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Then check out Heroes and Icons channel. Except for Saturday nights this is their lineup:

 

8:00 Star Trek - The Original Series

9:00 Star Trek - Next Generation

10:00 - Deep Space Nine

11:00 Star Trek:Voyager

12:00 Star Trek: Enterprize

Times are Eastern Daylight.

 

Jake

1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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I'm trying out CBS Access since I like Star Trek and scifi. I don't know if it is that I am older or something else, but I just don't care for series TV like STD and Picard. Give me The Next Generation, Original ST and the Orville. :love:

 

Personally, I'm with you. I dig all things Trek, and the production values of STD and Picard are feature-film quality. But you have to be really patient because the story arcs are basically season-wide, so it's like watching 40 minutes of an 8-hour-long movie, each week -- sometimes I feel like "just get ON WITH IT", please. The older series were written more episodically, so that you got resolution to the conflict at the end of each segment and the episodes could stand alone. I don't find their long-story format as satisfying on TV, for some reason.

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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I'm trying out CBS Access since I like Star Trek and scifi. I don't know if it is that I am older or something else, but I just don't care for series TV like STD and Picard. Give me The Next Generation, Original ST and the Orville. :love:

There were also a lot of behind the scenes shenanigans in terms of financing, production and distribution control that affected the show. Many plot lines and episodes were re-worked and changed mid-season and between seasons. You can feel it in the storytelling, it gets really disjointed. It's too bad because it had some great promise. There were also complaints that the main character Michael Burnham is basically a Mary Sue (I agree with that). They also had knack for focusing on the most un-appealing and boring characters, while leaving some of the best and most interesting characters sidelined and/or neutered.

 

Despite the less polished production values, old Star Trek had much better stories. FWIW Netflix has all the episodes readily available, I've re-watched TNG and DS9 a few times. Orville is the Star Trek oasis, more Star Trek than the CBS Star Trek.

 

Notes & Rumours:

Netflix basically paid up front for the production cost of 1st season of the new Star Trek, but when they saw how it panned out - Netflix told CBS to shove off, they wouldn't pay what CBS for the next season until they saw what they were getting and then they could decide on an amount. Thus there was a scramble for money during the 1st season and into the next, which resulted in a lot of things getting cut, dressed down etc. Once again you can feel it in the disjointed storytelling.

 

There are rumours the Netflix wants to buy the production from CBS and do it themselves, which might help the cohesiveness of the stories long term. Best of all worlds, they buy it and get McFarlane to produce it.

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Give Bablylon 5 time to warm up though (IMHO)...I thought it was cheap crap at first, then slowly got into it, and by season 4 or 5 it became something truly special.

 

The Expanse is very well made (so far), I'm in season 1 still.

 

Farscape! Wow, haven't thought of that show in ages!

 

If you like slow, thought-provoking mind-benders,I recommend a German show called Dark on Netflix. Film-quality in every way.

 

--

 

I've gone the other way, I'm more in favor of longer series arcs...I think the Sopranos opened my eyes to this (though even TNG had a few longer arcs in their later seasons), and Breaking Bad took it to the next level (I consider this the best show I've ever seen.) Sometimes the "wrap it all up in one show" just hit the formula too hard--when you know when it's going to resolve (in the next few minutes if it's close to the hour mark!) kind of takes the surprise out of it, and limits the story-telling. In the end though, it's characters that make a show, which is why I love the original Trek so much despite the VERY low budget (I love the retrofit done with the better effects that still look vintage) and occasional hippie 60s plotline :D Note to trek movies: there are sci-fi ideas OTHER THAN REVENGE that you can explore...geez. How many "person wronged by the Federation decades ago now wants to blow things up" movies are we going to get?

 

Not a show thing, but for sci-fi fans who like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 (both of which I loved)--the same director has finished part I of Dune, due in theaters this Christmas...if we have theaters still. They are splitting the first novel into two movies. Hoping we finally get a faithful adaptation of that story.

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Another Babylon 5 fan here. That show though is all about long story arcs, with some action here and there.

