This would be mine too - it's the one series that I've actually been back and re-watched multiple times, and I've gone back to the books too.
In contrast to others comments I'm not sure I want any more seasons of it. I loved the current set but it feels like it ran its course and I'm not sure I need anything more.
I would do unspeakable things for more stories set in the Expanse universe. The TV series should at least get another season or two in order to catch up to the last two books and I think it would be great if the authors/showrunners could explore some of the side plots more fully.
Agreed! I would absolutely love them to finish off the story. The show does such an incredible job of developing deep characters and a generally realistic world, I always try to recruit new fans when someone asks for a recommendation.
Also, if you haven't checked into it yet, The Expanse video game from Telltale is a prequel with Cara Gee returning to once again be the voice of Camina Drummer!
They did, but they're back. Probably not many of the same people, if any, so it remains to be seen if they've still got it, but the Expanse game looks awesome, and who can resist playing as Drummer? :)
Space: Above & Beyond. I thought it had some interesting ideas that were never given a chance to be fully explored.
Babylon 5. It's probably up there as #5 in your top 4, tbh.
Planet of the Apes. 1970s movies and TV series.
Space: Above and Beyond was well ahead of its time, one of my favourite of the raft of mid-90s sci-fi that followed the success of TNG and early X-Files.
Space: Above & Beyond was also a classic network bait and switch where they were X-Wing pilots until the budget ran out, then they were the A-Team in space.
Yes, yes, something about "every Marine a rifleman" but still, teenage me was underwhelmed.
Babylon 5. It's probably up there as #5 in your top 4, tbh.
For anyone considering watching it for the first time, I strongly recommend the Episode Guide. B5 came out in a unique time, where techy people were on usenet, but the wide internet wasn't a thing yet. The writer J. Michael Straczynski was on Usenet discussing the show and answering questions, and the episode guide integrates that, so you can read along after each episode for an idea of the questions that came up at the time and his answers, without spoilers.
Arrival presents some good philosophical questions, and does so in an interesting setting. The top questions are:
How does language affect our perception?
If you knew your fate, would you still do things the same way?
As such it's qualitatively a good Sci-Fi film. Should it be ranked as one of the best? I don't know, and honestly I don't care, because such rankings are always subjective.
So, I think if there's an issue with Arrival, it's the whiplash of using a hard[ish] sci-fi structure to address the first question, then zoom straight into the second. We're given a pretty solid, small story about how we might plausibly handle first contact, and specifically the linguistic aspect of it, but the truth that comes out of it is that it was language itself which is the key to transcending space and time, and all so we can ruminate on the philosophical equivalent of "Should we love our pets when we know they live shorter, smaller lives than us?"
It's quite the flex for the movie we were watching, and feels a little unearned. There was definitely a little bit of "I'm stoned and this is deep". As a dog owner, I at least appreciate that the answer was "yes," LOL.
I do still think it's good and it was very well done. Many movies wouldn't even be worth this discussion.
Philip K. Dick is famous for saying 'reality is that in which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away.' Languages, perceptions, are still materially beliefs and changing beliefs doesn't change reality. I wanted to see HOW the language allowed you to perceive time and it never got there.
I wanted to see HOW the language allowed you to perceive time and it never got there.
Interestingly enough the short story on which Arrival is based on, Story of Your Life, goes a bit into this. I'm not going to spoil it because it's super cool.
It's not about perception changing reality it's the other way around. The movie is a meditation on the Sapir Worf hypothesis, that the structure of language literary changes how you perceive the world.
I don't think some pseudo science jargon about tachyons in her delta waves would have enhanced the story. The how isn't important, what matters is the way it changes her life and how she deals with it. It's an exploration of the Sapir-Worf hypothesis but given more of an emotional tinge. I also loved the design of the aliens and the way they living outside linear time affected their culture and personalities.
I don't think some pseudo science jargon about tachyons in her delta waves would have enhanced the story.
Its not. It doesnt try to give a hard science explanation, it gives an explanation of perspective that offers actual insight. Ted Chiang doesn't write hard science fiction, but it's very well thought out science fiction, imo.
If you like Ronald D Moore's other work (a lot of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Battlestar Galactica reboot) there's a good chance you'll like For All Mankind. In my mind it's the Star Trek prequel show we should have had.
I think this might be a truly unpopular opinion, but I could not get into the expanse at all. Just never got invested in the characters enough to stick with it. I've retried watching it 4 times due to everyone recommending it, kind of given up now!
