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NBN's Indulgently Precipitous New Poll :: Favourite SCIENCE FICTION Show :: GRAND FINAL

Your Favourite SCIENCE FICTION Show :: Grand Final (Choose up to Three)

  • Total voters
    66
  • Poll closed .
kabbes said:
Monster of the week is fine in any format, and I'm not ruling it out in principle. Every Buffy series was a complete story arc in its own right too, though. Even their MOTW episodes generally advanced the overall plot.

It's not that I care if a science-as-magic space opera wins the poll. I just find it a bit depressing that out of 10 final place nominees for a science fiction show, there isn't a single example of actual hard science fiction. People don't even like sci-fi in their sci-fi, it would appear.
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Out of curiosytiy; what hard sci-fi shows are out there, besided The Expanse?

Would like to know as I'd be interested in watching...
 
maomao said:
That's an incredibly narrow definition of 'pure' science fiction. Both Star Trek series qualify for any reasonable strict definition. They may have space adventure elements but are at their best when they use the exploration of alien worlds as a way of discussing morality and society in general. I may be a little dense but I'm struggling to think what would really satisfy your definition.

ETA: I just hit return on a post written six hours ago and you have since answered the last question.
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Star Trek is a reasonable enough show, although their discussion of morality and society in general is hardly epoch-defining stuff. And it certainly belongs to the genre of sci-fi. But it isn't my definition of hard science fiction that it fails to meet. It seems a shame to me that not a single piece of hard sci-fi has made it onto the final list.
 
krtek a houby said:
Out of curiosytiy; what hard sci-fi shows are out there, besided The Expanse?

Would like to know as I'd be interested in watching...
Click to expand...
Utopia and Black Mirror were both pretty good examples.

DotCommunist, the Robot series were hard science fiction, as Asimov was doing his best to stick within the bounds of scientific knowledge. Hard science fiction doesn't need to only take place within current scientific bounds, it just needs to place the implications of scientific development at the heart of its plot points rather than treating it as equivalent to magic (to nick the Arthur C Clarke comparison).
 
kabbes said:
Utopia and Black Mirror were both pretty good examples.

DotCommunist, the Robot series were hard science fiction, as Asimov was doing his best to stick within the bounds of scientific knowledge. Hard science fiction doesn't need to only take place within current scientific bounds, it just needs to place the implications of scientific development at the heart of its plot points rather than treating it as equivalent to magic (to nick the Arthur C Clarke comparison).
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maomao was talking about asimov. I'd call him hard SF, certainly him and C Clarke tend to be in that box in my head
 
kabbes said:
Foundation isn't hard science fiction by a long shot.
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its the nuclear...sorry...'Atomic' powered ashtrays that give the game away, and possibly the ftl travel.

I'm mulling over wether I agree with Person of Interest being Hard sf, your link claims it but I'm not so sure. Been a while since I tuned in though, I hear its gone all AI now
 
kabbes said:
Utopia and Black Mirror were both pretty good examples.

DotCommunist, the Robot series were hard science fiction, as Asimov was doing his best to stick within the bounds of scientific knowledge. Hard science fiction doesn't need to only take place within current scientific bounds, it just needs to place the implications of scientific development at the heart of its plot points rather than treating it as equivalent to magic (to nick the Arthur C Clarke comparison).
Click to expand...

Do you mean the C4 show; Utopia? Couldn't get into it, tbh.

Would love to see something like Alistair Reynolds output on telly.

Remember Dennis Potter's last gasp with Cold Lazarus? A bit silly in parts but possibly more hard sci-fi than some at the time... thikning of Crime Traveller...
 
kabbes said:
Utopia and Black Mirror were both pretty good examples.

DotCommunist, the Robot series were hard science fiction, as Asimov was doing his best to stick within the bounds of scientific knowledge. Hard science fiction doesn't need to only take place within current scientific bounds, it just needs to place the implications of scientific development at the heart of its plot points rather than treating it as equivalent to magic (to nick the Arthur C Clarke comparison).
Click to expand...
Black Mirror isn't hard sci-fi imho, it's more of a thought provoking exploration of possible futures, focusing on the human interest & social angles more than anything else. Which is fine, absolutely not a criticism, but for me hard sci-fi has a strong emphasis on the science itself - Black Mirror was more along the lines of "we've created an android replacement for your boyfriend... let's explore the social dynamic. OK, how'd you make the android? Erm, yeah, we just did y'know - science & all that jazz...". Okaaaay.... interesting story, not much actual science, more of a sci-fi inspired drama really. Which is fine, just not really hard sci-fi, IMHO, although I'm sure you'll disagree.
 
