Battlestar Gallactica

[Handlebar]

Season three is finally out. It's been a great series and look foward to season three. A friend referred Babylon 5 too.. anyone else have some good series to recommend..??
Hbar

[Klownschool]

Glad to hear season 3 is out. I can highly recommend Lost to you. One of the best shows to be on TV ever IMHO.

Rick

[Alaric]

The Firefly series is no longer on the tube , but for less than thirty bucks you can have the one and only season-a bargain at twice the price. Seriously , I got mine for $21 and wouldn't sell it for $100.

[m4rz]

I second firefly...probably one of my all time favourite - great writing, great acting, and storyline

[Handlebar]

Have Firefly and would agree. Wished they never pulled it. Also watched Serenity.. the follow-up movie to firefly..
Any comments on Babylon 5..

[Arkay]

Battlestar Galactica was great in the original series, and the modern remake series ain't so bad, either. I liked the Cylons more when they all looked robotic, but the new human-clone Cylons make for some interesting story lines, too.

Babylon 5 was one of my favorites, too. I had a request in to the local used-CD shop for well over a year before they finally found me the first (only?) three seasons. I always had the feeling that the last season was rushed and put together from incomplete parts that should have been part of a much longer story. I suspect that the decision was made to cut the show short --that is, end it after a certain number of additional episodes that were fewer than originally planned, so they re-jiggered what they had to cobble it into some semblance of a finished show. Other than that disappointing aspect, it was an excellent show.

There is also a semi-remake series based on "Star Trek" called "Enterprise". Some people don't like it, but I enjoyed it. Picked it up on DVDs for peanuts at a flea market, and bought that way it was some of the best bang-per-buck media entertainment I've ever found.

[Damage]

The one and only Doctor.

[prisoners]

I absolutely love the new Galactica!

[bre's dad]

Enterprise: had promise but failed to deliver. Many blame Rick Berman for the collapse of the franchise, which would be supported by the fact he's got nothing to do with the new Star Trek movie coming out this Christmas (A JJ Abrams film for those Lost or Cloverfield fans out there.)

Babylon 5: To date my favorite scifi series, except for the new Galactica. It was orginally designed as a 4 year series with a definite beginning, middle & end. Season 5 was pulled out of the air and wasn't too good, lacked direction. The spin off series Crusade was promising but unfortunately were killed off due to creative disagreements. After Sci-Fi Channel picked up the rights to it, many thought Crusade would be revived as the options for the actors hadn't run out yet. They tried their hand at a new series, Legend of the Rangers which the pilot movie was a bit cheesy on the dialog, but was promising (remember how bad and cheesy the first few seasons of STNG were til it found itself?) but was dropped when ratings were low due to some damn football game. But given how Scifi Channel any more seems to just churn out sub-B level crap its probably a good thing. There was a movie released about a year ago called Babylon 5: The Lost Tales which wasn't bad, but not real great either. What partially made B5 good IMHO was it had a dark alomst hopeless feel to it. Human tech was far more primative than other races, main characters had depth and somoe died along the way. It didn't have that happy go lucky feel that most off the newer Star Trek shows and Stargate SG-1 had to where usually everything would be ok and you knew it. Very good writing for its time, still one of the best shows made.

This is one of those that you almost have to watch from the beginning. If you try to pick up in the middle of season 2 or later, you'll not undestand some of what's going on. Aside from 5 seasons there are also a hand full of excellent movies. The first 5 are available (the 2 hour pilot also) in a box set with the later 2 (Legend of the Rangers & The Lost Tales) available separately. Crusade is also out on dvd, all 13 episodes.

Battlestar: not much needs to be said about this. I think part of its success is from it used alot of the same formulas as B5. My only complaint is how Scifi Channel has been handling it. They've got a highly successful series on their hands and act like they donn't know how to hendle it, showing a half eason here then waiting almost a year to air the rest of it. I've heard many rumors that they will wait til 2009 to air the second half of season 4, trying to stretch it out as much as possible. That was flaoting around BEFORE the writier's strike. Also, Ron Moore has confirmed that SciFi Channel is definitly picking up Caprica, a prequel series leading up to the creation of the Cylons and the first Cylon War.

Other noteable series: Doctor Who, Stargate SG-1 (10 seasons, 2 movies with a 3rd on the way later this year), Stargate Atlantis (season 5 premiers this summer), Star Trek Orginal Series (it has been rereleased with completly redone special effects. very cool), Eureka.

[mpdhrd]

I'll put another check mark next to Firefly. I loved that show and it sucks that it was cancelled by the network because they wanted to go to One Tree Hill type night time teen drama garbage... only to have networks realize there IS a market for primetime sci-fi shows just a few years later (Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Gallactica, Terminator). Imagine how good Firefly would be with 3-5 years of development... Take Serenity's many storylines and stretch that into 22 shows instead of 90 minutes.

[cfranz]

Serenity. Blake's 7, Dr. Who, Babalon 5 (MUCH better then Battlestar Galacta).

Favorite quote from Blake's 7:
Vila: Why don't you go?
Avon: You are expendable.
Vila: And you're not?
Avon: No, I am not. I am not expendable, I'm not stupid, and I'm not going.
Gan: I'll get the guns.

[Glen B]

Originally Posted by Arkay

Battlestar Galactica was great in the original series, and the modern remake series ain't so bad, either. I liked the Cylons more when they all looked robotic, but the new human-clone Cylons make for some interesting story lines, too.

I preferred the original Battlestar series and its robotic Cylons to the remake. After the first 2-3 episodes of the remake I stopped watching. I just could not warm up to the show.

[soundmotor]

Farscape started out rough and just got better & better. Fan revolt when cancelled got one final movie that tied up loose ends fairly satisfactorily. Great cast that worked well together, not unlike the following:

Firefly (Just goes without saying!) Still cannot believe it has not been picked up in some way, shape, or form by Sci-Fi or another concern. I'm fine with straight to DVD episode releases; in fact, I'll pre-buy a years worth!

More please; please?

[soundmotor]

Originally Posted by Glen B

I preferred the original Battlestar series and its robotic Cylons to the remake. After the first 2-3 episodes of the remake I stopped watching. I just could not warm up to the show.

I did not like the remake pilot. I pretty much just went "Pffft!" to it. About a year went by and I rewatched it subsequent to the series launch. It was way better than I remembered and by the 3rd show I was hooked. Pretty much that way all the way through. I got over Starbuck being a woman; she truly kicks ass! The new version went places the other could not go and now it looks more like "Lost In Space" to me than the new version which should be titled "Running From Certain Doom With No Chance In Hell". It's on its last season now and you might beg, borrow, or steal the preceding seasons & see the whole composition. Not every episode is good but some are truly chilling......"All this has happened before......"

BOOM!

[m4rz]

Yeah I would agree on Babylon 5. A number of years ago they reaired the entire series while I was in school, so I got a chance to watch the whole thing.

Another series that I really liked, was Stargate SG1.

And I also have to second the Eureka Series...love the comedy side.