For me, it would be The Expanse, and Dark
(I am hopping to get recommendations for some good scifi shows I haven’t been introduced to from here)
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis - got just the right amounts of science and fiction, drama and comedy, campiness and self-awareness, and is the reason I got interested in physics and programming. Undomesticated equines could not remove me from another rewatch.
Stargate was such huge part of my childhood! To this day I remember almost every episode of the original SG1. Atlantis ran on cable which we did not have, so the first time I saw it was later on in my adulthood. Sure, Star Wars, Star Trek, Expanse and BG are all great, but man, SG1 will always be my absolute fave.
Honorable mention goes to Farscape - what a ride that show was!
Yes! I loved Farscape, too, although I was able to only watch one season - but I’m planning to fix it soon. I just recently realized the reason I loved Guardians of the Galaxy so much, is because it reminded me of Farscape - mostly in costume design and team dynamics.
Another, modern show worth a mention, is Travelers, from the same creator as Stargate. Much more serious in tone, grim, even, but still extremely engaging.
I miss these series so much, and really wish they would’ve continued with SGU, but I think it was ill-fated due to the timing of the series. It was really getting it’s legs in season 2.
Fringe, hands down. An amazing show from start to finish. I also have a soft spot for Warehouse 13, which leans more into the fantastical.
More recently, the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been great, and I’m also looking forward to seeing the second season of Severance.Fringe was great! Some of its episodes to felt like they leaned more towards fantasy than scifi, but it was good enough to make me finish the entire story in a couple of days. Never heard of Warhouse 13 before, will check it out!
Fringe! It was so interesting I watched it many years after it aired, still holds up today.
Fringe was absolutely amazing… I can’t remember how it ended, or if I even watched the end, but I loved everything it was about.
Warehouse 13 and Eureka were similar, and had characters cross over.
Basic answer: Firefly. Love it!
Eureka was pretty fun … do not expect hardcore scifi. I also like the first season of Star Trek Strange New Worlds.
Have to agree on Eureka. It’s really dumb, but super entertaining, and something I can watch over, and over, and over, and it never gets old.
Yeah … it really didn’t put the science in Sci-fi, but the comedy was there. I actually rewatched it not that long ago. It still holds up.
Did you ever see the librarians TV show, thought it had similar vibe to eureka but crossed with warehouse 13
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3663490/I liked warehouse 13, too. The Librarians was good, but for some reason I fell of of it. Not sure why. I may have to go back and watch it.
Yup. I’ve seen all of the Librarian movies (similarly goofy) the show, and warehouse 13. I liked them all.
I do not really have a favorite. Star Trek DS9 was good. I do like Strange New Worlds, actually. And Silo is surprisingly good aswell. I don’t know if that counts necessarily as scifi. But if you’re able to check out Severance, you definitely should.
The Expanse and Babylon 5. Those two were head and shoulders above anything else.
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I was so mad when I found out that firefly is so short. Every single character is awesome and I thought I had found an old treasure just like some of the classics are, but nope. Every rewatch I get sad when I realize it’s the last episode again
I read the official comic books and got a bit of closure on the story. You should consider that
I think this is a hard question, if you put a gun to my head I would likely choose the 2000’s version of Battlestar Galactica even though I don’t necessarily feel great about the final episodes. Unless other mini-series that didn’t become tv shows aired on the Sci-Fi channel count, then I’d probably pick Frank Herbert’s Dune.
I’m definitely in the minority but i didn’t like the 2000’s version which crammed BG with Terminator. I prefer the original series and story in which the Cylons were a technological remnant of a reptilian race who vanished hundreds of years before they encountered the human race, possibly due to a software bug turning the machines against them. I feel they should have just created their own stories and characters instead.
Everything I was going to say has already been mentioned, some numerous times: The Expanse, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Firefly, Farscape, Fringe, Altered Carbon season 1, Dark Matter, Killjoys, Twelve Monkeys.
So may I offer up Timeless and Warehouse 13? Both character-focussed and on the lighter side, but also dealing occasionally with some pretty deep character arcs. And they were just FUN (especially Warehouse 13).
