[Ciderhelm]

Over the last two years I've caught up on every science fiction show I missed over the years. I believe I've now seen almost every episode for the following: Star Trek: TNG, Star Trek DS9, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Enterprise, Andromeda, Firefly, Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica.

Stargate SG-1 is simply the most enjoyable for me, despite substantial flaws and some fairly terrible episodes. In fact, after watching Farscape and Andromeda, I came to respect it more once I recognized where SG-1 pulled it's later actors and actresses from.

My thoughts, for discussion:

• Star Trek: TNG was handled masterfully for the time it was produced. The acting was outstanding, particularly because of Patrick Stewart. Why I won't rank it at the top? Serious shortcomings in the themes, such as the diplomacy-over-battle premise. Even the warring races like Klingons were pussies.
• Star Trek: DS9 took itself too seriously. As I said before on these forums, this entire series is annoying and preachy, but you keep watching because you know there will eventually be big space battles.
• Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise were plastic. It is surprising that a fiction universe became less realistic over the years.
• Andromeda was very worth watching but it suffered from absolutely awful character development. Had it ended after four seasons I would have loved it. Unfortunately, the fifth season decided to cause all character progression from the first four seasons to reset back to square 1. Despite four years of saving the universe, apparently every single crew member stopped trusting each other and was put in a stupid alternate universe? Still, decent ending.
• Firefly introduced the rule of FOX television shows -- the better a show is, the more likely FOX will cancel it after one season. I am not a fanatic about this series because I'm not a fan of sci-fi equivalents of Westerns, but even w/o being a fanatic, I thought this was brilliant and refreshing.
• Farscape -- wished I had watched this years ago. This was probably the most enjoyable series from start to finish and the character development was rock solid. I'm very happy this ended where it did, because another season would have been bad. This is easily second place just for the awesomness of Scorpius.
• Stargate SG-1. I watched it over the years, then went back and watched it again and caught several episodes I missed. What did I discover? Complete respect for the work and an enjoyment that is still there. Richard Dean Anderson was flawless for his role. SG-1 has serious faults with storylines, most prominently when it deals with the shadow organizations on Earth (NID, etc.), that leave a scar on the storyline. However, when you successfully run a show for 10 years, you're going to get a handful of episodes that weren't great. Also, I most recently watched through Season 6, which I had entirely missed, and caught some episodes which were much darker than I expected (i.e. O'Neill getting repeatedly tortured and killed).
• Stargate Atlantis never struck me as particularly good and I particularly don't like tie-ins between the two series. Actors and actresses involved are either bad or poorly scripted. I'd like this series more if the Wraith didn't look like the marshmallow easter bunny I left in the sun too long. The last season picked up a bit.
• Battlestar Galactica is good. In fact, it's great. Unfortunately, I've enjoyed only one episode so far from Season 4, and I'm not really looking forward to the rest. I can only take so many social issues and social commentary before I find a show to be preachy, and, recently, the writers forgot that many of their viewers are looking for some action. Still, the Battlestar Pegasus saga and the first four episodes of Season 3 made every episode worth watching.

[Kazeyonoma]

but but but.... Boomer.

[Daavos]

Source: Ciderhelm ... Still, the Battlestar Pegasus saga and the first four episodes of Season 3 made every episode worth watching.[/list]

I've loved the series up until and including the first 4 episodes of Season 3. And then the show started to que itself for the shark jump which happened somewhere between the disturbing boxing match (watch a woman get punched around by the susposable moral character of the series isn't my cup tea) and when Bob Dylan speaks through the final five. All along the watch tower in outspace. I could bring myself to watch season 4.

[Evelaula]

Agreed on almost all counts.

Star Trek: TNG I watched for the first time earlier this year and loved it. Its aged so very well.
Stargate SG1: I too watched this entire show only last year for the first time. Loved it. Great settings. I'd agree with some of the bad episodes but thats just unavoidable.
BSG I simply love.
Firefly: I loved this so very much. I've watched each episode several times. And it has a huge amount of replay value imo.
Stargate Atlantis firmly satisfys my average week to week new sci fi demands

Havnt seen any of the other stuff, but i'll look into it!

[Pasucon]

The only sci-fi I've seen recently that I really enjoyed was a cartoon (excuse me anime) named Planetes. It's about garbage collectors. IN SPACE! Really.

[suesse_llane]

I've been going back over some Science Fiction as well. Here are some you've missed or haven't commented on. Many of these shows I watched when they were on when I was younger. Some are really goofy and don't seem that good anymore.
Babylon 5: Best SciFi show ever. End of story.
Earth 2: Rewatched this over the last month. Surprisingly good and not goofy at all.
SeaQuest: Cute but extremely goofy. Gets more stupid as time goes on.
Alien Nation (the series): (ok, this might be more of a drama than scifi) Extremely good. Wow! I really didn't expect this sort of quality from an 80s show. It mostly translates well into 2008, but sometimes you're like "wow this guy is so 80s."
Sliders: Watching this now. It starts out extremely strong, but I remember from when it was on that it goes to crap.


I agree on several points from the shows you watched. Andromeda seemed really good at first, but it made me sad to finish the show. This is something I HAVE TO DO with shows I watch. Even if they get really bad, I have to finish them.
I really enjoyed the story of Farscape. My only problem with the show was that some episodes were just absolutely complete crap. The show seemed pretty low budget, which only really amplified the crappy storylines when they appeared. I didn't mind this so much when I watched it because I watched on DVD, so I just poped in another episode, and it was amazing.
ST TNG and SG-1 were pretty good but not amazing. The problem with these shows is you really miss them when they're off the air, particularly when you step into a period of weak science fiction currently airing.

A new show you might be interested in is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Strong story arc with lots of action.

My feeling on BSG is that while it's ok, it's not great. The real value of the show is that it is extremely popular. I'd like to think that an extremely popular scifi show will mean that we'll get more new scifi show on television

[Ciderhelm]

I specifically didn't include Sliders, Terminator, and a number of other shows in favor of space operas. I accidentally didn't include Babylon 5, which I enjoyed, but I certainly wouldn't rate it #1. Maybe #5, behind SG-1, Farscape, BSG, and Firefly.

[Ciderhelm]

This season of Atlantis has started off well.

[Rak]

Watched Stargate: Continuum yet, Cider? It's not officially released yet, but it's around. I really enjoyed it - a lot more than Ark of Truth. Jack O'Neil ftw.

[Kazeyonoma]

way to necro Cider. gosh.

I need to watch more tv me thinks, g/f would like me better if i watched tv and talked then zoned out in front of the computer playing WoW/War3/D2 :X