You can include anime.
The remake of Battlestar Galactica is probably my favorite sci-fi show. I recommend everyone at least give it a shot - it has some of the best single episodes of TV ever made. For some reason, despite the space themes etc, I don't really think of Firefly as sci-fi - it's more of a western to me, just one that happens to be set in the future.
Are we talking the original BSG or the remake? :o) For the remake I can agree with you on season 1, that season was probably the best Sci-Fi television series ever made. But after that I felt it just got worse for each episode (the boxing filler episode in S2 for example) with the entire final season being horrible and the ending being even worse. Of course this is my opinion and noone has to agree with it. You can probably atribute some of the decline in quality to the writers strike with the last two seasons.
The remake. The writer's strike definitely contributed to the show somewhat going off the rails in the latter seasons, but there were still some absolutely stand-out episodes in there.
See my above comment, I tend to agree with some of the "filler" episodes. I am one of the weirdoes that found the final episode to be perfect. I loved it the first and second time I saw it.
I agree with everything you write here. I do think that Battlestar Galactica (BG) suffers at points, but overall it's one of my favorite shows ever. I agree that Firefly is essentially a western set in space. It's badass. I watched BG in less than 2 weeks the first time I saw it. I was hooked. Later, I rewatched the entire series with my wife. It was during this time that I realized how lame the whole Starbuck love triangle stuff was. There are a series of episodes in a row all about relationships which never drive the over arching plot line of "finding earth." -It's frustrating, but worth getting through because the plot starts to pick up again, in a big way thereafter. Such a good show.
Babylon 5 was great. It had great characters and spanned a huge galactic war that you actually feel the enormity of. In most sci-fi I've seen, massive wars are never really felt - you're just sort of told there's a big war on, and maybe see some generic footage of a battle. In B5 you see the subterfuge that goes on before war begins. You follow the entire military campaign, and the desperate diplomacy that goes on throughout. You see the political aftereffects of the war and how one can never really "win the war". There are hardly any fluff episodes in all of the 5 seasons. Nearly every episode advances the plot of the Shadow War to some degree. Damn, I think it's time for another Babylon 5 marathon!
I've got a Babylon 5 question for you guys. If you were going to introduce it to someone, would you force them to power through the first season, or is there a better place to get them hooked?
what I did was watch episodes that were important for the main story in Season 1. I basically followed what people said on here (http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/6370/what-1st-season-episodes-in-babylon-5-are-required-to-follow-the-main-arc) initially and I liked the main episodes so much I ended up going back and watching most of the rest of Season 1. So having someone watch 9 or 10 episodes to get a feel for the show is a good way to do it I think.
Babylon 5 has been one of the only shows, if not the only one, with a true speculative fiction (I can't really call it sci-fi as it had a lot of fantasy elements) feel for me. Most shows, good or bad, have sci-fi/fantasy as a window dressing but the implications of it all are rarely explored.
My favorite sci-fi movies are 2001, Her, and Blade Runner. 2001 is just one of the best movies of all time and I love watching it. Her really resonated with me on my second viewing and is a very touching look at loneliness and the value of connecting with others. Blade Runner is a more exciting movie than those two but is still pretty deep with its exploration of humanity. Plus, it's hard not to love Batty's monologue. Akira is my favorite sci-fi anime. Brilliant animation and an interesting story keep me coming back. In my opinion, one of the best movies ever, anime or not. My favorite apocalyptic movies include Fury Road, The Road Warrior, and Children of Men if it counts. The Mad Max series has a world that entertains me, and Children of Men is a wonderfully crafted emotional journey. Wall-E might count as both, ha! And I sure love that movie. You've just made me realize I don't really watch any sci-fi tv. I should probably work on that. I've seen a bit of Star Trek and enjoyed it, but I'll have to keep this thread in mind when looking for some new tv to watch next time. The only post apocalyptic tv show I've seen has been The Walking Dead, but that show turned me away. I stopped caring. Season 3 made me quit once, then Season 4 on Netflix made me give it another chance until the past season broke my attention again. I don't know if I'll give it another shot.
How did I forget blade runner! Awesome film. Not so keen on Her though. It past the time but I doubt I'll watch it again. With you on walking dead, started really strong but just seems to be the same story told over again in a different location. It's tough to keep a series feeling fresh.
Her is one of my favourite films but it never even clicked with me that it actually is a sci-fi film. If someone asked me to categorise it sci-fi would not be the first, second or third word to pop up in my mind. If there was a genre called casual sci-fi this would be it.
