SciFi tends to be (what I consider to be) fucking bad.

[Terminal Blue]

It just tends to be poorly made (production value) and my dislike of space enhances it rather than help me to get over it.

So you're talking entirely about film and TV, right? Okay, I'll get behind that.

Still, this one isn't so hard to figure out is it?

Science fiction and fantasy generally require some kind of indication that they're set in the future and/or an alternative reality, respectively. This means a lot of things which cost money (constructed sets, elaborate makeup, animatronics, CGI if you're feeling lush or old school visual effects if you're not) to fill in the blanks. This costs money which most science fiction which is generally a strictly genre thing with a limited fanbase, doesn't have.

If what you're arguing that Science Fiction needs a stronger focus on good writing and acting over visual effects, I agree. Too many plots come down to completely arbitrary McGuffins or painful allegories for current events which are then completely robbed of any meaning because they have to be solvable within a film or an episode. Too many actors are basically reduced to playing amateur dramatics because of the perception that science fiction can't deal with emotion (or, if I was being less favourable, because the writers are such geeks they can't understand it).

Seriously, though. Have you seen 'Children of Men'? It's (in my opinion) a near perfect example of how to make science fiction relevant to current events without being heavy handed.

Also, Blade Runner is totally still worth watching.

In other news. Someone really needs to make a contemporary film of 'I have no mouth but I must scream'.

 

[sharpe95th]

I tend to agree, but in the sense that 90% of every genre tends to be a bit shit. I can't stand Dr Who or Star Trek or STar Gate or any other of those boring preachy noncey shows but I do enjoy the Alien series, Star Wars, Judge Dredd, Life on Mars (the proper British series, alhough if you're an American I guess most of the cultural references to 70s Manchester might be lost on you...), and plenty of other Sci Fi stuff so don't go hating on a whole genre cos most of it's shit, most of everything's shit!

 

[Da Orky Man]

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Red Dwarf, Star Trek, V, X-files, Code Geass, V for Vendetta, Stargate, Dr Who etc.
The reason that sci-fi seems to have a larger percentage of crap is because sci-fi fans are generally nerds. Nerds tend to gravitate towards science and technology, and most sci-fi is far on the soft side. Try finding a good, hard sci-fi universe.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Sci-fi is generally a extremely ambitious genre to start with. It requires a lot of money to get it to look right, and most Sci-fi shows have been relatively low budget. But there are loads of good sci-fi things out there! Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy FOR THE WINNNNNNN!

 

[StBishop]

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

I've never heard of it, care to give some background?

How has no one mentioned Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy yet?

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Probably because I was discussing tv shows and people tend to follow that train of thought. I did enjoy the first book. I'm yet to read the rest or watch the film.

i realise this is probably mostly about Tv scifi so i'm shoced someone is surprised the qualities lacking but how about some more antiquated science fiction from the realm of literature.
the Time Machine, Frankenstien, 1984,Brave New world or twenty thousand leagues under the sea.
also the old film adaptations of all of most of these are excellent (i lovethe old time machine film)

Same as above, I don't mind a little lit from time to time. I actually own Frankenstein, 1984 and plan on buying the rest of the books mentioned. But I think I'll do so sooner at your recommendation.

You not liking Science fiction doesn't make it bad just like a person not being able to enjoy a rom com don't make the genre shit.

As discussed, I don't think SciFi it's self is inherently bad, just that it tends to be really shoddily made.

Thus, tends to be bad.

snip

eh, fair enough. There is one space series which might interest you, as it's main focus is on a small ship and it doesn't tend to make much of the "space" thing; firefly.

As for sci fi films, try district 9 (if you can ignore the largely immobile giant alien ship, which it is fairly easy to), daybreakers (vampires with a sci fi edge), and pitch black's giant ship crashes within the first part of the movie, all on foot from there.

I liked Serenity, I might give Firefly another shot.

District 9 was awesome, so were both of the Movies about Riddick.

I'll look into Daybreakers.

I'm actually getting a really long list of good shit to check out. I wasn't expecting this much of a response.

 

[Vault101]

It just tends to be poorly made (production value) and my dislike of space enhances it rather than help me to get over it.

There just tends to be a very home made feel about it, watch Star Gate and then watch Fringe. There's a massive disparity between (what I consider to be) one of the best made Sci Fi shows (Edit: Fringe) and what I consider to be a pretty much standard production value Sci Fi show (Edit: Star Gate) , I don't mean that everything needs great effects or what ever, Quantum Leap is an example of something I consider to be "well made", especially for it's time, I just expect the sets and acting to seem organic.

So with that in mind, prove me wrong. Give examples of well made, and especially non-space based, good Sci Fi shows.

PS. Inb4 Doctor Who. I don't really like it and can't be bothered getting in to it.

EDIT: For clarity! Thanks Jadak.

shows....how about red dwarf (its a sitcom so you can excuse bad production values)

movies on the other hand....

Moon is a fantastic sci fi film AND its somwhat low budget/independant

 

[Sparrow]

Firefly, represent! The show is short enough that it won't eat your time but long enough that you won't feel underfed. To top it all off, there's a film of it too! Winning.

How has no one mentioned Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy yet?

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Probably because I was discussing tv shows and people tend to follow that train of thought. I did enjoy the first book. I'm yet to read the rest or watch the film.

It's a TV series too, y'know. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_%28TV_series%29]

 

[floppylobster]

TV shows are by their nature low budget and are often rely on characters rather than their science fiction premises to pull them through an entire season. Having said that Battlestar Galactica and Caprica were pretty good, intelligent sci-fi. And they actually used science fiction premises to really explore things of human nature (not like some of the other 'sci-fi' you mentioned which use science fiction to explore their character's nature).

