for a while there I couldnt think of a show and thought I just didnt care for sci-fi shows. then the offhand mention of cowboy bebop prompted one side of my brain to say "oh yeah, of course anime" and the other side to shout "STEINS;GATE" really loudly
Ooh, how about Space Dandy, same studio as Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, but it's got a 70s funk vibe and is a sci-fi comedy. They parody pretty much every sci-fi trope across the series, Flatlander, multi-verse, shape shifter hiding among the crew and even zombies. That and Rick and Morty filled the void in my life that was left by the cancellation of Futurama.
In that case, Ghost in the Shell is as hard sci-fi as it can possibly go, being a political cyberpunk action thriller. Oh, and also bare zero of the panties/boobs/school nonsense - if you're afraid of the word "anime" or of being called a weeaboo, then GitS is a safe pick.
Wow, nobody noticed that this thread was necro'd from 2013 to pick right up where it left off? Well I'm game since a lot has changed in the last five years.
I watched the 1st season of Westworld on HBO last month and just started watching Counterpart on Starz. Both are very entertaining so far. Westworld season two starts next month I think. Really looking forward to seeing the direction it's going to take.
Are there any fans of The Prisoner here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner Such a great and trippy show from the 60s. The mini series remake in the early 2000s was really weak. The original was a lot of fun with it's 60s spy vibe, and the question of what happens when spies who know too much, try to quit. It was near future sci-fi, mostly, so they had more advanced computers, brain washing and those freaky rovers (The white balloon things). The show dealt with cold war conspiratorial dread, very well. There were so many good episodes, but I'd say my favorites are A, B and C and Hammer into Anvil. A, B and C is an ep where they're doping up the main character and trying to control his dreams, in an attempt to find out who he was going to sell out to. Hammer Into Anvil is so hilarious, because it's the episode where he just makes his own conspiracy to screw with them.
Battlestar Galactica would probably be mine... (the new one, I haven't seen the original). I prefer it to Star Trek because, much as I like that show, it always felt a bit too "idealistic utopia" to me, while BSG feels a bit more down to Earth (well, as much as a space opera show can! ), with all the background politics going on.
Firefly, for obvious reasons (everybody loves Firefly!).
The Orville - not exactly original, it is, basically, 1990s Star Trek - but that's why I like it!
I am reading the Altered Carbon book. They made SO MANY unnecessary changes...
Ugh, it's in a stack of to read books, and has been there for a few years. I keep picking up other stuff and wanting to read that first. So of course I don't want to watch the tv show, since I haven't gotten around to the book.
So not sure if people would think of this as sci-fi, it could fit more into the alternate history genre, but anybody else into The Man In The High Castle? The book's great, and first season of the show was brilliant. Second season's not as interesting, since they've really strayed from the source material.
I tend not to end up watching whole series, series 1 great, series 2 maybe, series 3 ect. they tend to lose the plot and me as a watcher.
A few exceptions.
Star Trek original series, (mind you not like there was much choice at the time) Farscape (strangely enough kept that one going) Firefly (goes without saying really)
And really going back now,
Blake's Seven (sigh...Avon...sigh)
Films
Star Wars original trilogy of course. Alien/Aliens
And the OP did say fantasy series so,
Buffy
Books too many to mention, I used to have a really extensive collection of scifi from the 50's/60's/70's , especially short story anthologies. Sometimes the ideas/concepts are very good, haunting even, but had the authors tried to extend them, they would probably fail.
But have to mention the Culture Books by Ian M. Banks.
Yes! I've been watching these lately and they're pretty good. I like the whole "D&D party" mechanic, where each character has their own set of skills and work together to do stuff.
I would love them to do for this what they did for Battlestar Galactica.
i'm primarily annoyed by it beind called "-molecule" since it is patently not a molecule nor is it ever referred to as some kind of molecule (assembled from which atoms? those blue shiny ones?) in the script
I'm not much of a Sci-Fi expert. I really enjoyed watching Star Trek: The Next Generation back in the day with my dad at night, but I can't stand the original series. I like what I have seen of Deep Space Nine and Voyager, but despite having access to all of them on Netflix for years, I have never watched them. I have always meant to watch Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5, but have not done so. Any opinions on those two series, or any of the variations of Stargate for that matter (I was never overly impressed with the original movie)??