Ok so this might be a stretch, but bare with me for a moment. One of my favorite sci-fi shows is a show called Person of Interest. If you've ever seen it then maybe you agree. The entire premise of the show is this dude builds a conscious AI to track acts terrorism before they occur for the US government except the AI tracks and predicts every crime. The US government defines every crime that is not an act of terrorism as unimportant, but the creator of the AI believes differently. The creator of the AI ends up hiring a retired CIA agent/soldier to help him save the people who "the machine" have predicted will be a part of a life threatening crime. The one catch is they never know if the person they are after is the perpetrator or the victim. That is only where the story begins, and it gets even crazier as the circle of characters grows larger. Would definitely recommend it. For the post-apocalyptic, the first thing that comes to mind is Mad Max: Fury Road.
I think I must be the only person who thought Fury Road was massively over-rated. It was (and I realize this is almost by design) just one two hour chase sequence. The effects, both practical and CGI, directing and implementation of the action in the film was fantastic, don't get me wrong. But there was so little actual story (I felt), barely any background given to any of the characters, and Max himself was almost an incidental side character. It felt a bit to me like Furiosa was actually the 'main' character, and mostly just showed up so the film didn't get accused of being a complete feminist trip.
I'm not sure I feel the same way. I felt like there was a good amount of story in it. I mean it didn't seem to be outright explained in every circumstance, but it is there in a more gentle sense. I always consider the movie to be one adventure in this wasteland, and any backstory given was to help the viewer feel the urgency of the adventure taking place. I'm kind of glad they didn't spend a larger portion of the movie explaining backstories and past events because I feel like there wouldn't have been any movie to watch.
I see where you're coming from. I feel though, that sometimes minimalism in plot can actually help accentuate the film, instead of detract from it. I think Fury Road is a good example of this. I think what the film lacks in depth of plot (which I don't think is a detractor) it makes up with a rich, well crafted world.
I'm surprised Firefly and Serenity haven't been mentioned, I found the character development pretty strong throughout the series, the overall plot was good and on an episode by episode basis the stories it told were well told and solid. The universe is compelling and I would have loved to see more within it, but really that ship has sailed now. My absolute favourite sci-fi though would be The Matrix, this movie was just out at the time I was learning to program so it made all the stuff I was doing suddenly feel... cool. I love the universe as it's portrayed in the first movie, and I really enjoyed the Animatrix series as well. The second two movies..... I like, but I know most people are really unhappy with them, I don't think they hold up as well as the first movie did though. Anime: Akira is great, but I would also suggest Space Brothers, it's a slice of life near-future where they're sending astronauts to the Moon again and relearning how to do it for the first time since the Apollo missions. Cannot forget to mention the classics, Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate. Oh and Futurama and Farscape. Man there's so much great scifi out there.
I should preface this to say I eat up Sci-Fi like Fremen eat Spice, even the campiest science fiction stories could hold my attention. That being said, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Black Mirror, possibly my favorite new show. Funny, dark, and with an intensity that echos waves of discomfort, dripping with satire that lampoons modern society. It's not for everyone, but I recommend you to at least check out the episodes "Fifteen Million Merits" and "White Bear" to get a feel for the type of ideas the show displays.
That show was SO SLOW. I could not get into it. Maybe I was in a mood that day, but it was just too fucking slow. Especially Fifteen Million Merits. They never talked. I know I'm kind of ranting right now. I guess I tend to like sci-fi with more of an action thing than slow contemplative stuff.
I will have to concede the fact that the show can be excruciatingly slow at times, but I feel the payoff at the end of most episodes, especially ones like "Fifteen Million Merits", are worth the hour long awkwardness.
My favourite sci-fi film (and favourite film in general) is The Fountain. It's a really special piece of work. It didn't have a big budget, but the special effects are beautiful. Clint Mansell's score is stellar, and Darren Aronofsky's writing in this film is my favourite out of the ones I've seen by him. The actors' (especially Jackman's) performance were absolutely fantastic, too. It's a quite special story and it's not for everyone, but I would hope everyone gave it a shot. As for post-apocalyptic, I think my favourite would be The Road. The book and the film are both great and sort of very emotionally engaging, very dark and very depressing.
The Fountain is amazing, it gets quite a bit of hate from what I've seen though and has become somewhat of a "cool to hate" movie. Clint Mansell is just fantastic at scoring, as evidenced by his score for Moon; he really made those movies. If you haven't seen Aronofsky's Pi you really should.
My two favorite recent sci-fi films are Ex Machina and Under the Skin. They feel related even though the stories are very different. Under the Skin is definitely the more challenging of the two, but both tackle interesting ideas involving alien/machine morality and intelligence.
How could I forget Under the Skin! That movie is fantastic! The music, the basic narrative, and the visuals are all great. It's slow and prodding with a masterful use of the camera. One of the best movies I've ever seen.
For sci-fi film I'd have to go Interstellar. Loved it at the cinema the soundtrack is incredible and must be listened to loud. For post-apocalyptic probably 28 days later, for the grittiness.