Also the latest star wars films killed any interest I had in star wars.
If you are least made it past s1e4 CQB then you gave it a solid shot. That episode imo is where you either pick it up and like it or move on. The first 3 episodes can be a bit slow and introduce so many characters.
I heard this, and so I think I get to episode 4 or 5 drop it and then I leave it too long, try and watch it all again but I've seen the first 4 episodes too many times.
Don’t feel guilty but as an example I love the BSG remake. But when I introduce somebody to it I suggest they watch 33 if they can’t get through the mini series.
Yes it presumes a lot but it gets you into what’s going on without hours of setup in the mininseries.
With out the “miniseries” you go in without any context as to what’s happened to humanity, no? Like, doesn’t the miniseries set up Roslin as president and explain her cancer? Without details like that I would just be confused going into “33”.
Absolutely. So I suggest the mini series first. But if they came back with “it was so slow… I couldn’t get through it” then I suggest 33 as a “taste” of things to come.
No sure about outside the UK, but in the uk the full battlestar series including miniseries is on bbc I player. Worth taking a look to see if you can access!
Usually it’s included alongside the bluray editions. I’m not sure if it’s included on Peacock (the only streaming platform that has BSG). Also, it’s not really “miniseries”. It’s more like an extended episode zero that sets up all the characters going into main series. Honestly, IMO, it’s critical for maximum enjoyment of the early series.
I wrote up a watch guide for the series over on /m/bsg:
I'd heard it was a bit hard going until episode 5 so I always try and get to that point but I don't think I've got past. At this point I've rewatched the first episodes too many times
Unpopular? Yes. Wrong? I don't think so. I finished The Expanse and at the end I didn't feel like it added anything to my life but I didn't hate it either. There was definitely some standout moments but I would not rewatch it.
Interesting! I've only ever heard people sing it's praises, so I've definitely felt in the wrong for not loving it. Someone else suggested the books so I might try reading them instead of going for the 6th rewatch
Opposite experience actually. I found the books really derivative.
My spouse and I read the first one and DNFd the second. It seemed really derivative, covering the same ground as Cj Cherryh’s Company Wars but not so nearly well done. We were late getting into the show because of that, and couldn’t believe how much better it was onscreen.
You're valid. It took us a couple tries before we really got into The Expanse.
As for Star Wars, we stick with the Dave Filoni shows now. If I may suggest, try a Clone Wars rewatch with a viewing order that emphasizes the story arcs. That's what brought me back to Star Wars, and I hated the sequels and the prequels.
Thank you, I appreciate the star wars watching suggestions! I'm more of a trekkie but there are elements of star wars I love, they just became less and less with the latest films!
I have had the same experience with Star Wars. I really liked the older movies (even though they are objectively bad) but after watching ep. 7 and reading about eps. 8 and 9 my interest just vanished. It just went sour for me somehow.
I would say that while the show does a fantastic job of bringing the books to the screen, it misses the interpersonal intimacy that makes the book series so fantastic. The plots are cool, but at its core, The Expanse is really about its characters. If you like to read or listen to audio books, I HIGHLY recommend them. A big part of where the show fails, is it was impossible for them to tell the story and also deal with the internal dialogues of each character. In the books, every chapter is told from the point of view of a specific character, so you get to know their inner thoughts and feelings on an extremely personal level.
This is one of those series where I will tell someone that if they read the books and enjoyed them, they would enjoy the show - and vice-versa. That said, if you didn’t enjoy the show for the reasons you stated, and you’re willing to give it a go, I think you’ll probably enjoy the books.
The books are great. Show does a good job moving the intrigue and conflicts to a screen but man if Avasarala and Amos aren’t the absolute best portrayal of those characters.
Avasarala has a heart of gold and a fist of iron in equal measures.
This means she’ll do horrible things (even at her own expense) for what she believes is right and she doesn’t put up with any kind of nonsense.
And yet she plays the political game so well all while pretending she’s above it.
And the Shohreh Aghdashloo knocks the character out of the park. Every move and word both foul and sweet personifies the character in the book that it’s impossible to convey how absolutely masterful the performance is.
And Wes Chatham as Amos is a close second. A man whose moral code is simple because he’s broken, knows it, and so he defaults to “who is the most likely good person I can use as a guide.” Chatham portrays the violence is necessary like doing the laundry.
Turns it on, does the job, goes back as if nothing happened. Oh, I should do this instead? You got it boss.