Babylon 5 is to this day my favourite sci-fi tv series. Can watch it endlessly. Battlestar Galactica is my second favourite. Didn't like original Stargate, but enjoyed Stargate Atlantis back in the day. There was one more of Stargate series that was cancelled after one or two seasons, but can't remember the name now. I liked it and was really disappointed it was cancelled.
i'm primarily annoyed by it beind called "-molecule" since it is patently not a molecule nor is it ever referred to as some kind of molecule (assembled from which atoms? those blue shiny ones?) in the script
The prefix "proto" means "before", so calling something a protomolecule would not be a molecule, it would be something that occurred before.
Fore example a protostar is not a star, but will eventually turn into one.
But yeah, it's still a dumb name, a "proto-molecule" would be an atom.
i'm primarily annoyed by it beind called "-molecule" since it is patently not a molecule nor is it ever referred to as some kind of molecule (assembled from which atoms? those blue shiny ones?) in the script
The prefix "proto" means "before", so calling something a protomolecule would not be a molecule, it would be something that occurred before.
Fore example a protostar is not a star, but will eventually turn into one.
But yeah, it's still a dumb name, a "proto-molecule" would be an atom.
proto actually (more accurately) means "first" and that's how i took the meaning of the prefix without even thinking about it. so if it's a "first molecule" it's not a not-molecule but still some kind of a molecule.
I really enjoyed it, but it is hard sci-fi, and he will go off and explain how you move an object from a geocentric orbit to a heliocentric orbit, or all the ways radiation can kill you, before using it in the story. It's almost 800 pages long, and probably could have been a trilogy, if he had wanted. I particularly enjoyed the character 'Doob' who is clearly supposed to be Neil DeGrausse Tyson. The bulk of the story is set in modern times, and uses all technology available today.
The general theme of the book is, the moon gets busted up into a bunch of pieces. Nobody is sure what actually hit the moon, a micro black hole moving at insane speeds/aliens etc, but it doesn't matter. After some time, the scientists start to realize those chunks are going to start bumping into each other and breaking up. It will eventually reach a point where most of the moon is broken up into debris, and starts raining down on earth, and light the atmosphere on fire, and this will go on for about 5000 years.
The first chunk of the story becomes a race to put as many of the best and brightest minds, and everything they'll need, up into orbit. It also deals with most of humanity dealing with their impending death.
The second part deals with the politics and issues the population goes through once Earth is dead. Society pretty much destroys itself, thanks to social media, and you wind up with only 7 women being the survivors. Luckily one of them is a geneticist, and is able to maintain enough heterozygosity for a healthy population. With each birth, each of the women can select one genetic tweak to make to their child. Most pick one trait, and stick with it. For instance, the former Russian athlete turned astronaut wants to breed for discipline. Another wants to breed out agression, while another decides she wants to breed heroes, and picks bravery. The youngest survivor, since she's able to give birth more times, changes her choice during most births, breeding for aristocratic leaders for one group and reviving neanderthal traits in another.
The last part jumps 5000 years into the future, and deals with the 7 races that descend from those last few women, and the beginning of the recolonization of Earth.
@DrHappyAngry; wow.. what a cool concept. I like that setting and would like to read it. I need to get myself a kindle so I can more easily acquire books.
