2001 in 70mm at cinema (obviously) is amazing.

Skerret wrote:

2001 in 70mm at cinema (obviously) is amazing.

fuck that's how you do a page turn.

I liked Moon.

And I will fite to the death anyone who speaks against Stargate SG1.

SG1 isn't high art, I'll concede that. But it does touch on some genuinely interesting concepts in standalone episodes. Societies that focus entirely on automated warfare, or who retreat to VR simulations and the consequences (I realise Trek did this too, and earlier).

I loved the episodes with time loops and black holes. Playing golf into the stargate or bleeding effects of time dilation were excellently implemented. The series became less interesting when they got superhuman tech from Asgard. There was no threat then. Also Replicators were cool too. Von Neumann Meccano sets. 

I did like Stargate Universe because that put it back into a more pressing case for survival from episode to episode. We need air! We need water! No food! Fuck, we're headed for a star.

Sci-fi is best served by the written word when it has loftier ambitions. Though even then the short story or novella probably serves it best.

However for hokum, film is best. Star Wars, Star Trek et al - pure hokum - and the thought of any novelisation I find ludicrous.

There are exceptions. 2001, Soylent Green, Bladerunner, Solaris (Russian and even the Hollywood version) and Silent Running tackle the loftier side pretty well.

I actually also quite liked A.I. Apart from the scrap festival mistep and a few of the cookier elements in the city it worked quite well and I liked its scope and scale.

Have mentioned this a few times, but while I also liked the Cruise War of the Worlds ,it could have been so much better by keeping it in the novel's original time period -even a dash of steam punk could have been added.

Oh. Forgot about Forbidden Planet. Based on a brilliant idea and executed pretty well. It is sprinked with 50's dialogue, comic relief and some hokum, but there's a thread of sadness throughout that works very well.

AJ wrote:

Nobody's mentioned Fringe. Somebody should mention Fringe because it was awesome.

Fringe started out promisingly before promptly disappearing up its own arse.

In complete agreement with davyK with regards to The War of the Worlds.

Last series was a mess.

Oooooh nice topic!! Id never thought of what splitting down the environment from the sci fi....and thinking about it Id also be firmly rooted in the enviro sci fi camp.
At least half the reason I love Blade Runner so much is its setting. The sprawling sci fi city, new buildings mixed with old ,the constant rain, the smoke, the neon.Wonderful stuff. Same with the Fifth Element. Such a brilliantly realised world.
Even down to the likes of Mass Effect and Alien, the story etc is great yes but a big draw is the environs and world(s)they are set in.
I really tend to dislike a lot of the pre 80s stuff in general based mostly on the design. I despise that 60s/70s look. Never been bothered with planet of the apes or forbidden planet etc. 
In terms of Star Trek, I never really cared too much for OG trek. It was all too goofy and old fashioned. However, Im all over the Next Gen. Voyager was ok in places, as was DS9 and some of the movies. In terms of pure enjoyment though Star Wars wins. It looks incredible.(ignoring most of the prequel trilogy). Magical space monks, laser swords and space ship dogfighting? Fuck yeah.
I've never really been interested in sci-fi as a means of examining current day issues etc. Nah Im all about the sense of wonder,amazing locations,cool ships and evil villains. I think thats also why Prometheus gets an easy ride from me. It looked incredible and I didnt know where the plot would go(physically that is). So the plot holes and stupidity of the characters didnt matter much to me.
I do get very tired of the whole AI thing though.  But the likes of Automata and that Johnny Depp one where he gets uploaded to a computer? Arse. Pure arse. Lets move on guys, its been done to death. Ex Machina though was ace.Great design(tits!!!) and it took a different approach to the robot/alive thing.
Stargate (the movie) was a great example of all the setup being the draw. It married Ancient Egyptian design with sci fi tech and was about opening a wormhole to a mysterious planet on the far side of known space. That was such a brilliant set up.Looking back the film wasnt amazing but  it was a super idea. I really liked the series but it was Stargate Universe that came closest to the feeling of the original IMO. It was choc full of mystery in unknown parts of the universe an unbelievable distance from home...super stuff.

Billy wrote:

THX1138 is one of my favs, what an incredible film. Stargate tv series was not my cup of tea at all, or firefly, or space crew family matters, or home and away go to venus, or neighbours ramsey trip to mars special holiday 1989 edition. Do i dare watch Star Trek 3 tonight or go straight for the WHALES...

Quite liked THX-1138 too. The redux has a smattering of CGI which isn't invasive if memory serves. Probably what emboldened Lucas to go nuts.

Really can't be arsed with TV sci-fi series. I enjoyed classic Trek back in the day and I also have decent memories of Next Gen but all that holodeck shit was tedious.

Don't think I've ever been more deflated than during Stargate. Once it went off-world it became sub-hokem nonsense.

I quite liked Contact. But I like that build a machine under direction plot. I liked This Island Earth because of that. That could be rather good with a modern take on it.

I couldnt watch it through to the end Ill look up the ending.
I think the Robocop reboot was particularly bad for the robo/human thing.
My posts above rambled quite a bit but in general for me in sci-fi I love mystery,sense of wonder and the environment.
Some great examples being Interstellar,Prometheus, Blade Runner,The Fifth Element,Dark City,Oblivion,Sunshine,Transformers the Movie(80s),Solaris,Moon etc etc

EDIT
@davyK I recently rewatched Contact. Fucking excellent film.

Tempy wrote:

I've never read Asimov, I diverted to Lem under Brooks' tuition, but I gather I'd like him.

He has a nice clean style that makes him easy to read

Tempy wrote:

@davyK Contact is brilliant yes, that's my kind of SciFi but I also like the Cruise War of the Worlds too - especially if you deploy the Failsafe Edit, where you nip to the loo for the scene where he meets back up with his family.

I really liked it too - but just thought that story is crying out for a Victorian era steam-punkish telling. The tripod vs Thunder Child battle could be an effing brilliant set piece.

Tempy wrote:

You need to stop using the word hokum btw, supplies are limited.

I know. Getting lazy.

Contact is a brilliant film, it was my first DVD. Wonderfully paced and great moments, all tied to fairly realistic, to untrained eye, Sci. And it has William Fichtner is who is watchable in just about anything.

+1 for the Victorian steam punk stuff, more H.G. Wells type stuff would be nice, though obviously with the crap result of John Carter it'll be a while before anyone gets close to that style of film again.

When Mass Effect was first announced and they talked about their plans for it, showed off the art and so on, it sounded a lot more like a game in a Blade Runner meets Star Wars universe.  But to me it ended up being much more like a soap with rubbish conversations and half arsed emotion, i was really disappointed.

I'm somewhat dubious if the Cyberpunk 2077 game is going to much cop either.

Tempy wrote:

Steampunk needs buried deep in the ground but I wouldn't be averse to a period retelling.

Temps are you seriously suggesting there is anything wrong with this