Even as a 7 year old boy, I realized that Ardala was something special, even if the rest of my attention was on the space fighters and fist fights and what-not.
As I recall, the pilot of VttBotS had a shot of the Seaview bursting out of the ocean surface in one of those cool submarine whale-breaching maneuvers that I (as a 10 year old) thought was freakin’ awesome. I watched the whole series waiting expectantly for them to do it again … they never did.
I couldn’t help but think of Caprica when I read this, and imagine the following post some years from now:
[QUOTE=Hypothetical Future Doper]
As I recall, the pilot of Caprica had a lot of nudity that I (as a 10 year old) thought was freakin’ awesome. I watched the whole series waiting expectantly for them to do it again … they never did.
[/QUOTE]
I approach the topic from a “desert island discs” approach. I’ve watched many series I’d consider bad or almost awful, and might catch them again on TV. But if asked to stock up on a few DVD box sets for a stay somewhere, I’d choose the below off the top of my head;
Best;
Star Treks TOS and TNG
The original Twilight Zone
Doctor Who (in any incarnation)
Gundam 0083 Star Dust Memories
Lexx
Dark Place
Worst;
The Time Tunnel
Sea Quest DSV
Highlander
Eureka! (Anime with flying surfboards)
Ah Kowalski, and wasn’t there a Chief as well, who had to crack the hatch on the diving bells a lot? O’Casey? Something like that. And there was a preponderance of episodes featuring a guy in a wetsuit, covered in seaweed, or fur, fighting the sub’s model.
Desert Island Disks:
Firefly
Star Trek (original Kirk series)
Dr Who (new incarnation)
Farscape
Max Headroom
Full Metal Alchemist
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
There are too many horrible ones to list. Automan, Manimal, Otherworld…
There were sparks. Every episode something would rock the Seaview side to side, and sparks would fly out of the control panels on either side.
Oddly enough, this is a perfect opportunity for me to recommend the book Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth, about a vampire, bound by, well, a blood oath, working as an assassin/counterterrorist agent for the President. Far better than it sounds - actually a pretty awesome book.
Best:
Star Trek original series
Star Trek the Next Generation (beginning somewhere in season 3)
The Sarah Connor Chronicles (surprised I’m the first to mention it)
Battlestar Galactica (the recent one)
Various episodes of the Twilight Zone
Worst:
Babylon 5
Fun characterization, preposterous science, exciting plots, bottomless dumbassery. I compare it to everything else on offer from the SyFy Channel and lap it up with a smile.
Absolute worst: The Adventures of Superpup – Superman, re-imagined using dog costumes. Hilariously bad. Only one episode ever made.
The best of all time, sets the bar so high no other show can possibly reach it: The Twilight Zone
Every other science fiction show falls in between these two.
star trek is OK but my all-time favorite sci-fi is still UFO. the battle sequences, the bombshell british babes they sometimes feature, and the high-tech manual typewriters they used.
I bought the series box set, even started a thread recently about it, I heartily agree. Very good show.
Had you heard about this?: UFO (disambiguation) - Wikipedia
Meh. Too many morality-play plots.
I just thought I should have nominated a Gerry Anderson series. Either something live action like UFO or Space 1999 (yes, I said it) or some supermarionation like Captain Scarlet.
I’d draw the line at his Space Precinct though.
Yes, could be cool, or more likely languish in developement hell.
Best:
ST: DS9
X Files
Dr Who
Stargate SG-1
Stargate Atlantis
Firefly
Worst:
BSG (the new one)
Stargate Universe
And do read Ben Bova’s take on this experience, The Starcrossed..
The problem with this is that there are many crap series I avoided like the plague, so my bad list will not be as complete as someone who suffered through all of Enterprise.
Best:
Star Trek: TOS
Star Trek: TNG
Kolchak, the Night Stalker
The Prisoner
Outer Limits
Twilight Zone
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. (well, it did get the MST3K treatment, but it had an immense impact on my 7 year old brain, and it went off the air because they spent too much on special effects. )
Worst:
Space 1999. Even the first season, where the Andersons magically transformed Bain and Landau into puppets with less expression than their real puppets. Galaxy called it Space 1492 in a cartoon that ran with Spider Robinson’s hilarious review.
Land of the Giants
Lost in Space - for screwing up what could have been a reasonable premise.
That abomination that was the sequel to Battlestar Galactica. Its name has been expunged from my memory.
Best:
Firefly
Star Trek, the original series
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)*
Worst:
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Lost in Space
Battlestar Galactica (the original one)
*I have the same objections to how it ended as does everywhere, but there are enough great episodes along the way that I still think it belongs in the best category.