Do people talk about the Farscape miniseries thing? Like, is there a designated cut off point where folks should stop watching that too?
I liked the miniseries and the last season, while admitting there was a dip in quality. It helps that the thing I really liked - the main character's gradual descent into depression - is one of the things that most people hate.
Spoilers
Chrichton was a scientist who was becoming extremely depressed by the number of people he had killed throughout the series. I always loved this line from one of the last episodes:
"Hi... Honey. Huh. Guess what I did at work today? I wore a bomb. A nuclear bomb in a field of flowers. I could get lucky. Tomorrow I could have a bigger bomb. I could kill... more people. Maybe they'll be innocent people. Children... maybe."
I'm with Phillishere. The Farscape miniseries is not up to the quality of the series, but it's still good. It's definitely not out of left field like Serenity compared to Firefly; quite the opposite, it ties up the main plot points of the series nicely.
Also, Crichton's descent into insanity was one of the best parts of Farscape. You can't just pluck a random human from 20th Century earth, put him alone in deep alien space, torture him and make him run for his life every day for four years, and expect it to have no psychological impact.
If you want a good cut off point for Farscape, I suggest 30 seconds before the end of the last episode.
When Crichton pulls the ring out, and Aeryn looks happy, turn it off.
But then, I like happy endings.
Don't get me wrong, the miniseries was ok, certainly better then the giant "fuck you, fandom" I was expecting from Syfy, but they tried to cram a full seasons worth of shenanigans into 3 hours, and it suffered for that.
Fun trivia: Farscape was actually renewed for two more seasons before network producers and executives started playing chicken with their programming, and the Farscape writers apparently intended those two to be the final seasons. They ended up having to cram the major plot points into the mini-series instead. At the very least we got a decent taste, though trimmed, of what they were planning.
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Farscape was also amazing in how little fucks they gave in regards to tropes.
What's that? We need to do a clone/duplicate episode? Sure. Only they will be exactly identical, with no discernible difference at all to the point where they don't even know which one is the real Chrichton...and we'll let it sit like that for half a season.
Just another shout-out for Babylon 5, I've been watching / thinking about that show for fifteen years now. Also, boo to the Sinclare hater. The only really stinky part of B5 was the 1st half of season 5 and that wasn't even anyone on the show's fault. As far as must-have sci-fi shows go that's all that comes to mind as well as Battlestar Galactica assuming you just pretend it was cancelled after season 3. Firefly is worth watching as well, but I would hardly call it a must-have. Good sci-fi on TV is an extreme rarity.
My problem with BSG is that even though it's a well made show, I can't think of a single episode where I wanted to smile.
And that makes it hard to watch again, because I know it's going to lead up to several more seasons of constant depression. There's nothing to look forward too. Even "Stargate Universe" had more balance.
And even Troi's breasts...I was into them as a 12 year old. Even had a Star Trek card of her that got the job done. But looking back, that outfit (even in the early episodes) wasn't even particularly revealing.
This goes without saying but the problem with Troi's outfit was that it was too revealing. It's just that it's silly that every single person on the ship wears the same uniform, except one person who wears a slinky outfit.
Lest I sound like a prude I'll add that when I bought Eyes Wide Shut I made sure it was the uncensored version.
Basically a movie/show shouldn't show skin, or cover skin up, without valid reason.
Just another shout-out for Babylon 5, I've been watching / thinking about that show for fifteen years now. Also, boo to the Sinclare hater. The only really stinky part of B5 was the 1st half of season 5 and that wasn't even anyone on the show's fault. As far as must-have sci-fi shows go that's all that comes to mind as well as Battlestar Galactica assuming you just pretend it was cancelled after season 3. Firefly is worth watching as well, but I would hardly call it a must-have. Good sci-fi on TV is an extreme rarity.
My problem with BSG is that even though it's a well made show, I can't think of a single episode where I wanted to smile.
And that makes it hard to watch again, because I know it's going to lead up to several more seasons of constant depression. There's nothing to look forward too. Even "Stargate Universe" had more balance.
Shit man, that's what I loved about that show.
I would say that if anything BSG's biggest failing is that it ended on a happy ending. I don't particularly have a problem with the way it ended per say, but I think them
standing on the irradiated beach of original Earth is a much more appropriate ending that AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER UNTIL WE INVENTED STUFF AGAIN.
I don't like Bones because everyone in that show seems like an asshole.
But I do like Psych.
Psych is a good show.
But it is not a science fiction show.
I used to love the heck out of Bones. but yeah, everyone became insufferable pricks. Especially Angela, she can DIAF.
The whole "Bones is ridiculously smart, but socially inept" bit is getting old too and the writers seem to flip back and forth between "Bones is a robot" and "Bones is human" on a whim. You've got one episode where she can't seem to understand why Booth is upset about her telling everyone the sex of their kid before he knows, then the very next episode she's thoughtful and caring.
But as horrible and formulaic as it is, I'm a completionist so I'm stuck with it till the end. which is soon I hope.
