Best Sci Fi Currently On Television?

A few months ago a friend recommended Farscape, and I started watching. The first season was flat, but the current season is absolutely amazing. So I started watching Lexx just because I had hope in TV sci fi. (I blame Voyager) I'll run a poll on this later, but I'd like to just throw this out: what is the best sci fi on TV? What do people like? Why? I like Farscape because the plot this season has been really interesting (and I even dig the device where the split the main char so they could have silly episodes interspersed with serious ones) and Lexx... well Lexx is just seriously bizarre: I love the wacky humor and terrible B effects. (thanks to everyone in Germany that recommended it. Wow! You werent kidding). Are there any other nuggets of joy out there that I'm missing? The scary thing is that the Sci-Fi channel has finally edged out Comedy Central and Cartoon Network on my Tivo for disk space.

Comments

Re:Babylon 5

[DoomHaven]

Hear, hear! Damned right! B5 is the best Sci-Fi TV ever. It is a series that can be watched from end to end several times in a row (all 110 episodes) and you will *still* catch something new, or understand some obscure bit of foreshadowing that originally you missed. I have seen the series several times over, and I still find myself finding new gems. The continuity of the series is great; my biggest pet peeve of ST:NG (my second favourite SF TV show) was how the events of the episode would only affect the crew for *that* episode, and would never affect them afterward.

As well, it is a very believable sci-fi series. The humans are not the most powerful race in existence. The future is dirty, dingle, and jerry-rigged; not some utopian paradise. The science is believable: Star Furies act as how spacecraft *should* act. And I love the space battles; just the little details like the space debris keeping the inertia, the way streams of pulse cannon fire missing missing hitting missing targets.

B5 is the premiere science fiction series. If you haven't watched it, and want to know how good it is without knowing anything of the story line, I would suggest watching "In The Beginning", the made-for-cable movie that relates the events of the Earth-Minbari war.

Farscape. No... lexx. No...

[rde]

Since B5 ended (am I the only one worried about the Rangers?) there've been three series that are not just good; they're great.
Lexx is great. Stargate has gone from okay to excellent. But far away ahead of them all is Farscape.
I don't know how much you Americans have seen, but I've been watching it on DVD and I'v seen up to about half way through the second series. It's taken a fairly old plot (old before Voyager used it) and the traditional format (individual episodes, occasionally two- or three-parters, the rare reference to previous plots), but managed to be truly excellent.
The reason it's so good? IMO, it's because it avoids cliches. On several occasions (I still haven't learnt), I've groaned as ten minutes into an episode it looks like it's going to be one of those ridiculous Trek episodes that make us all cringe. But I've invariably had to apologise (mentally, anyway) to the producers by the end of the episode.

It may not have all the strongest plot lines, but it avoids cliche. And that's a rare and wonderful thing.

Stargate SG-1

[coyote-san]

Stargate SG-1, based on the movie Stargate is original programming on Showtime, and syndicated a year later. The new Outer Limits followed the same approach.

The movie and early episodes were occasionally painful to watch as a writer tried to include some pseudoscientific nonsense, but they seem to have put that past them.

The benefits of Stargate SG-1?

• Excellent continuity, but with a good mix of new material. A welcome change from Star Trek, which alternates between total amnesia and years-long story arcs.
• Solid backstory. They have a USAF advisor to make sure the military procedures make sense - and even had a brief appearance by an USAF general on active duty. They do enough research into ancient cultures that watching the History Channel is surreal - all of the names are familiar.
• Sane technology. A lot of bad SF lets the technology dominate the story. Stargate SG-1 generally uses standard (or near standard) contemporary technology. Alien tech is rarely used by the SG teams, and aliens generally only use a handful of devices. No sudden solution to the problem by generating an inverse tachyon pulse or other crap like that.
• Strong characters. There's only a half-dozen major characters, each with well-defined roles (the four members of the team, General Hammond, and the doctor.) There's maybe a dozen recurring minor characters, each well-defined. There's no sense of having seen the same character a dozen times before, only with a slightly different forehead.
• Most importantly, a good sense of humor. Some of the episodes are deliberately over the top (Urgo), but there are also a lot of serious episodes with extremely funny, but totally natural, sequences. (E.g., the alien who constructed a new stargate in Sam's basement with hundreds of pounds of titanium(?), 7 100kW lamps,... and her toaster.)

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Re:Easy. Babylon 5.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for the amazing breakdown. I myself am a Huge Fan of this series, and was watching since GROPOS. It's a must-see. Infact, the only series to actually come close to its glory has been Farscape, but still has not beat it just yet.

Some good sites to go to for Babylon 5 information and discussion:
The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. A great reference source. It has THE most comprehensive episode guide for the series, it's movies, and its spinoff, Crusade. They Include a Synopsis, Notes, Comments from JMS, and other related information. The site also includes a B5 term encyclopedia, which can be beneficial for those who don't understand a term.
B5 Tech Reference. This site, while containing large amounts of fictional information, is a decent reference for anyone seeking information on the spacecraft of Babylon 5.
FirstOnes.com. While this is a shameless plug, If you want to talk with other babylon 5 fans, go there and visit the forums. You'll meet some interesting people from around the world. While it's primary mission has been abandoned (to raise the Babylon 5 Space Combat Simulator, Into the Fire, from the dead), it is being transformed into a source for everything Babylon 5. (well, that's the plan, at least =) )
Hyperspace Ship Guide. Another great reference page for the spacecraft of babylon 5. This has less fanfiction than Babylon 5 Tech, but less information as a whole. It has some great images, though.
The Down Below Sound Archive. This Page has a sound bite of just about anything you could want from this show. It's a great place to go if you want something along those lines.
Babylon 5: The place to be. This is another great site, loaded with 3D art and the models to make your own! Check it out sometime.
The Music of Babylon 5.. This is another great Babylon 5 Resource. It's webmaster posts various soundtracks from Babylon 5 on a regular basis. Most recently, the site had put up Battle Sequences A-F, the Sampler tracks for the music in Babylon 5: Into the Fire. Take a few minutes and listen to it.
The Shadow Information Office. A great page dedicated to correcting the popular belief that shadows are evil monsters. Rather, it shows that they have a very incolved culture, and exist for the sole purpose of assisting the other races. Check it out.

I hope these links are put to good use. There is a lot of information on the web. most of it bad. This should clear up some of that. Sanfam Out.