Uplifting sci-fi that isn't Star Trek

[Christopher]

Possibly the best thing about the streaming age is that sci-fi shows don't have to rely on Fox to stay alive.

Sci-fi shows on every network have always struggled to stay alive. I grew up in the '70s and '80s, long before FOX existed, and it was frustrating being an SF fan back then, because it was unusual for any SF/fantasy show to make it more than one season, or even to reach a full season rather than being cancelled halfway through. That was no different on FOX than on any other network before or since. Genre shows have always had a hard time surviving on commercial TV because they cost more to make than mainstream shows and had a smaller audience, making it doubly hard for them to turn a profit.

The difference is only that FOX bought so many more SF/F shows than any network before it, or any broadcast network since other than UPN/The WB/The CW (percentage-wise, since FOX has been around longer). Multiply that higher number of genre shows times the typical percentage of cancellations, and you get a high number of cancellations. True, FOX has bungled their handling of individual shows from time to time, as with Firefly, but overall they've been one of the networks most supportive of genre shows, continuing to buy them in large numbers while other networks largely avoided them. (The network that really hates sci-fi is CBS. Genre shows have been rare on that network for the past quarter-century or more. At least FOX kept trying.)

I think another part of it is that FOX has had more genre shows that audiences really connected with, so that their cancellations were especially painful. I've seen lots of genre shows on ABC, NBC, etc. come and go with little investment from fandom, so their departures had little impact.

 

[Owain Taggart]

One of my favourite sci-fis is Canadian. It's actually a bit more of a drama with sci-fi elements, but I think it would fit the bill. I've mentioned it numorous times on the forum, but I neglected to mention it here.

It's called Being Erica. She's a 30-year old who realizes she's made a lot of mistakes in her life, and she regularly visits a therapist. The therapist has a twist though. He belongs to a Q-like continuum of time-travellers and is able to grant her do-overs and transport her to the day of to relive them via different decisions. None of this is permanent, however, and she often realizes things are better off the way they are, with certain exceptions. See, she lost a brother and guilt tears at her that she couldn't be there for him to stop it, but she's able to back and see her brother to at least help ease her mind a bit. The therapist is one of my favourite characters ever.

Last I saw, it was on Hulu, but it might not be anymore. Very much worth tracking down.

 

[Farscape One]

S:AAB was a really good show that was maybe a little bit ahead of what the genre was doing at the time on TV. Also, Fox did it's usual bang-up job of doing everything it could to ensure it would never gain a steady audience (see also: Firefly).
One of my favorite sequences from the show:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

"THE ANGRIEST ANGEL"... one of my favorite episodes of the series.

McQueen was an excellent character. It was a great show.

 

[JD]

It's weird how they butcher their own shows. Didn't they put Futurama up against Simpsons in the US despite having the same audience?

They were both on Fox, so that wouldn't have been possible.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

They were both on Fox, so that wouldn't have been possible.

I wasnt sure of the story as Im not from the US. In Ireland each broadcaster would have more than 1 station running at the same time is the US not the same as in a Fox 1 and Fox 2 ?

 

[JD]

They don't do numbers like that, the big companies each own one network, like Fox, but they also own one or two cable channels, which are separate, like FX and FXX in the case of Fox/Disney.

 

[Leroy]

I'll also mention 'The Expanse' despite it's dystopian elements the world presented isn't post apocalyptic, mankind has progressed into space with colonies on the moon, mars, and the asteroid belt, the Earth may be overpopulated but nobody has to starve or be homeless if they go on basic. The crew of the Roci is very diverse giving it a Roddenberry like feel with them striving for a better future.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

I'll also mention 'The Expanse' despite it's dystopian elements the world presented isn't post apocalyptic, mankind has progressed into space with colonies on the moon, mars, and the asteroid belt, the Earth may be overpopulated but nobody has to starve or be homeless if they go on basic. The crew of the Roci is very diverse giving it a Roddenberry like feel with them striving for a better future.

Best live action sci-fi in a long time. The books and to a lesser extent the TV show are also the best I've seen for showing us what future space travel might look like in a scientifically plausible way

 

[dupersuper]

Adriyan Rae is okay, but she's no Hannah John-Kamen.

Who is?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Umbrella academy is rocking my world.

