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?

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In my formative years, I looked forward to Saturdays, because Doctor Who came on PBS in the afternoons, and ST:TNG came on in the evenings. I don't own any show DVDs, and for most things I've watched, I'm not one of those nerds who can remember episode titles and quote from episodes on anything (Doctor Who might be an exception).

Shows that I enjoyed the most/would watch again? I'd go with Doctor Who (the new series is fantastic), ST: TNG and DS9, B5 (seasons 2-4), Quantum Leap, Sliders (before Sci-Fi killed it), and probably more I can't think of now. I'd also add Life on Mars, which I just finished watching, although it was less sci-fi and more police drama.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well everyday I watch Star Trek: Voyager on Spike TV, because I love that show, and hell...Star Trek in general. I guess i'm a dork in that way. I don't care, I think Star Trek is the shit.

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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.

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The original series of Doctor Who ran from 1963-1989 (with a TV movie in 1996). The new series started in 2005; the 3rd season is currently airing on the BBC. If you've never seen Who before, the new series is a great place to start. It keeps up the continuity of the old series (since the Doctor can "regenerate" when he's near death, it's easy to replace the actors over the years), but since the program had been off the air for so long, they've made it very friendly to new viewers. Sure, you won't get the nostalgia of the classic enemies the Doctor encounters, and you won't get the small references to the old series, but it's massively popular in the UK right now.

Torchwood is set in the same universe as Doctor Who, but other than that it's not closely related. The show is much more geared towards an adult audience, to the point where it seems like they just threw in swearing and explicit sex scenes just to be gratuitous. Really the only reason I watched it after the first few episodes was because I wanted to follow the main character, Capt. Jack Harkness (spun off from Doctor Who). He left Who at the end of the first season, did the first season of Torchwood, then rejoined Who at the end of the 3rd season (and he's going back to Torchwood for the second season). Torchwood had a few standout episodes, but I wouldn't rank it amongst my favorite shows.

On a different topic, it's a shame that the sci-fi/comedy genre hasn't caught on in the US. Shows like Red Dwarf or Hyperdrive, light on plot, certainly, but a nice change of pace from ordinary sitcoms. 3rd Rock from the Sun is the only sci-fi/sitcom I can think of in recent memory that lasted.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I am a huge scifi fan. My tastes tend to be more mainstream though. I don't get into the books too much, but television and movies have a lot to offer.

For great scifi television look no further than Battlestar Galactica the new series on scifi. This is a great example of storytelling with a good mix of action. I was honestly not looking forward to the new series as I loved the original growing up. But after I got the season 1 dvd set for Christmas I became hooked.

Also good classic scifi would be Star Trek TNG. It was a great series that almost was ruined by the movies that came after. Good characters, decent acting, and we got to see Picard as a Borg.

Movies I will generally go see most scifi related movies. But generally when I think of scifi it has to do with space/time travel and the like. Dystopian future movies while interesting are more depressing to me so my interest wanes in them quickly.

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SciFi! Oh yes!
If you like good (Really good. Not just "new jedi order" good.) sci-fi reads, go check Ian M. Banks, especially his "Culture" novels rank among the best scifi i've encountered.

The New BSG indeed is a stunning series, but sadly the third season was such a hugely mixed bag of awesome and fail that B5 is back on track as the overall best Sci-Fi show ever. Maybe Galactica can redeem itself with a purely awesome 4th season. Which I hope it will.

Movies... Sheesh, they don't do the kind of scifi movies I like anymore. Loved the first three Aliens, loathed all that came after that...
To be honest, I've got to think pretty hard to remember any _really_ good sci-fi flick of late.

FELIPE NO

I like SciFi quite a bit but I am missing out on some of the essentials, I am catching up! My favorite book would have to be Dune by Frank Herbert, followed closely by the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

As far as scifi video games are concerned I enjoy Xenogears, Deus Ex and Fallout.

For movies I really enjoy Dark City, Alien, Aliens, Terminator 2, Children of Men (maybe a grey area, but the futuristic setting would make it scifi I suppose), Serenity, Matrix, and Akira.

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Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Children of Men (maybe a grey area, but the futuristic setting would make it scifi I suppose)

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm not one for SF TV series, and I don't take SF films seriously (although I'm pretty much a goddamn tank of Star Wars knowledge for some reason), but boy do I love SF literature.

