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[Mikademus]

So I am a bit bored and looking for new sci-fi stuff to watch and of course want to know what you recommend!

Recently I watched Defying Gravity, which was ok: a bit like a better Lost but in space. I also have checked out the relatively low-budget BBC series Outcasts, which was a bit underwhelming but still enjoyable. I saw the movie Hunter Prey, another low-budget title with some nice mind-fuckery and twists in it. I saw Source Code, which was like a mix of 13th Floor and Memento, and I really recommend it!

I haven't checked out Terra Nova yet but am planning to, but the premise seems a bit lame with humans going back in time to colonise the dinosaur age. Haven't seen almost any of Dr Who either.

The mandatory series-to-watch library, according to me:
* Star Trek TOS & TNG (I don't really recommend Voyager and DS9)
* Babylon 5
* Firefly
* Farscape
* LEXX
* Stargate SG:1 & SG:Atlantis
* Andromeda
* Battlestar Galactica (not my cup of tea, though)

Lost will not make it to my recommendation list And Heroes plain suck.

[1982]

Moonbase Alpha
Silent Running
The Man from Earth
Primer
The Quiet Earth

[allen]

Mr. Nobody

but you may not like it as it's actually interesting unlike the stuff you mentioned.

[Dragonmaw]

Red Dwarf
Doctor Who

[Mikademus]

The Man from Earth is on my viewing list, and I'll look into the other stuff too! I actually have watched the first season of Moonbase Alpha, good classic stuff there!

Allen, that seems intriguing, but the descriptions I've read about it seems more about the alternative life stories and characterisation of it than about sci-fi (Imdb even lists it as fantasy, for whatever that's worth).

Yeah, some of what I listed is mainstream, but most long-living series are. And I'd hardly call LEXX, Babylon 5 or ST:TNG uninteresting. I also don't think listing all movies I've watched is worthwhile, I just made a selection on the top of my mind, and yeah some of it can be considered mainstream. I like alternative, experimental, academic and intellectual titles, and I also can enjoy mainstream things, so feel free to suggest away!

If you haven't checked out LEXX, do so. It may surprise you.

[Tumetsu]

The Moon.

btw, I though this was about novels and short-stories and was about to say Inconstant Moon and Manna 

[Glyph]

Twilight Zone, if you really haven't seen it before.

Willoughby! Next stop, Willoughby!

[1982]

Twilight Zone, if you really haven't seen it before.

I've always liked Outer Limits more, because it went much more overboard in this "genre".

[Mikademus]

Red Dwarf was enormously fun, and I think a defining series for me! Sad that Craig Charles (the guy playing Lister) didn't really got many more roles except for Red Dwarf. He was host for Robot Wars and Scrapheap Challenge, but that's about it.

The Moon is a great movie, liked it a lot!

I saw an animation movie simply called "9", also worth seeing, though Allen would consider it a bit mainstream, probably And of course everyone has already seen District 9, which is one of the better sci-fi movies these last years.

Otherwise, almost anything directed by Terry Gilliams is great: f.i. 12 Monkeys, Brazil, and one of his latests, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

[allen]

Mr. Nobody is certainly sci-fi. There's two types of science fiction, you have the silly stuff like Babylon 5 and Farscape and all those weird cheesy sci-fi shows/movies and then you have the more serious stuff like Blade Runner, 2001, Moon, and Mr. Nobody.

In the year 2092, the one hundred eighteen year old man Nemo Nobody, the last mortal alive after humans have become ‘telomerized’ and achieved quasi-immortality, is recounting his life story to a reporter.

I don't see how you could say that isn't sci-fi.

[C.A. Sinner]

I saw Source Code, which was like a mix of 13th Floor and Memento, and I really recommend it!

I hated Source Code's ending. They should have just let the credits roll when time froze on the train, that would have been perfect. The whole cheesy Hollywood coda where everyone lives happily ever after feels so tacked on and really hurts the movie imo.

[Mikademus]

I saw Source Code, which was like a mix of 13th Floor and Memento, and I really recommend it!

I hated Source Code's ending. They should have just let the credits roll when time froze on the train, that would have been perfect. The whole cheesy Hollywood coda where everyone lives happily ever after feels so tacked on and really hurts the movie imo.

I didn't react that badly to it. Hollywood studios more or less require and impose a happy ending, which sucks, but given that restriction they handled it rather well. And the ending in the "real" world wasn't that happy, if you think about it. In one only of all the worlds created there was happiness. That's actually a bit dark, isn't it? Yeah, it is in the mainstream folder but still manages to be decent: an OK evening movie and served as a good distraction to me but probably not worth a second viewing.

[C.A. Sinner]

All I'm saying is that if they had stopped at the scene I mentioned, it would have been a really powerful bittersweet sort of ending with a bit of ambiguity. i think mainstream audiences can handle more of that than many hollywood producers are willing to admit.

[Smithy]

I felt the same way about that ending.

Recommendations:

Children of Men, if you haven't seen it yet. That's all that comes to mind right now. My dad keeps suggesting I see "Repo Man," (old movie, not the shitty "repo men" movie that came out in recent years,) though I've never seen it he usually has good taste in movies.

[PaleFox]

Speaking of Movies, you should see Moon, which came out a few years ago. Great film, although it's hard to talk about without ruining it.