Or how he conveys in the simple things how Amos feels there is a moral right but having grown up as he did it’s hard to know what that is and who has the authority to enforce it it just chefs kiss
What? Stop beating this guy? Ok. Sorry fella, buy you a drink?
And the Shohreh Aghdashloo knocks the character out of the park. Every move and word both foul and sweet personifies the character in the book that it’s impossible to convey how absolutely masterful the performance is.
I loved every moment she was on screen, totally captivating. Great costume design, script writing and acting all together.
All I can do is apologise, I really tried, so I'm going to chalk it up to a me problem. Desperate for a good Sci fi series as well, that's the most annoying part!
Loved Battlestar, Dark was great, too. Another Life Season 1 is just so, so bad, so if that is an unpopular opinion (I don't think it was) then it's one I share. Season 2 was a little better.
If you want to know the reasons I hated Another Life S1, this very long breakdown of everything that was wrong about it gets it right: https://youtube.com/v/UauWDakHQo0
Honestly bsg's ending wasn't amazing, it didn't end anywhere near as strongly as it started. But I didn't hate it and I was invested enough in the characters that I wanted to see what happened to them all. I also found the overall series, world building, characters etc. far out weighed the ending itself for me.
I often find endings to series, like got, are lacklustre. Finding a beautifully crafted series from beginning to end is so rare.
I guess that depends a lot on your perspective on narrative and the world in general
[SPOILERS], I guess, I don't see a content warning tool in this editor, but someone let me know if I'm missing something and I'll edit this.
I happen to be an atheist. Non-beligerent, definitely not an "internet atheist" type, but I just don't believe in a supreme power, so it's always jarring when a narrative thing ends on a note where they assume that of course in this years-long debate between mysticism and reason the figure matching the Christian deity is the right answer.
It's not even annoyance at there being religious people or anything like that. It's just in my world when somebody raises "well, it could be God intervening in our lives", that is obviously the wrong answer unless you're in a show where Christian mythos is explicitly established as a fantasy trope (say, Supernatural or Buffy or whatever). If you just spring that stuff on me in the finale you're already losing me, even before you use it as a plot device to deus ex machina all the garbage and loose ends you couldn't figure out during the show's run.
So yeah, I'll take "we'll make the omniscient hemiplegic kid kid and the cool dragon lady a nazi because the outline says so and we have better stuff to do than wrap this up" over "God hates robots and that's why all this happened, I dunno".
I am an atheist as well and I liked the ending. It isn’t supernatural, it just matches old cylon legends.
I’m currently rewatching and what actually bothers me is how the tomb of Athena works and all the plot holes and poor episodes. For example there is an episode where is a lack of metal just after they disable hundreds of cylon raiders. Also, the heavy raider taken back from Caprica is never used again.
Wait, how is it not supernatural? The show literally ends on a debate between two supernatural beings about whether the do-over current-Earth version will avoid repeating the cycle when their technology gets advanced enough. There is zero question that they're supernatural. The text says it outright. And it's not a hallucination or a fakeout or a technological artifact, we get an omniscient POV showing us this, it's not filtered by the views of a character.
Hey, I also wanted it not to suck, but the text is what it is.
I’ll have to keep an eye open for that when I get to that point. I mostly remembered the explosion before that which was entertaining, though unlikely.
I’m actually surprised how well it holds up on the rewatch. It is very good moment-to-moment but the plot is weak and badly paced and Baltar is not nearly as entertaining as the first time around.
@MudMan The thing that really pissed me off about the ending was that by throwing away their tech, history, and basically all knowledge they ensured that all the hard-earned lessons of their history and the course of the series were lost.
"All this has happened before and all of it will happen again"? Well, congrats, dumbasses, you just guaranteed that it will and the cycle will continue by ensuring that humanity won't have any opportunity at all to learn anything from all the shit it's just been through.
(The only way I can rewatch it is to pretend it ended just before Lee "Fuck Your Descendants" Adama breaks the future.)
But also, no, there is no guarantee that it will all happen again. Why would it happen again? Beyond the entire thing being the whim of a heartless omnipotent deity there is no reason why a whole sentient technoorganic species going full paleo would then rebuild themselves into two factions of mostly organic and mostly artificial lifeforms and trigger a galactic war.
That's extremely specific. They could also all die fromt he plague because they never stumble upon antibiotics instead. Unless more angels come to tell them to lick the heal fungus, of course, which is now a thing that could absolutely happen.
You really think I'd be over it at this point, and yet...
