TOPIC: What is your favourite Sci-Fi show?

As the title says what is your favourite all time Sci-Fi show, and why?
While I love most Sci-fi shows, Star Trek, SG1 etc etc I feel that one show stands out among the others.

For me Babylon 5 has to be the top all time show (not film).
From the very beginning they always said it would be a 5 year story arc and it was, they didn't try to string it out for 10 series just to wring the last drop of money from the franchise.
The characters were sublime, they had such depth to them and were played by relatively unknown people with such skill
While it is over 25 years old it is still one of the most visually stunning shows, it was ground breaking in that was the first show to use full CGI for it's space combat and other scenes.
It spawned about 6 movies and 1 almost 2 (the pilot didn't get the backing to go further) other shows.
The stories had continuity and they interweaved with one another to give this massive backdrop to the coming war between light and dark.
The interplay between the characters was fun to watch and added volumes to the already fantastically written and portrayed characters, flaws and all.
I could go on but this one has to sit at the top for me, it had everything, plots within plots, you could watch it and enjoy it for what it was or pay that bit more attention and see all the smaller subplots.
Even now I tend to watch the whole show (all 5 seasons) at least once a year and even now I see things I've missed after all this time (either that or I'm going mad and it just feels like something I hadn't noticed before lol).

If you've not watched it all the way through I can seriously recommend it, binge watching is the best way as that way you will remember all the little Easter Eggs etc.

So let's hear your thoughts on what show and why.

Stargate SG1 closely followed by Space Above and Beyond. The characters and their backgrounds linked to story lines in both series, the tensions between the characters but their ability to support each other. While others in both had underlying agendas of their own and attitudes such as towards "tanks"on Above and Beyond have us questioning our own attitudes towards minorities.
The underlying story line in both that if we go out into the universe we cannot arrogantly assume we can colonise without some come back.
The brillent badies in SG1 and their own character development, while in Above and Beyond the "chigs" and the mystery that surrounded who they actually were in relation to earth.
Strong central characters in both as commanders. O'neill and his classic one liners played by Richard Dean Anderson, completely contrasted with McQueen played by James Morrison who at first thought his lines were corny until he was revealed as a "tank" an artifical created human with only one role, win battles. The two women who in a mans war hold more than their own and are central to a number of themes Kristen Cloke in Above and Beyond and Amanda Tapping in SG1.
How what actually exists in our world and the military today and evolves to include the US Marines and R Lee Emergy in the Above and Beyond pilot movie while SG1 has Cheyenne mountain in its real role taken to the next level as the SG base and the US airforce.
Then there are the weapons and combat scenes, I believe Anderson was no longer able to able to convincing so was written out for a younger commander in the last two series, who was just as convincing and against my favourite badies the Ori.
total escapism that you can see yourself being one of the central characters and theme music that sticks in your head!
SG1 as the best well last word to one of the central characters, "Indeed".

Red Dwarf, until series 8 when Chris Barrie left

Star Trek: TOS. You can't beat Kirk beating on a dude in a rubber suit.

Also just finished the first season of Star Trek Discovery, and it is really excellent. The writing is very strong. (Though with the strong female and gay characters you can see why some of the autists got upset with the direction.) Can't wait for season two to see how Spock and the Enterprise fit in.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Space 1999 followed by UFO. I like all the standard ones too, but these were just fun, oh and Gerry & Sylvia Anderson of course

Those two are certainly in my top 5 Bishop. Anderson was amazing with what he created.

Babylon 5 would definitely be one of my favourites, used to watch it every Saturday after Macgyver. Space Above & Beyond is also fantastic.

Of more recent shows, Dark Matter was pretty solid, Altered Carbon was decent as well.

The Expanse would be top 5, Dark Matter was good (probably why it got canned while Killjoys didn't). Altered Carbon is very good, looking forward to seeing the next season, it's very Blade Runner 'esque

Another vote for Dark Matter, and also Red Dwarf, my all-time favourite comedy series.
I enjoyed the character development of the android in Dark Matter as she tried to become more 'human'.

For nostalgia reasons, Tranformers (The 80's cartoon series and Movie) would be my favourite. As a kid, nothing was cooler than big robots that transformed.
Love Red Dwarf for its hilarity, and the 2004 Battle Star Galactica series. Really liked that series for its dark and gritty tones. Plus the space battles were great!

I've not seen Babylon 5 except for trailers. Not totally sure why, but given it aired in the mid nineties I was likely distracted by other social activities because TV never got much of a look in. Hopefully Netflix or Lightbox picks the series up and runs it here again soon.