Star Trek. The next Generation and Deep Space 9 especially. Even though Babylon 5 is the better series and the early BSG Remake episodes were genius. The idea of humanity finally getting its act together and exploring the stars (while abandoning money and having people working in their aspirational fields on earth) just appeals to me on so many levels. Star Trek provided much needed escapism when I was a kid. That, and I can think of many good uses for a Holodeck. Full disclosure: I have read hundreds of Star Trek novels, only a few of which I'd actually describe as truly good reads. I only started getting into actually decent Sci Fi when I basically ran out of Trek books.
I've seen all of DS9 and Voyager. I like them because they have overarching plots. Does that happen in TNG or is it all just "monster of the week" type of episodes?
TNG is entirely monster of the week, including the mandatory "See, everything is back to normal" shot in the end. That said, certain themes and characters are explored and revisited throughout the series. If you mainly enjoyed DS9 and Voyager for their overarching plots, TNG probably isn't for you. Its first season was cringeworthy, too. As far as I know, DS9 along with Babylon 5 pioneered the whole idea of having continous storylines along with a main plot throughout their lifetime. TNG came before that. If you enjoyed DS9, the story of Babylon 5 is definitely worth your time. The first season isn't great, but well worth sitting through with the knowledge that it gets dramatically better. You'll have to deal with early CGI, which looks quite hilarious today. In later seasons, the visuals easily surpass DS9's model based shots, though.
You should try to get your hands on some Blake's 7; it's the granddaddy of TV space operas. It might not be the best show out there (it didn't get the budget it really needed), but you can see its influences on the shows like B5 and DS9.
I haven't been as captivated by any movie until I watched Interstellar. The visuals and the music are stunning. I was almost disappointed when I realized the game I've been playing, Elite Dangerous, don't render black holes the same way as Interstellar did. I also loved District 9. I'm a sucker for a good transformation story and that was it. And I don't mean just the physical transformation either. Seeing someone step up to the overwhelming odds stacked against them is a lot of fun.
I really got viscerally upset at Interstellar, like I wanted to vomit. I lost probably 40 karma for saying that on Reddit. Look up the work of Norman Borlaug on plant diseases , or spend your whole life figuring out a black hole, and gravity=love. WAT? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug I understand he made more money by avoiding actual problems like global warming. Still nope, it was infuriating crap. There was still tons of water and wild plants. It might get a kid interested in physics, whose parents wouldn't have let them see a more realistic movie. I study agriculture so all the problems looked easy to me. I had to relate it to my boyfriend working in IT to the worst hacker plot line ever. Certain soil bacteria use nitrogen to fix it from the atmosphere to soil. If something mutated to become capable to use the atmospheric nitrogen directly, a real scientist would see this as an opportunity to use the mutation in genetic engineering. Fungus wouldn't try to blow up the atmosphere, they are fun guys and that is out of character. The dust bowl was caused by the introduction of tractors. Make a roomba tractor, you are going to get dust storms. The USDA has tons of programs that incentivize planting windbreaks and curb erosion. They also are pretty good at handling plant disease.
For some sinister reason the department of education and department of agriculture are not being funded, but humans are being sent past Saturn. We could not afford that today. NASA is stupid and evil in this story. They are also stunting the education of people who may criticize any of this. If they cannot stop a plant disease on earth or change the atmosphere, how the fuck are they going to terraform this alien planet. With their mindset all those people are way dead. It seems like a happy ending, but I have zero faith in any of those "scientists" to keep a single fucking person alive. All it takes to breed plants resistant to blight is some common sense, wax paper, and a stapler. Anybody that understands what they were doing, detastling corn in jr. high, could save them. Going through a black hole for any reason is insane. I study permaculture. In the scene were they follow the drone to the lake you see a diversity of wild plants and the nearby lake is huge. Permaculture is the emulation of natural forests to meet the material needs of people. It involves a disease reducing polyculture of plants and long lived plants that you do not have to replant every year. None of these problems would happen with this system. If one of the plants in a forest garden has a disease, you still have more than 5 plants producing food at the same time, in the same space. http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/permaculture-101 If I lived in this world, I would have a windbreak of Korean Nut pines that would be trapping topsoil into a hill. I could plant a ground-cover on the hill every year and acquire tons of soil from my neighbor. It might choke out my pine nuts that I could sell for $25 a pound, but it would be worth the nutrients I would gain. There is nothing I can do if no one is willing to figure out how to kill a plant disease, that would cause the atmosphere to explode. One huge problem I had was them completely not acknowledging Mars. Yes Mars is way to hard for these idiots to figure out, since the everyday problems there are way worse that this drama on earth. Or you could make up bullshit about people from the future opening up a wormhole in time/space to get people to a perfectly habitable planet. Read Kim Stanley Robinson's series Red, Green, Blue Mars for some real fucking SCIENCE fiction (coming Spike series). Not just some bullshit CGI money grab, that makes the public more stupid from watching.