Comments
then the offhand mention of cowboy bebop prompted one side of my brain to say "oh yeah, of course anime" and the other side to shout "STEINS;GATE" really loudly
I watched the 1st season of Westworld on HBO last month and just started watching Counterpart on Starz. Both are very entertaining so far. Westworld season two starts next month I think. Really looking forward to seeing the direction it's going to take.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner
Such a great and trippy show from the 60s. The mini series remake in the early 2000s was really weak. The original was a lot of fun with it's 60s spy vibe, and the question of what happens when spies who know too much, try to quit. It was near future sci-fi, mostly, so they had more advanced computers, brain washing and those freaky rovers (The white balloon things). The show dealt with cold war conspiratorial dread, very well. There were so many good episodes, but I'd say my favorites are A, B and C and Hammer into Anvil. A, B and C is an ep where they're doping up the main character and trying to control his dreams, in an attempt to find out who he was going to sell out to. Hammer Into Anvil is so hilarious, because it's the episode where he just makes his own conspiracy to screw with them.
Firefly, for obvious reasons (everybody loves Firefly!).
The Orville - not exactly original, it is, basically, 1990s Star Trek - but that's why I like it!
Couldn't get into The Expanse. Found it too humourless and the characters unlikeable.
Watched Altered Carbon. It randomly veered from very good to very bad.
Have been rewatching my Babylon 5 boxed sets.
So not sure if people would think of this as sci-fi, it could fit more into the alternate history genre, but anybody else into The Man In The High Castle? The book's great, and first season of the show was brilliant. Second season's not as interesting, since they've really strayed from the source material.
I tend not to end up watching whole series, series 1 great, series 2 maybe, series 3 ect. they tend to lose the plot and me as a watcher.
A few exceptions.
Star Trek original series, (mind you not like there was much choice at the time)
Farscape (strangely enough kept that one going)
Firefly (goes without saying really)
And really going back now,
Blake's Seven (sigh...Avon...sigh)
Films
Star Wars original trilogy of course.
Alien/Aliens
And the OP did say fantasy series so,
Buffy
Books too many to mention, I used to have a really extensive collection of scifi from the 50's/60's/70's , especially short story anthologies. Sometimes the ideas/concepts are very good, haunting even, but had the authors tried to extend them, they would probably fail.
But have to mention the Culture Books by Ian M. Banks.
Excession is my favourite
I would love them to do for this what they did for Battlestar Galactica.
Fore example a protostar is not a star, but will eventually turn into one.
But yeah, it's still a dumb name, a "proto-molecule" would be an atom.
so if it's a "first molecule" it's not a not-molecule but still some kind of a molecule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seveneves
I really enjoyed it, but it is hard sci-fi, and he will go off and explain how you move an object from a geocentric orbit to a heliocentric orbit, or all the ways radiation can kill you, before using it in the story. It's almost 800 pages long, and probably could have been a trilogy, if he had wanted. I particularly enjoyed the character 'Doob' who is clearly supposed to be Neil DeGrausse Tyson. The bulk of the story is set in modern times, and uses all technology available today.
The general theme of the book is, the moon gets busted up into a bunch of pieces. Nobody is sure what actually hit the moon, a micro black hole moving at insane speeds/aliens etc, but it doesn't matter. After some time, the scientists start to realize those chunks are going to start bumping into each other and breaking up. It will eventually reach a point where most of the moon is broken up into debris, and starts raining down on earth, and light the atmosphere on fire, and this will go on for about 5000 years.
The first chunk of the story becomes a race to put as many of the best and brightest minds, and everything they'll need, up into orbit. It also deals with most of humanity dealing with their impending death.
The second part deals with the politics and issues the population goes through once Earth is dead. Society pretty much destroys itself, thanks to social media, and you wind up with only 7 women being the survivors. Luckily one of them is a geneticist, and is able to maintain enough heterozygosity for a healthy population. With each birth, each of the women can select one genetic tweak to make to their child. Most pick one trait, and stick with it. For instance, the former Russian athlete turned astronaut wants to breed for discipline. Another wants to breed out agression, while another decides she wants to breed heroes, and picks bravery. The youngest survivor, since she's able to give birth more times, changes her choice during most births, breeding for aristocratic leaders for one group and reviving neanderthal traits in another.
The last part jumps 5000 years into the future, and deals with the 7 races that descend from those last few women, and the beginning of the recolonization of Earth.