Scifi Poll best Scifi Movie, tv show or Book

[Benwick]

The best movie is the fan project "Star Wreck". It's a funny Star Trek/B5 crossover movie(more than 90 minutes). The SFX are awesome and the movie is for free. You can download it at www.starwreck.com
This fan project is from finnland, so there are english subtitles.

Just watch and ENJOY!!!!

[Dr Maturin]

Kerry

[The Puzzled Pak'Ma'Ra]

... Some interesting points, Vacantlook. Thanks for them.

... I was thinking about this as well... The Western (Cowboy show style)theme running through the series made me recall the huge number of Chinese immigrants who lived and worked in the 'Old West'. Perhaps a similar situation, I thought.

... And what you mentioned of America and China being the two powers on the Earth that Was... makes sense. The characters often blurt out Chinese on occasion, often as expletives, or in surprise . . . It seems to fit much more naturally with the background you've mentioned. And so I retract my initial statement of 'Chinese being slapped on stuff....' .

... BladeRunner set the precedent, you know. Since BladeRunner, and those fantastic street scenes, we've seen Chinese, sometimes Japanese characters, often terribly out of place if you read them, arbitrarily put on cars, street signs, banners, pipes... to give it that 'This is the future' look. You see a lot of Asian faces as well, meant to serve the same purpose no doubt. It doesn't work in most cases for me (perhaps only because I live here in Asia and can read how stupid those signs are most of the time)... But it actually is making sense in Firefly. Refreshing.

... Cool show. Farscape should be arriving soon as well...

[vacantlook]

still too much Chinese slapped on stuff to make it seem 'futuristic', but I'll let that slide

I imagine it might help to have the reason for the Chinese. Quoting from the Official Visual Companion to Serenity -- worry not, I am not quoting anything spoilery, just backgroundish:

Earth-That-Was couldn't handle the growing population and resource needs of humankind. Amazingly enough, instead of wiping itself out, the human race rose to the challenge of finding a new home for the species. A nearby star was located, home to dozens of planets and hundreds of moons, almost all of which had enough mass and solidity to be templates for new earths.

Long story short, humans took generation-long journeys to go from Earth-That-Was to the new planetary system, and once there they terraformed as many of the planets and moons that they could.

...The work started on the two largest, most central planets, Sihnon and Londinium.

On Earth-That-Was, the two ruling powers were once known as America and China. Though their empires remained sperate, the two powers worked together throughout the colonization rpocess, their cultures -- as so many had -- melding at many levels. Londinium, called so after the Roman name for England's capital (a country long before annexed by America in a somewhat ironic reversal), represented what was once the American Empire. Sihnon ("SEE-non", a bastardization of Sino, our word for 'Chinese') was the new China, basically.

You might even remember hearing at one point in the first episode Inara saying that she's originally from Sihnon.

There's also a chart in the book of the planets and moons of The Alliance.

Sihnon
Londinium
Beylix
Greenleaf
Hera
Boarder Moons
Osiris
Jiangyin
Dyton
Ita
Verbena
Angel
Boros
Higgins' Moon
Ezra
Bellerophon
Athens
Whitefall
Shadow
Ariel
Beaumonde
Liann Jun
Silverhold
Santo
Haven
Three Hills
Deadwood
Newhall
Lilac
Paquin
Salisbury
Aberdeen
Whittier
Muir
St Albans
Kerry
Highgate
Harvest
Regina
Bernadette
Persephone

[The Puzzled Pak'Ma'Ra]

... Thanks to the fantabulous advice I recieved earlier in this string from my fellow JMS Newsies, I got my hands on "FireFly" DVDs - season 1. Just watched the first ep. . . .

... Damn! That was good!

... Ron Glass as the Shepherd (anyone remember Barney Miller?) What a nice surprise!
... The captain is cool, his crew is believable, and it's all run down and rusty! (I love decay) - damned near perfect! (still too much Chinese slapped on stuff to make it seem 'futuristic', but I'll let that slide )

... That chase scene with the two spaceships - the flesh-eating savages hot on their trail . . . great FX!

... Thanks guys!!

[grumbler]

Not really SF, but excellent is the 1990s series American Gothic with Gary Cole (Captain Gideon) in the lead and in his best role ever - as the devil.

It also features the only non-annoying child actor in TV history. Only a single season to buy, and while the DVD production values are pretty crappy (double-sided DVDs and minimal extras) the show is well worth it. just make sure you google for the correct episode order because the DVDs have the (wrong) TV broadcast order.

[Ranger1]

Farscape = OWNAGE!!!! must see all 4 seasons plus the mini series, really kicks ass!!

