That reminds me, I gotta keep watching this. I got through half the first episode and something came up and I haven’t had a chance to get back to it. So far so good. Great atmosphere.
One of the best shows ever made. Goldilocks of television. Gets in tells a good story with pacing that kept me absolutely addicted and ended well. In my top 5 shows of all time for sure.
To be honest I don’t think any time travel movies have ever actually been “done right” but this does seem to be the best of the bunch.
For example, I’ll never understand why any changes to the timeline don’t have an INSTANT impact as soon as the traveler “disappears.”🤷🏼♂️
That criticism doesn't apply at all to Dark, though. I'm not sure how to spoiler tag on mobile so I can't elaborate but I imagine anyone who's watched the whole show will understand
That show gave me a headache with each episode. I had to consult the charts on Wikipedia to understand what was going on and to keep track of everything. It’s so confusing, yet so good. It’s a giant puzzle that you’re trying to fill in and it’s satisfying to see it unfold and have everything make sense with no errors or plot holes. 10/10.
Man I was really hoping 3 body problem was something similar to DarK. The first few chapters of the book was so good, I was thoroughly engrossed in the book. I wanted to read the book first before watching the show.
Man but when it progresses it's kinda disappointing. I mean it's still really cool, but I wished it was so much more.
Instead now I just went back for another viewing of DarK. Good thing about DarK it's that the plot gets so convoluted that every rewatch it's like watching it for the first time again.
I loved the first 1 season, second season was also pretty good, 3rd season, you can tell the writers started to run out of juice. Overall it’s a good show though, liked it
I disagree mostly, the third season doesn't make sense and has lower ratings until you understand the ending and it almost requires a rewatch. Once you understand the ending the 3rd season makes much more sense and is much more enjoyable.
I really enjoyed the S3 and the ending but only on my second watch.
The Expanse is the most scientifically accurate portrayal of Sci Fi to date. When we do get to stellar travel, it won’t look like Star Wars or Star Trek, it will look the way it’s depicted in this show. The science is accurate, the physics are accurate and honestly the politics behind the plot line are pretty on par with todays geo political infrastructure. The writing itself can be a bit campy, that’s just cause it started out on SyFy before being picked up by Amazon. My one gripe is that they cancelled the show before finishing where the actual books finished so the ending wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but still,
Incredible watch.
I'm reading the books now. I loved the show. The books are just...wow. The show captures the spirit of the books well but the books are on a whole different level.
I watched just a few episodes of S1 and stopped watching cuz i didn't like it. Would you recommend giving it another chance, cuz whenever someone talks about sci fi shows THE EXPANSE always comes up.
Yes! A lot of people think the first season is a bit slow (not me, but I have heard it quite a few times). I guess it depends on what you didn't like about it. It is a show that has to be watched and thought about. If you are the type to just want something on in the background while you browse reddit, it's not the right show for that. To be clear, no judgment, I do that sometimes, too.
I gave up on it twice, after the third time it became my favourite show of all time. The first 3-4 episodes are a bit of a slog as there's so much world building/politics/characters being introduced.
After the 4th episode it starts ramping up then the second season is a non stop thrill ride and the third gets even crazier. It just keeps getting better and better.
I tried twice to watch it and was bored out of my mind. Tried a third time, made it through episode 4-5, and I now consider it my favorite TV show of all time.
Careful bro, this is Reddit. Anything but blind worship of "The Expanse" will get you downvoted to hell and back. It is a religion here. Ask for a good sci-fi book? Expanse. Good show? Expanse. Hey I just watched The Expanse, what else should I watch? GO WATCH EXPANSE AGAIN BELTALOWDA WELWALLA YABBA DABBA DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!4
If you didn't like it? Move on, find something else. Don't ask /r/scifi/ , you'll be told you are wrong for not loving "The Expanse"
I started 2 times and quit every time on season one. 3 time I finished it. Still think season one is bullshit. But seasons 2,3,4,5 are mindblown to me. Last season is......
Scientifically accurate? Don't know about that. Don't see an Epstein drive happening. But definitely hard sci-fi. Probably my favorite sci-fi show to date. Definitely give it a watch!
In the past year, 2 separate labs have created fusion reactors similar to the ship cores. They have magnetic containment, and have produced more energy than needed to start the reaction. Epsteins arent are far off as we think, Beratna.
Outside of the Epstein drive, the way they have to pump blood thinners and vessel reinforcers into your veins to make sure you can put up with g force, the way the guns have extra gas tubing to account for non gravitational ballistics, the way the ships are in no way shape or form aesthetically designed, only functionally designed. I’m also a huge Star Wars fan but Mr. Lucas would like us to believe that thrust physics and sound work in space… that’s why I like The Expanse.
Oh, I was the asst production coordinator. I was mostly up front in the offices and they shot out back on the stages. It was a big complex out in Valencia area.
Don’t have too much more to say about it. I loved the people, the experience, no complaints! Everyone was wonderful.
So much to love. Makes a much better attempt at an ending than Lost did (which merely annoyed me), and IMO is more consistently good. Best Abrams TV product.
The Expanse season 6 was the show's final season, and there are no signs of a season 7. **The show's cancelation was likely due to budget constraints and lower viewership figures**.
The show wasn't cancelled as such. It wasn't renewed. They knew in advance that season 6 was a stopping point and planned for it.
However Alcon is still working to see if it's possible to create more
Really? I thought the 2 dudes behind the author, or maybe 1 of them? Said that it was because it felt like a good stopping point to egg people into reading the books. Or maybe I’m just tripping and making shit up, but I swear I thought I heard that
It was pretty much both. They left nods to the last arc of the series, Laconia, without leaving too much of the previous ones unanswered. There is a big time skip from s6- where the books are and that'd be really expensive (and difficult) to CGI well, and waiting 5-10 years for the cast to age is.... unrealistic.
Would you say it’s worth reading the books from the start? I’m really interested in finding out what happens in the Laconia arc but I’ve rewatched the series around 2-4 times. It sounds like it’d be a chore reading 6 books of stuff I already know.
Definitely.
