What to watch next?

[Blencathra]

Definitiely Firefly.
Then if you want a laugh - Red Dwarf (see sig).
And if you want something old (complete with wobbly sets and laughable special effects) but a BRILLIANT storyline - Blakes 7.

[Morbo]

you'll see a lot of people list a plethora of series - most of which you shouldn't bother with. Sure it's a matter of taste, but it's more a matter of good, solid, storytelling.

Anyway,

the ones you should watch are, in the following order:

Firefly (only first because it's the shortest) + Serenity (movie)
Battlestar Galactica (make sure you start with the miniseries - it's included in the season 1 DVDs)
Futurama (end on the perfect happy note.

the end.

[maneth]

Babylon 5. A fantastic show in spite of some weakness in the 1st and 5th seasons.
Moore's Battlestar Galactica. A few weak episodes here and there, but mostly pretty solid with lots of more-or-less unexpected twists.
Farscape. Pretty far-out with all that a good science-fiction show should be: great characterization, amazing technology and even more amazing aliens.

They may be genre, but I don't count things like Lexx, Angel, Buffy or Supernatural as science-fiction. They're fantasy, an important distinction to some. (I real more fantasy than I do science-fiction, but I can't bear to watch many fantasy shows.)

[DigiFluid]

Um....Buffy, Angel, and Supernatural I can fully understand as "fantasy", but how on Earth is it you slot Lexx under that as well?

[AvatarIII]

you'll see a lot of people list a plethora of series - most of which you shouldn't bother with. Sure it's a matter of taste, but it's more a matter of good, solid, storytelling.

Anyway,

the ones you should watch are, in the following order:

Firefly (only first because it's the shortest) + Serenity (movie)
Battlestar Galactica (make sure you start with the miniseries - it's included in the season 1 DVDs)Futurama (end on the perfect happy note.

the end.

that's only in region 1

[AvatarIII]

Um....Buffy, Angel, and Supernatural I can fully understand as "fantasy", but how on Earth is it you slot Lexx under that as well?

lexx is sci-fi/fantasy, as it fantasy in a sci fi setting it's also comedy, and parody, and many other things..

[DigiFluid]

I really don't see how it's fantasy though, there's no...magic, or other stuff like that that hallmarks fantasy. The closest it came to anything like that was the Fire/Water arc, which had no magic to speak of and simply chose not to elabourate on it rather than try to explain it away as anything divine or spiritual.

Yes, there's genre crossing into comedy and parody (like you said), but that's hardly exclusive to the show... This board's namesake is most definitely science fiction, but routinely devled/delves into comedy and parody.

[Kick-Kinsey]

What's the story with BSG. Was there a miniseries first and then the full TV series?

You've got a silly 70s show, while very dumb at least was original

Then you've got a suckfest known as G 1980

Three failed continuation productions
from Hatch (actor from the old and new),
Singer
and Larson (creator of the original who hates the new show)

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Battl...cked-5406.html

In 2004, a re-imagined version from Moore/Eick, it started as a mini series
but shared lots of similarities to the canceled continuations

after it got green lit, the show moved on to a re-imagined series with Seasons 1-4

[jenks]

Is Lexx the one where they fly around in a ship shaped like a needle dick?

[magictrick]

Lots of suggestions!

I think I'll go with Firefly for now, although all the descriptions for Lexx are now making me very interested.

Kind of unrelated, but I just finished 2nd part of Peacekeeper Wars, and after all of Farscape I think I'm rating it as one of my favorite shows of all time, not just sci-fi. I really hope the Webisodes are a hit so they can follow them up with something bigger.

[gopher65]

This board's namesake is most definitely science fiction, but routinely devled/delves into comedy and parody.

I know that this is something of a minor semantic argument, but Science Fiction isn't the same as Science Fantasy.

1) Science Fiction takes place in a universe were all the laws are exactly the same as ours, and the technology is an extrapolation of what we either have or know can exist. Note that this isn't the same as saying "Hard Core Science Fiction". In true hard core stuff things like aliens can't exist, and nor can anything that can't be shown to exist today (ie, the technology should not only be an extrapolation of what we have today, it has to be a reasonable extrapolation of what we have today). In regular scifi aliens can exist, as long as their structure is technically possible.

2) Science Fantasy takes place in a universe with different laws than ours, with technology and situations that are either known to be impossible, or are thought to be likely impossible under currently established physics. Almost all of the shows and movies that are labelled scifi are actually scifa instead. Star Trek, Star Gate, Star Wars, Farscape, and on and on. All Science Fantasy, not Science Fiction. This genre is similar to its cousin Magical Fantasy, except that the "magic", and magical breaking of natural laws, is achieved via technology instead of spellcasting or supernatural power.

For some reason people sometimes use the two terms interchangeably, and it's confusing.

[AvatarIII]

I know that this is something of a minor semantic argument, but Science Fiction isn't the same as Science Fantasy.

1) Science Fiction takes place in a universe were all the laws are exactly the same as ours, and the technology is an extrapolation of what we either have or know can exist. Note that this isn't the same as saying "Hard Core Science Fiction". In true hard core stuff things like aliens can't exist, and nor can anything that can't be shown to exist today (ie, the technology should not only be an extrapolation of what we have today, it has to be a reasonable extrapolation of what we have today). In regular scifi aliens can exist, as long as their structure is technically possible.

2) Science Fantasy takes place in a universe with different laws than ours, with technology and situations that are either known to be impossible, or are thought to be likely impossible under currently established physics. Almost all of the shows and movies that are labelled scifi are actually scifa instead. Star Trek, Star Gate, Star Wars, Farscape, and on and on. All Science Fantasy, not Science Fiction. This is similar to Magical Fantasy, except that the "magic" and magical breaking of natural laws is achieved via technology instead of spellcasting or supernatural power.

For some reason people sometimes use the two terms interchangeably, and it's confusing.

i sort of agree, but trek and gate i would say are sci-fi, however both contain a mcguffin to create plots (being warp and the gate) then those plots evolved giving new things that can only be speculated.

lexx for example involves vampires at one point. and is more surreal. gate and trek are rooted in reality by their very concept.

[bliv]

Seeing as Firefly doesn't last long, I suggest the X-Files next.

Easily one of the stronger scifi shows and deals with a lot of issues everyone can relate to through strong character development. On top of that it is one of the few shows apart from SG-1 where they can totally deviate from the main storyline and produce wonderful stand alone episodes.

[Morbo]

i didn't really think of it because I guess I assumed all normal people already watched The X-Files, and Star Trek, but if you haven't, please make sure you watch them.

[aquagirl]

1. Firefly
2. Heroes
3. The 4400
4. X-Files
5. Star Trek - all of them
6. Sliders - but only the first 3 seasons
7. Eureka
8. Jericho
9. Sanctuary
10. The Twilight Zone - the first series

My top ten for you.