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Which is the better Sci Fi Show?

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:45 pm
by utilae
Choose which is your favourite Sci Fi show or universe.

For me, I like Babylon 5 the best. It's overall plot is great. The drama is great. And first ones, all very cool.

Stargate is right behind Babylon 5 for me. It has great characters and an interesting mixture of races, eg machines, symbiotes, ETs and mutated humans (Wraith). Lots of scifi jargon too.

Battlestar Galactica is very interesting as a drama and also has some people lost and looking for Earth, but is a bit boring at times (eg not much mixing it up, only ever one enemy race, etc).

The one thing I have against star trek is the lack of overall plot. Voyager and Enterprise seemed to have an overall plot, but The Next Generation didn't really seem to be going anywhere for me. Episodes could be in any order and I wouldn't notice.

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:21 am
by marhawkman
Stargate.... It has less stupid stuff. Then again after they introduced the "ascension" bit it got kinda weird...

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:36 am
by Daveybaby
Andromeda.



j/k :wink:

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:16 am
by Kharagh
I like Babylon 5 (not Crusade) a lot and Stargate is also good, but the best show out there is definitely FIREFLY.

No other show has such great Characters, so much humour and draws you into its world like Firefly does.
It may not be the typical SciFi show, but its my favourite nontheless.

Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:30 pm
by utilae
Hmmm, I guess I forgot to put an 'other' in the poll. And Firefly is well known to me too. Though I still like B5 the best.

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:56 pm
by Yeeha
Babylon 5 was best of any scifis i have seen, Stargate sg-1 was almost as good until season 8 then ideas started to run out i guess. Right now stargates have fallen to watchable if i have nothing better to do...

Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:23 pm
by Moriarty
Best Sci-Fi hey? Hmmm
- Stargate SG-1 has some nifty moments and a nice overall storyline (the new ori are nifty too).
- Atlantis is boring and predictable - The solution to problem-of-the-week is usually so obvious even a cretin could see it (though not the characters apparently).

- Babylon five had some very nice stories. I especially liked the "different" ones where you are following non-regular cast members about (these were mostly season 4-5 if memory serves).

- Star-Trek Deep Space 9 had a nice story ark at the end which utilae didn't mention (plagarising B5). But the final episode was boring.

- I'm quite fond of the Outer Limits / Twilight zone (though that's less sci-fi). They tell some nice stories and usually have a nice twist at the end (although I'm getting very good at guessing the twist these days ;) )

- Personally I greatly disliked the one episode of new BStar Galictica that I saw. GREATLY.
- Farscape was a little too non-sensical for my liking.

Other sci-fi series that are less well known about but bear looking into (at least, I liked them) (beware the spoilers in wiki articles):
- VR-5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR-5
- Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles - (CGI animated series) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughnecks ... Chronicles.
- StarHunter - Acting won't win any awards, but for some reason I liked it (plus Percy is cute ;) ). - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/starhunter


For those truely serious about TV scifi:
http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/tv.html
Has a list of just about every sci-fi show made before about 2000 - both good and terrible - and many have basic commentary to give an idea what the show is about.

Hope those links help someone. :)

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:16 pm
by eleazar
#1 Babylon 5. In spite of the dated graphics, the depth and overarching storyline is awesome.

#2) Firefly has amazing character interaction. It might be my #1 if it had survived.

#3) BattleStar. I didn't like it at first, but now i'm hooked. The documentary type filming and gritty setting are great.

#4) Stargate and Farscape. These are "lighter" entertainment. Stargate gets points for more plausable science, and it's connection to current reality. Farscape gets points for non-humaniod aliens, and all-out wackyness.

...

#5) Star Wars. Great eyecandy if you don't want to think much, especially in more recent movies— better eyecandy, worse story.

#6) Star Trek. Mostly gets points for doing it first and making the genera popular. I hate the volumes of meaningless technobable, the annoying polyannaish Federation, and the constant rejection of sane military tactics, and alien beings only differntiated by the wrinkles in their forehead. Yet somehow i've watched many of these.



Standard Star Trek Battle Template:
*BOOM*
Officer: "Captain! Inspite of the fact we have sensors that can instantly detect things many light year away, an enemy ship has come within firing range, and we didn't notice."

