Good Science Fiction movies/series

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Yup. I'm searching for good SciFi movies or TV series.

What I'm looking for are good characters and a tense storyline. I like creepy stuff, maybe scary aliens. It doesn't have to be your typical Spaceship-stuff, I also enjoy dystopic stuff or Cyberpunk.

Obviously I know stuff such as Star Wars or Star Trek (and I'm not a fan of either). I'm recently watching Babylon 5 and love it. As for movies, I love Equilibrium and Blade Runner. Hope you get an idea of what I'm looking for.

12 Monkeys is great.

Outland is good too.

Event Horizon is good for creepy sci-fi.

I know you said you are not a fan of Star Trek, but Star Trek II is some of the best space opera ever put on film.

ST:DS9 is also consistently great starting with season 3 (you need to watch a few episodes in s1&2 to understand the Dominion). The show is all about religion, politics, terrorism, ect... Certainly not your typical Star Trek, but many fans of B5 feel obliged to hate it for some reason...

PS

How could I forget Star Gate: SG1? It's a fun Sci-fi/pulp/action/adventure show. The first 9-10 seasons are great (or whenever Richard Dean Anderson left the show). It's definitely space opera and does not take itself too seriously. The action and production values are great for TV, the characters are likable and the story, basically how Earth becomes a galactic power is interesting.


Also. the remake of Battlestar Galatica is worth a try, if you're not already familiar. On the surface, it's space opera, but it's full of flawed characters and troubling philosophical questions.

Last edited by GoonSquad on 02 Aug 2012, 12:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Firefly is really good, albeit shortlived (14 episodes, though it was later wrapped up in a movie and a few comic books). Sort of a post-apocalyptic space western thing, with excellent characters and clever dialogue. No aliens, but there's some other crazy stuff going on. The show was co-run by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear, and cancelled because Fox didn't want to admit the low ratings were their own fault for airing it in the wrong order.

Doctor Who is also fantastic. Technically a kids show, but it doesn't talk down to its audience, and is smart enough to appeal to all ages. It can be anywhere between goofy and creepy (at its best, it's brilliant, and at its worst, it's still fun). Tone really varies from episode to episode, since it's pretty much an anything-can-happen time travel show. It's been around since the sixties (the main character, "The Doctor", just keeps cheating death by regenerating into a new actor every so often), but you can really jump on at the beginning of any new doctor, though I'd recommend starting with Chris Eccleston (the ninth doctor), who was the first doctor since the show returned in 2005 (although it takes a few episodes before the show starts finding its footing, as with many sci-fi shows, but it's worth it for the occasional brilliant episodes, especially the ones written by Steven Moffat, who later took over for Russell T. Davies as head writer).

Now hold up, there were several incarnations of Star Trek. I'd highly recommend the original if you have never seen it--the one from the late 60s. It only ran 3 seasons, so it's not a whole lot of episodes, but it's unlike the latter versions.

Now if you have seen the original series and aren't a fan, fine, but don't limit the experience based on the newer Star Trek series or films. Or even on the 80s films with the original cast. Watch the original show.

I'd also suggest two other films I liked.

One is called Outland (not Outlander, just Outland) from the early 80s and stars Sean Connery.

EDIT: Goonsquad, you beat me to it, didn't even read your post until after. So that's two votes for Outland.

The other is called Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, a British/American production from the late 60s.

My library had both of these, so I don't know how readily available they are, but they're good Sci-Fi films, very original in my opinion, and no connection or similarity to Star Wars or Star Trek.

Movie-wise, I'd like to recommend Alien. Some say Aliens (the sequel) is better, but I disagree. The first one is the best, in my opinion. The second one is okay. The third one is forgettable. The fourth one is a bit of a mess. They got a good writer and a good director, but it didn't come together well. So I'd recommend watching the first one, and then the second if you feel like it.

I'd also like to recommend some animated things.

