Posted on 11/02/2009 3:09:41 PM PST by EveningStar
Here are my selections for the most pretentious science fiction - fantasy TV shows (RELAX - THE CYNICISM IS ALL IN FUN!):
5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 - 2003) - Pretty much a chick series.
4. V (original - including miniseries' - 1983 - 1985) - Nazi lizard people invade the earth.
3. Alien Nation (1989 - 1990) - A message series with one message - racism is evil. We get it. Next. (amazingly enough, this series spawned five made for TV movies, which were viewed by all 500 of its fans)
2. Beauty and the Beast (1987 - 1990) - Nauseatingly sappy
1. Babylon 5 (1993 - 1998) - Yeah, I know that "true science fiction fans" like this series because J. Michael Straczynski is a fan of literary SF - and named a Psi Cop "Alfred Bester." Big deal.
I never saw the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, but from what I've read about it, it definitely would have made my list.
OK. Those are my picks. How about yours?
ping
Yes, pretentious of course, but I never missed either Babylon 5 or either Battlestar Galactica.
Hey, its slim pickings out here.
2. Beauty and the Beast (1987 - 1990) - Nauseatingly sappy ????
Danger! Danger Will Robinson!
I agree with one and two, but then you lost me with three and four. Especially Alien Nation, loved it myself!
The retelling Of Battlestar Galactica should be on the list as well as Buck Rogers and any of the Stargate series! IMHO of course.
Everything in the Star Trek franchise since 1986. Except for the 2009 movie.
OK, OK
The blood pressure is coming down
I Liked Babylon 5, darn it
After watching a couple episodes I started calling it “Babble-on 5” myself. ;-)
I liked Alien Nation and B5 very much. Gary Graham of AN posts on Big Hollywood once in a great while.
Trivia question: Who is Gary Graham’s father?
“any of the Stargate series”
Kartographer,
Are you watching SGU? I am but seem to be having a hard time getting in to it. It’s kind of like the new BSG was for me. Hard to get in to at first.
Buffy is a great, funny show! A little too liberal but very
well written.
“any of the Stargate series”
Kartographer,
Are you watching SGU? I am but seem to be having a hard time getting in to it. It’s kind of like the new BSG was for me. Hard to get in to at first.
B5 was great until the end of season 4... then it limped (due to studios messing with project budgets)
Dreadful.
#1 on your list should be The West Wing
Star Trek The Next Generation
Voyager
Enterprise
There was also a short-lived series called Earth II.
IIRC, it closed its season with a cliffhanger and then got cancelled. So, the characters are still hanging on that cliff.
Careful. He might track you down and club you with his walker.
El stinko.
Chuckle...
How was Beauty and the Beast sci-f? People throw that name around a bit too carelessly.
3. Red Dwarf
2. Mork and Mindy
1. Futurama
Beauty and the Beast wasn’t what I would call Sci-Fi. It was Fantasy. It was sappy but enjoyable until they started running out of storylines.
It was fantasy. The topic includes science fiction AND fantasy.
Because Roy Dotrice was in the cast. Heck, he's been in everything sci-fi since Space:1999.
Harlan Ellison is an a-hole.
I remember the actor who portrayed the ‘lion man’ in the Beauty and the Beast series remarking that theirs was not exactly an equitable relationship because he was to retreat to and live in a sewer quietly until she needed him for something, at which point she would summon him by banging on drainage pipes. He would spring forth to serve her...and then retreat to the sewer again.
Also, a TV reviewer noted the series was two years old by saying “It’s been two years and it doesn’t look like their relationship is going anywhere....isn’t it time that she start dating other beasts?”
I liked that show. Hate it when they disappear shows. It seems all the ones I like go away (Brimstone, Dresden Files to name a couple).
70's era environmentalism. Ugh.
Same with this summer's "Defying Gravity."
Buffy rocked. It wasn’t pretentious. It never took itself too seriously. They referred to themselves as the Scooby Gang whenever they were trying to solve some mystery.
The Outer Limits. The new and old versions. Most were awful, some pretty good. But all of them were preachy, preachy and preachy.
A product of its times and politics. Just like 2004's "The Day After Tomorrow."
Agreed. We’re all peace and reason, we don’t do any of that ‘cowboy’ stuff Kirk did...of course, we also, quite regularly, come extremely close to getting our butts kicked during battles. We also have a really bad habit of having the ship taken over by others. DS-9 wasn’t quite as bad in this regard. I should also point out that your three nominees had no sense of humor.
Easily the most ridiculous, sappy and pretentious sci-fi/fantasy show out there today is Smallville. It is the most pathetically incompetent, neutered, and feminized incarnation of Superman, ever. Clark Kent spends at least 50% of his screen time looking woeful and lamenting his feelings, and a full three-quarters of his superhero efforts result in his monstrously stupid rear end being saved by one of his many girl friends, all of whom are indestructible ninjas, who must drag Clark YET AGAIN away from the glowing green “meteor rock” that Clark runs into face-first with alarming regularity. Meanwhile, we discover that Clark Kent is also the only learning disabled Kryptonian, ever, who has to take flying lessons from his own (female) cousin and STILL can’t get off the ground. To top it off, whenever Clark gets into a really big jam, the first thing he does is run to a crystal recording of his daddy. Truly pathetic.
Except when we're on the holodeck. Then we run wild.
Yeah, ... for hundreds of yards in a straight line...
Both V and Alien Nation were cowritten and directed by Kenneth Johnson. They both have his primitive notion of allegory. He created The Bionic Woman and The Incredible Hulk TV shows.
LOL! True, but he was the best Clark Kent ever.
I don’t know when it was on TV originally, but a couple of years ago, I watched the complete series, Special Unit 2.
It wasn’t great, but it was entertaining.
Several series have been variations on the Men in Black theme.
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