Current Sci-Fi Shows

[Son Of Chronos]

I havent really invested in watching sci-fi shows since the end of DS9 so I decided to watch some new shows that started, mainly SGU and V.I must say so far Im finding SGU very boring, I dont like any of the characters really, and each episode seems like they arent doing anything apart from walking down dark corridors moaning about something.I know this was surposed to be a new angle of the star gate franchise but perhaps like the last star trek show, its not working, atleast not for me.V on the other hand has been surprisingly pretty decent, I thought it was going to be rubbish, but its miles ahead of SGU right now, of course both shows are on their first seasons a few episodes in, so theirs always room for them to get better and at the same time worse.I guess I will stick with them for one season atleast and see how they turn out.Any of you guys watching these or any other shows?what is your opinion on them?

[Crash]

Yeah V is good isn't it? I downloaded ep3 and I was pleasantly surprised.Thanks for the heads-up on Stargate. Stargate always seems like a good idea and then fails. The main show SG1 is probably one of the only modern sci-fis I won't watch. Haven't seen a lot of Atlantis.I mainly started watching V cos of the girl from Lost who stars in it. You could never tell whether she was on the home team or not but you couldn't help really liking her. Plus it has Wash and Hooker woman from Firefly! Those aliens are so creepy because they are so natural-but-not. Good show so far.

[Son Of Chronos]

Yeah I think I watched about 3 or 4 seasons of SG-1 before I kind of just lost interest, I think its the last sci fi show to run for a number of years before being canned.Stargate was meant to be a trilogy, the movies I mean, dunno if you knew that, but they decicded to make shows instead, probably might have been better if they just made the movies.I never really watched Atlantis but my friend loved it, he did say he wasnt happy with the ending though.He's not impressed by SGU either, I think the problem with the show is that it concentrates too much on the human aspect, what I mean is the show could be set anywhere, on a boat, a building etc and it would still be the same almost, it is comming across like a survival show (lost) rather than outer space sci fi.I dont even think the show will have any "villians" as it seems the humans are going to be each others enemies.Yeah V is good, and you're right about them aliens, the way they manipulate people its quite something, especially in episode three where she changes the widows opinions right round, when people do things on their own free will, thats when you know you've won.If I didnt know any better Id probably fall for their tricks too, but it makes for good watching just trying to figure whos who, its kind of like that feeling you get watching "The Thing" just who is a V? and even more are they a good V or Bad.Yeah lets hope it continues to be good.

[Crash]

Well you know they probably killed the widow and put her skin on an alien. So it might not even be her.The show reminds me of Earth: Final Conflict but it doesn't give me the same odd almost stuffy feeling when I watch it.I've never quite been able to put my finger on what's wrong with Stargate in general. Its production values aren't bad and some of the actors and characters are passible but... otherwise its total blandness fails to attract me.

[AndyThomas]

I haven't caught V but like you am a fan of some of the actors, and have quite clear (and occasionally terrifying!) memories of the original mini-series from waaaay back. Loved the shuttles, as I remember. So will be interested to see that one.Stargate Universe is a real departure from the "let's go ruin the current alien threat's day with lots of pew pew action" of the previous series. They were like the old Flash Gordon serials - predictable outcomes and reliable heroes. I quite enjoyed them as "brain in neutral" sci-fi. Stargate Universe is about Stargate for grown ups - more real lives, more relationships. Take the point it's classic shipwreck scenario (without the wreck) - and anyone with a sci-fi background is going to call a lot of the plot points. But I quite like it, because there are clearly a lot of things going unsaid. Plus Destiny appears to be one very smart spaceship. It has a certain, ah, gravity about it I quite like.I do wonder whether the days of years-long sci-fi runs are over. Firefly should really have kept going. Perhaps they'll try and reboot Trek with the new film. Things seem to burn brightly and then die these days, look at Heroes, the hype was incredible early on... I think there's just so much competing for people's attention these days nothing can really get popular enough to justify its existence in the long term. I was really surprised the Terminator series got cancelled with the new film presumably renewing interest, but of course it was an expensive show to make.Any idea when Sky or whoever will start showing V?

[Crash]

Apparently the second series of Terminator is quite good. I saw the second ever episode and stopped watching due to the dullness but I hear it improves.The film was quite entertaining the first time around too but it didn't gel much with the original-and-best 2 films.One thing I love about the first two films' 'hunter-killer' future war machines is that even though they might be a bit dated now - the way they're shot in darkness is super and they're exactly the way a computer-intelligence would go about designing them.This whole Universe thing doesn't look too bad. The ship is weird but Google image showed me about 50 different ships when I searched for "Stargate Destiny ship".Don't bother waiting for Sky - you can DL it in 720p with no adverts!I hope to God that we don't get another Star Trek series anytime soon because you know deep in your heart that they'll just wreck it.