Metoroporisu (Metropolis) is a really good Japanese animated sci-fi movie. It's beautiful. Even if you don't generally like Japanese animation, you have to see it.

Les Maitres du Temps (Time Masters) is slow-paced and strange, but worth seeing none the less. It's a French/Hungarian movie. If the name Moebius sounds familiar to you, you'll know why you should see it just by me mentioning it. If you don't know who Moebius is, well, you will.

Cowboy Bebop is, like Firefly, a space western with some noir influences, except this one's a Japanese cartoon series, and has a different vibe to it. It doesn't matter if you see it in English or Japanese, because the English dub is very good.

Doctor Who, as well as its recent spinoff, Torchwood, is fantastic. Firefly was short lived, but it was amazing, too.

I was actually thinking about Blade Runner yesterday. I wonder if Hollywood is planning to do a remake. I'm sure they are. They remade Total Recall for the new generation and gave it a PG-13 rating. I think the original was R.

A movie I saw many many moons ago was Lifeforce. Talk about falling under the radar! It was an expensive production, too. The credits went on and on and on.

Oh, right. Total Recall. See the old one, with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's fantastic.

Dr Who. Mostly new Dr Who but the older stuff when I was a kid was superb too.

It celebrates geekiness and runs long complex stories. You have to stick with it over each series to work stuff out and get it. The ideas are clever, monsters/aliens always brilliant, actions exciting and plots complex, and you get engaged with all the characters (sometimes a few duff ones, but there is always shedloads to like about it).

Most TV shows bore the hell out of me, but there is something about the Doctor that transfixes.
Its got a silly sense of humour which I like, but sometimes it can be dark.

Personally I'm a fan of the following:

Television:
Firefly
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Film:
The Terminator and Terminator 2
Serenity

While I highly enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation, I tried the original series and, while it had its moments, I just couldn't get into it. It's just so... well, the word 'camp' comes to mind.

Oh, and while I enjoy it, I really don't think that Star Wars should be called science fiction. Science fantasy, perhaps.

I'd recomend the Battlestar Galactica (the recent version 2004-2009) in addition to the above. There are 73 episodes of this...

I agree that Stephen Moffit Dr Who stuff is brilliant, especially some of the earlier episodes he wrote when David Tennant was still the Doctor, Don't Blink and the Library (think I've got the names right - if not I'm sure a true fan wil correct me) were particular favourites of mine.

Predator (the original film NOT any of the sequels) I think is a good film.

I'd also recomend the films Akira, Ghost in the Shell (japanese anime) and Sky Blue (south korean anime) all have English dubbed versions, I don't know about other languages.

A bit dated but with an interesting plot is Logan's Run

Then there is the original 1956 Forbidden Planet, a sci-fi version of Shakespeare's Tempest.

Babylon 5, Game of Thrones

Dr Who (and Torchwood) is fantastic ofc

One old one is Blakes7 (still kind of cool)

While I have some problems with The Forbidden Planet (I recall it having some questionable gender politics in it, which I suppose is reflective of its time), I too think it's worth seeing, if only for the general look and sound of it, and some really neat moments and ideas.
Another movie that's worth seeing simply for its atmosphere is Battle Beyond the Stars (it's a bit of a Star Wars imitation, but there's some really nifty stuff in it).
Ice Pirates is also worth a watch, although it's a comedy (and not as memorable for its humor as for its visual style).

There's something really nice about pre-CGI sci-fi VFX and sets.

It's a while since I saw Forbidden Planet,you're almost certainly right about the gender politics, some of the special effects tricks are very well done though.

There was quite bit of dodgy gender politics in the original Star Trek too if I remember properly, although in some other ways the series was very ahead of it's time, especially on race issues.

Talking of older (very) low budget sci-fi, John Carpenter's Dark Star is one of the funniest things I've seen. its' by-line - 'what do you do with a talking bomb' almost tells you all you need to know, it's also interesting for how boring spending a long time in space might get...and what you might get up to as a result.