What's a good sci fi show to watch NOW?

[Greg Cox]

If Heroes had been a one-shot miniseries, we'd be remembering it as a classic. But once the show became a hit, and they had to keep it going indefinitely, they seemed to have no idea where to go with the story and the characters. Season Three, in particular, hit record levels of randomness; it really felt like the writers were just throwing darts at a dartboard, throwing in wild plot twists that were discarded two episodes later.

"Peter is evil! Peter is good! Peter has lost his powers! Peter has everyone's powers! Sylar is good! Sylar is evil! Sylar's lost his powers!" Etc.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

What gets me is that they had the right ideas - what happens if the good guys are tempted to use their powers for evil? Are the bad guys purely evil or not? What happens if the government starts to crack down on the "dangerous mutants?"

Not very original ideas, but certainly relevant to the premise and usable for good drama. They had all the parts, they just didn't put them together right. Not even close.

The inability to stay focused on an idea and draw it out to some natural conclusion was just one of many problems. Another big one was that no apparent thought was being put into who the characters were, what their powers might reveal about their personalities, or just making sure the characters don't wander all over the map and become incoherent.

The powers could have been a nice metaphorical way to say something about the characters. Peter's empathy could have become crippling because of his self-negating need to serve others. The paramedic plotline could have gone somewhere with that idea.

Sylar - well, they needed to figure out who Sylar was first before saying anything about him. There were two basic options: he's a normal guy driven crazy by his powers or he's a crazy guy whose powers make him more dangerous. I kept waiting for some indication one way or the other, but the writers never did settle on one direction. Without that, there was simply no way for Sylar to be anything other than a ludicrous ping-pong ball, at the mercy of whatever the story needed him to be that week.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The basic idea of realistic characters has been used many times before, from the Wild Cards series to Watchmen to the old novel Superfolks from the 70s. It was even the basic concept of the Fantastic Four and the early Marvel Universe. So the first season of Heroes is on a par with those examples not because it was unique in any way, but simply because of the quality of the writing and the fact that it was such a tightly composed novel for television. It was like Babylon 5, only done in one season. But after the first season, they apparently had no clue where to go; as others have pointed out, it quickly devolved into chaos.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Well to be fair Heroes also had a pretty disappointing first season finale. All of the season was building up to a specific moment, and they pretty much bungled it.

Most of the problems in S2 and onward comes from that critical decision NOT to kill off a major character. (won't say who, but everyone who has seen it knows who it is)

What could have been a great conclusion of an arc, and a setup for another, just whimpered out when they did not have the guts to kill the character.

 

[Darrell Pitt]

I'm a big lover of Fringe. I think it needs a complete makeover, however, and a brand new direction. They've done a lot of stuff with alternate histories, but I think they need a new big bad. Apart from that, it's hard to think of good sci-fi.

Well, there's always Big Bang Theory, but it's not really sci-fi, but I love it more than life itself. Yes, even more than chocolate.

 

[Yevetha]

Try Earth 2.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108758/

 

[ReadyAndWilling]

i really love TNG, but the early seasons just look so dated now. i love the ideas of exploration and sci-fi. is there anything out there that's similar to TNG in this way or even something like sliders?

 

[Yevetha]

Andromeda?

 

[Darrell Pitt]

i really love TNG, but the early seasons just look so dated now. i love the ideas of exploration and sci-fi. is there anything out there that's similar to TNG in this way or even something like sliders?

You know, I don't think there is. Not anything that springs to mind. Oh, there was Terra Nova, but that was stuck here on Earth in the past. Hmmmm...time to win the lottery, form my own movie company and produce some stuff!!!!!!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

There's a lottery that's up to half a billion dollars, I've heard. Got for it.

If you're looking for ideas, I'm liking the sci fi prison show thread.

 

[ReadyAndWilling]

Try Earth 2.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108758/

Andromeda?

hmm i've never heard of earth 2.

i was planning on watching andromeda some time ago, but was told on here to definitely not watch it. i saw a few minutes of the pilot and the CGI looked kind of cheap.

