Which Sci Fi show has the most interesting Universe?

[dscross]

I've been watching a lot of different shows lately, and I've noticed there are a number of Sci Fi shows that don't get enough props. My favourite Universe is actually Farscape because it's so varied and the aliens all look like you'd expect aliens to look and not just a variation of humans with a random bit of makeup. Plus everyone wants to kill each other, so that's always nice. And, you know, muppet-like creatures. Muppets make everything better...

What do you think? I might get some recommends in the process...?

 

[Hawki]

Much as I love Farscape, I can't give it the position of "most interesting universe," as said universe is painted in only broad strokes. As in, we learn about the Peacekeepers, scarrens, etc., but at the same rate that John does. Very good method of storytelling, but there's not much time devoted to worldbuilding in of itself.

Anyway, as to your original question, I'd nominate Babylon 5. Helps that it's my favorite sci-fi show, but I do feel that it's got the most fleshed out universe of all the sci-fi shows I've seen. You wouldn't expect that, considering that most of the show takes place on the titular space station, but over the course of it, we get a pretty good understanding of the show's major powers, the alien races and their cultures, the overall history of the setting, etc.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Anyway, as to your original question, I'd nominate Babylon 5. Helps that it's my favorite sci-fi show, but I do feel that it's got the most fleshed out universe of all the sci-fi shows I've seen. You wouldn't expect that, considering that most of the show takes place on the titular space station, but over the course of it, we get a pretty good understanding of the show's major powers, the alien races and their cultures, the overall history of the setting, etc.

Easily the best Sci-Fi t.v. show I have ever, ever seen. A pity it went out the way it did, instead of finishing up those last story lines.

And I'm going to second your choice. Out of all the Sci-Fi universes I've been to, I think B5 is probably the most fleshed out and enjoyable.

 

[Squilookle]

Oh, Stargate, easily.

It certainly helps when you have the entire gamut of Egyptian, Celtic, Greek, Chinese, Babylonian, Norse and Arthurian mythology to work with, and the way they are woven into the show is both plausible and well thought-out. Having a record setting 214 episodes to explore all these themes certainly doesn't hurt either

 

[Saelune]

Star Wars has some TV shows, so that.

 

[Hawki]

Star Wars has some TV shows, so that.

Sci-fi, not space fantasy.

 

[Saelune]

Star Wars has some TV shows, so that.

Sci-fi, not space fantasy.

I stand by my pick.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I like The Expanse, Dark Matter is also pretty good. For non human sci fi probably stargate.

 

[Trunkage]

Much as I love Farscape, I can't give it the position of "most interesting universe," as said universe is painted in only broad strokes. As in, we learn about the Peacekeepers, scarrens, etc., but at the same rate that John does. Very good method of storytelling, but there's not much time devoted to worldbuilding in of itself.

Anyway, as to your original question, I'd nominate Babylon 5. Helps that it's my favorite sci-fi show, but I do feel that it's got the most fleshed out universe of all the sci-fi shows I've seen. You wouldn't expect that, considering that most of the show takes place on the titular space station, but over the course of it, we get a pretty good understanding of the show's major powers, the alien races and their cultures, the overall history of the setting, etc.

Thirded. Like most other Sci-Fi shows, the characters start as a proxy for their culture. But they gradually form their own identity separate and take paths you wouldn't expect

 

[Thaluikhain]

Star Wars has some TV shows, so that.

Sci-fi, not space fantasy.

Copy and paste that for most people's answers for the rest of the thread, then.

 

[Ravenbom]

I like Farscape, but the first season is crap and the whole Scorpius in Criton's head... first it's madness, then an implant, then an alter ego subconscious... needing to cure Criton of it several times over is weak.
I do like it and love the Muppets/Practical effects and general madness of the plots. And Claudia Black. I'll play basically any game where she's a voice actor.


BUT, even though the Star Trek TNG universe is my personal favorite: hopeful future where learning about cultures and our cultural differences are explored in great detail (I was an anthro major in college, so that's also a bias)...
I'm gonna go to bat for the Brits, because no one has yet.

