What's your fave sci-fi TV series so far and why?

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

If you liked that you may enjoy this to :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/rams/1200.ram

It's an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd's wonderfully creepy "The House of Doctor Dee" with "Life On Mars" star Philip Glenister.

[tarasis]

The only good thing to come from the truly dreadful H2G2 film was the money to finish the Radio series.

Though the Dirk Gently one currently playing on Radio 4 isn't very good.

It sounds like someone has hit the 'play random scene' button and for me, Harry Enfield just doesn't fit the role (I always imagined him as being like a young Peter Cook).

I don't know if this link works outside the UK.

It does work outside the UK and thanks for posting the link. I was waiting on this airing but I hadn't realised that it was last week. Dang. I haven't heard it yet but was hoping it would be good as they seemed to do a good job on the last 3 HG2G shows.

Did you ever see the edition of the South Bank Show where Ford, Arthur and Dirk appeared on a show about Douglas Adams? The Dirk there seemed good (though I cannot remember the actors name for the life of me) at the part. I never pictured anyone for the role, I suppose in my minds eye I simply see Douglas Adams playing the part.

Got to agree with you on HG2G the movie was appalling apart from the opening musical number. They changed to much and most of the delivery was flat (like for instance the rather famous pub scene) and not engaging.

If the Red Dwarf movie ever happens, I hope to hell a) everyone is on board and b) that it is rock solid, otherwise I hope they will leave well enough alone.

[Radhil]

Dunno how long Pushing Daisies can last. It's such a stylized show I wonder if they can keep mood going over the long haul. I do like it a lot, but I have my doubts.

If any team can keep that mood going, it's that one. The writers are good ones, the cast (and the characters) balance off each other great... It should work. Guess we'll see next week.

On the pure survival end, it beat Deal or No Deal fairly well, and that's the only other worthy competition at that hour (Fox Comedies don't count, neither does child exploitation). And again.... we'll see next week how it keeps it going.

One thing I'd like to see is a remake of Neil Gaimen's Neverwhere. The Brits gave it a really good mini-series production and I'd like to see how us colonials could do with it.

I can't remember the last time the major networks came out with a great mini. They've abandoned them for years, mostly because they were horrible at it for further years. SciFi did a few mildly decent ones recently then it too went downhill.

I'll take the book and leave it at that.

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

The only good thing to come from the truly dreadful H2G2 film was the money to finish the Radio series.

Though the Dirk Gently one currently playing on Radio 4 isn't very good.

It sounds like someone has hit the 'play random scene' button and for me, Harry Enfield just doesn't fit the role (I always imagined him as being like a young Peter Cook).

I don't know if this link works outside the UK.

But (perfectly legally) here is the listen again link for those who are interested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/dirkgently

[luvB5]

Dunno how long Pushing Daisies can last. It's such a stylized show I wonder if they can keep mood going over the long haul. I do like it a lot, but I have my doubts. One thing I'd like to see is a remake of Neil Gaimen's Neverwhere. The Brits gave it a really good mini-series production and I'd like to see how us colonials could do with it. (Hopefully we've learned our how not to do it lesson from the awful US effort with The Hitchhiker's Guide.)

[moreorless]

5.Battlestar Galactica (remake) It really slipped in year three, but between the mini-series and the first two season there were a lot of quality episodes. Hopefully season four will redeem the series.

I'v seen this view alot but having watched up until the 8th episode on season 3 after picking them up cheap on DVD I'm enjoying the direction it and the second half of season 2 took. While the production and acting have been exellent thoughout until the Peguses turned up I felt the series was a little too repetitive with the same sources of tension/drama being mined again and again(who's a cylon, characters personal faults, conflict between goverement and military, Baltar's madness etc).

[Dr Maturin]

I enjoyed Dead Like Me, but it seemed to be missing something. I haven't put my finger on what it is yet, but it is definitely missing something.

And for those who don't know, there is a direct-to-DVD movie coming out within the next year or so. From what I've read, it sounds pretty bad. Mandy Patinkin is not in it.

[Radhil]

With that track record, damn sure looks like it.

At least he's insanely cheerful and irreverent about it.

[Dr Maturin]

Is Fuller obsessed with death...?

[Joe Nazzaro]

BTW, if you liked Dead Like Me or Wonderfalls, you're really going to enjoy Bryan Fuller's new series, Pushing Daisies. Probably the best new genre show of the fall.

[Dr Maturin]

Wonderfalls is a favorite of mine, as well. Then you should try Keen Eddie. ...and Brimstone (too bad it's not airing, now, and isn't out on DVD).

Actually, Brimstone is currently showing on the DirecTV-exclusive channel Chiller.

[NotSoWize]

1. (tie) Lost and Babylon 5. I think that overall, the first three seasons of Lost are about equal to the first three of B5, the question is will it stay strong over the final three seasons or drop off (as some would say B5 did.) Right now I'll call it a draw.