Yeah, the first six seasons or so of X-Files are some of the finest television ever created. It's lack of legacy (which I'll go ahead and agree is an issue) is probably due almost entirely to just how far down the shitter it went after that. Kinda like Lost.
Even your most rabid fans tended to hate it by the time it was done.
That's how I felt about Battlestar Galactica. First two seasons = greatest TV evar! Last two seasons = huh??. Last episode = WTF??
Makes me happy for stopping after the second season. I adored the show for those seasons, some of the best TV I'd ever seen, though it was getting a tad odd. Then came the second season finale. I hated that so much that I couldn't watch the show for 3 years. I've since re-watched the first and some of the second season, but still can't see myself ever finishing the show. Especially since a lot of what I hear about it only confirms my fears of what it turns into.
I'm biased because I'm a completionist. Once I start watching a show and get invested in it, I really have a hard time stopping no matter how much it sucks. (Smallville, Bones, Stargate (yeah accept it, the last few seasons, the movies, and the spinoffs sucked))
But you should finish BSG out. Yeah the overall quality of the show takes a huge nosedive, but as others have alluded to, there are bright spots, especially in Season 4.
Hey, S4 of Galactica had a bunch of awesome episodes. Sometimes A Great Notion is one of the series best. (and probably it's absolutely darkest)
Is that one of the
mutiny
episodes? Cause that storyline was fucking awesome. So was
Galactica falling apart
and that's about all that occurs to me.
Nah, it's the one right after
they find scorched earth.
The first one you mention there is awesome too though.
I don't think anyone saw
Dualle committing suicide coming. That was by far a "Holy shit" TV moment, probably along with SG-1 burning Valla in oil (which of course they copped out on)
The show has a few missteps but is generally ok till the Final Five thing. That's when everything goes off the rails. Mostly because it's obvious they had no idea WTF to do with
Baltar on the Baseship but not wanting to show all the models yet.
So they came up with some excuse that just got built into this huge mystery over time and then they just threw out a random explanation based off nothing.
Stargate (yeah accept it, the last few seasons, the movies, and the spinoffs sucked)
Atlantis was pretty good, in my opinion. But that opinion rests mostly on having Rodney McKay and Zelenka in the show. The ensemble was excellent and likeable, overall, which makes it quite enjoyable to watch. SG-1 loses its mojo when the core team (which you've spent several seasons building a rapport with) breaks apart. Which is why Seasons 1-5 are great, Season 6 is a speed bump (You know, I actually LIKE Jonas, but I watched a bunch of Parker Lewis Can't Lose... he's not Daniel, though), Season 7 was excellent, Season 8 was fine, and then it nosedives after that (and again, I like Claudia Black and Ben Browder, but still...).
The show has a few missteps but is generally ok till the Final Five thing. That's when everything goes off the rails. Mostly because it's obvious they had no idea WTF to do with
Baltar on the Baseship but not wanting to show all the models yet.
So they came up with some excuse that just got built into this huge mystery over time and then they just threw out a random explanation based off nothing.
It was the X-Files problem of wanting to keep the same mysteries playing out indefinitely and never having an answer in mind.
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Fun trivia: Farscape was actually renewed for two more seasons before network producers and executives started playing chicken with their programming, and the Farscape writers apparently intended those two to be the final seasons. They ended up having to cram the major plot points into the mini-series instead. At the very least we got a decent taste, though trimmed, of what they were planning.
Shit man, that's what I loved about that show.
Lest I sound like a prude I'll add that when I bought Eyes Wide Shut I made sure it was the uncensored version.
Basically a movie/show shouldn't show skin, or cover skin up, without valid reason.
I would say that if anything BSG's biggest failing is that it ended on a happy ending. I don't particularly have a problem with the way it ended per say, but I think them
Is that one of the
The British (original) version of Life on Mars and its follow up Ashes To Ashes is pretty great television, though not really scifi.
One extra vote for Sapphire and Steel.
And I really liked the CGI version of Captain Scarlet :-)
I used to love the heck out of Bones. but yeah, everyone became insufferable pricks. Especially Angela, she can DIAF.
The whole "Bones is ridiculously smart, but socially inept" bit is getting old too and the writers seem to flip back and forth between "Bones is a robot" and "Bones is human" on a whim. You've got one episode where she can't seem to understand why Booth is upset about her telling everyone the sex of their kid before he knows, then the very next episode she's thoughtful and caring.
But as horrible and formulaic as it is, I'm a completionist so I'm stuck with it till the end. which is soon I hope.
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Nah, it's the one right after
The first one you mention there is awesome too though.
Makes me happy for stopping after the second season. I adored the show for those seasons, some of the best TV I'd ever seen, though it was getting a tad odd. Then came the second season finale. I hated that so much that I couldn't watch the show for 3 years. I've since re-watched the first and some of the second season, but still can't see myself ever finishing the show. Especially since a lot of what I hear about it only confirms my fears of what it turns into.
But you should finish BSG out. Yeah the overall quality of the show takes a huge nosedive, but as others have alluded to, there are bright spots, especially in Season 4.
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I don't think anyone saw
It was the X-Files problem of wanting to keep the same mysteries playing out indefinitely and never having an answer in mind.