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Recommend some good Sci-Fi shows?

Swimming BirdSwimming Bird __BANNED USERS regular
edited March 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
I just finished Star Trek TOS through Enterprize and I'm pretty hooked on sci-fi at the moment.

I've started Star Gate right now and love it, but is there anything else worth viewing?

I'm more open to modern stuff, things that were produced in the 1980+.

Is Babylon 5, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica worth checking out? Any shows I may be over looking?

Swimming Bird on
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    TroubledTomTroubledTom regular
    edited March 2007
    Red Dwarf is pretty good, especially the first 5 seasons. It's as much comedy as sci-fi, but it became more sci-fi as it went on.

    TroubledTom on
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    FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Any shows I may be over looking?

    Firefly.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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    RecklessReckless Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Well if you haven't seen Firefly....


    Go watch Firefly.

    Reckless on
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    BoomShakeBoomShake The Engineer Columbia, MDRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Reckless wrote: »
    Well if you haven't seen Firefly....


    Go watch Firefly.

    YES

    BoomShake on
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    Chief1138Chief1138 Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    BSG and Firefly are pretty awesome

    Chief1138 on
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    MedopineMedopine __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2007
    Sliders :rotate:

    Medopine on
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    jkylefultonjkylefulton Squid...or Kid? NNID - majpellRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Babylon 5, though I would say only watch seasons 1-4, the last episode of season 5 ("Sleeping in Light"), and the movie "B5:In the Beginning". The only decent actually-filmed-in-season-five episode is the Gaiman-penned "Day of the Dead".

    jkylefulton on
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    jkylefultonjkylefulton Squid...or Kid? NNID - majpellRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Oh, and you owe it to yourself to see the BSG miniseries and the first season (13 episodes).

    jkylefulton on
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    ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    This may not count but on Christmas Eve I somehow watched a gargantuan marathon of the really old black and white Twilight Zone episodes. I was suprised at how good many of them were. I really enjoyed them enough that I wanted to buy the 42-disc DVD set but I didn't want to shell out for it at the time. The crazy part is that the presenter dude, Rob Sterling wrote every episode. I couldn't believe it.

    If you haven't seen them check some out they really are great.

    Shogun on
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    RaereRaere Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Firefly's a so-so show in my opinion. But, it's short. If it were any longer I probably wouldn't recommend it. Farscape's good for the first season or so. It starts to go downhill from there, though. At least watch the first season, and if you can stand it going down from there, keep watching.
    Watch Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis. Both excellent shows.
    Watch the BSG mini-series and first season. It starts to get progressively worse from there. Season 2 started good, but went downhill, season 3 started great, and has been nothing but fillers since. The mini-series and season 1 were great, however.
    Red Dwarf is good, but it's old, and it's British, so you may not get all of the humor.
    Also, Eureka and The Room maybe? They're not space sci-fi, but still good.

    These are just my recommendations as a young'un, so take it with a teaspoon of salt.

    If you decide to watch Farscape, it's what my avatar is from.

    Raere on
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    RichyRichy Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Firefly. It's awesome, and it's only 14 episodes, so it won't take you long.

    Battlestar Galactica (the new one, not the 70s show unless you feel like cheesy old sci-fi, and for the love of God NOT its spin-off Galactica 1980).

    Farscape, I loved.

    Babylon 5, I loved as well.

    Stargate SG-1, if you must, but stop after Season 8.

    Overall, I'd rank them as such:
    (Firefly = BSG) > (Babylon 5 = Farscape) > Stargate SG-1

    Richy on
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    PheezerPheezer Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2007
    The new Battlestar Galactica and the new Doctor Who are both fantastic. While Lost isn't distant future sci-fi, I'd argue that it's definitely science fiction all the same, for reasons beyond the superficial conventions of the genre (lazor guns, aliens, etc).

    Pheezer on
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    Xenocide GeekXenocide Geek Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    ST: The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Battlestar Galactica... Babylon 5 seasons 1-4, yeah.

    Firefly is really spectacular. Battlestar Galactica is also fan-fucking-tastic.

    SG1, Atlantis. The new seasons of SG1 are awful, though.

    Did I mention Battlestar Galactica twice yet?

    Xenocide Geek on
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    FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    If Lost can be considered sci-fi (and I don't see any reason why not) then so can X-Files, which is also worth watching up until the last season. (It jumped the shark when Duchovny left.)

    If you like conspiracy theory type stuff, Nowhere Man was an underappreciated show. It's about a man whose identity is erased by a government conspiracy - he wakes up one day with no ID and everybody who used to know him including his coworkers and family act like they've never met him before.

    Edit: My friends are all crazy about the Star Wars Clone Wars animated series. Never watched it myself but I've heard good things.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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    hamburger helperhamburger helper Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    BSG is great, but a bit campy, wheras:
    BoomShake wrote: »
    Reckless wrote: »
    Well if you haven't seen Firefly....


    Go watch Firefly.

    YES

    hamburger helper on
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    LocusLocus Trust Me The seaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I want to reiterate the new Doctor Who. It's pretty light in general, and might make a nice diversion after watching something like Babylon 5 (seasons 1-4, as others have said) or the new Battlestar Galactica, which can be emotionally exhausting.