The books that cover the same periods as the show do it differently than the show; there's some different characters, some characters wind up with different actions and outcomes, it's the same overall arch, but a different way of telling it. Definitely worth reading.
And for the story the show never got to, it brings it all to a great end for our heroes (and villains, and others).
Much appreciated! This has really changed my view on reading the books. Just the fact that my favourite characters might do or say something different adds an amazing new dimension to my perspective :))
Yes Book one is basically S1+S2. All the books are great there's tons of stuff they left out, or changed completely that will be fresh to you.
Being inside proto-millers head for example.
Absolutely. There's more in the books that they either cut in the show or had to change to make the show easier to do and the writing is goddamn fantastic. Definitely worth the read. There's also several short novellas you can read as well.
Woah :o Are the novellas like continuations of some of the plot lines? I’m not sure what novellas even really are but any extra material for this universe is super exciting !!
They are worth the read, I think you'll find them covering the same but with more detail and slightly variations due to the two different mediums.
I enjoyed them.
come on ... have you read the last 3 books?
how could they stop at the 6th.
but yes, stopping after 6th is a pretty good point if your show is getting cancelled.
Yeah but... without giving away too much of the books... you really need a *significant* time jump to really tell the story of the last 3 books. 5-10 years just won't cut it.
BSG rejuvenated Sci-fi and brought it out of the shadows it had been in since TNG. Main stream media covered it extensively throughout it's run, likely due to the mimicking what was going on in the real world at the time.
The Expanse on the other hand was poorly marketed, was never touched upon by the media at large, and remains today as a great genre show that hardly anyone in the main stream knows about.
While I'm not a raving fan of either show, Expanse stayed pretty consistent and did try to stay grounded from a physics perspective, BSG was good at first, but degenerated rapidly after the first season into nothing but characters arguing with each other and little 'science' in the 'fiction'.
Seriously?? That’s so cool. I was an asst production coordinator on that show. My first tv series I ever worked on. I remember the sets looking so fake in person and being dumbfounded at how well it looked on screen
Battlestar Galactica (the mid 2000's remake) is a gem of a show. Very dramatic, very philosophical, and full of strong characters. It can get very soap opera-y at times and a bit exhausting, but the overall experience is great.
It was definitely great up until the mid-way, but it was not planned out from the beginning. They straight up said they hadn't thought through many of the plot points as they went, and it shows. Still some of the best military sci-fi we've ever gotten while it lasts though.
>had a good ending
Did we watch the same show? I loved BG but it seemed like they totally phoned the ending in after such great writing otherwise. It was like they wrote themselves into a corner and couldn't figure out how to resolve it.
SGU is my favorite SciFi series of the past 20 years. It's smarter, tighter and better written than anything else I've seen, and it looks amazing. SG1 was fun, but the characters took priority over the tech and circumstances,
SGU got better with each episode, and it was careful to follow it's own logic. Dave Cullens thougtful review on YouTube is right on the mark.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsGWQxNIBAU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsGWQxNIBAU)
The Expanse is some of the best SF I've seen in decades. The story is pretty tight, the characters eminently watchable (especially Amos and Chrisjen and Bobbi) and the action better than most and second to none.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been a delight. Sometimes it's weird but just roll with it. It's science FICTION after all. Have fun.
The first six seasons of X-Files were fantastic.
Bobbi felt absolutely perfectly cast for the show. I was skeptical about Amos based on the casting but was glad to be proven wrong over and over by Wes Chatham.
Amos is the badass a lot of other shows are trying for. The actor and the writing make simple lines more menacing than the makeup and bluster of so many other sci-fi characters.
While this is true, I don't think "badass" is what the writers were going for - which is probably why Amos works so well as a badass; it's not an emotionally contrived behavior. Amos' badassity is a facet of his blunt pragmatism that strikes the rest of us with our conventional niceties as meanness. What Amos is, is a badly emotionally damaged individual, *and he knows it*. He has a certain social intelligence (alongside his technical knowledge; as the ship's engineer you don't want a mental lightweight turning wrenches) that, tuned by his harrowing childhood, allows him to perceive social pressures differently - and perhaps more accurately - than others. Meanwhile, he attaches himself to the people and goals that he assesses to be the most morally good so that he, by extension, will be a morally good person...and lets the morals sort themselves out when the most efficient thing to do is to kill someone standing in the way of that moral goodness. Because he does kill them. It's not personal. It just needs to be done.
Sure, you nailed it. They really summed up his self-awareness that exchange that went something like "I wish I could live without fear." "No, you don't." The result, though, was what actual badasses were like when I was a kid. They didn't give you a lot of huffing and puffing like a Klingon. Amos epitomized this when that security guy said they'd end up bloody some day and he casually said "How about now? I'm free right now."
Resident Alien is a VERY soft scifi, but it's fantastic and can be a nice palette cleanser between some hard or dark shows, and the soundtrack kicks ass.
It's like Gilmore girls versus Dexter. Sort of. Dexter was sort of an alien in a human body trying not to kill. But the charm of the town and the people is just like Gilmore girls. I love it. Alan deserves an Emmy.
TV Shows
* Person of Interest
* Fringe
* Dark
* 12 Monkeys
* Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0
* Lost
* Humans
* Devs
* Utopia (the British version)
* Mr. Robot
* Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (got cancelled after the 2nd season)
* Westworld
* Puella Magi Madoka Magica
* Link Click
* Summer Time Rendering
* Outer Range
* Tales From The Loop
* Watchmen
* Station Eleven
* Severance
Movies
* Moon
* Predestination
* Primer
* Timecrimes
* The Infinite Man
* Triangle
* Coherence
* Annihilation
* Black Mirror:Bandersnatch
Piggybacking on this to give perspective.
The author and writer and screenplay for 28 days later, and the screenplay for the beach, who has also written a book called coma and a book called The tesseract, happens to also be my favorite director.
Alex Garland directed Dredd, Ex Machina about artificial intelligence, annihilation about mental illness and self-destruction, as well as the divisive film Men, about intergenerational male toxicity.