Doctor Who has all of time and space to play with but still has some great aliens that we'd never meet in any other show. The 10th Doctor (Tennant) seems to have the best mix of fun and adventure but 11th Doctor (Smith) also has fun, he just got more caught up in continuity and lame season finales that tried to make sense of entire seasons.

Red Dwarf has the universe I don't want to visit but most probably actually exists: space is full of nothingness. It's a weird comedy and you have to be into British comedy, then weird British comedy, and then forgive MST3K for basically ripping off Red Dwarf and adding crappy movies. Also there's a Kryten for you Farscape fans who miss Criton.

Which brings us to MST3K. How dare no one bring that up? Of course, I wouldn't want to live in that universe either, but forcing an employee to watch bad movies all the time is actually an "interesting universe."

 

[skywolfblue]

The most interesting universe does not necessarily mean most interesting show...

I love Stargate, Dr. Who, and Firefly to death, but those shows are 99.9% all down to how awesome the characters are. I love watching Jack O Neill snark at aliens, Dr. Who show his passionate excited little kid side, and Mal quip about how nothing goes as planned. Their universes are alright, but nothing great.

So I'll put down Dark Matter as my most recent favorite universe. I also saw Expanse which is similar, but I found the characters in Dark Matter much more endearing. Dark Matter is essentially a Firefly knock off, but one that I throughly enjoyed! The universe is one run by mega-corporations on the brink of war, this ship full of rogues gets offered odd jobs that always go wrong! Planets get blown up, wars get started, all in a days work.

I agree with Babylon 5 having a good universe. I found that show hard to watch with the graphics being so old, and the characters being acted badly (on top of the characters being WRITTEN badly). (With the exception of Londo and Gkar who were absolutely stunning in their roles!) But the universe is another story! The politics wraps you up and pulls you in.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

The gong goes to Babylon 5 for my credits. I love basically everything about it - though as others have said, Londo and G'kar pick up and run away with every scene they're in. I also have a soft spot for Delenn and Jeffrey Sinclair.


My God that woman is just something else......


And this is just hilarious.

 

[Hawki]

Not trying to be disrepaging, but I'm really surprised to see Dark Matter be nominated. I watched and enjoyed season 1 back in the day, but...well, I'll quote myself from back in said day. "Dark Matter has the better characters, Killjoys has the better setting."

And, yeah. I mean, from what I remember, there were vague references to the Galactic Authority, and the suggestion that corporations have quite a bit of power, but it always struck me as being a series more about the characters and a universe that's only really discovered at the same rate the plot is. "Humans are in space and do...stuff..."

Course this is just season 1, so does this change in later seasons? Or did I just miss stuff?

 

[Kyrian007]

Babylon 5 for me as well. I like that Humans are nowhere near the most advanced species in the galaxy. There's a weird conceit in a lot of sci-fi that humans are somehow "unique" or "special." Its refreshing to see a series that not only breaks with that trend by having us meet 1 other species that is equal or slightly better... but actually has humanity finding out that in terms of technology, evolution, and advancement we basically just fell off the back of a turnip truck.

Incidentally, it makes me kind of sad... going back and watching B5 now that so many of them are dead. It was already kind of nuts how many of them were dead but then in the last 2 years we lost Vir and Garibaldi. Add that to G'kar, Zach, Sinclair, Dr. Franklin, and probably a few more I'm forgetting... it seems like more of them are gone than those that remain.

 

[Saelune]

Star Wars has some TV shows, so that.

Sci-fi, not space fantasy.

Copy and paste that for most people's answers for the rest of the thread, then.

I expect more people will disagree with me than Hawki on this actually, here atleast.

I just dont watch alot of Sci-Fi besides Star Trek, and I find alot of flaws in Trek's universe primarily due to TOS's and TNG's Season 1-3's episodic nature.

Plus Star Wars as a setting really is super interesting and actually well put together.

 

[Kyrian007]

Star Wars has some TV shows, so that.

Sci-fi, not space fantasy.

Copy and paste that for most people's answers for the rest of the thread, then.

I expect more people will disagree with me than Hawki on this actually, here atleast.

I just dont watch alot of Sci-Fi besides Star Trek, and I find alot of flaws in Trek's universe primarily due to TOS's and TNG's Season 1-3's episodic nature.