    Locus on
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    jkylefultonjkylefulton Squid...or Kid? NNID - majpellRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    If you want to get a taste for B5, watch "In the Beginning" first - you can probably rent it from Blockbuster.

    jkylefulton on
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    ValkunValkun Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    No love at all for Andromeda or Earth: Final Conflict? They're both the brainchildren of Gene Roddenbury so you might like how his ideas pan out outside of the Star Trek universe. The Outer Limits is also pretty enjoyable, very much like the various Twilight Zones and its ilk.

    Valkun on
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    jclastjclast Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    A lot's been mentioned here, but here's a few that I didn't see.

    - The Dresden Files
    - EUReKA
    - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (it's two movies, but it's still good and worth seeing)
    - The Lost Room (recent miniseries on SciFi)
    - The Pretender

    jclast on
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    GodfatherGodfather Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Shogun wrote: »
    This may not count but on Christmas Eve I somehow watched a gargantuan marathon of the really old black and white Twilight Zone episodes. I was suprised at how good many of them were. I really enjoyed them enough that I wanted to buy the 42-disc DVD set but I didn't want to shell out for it at the time. The crazy part is that the presenter dude, Rob Sterling wrote every episode. I couldn't believe it.

    If you haven't seen them check some out they really are great.

    I second this whole-heartedly.


    The Twilight Zone is one of those shows that really mess with your head and always left a chill in your spine. It was just so cleverly written and presented with strong, capable actors that every episode is a pleasure to watch.

    Two episodes I would recommend are The Midnight Sun and Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder.

    It was the thinking man's show back in the day, and still is for those who discover it.

    Godfather on
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    SenjutsuSenjutsu thot enthusiast Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Is Babylon 5, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica worth checking out? Any shows I may be over looking?
    Yes, yes, and yes. And like everyone else says, Firefly.

    Senjutsu on
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    supabeastsupabeast Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    The Stargate shows are crap. Remember those TOS episodes where they encounter some static culture that's been alone on a planet for ever and have to overcome some hurdle to wrap up the show and move on? That covers just about every episode of Stargate, except that they tacked on crappy story arcs about ancient gods who are really aliens living out an intergalactic soap opera.

    Babylon 5 was pretty great, although it can get pretty tedious at times in seasons 4 and 5. But when it comes to thoughtful writing and intelligent, original ideas, B5 reigns supreme.

    Firefly was cool and is worth checking out, but it's very overrated, so don't expect to find the holy grail of contemporary scifi. The concept worked much better as a comic book/movie than it did as a TV show.

    Farscape is right up there with Babylon 5, but with a little less depth. It's definitely the bravest scifi show ever made, simply because it revolved around continuity and made no attempt whatsoever to forgive anyone who had missed an episode. If you liked the way The Shield handles continuity, with story arcs that go on for years and constantly referencing seemingly random past events, you'll love Farscape.

    Battlestar Galactica is good, but cheap to the point of being annoying. They dragged out season two by adding in a lot of one-off episodes, and did a little more in of that in season three, and it's irritating as hell. CGI shots are also constantly reused; shots from the miniseries are still worked in on a regular basis without even bothering to re-render them from other angles, and it's much more obvious than it was when Star Trek did it. But the writing is great, the acting is great, and the way they use it all as a skewed reflection of the Iraq war and the Bush administration makes for killer TV.

    The new Doctor Who is excellent, especially the second season. The original Twilight Zone series features some of the best scifi ever televised. Both Outer Limits series are great. SciFi's Dune miniseries were both good. X-Files is worth getting on Netflix, but has so many shitty one-off episodes that the DVD sets are a ripoff. And for the ultimate in great nerdy TV, Buffy was our queen.

    supabeast on
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    DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited March 2007
    Stargate Atlantis if you haven't already moved onto it. Stargate SG1 is good, even past Season 8, people just need things to bash into because they fear change. Firefly of course.

    Unknown User on
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    Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Robbie-Williams-Millennium---Part-124510.jpg

    CRYPTIC

    Numb3rs - all the science in that it entirely fictional.

    But seriously, has anyone mentioned Heroes yet?

    Apothe0sis on
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    Swimming BirdSwimming Bird __BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2007
    Is The Dead Zone serise on USA worth picking up on dvd, btw?

    I really liked the book.

    Swimming Bird on
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    InvisibleInvisible Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Valkun wrote: »
    No love at all for Andromeda or Earth: Final Conflict? They're both the brainchildren of Gene Roddenbury so you might like how his ideas pan out outside of the Star Trek universe. The Outer Limits is also pretty enjoyable, very much like the various Twilight Zones and its ilk.


    Andromeda is pretty bad. It had some pretty cool ideas, but it was just way too cheesy and low budget to ever be interesting. It's not something I would actively seek out since there are so many other good or at least average sci-fi shows out there.