 

[FPAlpha]

S:AAB was a really good show that was maybe a little bit ahead of what the genre was doing at the time on TV. Also, Fox did it's usual bang-up job of doing everything it could to ensure it would never gain a steady audience (see also: Firefly).
One of my favorite sequences from the show:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I KNEW someone would post that scene as soon as people started talking about Space Above and Beyond.

Best part though is the ending after McQueen goes off on a rant to the Chaplain, the Chaplain just responds with "Amen!" (after he recovered from the shock seeing an elite veteran pilot blow up at him) - i love the scene and the dogfight that follows between Humanities' and the Aliens' best pilots.

That show was way ahead of its time and yet another example of Fox killing a really good show (although expensive) by putting it in a death slot. So much potential wasted.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Umbrella academy is rocking my world.

I still haven't given it any time yet despite liking many of the cast.
Is it meant to be a sort fucked up version of X School for the gifted?

 

[Kirk Prime]

I guess it depends on what you describe as uplifting. Twilight Zone, the original and the 1980s versions, were very good. Some episodes were uplifting, some were not.

Land of the Lost, 1970s version, is still one of my favorite sci fi shows ever, and while the effects don't hold up, the stories do. Not shocking since the first two seasons were filled with stories written by former Star Trek writers.

VOYAGERS! is an awesome show that would absolutely qualify as uplifting.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I still haven't given it any time yet despite liking many of the cast.
Is it meant to be a sort fucked up version of X School for the gifted?

7 adopted siblings homeschooled by an asshole.

 

[Kerock]

How about "The Tripods" Series or the Books. I remember the books being really good as a youth.

 

[Timewalker]

Doctor Who has this

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

You chose one of the creepiest stories from Tom Baker's first season. Ian Marter (Harry) later became one of the authors who novelized some of the Classic Who stories for Target. "Ark in Space" was one he did - an excellent job, as he would have known more about it than any of the other Target authors. His skills at describing the creepier elements of this story were so... descriptive... that I nearly lost my supper (was reading it in the cafeteria at the local college, shortly before my evening anthropology class).

The first-season Baker stories had some really good scenes like this one, when the Doctor has philosophical moments. His best one, though, was in "Genesis of the Daleks" when he hesitates to kill the embryo Daleks. From his point of view, he's seen centuries of death and destruction due to that species, but from the Daleks' point of view, they don't (quite) exist yet. It's the classic conundrum of "do you kill a child who history says will grow up to commit genocide" if there's a bare chance to prevent that from happening.

How about "The Tripods" Series or the Books. I remember the books being really good as a youth.

I wouldn't call The Tripods an uplifting series. There are parts of the series that deviated quite a long way from the novels, so they didn't actually finish the whole trilogy (or at least if they did, the rest of it wasn't available in Canada). It was actually pretty grim in a lot of places, but if I had to pick an uplifting theme, I'd pick friendship and sacrifice for the good of one's people.

My own movie choices would be Contact (previously mentioned upthread) and Short Circuit ("Johnny 5 is alive!" "No disassemble, no disassemble!").

TV choices: Space Island One (about an international group of researchers living and working on a space station in orbit around Earth; there's an emphasis on science and some stories go into the ethics of doing research because of profit vs. because it's beneficial).

One of my favorite episodes of the series is when one of the female researchers gets pregnant and has her baby aboard the station - the first human born off-planet. The entire group helps her through labor and delivery (there are only 7 people up there), and it's rather poignant when the mother holds her newborn daughter and shows her through the viewport what Earth looks like.

Uplifting SF literature... hm. That's really subjective. There's only one short story I know of that is capable of satisfying both religious people and atheists, and that is "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I loved Short Circuit! They were among my favourite movies growing up.

 

[Christopher]

I loved Short Circuit! They were among my favourite movies growing up.

I liked them too, though Fisher Stevens's character has aged really, really badly.

 

[Timewalker]

I liked them too, though Fisher Stevens's character has aged really, really badly.

Fisher Stevens' character was the comic sidekick and was never meant to be taken seriously. That's the only rationale I can come up with for the racial/cultural stereotyping that was part of the character.

That said, I still like the line, "I am standing here beside myself!" (to express surprise).

 

[USS Firefly]

This was up there as one of my favourites when I was a kid. It's the first show that ever broke my heart by ending abruptly.
I'll never watch it again as I'm afraid of how it may have aged

I have the show on dvd, and I still think It's good.
The abrupt ending is still heartbreaking.
Stupid assholes who canceled It.