Sci-fi DVD Recommendations

[Matt123]

It occurs to me the last decent series I saw were Babylon 5, Firefly & Battlestar Galactica. And all three were a while ago now.

Currently my partner & I are watching True Blood, not Sci-fi but despite that a pretty good watch. But we are nearly caught up now.

In little ol' NZ we are a little behind the times, especially when it comes to good sci-fi tv. Anything new come out recently that might be worth picking up?

 

[sabredog]

Fringe

 

[Shonner]

Nada. Did you see the Sarah Connor Chronicles?

 

[Hemdian]

• Stargate: Universe
• Outcasts
• And, of course, Doctor Who

 

[Matt123]

I'll go googling , Stagate might be the one, but I haven't heard of Outcasts.

 

[leo knight]

A while ago I found season one of "Starhunter", a Canadian show from 2000, in Target for $5. It reminded me of "Firefly", even though "Starhunter" came first. So far, the series is set entirely in our solar system. The premise just screams "Traveller!" The main character is Dante Montana, a bounty hunter, who rents a salvaged, barely functional ship from his patron Rudolpho. The rest of the crew are his niece, Percy, a cute tomboy who's a wiz at fixing things, Lucretia ("Luke") a female security chief, and Caravaggio, the ship's AI.

There are a few continuing plot hooks. First is gene sequence recently found in some humans, which the discoverer called the Divinity Cluster. It seems ancient aliens tinkered with certain of our ancestors eons ago. Once activated, the Cluster gives those with it amazing psionic powers, but everyone so far has burned out in various fashions. One actually spontaneously combusted. A shadowy group called the Orchard is trying to exploit the Cluster for themselves.

Second is a band of space pirates called Raiders. The killed Dante's wife, kidnapped his son, and killed Percy's parents. Dante takes advantage of his travels, and contacts in the underworld, to search for his son.

At $5 for 22 episodes, I more than got my money's worth.

Here's a link to a website explaining the show:
http://www.starhunteronline.co.nr/

The "Starhunter Universe" tab has a nice concise description.

 

[sabredog]

Outcasts reminded me of Earth 2, only better thought out and more interesting. It did a good job setting up the feeling of distance from home and how alone the colonists were. Unfortunately the series was only 7-8 episodes long so just when it really gets going it just stops.

Earth 2 had an interesting premise but lost its way early on with too much soap and a stupid bad guy subplot.

You can also try Terra Nova but it is kind of wobbly after the first 3-4 episodes IMHO when it suffers from a lack of direction.

A BBC series, Survivors, was really good - sort of like Day of The Triffids but longer. And without killer plants, but it had the same rebuilding-humanity after an apocalypse feel that is pretty realistic and with really good characters.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

A while ago I found season one of "Starhunter"

Sounds shiny! I will go looking.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Maybe not what you're looking for, but how about Futurama? Red Dwarf? Comedy shows in a space setting.

Alphas is an X-men kind of show.

Falling skies is a current day earth dealing with an alien invasion.

 

[Mithras]

Stargate universe, no contest.

 

[madmike]

Hmmm

Almost no quality SF on TV currently;

A few of my favs over the last (almost) twenty years

Babylon 5
Stargate: SG1
Stargate: Atlantis
Andromeda (Seasons 1-3 only)
Firefly (about as close to Traveller as TV could get!)

 

[Cryton]

Hmmm. My all time favorites.

Farscape.
Eureka.
Babylon 5.
Firefly.
SG 1

 

[Shonner]

Firefly is about all there is. The rest are all just mediocre.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Alphas is interesting. Warehouse 13 is sometimes good.

 

[sabredog]

One more time: Fringe. I'm just sayin'!

 

[aramis]

Firefly is about all there is. The rest are all just mediocre.

Naw... Starhunter is just as good, albeit in a different way.

 

[Matt123]

Starhunter it is. 44 episodes of Canadian Sci-Fi goodness.

 

[Hemdian]

A BBC series, Survivors, was really good

There are two versions of this. The original was from the mid-70's and might seem a little quiet and understated now. After the initial episodes it focussed very strongly on the 'building a community' theme. The 2008 remake was more dramatic and layered in a conspiracy backstory.

I like both, in different ways, but the earlier version won't be to everyone's tastes.

 

[DangerousThing]

Hmmm. My all time favorites.

Farscape.
Eureka.
Babylon 5.
Firefly.
SG 1

I'd throw out anything related to stargate, but do you mean the anime "Eureka 7?" That was fabulous at times. I haven't had time to watch TV recently.

 

[Cryton]

No, I meant the Syfi Chanel series Eureka! Its just fun and a great mine for downside adventures.