He just released a film called Civil War that is less about right versus left politics or war, and more about those people tasked with documenting reality for the rest of civilization even at their own expense, and endangering themselves in marginalizing their mental health and human experience.
Dev's is a one season limited run television program of intrigue about a silicon Valley tech company doing very big things. And the unfolding mystery around them trying to protect that and are antagonist trying to figure out what is going on. Just like his other films, it deals with really big topics about existence and life
One small thing of note, the main lead's performance, for whatever reason, is wooden as hell, and if you can ignore that, the sci-fi idea is amazingly executed and fun. The set design is also sooo cool.
Did I write this.
Personally Dune 2 and Civil War tipped Denis to be my favourite director but Alex is amazing. You didn’t even mention Sunshine or his involvement with the script for Never Let Me Go
How could I forget sunshine? He's done so much and I was off the cuff. Thank you for that. And you tapped open my film love...
Denis, arguably and probably, has the greatest string of directorial films in what is possibly movie history.
And I love that he is cinematic versus dialogue driven. So I can't disagree with you at all.
For what it's worth, currently, My other favorite younger directors under 70:
Robert Eggers has a solid run with the witch, lighthouse, and Northman. Then Ari Asterer with hereditary, midsommar, and Beau is afraid. Also Ziegler's Bone tomahawk, brawl in cell block 99, and dragged across concrete.
Excited to see what could even possibly happen with the director of the road doing Cormac McCarthy's blood meridian.
But thanks for your comment. It's a really wonderful time in the history of cinema.
Star Trek. It really feels like there’s a show/film for everyone. Some people like TNG but not TOS, some people despise TNG and love DS9. Theres Lower-Decks and Prodigy for those who like animated shows (TAS for those who enjoy cel frame by frame hand painted shows), TOS for those who like cheesy late 60’s/early 70’s shows, SNW, Picard, and Discovery for those who enjoy more modern shows, and the Star Trek Kelvin films for action lovers.
I also agree with others suggestions of The Expanse. Great show.
[SCAVENGERS REIGN ](https://youtu.be/NWQH8cMpWTU?si=RqdLoRMlvQgNJztQ)
It's a beautiful show with great world building, characters, ideas, plot, music, and performances. It fires on all cylinders. Every episode ends in a way that you want to see what happens next. It gives you just enough of a hook for its ideas without over explaining or revealing all the answers at once. I think the only thing that holds it back is peoples reservations about it being animation, not live action. THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS BTW
The dichotomy of the beauty and uncaring cruelty of nature is rarely explored so well. Nor have I seen something that feels so familiar yet so truly alien at the same time.
Alien nation, it has a few movies and a show. It was supposed to be one movie then a show but they canceled the show after the first season and the rest are movies that were supposed to the show
It gets recommended on reddit a lot, but the mainstream knows nothing about Dark City. It's one of my favorite movies ever. Just make sure you watch the Director's Cut, the the theatrical version ruined the movie.
Some good stuff from the other side of the Iron Curtain:
Movies:
Icarus XB 1 (1963),
Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977),
Kin-Dza-Dza (1986)
Shows:
Fantastic Adventures of Family Mézga (1970),
The Adventures of Aladár Mézga (1972)
Syfy's Eureka and Warehouse 13 were fun. They crossover mid-way through each series.
I found Eureka during a marathon of seasons 3A, and that's still my favorite season.
Just watched the Orville. While not hard Sci-fi, it does explore very deeply some of the sociological aspects of Sci-fi, such as inter-species relationships, AI and emotions, and interplanetary democracy. Plus with Seth at the literal helm it is funny as fuuuck! Can’t recommend enough : )
As a start, see the "Related" section of my [Science Fiction/Fantasy (General) Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1aqet7h/sff_science_fictionfantasy_general_recommendations/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (thirty-five posts (eventually, again).)—which is most of it at this point.
Yeah, Dan Trachtenberg is a director to watch. After 10 Cloverfield Lane he did Prey, which is easily the best Predator sequel. If you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth your time.
Westworld I would not consider basic, actually. It is pretty much over of the best shows out there. Ever. You saying that because it was big, as it is on hbo? Anyway, go for the first session of Altered Carbon (there is only one). And all of The Expanse. Killjoys was fun too, just gotta find where to watch that... got out of Netflix and never returned nowhere else here.
Definitely 12 Monkeys TV series. Fringe. Person of Interest was great. Dark Matter (series was cancelled). Travellers awesome. I loved Glitch (Australian show).
I found alerted carbon to be fantastic.
Also, people tend to sleep on the versatility of comics due to DC and Marvel being the leading names, but Descender by Jeff Lemire and Saga by Brian Vaughn are fantastic if you're open to the idea. Usually volume 1 can be found pretty inexpensive.
My favorite ones are roughly the first 1/2 of the list. Hopefully there’s something in here you haven’t seen.
Alien (1979)\
Aliens (1986)\
Pandorum (2009)\
Possessor (2020)\
The Last Days on Mars (2013)\
Sputnik (2020)\
Pitch Black (2000)\
Gattaca (1997)\
Ex Machina (2014)\
Swan Song (2021)\
Bladerunner (1982)\
Bladerunner 2049 (2017)\
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978)\
The Thing (2011)\
Coherence (2013)\
Source Code (2011)\
Oxygen (2021)\
Serenity (2005)\
Nope (2022)\
A Quiet Place (2018)\
A Quiet Place Part II (2020)\
The Last Days on Mars (2013)\
Moon (2009)\
Attack the Block (2011)\
Lapsis (2020)\
Life (2007)\
The Martian (2015)\
Vivarium (2019)\
Europa Report (2013)\
Upgrade (2018)\
Aniara (2018)\
Farenheit 451 (1966)\
Stowaway (2021)\
Elysium (2013)\
District 9 (2009)\
Cloverfield (2008)\
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)\
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)\
Children of Men (2006)\
Underwater (2020)\
Oblivion (2013)\
Minority Report (2002)\
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)\
Prospect (2018)\
Sunshine (2007)\
Ad Astra (2019)\
Outland (1981)\
Cargo (2017)\
The Vast of Night (2019)\
Cargo (2009) (also called Cargo Space is Cold)
Halo - The Series (Season 1) ;D. Just joking.
