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Post by bewildered on Jun 13, 2011 23:38:01 GMT -6
I haven't noticed a thread dedicated to this subject yet, so I figured I'd start one. I'm a stalwart sci-fi fan. There's nothing quite as entertaining for me than being presented with the fringe of human understanding and experience in a compelling and clever fashion. The best sci-fi isn't about special effects, golly-gee gadgets, or the cult of celebrity personality. It is all about the story...the characters...and you and me. The best sci-fi plucks you out of what you know and plops you down squarely into the unknown. Then it leaves you there, allowing you to experience all the weirdness and wonder of being a stranger in a strange land. I'm a critic...not by profession, just by inclination. My views are my views, and are just my own opinions after all...so take it with a grain of salt. My wife is quite the opposite of me: she likes much of what she sees, focusing on those things to the exclusion of everything else. As such, she enjoys most of what she watches, where I like very little of what I see. Let's talk about the sci-fi shows you have watched, and what you like or don't like about them.
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Post by bewildered on Jun 14, 2011 0:02:35 GMT -6
I suppose I'll kick it off with this post regarding what might be my favorite sci-fi series:
Doctor Who
The resurrection of this venerable British series in 2005 started what I consider to be some of the best sci-fi on television. The writing is superb, the acting just the right balance of whimsical and disturbing, and the special effects appropriately positioned behind the plot. I'd say that the show is the perfect blend of Monty Python and A Clockwork Orange, right where you'd expect life itself to be.
The history of "The Doctor" over the decades is nothing short of ingenious and brilliant. The writers behind the show have invented what is essentially a story that never ends, with tales that never lose their authenticity or fresh perspective because The Doctor himself never remains the same for long. There have been, to date, 11 different "Doctors."
Each incarnation of The Doctor is portrayed by a different actor. The storyline tells us that The Doctor is a Time Lord, the last surviving member of an ancient and highly advanced alien race who mastered travel through time and space. He is immortal, but with a twist: at some point in time, The Doctor undergoes a transformation where he is reborn and emerges as a decidedly different being...albeit with all of his vast collective memories and experience intact. He might always be the "same" Doctor, but he possesses a different personality and manner.
That one of the more brilliant plot devices I have seen.
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Post by skywalker on Jun 14, 2011 10:02:49 GMT -6
Believe it or not I have never seen Dr. Who. I must be deprived or something.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 10:28:53 GMT -6
The Brittish (and I am NOT being critical) have a unique way of perceiving things sometimes. There were a couple of episodes of Dr. Who I really liked..but not enough to keep me watching. I like a more 'generic' Sci Fi. Stargate the first couple of years..I loved deep space 9 because of so many alien types..and one of my very favorites was Firefly. I loved the mix of frontiersman in space. The ship Serenity held together by hope and dreams..and swashbuckling characters. I loved the Firefly movie too. Andromeda was also good. I think TV is more than ready for a new space series but I'm not good on programs where I have to think to figure out the directors 'message'. I like my bad guys to be bad and my good guys to be good consistently Drives me nuts when the bad Cardacians all the sudden do some good deed..how dare they...
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Post by auntym on Jun 14, 2011 11:48:41 GMT -6
i always watched STAR TREK....i found that show interesting....but i loved STAR TREK-THE NEXT GENERATION...i also watched STARGATE SG1 when the character JACK O'NEIL was played by RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON....i really hated that he left that role......i thought he was better in that role than KURT RUSSELL in the STARGATE movie....and i'm a big fan of both men.... i just would not miss an episode of X-FILES....and still watch the reruns when they're on i've never watched DR. WHO....& a few other shows i can't remember the names of.....i think because of conflicting time schedules.... IDK... LOL i love SCI-FI....i think most people do....
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Post by bewildered on Jun 14, 2011 12:08:53 GMT -6
The Brittish (and I am NOT being critical) have a unique way of perceiving things sometimes. There were a couple of episodes of Dr. Who I really liked..but not enough to keep me watching. I like a more 'generic' Sci Fi. Stargate the first couple of years..I loved deep space 9 because of so many alien types..and one of my very favorites was Firefly. I loved the mix of frontiersman in space. The ship Serenity held together by hope and dreams..and swashbuckling characters. I loved the Firefly movie too. Andromeda was also good. I think TV is more than ready for a new space series but I'm not good on programs where I have to think to figure out the directors 'message'. I like my bad guys to be bad and my good guys to be good consistently Drives me nuts when the bad Cardacians all the sudden do some good deed..how dare they... Firefly was an excellent show. It's a shame it only lasted one season.