Philip K Dick, Arthur C Clarke, Alastair Reynolds, David Brin, Stephen Baxter and Neal Stephenson are my bag.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The last new-ish SF book I really enjoyed was "Vurt" by Jeff Noon: http://www.amazon.com/Vurt-Jeff-Noon...2484215&sr=8-1 If you fancy yourself part of some sort of sci-fi "intelligencia" then I'm sure you'll think it's "below" you. Then, you've missed it's charm and it's not the book that has been found to be lacking...

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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.

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FUCK HEINLEIN

Sci-fi's resident Mary-Sueing creepy old man.

Oh wait this thread turned out to be just about movies anyway =/

I was speaking idiomatically.

If you'd read more than just the last posting before yours you'd see that it's not. ;P

Anyway... I'm always grateful for some real good advice in terms of good Sci-Fi reads. "Vurd" sounds interesting. Maybe I'll check it out.
In turn I can only advise people to read The Player of Games by Banks. Incredibly good read.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by CelticWhisper

Dark City out-styles it by light years, but CoM was still awesome stuff.

I watched Children of Men wanting to like it. I really wanted to like it. But, in the end it couldn't make me care one little bit about any of the characters. As such, it was completely boring and pointless. What a heaping gob of throw-away characters!

How can no one mention the film A Scanner Darkly? I know it was based of Dick's work, but still I found it to be a very solid piece of film-making...

FELIPE NO

I can recall watching Farscape years ago when it was airing over here and I loved it. Ever since I saw your avatar Celtic I've intended to get hold of the DVDs and sit there in blissful nostalgia. Bloody good show.

Over the years I've slowly developed a love of sci-fi, though at the moment it's mostly what I suppose you could call "mainstream"; Star Trek, Star Wars, Philip K Dick, Hitch-Hiker's Guide (not the movie; they slaughtered the concept so much it hurt, but I've watched the series for amusement), Brave New World, 1984 and Children of Men. The latter I'm searching for in book-form at the library, as if the book came first for any film, I'm pretty much guaranteed to prefer reading than watching.

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I've read some Heinlein: Glory Road, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, but I'm not a huge fan. When it comes to the older stuff I'm more inclined to read Roger Zelazny and Clifford D. Simak. As far as Contemporary authors go I follow Gene Wolfe, C.J. Cherryh, Vernor Vinge, Sherri S. Tepper, and L.E. Modesitt Jr pretty religiously. I love Dune and while the second and third books were pretty good, I thought Herbert went off the deep end with the last three.

My favorite scifi show of all time is STNG and for the most part its the only one I've ever stuck with the whole way through. Everything else has lost my interest at some point.

How ya doing, buddy?

Right now, I've been really involved in watching Doctor Who. The 2007 season was incredibly good. It got to the point where each episode's writing got better and better.

The only bad thing I can see, is that Kylie Minogue will be in the Xmas episode this year..but, I'll pass judgement when the time comes. Also, do try and check out any Doctor Who staring John Pertwee..my absolute favorite Doctor.

Hrmm..oh! I just recently watched the Cube series of movies. The first one was pretty good, and the best of the three. Shitty acting aside, it was enjoyable..the other two...'eh not so much.

And I second Farscape..the dvd's are slowly arriving in my mailbox. Gotta love it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by HightopNinja

Right now, I've been really involved in watching Doctor Who. The 2007 season was incredibly good. It got to the point where each episode's writing got better and better.

The only bad thing I can see, is that Kylie Minogue will be in the Xmas episode this year..but, I'll pass judgement when the time comes. Also, do try and check out any Doctor Who staring John Pertwee..my absolute favorite Doctor.

I thought the 2007 season was up and down quality-wise. "Utopia" is perhaps my favorite episode of the new series thus far, and I loved John Simm, but "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" was just dreadful. As for Kylie Minogue, Billie Piper did ok as a companion, so I don't see how another pop star (who's got acting experience) could do any worse. The fans seem more concerned about Catherine Tate coming back as a full time companion next year. Not being British, I'm not familiar with her work, but she seemed somewhat shrill to be tagging along with the Doctor all the time.

Jon Pertwee was the Doctor I saw the most growing up (<3 Bessie), but I'm partial to the 5th or 7th Doctors myself.

