[TV] Any good sci-fi TV shows?

[Xenogeist]

I think Babylon 5 did a great job with their aliens. The centauri are the only ones that can be confused with humans but they actually address this visual similarity in the story. When you learn of their hidden 'tentacles' it gives this low budget take on alien life a distinctively alien flair.

To make a short story shorter, even the centauri are more alien than anything Star Trek has offered us. Besides the farengi, the farengi are rather creative.

[Deleted]

I think Babylon 5 did a great job with their aliens. The centauri are the only ones that can be confused with humans but they actually address this visual similarity in the story. When you learn of their hidden 'tentacles' it gives this low budget take on alien life a distinctively alien flair.

To make a short story shorter, even the centauri are more alien than anything Star Trek has offered us. Besides the farengi, the farengi are rather creative.

On that I meant that aliens look kinda cheesy and they all look like humans with masks :P

I like the three main people besides humans (Centauri, Minbari, Narn) for their interesting dynamics (seriously the Londo-G'kar character development is just insane) but they aren't really "alien", and such events/char developments could happen between humans.

They also tend to fall into a trap very common in sci-fi, namesly aliens are always so damn unified. Like, no countries, no different languages, same temper and traits.

Like, almost every Centauri is going to be power-hungry and selfish, almost every Narn is going to be warlike and have this typical warrior complex done to death by Klingons, almost every Minbari is going to be fanatical and kinda hypocritical, etc. I know Minbari have three languages for example and that we can find counter examples to all these, but still, these are kinda true if we look at the whole thing.

This is all in all not a very serious concern and doesn't detract from the series' value at all, it is just noticeable to me since B5 successfully evaded many sci-fi cliches, but not this one.

[Xenogeist]

Notice the fictional human race also suffers from a bit of unity. No countries, all one language. Perhaps what the writer is positing is that to be a successful spacefaring race you need to be unified.

The alien races also tend to generalize human tempers and traits. Recall Delen's observations on how she thinks humans are unique in how they build communities.

[Shinzai]

Thinking about it, I would pay ridiculous amounts of money for a Babylon 5 remastered Blu-Ray re-release.

[Symdawg]

Did anyone see the Bab5: Legend of the Rangers? It was a pilot to another spin-off (after Crusade). It was pretty bad. It seemed to take all the bad things about Bab5 and roll them into one episode...

[Shinzai]

Did anyone see the Bab5: Legend of the Rangers? It was a pilot to another spin-off (after Crusade). It was pretty bad. It seemed to take all the bad things about Bab5 and roll them into one episode...

Yeah, no one talks about that... thing.

[Town Drunk]

Something can be fantastically rated and loved by millions.. but because the TV networks are living in the 1960's world of ratings they cancel and base decisions on some inaccurate figure they gather from Nielson.

This is why most people say TV is dying and I'm fairly certain in the next 6 years we'll witness the death throws of networks like NBC CBS ABC etc. They can't compete with the current model.

Might not just be all network . They make most of there money from the advertisers who want to see high ratings for the ad dollars . They don't take into mind repeatability to new generations like star trek has and such ...they want high ratings there and now ...I bet a lot of shows would not have got cancelled if they knew they would take on a life LONG after being cancelled like firefly and many others shows have .

[Endus]

Well, thanks for the explanation. To me it seemed as "space fantasy" not science fiction at first glance. Don't get me wrong, I usually like good fantasy much more than sci-fi but it has to involve elves and dorfs or at least be much much darker. The difference is, that in science fiction, things are actually explained somehow and make sense. For example you dont see an alien race living on a cheese planet who like to wear green t-shirts. To me it seemed to be a show like that, hence the strong dislike.

I watched the episode about some angel statues that only moved when you didnt look at them so this might explain why I feel that way about the show. This isn't really sci-fi'ey at all. Oh and another one where the last human was some square shaped skin on a stretcher.. which made even less sense. You cant be alive without a brain so yea, after watching that, I decided the show just isnt for me.

Futurama has a planet populated entirely by Globetrotters, that looks like a basketball. Is Futurama not "Sci-fi"?