 

Firefly is another all-time great imo. A Joss Whedon production, thus faster paced, not so big on the high-concept stuff. Basically a Western in outer space.

 

The Expanse also great - a mix of big picture vision and violence.

 

Defiance is similar to Firefly in feel, as it takes place centuries into the future, after aliens have arrived and world-altering events... mostly in a frontier town built on top of what was once St. Louis, MO. The town has its version of a sheriff, a saloon, etc. and the Gateway Arch is often featured.

 

All of the above have excellent casts. The Expanse and Defiance are on Amazon.

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I thought Picard was a much better show than Discovery. They managed to recapture some of TNG's gravitas. The Orville at least has some positive feeling about our future. It might be a blatant Next Gen rip-off but it's still a fun show to watch. I agree with GovernorSilver about Firefly and still have never forgiven Fox for totally fumbling the ball on that one. It came closest to the original Trek as far as having some panache to it as well. There is a new series called Space Command that is trying to get off the ground. It has Star Trek's Doug Jones and Robert Piccardo and Babylon 5's Mira Furlan, Bruce Boxleitner and Bill (danger Will Robinson) Mumy. I just found our about it a week or so ago. You can look it up on YouTube. Speaking of danger Will Robinson, I wasn't too thrilled with the Lost In Space reboot and hated the reboot of Battlestar Galactica. It took the term dystopian to new depths. All in all I still like the original Trek the best. It was low budget, cheesy by today's standard and we still.....make....fun of.....Shatner's.....halting speech, but something about it set the standard and they definitely managed to do a lot more with a lot less, kind of like the first 3 Star Wars but that's another long debate for another time. :)
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My wife and I watched the first episode of Picard and while it was interesting, we felt there were enough storytelling red flags that we didn't invest in the full season. We just watched some TNG again.

 

It doesn't entirely fit into the "sci-fi" mold, though there are certainly sci-fi elements, but we just finished the TV adaptation of Watchmen that ran on HBO last fall, which I thought was absolutely brilliant. As a fan of the original comic, I thought the choice to create a new story in the same alternate history but set in the present day, rather than retell the (nearly-flawless and perfectly matched to its medium) 1980s comic story was inspired... and the narrative choices were audacious and timely and thrilling, but also paid tribute to the source material. Highly recommend.

 

Stokely, have you been keeping up with Better Call Saul? Another offshoot of a groundbreaking franchise that could have been a letdown, but I think is on the same level of excellence as Breaking Bad, if not better. This most recent season rose to even greater heights than the previous ones.

 

But yes, all of the above are season-long arcs, not episodic like traditional Trek. TV is the place to do that now, and I don't mind it, even if every now and then we'll still put on Frasier or The Office when we need to decompress one episode at a time.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Stokely, have you been keeping up with Better Call Saul? Another offshoot of a groundbreaking franchise that could have been a letdown, but I think is on the same level of excellence as Breaking Bad, if not better. This most recent season rose to even greater heights than the previous ones.

 

No, I have avoided it fearing the exact thing you listed: that it would be a letdown, and I also feared it was just a cash-in on known characters.

 

That is really good to know, I could use a good new series!

 

Mostly not sci-fi, but I've been on a northern-european kick lately via Netflix...Ragnarok from Norway, Valhalla Murders from Iceland, Bordertown from Finland! All well-done and well-acted IMO.

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The move from satisfying single (or few) episode stories to season-long (or even series-long) arcs is not just an SF problem, it's the way most TV dramas have gone.

 

I do like arcs, but they should be in ADDITION to satisfying stories told along the way, not instead.

 

If a show doesn't provide good stories along the way but instead just slowly strings out one big story like a soap opera, it better have a spectacular ending. And nothing should go TOO long without resolving. Hence, in the end, Battlestar Galactica kinda sucked.

 

 

I'll make some recommendations to the SF folks here...

 

Definitely check out Dollhouse - a lesser known Joss Whedon project. It does end up being one big 26-episode story, but satisfying stories are also told along the way. (In fact, the first 5 or so episodes hardly deal with the bigger story at all, and it's after that that it starts to get more intense... so unless you absolutely hate it, it's worth sticking around at least that far into it.) - Originally on fox TV, I think it's only on hulu now. If you like it, you can check out some conceptually similar series... Westworld and Humans.