EastEnder said:
Black Mirror isn't hard sci-fi imho, it's more of a thought provoking exploration of possible futures, focusing on the human interest & social angles more than anything else. Which is fine, absolutely not a criticism, but for me hard sci-fi has a strong emphasis on the science itself - Black Mirror was more along the lines of "we've created an android replacement for your boyfriend... let's explore the social dynamic. OK, how'd you make the android? Erm, yeah, we just did y'know - science & all that jazz...". Okaaaay.... interesting story, not much actual science, more of a sci-fi inspired drama really. Which is fine, just not really hard sci-fi, IMHO, although I'm sure you'll disagree.
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Depends on the episode, to be fair. The episode about people being IRL "blocked", for example, was very much about the implications of the development of current technology.
 
kabbes said:
Utopia and Black Mirror were both pretty good examples.

DotCommunist, the Robot series were hard science fiction, as Asimov was doing his best to stick within the bounds of scientific knowledge. Hard science fiction doesn't need to only take place within current scientific bounds, it just needs to place the implications of scientific development at the heart of its plot points rather than treating it as equivalent to magic (to nick the Arthur C Clarke comparison).
Click to expand...
So that's Utopia, the Expanse, and possibly Black Mirror and Person of Interest (neither of which seem like hard science fiction to me). They're all recent shows, only one has finished, and they're not all on channels available to everyone. I don't think them being hard scifi is the reason they didn't get to the final, it's because not as many people had seen them.
 
8ball said:
What? Anything?
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Anything on 4 channels.
American Gladiators and the Sunday night Bollywood film were me and my brother's favourites then. Smoked a lot of shitty hash and watched a lot of late night telly back then.
 
Disappointed DS9 and B5 didn't make it, but pleased to see TNG taking the lead :thumbs:

The next poll, btw, as we approach October, will be favourite Horror/Hallowe'en film, so thinking caps on! :cool:
 
kabbes said:
Utopia and Black Mirror were both pretty good examples.

DotCommunist, the Robot series were hard science fiction, as Asimov was doing his best to stick within the bounds of scientific knowledge. Hard science fiction doesn't need to only take place within current scientific bounds, it just needs to place the implications of scientific development at the heart of its plot points rather than treating it as equivalent to magic (to nick the Arthur C Clarke comparison).
Click to expand...
Hard science fiction sounds really dull. Bring on the space monsters. :thumbs:
 
maomao said:
Hard science fiction sounds really dull. Bring on the space monsters. :thumbs:
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Hard scifi, monsters and geordies - could totally see a one off series on this

200px-Great_North_Road.jpg
 
strung out said:
TNG has most popular appeal, but DS9 is by any measure the most consistently excellent of all the Star Trek shows.
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Are you suffering from concussion? Perhaps a mild stroke? :hmm:

DS9 didn't even have a spaceship till season three, and only then cos they realised Star Trek without a proper ship to go on adventures in is pants. That whole religious guff got seriously tedious & spent its entire time focusing on the effect the Prophets had on the people, rather than investigating what they actually were, which would've been about a million times more interesting - it was basically just a reflection of the issues of religion on earth, a reiteration of a hackneyed premise - they had god on their doorstep yet rather than explore that angle, they just banged on about the relationship between the religious nutters on Bajor & Sisko. Who gives a crap? Get back in the fucking wormhole & discover something interesting! :mad:

Kira was tedious & annoying, pious & preachy with no redeeming features. Odo was a twat. Sisko was tolerable but very one dimensional. Bashir needed a good slap. Worf is Worf therefore good, but let down by a shitty script. Quark was one of the few good characters, he is forgiven. Dax was fit & a bit saucy, therefore also good.

3/10. Tops.
 
And don't get me started on the when-the-fuck-will-it-end tediously dull intro music, a funeral dirge would've been more exciting...
 
EastEnder said:
Are you suffering from concussion? Perhaps a mild stroke? :hmm:

DS9 didn't even have a spaceship till season three, and only then cos they realised Star Trek without a proper ship to go on adventures in is pants. That whole religious guff got seriously tedious & spent its entire time focusing on the effect the Prophets had on the people, rather than investigating what they actually were, which would've been about a million times more interesting - it was basically just a reflection of the issues of religion on earth, a reiteration of a hackneyed premise - they had god on their doorstep yet rather than explore that angle, they just banged on about the relationship between the religious nutters on Bajor & Sisko. Who gives a crap? Get back in the fucking wormhole & discover something interesting! :mad:

Kira was tedious & annoying, pious & preachy with no redeeming features. Odo was a twat. Sisko was tolerable but very one dimensional. Bashir needed a good slap. Worf is Worf therefore good, but let down by a shitty script. Quark was one of the few good characters, he is forgiven. Dax was fit & a bit saucy, therefore also good.

3/10. Tops.
Click to expand...

She did however give us this scene

 
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