Also, more recently I really enjoyed The Peripheral (though I would have preferred a proper ending, rather than the dangling threads we were left with - especially since, at the time, we didn’t know if there would be a second season).
ETA: Oh, and I haven’t seen any Star Wars shows mentioned besides Andor - which was admittedly fantastic. But my favourite Star Wars TV series are SW: Rebels and SW:The Clone Wars. The latter because it added so much depth to Anakin and Obi-Wan, along with many other characters, and also gave us great new characters like Ahsoka and Wrex. And Rebels holds a place in my heart - many of my favourite Star Wars characters come from that series (Hera, Kanan, Sabine… and Chopper!)
Babylon 5 is still one of my most favourite sci-fi series. There is a Babylon 5 animated movie being released soon, B5: The Road Home and i’m dying to see it.
Also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, tonight is the first episode of season 2. It encapsulates what the original star trek felt like, and i like it.
I had no idea that there was an animated movie coming out; that is very interesting. I was looking forward to checking out the CW reboot before it got shelved.
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Can’t mention Warehouse 13 without Eureka - they had character cross overs. I liked The Peripheral, and even understood some of it…
Oh yes, Eureka was also great fun.
Does Lost count here? That’s my favorite, otherwise Farscape or Star Trek in general. I started watching the Expanse, it’s really amazing, and I see why people like it, but I like the quirkiness of some of the other shows. Farscape is an extremely fun show to watch.
Since some mainline good stuff is already mentioned, I’ll mention something not already said.
I enjoyed Travelers a lot. The budget constraints show at times, but it gets some very different and compelling overtones and images. The Director speaking from outside of time, one sentence at a time through different people about to die of natural causes… evocative stuff right there.
I liked Travelers but didn’t see it through to the end. There was one episode where they kept getting killed so someone had to go back and reset time until they survived that was exceptional.
I really enjoyed Travelers as well. I did feel the ending was a bit rushed though, but overall a really good series.
Star Trek: TNG; Firefly
Hard for me to put the Expanse on there since the books were so much better, that watching the show always felt like a bit of a letdown.
Can’t recall seeing anything better than The Expanse in the last decade. Love, Death & Robots is great, but that’s not a typical TV Show. Altered Carbon S01 was ok.
It used to be Trek in in general, DS9 specifically. But The Expanse has definitely taken over that spot in my heart. It’s probably not fair though as I’m sure there’s not a lot of differentiation in my memory of the novels from the show.
They did a really good job adapting the books. I often conflate the two as well. Only the big changes are the ones that I can remember are different, but most of the changes are subtle.
My favorite change is Drummer. Drummer on the TV show is amazing, but is a combination of characters from the books (mostly: Bull, Drummer, Michio), and those characters from the books were all individual great characters.
I’ve seen the show completely twice, and the first couple of seasons about four times. I’ve read through the books only once, but the books are just as memorable. I recommend it all for anyone.
Completely agree with all of this. I loved show-Drummer so much. Cara Gee did such an amazing job with her (as did the writers, obviously - but it was Cara that brought her to life).
In a similar vein, I also have to give kudos to Wes Chatham for taking a character (Amos) who, on the page, wasn’t the easiest to like or even really know, and making him maybe the best damn character on TV. SO many layers.
I’m currently (finally!) reading the last book of the series. I love the books and the show.
everyone tells me the expanse is great, including in this thread! i don’t have a great way to watch it though. correct me if i’m misremembering, it’s on prime, right?
Yes, its on Amazon Prime.
Yo ho ho, a pirate’s life for me!
Arrgghh!
It is an excellent use of your time.
@MishaMouse Just as a heads-up, the first few episodes are a little slow, since the writers need to do some worldbuilding to get all their ducks in order before kicking off the plot. The advice for new fans is generally to give it a chance through at least the first four episodes. If you still don’t like it by then, it’s probably not for you-- but hopefully, by then you’ll be hooked just like the rest of us!
thanks for the warning! it sounds like it is worth a try from what i’m hearing on all sides
Are you an Android user? If so, grab an app called “cloudstream” and install all the 3rd party repositories and you can watch anything you want in that app.