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Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

I thought the 2007 season was up and down quality-wise. "Utopia" is perhaps my favorite episode of the new series thus far, and I loved John Simm, but "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" was just dreadful. As for Kylie Minogue, Billie Piper did ok as a companion, so I don't see how another pop star (who's got acting experience) could do any worse. The fans seem more concerned about Catherine Tate coming back as a full time companion next year. Not being British, I'm not familiar with her work, but she seemed somewhat shrill to be tagging along with the Doctor all the time.

Jon Pertwee was the Doctor I saw the most growing up (<3 Bessie), but I'm partial to the 5th or 7th Doctors myself.

I'd have to agree with you there about the Daleks episodes, they were absolutely dreadful, which is where I gave up on the series. I really wanted to watch the episodes with John Simm in, but never did as I thought that those episodes would be as bad as the first few. As for Catherine Tate being The Doctors companion next, well, I sure hope that they don't do it. I would boycott the entire series if they brought her back. All she does is shout and shrill all the time. This why I hated the Christmas episode with her in.

Anyway, back on topic. I am quite a fan of sci-fi. Ever since a friend of mine introduced me to The Next Generation, I have been hooked on it ever since. Firefly and Farscape are both my favourite shows, both were excellent in their own right, I just wish I could find Farscape at a decent price so that I could keep watching them over and over again. Other sci-fi shows that I like are The 4400, only watched the first series but it had me hooked from start to finish as did Taken.

As for sci-fi films, well I have seen my fair share, and have liked almost all that I have seen, one exception (I'll get to that soon) I'd have to say that Serenity is possibly my favourite of the genre, everything about it was just right. Galaxy Quest, Starship Troopers and Terminator 2 are also some of my favourite sci-fi films. All very mainstream, but I don't care.

As for the exception to my liking of sci-fi, well that would be Solaris. This film is really boring, I managed half of it before i turned it off. Absolutely nothing happened in the time that I watched it. Worst film ever.

I've only read a few sci-fi books, my favourite being Ilium by Dan Simmons. It is a mixture of Greek mythology and sci-fi. Sounds a bit of a strange combination, but it really works.

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Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

I thought the 2007 season was up and down quality-wise. "Utopia" is perhaps my favorite episode of the new series thus far, and I loved John Simm, but "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" was just dreadful. As for Kylie Minogue, Billie Piper did ok as a companion, so I don't see how another pop star (who's got acting experience) could do any worse. The fans seem more concerned about Catherine Tate coming back as a full time companion next year. Not being British, I'm not familiar with her work, but she seemed somewhat shrill to be tagging along with the Doctor all the time.

Jon Pertwee was the Doctor I saw the most growing up (<3 Bessie), but I'm partial to the 5th or 7th Doctors myself.

Originally Posted by Domino

I'd have to agree with you there about the Daleks episodes, they were absolutely dreadful, which is where I gave up on the series. I really wanted to watch the episodes with John Simm in, but never did as I thought that those episodes would be as bad as the first few. As for Catherine Tate being The Doctors companion next, well, I sure hope that they don't do it. I would boycott the entire series if they brought her back. All she does is shout and shrill all the time. This why I hated the Christmas episode with her in.

I suppose I just disagree..at least with the Catherine Tate thing. The Daleks in New York episodes were probably the most dreadful of this season..but episodes like Utopia, The Sounds of Drums, and Blink more then made up for the few bad episodes this season.

Anywho, the whole thing with Kylie Minogue is..well, have you seen Street Fighter the movie? Friggin awful..

And I really liked the X-mas episode..I suppose just a difference of opinion, but still, I liked Donna as a companion.

Back to the topic once more(sorry for all the Who talk)..while more or less anime, I recently acquired the original Astroboy series..sure its a kid's show..but still very much enjoyable for the old school anime/sci-fi fan.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I've always been more of a fantasy fan than a sci-fi one, but I've dabbled in it every now and then. Besides being raised on the glory of Star Wars, I've recently gotten into the sci-fi novels of CS Friedman. Being a fan of her fantasy for a while, I figured that I would give a new genre a try, and her writing style makes it beautifully palatable.

I highly recommend This Alien Shore, In Conquest Born, and The Wilding in particular. ICB is an awesome space opera while TAS is more character-oriented. The Wilding is more about psychics and takes place 200 years after ICB, so in order to fully absorb the history and enjoy the greatest extent of the story, I'd read them in order.

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