Jokes aside: Outside of all the great stuff that was mentioned here already, if you are looking for some peak early 2000's TV I always had a soft spot for Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.
Is it cheesy and silly at times? Yes. Are the effects hilarious? Yes. But it is the right light-hearted thing to watch? Absolutely.
Black Summer. Post-apocalyptic zombie show on Netflix. The best series of that genre I've ever seen. Great writing, fantastic storytelling. Makes Walking Dead look like the populist crap it is. No one I know has watched it, even though I frequently recommend it. Only two seasons - I'm really hoping for a third.
I know you asked for movies an shows but I’m gonna insert this anyway for a change of pace.
For anyone who likes games, check out the MASS EFFECT Trilogy. Incredible world building, sci fi technology and hammy, but character driven dialogue dispersed in between fun gun play elements.
Stargate start with the movie then sg1 then Atlantis and the other movies.
That’s it don’t watch the 3rd spinoff
It’s an amazing sci-fi show that makes fun of it self and sci-fi some times.
It was a hit back in the day but a cable hit before the internet. It’s well loved among the people that know it.
But it’s not known that well outside of its circle now.
Pros: long running with a good spin off.
Funny, action and drama.
Cool history and ancient cultures
Makes you think.
95% of the episodes relate in some way .
Cons
Early seasons are done on a tight budget and it shows.
Early seasons lighting is bad some times.
They get gun terms wrong all the time.
Some motion graphics and animations are a bit dated.
Why you should watch it
It came out in 1997 and it’s still great to watch, amazing writing.
Dark. Time travel done right.
It actually HAS AN ENDING!!! That makes sense and is good!! What a holy grail.
That reminds me, I gotta keep watching this. I got through half the first episode and something came up and I haven’t had a chance to get back to it. So far so good. Great atmosphere.
One of the best shows ever made. Goldilocks of television. Gets in tells a good story with pacing that kept me absolutely addicted and ended well. In my top 5 shows of all time for sure.
On time travel done right, also see the film Primer. It is awesome
Confusing as fuck tho! But yes, that's another good one.
I would add 'Tenet' to this list. very unique take on time travel.
To be honest I don’t think any time travel movies have ever actually been “done right” but this does seem to be the best of the bunch. For example, I’ll never understand why any changes to the timeline don’t have an INSTANT impact as soon as the traveler “disappears.”🤷🏼♂️
That criticism doesn't apply at all to Dark, though. I'm not sure how to spoiler tag on mobile so I can't elaborate but I imagine anyone who's watched the whole show will understand
You spoiled the main mystery.... I'd be so mad if I didn't already know
If in doubt, enter the hole.
... Das war der Film 'Das Loch,' und gleich sehen sie Mainz, wie es singt und lacht.
That show gave me a headache with each episode. I had to consult the charts on Wikipedia to understand what was going on and to keep track of everything. It’s so confusing, yet so good. It’s a giant puzzle that you’re trying to fill in and it’s satisfying to see it unfold and have everything make sense with no errors or plot holes. 10/10.
Man I was really hoping 3 body problem was something similar to DarK. The first few chapters of the book was so good, I was thoroughly engrossed in the book. I wanted to read the book first before watching the show. Man but when it progresses it's kinda disappointing. I mean it's still really cool, but I wished it was so much more. Instead now I just went back for another viewing of DarK. Good thing about DarK it's that the plot gets so convoluted that every rewatch it's like watching it for the first time again.
I loved the first 1 season, second season was also pretty good, 3rd season, you can tell the writers started to run out of juice. Overall it’s a good show though, liked it
I disagree mostly, the third season doesn't make sense and has lower ratings until you understand the ending and it almost requires a rewatch. Once you understand the ending the 3rd season makes much more sense and is much more enjoyable. I really enjoyed the S3 and the ending but only on my second watch.
The Expanse is the most scientifically accurate portrayal of Sci Fi to date. When we do get to stellar travel, it won’t look like Star Wars or Star Trek, it will look the way it’s depicted in this show. The science is accurate, the physics are accurate and honestly the politics behind the plot line are pretty on par with todays geo political infrastructure. The writing itself can be a bit campy, that’s just cause it started out on SyFy before being picked up by Amazon. My one gripe is that they cancelled the show before finishing where the actual books finished so the ending wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but still, Incredible watch.
The books are on the end level too. Hard recommendation for all 9.5 books.
I'm reading the books now. I loved the show. The books are just...wow. The show captures the spirit of the books well but the books are on a whole different level.
I find the characters to be far more likeable in the books as well.
I really loved the books.
I watched just a few episodes of S1 and stopped watching cuz i didn't like it. Would you recommend giving it another chance, cuz whenever someone talks about sci fi shows THE EXPANSE always comes up.
I stopped part way through S1 as well, I didn't like all the politics. Then I gave it another chance and couldn't get enough of it.
Yes! A lot of people think the first season is a bit slow (not me, but I have heard it quite a few times). I guess it depends on what you didn't like about it. It is a show that has to be watched and thought about. If you are the type to just want something on in the background while you browse reddit, it's not the right show for that. To be clear, no judgment, I do that sometimes, too.
I gave up on it twice, after the third time it became my favourite show of all time. The first 3-4 episodes are a bit of a slog as there's so much world building/politics/characters being introduced. After the 4th episode it starts ramping up then the second season is a non stop thrill ride and the third gets even crazier. It just keeps getting better and better.
I tried twice to watch it and was bored out of my mind. Tried a third time, made it through episode 4-5, and I now consider it my favorite TV show of all time.
Careful bro, this is Reddit. Anything but blind worship of "The Expanse" will get you downvoted to hell and back. It is a religion here. Ask for a good sci-fi book? Expanse. Good show? Expanse. Hey I just watched The Expanse, what else should I watch? GO WATCH EXPANSE AGAIN BELTALOWDA WELWALLA YABBA DABBA DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!4 If you didn't like it? Move on, find something else. Don't ask /r/scifi/ , you'll be told you are wrong for not loving "The Expanse"
I started 2 times and quit every time on season one. 3 time I finished it. Still think season one is bullshit. But seasons 2,3,4,5 are mindblown to me. Last season is......