3. ST-DS9. The only one of the "new" Star Trek shows that got better over time and was really worth sticking with. I thought that the best 3-4 seasons of DS9 were right up there with B5.

4. The Prisoner. I loved the craziness of this series back in the 70s and it has held up remarkably well over the years.

5.Battlestar Galactica (remake) It really slipped in year three, but between the mini-series and the first two season there were a lot of quality episodes. Hopefully season four will redeem the series.

[princevintari]

My all-time favourite sci-fi shows are the following...


Babylon 5 - by quite some margin

Farscape - another great show featuring terrific characters , a highly imaginative and quirky series that has some wonderful dark undertones with lashings of humour.

Space above and Beyond - and absolutely terrific dark, gritty and well written series.

Firefly - another short lived series with a great cast, extremely well written, well acted and lots of laughs.

The X Files - okay it lost its way towards the end with the whole mythology storyline that even during seasons 8 & 9 the writers still pulled out some excellent stand-alone episodes.

Crusade - JMS pulls off a fantastic bunch of characters and from what I've heard planned a terrific storyline head. I think this was going to be a Babylon 5 beater or thereabouts once the story was finished.

Dark Angel - a James Cameron creation that had enormous potential. Unfortunately the suits at Fox meddled ruining the show in the second season, quite possibly deliberately so that Firefly could replace it. Which in turn the suits ruined it again. Fox really must have the most moronic TV executives ever to hold that title, they create such wonderful sci-fi shows and then cancel them within a year (usually).

Jeremiah - this is probably wishful thinking on my behalf because I've never seen it. Hopefully one day I will and I'm sure JMS will deliver another satisfying series, if short lived.

Other shows that I really enjoyed included Dark skies, Total recall 2070, Stargate SG 1, new Battlestar Galactica (started so promisingly with the mini-series and series 1. It's such a shame that the writers didn't really have a plan and became such a mediocre show during its third season...what a waste ), American Gothic, and although they're not really sci-fi Buffy and Angel. I would have placed Buffy and Angel much higher if it wasn't for the fact that they are more a cult/supernatural/Horror series.

I would like to give a nod to DS 9 as it is by far the best Star Trek series although I think there's a naughty executives at Paramount that borrowed from JMS because there's more than a few similarities. Plus it had 3 really awfull years in the beginning...only ST can get away with 3 bad seasons in the begining and not get cancelled.


In my opinion the worst sci-fi in recent times includes Andromeda, Voyager, Enterprise, Earth Final Conflict, the new doctor who spin-off Torchwood and threshold.

WhatÆs all this about MR. JOSS WHEDON ruining ALIENÖ?
Please elaborate.
.

I was reading a fairly recent interview with Joss Whedon and he commented how he was asked to give an interview for the special edition DVD of Alien 4 (a few years back) but refused because they wouldn't like what he had to say. I think you can basically imply that while Joss Whedon provided the script the director didn't stay with the writer's vision.

[Ulkosh]

OK top shows

1) Sapphire and Steel - so beautifully written and brilliantly performed
2) B5
3) Dr Who (1963-1984) later Who doesn't have it
4) Firefly/Serenity
5) Blake's 7
6) Star Trek TOS
7) Twilight Zone
8) Red Dwarf (Seasons 1 & 2 only)
9) Star TrekS9
10) Doomwatch

[rallytbk]

What's your fave sci-fi TV series so far and why?

(1) Absolute Favorite = Babylon 5 (all 5 seasons) – Jumped between Deep Space Nine, Space: Above and Beyond and Babylon 5 before settling down with Babylon 5 during the summer repeats. Nothing like the best.

(2) Stargate SG1 – Great adaptation of the movie and expanded universe. They really did a great job of using past history and legends as a story line.

(3) Star Trek: Original Series (seasons 1-2) – Grew Up with the show, glad that it is in syndication in HD.

(4) Twilight Zone (all) – every story had a moral to it and I loved that about the show.

(5) Outer Limits (all) – ditto, especially the time travel stories…

(6) Firefly – only because it was cut short, and left too many stories untold. Should have lasted at least 5 years, before the made a movie version.

(7) Star Trek: The Next Generation (seasons 1-7) - almost every episode was entertaining, but reversing the polarity or reprogramming an alien system was just too easy for me and dumbed down the series.*

(8) Crusade (season 1 - I saw potential for greatness)

(9) Space: Above and Beyond (ditto, I saw potential for greatness)

(10) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (seasons 1-7) – Became too much like Babylon 5, and I noticed all the similarities. Other than a few episodes that stood out, I didn’t care for it. See #7*

(11) Star Trek: Voyager (Liked first season, as a whole didn't care for it) – See # 7*