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Post by paulette on Jun 14, 2011 12:12:18 GMT -6
I liked the X files. There were "aliens" amongst us and the government striving to cover it up. Even though the series spoofed the guys who lived in the trailer and were obsessed with UFOs I thought that was cool too - the guys not the spoof necessarily.
I also like Fringe. Yes its goofy but some of the concepts are interesting (and chilling) - the modified children. The reality jumping (and the problems with that). The crazy but brilliant scientist who took and experimented with many drugs. (I guess I believe that is a likely part of the mix of being experienced).
I liked PARTS of V. I liked trying to image that petite queen (who does the sexiest job of crossing her legs on TV IMO) laying a room-full of eggs. Big eggs. I think I've dated a few lizards in my time. But I digress...
I liked Alf - it predated the cute harmless alien of ET by about 20 years. Ditto my favorite alien with Robin Williams. Mork from Ork. I remember one scene - he was confessing to the grandmother that he was "not from here". She said, "Oh I pretty much had figured that out. When you took me to the museum and thought the air conditioner was the most fascinating exhibit..."
And then there was the twilight zone - they had various alien episodes.
How could anyone not acknowledge the impact of Star Trek? It actually was a pioneer in showing women in competent roles (on the bridge) as well as various nationalities and planetaries. EVERYONE watched Star Trek - in black and white. The fact that Shatner is STILL ALIVE and looking pretty good suggests alien technologies not available to the rest of us. Didn't all the girls love Spock (and hold the secret fantasies of warming up his non rational part?) Later in the series - how about Klingon courtship? (only a few of us held fantasies about that variety of courtship and I'm not saying if I'm one of them.)
These light comedy shows allowed this topic to be brought in under the radar of political paranoia and fear of the devil in his various forms. One might wonder (not for long maybe) if these shows had a goal of "softening us up." If so, the Alien movies (Signer might not cross her legs as well but she kicks butt better than any other alien fighter) reactivated our probably natural inclination to not trust folks who look like slime dripping fetuses with teeth who want to lay eggs in our bodies.
Ah entertainment. Nothing like it to chill one's already overactive fight or flight systems...
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Post by bewildered on Jun 14, 2011 15:34:12 GMT -6
I've been watching Fringe. The premise is fabulous, but I detect a propensity to be carried away with prime time soap opera. That sometimes happens to immensely popular prime time shows. They start off at the "top," start to slide some, and then under pressure from the suits who care about nothing but money, start revolving stories around sex: who sleeps with whom, endless emotional and relationship crisis, and so forth.
That's fine if prime time soap operas are your thing, but there is something exceedingly disappointing when something starts off in one direction, only to turn to the "tried and true" network formula of using sex as a hook for a viewing audience. The goal is to expose that audience to advertising, who themselves are primed by the flashy hormonal focus of the show. That's my number one complaint about American television: it's nothing but an advertising fest. There is hardly any art, just marketing.
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Post by auntym on Nov 2, 2017 16:26:15 GMT -6
io9.gizmodo.com/jordan-peele-is-working-on-a-twilight-zone-reboot-for-c-1820092112?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_twitter&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow Jordan Peele Is Working on a Twilight Zone Reboot for CBS All Accessby Beth Elderkin / Image: CBS You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Sunken Place. CBS has announced a new Twilight Zone anthology series from Get Out director Jordan Peele, over 50 years after the iconic scifi series ended its initial run. This comes about five years after the studio tried and failed to reboot the series with X-Men director Bryan Singer, and in the wake of Bioshock creator Ken Levine’s stalled attempt to revive the franchise as an interactive movie or series. Right now, it’s not clear whether Peele’s show has already been picked up for a series, or if the project is simply in development. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will come from Peele’s production company, with Marco Ramirez, who was a showrunner for Netflix’s The Defenders and a producer on Daredevil, serving as the showrunner and initial scriptwriter. The plan looks to be to put the new series on CBS All Access, the digital network that’s seen success after the debut of Star Trek: Discovery, which is still in the middle of its debut season. [The Hollywood Reporter] io9.gizmodo.com/jordan-peele-is-working-on-a-twilight-zone-reboot-for-c-1820092112?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_twitter&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow Rod Serling's Thoughts About Children's Imagination Make for a Lovely Animation io9.gizmodo.com/rod-serlings-thoughts-about-childrens-imagination-make-1779218841
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