TV

For me it has to be Stargate. All the others had great shows in them but the quality of all the shows weren't the best. Star Trek was great with The Original Series and The Next Generation but decreased in quality horribly with DS9 and Voyager and didn't really go back up with Enterprise. I honestly am not a fan of anything Battlestar Galactica including the new show which I just could not get into. Doctor Who comes in a close second while Star Trek comes in third. EDIT: I don't consider Firefly a TV franchise because it only has one show so that's why it isn't up there and no FarScape isn't a TV franchise either. Like Firefly, there's no other show set in the FarScape universe so it's not a TV franchise. EDIT: Looks like I forgot Supernatural as I did not realize that it had more than show in that same universe. EDIT: It seems I have to define what I mean by franchise. A TV Franchise is a group of shows all set within the same fictional universe like Doctor Who or Stargate and etc. A Media Franchise could be something like Firefly which never had a spin off or another show set in the same universe but had a movie and comics continuing the story.

Well Stargate SG-1 is my favorite TV show of all time so I guess I'll go with that, Stargate Atlantis was pretty damn good too, didn't watch a whole lot of Universe though

Also I really liked BSG, the modern one from 2004, thought that show was really fucking cool. The concept of the 12 colonies escaping from the cylons to Earth blew my mind, that's why I love the Quarians so much in the Mass Effect universe. Caprica had potential but it got canned before it had a chance to be awesome. I really hope Blood and Chrome turns out good because, is there any other Space sci-fi show on the way? Because that category of TV shows is dead right now, there is nothing

I like Star Trek too, unlike you my favorite Star Trek show is Deep Space Nine, haven't watched Voyager but I plan to

I picked Star Trek although I really liked Stargate too. I would love to know why you think the quality decreased with DS9. Voyager I can understand but DS9 was really good.

Firefly.

@zombiesatemycereal said:

Firefly.

Yeah, I would have said Farscape myself, but I assume he means series where there are spin-offs and sequels.

As much as I love the X-Files, I never got into Millennium and The Lone Gunmen was rather boring. They were good in small doses on X-Files, though. The same is true of Stargate. Loved SG-1, didn't like Atlantis, never got hooked on Universe and absolutely despise Infinity.

Hmm, speaking of animation, if I was really going to pick one it would probably be Mobile Suit Gundam. Not ever series from that huge franchise is great, but I like a lot of them and love a couple. There's something about moody teenagers who pilot humanoid death machines through the depths of space that appeals to me. So much angst, so many super-weapons, but if we keep believing in ourselves we can end is crazy war. Fight on, Gundam!

Maybe it doesn't qualify because it only lasted one season, but yeah, Firefly. I apologize for any derail.

Start Rek

X-Files, but only the original TV series.

Farscape, mostly because unlike, really, any other scifi tv series I've ever enjoyed, they managed to wrap things up nicely and not overstay their welcome. X-Files and Battlestar recs come with the caveat of "as long as you ignore the terrible terrible final bits of the shows, they're fine". I can't pretend shitty parts of shows that started great don't exist.

Dr. Who and Stargate, I just don't get it. Dr. Who is relentlessly corny and the idea that people out there take it seriously is disturbing. I've seen what some people call one of the best episodes of Stargate, involving an alien race that gives humans some kind of disease cureall that secretly makes everyone infertile, and it was interesting I guess. But that doesn't negate that every other Stargate property has been a complete chore for me to sit through. Stargate Universe, which I watched from the start ended up being a bitter disappointment for me. They took an interesting idea and went down the least interesting direction with it, not unlike the current trainwreck Terra Nova (Universe wasn't nearly this bad though). Lost kind of ruined scifi for a while and its stink continues to permeate throughout a handful of new metoos that have no chance of ever being interesting. Eventually someone will be willing to try something new and then there will be another new scifi show worth a watch.

In the meantime, Alcatraz. What do the mystery blanks mean? Probably something dumb, stay tuned!

Out of that list, Battlestar. The RDM BSG is better than the entire Stargate franchised combined imo. SG is entertaining at best, but there is a shitload of filler, and when it's bad, it's insufferable.

There's a certain kind of episodic television show that I prefer, like Buffy seasons 1-4 where there was new conflict/villains every week but there was still an ongoing season arc touched upon at least once every episode. It keeps the pace up. More often than not in Stargate it's "routine patrol" or "supply run" or "diplomacy mission", then at the end of the season they mention the real situation with the main baddie. It's exactly the way Smallville was structured, and I hate that.

It's a bit of a stretch but I'll say "Supernatural".

Out of the list I'd say Doctor Who, mostly because there's so much variety in tone and style in every episode, of course this means there is a lot of oppurtunity for the series to miss as well as hit but even in those episodes at least it's usually trying to do something unique.

I also enjoy Fringe quite a lot.

For me the answer is easily Babylon 5, though Fringe may eventually surpass it. Sliders was really fun for its first couple of seasons. I liked TNG and DS9, but for the most part I found the average episode of a Star Trek series to be boring.

@jimjimman said:

For me the answer is easily Babylon 5, though Fringe may eventually surpass it. Sliders was really fun for its first couple of seasons. I liked TNG and DS9, but for the most part I found the average episode of a Star Trek series to be boring.

What he said. Well, the first part of the first sentence he said. It's probably since I grew up with it, but I love the first four seasons of Babylon 5. The long, slow build-up to the Shadow War and the Earth civil war kept me glued to the screen week after week, and even the weaker fifth season can't kill it for me. I've never understood why it get so much hate.

I do like Dr. Who a whole lot more than I have any right to. It's just so sincere in its stupidity I can't help but love it.

Also, Firefly.

I love Star Trek and Doctor Who equally, but I went with Star Trek since I grew up watching it.

Battlestar Galactica, you frakking toasters.

Ive never watched much Star Trek. At this point Im uncertain how you "get into" Star Trek. There's just so much stuff, and everybody seems to have various versions when it comes to "Start out with X, but ignore Y at all costs."

Not a fan of Stargate or Doctor Who, but I do enjoy X-Files.

I tried to get into Stargate, Battlestar, and Star Trek, but I couldn't do it. I like doctor who though. The show's gotten more and more whimiscal since Steven Moffat took over, which I don't like. I dont mind it normally, but I really noticed it during the christmas special.