What happened to good old "lets discover the universe" sci-fi?

[448191]

WARNING: If you're not as addicted to scifi as I am, raw estimates of how much time I actually spent watching scifi may appal you. I try not to think about it, same as trying not to think about all the money I spent on cigarettes. I am not interested in kicking the habit so if that's all you have to say, don't.

 

Having seen *all* episodes of TNG, VOY, DS9, BSG, SG1, SGA, Farscape, Babylon 5, some of ENT (which sucked), some of Firefly (don't care much for the western theme) and plenty of movies, it seems like earth's supply of SCI-FI that I like has finally dried up.. I knew it would happen some day.. (on a related bitch, why do sci-fi series always get milked beyond their conclusion? There really is no series in the list above that didn't screw up the plot in the end.)

 

What happened to good old "lets discover the universe" sci-fi? The only current series that is similar to the above it SGU, but it is like BSG but whiny and it's just missing that sense of direction. Character development is great but it is just poorly executed in SGU and getting way too much focus. I really only liked one ep so far. All other scifi currently is not the "space" type. Although I did enjoy the first season of Heroes but after waiting a while for some explanation that would make the show believable that never came, I tuned out. Other scifi series like "supernatural" and "roswell" suck even more. And SCI-FI movies? None to speak of. I recently watched Pandorum, but it felt very much like From Dusk Till Dawn meets.. SGU.  When some of the plot became more apparent it was interesting for the blink of an eye and then the movie ended. I watched Moon, which was a decent movie overall, but not "scifi" enough to satisfy my need for some good old "lets discover the universe" scifi. I mean, exploitation of the moon? Way too close to home to really spark the imagination. Then there's the "new" Star Trek movie. Ugh. Very, very poor. That guy who does Sylar in Heroes does so with some proficiency, but apparently anything other than playing the creepy villain is beyond him. Overall acting was poor. And the plot? Poorest ever. The Starship Troopers plot was more believable and interesting for crying out loud, and that's putting the bar pretty damn low.

 

Bitching aside, who knows some scifi I haven't seen yet? Help a scifi junky get his shot of space exploration.

[cags]

Well sadly I have also seen all of those series, including all of ENT plus the original Star-Trek. I'm trying to think of other 'space' sci-fi stuff I have watched. I didn't see Andromeda on your list, but as it's old I imagine you've seen it. Recently there has been Defying Gravity and V. Theres also Fringe, but it is based on earth, same with Sanctuary, Kyle XY, Jake 2.0 etc. If you've not seen it Sliders is sci-fi, but based around dimension jumping.

 

Red Dwarf of course is awesome but is more a sci-com.

[448191]

Yeah forgot about Andromeda. Definitely wasn't the best show I ever watched. Low point was when Kevin Sorbo got his staff from Hercules from a cabinet and looked straight into the camera, saying some lame line. Storyline started fair but got pretty poor and the guy playing Anastasi was really annoying, but Rommie and Harper made it worth watching anyway.

 

Red Dwarf is pretty funny for sure, but seen it. Seen a couple of episodes of Sliders but it doesn't really do it for me. Stuff like Sanctuary, Kyle XY and Jake 2.0 fall into the same category as supernatural and rosswell I think. "V" reminds me of Earth: Final Conflict, which bored me fairly quickly. They just don't spark the imagination.

 

Personally the original Star Trek doesn't really do it for me. I've seen a couple of episodes, maybe three, max. Really I just want another Star Trek tv series. But situated *after* what we've seen, please! Prequels suck ass.

 

Defying Gravity. Example plot:

 

"The Antares crew has to face the isolation and loneliness of space during the final hours before the Venus landing."

 

Booooring.

 

I want to see space exploration, awesome space battles, a touch of humour and maybe a little political intrigue. Wrapped in a package of well developed characters, great acting, a believable but most importantly interesting storyline. I know, I am asking a lot. I'll probably settle for space battles and a decent plot.

 

What did you think of SGU so far?

[cags]

It sort of annoys me. They are all so whiny and worried about their own agendas. I still watch it and I sort of enjoy it but theres just something in the back of my mind saying 'hmm...'. To be honest the whole 'own agenda' thing is probably far more realistic than your average Sci-Fi gung-ho everyones a hero, perhaps thats why I don't like it, too close to home. I dunno.

 

I enjoyed Andromeda to start with, then when they got stuck in the bizarre micro universe or whatever the hell it was towards the end and the ship wasn't really in it , it became crap. I have to say though I loved Firefly. But then I'm a fan of cheesy humour (so long as it's the right type of cheesy humour). DS9 has been the best Star-Trek in my opinion, I think Voyager annoyed me more than Enterprise ever did. As for Babylon 5, I'd never seen it but then somebody lent me the set on DVD and I watched them end to end and thoroughly enjoyed them. Apparently I like programs about space stations more than programs about space ships, lol.

