I agree. I was lukewarm on TNG and Voyager; I though Enterprise was fun. It was interesting exploring that era of the Star Trek universe. I wish, though, that they had stayed away from the time-travel/timelines stuff. There was enough adventure to be had in that present.
Why no love for Stargate? I’m doing the same as you and have been watching Stargate: Atlantis. It’s a good bridge between what I consider stale Sci Fi to the new style exemplified by Firefly and BSG.
The Pros:
Very little techno-babble.
Well formed characters who are allowed to have emotions
While some Aliens rely on makeup the majority of them are human
Long story arcs
The Cons:
Episodic and formulaic - if you watch too many they all seem to run together. I suspect this is a product of the time when it aired and the fact that Stargate in one form or another had already been on for years.
So all in all, the pros outweigh the cons.
I had a job offer to work on the production of Stargate: Atlantis, but it wasn’t attractive enough to lure me away from my file clerk job. (I’m awfully glad, because my title has changed and my salary has doubled since then, and I’m pretty sure that Stargate was a dead-end gig.) I did try to find a way to work a Groucho quote in there, but it’s too much work.
Suggestion for another local production with less suck: Dark Angel.
I’d recommend Stargate: SG-1 based on my own viewing, and I’ve heard good things about DS9 and Farscape.
DS9, but you’ll enjoy it a lot more if you’ve seen all of TNG first.
Very true, there are alot of references to events in ST:TNG and several of the charachters have extensive backstory in TNG (Miles and Keiko O’brien, Lt Commander Worf, Gowron, etc) and there are more references to Wolf 359 than you can shake a stick at.
I never got to watch any significant portion of Voyager, Enterprise, or DS9 until the last few months. I have been through all of enterprise and voyager and am also working my way into season 3 of DS9.
I still find myself humming the theme song from enterprise every so often.
and I would so love to count Jadzia Dax’s spots.
They make me mad because apparently they have never heard of QUARANTINE. :mad::mad::mad:
Are you young enough to have missed The X-Files the first time around?
I’m more than old enough, but I wasn’t interested. I’m not really into the supernatural, UFOs, conspiracies, etc. I’m more interested in adventures in space and time. Mysterious stuff is OK if it fits into some consistent framework. I watched Lost avidly and was really, really hoping - praying almost - that it would all fit together and not end up being just a bunch of strange stuff happening.
It definitely is a Western/Sci-Fi mashup, but it’s very clever and postmodern in the way it tweaks established western and sci-fi tropes. If you loved the clever writing and interesting characters in Buffy, this has the same kind of appeal (being from the same writer/creator).
It’s only half a season (plus one theatrical movie) so it’s not a big commitment to try it out, even if you end up liking it.
How about *Eureka *and Warehouse 13? My wife and I went through both on Netflix recently, and we really liked them.
Firefly and Buffy were the two shows that taught me never to judge a series by its genre. I avoided them like the plague for years because I “didn’t like Westerns or vampires.” I finally gave them a chance after both shows had been canceled (yes, you can blame me :(), and have been kicking myself for not trying them earlier ever since.
Firefly is great and not at all western like to me (I don’t like westerns, but I liked Firefly very much). It’s more like 50s science fiction novels, updated to modern TV. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Watch at least two episodes paying full attention before you give up on it. You really cannot tell much about it from individual scenes.
Dollhouse is also entertaining, though the first few episodes are boring and seem formulaic. It changes a lot after that. Especially season 2. The ending is better than most TV sci fi.
Fringe is entertaining, but more fantasy/horror with vaguely sci fi trappings. About like Lost in that sense, but less believable because it has a main character who says he’s a scientist but basically acts like a wizard with scientistic trappings. (the Frankenstein type of scientist) and it isn’t on streaming yet.
Heroes maybe? I have only seen the first season, but it was very engaging, and had a lot of sci fi elements.
Kyle XY has some less than brilliant parts, but it has been entertaining so far.
Eureka also might be fun, though I’ve only watched a few episodes of that so far.
Thirding Eureka. Not at all serious.
If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop. right. there.
Yes. And if you have a hankering for further “normal people get mutant powers” entertainment, hie on over to Hulu and watch the British series Misfits.
In fact, Misfits might qualify as an answer to the OP. In the words of Rebecca Watson, “It’s like Heroes, only good.” Very short though, the curse and charm of British series.
If you watch Babylon 5, you need to realize that the creator mapped out an elaborate 5-season story arc with a satisfying conclusion, then the series got canceled after 4 seasons, then resurrected. It led to some weird bunching of the plotlines, but still a wonderful series.
I know it’s not on NetFlix, but the first three seasons of ReGenesis are up on Hulu for free (there were 4 total).
It’s like 24 and House, centered around an international microbiology CDC-like lab, but with really well done science and some verisimilitude. Very well done and surprisingly addictive. I hadn’t heard of it until The Science Channel just started running the seasons, as it was a Canadian show that ran from '04 to '08. It’s weird to see Ellen Page so young.
Another vote for Firefly. I recommend watching the series before watching Serenity (the movie), incidentaly.
I didn’t realize that Middleman was available! Excellent suggestion.
Jekyll - short. English series. Sci Fi from the 1880s, updated, but there aren’t any spaceships.