Snippitts of Illusions

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's getting on in years, and yeah it's silly but some how it still remains poignant and popular and geeks (and some non-geeks) just love it. The writing is pretty sharp, the acting is pretty good, and the plots are seemingly epic if not just far fetched, but ridiculously so. 

Firefly. If ever there was a tv series that died too soon, it was this one. It's fun. Smart. The plots aren't as silly as Joss Whedon's earlier stuff, but the writing is just as good or better. We did get a movie. A short series of comics, but I'm not sure if this one will ever come back. I hope it does. I'd like to see another season or two. Of course they killed off the two best characters in the feature film (Serenity) but maybe we could see some of their earlier adventures? Or maybe we could just follow Shepard Book around for a season or two and see what cool stuff he did before the series. 

Babylon 5. This is a nerds sci-fi show. It's brilliant in it's way, and it did somethings that until that point no other program had done. Ok, it's a bit of a cheat to include it here, but the last couple of seasons ended about 15 years ago (1998) so I think it deserves to be here. It's not easy to watch now thought. The producers insisted on using CGI for exteriors and space flight shots and honestly it looks like a bad video game. The acting is pretty horrible at times too, but it can all be forgiven because they actually included a defined meta-plot. Yeah. There was a plot outline for 5 seasons and they stuck to it. Thank you. It's a fantastic idea and not enough other series have done it. If you can get over some of the hammy performances and bad CGI though this is a series worth checking out. 

Stargate SG-1. This baby went for 10 seasons, created 2 spin off series and 2 straight to DVD movies. I always thought the feature film was a little... I dunno, sparse? It seemed like it needed more. Probably because it did. There was a defined story there but it was begging for a sequel. Instead we got a television show. It, like most sci-fi shows, was ridiculous. There's only so much suspension of disbelief that we can attain. That being said as the show progress it became more enjoyable. The characters became more fleshed out and quite honestly you stopped caring how ridiculous it was that the 4 main characters managed to thwart the plans of ancient god beings season after season. They also revealed that there's another universe beyond the Go'ald and the Asgard even if we only got glimpses of it. If you're a sci-fi fan yes, this is one you should watch. 

Stargate-Atlantis. This is a spin off, and is probably in some ways better than the original. Of course they had 8 seasons of the previous series to build off of at this point. But another fine addition to the geek/nerd library. 

FarScape. Holy shit, the what a bizarre menagerie this is! A lost astronaut stuck on a living star-ship with a bunch of escaped convicts: an angry tentacle man, the miniature obese corrupt and hedonistic despotic frog creature, an oversexed plant woman, and shortly into the first season a grey skinned fugitive who seems to be horny all the time. It's all piloted by... a giant four armed lizard/octopus man. If you haven't seen FarScape, I'm sorry. It's probably one of the most brilliant science fiction tv programs to ever spring forth from the mind of anyone. A joint venture between Australia, Canada and the Sci-Fi channel (back before the Y's) with effects by the Hensen company (of Kermit the Frog fame) it is different visually and stylistically from every sci-fi series ever. These guys are the good guys. They're not bad or evil. Some of them are downright despicable but this is definitely one group that's fun to fly with. The first season has a few terrible episodes but about halfway through the first season it hits it's stride and carries itself through to the awkward cliffhanger finale. 

Lost. You can hate this show. I'll respect you for it. But you know what, it was awesome. The acting was good, the storytelling was compelling, and the damn series left those who loved it sitting on the edge of their seats until the end of the finale. So maybe they dropped the ball with the finale. Maybe the answers to the questions you had weren't satisfying (they did answer most of the questions though) but you know what. I felt like I was watching one long ass movie with tons of characters and a ridiculously convoluted but awesome plot. So yeah. You can hate it, but you have to give it props for trying. 

Supernatural. Two brothers hunting down demons, ghosts and other weird shit out of myths, fables and fairy tales? Hell yes. The fact that the studio decided to keep going after the 5th season is a bit of a let down not that I don't love the brothers Winchester, but that it'd be nice to see the original vision of the creators fulfilled and put to rest. The series is going strong, and for being a fantasy/horror series is pretty mainstream. I have co-workers that love it. I don't think I can say that about any of the series I've mentioned so far. Yeah, there's some criticism. It's amazing how homogeneous America looks in that series, but I suppose I can't begrudge the producers for being on a budget. Plus this has inspired a copy-cat or two Grim being the first one to come to mind. 

Alias. Now if you want to argue about this being a science fiction series, one word. Rimbaldi. If it weren't for the introduction of him and his inventions and the absurd technology they come up with from it, then it wouldn't be a science fiction series. Once could argue that it takes place in a parallel universe where Rimbaldi existed but Rimbaldi takes this from a simple spy show to full on sci-fi. You know what, that's ok. Admitting your sci-fi is the first step. Embracing it is the second. Alias never really embraces that fact but it's still a fun show to watch and it helped pave the way for series' like Lost and Battlestar Galatica. Speak of which...

Battlestar Galatica. Holy hell what a bleak show. It's amazing the actors didn't kill themselves off before reaching the end of this one. Now if you can get past how absolutely depressing the premise is, it's pretty fantastic. There's some brilliant moments and the fact that the Cylons look like us is AWESOME! Well, maybe I'm being a little too enthusiastic. It did show us what was possible in a full science fiction series. And that's refreshing. 

Dr. Who. If you haven't watched the new Dr. Who, shame on you. Go and watch it now! This British program is silly, and cheesy and fantastic. The writing is top notch, as is the acting. The plots are a little... far-fetched seems to be the wrong word but it's the best I can muster. You don't watch it for the plots (only) but for the characters. Each actor who has portrayed the Doctor has done a fantastic job so far, hopefully we have four or five more before they decide to put the series to rest. There's some pretty kick-ass monsters too (I'm looking at you Weeping Angels) and some not so kick ass monsters (Exterminate). This series is becoming more and more popular, and it should. If you like sci-fi, go and watch this if you haven't. If you like British television, go and watch this.

There are a lot of others, new series include Once Upon a Time, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, True Blood. I'm sure there's several current series' I've completely missed. That being said there's a lot of older shows I haven't touched. (Lexx, Merlin, Star Trek this and that). Science Fiction is becoming more mainstream, I'm going to tackle a few of these series in more depth in the future, plus some I didn't mention, until then...

PUDDING.