You have an overly narrow definition of the term. What you're talking about is "hard" science fiction, that focuses on technology in a scientific kind of manner (as opposed to Star Wars, where they treat lightsabers as any other sword, rather than discussing how and why it works and what that means to humanity/society). That's one relatively small subgenre, and doesn't describe the vast majority of science fiction.

Notice the fictional human race also suffers from a bit of unity. No countries, all one language. Perhaps what the writer is positing is that to be a successful spacefaring race you need to be unified.

The alien races also tend to generalize human tempers and traits. Recall Delen's observations on how she thinks humans are unique in how they build communities.

The first is a sci-fi trope that's usually a sign of a lack of world-building. Rather than develop a full society, with all the myriad factions and nations and schisms that will normally exist, they make each planet a faction. About the only exception is in civil war/warfare-based stories, where you need two opponents (but not three, unless there's some innocents caught in the middle and both warfarers are "bad").

The second isn't so much "bad/simplistic writing" as it is a reflection of the thematic purpose of science fiction. Aliens are meant as a mirror of humanity. Either a straight-up mirror, with humanlike aliens who show off some aspect of humanity in an external sense so we can think about it independently (Star Trek does this extensively), or a negative mirror where the entire purpose is to explore something so outrageously inhuman and how that affects motivations and such.

[Masark]

I still don't get it why they canceled it after 1 season, it was the best show of last decade.

The firefly effect.

People were convinced that it would get canceled ("This is too good to last"), therefore they didn't watch it, and thus it got canceled due to lack of viewers.

[Deleted]

Real action Sci-Fi isn't exactly budget friendly. TV shows don't have the budget of blockbuster movies so CGI or expensive set pieces aren't exactly on the priority list.

I'd also say premise comes into the fold. Sci-Fi is a wet dream for most nerds but the rest associate it with something like Star Trek, a nerdy and corny TV show.
It's a similar reason why The Walking Dead (Since S3, it's getting better) is more popular than a show like Breaking Bad. BB is superior to TWD in almost every way but people see "zombies" and flock to the TV to watch it. It's a show for the masses.

For the OP: Dr Who with David Tennant is some great Sci-Fi although it's not like any other show.

[Stormcall]

Real action Sci-Fi isn't exactly budget friendly. TV shows don't have the budget of blockbuster movies so CGI or expensive set pieces aren't exactly on the priority list.

I'd also say premise comes into the fold. Sci-Fi is a wet dream for most nerds but the rest associate it with something like Star Trek, a nerdy and corny TV show.
It's a similar reason why The Walking Dead (Since S3, it's getting better) is more popular than a show like Breaking Bad. BB is superior to TWD in almost every way but people see "zombies" and flock to the TV to watch it. It's a show for the masses.

Umm, Breaking Bad is critically acclaimed, has been nominated for many awards(Emmys, Golden Globes, etc), and is watched by a LOT of people...it's watched by quite a bit of the "masses" itself, it's hardly some underground cult show few people watch or have ever heard of...

I know personally, EVERYONE I know who watches one of the shows also watches the other...it's not like the demographic they appeal to is totally different.

[minkage]

I'll never understand the unending love for the decidedly average firefly series.

[Masark]

I'll never understand the unending love for the decidedly average firefly series.

1. It's a Whedon work.

2. It had quite a lot of potential, but it got cut off before it could really get going.

[Jamesdawn]

1. I Dream Of Jeannie
2. Jekyll
3. Journeyman
4. Knight Rider
5. Masters Of Horror
6. Nightmare Cafe

are best Sci-Fi tv shows. I am also big fan of these shows.

[Dinapus]

Recommend Falling skies. Even though its more of an Alien-attacking-the-earth apocalypse, its an awesome show. And next year we'll be seeing a season 3

[poser765]

Recommend Falling skies. Even though its more of an Alien-attacking-the-earth apocalypse, its an awesome show. And next year we'll be seeing a season 3

I really need to get into that. I was stoked for it before it started, then I missed a few of them, then I just never thought about it again. It looks good. Maybe it's on netflix.