"Which was your favourite?" Topic

Best ever? Babylon 5.

Other faves: Farscape for kookiness, sheer fun and originality. Firefly for the same reason, as well as being hard SF (somewhat).

Loved the new BSG, until the characters started to chafe and I frankly stopped caring about the story. The Cylons obviously Had A Plan and I couldn't be bothered to get past Starbuck's tiness and mad-at-her-mom issues to find out what it was. The obvious Americans-in-space-ness of it also rankled. Suits with ties? Hoo-rah? What happened to Egyptians-in-space?

Star Trek – there's a lot of it, but it takes itself way too seriously.

Stargate – very good, very watchable. The Americans-in-space-ness of it is actually justified and makes it believable.

Dr. Who – because it is awesome and funny and clever. The sheer British-in-space-and-time-ness is summed up by a flying police call box and a complete lack of weaponry…

Honourable mention: Jupiter Moon. Nothing ever happened, but that's because it was the most Hard SF series on TV (prebreathing before an EVA, even).

BSG Tricia Helfer
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oops wrong thread

>>Star Trek – there's a lot of it, but it takes itself way too seriously.<<

Elucidate.

Not particular to making "best of" lists generally, but maybe Babylon 5 might be ever so slightly above its peers for me. Farscape and Firefly are also sterling stuff in my book tho the latter was so very truncated that it's not fair to compare to the others really. It neither lived up to its potential nor yet had time to squander it.

1. Firefly. I have the DVDs (and the Serenity DVD) and the more I watch them the more I like them.

2. Babylon 5. Though I have to confess that this series did not stand up to repeat viewing so well. I think it was the nature of the story arc and that secrets being revealed was such an important part of the story. The balloon felt a bit flatter the 2nd time around.

3. Battlestar Galactica, though the story went off the rails late in its run. The first couple of seasons were wonderful. I was glad to see it retold as the original always seemed silly to me (except for the Cylon warriors).

It has to be mentioned for me that Star Trek TOS and Dr. Who "lit the fire" so to speak. (FYI, Tom Baker is "The Doctor" to me cause that's when I discovered it ).

I should also mention that 2 silly TV series from the mid 60s really got my attention even before that… "Its About Time" (ran one season, 26 episodes from 1966-1967) and "Lost in Space" (ran 3 seasons, 83 episodes 1965-1968). These 2 shows primed a small boy for future nerdhood. Oh, and when I was 8 or 9 years old my father took me to see 2001. I don't remember much but my father says I was glued to the screen the entire time.

First three seasons of B5 top the list for me. Well thought out, executed, with some really memorable characters and some unforgetable oneliners.

Next, Firefly, mostly because what was done was absolutely excellent, but also because it was so short-lived. We never experienced the inevitable downward spiral, just the rise to the top.

BG was good and essentially had all the elements of B5. But it also made me want to slit my throat… Most depressing story I have ever experienced, with possible exception of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.

Honorable mention – Space Above and Beyond.

I find it impossible to give an overall favorite. So Here is my list in no order.

Firefly – Purely great all around
Full Metal Alchemist (not entirely Sci-Fi, but amazing) – Impossibly compelling characters, I actually cried a few times, which is a bit odd for me. The whole story is well written and wrapped up into a very nice and fruitful ending.
8th MS Team Gundam (which all you Mecha fans better watch) – A brilliant short series, very personal despite huge robots, written in a way to make you actually care who lives and dies.
Eureka Seven – A great series, just all around fun and excitement.

Yeah, that's a decent start.

Earth2 anyone?

Minondas…

"BG was good and essentially had all the elements of B5. But it also made me want to slit my throat… Most depressing story I have ever experienced, with possible exception of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever."

Well said about Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.

Glenn M when I listed Gundam as my #3, I can say that because I have seen every thing Gundam. Gundam Unicorn being the only exception.

Star Trek is large, to say the least; so many incarnations, some good, some bad. For this reason I choose to ignore it for the rest of it, but I loved the recent movie and TOS, though TOS was more of a comedy to me.

Firefly is the best out of BSG and Firefly, though I like both quite a bit. Firefly, to me, is perhaps the greatest show of all time; only a few episodes and a movie, and it did so much that it even gets in these discussions. BSG has had multiple seasons, and overall was really good, but occasionally it slowed down and the characters felt weak for some stretches. Firefly may have never had the chance to have a weak episode, but thats no reason to not like it.

"They say life here…began out there, far across the universe…"

Original BSG for me, especially Saga of a Star World.

Also, Fullmetal Alchemist, for the same reasons as Glenn M listed (sans ending, since I am referring to the manga/new series).

And for more silliness: Japanses Tokusatsu(special effect) shows, like Godzilla, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider Kiva.