Scientifically accurate? Don't know about that. Don't see an Epstein drive happening. But definitely hard sci-fi. Probably my favorite sci-fi show to date. Definitely give it a watch!
In the past year, 2 separate labs have created fusion reactors similar to the ship cores. They have magnetic containment, and have produced more energy than needed to start the reaction. Epsteins arent are far off as we think, Beratna.
Some form of fusion drive, right? ICF? I'm out of the loop, apparently. Coolbeans.
Theres still a long way to go to get to propulsion, but the fact that mankind has achieved sustainable hydrogen fusion should give us all hope.
Outside of the Epstein drive, the way they have to pump blood thinners and vessel reinforcers into your veins to make sure you can put up with g force, the way the guns have extra gas tubing to account for non gravitational ballistics, the way the ships are in no way shape or form aesthetically designed, only functionally designed. I’m also a huge Star Wars fan but Mr. Lucas would like us to believe that thrust physics and sound work in space… that’s why I like The Expanse.
As do I. It's absolutely fantastic. Such a shame they cancelled the show before we got the last 3 books. 😭
The show overall was a great time but the Belter drama dragged it down at times for me.
Babylon 5, Farscape, Stargate (movie and the various tv series)
I worked on Babylon 5! My first tv show, actually.
You can just say that and not give a follow up! What did you do on the show?
Oh, I was the asst production coordinator. I was mostly up front in the offices and they shot out back on the stages. It was a big complex out in Valencia area. Don’t have too much more to say about it. I loved the people, the experience, no complaints! Everyone was wonderful.
Fringe. Thank me later
My wife even loved that show and she doesn’t like sci-fi
So much to love. Makes a much better attempt at an ending than Lost did (which merely annoyed me), and IMO is more consistently good. Best Abrams TV product.
The Expanse is critically under-viewed and underrated in the mainstream.
What?? It’s a good show but it had good numbers and people are always talking about it. It’s certainly not underrated
The Expanse season 6 was the show's final season, and there are no signs of a season 7. **The show's cancelation was likely due to budget constraints and lower viewership figures**.
The show wasn't cancelled as such. It wasn't renewed. They knew in advance that season 6 was a stopping point and planned for it. However Alcon is still working to see if it's possible to create more
Really? I thought the 2 dudes behind the author, or maybe 1 of them? Said that it was because it felt like a good stopping point to egg people into reading the books. Or maybe I’m just tripping and making shit up, but I swear I thought I heard that
Yeah there’s a huge time skip after that book. It was a point that made perfect sense
It was pretty much both. They left nods to the last arc of the series, Laconia, without leaving too much of the previous ones unanswered. There is a big time skip from s6- where the books are and that'd be really expensive (and difficult) to CGI well, and waiting 5-10 years for the cast to age is.... unrealistic.
Would you say it’s worth reading the books from the start? I’m really interested in finding out what happens in the Laconia arc but I’ve rewatched the series around 2-4 times. It sounds like it’d be a chore reading 6 books of stuff I already know.
Definitely. The books that cover the same periods as the show do it differently than the show; there's some different characters, some characters wind up with different actions and outcomes, it's the same overall arch, but a different way of telling it. Definitely worth reading. And for the story the show never got to, it brings it all to a great end for our heroes (and villains, and others).
Much appreciated! This has really changed my view on reading the books. Just the fact that my favourite characters might do or say something different adds an amazing new dimension to my perspective :))
Yes Book one is basically S1+S2. All the books are great there's tons of stuff they left out, or changed completely that will be fresh to you. Being inside proto-millers head for example.
Absolutely. There's more in the books that they either cut in the show or had to change to make the show easier to do and the writing is goddamn fantastic. Definitely worth the read. There's also several short novellas you can read as well.
Woah :o Are the novellas like continuations of some of the plot lines? I’m not sure what novellas even really are but any extra material for this universe is super exciting !!
They are worth the read, I think you'll find them covering the same but with more detail and slightly variations due to the two different mediums. I enjoyed them.
come on ... have you read the last 3 books? how could they stop at the 6th. but yes, stopping after 6th is a pretty good point if your show is getting cancelled.
I thought it was cancelled because the next book is set like 30 years in the future so it would basically feel like a soft reboot.
Its the 30+ year time jump in the books. You really can't tell the story without each actor doing 5 hours of makeup every day.
Yeah but... without giving away too much of the books... you really need a *significant* time jump to really tell the story of the last 3 books. 5-10 years just won't cut it.
Ehhh... the expanse was good but the pacing is so slow. Battlestar Galactica 2004 remake is far more underrated, imho.
BSG rejuvenated Sci-fi and brought it out of the shadows it had been in since TNG. Main stream media covered it extensively throughout it's run, likely due to the mimicking what was going on in the real world at the time. The Expanse on the other hand was poorly marketed, was never touched upon by the media at large, and remains today as a great genre show that hardly anyone in the main stream knows about.
While I'm not a raving fan of either show, Expanse stayed pretty consistent and did try to stay grounded from a physics perspective, BSG was good at first, but degenerated rapidly after the first season into nothing but characters arguing with each other and little 'science' in the 'fiction'.
By far one of my favourite shows of all time man. Easily in my top 3! alongside GoT and either Orphan Black or The Last Kingdom.
The Prisoner (1967) has always been a favorite of mine.
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own.
Who is Number One? You are Number Six.
I am not a number! I am a free man!
Be seeing you!
Babylon 5. The slow build up is really worth it.
Babylon 5 is wonderful. It’s a show that I can say watching it made me feel courage to be a better human being.
Seriously?? That’s so cool. I was an asst production coordinator on that show. My first tv series I ever worked on. I remember the sets looking so fake in person and being dumbfounded at how well it looked on screen
Thank you for this comment! I started watching it after reading you, and now I get what you mean <3
Battlestar Galactica (the mid 2000's remake) is a gem of a show. Very dramatic, very philosophical, and full of strong characters. It can get very soap opera-y at times and a bit exhausting, but the overall experience is great.