    Invisible on
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    pacbowlpacbowl Los AngelesRegistered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Sorry to get off-topic but wtf happened to Eureka anyway? Due to my short-term loss of long-term memory, I remember watching and loving it, but it just kind of petered out and while I always have the sci-fi channel on in the background while gaming, I haven't seen any trailers for upcoming episodes.

    pacbowl on
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    Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    pacbowl wrote: »
    Sorry to get off-topic but wtf happened to Eureka anyway? Due to my short-term loss of long-term memory, I remember watching and loving it, but it just kind of petered out and while I always have the sci-fi channel on in the background while gaming, I haven't seen any trailers for upcoming episodes.

    13 episode run.

    Not sure if it's being renewed.

    Apothe0sis on
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    PhilodoxPhilodox Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Firefly is amazing. The biggest problem is that it was cancelled after one season so the only closure for the series is the movie.

    I'm a huge BSG fan. Seasons 1 and 2 are amazing, but they're starting to rely too heavily on filler rather than focusing on moving the main story along. That being said it's still one of the best shows on tv.

    Philodox on
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    jclastjclast Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    pacbowl wrote: »
    Sorry to get off-topic but wtf happened to Eureka anyway? Due to my short-term loss of long-term memory, I remember watching and loving it, but it just kind of petered out and while I always have the sci-fi channel on in the background while gaming, I haven't seen any trailers for upcoming episodes.

    13 episode run.

    Not sure if it's being renewed.

    Season 2 starts in July

    jclast on
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    MeizMeiz Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Alien Nation is a short yet good series that was ahead of its time.

    Meiz on
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    saint2esaint2e Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I love LOVE Eureka. One of the best new shows of 2006.

    As well, I follow alot of SciFi shows: Stargate SG1/Atlantis, Dresden Files, BSG, Lost, Doctor Who, Torchwood and surprisingly Supernatural are all good ongoing shows (well, SG-1 is just finishing up now)

    Shows that are readily available in DVD form that I love: FIREFLY, X-Files, Farscape, Buffy (for something different), Angel, Sliders, and I was impressed by Invasion and Surface, although they had short runs. I think you can get those shows on DVD.

    I couldn't get into B5, no matter how I tried. I dunno why, I just couldn't.

    saint2e on
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    LRGLRG Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Shogun wrote: »
    This may not count but on Christmas Eve I somehow watched a gargantuan marathon of the really old black and white Twilight Zone episodes. I was suprised at how good many of them were. I really enjoyed them enough that I wanted to buy the 42-disc DVD set but I didn't want to shell out for it at the time. The crazy part is that the presenter dude, Rob Sterling wrote every episode. I couldn't believe it.

    If you haven't seen them check some out they really are great.


    Serling didn't write every episode, but he did write 92 out of the 156 episode run and he think he may have directed some of them too. Dude was a beast, no doubt.

    but yeah, Twilight Zone is a must for great sci-fi/fantasy.

    LRG on
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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Firefly
    Eureka (the Sci-Fi channel one, not Eureka Seven, which is some anime thing)

    If you want to watch Babylon 5 for free (legally duh), In2TV will let you. Yeah, I know, it's AOL, but it's also free, which is a pretty sweet deal.

    TychoCelchuuu on
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    Sharp10rSharp10r Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Catch up on NBC's Heroes, it's surprisingly good, has a free tie-in comic on the website, and when it comes back to finish it's season in April: It's going to be amazing.
    I'll add a vote for Firefly as well, as if it needed another vote.

    Sharp10r on
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    DoronronDoronron Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Spaceship Shows

    Babylon Five
    Farscape
    Battlestar Galactica
    Firefly
    Red Dwarf
    Hyperdrive

    Non-Spaceship Sci-Fi

    Sliders (only seasons 1-3, and maybe not even 3)
    Stargate SG1 (only with Richard Dean Anderson, not Ben Browder)
    Quantum Leap (sci fi, but really 80s quaint)
    Doctor Who
    Heroes

    Doronron on
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    CentipeedCentipeed Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I can't believe none of you have mentioned Firefly yet...

    OHWAIT!

    Centipeed on
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    LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    I always loved Farscape. Kinda gets way far out there and dark though, but it's damn good. I've only seen the first season and half the second, but it's all ranged from pretty good to great. Show's driven mainly by very strong and like-able characters. Crichton's Earth-isms are always worth a chuckle.

    SG-1 always seemed a bit bad, bland, and uninteresting to me, but I never started at the beginning, so YMMV.

    BSG is one of the better things out there I suppose, but I got started in the middle and my impression was that it aspired to a certain degree of greatness that was not totally present in execution. The writing could have been a lot tighter, and some aspects intrigued me while others annoyed me. I found a lot of the drama and clichés very obvious, jumping in without much of an introduction. I hear the miniseries has a lot higher production values, and is well worth watching, though I haven't gotten around to it as yet.

    Don't watch Andromeda. It's pure pain.

    LoneIgadzra on
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    crakecrake Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    Jericho? Jericho! Why hasn't anyone mentioned Jericho yet? Jericho!

    crake on
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    meekermeeker Registered User regular
    edited March 2007
    The wife and I are watching (and loving) all of Carnivale right now. Not really sci-fi, but definitely supenatural in nature.

    meeker on
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