Best SciFi Series of All Time? Vote Here!

[Ragzus]

Stargate if you are going to watch it, its not too hard to pick out some shitty unrelated episodes but some episodes have stuff used later even though they aren't great and once the ball gets rolling the interaction between the characters like in TOS makes any plot more tolerable.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

Stargate if you are going to watch it, its not too hard to pick out some shitty unrelated episodes but some episodes have stuff used later even though they aren't great and once the ball gets rolling the interaction between the characters like in TOS makes any plot more tolerable.

Well, everyone has bad days, yes. Thing is, SG1 (And gate in general) never really made any pretentious claims about being super-smart or anything. However, they were generally much smarter than they needed to be for what they were doing. They didn't insult the audience.

Secondly, it and Firefly (Which kinda' doesn't count) are the only two shows I've seen that capture the swashbuckling feel of TOS.

And, yeah, the shows' internal continuity and callbacks were pretty exceptional.

 

[Springer]

The first season of 24 did this well too – it initially only had 12 episodes, so they planned out those episodes, with a way to finish the story early if necessary (Gaines would have just told Jack the story before Jack killed him). But in subsequent seasons it was clear they didn't really have much of a plan. Hopefully the new mini-series coming up next year will be more focused and tightly plotted because they have fewer episodes.

Never actually watched the show. Should I check it out? More to the point, what parts should I specifically avoid?

Yes. The first season is surely one of the best seasons of television ever. What B5 did for SF and The West Wing did for political dramas, 24 did for the action thriller. Acting, scripting, direction, cinematography is all top notch. Subsequent seasons can't quite as consistently match the quality of the first season and some seasons have a bit of a lull in the middle where you can tell the writers either aren't sure where to take things or are treading water a bit (seasons four and six in particular, but both those seasons start very strongly and end strong) and occasionally you have to suspend disbelief and run with things, but the only season I would say was poor was season eight and even that has its high spots.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

The first season of 24 did this well too – it initially only had 12 episodes, so they planned out those episodes, with a way to finish the story early if necessary (Gaines would have just told Jack the story before Jack killed him). But in subsequent seasons it was clear they didn't really have much of a plan. Hopefully the new mini-series coming up next year will be more focused and tightly plotted because they have fewer episodes.

Never actually watched the show. Should I check it out? More to the point, what parts should I specifically avoid?

Yes. The first season is surely one of the best seasons of television ever. What B5 did for SF and The West Wing did for political dramas, 24 did for the action thriller. Acting, scripting, direction, cinematography is all top notch. Subsequent seasons can't quite as consistently match the quality of the first season and some seasons have a bit of a lull in the middle where you can tell the writers either aren't sure where to take things or are treading water a bit (seasons four and six in particular, but both those seasons start very strongly and end strong) and occasionally you have to suspend disbelief and run with things, but the only season I would say was poor was season eight and even that has its high spots.

So are you excited about it coming back as a miniseries?

 

[Springer]

So are you excited about it coming back as a miniseries?

Yes I am. Hopefully the time away will have helped the writer's learn from previous mistakes and it will come back leaner and meaner, avoiding the usual 24 cliches. Setting it in London will be interesting from my British point of view and from what I gather the story was all worked out before filming began so hopefully it will have a planned arc this time rather than making it up as they go along as they seem to have been doing in later seasons.

That was one of the great things about season 1 – they were initially picked up for 13 episodes so in those 13 episodes everything was planned out, the pacing is just right and not one scene is wasted.

 

[KoshN]

The first season of 24 did this well too – it initially only had 12 episodes, so they planned out those episodes, with a way to finish the story early if necessary (Gaines would have just told Jack the story before Jack killed him). But in subsequent seasons it was clear they didn't really have much of a plan. Hopefully the new mini-series coming up next year will be more focused and tightly plotted because they have fewer episodes.

Never actually watched the show. Should I check it out? More to the point, what parts should I specifically avoid?

Yes. The first season is surely one of the best seasons of television ever. What B5 did for SF and The West Wing did for political dramas, 24 did for the action thriller. Acting, scripting, direction, cinematography is all top notch. Subsequent seasons can't quite as consistently match the quality of the first season and some seasons have a bit of a lull in the middle where you can tell the writers either aren't sure where to take things or are treading water a bit (seasons four and six in particular, but both those seasons start very strongly and end strong) and occasionally you have to suspend disbelief and run with things, but the only season I would say was poor was season eight and even that has its high spots.

You're recommending him watching the perils of Kim and wifey? BTW, to this day I can't stand that damned ringtone.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

That was one of the great things about season 1 – they were initially picked up for 13 episodes so in those 13 episodes everything was planned out, the pacing is just right and not one scene is wasted.

American shows are generally signed to a minimum order of 13 eps, with an option for a "Back 9" to bring the season up to 22.

Increasingly, high-concept shows like 24 or Dollhouse or Last Resort are written with the knowledge that they may not get another year, or even a back 9. So they tend to write 'em as if episode 13 was the series finale, or at the very least the logical end of a chapter. On the one hand, this is good 'cuz you get at least a SENSE of closure. On the other hand, it can kinda' make the shows seem rather stop/start/stop/start.

The wife and I are making our way through "Chuck" now, and episode # 13 of every year is a perfect series finale. Then episode 14 has to un-do the finale in some way, and then we just sort of muddle around for 8 more episodes while waiting for the story to really start back up again.