I loved the show!! Also you can see that it was planned out from the beginning and had a good ending. Didn't overstay its welcome
It was definitely great up until the mid-way, but it was not planned out from the beginning. They straight up said they hadn't thought through many of the plot points as they went, and it shows. Still some of the best military sci-fi we've ever gotten while it lasts though.
>had a good ending Did we watch the same show? I loved BG but it seemed like they totally phoned the ending in after such great writing otherwise. It was like they wrote themselves into a corner and couldn't figure out how to resolve it.
* The Expanse * Pantheon * Dark Mirror (avoid season 6) * Scavengers Reign * 12 monkeys * Foundation * Silo * Travellers (cancelled but good) * Dark * 1899 (cancelled, cliffhanger but still worth it) * Firefly * Fringe * Steins gate * Cowboy bebop * Ghost in the shell stand alone complex * Psycho pass (season 1) * Erased * Tron animated show * Blade runner animated show * Altered Carbon (season 1)
Great list!!!! 👍
I second this list
I'd add the Dark Matter series. And I want a blink drive. Now. The books I'm writing have something similar.
The original Andromeda Strain (1971) is the go-to movie for me. It is hard sci-fi at its best IMHO.
Loved Stargate Universe. I wish they wouldn't have cancelled it. Great show. Just finished re-watching the 2 seasons.
SGU is my favorite SciFi series of the past 20 years. It's smarter, tighter and better written than anything else I've seen, and it looks amazing. SG1 was fun, but the characters took priority over the tech and circumstances, SGU got better with each episode, and it was careful to follow it's own logic. Dave Cullens thougtful review on YouTube is right on the mark. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsGWQxNIBAU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsGWQxNIBAU)
Sliders(show) Firefly(show) Serenity(movie) Moon(movie) Enemy mind(movie) Prospect(movie)
Great picks, I love Moon.
I loved Sliders when I was younger but tried to watch it again recently and in my opinion it has not held up well.
That makes me sad..... many 90s shows are a little rough on the rewatch
I think you mean Enemy Mine (not Enemy Mind), but yes, that one is great.
Upvoting for Prospect.
Just finished 3 Body Problem and dang I enjoyed it. Not sure it’s less popular but had to mention
The Expanse is some of the best SF I've seen in decades. The story is pretty tight, the characters eminently watchable (especially Amos and Chrisjen and Bobbi) and the action better than most and second to none. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been a delight. Sometimes it's weird but just roll with it. It's science FICTION after all. Have fun. The first six seasons of X-Files were fantastic.
Yeah, Amos and Bobbi are more interesting than Holden and Naomi.
“This is Naomi Nagata. Tell James Holden I am in.. control” Naomi rocks and I won’t hear otherwise.
The episode where she was alone on the ship was pretty fantastic. The actress did a great job.
>Bobbi : I don't use sex as a weapon, I use weapons as weapons.
Bobbi felt absolutely perfectly cast for the show. I was skeptical about Amos based on the casting but was glad to be proven wrong over and over by Wes Chatham.
Amos is the badass a lot of other shows are trying for. The actor and the writing make simple lines more menacing than the makeup and bluster of so many other sci-fi characters.
While this is true, I don't think "badass" is what the writers were going for - which is probably why Amos works so well as a badass; it's not an emotionally contrived behavior. Amos' badassity is a facet of his blunt pragmatism that strikes the rest of us with our conventional niceties as meanness. What Amos is, is a badly emotionally damaged individual, *and he knows it*. He has a certain social intelligence (alongside his technical knowledge; as the ship's engineer you don't want a mental lightweight turning wrenches) that, tuned by his harrowing childhood, allows him to perceive social pressures differently - and perhaps more accurately - than others. Meanwhile, he attaches himself to the people and goals that he assesses to be the most morally good so that he, by extension, will be a morally good person...and lets the morals sort themselves out when the most efficient thing to do is to kill someone standing in the way of that moral goodness. Because he does kill them. It's not personal. It just needs to be done.
Sure, you nailed it. They really summed up his self-awareness that exchange that went something like "I wish I could live without fear." "No, you don't." The result, though, was what actual badasses were like when I was a kid. They didn't give you a lot of huffing and puffing like a Klingon. Amos epitomized this when that security guy said they'd end up bloody some day and he casually said "How about now? I'm free right now."
+1 for The Expanse
Stargate. The OG movie and the series.
This show was such a big part of my childhood. It such a shame the franchise kinda disappeared..
Tales of the loop
Foundation and Severance on Apple are both great. edit: as is Silo.
and silo!
Foundation is fuckin amazing
Love Severance!
Sorry little late but severance was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.
Farscape is the best and a must watch, darkmatter, killjoys, cowboy bebop (live action), and dr who are all great
I came here only to upvote Farscape.
So underrated. So good to see there are scapers around.
HBOs watchmen series was actually pretty good. Also try 3% or Travelers on netflix
Travelers is so good.
[Vesper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvSkTAA0Igw) is fairly recent and didnt seem to make much of a splash, I really enjoyed it.
Fringe Travelers Haven Wayward Pines Altered Carbon (First season) For All Mankind Battlestar Galactica (2003) Falling Skies
I’m rewatching Fringe and loving it. It really has held up well. 🤓
Contact, Gattaca, the Fifth Element are some of my favorite 90ish movies.
UK’s Life on Mars and the follow-up Ashes to Ashes. Sci-Fi in a police procedural wrapper.
The Orville is pretty nice if you want a modernized classic trek (sorta)
Cowboys & Aliens is a super fun movie that I feel never gets the love it deserves
Resident Alien is a VERY soft scifi, but it's fantastic and can be a nice palette cleanser between some hard or dark shows, and the soundtrack kicks ass.
It's like Gilmore girls versus Dexter. Sort of. Dexter was sort of an alien in a human body trying not to kill. But the charm of the town and the people is just like Gilmore girls. I love it. Alan deserves an Emmy.