Captain: looks concerned yet resolute as, the ship is hit again, and half the consoles explode in the in somebody's face.
After several seconds, the Captain decalres boldly, "Raise shields!"
Captain: "Target weapons and/or engines. In spite of the fact that we are already at a disadvantage, i'm more concerned with avoiding the infliction of unneccsary harm, than surviving."
The ships exchange fire. Consoles will blow up in people's faces several more times.

Officer: "Captian! Shields are down to 10%-25%. We can't survive another direct hit!"

Captain: "Science Officer and/or Engineer, can you modify/enhance/boost the Warp-Gravometronic-Field-Array Gizmo to make our ship temporarily much more powerful?"

Science Officer and/or Engineer: " In spite of the fact that such an alteration is trivial for for an officer of my genius, i've never bothered to do it before, or recommend that it be standard accross our fleet. That will take about a minute."

The Science Officer and/or Engineer make the modification while the Federation ship evades the enemy.

Science Officer and/or Engineer: "Captain! The Warp-Gravometronic-Field-Array Gizmo is ready!"

Captain: "Engage on my mark!"

The captain stalls for dramatic tension.

Captain: "Mark!"

The ship escapes and or destroys the enemy.


:oops: err, I hadn't realized how bitter i was.

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:37 pm
by Zanzibar
You forgot one... Lexx!! :D

Actually... you forgot two... Red Dwarf!!

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:01 pm
by marhawkman
[quote="eleazar]Science Officer and/or Engineer: " In spite of the fact that such an alteration is trivial for for an officer of my genius, i've never bothered to do it before, or recommend that it be standard accross our fleet. That will take about a minute."[/quote]Actually.... they usually mention something about how it'd be dangerous in some way.... Like overstressing the warp core, or if it doesn't work just right blowing up their own ship instead.

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:19 pm
by Wolverine
eleazar I think you forgot that StarTrek (especially TNG) wasn't meant to be battle oriented. It was rather moral/diplomacy oriented.

However. My favourite sci-fi show wasn't any of those mentioned here. It was Space Above and Beyond. Why isn't it listed here? The second is Stargate SG-1, because it's humorous and the overall storyline is very nice. I don't know what is so cool about Babylon 5. It's okay, but it's quite boring IMHO. And I don't really think it's a "good thing" (tm) to have so many influences in FO from this genre.

By the way. What's going on with FO development? Is it dead?

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:47 pm
by eleazar
Wolverine wrote:By the way. What's going on with FO development? Is it dead?
If you look in the graphics forums you can see there is activity in Art.
If you look on sourceforge you can see there's activity on the code.
Presumable the design team is preparing the specifications for the space-battle aspect, but there's no way to gauge that other than take their word for it.

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:52 am
by utilae
Wolverine wrote: However. My favourite sci-fi show wasn't any of those mentioned here. It was Space Above and Beyond.

Why isn't it listed here?
Because I have never heard of it. Dissapointing that it was one of many good shows killed by Fox.
Wolverine wrote: The second is Stargate SG-1, because it's humorous and the overall storyline is very nice.
Yes, stargate rocks. Though lately they have been having alot of filler episodes, though still cool.
Wolverine wrote: I don't know what is so cool about Babylon 5. It's okay, but it's quite boring IMHO. And I don't really think it's a "good thing" (tm) to have so many influences in FO from this genre.
Babylon 5 is really really good. You have to watch every episode though. You can't just watch one episode and expect to be excited. There is a plot that goes through, many plots that lead somewhere and some that don't. For instance after watching an episode it will give you lots of "questions and you will get answers as the show goes on". I like how the plot develops slowly.

Also there is plenty of action, though characters and drama is the main focus. And some episodes are full of action, that won't leave you bored.
Wolverine wrote: By the way. What's going on with FO development? Is it dead?
No, combat design is in process, even though you may not see it here, it is.

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:47 am
by StratCaster
BattleStar is hands down my favorite show on television... the music alone is worth the watch...

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:54 am
by StratCaster
Wolverine wrote:eleazar I think you forgot that StarTrek (especially TNG) wasn't meant to be battle oriented. It was rather moral/diplomacy oriented.
not only that, the show is about human development - bettering yourself, for the greater good, and all that fuzzy warm stuff... and btw, its really the only show of its kind...(on a galactical level)