Science Fiction. SF. Sci-fi. Skiffy. Crickets Fucking.

Having been a fan of the SF genre for pretty much my entire life, I felt it prudent to spark some general SF conversation here on GFF, as aside from the "commercialism" thread, there isn't much here about the wide world of sci-fi and all it has to offer.

So, what are some of your favourite SF books/games/shows/ideas/concepts/writers/etc.?

Myself, I recently finished watching Babylon 5 and being thoroughly blown away by its plot intricacies and development. For those who've seen the series, go watch "The Gathering" and pay close attention to Kosh's words when he first steps into the station and greets Cmdr. Sinclair. Amazing.

Before that I watched Farscape from start to finish, and it currently resides at the top of my "best show ever" charts. Technically it shares the slot with Twin Peaks, but TP is less overtly sci-fi and more...you know, Lynch really deserves his own category. Anyway, Farscape has the best characters I've seen in all the sci-fi shows I've watched, and some of the best dialogue ever written to boot. Few things are as hilarious as the "Who's your daddy?" scene in season 3.

As literature goes, I'm a fan of Clarke and Heinlein for old-school stuff, and Neal Stephenson for modern work. "Starship Troopers," though the Hollywood bug-fest pablum that came out 10 years ago is no indication, was a fascinating perspective on an overly-militaristic society, and is the stuff the very best classic SF is made of. Stephenson's techno-fetish works great in the tales he weaves in Cryptonomicon and The Diamond Age, and his "slick" style is really refreshing after coming from the "starched-shirt" work of some of the older authors. Lines like "No match for chop-socky" and "You did not fuck with a man wearing sights" are why I love his work so much--they keep the story moving and prevent it from slogging while still keeping the perspective of the character.


So how about it? Any sci-fi fans hiding in the GFF woodwork?

Most amazing jew boots

I know a lot of folks who are pretty big into Trek. I never got into it that much, except Voyager for a year or two (around the Species 8472 plotline). TNG always felt too stiff and lofty (not that B5 isn't, but TNG more so), and the "particle of the week" thing got kinda tiresome after a while. DS9 I didn't catch from the beginning and I was lost every time I saw an episode. I hear it's not quite as demanding as B5 but still requires a longer attention span to really "get."

Farscape was weird in that fashion. It had standalone episodes, but the majority of the series had at least something to do with the overarching plot, and even episodes like "Revenging Angel" had tie-ins to long-running story threads.

A few shows I haven't seen but have heard good things about are Dr. Who, Torchwood (apparently related to Dr. Who somehow), ReGenesis, and LEXX. Haven't gotten into LEXX as the only torrent I could find was a 40GB monster containing the entire series. I have no idea where to start with Dr. Who since it's apparently been running for decades, and I only recently heard about ReGenesis.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by knkwzrd

I think this film is a lot closer to traditional serious science fiction than several of the other films you mentioned, in that it's not just an action film with strange technology so much as a serious piece of art concerning ideas and concepts that might arise in futuristic settings. That's always what I've considered science fiction to be, but perhaps I've just read too much William Gibson.

Quoted for rectitude. Children of Men, along with Dark City, is one of the best speculative sci-fi pieces I've ever seen. Though it was a little light on explanations (e.g. what was the organization they were trying to reach, and why were women infertile to begin with?), it did a fantastic job of exploring a seriously heavy "what if?" scenario. Dark City out-styles it by light years, but CoM was still awesome stuff.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.