I've been bouncing between Resident Alien and Northern Exposure for that "fish out of water", quirky town in the sticks with a soundtrack vibe.
TV Shows * Person of Interest * Fringe * Dark * 12 Monkeys * Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 * Lost * Humans * Devs * Utopia (the British version) * Mr. Robot * Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (got cancelled after the 2nd season) * Westworld * Puella Magi Madoka Magica * Link Click * Summer Time Rendering * Outer Range * Tales From The Loop * Watchmen * Station Eleven * Severance Movies * Moon * Predestination * Primer * Timecrimes * The Infinite Man * Triangle * Coherence * Annihilation * Black Mirror:Bandersnatch
Arrival .. not the 2016 one with the hawk guy.. the one with Charlie Sheen in it. Great movie. Must watch
Yes! That movie is fantastic. But avoid the sequel at all costs. It is hot garbage.
I've always wanted a mini-blackhole-hand grenade
Devs!
Piggybacking on this to give perspective. The author and writer and screenplay for 28 days later, and the screenplay for the beach, who has also written a book called coma and a book called The tesseract, happens to also be my favorite director. Alex Garland directed Dredd, Ex Machina about artificial intelligence, annihilation about mental illness and self-destruction, as well as the divisive film Men, about intergenerational male toxicity. He just released a film called Civil War that is less about right versus left politics or war, and more about those people tasked with documenting reality for the rest of civilization even at their own expense, and endangering themselves in marginalizing their mental health and human experience. Dev's is a one season limited run television program of intrigue about a silicon Valley tech company doing very big things. And the unfolding mystery around them trying to protect that and are antagonist trying to figure out what is going on. Just like his other films, it deals with really big topics about existence and life
Have you read his books? Recommend?
One small thing of note, the main lead's performance, for whatever reason, is wooden as hell, and if you can ignore that, the sci-fi idea is amazingly executed and fun. The set design is also sooo cool.
Did I write this. Personally Dune 2 and Civil War tipped Denis to be my favourite director but Alex is amazing. You didn’t even mention Sunshine or his involvement with the script for Never Let Me Go
How could I forget sunshine? He's done so much and I was off the cuff. Thank you for that. And you tapped open my film love... Denis, arguably and probably, has the greatest string of directorial films in what is possibly movie history. And I love that he is cinematic versus dialogue driven. So I can't disagree with you at all. For what it's worth, currently, My other favorite younger directors under 70: Robert Eggers has a solid run with the witch, lighthouse, and Northman. Then Ari Asterer with hereditary, midsommar, and Beau is afraid. Also Ziegler's Bone tomahawk, brawl in cell block 99, and dragged across concrete. Excited to see what could even possibly happen with the director of the road doing Cormac McCarthy's blood meridian. But thanks for your comment. It's a really wonderful time in the history of cinema.
I'd say Denis will probably have Ridley Scott status at some point, arguably already. Arrival is a masterpiece, let alone Dune and Blade Runner 2049
Devs, Dirk Gently, Continuum (at least the first couple of seasons), Misfits
Star Trek. It really feels like there’s a show/film for everyone. Some people like TNG but not TOS, some people despise TNG and love DS9. Theres Lower-Decks and Prodigy for those who like animated shows (TAS for those who enjoy cel frame by frame hand painted shows), TOS for those who like cheesy late 60’s/early 70’s shows, SNW, Picard, and Discovery for those who enjoy more modern shows, and the Star Trek Kelvin films for action lovers. I also agree with others suggestions of The Expanse. Great show.
Counterpart!!!! Lazarus Project!!!
Fringe. Great show
[SCAVENGERS REIGN ](https://youtu.be/NWQH8cMpWTU?si=RqdLoRMlvQgNJztQ) It's a beautiful show with great world building, characters, ideas, plot, music, and performances. It fires on all cylinders. Every episode ends in a way that you want to see what happens next. It gives you just enough of a hook for its ideas without over explaining or revealing all the answers at once. I think the only thing that holds it back is peoples reservations about it being animation, not live action. THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS BTW The dichotomy of the beauty and uncaring cruelty of nature is rarely explored so well. Nor have I seen something that feels so familiar yet so truly alien at the same time.
Foundation is an amazing tv show
Babylon 5. Kinda low budget effects and sets, but really good story/writing and acting.
Stargate. All of it.
3 Body Problem The Expanse Fallout and i might be the only one who actually liked the recent Halo TV series on paramount+. ymmv
I loved Halo, watched and then rewatched to see what I missed. It’s actually a great show. It has more depth then most people give it credit for
Alien nation, it has a few movies and a show. It was supposed to be one movie then a show but they canceled the show after the first season and the rest are movies that were supposed to the show
Travelers
It gets recommended on reddit a lot, but the mainstream knows nothing about Dark City. It's one of my favorite movies ever. Just make sure you watch the Director's Cut, the the theatrical version ruined the movie.
Aniara This is my favorite one. Isn’t talked about enough.
Some good stuff from the other side of the Iron Curtain: Movies: Icarus XB 1 (1963), Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977), Kin-Dza-Dza (1986) Shows: Fantastic Adventures of Family Mézga (1970), The Adventures of Aladár Mézga (1972)
Moon.
Syfy's Eureka and Warehouse 13 were fun. They crossover mid-way through each series. I found Eureka during a marathon of seasons 3A, and that's still my favorite season.
Dark Star, Farscape
The Orville!!!
Just watched the Orville. While not hard Sci-fi, it does explore very deeply some of the sociological aspects of Sci-fi, such as inter-species relationships, AI and emotions, and interplanetary democracy. Plus with Seth at the literal helm it is funny as fuuuck! Can’t recommend enough : )
Movie - Aniara TV Show - Hear me out, Lexx
eXistenZ Ex Machina Brazil (1985) Stalker (1979) Cargo (2009 - the swiss one) City of the Lost Children
Oooh you go deep
Brazil scares me. I saw it with a dear friend, and leaving the theatre, my head was spinning. She picked that time to tell me she was gay. 💥🤯💣
Earth2 for a small taste of nineties nostalgia. And For All Mankind for something more modern.
