FTA-TV Top 10 Sci Fi Shows of All Time

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Hollywood misunderstands the concept of reboots; they keep trying to do it to beloved movies and wondering why it fails to match audience expectations. The art of a reboot is to find something that had a good concept but either didn't work or only worked moderately, then improve on it.
 
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Hollywood misunderstands the concept of reboots; they keep trying to do it to believed movies and wondering why it fails to match audience expectations. The art of a reboot is to find something that had a good concept but either didn't work or only worked moderately, then improve on it.
Examples of successful reboots?
 
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As mentioned, Battlestar, plus Lost in Space. Both known properties but not breakout hits; they had good premises that could be improved upon. Films have done it well on occasion too, things like Ocean's 11, Scarface etc.
Never watched Battlestar and never had the appeal, but as a kid, the old black and white series Lost in Space was huge to watch as a primary school kid after school. Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes and Lost in Space were staple tv diet. Having only watched a few opening episodes of the new Lost in Space what I do like is the Robot is totally interesting for our time and not the Robot of the people that imagined Robots from 1950's type thinking. Will have to watch more at some point.
 
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Apr 10, 2010
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I was joking with Automan, although as a kid I couldn't understand why they showed a couple of episodes and then that was it, never to be seen again. I always like to add comments for why I picked stuff so I'll try to keep it brief. There's plenty of quality shows I've not seen like the Galactica reboot, Firefly, Fringe etc.

1. The Twilight Zone (original) - not all the episodes are SciFi but enough are to be on the list and it has to be number one, the quality varies but most are at least interesting ideas and the best ones are outstanding storytelling. Would be number one for Rod Serling's intros and final thoughts alone :grinning:.

2. Star Trek (original) - hated Next Gen as a kid when it was first on but eventually started watching the original series late at night when I'd come in from delivering pizzas. A bit of a casual trekkie now with the first two series definite favourites, the original is all over the place quality wise but for what it was, when it was, it's hard to argue the impact it's had.

3. Cowboy Beebop - Still my favourite anime series (I'd watch more if I could find interesting stuff that isn't all about schoolgirls). Fun, well done with some of the best music outside of a Tarantino film.

4. Westworld - If you have to do a reboot leaving it 43 years until you do probably improves the odds that the reboot can actually add something. Not sure if Westworld can maintain its momentum but the first two seasons were quality and you can see its impact by how much imitation it has created.

5. Stranger Things - Another that might start hitting diminishing returns and maybe its more weaponised nostalgia than anything else but its been fun so far with a great cast. The fact I was basically the same age as the kids in 1984 probably doesn't hurt either.

6. V - And speaking of 1984, V was awesome as a kid, pretty sure I had a nightmare after seeing the reptile baby being born. There are still millions of people who honestly believe David Icke's theory of reptilian overloads hiding among us as world leaders in politics, business, showbiz etc. Ain't coincidences funny seeing as he first came up with the idea only a few years after that exact storyline was played out on TV.... Or maybe we are being prepped...

7. The X-Files - I never saw the final seasons but the early stuff with Skinner and Cancer man was so good.

8. Rick and Morty - the fandom and analyzing of every frame is worse than the first season of True Detective but in the end this show is often funny as all hell.

8.5 - It doesn't qualify but Krieger Cyborging everyone in sight gets it a mention at least. Archer is (for a few seasons at least) hands down the funniest series ever animated.

9. The Mandalorian - I might be going early on this one seeing as I've watched 3 episodes but so far this is by far the best Star Wars since Return of the Jedi.

10. Astroboy (the 80s series) - a childhood favourite to finish off, I loved the anime shows as a kid, the artwork was so different to western cartoons as was the fact that many actually told an evolving story and not just a Simspon's style episode of the week with everything always the same before and afterwards. There were a few series, Robotech, Starblazers, Battle of the Planets, Ulysses 31 but Astroboy was a favourite.

HM: Altered Carbon - from the opening credits this felt like Netflix was rushing out its Westworld imitator. Still it was a good first season and keen to see season 2, just a shame its taken two years to get here. Now and Again (1999) good not great but I can't believe they didn't give it a second season, Tripods, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (not enough SciFi to count), Agent Carter - better than more than a few Marvel movies and most superhero shows.


Ok I lied about being brief.
 
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i see people referencing the new lost in space. i quite enjoyed it, but at some point maybe 6-7 eps in it just didn't demand me to watch the next one and i put it down, never to return. wasn't bad in the slightest and yeah i thought the robot angle was great. is it worth going back to?

Hollywood misunderstands the concept of reboots; they keep trying to do it to beloved movies and wondering why it fails to match audience expectations. The art of a reboot is to find something that had a good concept but either didn't work or only worked moderately, then improve on it.

oh yeah, for sure. the issue though is sliders was nothing more than a one-trick plot device to develop 45 mins of episodic crap. the basis of the show was the plot device that enabled them to make endless, unrelated short stories (the pestilence of 20th century scifi tv imo). a new show could be amazing though if they ditched their narrative model.

also not enough Man in the High Castle love in here. i'd explain why it belongs in this particular thread but i reckon it's better going in blind like i did.
 

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10. Astroboy (the 80s series) - a childhood favourite to finish off, I loved the anime shows as a kid, the artwork was so different to western cartoons as was the fact that many actually told an evolving story and not just a Simspon's style episode of the week with everything always the same before and afterwards. There were a few series, Robotech, Starblazers, Battle of the Planets, Ulysses 31 but Astroboy was a favourite.

astro boy and robotech aged better than any other cartoon available in AU in the 80s. astro in particular was really serious and depressing.
 
Apr 10, 2010
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astro boy and robotech aged better than any other cartoon available in AU in the 80s. astro in particular was really serious and depressing.


Agreed, they got away with showing it in the west because they were robots but, especially from a kids point of view, a lot of the robots were shown as every bit as alive as the humans and considering that, there was a lot of tragic deaths in that show (including child robots).

And the whole thing starts with a kid dying and then the dad rejecting the replacement son that he had brought to life.
 
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Long Live HFC

Norm Smith Medallist
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Agreed, they got away with showing it in the west because they were robots but, especially from a kids point of view, a lot of the robots were shown as every bit as alive as the humans and considering that, there was a lot of tragic deaths (including child robots) in that show.

And the whole thing starts with a kid dying and then the dad rejecting the replacement son that he had brought to life.

i think the west just thought cartoons were for children back then and never really checked the content; the (violent) racism angle was a persistent theme. only last week i picked up my boxed set to see if there were episodes i didn't catch back in the day! i reckon there's 3 or 4 i might need to watch :)
 
i think the west just thought cartoons were for children back then and never really checked the content; the (violent) racism angle was a persistent theme. only last week i picked up my boxed set to see if there were episodes i didn't catch back in the day! i reckon there's 3 or 4 i might need to watch :)

In fairness a lot of people still think that..!
 
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i think the west just thought cartoons were for children back then and never really checked the content; the (violent) racism angle was a persistent theme. only last week i picked up my boxed set to see if there were episodes i didn't catch back in the day! i reckon there's 3 or 4 i might need to watch :)


I'd be curious to watch a few episodes myself and see how they hold up, its crazy how many episodes I still remember somewhat clearly, the detective with only a human head, the invisible robot at Christmas, Astro's new legs, brother Atlas...
 
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