I dunno that I'd rank it worse than GoT myself but I did really hate that ending.
Honestly between Lost, BSG, and GoT I'm kinda burned on endings generally. I can't really think of a show that isn't a super short limited series that I'm like, that ending was great!
I honestly never watched the last season of the show, because I liked the book ending so much, and I knew the show was going in a different direction. But I haven't heard bad things about it like for these other shows, so I assume they did a good job?
It's so tricky isn't it, so I watched bsg and lost way past their initial airing and the hype and I found I didn't love either of the endings but I didn't mind them either. And overall I still loved the series and the characters.
I think in terms of long series endings maybe breaking bad?
Yeah, part of the problem for fans was that part of the slogan for BSG was "...and they have a plan". So when it became clear that no one had a "plan" for the plot arc, including the showrunners ...it was quite a disappointment.
That means you've missed out on Andor, which I think is better than any live action Star Wars (including, perhaps controversially, Empire Strikes Back)!
It's mature, deep, detailed, grounded, and very political. The characters and world are built up phenomenally, and it's much more contemplative in its pacing, and it definitely treats its audience as intelligent rather than beating them around the head with obvious exposition. It feels more like an HBO show than your standard Star Wars affair, frankly. And it works as a standalone, too - it's not just yet more Skywalker family drama.
Yes, this!! 100% The writing is SO tight, the characters are well developed, acting and music are on point. Perhaps most surprisingly, Stormtroopers actually feel like the they're supposed to be.
Oh my sibling in Xenu, Andor is mandatory viewing if you have any love for Star Wars at all, but ESPECIALLY if you love Rogue One. It is absolutely incredible.
You know how OP said 2001 was pretentious nonsense? That's how I felt about Andor. It was actively bad, and I struggle to see all the praise it gets as anything other than Morbius level trolling! It was badly written, badly plotted, was trying to be about three things at once and didn't do any of them well, and was about six episodes too long. It's what really turned me off Starwars!
I'm not trolling. I honestly thought it was utterly awful on pretty much every level people seem to praise it for and cannot understand why anyone liked it! The first three episodes should have been one, the next three should have been two (and I would have started with them and had the first arc as a flashback), iirc literally nothing happened in the 7th episode except for the last two minuites when he was arrested for arbitrary and stupid reasons, then next two episodes were just messy, and then I gave up because I had been told "oh it all comes together at this point" too many times and it was just making me angry.
I mean okay accusing it of being Morbius levels of bad might have been a troll, it wasn't as bad as Morbius (but few things are) but it was nowhere near good, let alone deserving of the praise lauded upon it!
I've always loved anything Star Wars that didn't really involve Jedi. The universe is incredibly diverse and interesting, and cutting out the light side vs dark side trope most star wars content is centered on lets writers make really interesting characters and situations. Like in Mandandolrian the scene with Bill Burr confronting the Imperial officer that spearheaded the Burning Khan massacre was just fantastic, regardless of it being star wars.
Like in Mandandolrian the scene with Bill Burr confronting the Imperial officer that spearheaded the Burning Khan massacre was just fantastic, regardless of it being star wars.
Bill Burr crushed that entire episode. He showed acting chops he's rarely had the chance to flex before, honestly. The guy is so self-deprecating in his humor, almost aggressively so, that it's easy to miss his talent. Heck, I did, and for a damned long time.
My unpopular opinion is that I don't like space operas. I'd rather read pages of explanation of technology and world building. I don't care that the star princess in exile has to assemble a rag tag bunch of fringe worlders to take back the throne from the cruel council of the galactic core. How dat engine work tho?
Yeah, I initially thought it was a kinda silly premise of a guy being hit by a bus and turned into an ai to explore the universe, but Dennis Taylor really hit it out of the park.
Seriously most of these stories might as well be written by AI for how original they are. I am trying to read scifi and fantasy for the originality that just doesn't exist. Authors will even accidentally add great ideas to the books on background characters or in random world details and do absolutely nothing with them. They instead will repeat the most generic trope driven story every. They might aswell be plagiarizing for how little their stories add to the genre at least then I could just throw their book away without trying to read it.
Seconding Three Body Problem for interesting setting/plot/actual fictional science.
It will subvert your expectations more often than not if you've gotten tired of modern scifi tropes. It takes a lot of time to chew on what the ramifications of certain events would be to society, and it manages to include one of my favorite mystery plots in all of literature.