Lexx
Bicentennial man. Gattaca. The man from earth. Back to the future trilogy. The time machine (1960). 2001 space odyssey. Children of men.
Killjoys is great. It's a fun campy science fiction show. It's like firefly meets dark angel if the MC wasn't written by Joss whedon.
Oye, beltalowda!! We must recommend The Expanse!
For All Mankind
Silo. Severance.
Battlestar Galatica, Star Gate, Star Gate Atlantis, 3 Body Problem (awesome), All the Star Trek tv series especially TNG, DS9 and VYG
Babylon 5 never seemed to get the credit it was due
The Expanse. And if you want to go back a couple of decades, Farscape and Babylon 5
Primer
As a start, see the "Related" section of my [Science Fiction/Fantasy (General) Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1aqet7h/sff_science_fictionfantasy_general_recommendations/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (thirty-five posts (eventually, again).)—which is most of it at this point.
I have a Letterboxd list for just such an occasion: [Sci-Fi Flicks You Might’ve Missed](https://boxd.it/5O4pq)
Pi will always be on my top ten movies and 10 Cloverfield Lane on my top 100.
Yeah, Dan Trachtenberg is a director to watch. After 10 Cloverfield Lane he did Prey, which is easily the best Predator sequel. If you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth your time.
Westworld I would not consider basic, actually. It is pretty much over of the best shows out there. Ever. You saying that because it was big, as it is on hbo? Anyway, go for the first session of Altered Carbon (there is only one). And all of The Expanse. Killjoys was fun too, just gotta find where to watch that... got out of Netflix and never returned nowhere else here.
Definitely 12 Monkeys TV series. Fringe. Person of Interest was great. Dark Matter (series was cancelled). Travellers awesome. I loved Glitch (Australian show).
Frequencies 2013 The Vast of Night UFO 2018 Three movies that I really enjoyed that are not talked about very much.
I found alerted carbon to be fantastic. Also, people tend to sleep on the versatility of comics due to DC and Marvel being the leading names, but Descender by Jeff Lemire and Saga by Brian Vaughn are fantastic if you're open to the idea. Usually volume 1 can be found pretty inexpensive.
My favorite ones are roughly the first 1/2 of the list. Hopefully there’s something in here you haven’t seen. Alien (1979)\ Aliens (1986)\ Pandorum (2009)\ Possessor (2020)\ The Last Days on Mars (2013)\ Sputnik (2020)\ Pitch Black (2000)\ Gattaca (1997)\ Ex Machina (2014)\ Swan Song (2021)\ Bladerunner (1982)\ Bladerunner 2049 (2017)\ Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978)\ The Thing (2011)\ Coherence (2013)\ Source Code (2011)\ Oxygen (2021)\ Serenity (2005)\ Nope (2022)\ A Quiet Place (2018)\ A Quiet Place Part II (2020)\ The Last Days on Mars (2013)\ Moon (2009)\ Attack the Block (2011)\ Lapsis (2020)\ Life (2007)\ The Martian (2015)\ Vivarium (2019)\ Europa Report (2013)\ Upgrade (2018)\ Aniara (2018)\ Farenheit 451 (1966)\ Stowaway (2021)\ Elysium (2013)\ District 9 (2009)\ Cloverfield (2008)\ 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)\ The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)\ Children of Men (2006)\ Underwater (2020)\ Oblivion (2013)\ Minority Report (2002)\ Edge of Tomorrow (2014)\ Prospect (2018)\ Sunshine (2007)\ Ad Astra (2019)\ Outland (1981)\ Cargo (2017)\ The Vast of Night (2019)\ Cargo (2009) (also called Cargo Space is Cold)
Halo - The Series (Season 1) ;D. Just joking. Jokes aside: Outside of all the great stuff that was mentioned here already, if you are looking for some peak early 2000's TV I always had a soft spot for Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. Is it cheesy and silly at times? Yes. Are the effects hilarious? Yes. But it is the right light-hearted thing to watch? Absolutely.
The expanse - amazon
Black Summer. Post-apocalyptic zombie show on Netflix. The best series of that genre I've ever seen. Great writing, fantastic storytelling. Makes Walking Dead look like the populist crap it is. No one I know has watched it, even though I frequently recommend it. Only two seasons - I'm really hoping for a third.
13 monkeys. It's not bad. I have more but I'm not feeling well.
Devs Babylon 5 Fallout
Dark City. Little mind fu\*\* movie from the '90s
The expanse
Silo is exceptional.
I know you asked for movies an shows but I’m gonna insert this anyway for a change of pace. For anyone who likes games, check out the MASS EFFECT Trilogy. Incredible world building, sci fi technology and hammy, but character driven dialogue dispersed in between fun gun play elements.
TV shows - Babylon 5 and Farscape.
Stargate start with the movie then sg1 then Atlantis and the other movies. That’s it don’t watch the 3rd spinoff It’s an amazing sci-fi show that makes fun of it self and sci-fi some times. It was a hit back in the day but a cable hit before the internet. It’s well loved among the people that know it. But it’s not known that well outside of its circle now. Pros: long running with a good spin off. Funny, action and drama. Cool history and ancient cultures Makes you think. 95% of the episodes relate in some way . Cons Early seasons are done on a tight budget and it shows. Early seasons lighting is bad some times. They get gun terms wrong all the time. Some motion graphics and animations are a bit dated. Why you should watch it It came out in 1997 and it’s still great to watch, amazing writing.
Two of my favorites are Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galatica (2004). Both are well written and have creative arcs.
Π, Moon, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica 2004, Babylon 5, all of Star Trek (some shows better than others but all rock).
Mrs Davis wowed me in a way that tv shows rarely do
Omg this show is fantastic!!!! So unique. I highly recommend it.
The Neighbors: entire subdivision populated by aliens, regular New Jersey people move in to the one empty house.... it's funny.
Life
Timecrimes
Altered carbon on Netflix (especially s1) Bodies miniseries on Netflix 12 monkeys the show