 

[Silvercrest]

That's always a good reason to pass on a show. Make sure you avoid Babylon 5 for the same reason.

 

[Deckerd]

Props doth not a good sci fi show make. Babylon 5 was a very good show for its time and the cgi was never as bad as the shrieking would make you think. If it doesn't bear up to the passage of time that would be because of the pacing and tendency to be pompous.

 

[Yevetha]

Definetly watch B5 and check out Earth 2.

 

[Silvercrest]

Props doth not a good sci fi show make. Babylon 5 was a very good show for its time and the cgi was never as bad as the shrieking would make you think. If it doesn't bear up to the passage of time that would be because of the pacing and tendency to be pompous.

B5 is awesome and should not be missed. I was being facetious... although I have to admit that if R&W doesn't like Andromeda's CGI, he'll start shrieking when he sees B5.

 

[Yevetha]

What kind fof CGI quality does RDW expect?

Also check out Otlaw Star, great sci fi anime.

 

[Mistral]

Charlie Jade -if you can find a copy...

 

[Temis the Vorta]

What kind fof CGI quality does RDW expect?

The question is, what does the audience expect? Something on par with nuBSG sounds fine by me.

 

[Harvey]

Charlie Jade -if you can find a copy...

Isn't it still on Netflix? I hope it is; I've been meaning to sit down and watch it one of these days...

 

[startrekwatcher]

If you are looking for something still on the air now--I don't think there is much of anything worth watching in sff.

The Vampire Diaries all angst all the time with no interesting plotlines or characters anymore.

Supernatural jumped the shark after S5 and has turned into a joke with repetitve angst, lame recycled plots and ever more increasing campiness replacing its once solid dramatic gravitas.

Fringe is not very good. It is a pale imitator of the much superior The X-Files. The only interesting thing about it is the mythology but by season 3 and 4 they've revealed that the writers have very lame ideas on how to pay it off so ultimately it is a waste of time.

Actually while we've had a lot of sff shows in the last ten years sitting here I realize just how 99% of them were crap so I'll save you from wasting your time--V, Flash Forward, Persons Unknown, The Gates, The Event, Stargate Atlantis, Caprica, Stargate Universe, Surface, Invasion, Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, Fringe, Flash Gordon, Terra Nova, Falling Skies, Haven, Eureka, Warehouse 13 Alcatraz, post S1 Heroes to name a few.

And if you are wanting recommendations from the last decade I'd recommend for sff seasons more than actual series since I've personally found the days of a consistently entertaining series with a good 3-4 year run of episodes has become a thing of the past and it is best to cherry pick-
I'd recommend
ENT's third season but only the arc heavy episodes--half of the season was uninteresting filler.

Heroes S1--in my opinion the single best season of tv in the last decade--heavily serialized with no real filler to speak of, every episode focused exclusively on the arcs, no dragging out answers like LOST tended to, the season always advanced the story with no spinning wheels, likeable if not deep characters--an absolute thrill ride with no bad episodes which is astonishing given it had a 24 episode order. After S1 the series became unfocused and instead of focusing on a few interesting ideas and developing over the course of the season the writers began throwing evey idea at the screen then almost instantly deciding to dump them and moving onto the next one.

I'd only recommend LOST S1, S4 and S5 but you'll probably want to watch S2, S3 and S6 since there is a lot of information you need for what is to come but S2 was a total bore, S3 was stalled for half the year before picking up and the last season was awful with no satisfying resolution.

Supernatural S1(more episodic with a light arc think X-Files early one, things are more laid back the calm before the coming storm), 2 and 4(the best plotted season of the serie)s are pretty good--S3 is uneven and overall pretty weak. S6 and S7 avoid

Jericho S1 and 2= entire series--good cast, good storyline
nBSG S1 and first half of S2.