Some people dislike the really hypothetical scifi elements but imho they serve an important and interesting narrative role. They're responsible for creating the unique technological climate in the books.
It's not for everyone, but if that sounds good then by all means I recommend it. It's a totally unique setting and style compared to western scifi that asks and tries to answer some very compelling questions.
Children of Time is a must read. I also like Children of Ruin even though it was dangerously close to a rehash. Children of Memory was good too but really stretched the premise. I liked it in spite of getting very close to space opera with the built up cast.
I'd also recommend Diaspora. It's about post humanism where humans have split into a few factions: fleshers genetically manipulate the human form, gleisners are human consciousness uploaded into robots, and citizens who are uploaded (or generated) consciousness without a physical form.
Popular-unpopular opinion - Space opera hits a lot of tropes that have been constanly re-told since ancient Babylonia and Greece, and people like when a story hits familiar beats.
Unpopular-unpopular opinion - Worldbuilding is important for the story to be grounded and coherent, but if there is no story to be told atop of it you end up with a catalogue of author's personal anthropological and technological obsessions.
I definitely agree. I just end up dropping off of series after the second book because I'm off to other worlds. I don't begrudge people who want more of what they like. To each their own.
Also, I'm a hypocrite because I find a lot of Kim Stanley Robinson's stuff too dry because there's not enough character building for me.
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis - got just the right amounts of science and fiction, drama and comedy, campiness and self-awareness, and is the reason I got interested in physics and programming. Undomesticated equines could not remove me from another rewatch.
I miss these series so much, and really wish they would've continued with SGU, but I think it was ill-fated due to the timing of the series. It was really getting it's legs in season 2.
Stargate was such huge part of my childhood! To this day I remember almost every episode of the original SG1. Atlantis ran on cable which we did not have, so the first time I saw it was later on in my adulthood. Sure, Star Wars, Star Trek, Expanse and BG are all great, but man, SG1 will always be my absolute fave.
Honorable mention goes to Farscape - what a ride that show was!
Yes! I loved Farscape, too, although I was able to only watch one season - but I'm planning to fix it soon. I just recently realized the reason I loved Guardians of the Galaxy so much, is because it reminded me of Farscape - mostly in costume design and team dynamics.
Another, modern show worth a mention, is Travelers, from the same creator as Stargate. Much more serious in tone, grim, even, but still extremely engaging.
"The line "I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum" was ad-libbed by Roddy Piper. According to director John Carpenter, Piper had previously written the line in his notebook of potential verbal bits during his wrestling career. He shared the notebook with Carpenter, and they agreed that this particular line fit the character and the film perfectly. Piper went on to use it at a wrestling match." (from IMDB)
Yeah, now that I think about it, if you described Truman show to someone that has never seen it, they would have to think it was sci-fi. But it's done so well and plays so close to the realm of possibility that I've never really considered it sci-fi...
Whatever it is, it's brilliant.
All great picks. Forbidden Planet trips me out because young Leslie Nielsen, as a dashing leading man, in a non-comedy role is just wild to see heh. The plot is fun and the effects actually hold up really well for the age.
Fringe is an excellent show. It begins really episodic, like old school Outer Limits and early X Files. But by third season you're knee deep in a mind-bending larger story arc that absolutely rocks. The finale stands as one of my top 3 series closers. It expertly closes out the show with deep character resolution. And the show as a whole doesn't fall prey to the Lost Mystery Deficit. Mysteries are resolved, and there's great callbacks in final season to the mysteries of season one and two.
Furthermore, the cast is excellent. Joshua Jackson. John Noble pulling off Walter White levels of excellent acting and character change (you'll recognize him as Denethor from Lord of the Rings), and heck, Leonard Nemoy is in it.
If you love sci-fi, you can't go wrong with Fringe.
I really like Raised by Wolves, but I think it had a couple of things that actively helped it get cancelled.
Mother was essentially an omnipotent suped up terminator in a post-apocalyptic world. She was too powerful from almost the beginning of the show. There was no room for an antagonist. They attempted to neuter her by hiding her power source, but they would have had to destroy the source to make it work. Also, she was obsessed with keeping that power, so she wouldn't give it up willingly.
Both Mother and Father were supposed to be androids, but they both displayed emotional extremism in opposite directions of the spectrum. With growing anxiety over AI, I think the whole feeling robot schtick is going to be less popular for a while.
Gotta disagree with your assessment about AI and feeling robots being less popular. I think we're going to see a rise in those, only the AI/robot is going to definitely skew more 'evil'.
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