I hear Babylon 5 and The Expanse is nice, but I hear so little about those two shows I don’t know what to expect of these stories.
live action as animated recommendation is allowed.
Babylon 5’s is great if you like serialization. The first season is very weak due to a major health crisis in the principal character that occurred between the shooting of the pilot and the launch of the series. The story was adjusted so that a new station head and actor could take on the lead.
Farscape is an absolute gem and a wild ride. It really picks up after the first 12 episodes. It’s so incredibly influential on so many science fiction shows in the streaming era that it’s worth watching just for that alone. Be aware that the show was canceled before it could wrap up its full arc. A limited series was made later to wrap up the storyline — make sure you’ll be able to be able to get it.
I’m a fan of many of the old 1960s and 1970s shows but watching them really depends on your tolerance for older production styles and scripting. Space 1999 is worth tracking down for sure.
In terms of more recent shows, three serialized shows that involved time travel that actually stuck the landing are Continuum, Travelers, and 12 Monkeys. All are very good, with strong ensembles, but reflect the darker sci-fi trend of the 2010s.
Farscape had absolutely no right to be that good on a $4.99 AUD budget
I highly suggest the skip/watch list for Farscape so people don’t waste time on the filler episodes and mandatory flashback episodes.
Definitely a YMMV situation.
Many episodes that may be described as ‘filler’ are ones that have side adventures or character development. Farscape isn’t rigidly serialized. Just because it’s not moving the main plot narrative doesn’t mean it’s filler.
The flashback episodes are a scourge of that time period.
Stargate had these dumb episodes every season where they found some reason like a court martial to show us flashbacks in case we forgot or missed an episode.
The Orville is very good, as it also explores ethics and philosophy like Star Trek and has refreshing ship designs (for example, more vulviform or squid-like, instead of the usual saucer or phallic designs)
Orville is the most TNG since TNG.
There’s no greater ship than LEXX!
Babylon 5 is fantastic - I guess if I were to describe it briefly (and vaguely), it would be “interstellar political drama with mythological undertones.”
I’m here to recommend The Expanse. It’s more of a near-future dystopian scifi setting than Star Trek, with humanity petty much limited to our own solar system by technology. I read the books before the show became a thing, and I like them both.
I read the books before the show became a thing, and I like them both.
Because the books are great and the show is great I would actually suggest reading it all before watching the show.
Good call.
Here to fanboy over Babylon 5.
B5 is a political comfort show for me, especially these days. It was brazen for the 90s, with characters facing questions like: recovering from drug addiction, cross-cultural romantic relationships and their hurdles, colonization and genocide, bisexual representation, the loss of family members, and what to do if you’re a military member serving a regime that you hate. It’s deeply philosophical and mature, and it’s had a profound impact on my life.
It had the time to develop complex relationships between characters. One of my favorite characters is an alien ambassador named G’kar, played by Andreas Katsulas.
Andreas KatsulasHe was an absolutely brilliant actor. The world lost a treasure when he passed.
Babylon 5
Stargate SG-1
Farscape
bc i havent seen anyone else post it… Galaxy Quest!
If you want funny scifi but with a frequent emotional edge, Red Dwarf is fantastic.
Apple TV has had such an amazing run of good sci-fi lately
Silo, Foundation, For all mankind, Murderbot (honestly my favorite), Dark Matter, Pluribus
They are putting out a ton of great stuff.
Murderbot is fantastic and the Trek type show he’s obsessed with has actors who’ve been in actual Trek shows, it’s brilliant
Not sure if you’re actually wanting animated or not, but Scavenger’s Reign is a good animated sci-fi miniseries of a spaceship crew stranded on a strange planet.
For live action check out the two Callister episodes of Black Mirror.
The Callister episodes are exceptional. I’m usually iffy on Black Mirror, but my partner insisted I watch those and I loved them.
animated
I said I want animated series too since Avatar seems to be the only good western animation and it’s not even a sci-fi thing.
The Expanse is nice, but the later seasons left me disappointed.
Andor is top of my list still for good story mixed with sci-fi.
Did you watch SeaQuest? Worth a look.
I don’t know anything about Babylon 5. But just watch the expanse without knowing anything first season is a slow burn but the payoff in season 2 is well worth it. Some of the best scifi I’ve watched
Somebody’s got to mention Red Dwarf. It’s kind of like if The Office (UK) and Farscape had a baby and raised it on an old Dr. Who set.
The Two are nice. Babylone 5 could seems dated today but there’s some really cool things in it
I’m on my first watch of Farscape, so far so good, great puppets
Firefly maybe ? But Adam Baldwin and Joss Whedon are two very big asshole
“The Two” ?
Babylone 5 and The Expanse. This two. Don’t know why my keyboard capitalise « Two »
How dated is Babylone 5 compared with Deep Space Nine?
Hmmm. It depends
The production will feel dated, the set, the CGI but I think the theme are pretty modern
Coming back to add that, if you like character-driven stories, but have never thought that kaiju might be your thing, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters now in its second season on AppleTV might be for you.
The show takes place in the middle of the Monsterverse continuity that currently has the licence for Toho’s Godzilla monsters. It’s an entry point nonetheless. You needn’t have ever seen anything in this continuity or others to get into it.
It’s less focused on fighting Titans than on the mystery of understanding them, the weird science fiction efforts humanity uses to share a world with them, and most of all the characters whose lives are intertwined with the mystery.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Not big fan of Kaijus, I watch some recent godzilla movies and the the two which fights together with King Kong.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is very much more realistic in tone than the movies that take place later in the continuity, including the two you’ve seen.
It takes place before the earlier movie Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
It might be worth checking out even if kaiju aren’t usually your thing.