[Son Of Chronos]

Going to have to disagree with you Andy on SGU.I dunno about you but I watch sci-fi to get away from reality, sure it does not hurt at all to have human connections, but when thats all there is, it does not do it for me.Just because something has action in it doesnt mean its childish and can't have characters that develop in some way over time, most of the best sci-fi tv shows and movies get the right blend of this, one being the mentioned first two Terminator movies, or the Alien movies, interesting characters that start in one place and by the end are in a different place characters wise.SGU is just plain boring so far to me.If I wanted to see drama for grown ups dealing with relationship issues then I would watch something like Eastenders I do agree that I think long running sci fi shows are over, we wont ever see long running series like TNG, DS9, B5 and even SG-1 again.I surpose you might be able to blame the internet in this, or it could be people just arent interested in watching it, we have seen reality tv shows pretty much takeover TV in the last 10 years, and by its side cop shows namely freaking CSI, and when thats not on its housing shows, their doesnt seem to be a demand for sci-fi.Correct me if Im wrong(its been years) but didnt B5 used to come on either before or right after channel4 news, could you in this day and age see a sci-fi show getting that time slot again? I dont.You noticed not many of the big networks are backing sci-fi shows anymore, its mostly sci-fi channel itself.Thats why I havent bothered watching any till now, because most of them get canceled and I see no point investing in time to a story that will never get finished or just have a rushed ending.You're right again in that Heroes when it first started was huge same with Lost, but poor writting on both shows killed all their hype and 2 bad seasons later guess what your viewers are gone, I watched the first season and then 3rd and then some of 4th, the show had become pretty stupid imo and I havent gone back and wont for this new season.As for Star Trek I feel that the franchise just needs a brake, I dont even think they should of made a movie yet (as good as it was) it needs more time out so it can comeback fresh, a new TV show now would just end up running 2 years at the most and then get canned.I doubt sky will be showing V, maybe channel 5 might perhaps? but still better to do like Crash says.

[Crash]

We have to wait ... 4 ... months ... for the next episode of V.4 months - while 'the US athletics' are on! Time to see if there any good animes to dilute the sci-fi drought.

[Son Of Chronos]

Not only is the show comming back in March but Ive been reading just how bad its been doing in the states, the ratings have been dropping every episode, the show is on the road to cancelation.With a 4month layoff the signs are not good, most people will forget about it by then, Im pretty sure it will only get one season if it even comes back on.Just like I said before sci-fi shows just dont make it anymore, I heard that Flashforward was another show not comming back till March either, its been doing poor as well.Meh well I guess now is a good time to watch Turn A Gundam and Gundam 00, the only Gundam shows I have yet to watch.

[Crash]

Yeah I started reading a few TV blogs with posts about V and the responses were very mixed you're right. I have to agree with you on the 1 season-only outlook.I don't know if they gave it a new director for episodes 5-onwards or whether it's gonna happen but apparently they lined up a new guy to make it so that it would be cheaper with more thrills, supposedly.One problem is that the Americans have taken it as an assault on Obama's presidency, what with the Aliens' 'universal healthcare' plan. That's kinda unfortunate but if you watch the show you can actually understand where the tin-hat-brigade are coming from. It's sad that the fear of communism has left them so polarised and paranoid as to interpret things in such a way.I think one problem is that people have been confusing V with FlashForward as well - both shows are science-fiction without being like Star Trek ('totally immersed' science fiction, totally removed from today and real-life) and they both have blonde, female stars who've come directly from the 4th season of Lost. Another thing is that they both seem to have similar trailers and are shot in the same slick , sharp way, with a slight bluish cool-down-filter.I haven't seen Flash Forward yet - The Star Wars Clone war thing is decent at the moment if you want 20mins of moving wallpaper and lightsabre battles.A good anime I saw recently was Ghost in the Shell Stand-Alone Complex - the films of "GitS" are fairly average but the series is well above once it kicks off. Bear with it and you'll be rooting for the characters.It features some great robot self-sacrifice where the tachikomas make the final decision and save their favourite guy. - Even after they've been decommissioned, formatted and sold-on, they happen to see the news and recover their memories...Plus the soundtrack is a combo of Russian singer 'Origa' and ... Yoko Kanno! It's well worth the downloading time. The show's dubbing is actually very acceptable too - no need for subs.If you've not seen Macross Frontier - you should make time for that.