd like The Expanse and that you're operating under some misconceptions. But, it's your own choice of course.

My suggestion would be to try the first 2 episodes. That's only 90 minutes of your life. Although episode 4 is stellar, so you might want to get up to that one at least.

And, no, don't worry, no more pressure to watch it after this post. But, had to respond to some of your thoughts about the show.

Mr Awe

It has absolutely nothing I like, and a lot of stuff I hate. The only way it could be less for me would be if it had Game of thrones-ish sexual content. But, like I said, I don't want to argue. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[JD]

Everything I've heard about The Magicians makes it seem like a show I'd hate more then The Expanse.

Just out of curiosity, what about it makes you think you'd hate it? I'm not going to criticize, I'm just wanting to get a better feel for what you don't like so I can try to come up with something you might.

The Shannara Chronicles only seems to get mentioned when people talk about how bad it is. Plus I disliked the book Sword of Shannara (the first book in the series the show is based on) and don't want anything else from the setting.

Well, the series was very losely based on the second book, Elfstones of Shannara, and based of off the couple chapters I read before temproarily setting it aside, it has almost nothing to do with it.

I know what kind of show The Vampire Diaries is, and its definitely a show I'd hate, same with any spinoffs.

The Originals is a very different kind of show from TVD, so I wouldn't judge it based on TVD.

Emerald City seems to be a grim and gritty version of The Wizard of Oz, and that's not appealing to me.
As for Lucifer, I'm really not in the mood for a cop show, regardless of whether it has fantasy elements or not.

OK, then.

Fantasy TV, to me, has had much less good stuff then Sci Fi. While there are a lot of good Fantasy movies and books, for TV shows its basically just: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Warehouse 13 (kind of), The Librarians (kind of) and about half of Xena.

Just out of curiosity, what other fantasy shows have you tried? I've probably watched as much fantasy as Sci-Fi, so I know most of them pretty well.

I might be forgetting one or two, but I don't think so. I didn't bother to ask for fantasy recommendations, even though I could use a good fantasy show almost as much as a good space sci fi, because I know about all the popular recommendations and I'm even more picky with fantasy then sci fi when it comes to TV.

I understand that, but since you mentioned there not being a lot of good fantasy other than The Librarians, I just thought I might mention some I thought were good.


[/QUOTE]

 

[kirk55555]

Just out of curiosity, what about it makes you think you'd hate it? I'm not going to criticize, I'm just wanting to get a better feel for what you don't like so I can try to come up with something you might.

I've looked at things about it before. It seems to mostly be about drama, and I don't really care to see a show about adult Hogwarts but with angsty drama. It also apparently threw in all the "adult" stuff they could get away with on a basic cable show, and I hate that kind of thing when its done just to be done. Basically, it seems more like an angsty drama show for an older demographic that just has some fantasy elements, and angsty drama, in any form, is a huge negative for me.

Well, the series was very losely based on the second book, Elfstones of Shannara, and based of off the couple chapters I read before temproarily setting it aside, it has almost nothing to do with it.

Well, like I said, the reviews all make the show seem like something not worth my time, and I don't like the idea of a fantasy world that's actually just post apocalyptic Earth anyway/

The Originals is a very different kind of show from TVD, so I wouldn't judge it based on TVD.

Its a CW show about the lame kind of vampire that's popular nowadays, which I don't like. Looking at the the wikipedia description, its also focused on the kind of drama I hate. I should point out that I don't like normal CW shows anyway. Outside of the DC Superhero shows, I really dislike the stuff CW puts out, and this looks like a standard CW drama but with irritating vampires. So, exactly like TVD. Its not something I'd ever be willing to watch.

Just out of curiosity, what other fantasy shows have you tried? I've probably watched as much fantasy as Sci-Fi, so I know most of them pretty well.

I watched a few episodes of Being Human, it had a few ok ideas but was mostly just the vampire/supernatural drama I already mentioned I don't like. If it was just the werewolf and the ghost and had a bit less drama it might have been alright. Haven is listed as a fantasy but was too "Stephen King-y" for me. Supernatural has one good main character, one whiny one and bad writing. Hercules The Legendary Journeys was watchable but not very impressive. When I was young and didn't have a way to watch anything that wasn't on TV I ended up watching all of Charmed because it was on before I went to school, but it was definitely not a good show. I got about 10 minutes into Once Upon a Time but the premise of the show (a woman follows a kid she gave up to a town and finds out she's a disney princess) just felt like a badly done rip off of the comic Fables, a comic I enjoy. Finally, when I was a kid I watched Sabrina the Teenaged Witch a lot, but that's not so much a good show as it is a show I have nostalgia for (and haven't seen in years).

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, and is probably mostly complete (although it only covers live action stuff, obviously).

I understand that, but since you mentioned there not being a lot of good fantasy other than The Librarians, I just thought I might mention some I thought were good.

Oh, yeah, I get it. I'm not against recommendations, I just know my tastes in fantasy are even more picky then sci fi so it felt pointless to mention it.

 

[Silvercrest]

The Originals is a very different kind of show from TVD, so I wouldn't judge it based on TVD.

Its a CW show about the lame kind of vampire that's popular nowadays, which I don't like. Outside of the DC Superhero shows, I really dislike the stuff CW puts out, and this looks like a standard CW drama but with irritating vampires. So, exactly like TVD. Its not something I'd ever be willing to watch.

Not original enough?