Just looking for some recommendations because I’m in a sci fi mood. And btw, my favorite sci fi film is Planet of the Apes (original).
Just looking for some recommendations because I’m in a sci fi mood. And btw, my favorite sci fi film is Planet of the Apes (original).
B5, Farscape and SG-1 are my three favorite non Trek sci fi shows
Never could get into SG, and I really gave it a try.
Farscape didn’t manage to captivate me in its first half season in the 90s which was too bad. I binged it with one of our household a few years back and love it now. It definitely suffered a post-TOS-like roughish Star Trek start to find its own voice and style.
B5’s first season was made awful by the declining health of its lead that led to an interminable performance. I gave the second season a try, despite my concerns that Boxleitner would give too much of an All-American hero performance. He was great in the role and I became a solid B5 fan to the end.
Two 1970s shows that are worthy of a watch, even if mostly only available on physical media, are Space 1999 and The Starlost. Both were significantly serialized in an era of episodic television, and both suffered bumpy starts and early cancellation. They still are far ahead of their time and the norms of 70s television.
I can see not getting into B5 or Farscape, as they’re kinda cheesy, but SG1 was basically just Star Trek without ships, it was the other major sci fi franchise I grew up with
As someone who watched TOS as a kid, SG didn’t feel like Star Trek without ships, but other friends and family feel otherwise. I was predisposed to like it as a MacGyver fan, but it never took.
The cheesiness and pure lunacy of Farscape was actually a plus once I got past the early episodes. Bab5 started with a very austere pilot that was the opposite of cheesy, and that I liked. The first season was all over the place, but like 90s Trek show it did better once it found its groove.
B5 is aesthetically very cheesy, like the Centauri make me laugh whenever I see them. It’s why I ignored B5 totally as a kid in the 90s, I only watched it recently on Blu-Ray. Once you look past that, it’s actually a very good show.
SG-1 feels like TNG/DS9/VOY to me, which isn’t a surprise to me because the creators were directly inspired by TNG. Not as good as TNG, but close enough.