I don't have a clear favourite. I do rate Space 1999, UFO and Battle Star Galactica. Worthy of a mention is Lexx, Red Dwarf, Joe 90 and Doctor Who (especially the Doctor performances of Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Peter Capaldi). Can't say I thought much of the new Cybermen though, especially when they changed their catch phrase to "Delete the Doctor" Seriously? I was half expecting them to go full take the piss and say delete is not good enough we must "Control Alt Delete the Doctor" Hopefully they stick to the tried and tested terror of "Eradicate the Timelord!"

Out of all the shows above Lexx was by far the weirdest, and is probably the polar opposite of the more celebral Babylon 5. It was like someone got the movies Brazil, Alien, and Blade Runner into a blender and made a TV series of some existential melancholic psychosexual trip into an uncaring universe where the actors, writers, special effects and film crew all seemed to be on some form of acid trip or psychoactive drugs .

I'm keen to watch Sense8 on Netflix soon. One of the co-writers being Joe Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame.

Sense 8 is great, but............. don't watch it if you are phased by nudity or same sex scenes, it was hard to seperate the awesome story from all the gratuitous same sex kissing and more.
It's like the story was written by JMS so the story was very good, but the screenplay was written by the Wachowski brothers/sister/brother (delete as appropriate). It's like they had something to prove by shoving all the gay stuff down your throat all the time. For the most part you can just close your eyes during the gay scenes and it's worth it for the story which is very good.

Thanks Gary. I figured the series might be a bit like Blade Runner with the "tonque" turned up to 11. None of that phases me. I think the only thing I couldn't stomach watching is hookers urinating on a fat wrinkly saggy Trump! Might have to watch the Toy Dolls play Nellie the Elephant to get that image out of my head now

The later Battlestar was in my top five, (probably number three) for the dark side and the twist at the end when earth was reached. Also the strong characters and twists in their roles.

Definitely B5, like David I used to watch it every saturday after work. All the star treks but more so the original seires. Space above and beyond was also a favorite. Of the newer series, Dark Matter and Killjoys, The expanse is amazing (can't wait for season 3 to come out here, good that Amazon has saved it also), Altered Carbon was very good (Takeshi's new skin is the guy who plays Falcon on the avengers movies). And the new battlestar series are awesome.

Remake of "BattleStar" was outstanding,just love those Cylons(new & older version) for us oldies there was the v/spooky "The Invaders"

Old-timer wrote: Remake of "BattleStar" was outstanding,just love those Cylons(new & older version) for us oldies there was the v/spooky "The Invaders"

The Invaders was a good watch... "They don't bleed when they're cut". The Invaders instantly reminded me of two other great series at the time, Land of the Giants, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The set designer on land of the giants must have had a ball.

Unfair question asking a man to decide on a favourite SF.

Insofar as TV sci-fi goes, the original Star Trek series always captivated me with its innovation...starships, different alien races, phasers, communication devices with quirky sounds, Spock's pinch and strength, theme music etc. I lost interest when the cast changed, it just wasn't the same.

I was also a big fan of The Invaders in the mid to late '60s. That was so cool...David Vincent trying to prove to the world the aliens existed and taking the fight to them.

Film-wise I'm a large fan of much of the Alien franchise, hence the name Bishop!!. I don't mind some Stargate, and even the movie when you add back in all the deleted scenes. I also like the 2001/ 2010 movies too. Tron, the first one heehee, and I love 5th Element.

With the announcement of a US Space force today are we taking our first steps to the events of 2063?

Feels like another 24 episode binge coming!

I've enjoyed Colony lately although I haven't had much time at all for TV or movies let alone modelling. While I kinda missed a lot of the original star trek years, my earliest memories of sci-fi were Logans Run and Blakes 7. They went well over my head though. When I could understand them more I was watching Buck Rogers and BSG. I've been trying to watch the new BSG series over the past few years having only seen sporadic episodes, but still haven't managed to sit down for any length of time.

Just finished all four series of Blakes 7 via youtube on the new smart TV. Classic sci fi, although it does lose some of its appeal with the loss of Jenna Stannis at the end of series two and the Liberator at the end of series three.
I could never quite work out though if you had the most powerful craft in the universe you must always run from inferior Federation pursuit ships.
Incidentally both the Liberator and the Federation Pursuit craft are available from Mission Models. They would make great painting/weather kits, and a light source seperate kit for the rear green section is also available for the Liberator but being resin would require careful financial planning.

It's been mentioned by a couple, but The Expanse is really floating my boat and i consider it the best sc-fi i have watched in a long time. I just acquired season 3 but have decided to start from season 1 again before i watch 3. Started season 1 again today

I really hope Amazon pushes it on to a season 4 and beyond. So many good show do not seem to go on to any sort of completion now.

Oh yeah, not long ago finished Orphan Black. That was not too bad. Even the other half got hooked on that, maybe even more than me