Plus Star Wars as a setting really is super interesting and actually well put together.

Hawki is right, but I don't think you are wrong either. I've been a Star Wars fan for a long time and the fantasy element has always been my least favorite part of what it was. In the now-called "legends" era my favorite stuff was the specifically sci-fi aspect. The "star war" stuff sans lasersword-monks and evil wizards. And there was plenty of it. It seemed after the Disney takeover the focus shifted back to the elements I didn't like. But they are currently adding back in the more strictly sci-fi aspects of the story and I'm getting interested again.

 

[Hawki]

Concerning Star Wars...well, here's the thing. Sci-fi and sci-fa usually have at least some connection to the real world, no matter how tenuous that connection might be. Star Wars in its 'primary essence' (i.e. the films) is far more of a fantasy story. It starts off with this in the opening crawl ("a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" is a reference to fairy tales, just replace "galaxy" with "land"), has no connection with Earth or even our galaxy, and in its tropes (the Force, knights, swords, princesses, etc.) That's not to say that Star Wars can't rely on more sci-fi esque tropes, especially in the EU, but, well, I can't help but be reminded of how many fans disliked medichlorians, because it's introducing scientific analogy (mitochondria) to a previously mystic element. I wasn't put off by them in the same way, but I can understand the rationale.

To be honest, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from Kyrian, as I've always liked Star Wars the most when it's been using its fantasy rather than sci-fi elements. I remember one of the Republic Commando books I read by Karen Traviss (an author I've got very mixed feelings on), and while the book in of itself was well written, it didn't feel like Star Wars to me. Very heavy on military sci-fi and analogy to WWII paratroopers (by my reading at least), but these aren't the elements I enjoy Star Wars for (the fantasy/adventure/spiritual ones). For instance, I'm more charitable to the prequels than most, but my favorite Star Wars film is definately A New Hope, which is by far the most 'classical' Star Wars film, in both its story structure and style of film making. It's also part of why of the new films, I like The Force Awakens (more fantasy based) more than Rogue One (more sci-fi esque).

 

[Kyrian007]

To be honest, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from Kyrian, as I've always liked Star Wars the most when it's been using its fantasy rather than sci-fi elements.

That's the great thing about Star Wars, I don't think there's a "wrong" way to like Star Wars.

Oh wait, rule 34.

There's a lot of good reasons to like Star Wars. Its funny you mentioned A New Hope, it's my favorite as well. Mostly because at that point the force could still kind of be seen as some slight of hand, hypnosis, and increased confidence. And for all the grand fantasy stuff it came down to a space battle where a good pilot shoots an evil space wizard and a young but intuitively good pilot believed enough in himself that he made a tough shot (similar to ones he made dozens of times) in a high-pressure situation.

I think it speaks well to a show or movie or franchise that people can like it for widely varying reasons.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I think I absolutely hate/loathe Babylon 5 and Farscape. I say 'think', as it's probably been well over a decade since I last glimpsed their awfully cheap-as-chips brand of pulp sci-fi, so I may have a different reaction to it now. But back in the day my reaction was scorn/loathing/disgust/etc, and I've never understood anyone's praise for them, particularly B5.

Given the overlap with Mass Effect I am mildly curious to see what I'd make of it now, terrible acting and make-up [and sets, and not-so-special-effects] aside.

But I digress...

Limiting it to TV is kinda horribly restrictive, at least to me as that really only means I think Firefly is the most interesting universe by default. I don't tend to watch sci-fi on TV as it's a genre where a half decent budget is essential (or at least an exceptionally well used one), and good production design is a must - neither of which is at all common on the smallscreen.

So yeah, Firefly by default, as I like a lived-in sci-fi 'verse, and BSG's is a bit too grim what with the whole 'migrant fleet' existence (also, some weird/dumb religious stuff that doesn't really make any sense).

I gather The Expanse is pretty darn good, so I would like to check that out at some point.

That's the great thing about Star Wars, I don't think there's a "wrong" way to like Star Wars.

Oh wait, rule 34.

Psh, my Darth Talon folder says differently. Absolutely. Terrible thing, SW rule 34.