There's quite a dearth of anime suggestions here. I strongly recommend Psycho-Pass (but only Series 1), though it's more dystopian sci-fi than post-apocalyptic. If you're into something more low-key and philosophical, I would suggest Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex, as well as the original GITS movie, which is a classic.
Favorite Sci-Fi Movie: Blade Runner and the other classics. My favorite (right now) that doesn't get quite as much attention? Existenz Post-apocalyptic: Tank Girl. Well, not really. But I loved it as a kid, and just re-watched it and loved thinking about how it capitalized on riot grrrl culture and its portrayal of race. It's such a mid-90s movie. Right now, my actual favorite post-apocalyptic tv series is probably Shin seki yori.
It's got to be Alien and Aliens. Alien was just a great horror-scifi story: you never saw the alien until the end and it really fostered that trapped feeling. Aliens has so many great lines and scenes. The pacing was pretty perfect. It's, well I don't know if fun is the right adjective, but it's extremely enjoyable. I rewatch both at least once a year.
Sliders is a great show also The Lost Room is worth a watch.
Post-apocalyptic? Jericho, hands down. Really great post-nuclear situation. No fantasy elements, no made up "sciencey" elements, just some people living in a town that got cut off from the world after the bombs fell. Unfortunately they canceled it before its time, but what's there is great.
I'm surprised Firefly and Serenity haven't been mentioned, I found the character development pretty strong throughout the series, the overall plot was good and on an episode by episode basis the stories it told were well told and solid. The universe is compelling and I would have loved to see more within it, but really that ship has sailed now. My absolute favourite sci-fi though would be The Matrix, this movie was just out at the time I was learning to program so it made all the stuff I was doing suddenly feel... cool. I love the universe as it's portrayed in the first movie, and I really enjoyed the Animatrix series as well. The second two movies..... I like, but I know most people are really unhappy with them, I don't think they hold up as well as the first movie did though. Anime: Akira is great, but I would also suggest Space Brothers, it's a slice of life near-future where they're sending astronauts to the Moon again and relearning how to do it for the first time since the Apollo missions. Cannot forget to mention the classics, Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate. Oh and Futurama and Farscape. Man there's so much great scifi out there.
I'm surprised Firefly and Serenity haven't been mentioned, I found the character development pretty strong throughout the series, the overall plot was good and on an episode by episode basis the stories it told were well told and solid. The universe is compelling and I would have loved to see more within it, but really that ship has sailed now. My absolute favourite sci-fi though would be The Matrix, this movie was just out at the time I was learning to program so it made all the stuff I was doing suddenly feel... cool. I love the universe as it's portrayed in the first movie, and I really enjoyed the Animatrix series as well. The second two movies..... I like, but I know most people are really unhappy with them, I don't think they hold up as well as the first movie did though. Anime: Akira is great, but I would also suggest Space Brothers, it's a slice of life near-future where they're sending astronauts to the Moon again and relearning how to do it for the first time since the Apollo missions. Cannot forget to mention the classics, Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate. Oh and Futurama and Farscape. Man there's so much great scifi out there.
I'm surprised Firefly and Serenity haven't been mentioned, I found the character development pretty strong throughout the series, the overall plot was good and on an episode by episode basis the stories it told were well told and solid. The universe is compelling and I would have loved to see more within it, but really that ship has sailed now. My absolute favourite sci-fi though would be The Matrix, this movie was just out at the time I was learning to program so it made all the stuff I was doing suddenly feel... cool. I love the universe as it's portrayed in the first movie, and I really enjoyed the Animatrix series as well. The second two movies..... I like, but I know most people are really unhappy with them, I don't think they hold up as well as the first movie did though. Anime: Akira is great, but I would also suggest Space Brothers, it's a slice of life near-future where they're sending astronauts to the Moon again and relearning how to do it for the first time since the Apollo missions. Cannot forget to mention the classics, Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate. Oh and Futurama and Farscape. Man there's so much great scifi out there.
I'm surprised Firefly and Serenity haven't been mentioned, I found the character development pretty strong throughout the series, the overall plot was good and on an episode by episode basis the stories it told were well told and solid. The universe is compelling and I would have loved to see more within it, but really that ship has sailed now. My absolute favourite sci-fi though would be The Matrix, this movie was just out at the time I was learning to program so it made all the stuff I was doing suddenly feel... cool. I love the universe as it's portrayed in the first movie, and I really enjoyed the Animatrix series as well. The second two movies..... I like, but I know most people are really unhappy with them, I don't think they hold up as well as the first movie did though. Anime: Akira is great, but I would also suggest Space Brothers, it's a slice of life near-future where they're sending astronauts to the Moon again and relearning how to do it for the first time since the Apollo missions. Cannot forget to mention the classics, Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate. Oh and Futurama and Farscape. Man there's so much great scifi out there.