Volitions Advocate on 8/4/2010 at 21:58
Quote Posted by dethtoll
This explains why X-Files season 4 seems a little off. Millennium, so far, is fucking fantastic, however, probably the darkest show I have ever seen.
It's also why Millennium season 2 changes its mood so much, Carter went back to the X-Files and handed it off to his staff there.
Mind you they were both filmed in Vancouver weren't they? You'd think that he could oversee both to some extent.
Nameless Voice on 8/4/2010 at 21:58
The (new) Outer Limits was very variable - there were some very good episodes, and some very bad episodes, and due to the disconnected nature, it's hard to know which is which in advance.
I especially liked Phobos Rising (4x24).
If you liked Quality of Mercy, you might also like Nightmare (4x20).
Some other episodes that I seem to recall being decent:
2x01 A Stitch in Time
2x13 Dead Man's Switch
2x14 The Heist
2x18 The Light Brigade
3x06 Dark Rain
3x09 Tempests
3x11 New Lease
4x02 The Hunt
4x03 Hearts and Minds
4x06 Relativity Theory
4x14 To Tell the Truth
4x22 Balance of Nature
5x07 The Human Operators
6x04 Manifest Destiny
6x13 Decompression
7x07 Replica
I also quite like 2000 series The Invisible Man for some reason, despite the fact that it doesn't take itself particularly seriously.
dj_ivocha on 8/4/2010 at 23:53
Quote Posted by smallfry
Stargate Universe ... NOTHING AT ALL like the previous Stargate shows.
Unfortunately :(
Also Eureka is pretty good.
BEAR on 9/4/2010 at 03:11
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
I saw that years ago in bits. Struck me as Australian Gilligan's Island in Space with muppets.
Did you start at the beginning or watch any significant number of episodes? You wont get into it in just a few episodes to be sure, and the later episodes get pretty confusing (I missed some and had a hard time getting back into it).
fett on 9/4/2010 at 03:28
Yeah, ditto on Millennium. Great show while it lasted. I also thought the Lone Gunmen spin-off of X-Files was great in it's own right, though cut down in it's prime. It was the culmination of Chris Carter figuring out how to splice humor with conspiracy theories and worked very well for what it was.
I also felt like Farscape was like Muppets in Space. Someone tell me why it's viable sci-fi.
Sulphur on 9/4/2010 at 06:10
Quote Posted by fett
I also felt like Farscape was like Muppets in Space. Someone tell me why it's viable sci-fi.
It's not. Sci-fi, that is. It was originally supposed to be Buck Rogers in space. But it turned into something far more complicated, partly inspired by Babylon 5 with its long, built-up plot arcs. There is much tinkering with sci-fi concepts, but none of it is 'hard' sci-fi. It's more or less on the level of Firefly when it comes to that. Only it's prettier to look at, far more insane, better written, and has muppets as viable characters. In space.
june gloom on 9/4/2010 at 06:28
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
Mind you they were both filmed in Vancouver weren't they?
To the point where I recognize landmarks from one used in the other, yes- at least one off the top of my head is a lakeside used in the X-Files for a lake monster episode, and the same lake shows up in an episode of Millennium about a guy who attends funerals and kills one of the attendees.
Millennium also used another landmark twice, but I forget exactly what it was.
casalor on 9/4/2010 at 11:38
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
During the original run I only saw the last three seasons and by the final year it was 90% Mythology rubbish and it had completely disappeared up its own arse at that point. No, the conspiracy is not about alien colonisation/hybridisation but an attempt at creating super soldiers, no wait it's about alien colonisation again, now it's back to super soldiers... ugh.
That's what really upset me at the time. X-files was completely fresh and original in its time but eventually fell back into the mire of mediocrity and disappointment. Just too many contrived conspiracies. I loved Farscape - even with the muppetry - but again it got bogged down in its own self worth. Perhaps the problem is audience familiarity and the contempt it breeds. Neither of those shows added anything new at the end and just got introspective. That's just my perception anyway. Plain boredom.
Apart from Dr Who right now I can't think of a single programme on TV that I'd happily race home to watch. I mean, really, we're in season
31 (if you count the tv film) and the good Doctor still has the same mystery about him as he did in 1963 (albeit he looks about fourteen years old now)! Constant re-invention/re-imagining is possibly the key.
Just my tuppence worth.
Vivian on 9/4/2010 at 13:07
I honestly can't watch dr who. Why does everyone love it so much? It's just some slumming RSC reject trying not to choke on some utterly retarded sub--sub-asimov bollocks while the cast of Casualty wander around with argos rubber heads on. Why should I care?
But in terms of good TV sci-fi now that BSG is done with - there isn't any. Watch the wire instead if you haven't already - I finally caved in to the weight of praise everyone in the entire world has piled on top of it and bought the box set a few months ago, and it's fucking brilliant.
Chimpy Chompy on 9/4/2010 at 13:34
I like Who for the idea of a lonely wanderer charging aroudn the galaxy looking for amazing adventures because he has nothing else left.
Some of the stories can be silly yeah but I expect that to improve now Moffat (who wrote many of the best ones from the previous seasons) has taken over from RTD (who provided some great tearjerker moments but also loved his Deus Ex Machinas).