 

I wouldn't hold your breath for a new one. With the things we've listed their have been over the years alot of stuff made in this arena and I think people are running out of proper new ideas. I fairly recently read (and watched the two tv adaptations of) Dune, which I really enjoyed. But unusually for Sci-Fi there isn't really many 'gadgets' or space travel. Not to everyones taste I guess.

[.josh]

Maybe you should try branching out to zombies (not really any series based off zombies that I know of but there's lots of good zombie type moves out there) or swords and sandals type fantasy  (hercules, xena, legend of the seeker, etc...I mean it's kinda same thing but in past instead of present...maybe you don't care for that end of the spectrum, "setting"-wise,  but the overall storylines and other features you mentioned are there to be had in fantasy series.  If you're seriously at the point of "I'm out of sci-fi to watch and I want more," It might be worth looking into). 

 

and dude...you say you love sci-fi but dis starship troopers??  FAIL.

 

 

[448191]

DS9 was good, it had that sense of realism of political and cultural clashes. Really enjoyed it. I really liked Voyager as well though, but in particular the more action packed story lines, such as the "Year From Hell". Also once they started engaging the Borg it got more exciting IMO. It did have a lot of what felt like filler episodes though. Especially some of the emosodes sucked.

 

Agreed on Andromeda. At the start the plot was decent but Anastasi just talked so fucking annoying. Later the plot got crappy. On Enterprise, all the characters were a bit annoying IMO. Of course T'Pol was too hot for words, but that gets boring as well. But what really turned me off was the whole temporal cold war thing. In general "prequel + time travel" == "teh suck" apparently. Even though ENT pretty much flopped they stuck with it for the last Star Trek movie which unavoidably is teh suck as well.

 

So far the only SGU episode I really liked was Time. I'm not really a fan of time travel plots, but that particular episode was action packed and well executed. But all the other episodes are way to focussed on character development. I mean character development a la BSG is good, but there has to be more than just a look into their pitiful lives or I'll watch a freaking soap opera instead. Balance, people. They really have to stop making it so introvert and do some exploring or get involved with some aliens in whatever way already. In general SGU should have been SG1 with realistic characters, but instead it turned out like a poor mans BSG.

 

I saw the Dune movie and really liked it, despite the weird "alternate universe feel" to it. Perhaps even because of it, dunno it was just the whole package I guess. I am a sucker for the political stuff as well. Even my GF liked it (only other scifi she likes is BSG). So what's the diff with the TV-adaptation?

 

and dude...you say you love sci-fi but dis starship troopers??  FAIL.

 

You either hate it or love it. Personally the satire of the storyline didn't add enough value for me. Would have been different if it was humorous, but I didn't see that. And the absurdism was too subtle. If you do absurdism do it right, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-type absurdism. Take away that and what's left is an unoriginal and unimaginative shoot em up movie.

 

[.josh]

...but..it's got doogie howser...

[448191]

so?

[cags]

I saw the Dune movie and really liked it, despite the weird "alternate universe feel" to it. Perhaps even because of it, dunno it was just the whole package I guess. I am a sucker for the political stuff as well. Even my GF liked it (only other scifi she likes is BSG). So what's the diff with the TV-adaptation?

It's been awhile since I've seen them, but from what I remember there's the movie (made in the 80s) which has Patrick Stewart as Guerney Hallack and Sting as Fayd-Rautha Harkonnen. Then there was the TV mini-series which had about 3 epsiodes (made around 2000) it spanned over a longer time period, about the first 3 books I think (maybe only 2). In that Alec Newman played Maud'ib (Paul) and James McAvoy played Letto II. After the time period covered in the series the books do start to get really weird. But it has an awefull lot of political intruige. With Letto turning into the god emperor worm. Apparently there is a new film being worked on to be due next year. Hopefully it's not shit like most remakes.

[keldorn]

I used to really enjoy those Star trek shows, not really sure what happened, they stuck too many commercials in the shows, and  in all tv in general and I just lost interest in the TV set altogether and stopped watching it about 5 years ago. I couldn't say whats new today on Tv, since Its been 5 years, the last Star Trek I was watching was Next Generation, then Voyager. Thats probably pretty old, whats the new ones now?

[448191]

I rarely watch TV on my TV. Downloading is much more convenient and no commercials.

 

Btw, off topic, what's with the word "quaint"? I think the only thing I would really ever label quaint is the word itself.

[448191]

Btw, cags, Babylon 5 was awesome, but the conclusion sucked. It was pretty clear that the writers didn't think that far ahead. But that's the trouble with many shows. The conclusion of BSG sucked too. SG1 didn't really have one. It should have ended after the Goa'uld saga but instead it dragged on. SGA felt like "been there done that" way to soon. K. Done bitching now.