However, when you're ready to graduate to great, adult science fiction (and I don't mean adult in an R18 way, just the level of maturity required), then you'll need to watch -

Solyaris [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069293/]

And

Stalker [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/]

And of course 2001 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/].

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

Moon.

Ninja'd.
Such a good movie. I, too, hate sci-fi. But Moon is just fucking amazing.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

seeing as no one else is following the rules... Cowboy bebop. its in space but its clever, well written, everything is well designed, the music is a beatiful mix of blues jazz and folk with some excellent voice acting and is a much better study of a mismatched group of boutny hunters than fire fly and much more subtle in saying "yeah its influenced by westerns". and it ends something most tv sci fi shows can't manage which seems at the core of distaste for Tv sci fi. as well as this Cow boy bebop falls into none the anoying conventional pitfalls of modern anime rather taking them and zesting them wih a unique flavor. OH and its visually stunning having that muted retro animated look rather than the glaring bright pastels of modern anime.

 

[Gaiseric]

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

This. No space at all.

Plus Bruce Campbell.

edit: Alphas, Falling Skies, and Eureka

 

[elvor0]

Battlestar Galactica, the 2004 series. Fucking brilliant, me and my flatmates are rewatching it at the moment, it's a self contained narrative, so it's not like Stargate or Star Trek where they just come across new planets and stuff every week, the entire series is one continuous story. It's more of a social political drama than sci fi show, you could transpose the setting into modern day and it'd still work.

 

[kingcom]

I would also recommend my personal favourite sci fi, Babylon 5, though admittedly its as much space opera as it is sci-fi. Then again I really liked Stargate SG-1 so go figure, I cant really see how your saying its got low production quality, maybe in its first couple of seasons but thats the norm for most shows period until they get better control over their tech, get a longer production time and higher budget. Stargate only had 1 season where there was trouble and even then i saw it as very minor.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Does district 9 count?

It features aliens and future weapons etc and I found it thoroughly enjoyable.

 

[russkiimperial]

I can't speak too much for sci fi shows, but as far as other media there are plenty of excellent movies out there.

As I see it, there are two types of sci fi stories. There are some that use the sci fi elements to focus on telling a good adventure (Star Wars) and those that address deeper fundamental questions about ourselves (Tarkovsky's Solaris). You shouldn't need high production value in the latter, as the philosophical query is the real attraction. Take Star Wars prequels on the other hand. Great production value but there was really nothing at it's heart and soul to keep it together.

Blade Runner, on the other hand, manages to have both quite flawlessly. Recall that it's based on a book titled "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Damn, I think I'm gonna go watch it again.

 

[ACman]

I only got two word to say "Red Dwaft". Ok yes it set in outer space but it is much more than a comedy than SciFi so thay may help you get into watching it.

I've heard of it, but nothing about it. Any comedies that it's similar to which you could name?

Any British comedy?

Or you could just watch it.... Below.



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQODcvvClMc&feature=related[/youtube]

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Blade Runner, on the other hand, manages to have both quite flawlessly. Recall that it's based on a book titled "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Damn, I think I'm gonna go watch it again.

Yeah, the film is based off of the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F]. The book's ending is a lot weirder than the film for the record, but it doesn't really count as a Philip K. Dick novel if there isn't at least one weird point in the book.

@StBishop: Minority Report was also based off of a Philip K. Dick short story [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_%28short_story%29], so it may be worth checking out some of his other books/ film adaptations [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#Films] as well if you liked that. Just remember the whole weird thing about his books. Because they are really weird.

Also if you want something more lighthearted, check out Eureka [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796264/] (sometimes known as A Town Caled Eureka). Really entertaining non-space related Sci-fi.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

I'm going to ignore the space bit because that's a matter of opinion and I think maybe you might be old school sci-fi if one of the best examples is "Quantum Leap". It's a fairly DECENT sci-fi but if I defended the sci-fi genre, that would NOT be my pick for an example.

Good sci-fi in my opinion consist of:

Eureka
Heroes
Warehouse 13
Battlestar Galactica
Gundam Series (ALL OF THEM)
Macross
Outlaw Star
Teknoman
Ghostbusters


all great sci-fi

ps: if you liked Quantum Leap, I'm willing to bet Mork and Mindy is somewhere on your list as well. It's a good series, but still......

 

[Uszi]

I think that the "homemade" feel is pretty much a hallmark of SCI-FI. I mean, take it or leave it.

My favorite sci-fi movie is still Virus [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120458/]:


I challenge anyone to watch that movie and not have an awesome time.

 

[mighty_honour_korea]

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

I've never heard of it, care to give some background?

It's a sci-fi Western from the 90s starring Bruce Campbell. Brisco County (R. Lee Ermey) is a famous law-man who spent his career trying to round up all the members of a notorious gang led by John Bly. On their way to prison, they prisoners escape and Marshal Brisco County is killed. His son, Brisco County Jr. (Bruce Campbell), is hired by a group of robber barons to recapture the gang and bring them to justice. While investigating the Bly gang he comes across an object with supernatural powers known only as the the orb. As the mystery unfolds, Brisco finds out more about the orb and how it relates to Bly, his father and his own destiny.

It's a pretty humorous show, quite campy and very tongue in cheek. There's also a little alternate history thrown in there, for example, Brisco befriends a scientist who invests the first rocket engine and the zeppelin.

It's a pretty fun show and as far as I know it actually did quite well when it originally aired, it was just far too expensive to continue producing.