Firefly = OWNAGE too!! and now that Serenity (the movie) is only few weeks away from its DVD release, thats a must.

[Kaeldayr]

Star Trek was gerat until about season 2 of Deep Space 9. By then the Franchise was wearing thin. Voyager totallt destroyed the concept of The Q Continum.
I would rank my favorites as Firefly, Bab 5, Original Star Trek, Original BattleStar Galactica and, Logan's Run(The Movie version).

[The Puzzled Pak'Ma'Ra]

... Thanks Guys! (and Ladies)!

... I grabbed Jeremiah S1, Farscape S1, and FireFly S1. Just waiting now for them to get here.

... I love EBay.

... Thanks again. And any more info would be appreciated. (I'll be looking into War of the Worlds - cost more than 30 bucks here, but 45 might not be too bad). ( And 'Dead Like Me', too.)

[Dr Maturin]

It's a bit more than ten years, but the War of the Worlds series (see my off topic thread) is a must have for old school sci-fi fans. It is a bit over the top and cheesy at times, both in the acting and special effects (especially the gore), but it feels like an old-fashioned sci-fi serial.

Having watched the first nine episodes of season one, I have noticed several things that newer sci-fi shows MAY have drawn inspiration from.

The alien "guns" uncovered in the episode "The Second Seal" look like something the Goa'uld from SG-1 would use. In addition, the whole "possession" thing is very Goa'uld-like, as well.

The advocates, in their "cooler suits," look somewhat like Vorlons.

If anything, it's definitely worth $30.

[Night Marshal]

Glad I could help heres one more just for Fun. It called "Dead like me" Very good show which saddy only got two seasons.

Season 1

Season 2


Here the description from Amazon I think it does a good job decribing the show.
Plot Synopsis: Meet Georgia Lass (who prefers to be called George). She is a young Seattle college dropout who is unhappy with life. She is always at odds with her mom, Joy. One day coming back from her temp job as a filing clerk, she is hit by the toliet seat of the re-entering Space Station Mir. Finding out she is now dead, she is recruited to become a grim reaper. As in life, she is a pain in the butt in death. She does not like the details of her job, and is always at loggerheads with her boss Rube. Her fellow grim reapers don't really take much of a liking to her either. She also learns grim reapers don't even get a free ride in death, as they must hold down regular jobs along with their death duties.

[Anders]

Here you go, Dr. Who on www.amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009AK57Y/qid=1133176877/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-7940564-6689227

I also think that Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1 are by far the best Sci-fi series from the last few years, although Enterprise and Farscape were very enjoyable too.

I'm looking at Dr. Who on Norwegian tv now, and it's a nice and interesting show. Too bad the guy playing the doctor is only there for one season.

In non sf shows, I like Lost, Deadwood, Six Feet Under, The West Wing, Desperate Housewives, Judging Amy, and NYPD Blue (although I believe the last two have finished in the USA).

[The Puzzled Pak'Ma'Ra]

WhatÆs popular at the moment is Lost, Firefly, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galatica.
...
If you in DVD region 2 you can get the new Doctor Who DVDs. This new Series is great and much less corny than the original. Some of the Best Sci-Fi out there.

... I'll check those out, Thanks a million!!

... Don't happen to have a link to the Dr. Who stuff do you? I've ran 3 searches and keep gettig the 1960's Dr. Who. Amazon Japan and Amazon US don't have any recent DVDs available. (I've got a region-free player, so UK DVDs are not a problem.)

... Thanks again. I'll be looking into it.

... And Jan, Jeremiah? I'll start looking. Thanks!
... (Did I mention? Japan is an entertainment wasteland . . . unless you're into giant robots being driven by high school girls).

[Night Marshal]

WhatÆs popular at the moment is Lost, Firefly, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galatica.

Of that List I personally have watched and enjoyed Firefly, both Stargates, an Battlestar Galatica. The best of this group clearly being the new Battlestar Galatica.

I have heard that Lost is fallen off in quality in the second Season but I don't know that for a fact, and Smallville is a good show by most accounts It seem that it gets more Female than male Sci-Fi Fans. Granted that doesn't mean you won't like it just saying. It looks Kind of Soap opera like. Granted I have heard that description used for Babylon 5 too.

If you in DVD region 2 you can get the new Doctor Who DVDs. This new Series is great and much less corny than the original. Some of the Best Sci-Fi out there.

[Jan]

Have you watched Jeremiah yet? Only the first season is out on DVD, unfortunately, but it's really good.

Dunno about Enterprise. I wanted to like it but the writers kept shoving characters to the fore (Trip? Something like that) whom I didn't care for. I'd've liked to see more of Captain Archer. I started forgetting to tune in and lost track of it.

Jan