 

Another strong one is Travelers - 34 episodes - Netflix - One big story with a good wrap-up, moves well and keeps you involved all along. You'll know within 2 episodes whether it clicks for you. If you like it, some conceptually similar ones are Continuum and 12 Monkeys.

 

Living With Yourself is a quickie and a hybrid comedy... worth checking out.

 

I've enjoyed the new Amazon series Upload, but it's an example of something that needs an ending and they haven't produced it yet. Had I know, I wouldn't have watched it yet. It's like watching just the first half of a movie. No matter how good it is, it will be unsatisfying unless you see how it ends. At least that's how it seems to me, even though I did really enjoy watching it so far. So... maybe a tough choice.

 

Somewhat similarly, I liked Dark Matter (vaguely reminds me of Firefly), and it does have lots of stories that wrap up as it goes, but it is frustrating that it ends on a cliffhanger with a number of continuing elements still unresolved, and it's been cancelled, so that's all there will be.

 

I'll definitely be checking out some of the recommendations you guys have left, thanks!

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Stokely, have you been keeping up with Better Call Saul? Another offshoot of a groundbreaking franchise that could have been a letdown, but I think is on the same level of excellence as Breaking Bad, if not better. This most recent season rose to even greater heights than the previous ones.

 

No, I have avoided it fearing the exact thing you listed: that it would be a letdown, and I also feared it was just a cash-in on known characters.

It's sensational. More of a slow-burn character drama than Breaking Bad (though it has the occasional heart-pounding action sequence, particularly as the show goes on and more of the Albuquerque underworld rears its head), and it's as good as anything on TV as far as writing and acting.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Oh, and I don't know whether you'd call it SF or not... but The Good Place was terrific. Philosophically, it kind of ends up going the same place Picard went, but in a much more effective way.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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The first two seasons of Startrek Enterprise taught me a lot about the damage that management can do to a show. At least the last two seasons were good. Really good. I watched the first season of the new Startrek. It was forgettable. I'll wait a few years, then binge watch it all. Just finished the second season of Lost in Space on Netflix. Then found out that18 months to two years before season 3 is ready. That is the problem with these internet network shows that are not on a fall schedule. It takes them up to two years to do another 10 episode season. That's two years from the END of the previous season. No thanks. At least new Mandalorrian episodes are due to start in October.

 

Just rewatched Babylon 5. Could not finish the second half of season 5. Hated the post climax stories. Hated the new leader of the base. Hated the replacement bad races. They should have ended the series when the elder races left the galaxy.

 

Rewatched Andromeda a couple years ago. Wow. It seemed so much better when it was first out. Bought the series on DVD. That was a wasted $60.

 

Started to rewatch Dr. Who but found that it has been pulled from Amazon Prime.

 

Merlin had so much promise, but watched all those seasons of him hiding his magic ability, then, nothing. I guess it was not as bad as the ending to Lost, but it was close.

 

At least none of those shows suffered the horrible slow death that Hero's suffered. There is a real example of how to destroy a big show with lots of promise. After season three I remember actors saying how awful it was working on that show because of lack of direction and meddling management.

This post edited for speling.

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Living With Yourself is a quickie and a hybrid comedy... worth checking out.

 

 

In addition to this show being clever, funny, and fast, it features the music of Anna Meredith. She was the composer-in-residence for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and continues to write "legit" for hire. With that money she funds her electronic music albums and tours. She did an NPR Tiny Desk concert that is breathtaking. I can't say enough good things about her work.

9 Moog things, 3 Roland things, 2 Hammond things and a computer with stuff on it

 

 

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Season 3 (if I remember right) of The Expanse has some of the best character chemistry I have ever seen in any theatrical medium. Specifically, the interactions between Shohreh Aghdashloo (who played the on-and-off prime mister of earth or something) and Nick Tarabay (who played her bodyguard). Those two could communicate an entire page of dialogue with just a couple of glances, and the audience knew what they were "saying." Amazing stuff!

