Transporter room? Four to beam up...
Battlestar Galactica -- Oh, I was so resistant to start watching this show. All last year, every single one of my friends were telling me how great it was. Honestly, I wondered, "How good can it be? Starbuck is a chick, for the luvva vanilla! Feh." Then, one of my best friends sat me down and made me watch the 2-hour pilot episode. Afterwards he turned to me and asked, "Well?" -- (long sigh from me) "Bring up the next episode," I said (he had most of them on his TiVo) as I feigned slight interest. The truth is, I was hooked 20 minutes into the pilot. This is not only the best sci-fi shows on television right now. It's one of the best (not THE best, just one of the best) science-fiction shows I've ever seen, period. The first season is out on a two DVD set. If you haven't watched Battlestar Galactica yet, I highly recommend you either buy it or rent it. It's good stuff, Maynard!
Justice League Unlimited -- Folks, I know what you're going to say. "C'mon... it's the Superfriends." Well, yes and no. It's the freaking Justice League! And it's a series that is being written by folks my age who grew up on the Superfriends... so, yeah, it's the "Superfriends" in as much as there's Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (plus tons of other heroes), but it's done very, very ... well... cool. It's one of those rare cartoons that kids will enjoy on one level, but adults will get the intricacies of the plots. Make no mistake, although it is superheroes flying about fighting supervillains, subtle aspects of, oh say... an unconventional anti-hero governmental response to these superheroes is another thing entirely. Or, say, the fact that groups of supervillains are working together to form essentially a network of criminal terrorist cells. Or, for instance, a hero's long time fiancé is leading an alien invasion fleet attacking Earth. These stories would never be told like this back in the day. The show is smart. It's full of action. It's full of drama. The characters (pardon the pun) are not two dimensional. If Family Guy is the funniest half hour of animated television, Justice League is the best animated action/drama on television. I kid you not.
Smallville -- Admittedly, I gave this show a shot four years ago and it didn't hold my interest. It seemed very formulaic with Clark fighting people who had turned into a "superpowered dude of the week" from (of all things) kryptonite radiation (WTF!?!). Every week Clark discovers a new power as he goes through high school, dealing with high school stuff ... and Hey! Lo and behold, it's the same very new power he discovers that enables him to stop this week's bad guy. Honestly, I stopped watching it after that. But, several seasons in, it seems to have found its footing, and it's good. Still not great, but it's good. Good enough for me to have not missed an episode on this new season (plus, tonight's episode [October 20th] is going to guest star a young Aquaman. I'm so there for that!). It's also good enough that, quite frankly, I tend to think it was a mistake for Bryan Singer and Warner Bros. to continue the Christopher Reeve Superman movie franchise (the movie Superman Returns will be in theaters, Summer 2006) when they probably should've and could've launched Superman anew from this tv series with Tom Welling wearing the Big Red "S". Your milage may vary.
Lost -- Screw you! It's not just a drama. It's science fiction! If there's a hidden base on the island where a button has to be pushed every 108 minutes to keep the world from ending... it's science fiction. A word of warning. There's a reason why it was touted as the best television series of 2004. Warning! Watch this show at your own risk. You will get hooked. Believe me. I only started watching it with the last episode of the first season and it had me. (*sigh*) ... Dammit.Honorable Mentions:
- Nightstalker -- I'm digging that they are doing a remake of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I've watched the first couple of episodes, and with me, the jury is still out as to whether or not I like it enough to keep watching. I will say, this show has the potential to be the next X-Files.
- Ghost Whisperer -- It's Ghost meets The Sixth Sense. Decent concept, but a little too "touchy feely" for me at times.
- Invasion -- Honestly, I haven't seen it and I've heard mixed reviews. Someone give me some input on this one.
- Suface -- Same with this one. Someone out there is watching this, right?
7 comments:
Nightstalker - I must disagree with you on this one.
I was a huge fan of the original - and the one thing that they have lost in this redux is the humor that the original had. It really isn't the same without it.
Altight - I became addicted to battlestar galactica inadvertently when my soldier bought the first season on DVD...
But come on, Smallville? Its crap! The dialogue is lame, the acting is TERRIBLE and the plot reminds me kinda of a piece of shit I took earlier.
Katie -- Thanks! Regarding "Lost", until they found the base, my theory was they were all actually dead, and the island was Purgatory. Oh, well. So, Surface is good, then?
Kimmy -- My dear, there's nothing really to disagree about with Nightstalker. I also was a huge fan of the original. I couldn't put my finger on the reason why I said "the jury" as still out as to whether or not I liked it until now. You're absolutely right about the lack of humor in the episodes. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed they won't stay wound so tight.
Amanda -- BSG is the shizzle, isn't it? The reason I included Smallville on the featured list was because, so far, I've thought this season's shows were much better than when I stopped watching it years ago (I grant you, it was damn near unwatchable when it first came out). I could wind up disappointed, but they have me interested with the whole "Disciples of Zod/Brainiac" thing going on. Plus, since one of my big "guilty pleasure" shows was Buffy way back when, I'm digging that James "Spike" Marsters is playing Brainiac. I'm fully aware of how bad the show can be. I'm just optimistically giving it another shot. :)
"How good can it be? Starbuck is a chick, for the luvva vanilla! Feh."
Yeah, but WHAT a chick! I LOVE that you love this show.
((commence I Told You So dance))
Oh yeah, and I rented the first "Lost" DVD.
Hooked. Sigh.
Tamela
What about Farscape and SG1??
I beg to differ......
As for Farscape, I'm talking about current shows. If we were talking about good cancelled sci-fi/supernatural shows, this would be a very very long read.
As far as SG1, I thought about including it, but I couldn't in good conscience. I've never watched an episode.
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