Best Science Fiction shows that are Not Star Trek

[Liability]

Star Trek.

Star Trek: Next Generation.


























(Yeah. I know. )

 

[Harry Dresden]

the Dresden Files.....

 

[Amelia]

Shows I enjoyed that haven't been mentioned:

Space: 1999
Kolchack: The Night Stalker
Logan's Run
Quark
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Fantastic Journey
The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman
My Favorite Martian
Lost in Space
The Avengers


Animated:
Jonny Quest (the original series -- Jonny was voiced by Tim Matheson, Otter of Animal House)

We have Quark on DVD. I consciously left it out of my list of bests!

 

[Missourian]

Many of my favorites have been mentioned...esp. Firefly



Odyssey 5.

Earth 2.

The original V.

Alien Nation.

Seven Days.

Andromeda.

Earth Final Conflict.

Lost.

 

[manifold]

here's my short list.

Firefly- Way too short of a run, but they got a lot into 14 episodes.

Babylon 5- A sprawling, epic Space Opera. Great drama, characters with real depth, and Deep Space Nine spent seven season trying to rip it off.

Farscape- A great universe, and some interesting characters.

Doctor Who- The British never get enough credit.

Blake's Seven- Special effects look like they were done in a Nerd's basement, but the story telling more than made up for it.

Big fan of the last three.

 

[manifold]

I watch Fringe, but I can't decide if I do because it's a good show or because Anna Torv lights my torch.

 

[RoadVirus]

Highlander (if you want to call it sci-fi)

People living forever, except when you whack off their heads and then you get a cool lightshow? Yeah...that's definitely science fiction.

 

[pinqy]

Firefly
Doctor Who
Babylon 5
Stargate: Universe (didn't get a fair chance from either fans or non fans of the original series)
Stargate: SG-1 (yes, huge suspension of disbelief required, but fun).

Borderline whether or not SF: The original Life on Mars (not the bastardized US version).

 

[Montrovant]

I've been enjoying the hell out of the US version of Being Human lately. I think I was expecting more of a comedy and was pleasantly surprised it is mostly drama.

 

[Douger]

60 minutes.

 

[American Horse]

Battle Star Galactica (the new one).
I just finished watching the whole series and it was outstanding. We here in my home don't follow series or even go to movies at all, but sometimes we catch them much later, like ten years. I never watched Star Trek Generations until it was in reruns.

As for BSG, I was immediately put off when we began watching, because of authenticity issues, like sounds in space, space ships that turn on a dime, lack of military decorum, and lots of other things, but with BSG you have to be an unforgiving purist to let those things take away from the whole piece of work.

You have to forgive these authenticity issues because they add to the whole scheme of things, and actually hurry it along so that the important things can be portrayed with full impact. For instance, the small fighter "planes" can be recalled to the Battlestar and be back in their mechanical bay in ten or fifteen seconds when those maneuvers would take hours. Commander Adama even says to "get the planes into the air."

My wife is not much interested in SF, and particularly SF with special effects (we don't give a darn for Star Trek (the latest movie because of the speical effects BS), but she was as hooked as I, and we watched 3 to 4 hours a night finishing it off in just a couple of weeks. We wre there when the original Star Trek came on TV back in 66 or whenever; it was our favorite weekly program for its duration.

The characters are magnificently portrayed, not just for the acting but for the emotions they convey. I found myself a little overwhelmed at times, and completely sympathetic to their dilemmas.

The final ending episode was a disappointment for lack of imagination, but in this case the ending was really irrelevant.

We got the whole thing (some 76 episodes) from the local library, for free and since it's not all that much in demand any longer we didn't have to wait at all between each season's disc package.

Here's a link to HULU with all the seasons available for watching in full installments with just a little commercial time imbedded. It opens at episode 33, but scroll up for the full page and select as you like, season by season or episode by episode.
Hulu - Battlestar Galactica: 33 - Watch the full episode now.

The sound on the DVDs is not always loud enough or the voices clear enough (there are some low talkers, primarily Commander Adama) but the menue has access to closed captioning. Adequacy of sound and the lack of CC makes the HULU series a problem in the audio.

 

[Desperado]

Firefly
Torchwood
Battlestar Gallatica (New Version)
Stargate: Universe

 

[Liability]

One of my favorite works of Science Fiction was Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game."

I understand (loose rumor) that they might be making a movie out of it.

I hope they don't fuck it up.

The book won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. A very worthy win.

 

[JoeB131]

Firefly
Torchwood
Battlestar Gallatica (New Version)
Stargate: Universe

Not thrilled with Torchwood so much. Between killing off the character and the in your face gay stuff, it just isn't that fun.

I am starting to watch the revised V series.

 

[JoeB131]

One of my favorite works of Science Fiction was Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game."

I understand (loose rumor) that they might be making a movie out of it.

I hope they don't fuck it up.

The book won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. A very worthy win.

I really didn't like it, and not just because Card belongs to my favorite whacky cult.

I thought it was a lot of "Wash, Rinse, Repeat" kind of stuff. For like 400 pages or however long it drags on. You don't even get to the aliens until the last 20 pages, and they are a huge letdown.

 

[Montrovant]

One of my favorite works of Science Fiction was Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game."

I understand (loose rumor) that they might be making a movie out of it.

I hope they don't fuck it up.

The book won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. A very worthy win.

I wasn't a big fan of Ender's Game, but yes, there is a movie being made. Currently it's expected to be released in about a year.

IMDB has a cast listing and release date listed, we'll see if it comes together.

 

[Liability]

One of my favorite works of Science Fiction was Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game."

I understand (loose rumor) that they might be making a movie out of it.

I hope they don't fuck it up.

The book won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. A very worthy win.

I really didn't like it, and not just because Card belongs to my favorite whacky cult.

I thought it was a lot of "Wash, Rinse, Repeat" kind of stuff. For like 400 pages or however long it drags on. You don't even get to the aliens until the last 20 pages, and they are a huge letdown.

It works on lots of different levels. You seem to be a bit two-dimensional.

 

[Desperado]

I am starting to watch the revised V series.

Yes that was a good show, from what I have heard it has been cancelled.
Got into Falling Skies last summer, it was pretty good.
here is a preview of the second season set to start in June
'Falling Skies': First Three Minutes of Season 2 Premiere Released (Video) - Hollywood Reporter

 

[Middleoftheroad]

Highlander (if you want to call it sci-fi)

People living forever, except when you whack off their heads and then you get a cool lightshow? Yeah...that's definitely science fiction.

Its more like Fantasy, not sci-fi. Sci-fi involves some kind of future technology, in which technology is the operative word there. In Highlander there is no advanced or unknown technology. Now, The One (Jet Li) was sci-fi, even though the plot was almost exactly the same.

 

[Montrovant]

Highlander (if you want to call it sci-fi)

People living forever, except when you whack off their heads and then you get a cool lightshow? Yeah...that's definitely science fiction.

Its more like Fantasy, not sci-fi. Sci-fi involves some kind of future technology, in which technology is the operative word there. In Highlander there is no advanced or unknown technology. Now, The One (Jet Li) was sci-fi, even though the plot was almost exactly the same.

People sometimes put fantasy into the sci-fi category. It's why I've listed some fantasy stuff in this thread. I don't know why that's the case, but I've seen it on numerous occasions.