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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RE: Babylon 5 -- Due to mixed messages, they thought they were going to have to shut down after season 4, so they squeezed a whole year's worth of plot summary into one final episode -- and then were renewed for season 5. In the meantime, they had filmed -- but not aired -- the end of the story, and costar Claudia Christian had gotten other work (because they thought they were cancelled). Those circumstances threw a whole toolbox of spanners into the works for reclaiming season 5

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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In those days before there were tons of major intelligent SF shows, Babylon 5 was always being compared to the Star Treks... my feeling was that while B5 was never as bad as the worst episodes of Star Trek, it was also never as good as the best. I never did end up watching the whole thing. I really liked Londo and G'Kar, though.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Season 3 (if I remember right) of The Expanse has some of the best character chemistry I have ever seen in any theatrical medium. Specifically, the interactions between Shohreh Aghdashloo (who played the on-and-off prime mister of earth or something) and Nick Tarabay (who played her bodyguard). Those two could communicate an entire page of dialogue with just a couple of glances, and the audience knew what they were "saying." Amazing stuff!

 

First time I saw Shohreh Aghdashloo was when she played Agent Madani's mom in The Punisher. I was immediately impressed by her presence. Yes, great interaction between her and Tarabay.

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RE: Babylon 5 -- Due to mixed messages, they thought they were going to have to shut down after season 4, so they squeezed a whole year's worth of plot summary into one final episode -- and then were renewed for season 5. In the meantime, they had filmed -- but not aired -- the end of the story, and costar Claudia Christian had gotten other work (because they thought they were cancelled). Those circumstances threw a whole toolbox of spanners into the works for reclaiming season 5

 

I thought J. Michael Straczynski stated several times that he had planned all along for five seasons of Babylon 5, with the show ending after the 5th season. It's been a while though, since the days I obsessed over the show and discussion w/ fellow fans.

 

Too bad the sequel Crusade was never really finished. The final attempt to continue the B5 universe "Legend of the Rangers" was a ratings flop.

 

Thanks to this thread though I'm going to check out Sense8 on Netflix as because it's one of his latest projects.

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Don't forget Stargate and Torchwood ;-)

 

Star Trek, Dr Who, X-Files, Babylon 5, Farscape, I love them all and have collected them all on DVD for unlimited viewing. Only wasn't able to get Farscape. Still love these all and they never bore me, even after the 30 times I've watched them over the years.

 

I haven't seen Picard yet and did watch Discovery. As a series it's good, but I didn't view it as part of the Star Trek universe I know and love.

 

I can only really vouch for the Expanse books which are great! Does Avasarala curse as much in the series too? Love her character!

Trumpet player by trade, but fell in love with keys too.
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RE: Babylon 5 -- Due to mixed messages, they thought they were going to have to shut down after season 4, so they squeezed a whole year's worth of plot summary into one final episode -- and then were renewed for season 5.

 

I thought J. Michael Straczynski stated several times that he had planned all along for five seasons of Babylon 5, with the show ending after the 5th season.

That was what he had planned. That's why, when they thought they wouldn't get a fifth season, he concentrated the whole plot resolution into a final 4th season episode -- and then they found out there would be a season 5. Big mess.

 

Thanks to this thread though I'm going to check out Sense8 on Netflix as because it's one of his latest projects.

Ooooh -- That's Straczynski? Okay, I know what I'm watching tonight. :)

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Does Avasarala curse as much in the series too?
Sailors blush when they hear her dialogue. Indeed, one of the sweeter bits of throwaway dialogue in the series is when she drops a naughty word (in the midst of a life threatening crisis) and Nick Tarabay's character glances over and calmly says "Language!"

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Avasarala curses in every sentence in the books. I had to Google Nick Tarabay's character as I have no idea who he is. Turns out to be Cotyar, who has a pretty big role in the TV series (15 episodes) but a really minor one in the books. I remember him from maybe two chapters in one book, that's it. Funny how those adaptions for TV change the original stories around.
Trumpet player by trade, but fell in love with keys too.
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