M.A.W.B. Squad

Top 50 Sci-Fi TV

Boston.com has assembled their list of the top 50 Sci-Fi TV shows of all time, in a sucky format that makes you click through 50 pages to find out what it is.  Burningbird prints the whole list.  I don't have time to comment on all 50, but here are some that would top my list:

Star Trek - the original:  They got number 1 right, at least.  In reality, it's not the best Sci-Fi show ever, but it deserves number one for being the granddaddy of all classics.

Battlestar Galactica (new):  One of the best shows on TV. Period. No spoilers, please!  I've got the last two episodes on the DVR.

Babylon 5:  Love this show.  It's a shame that they had to rush to wrap up the story arc in season 4 when they didn't know if they'd get renewal, but that's my only complaint.  Some of the best Sci-Fi TV ever made.

Firefly:  I kept running across this name in Sci-Fi forms.  The fans, Browncoats, named after the (failed) resistance to the central government called the Alliance, are legendary.  So, I jumped at the chance to see it when Sci-Fi started running it before their Friday night line up.  In a few short weeks, (there were only 14 episodes made, 11 shown before it was canceled), I've fallen in love with the characters.  Who knew that a quasi-western Sci-Fi could work so well?  In fact, the DVD's of the series should arrive today.  Good news for those persistent fans.  The movie, Serenity, comes out Sept. 30.  This is great Sci-Fi and a great underdog story.  Shiny!

Other shows that would make my list would be Sliders, Quantum Leap, Twilight Zone, Voyager, Lost in Space, and Stargate SG-1.  What tops your Sci-Fi TV list?

Storming the Stargate

During our Colorado vacation we stayed at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, home of multiple swimming pools, (some of which were flooded during our visit), a private lake, (well, we drove by it), four restaurants, (we had room service, but you couldn't get a baked potato for dinner?), and championship golf, (only the Boy plays.)

Now, I'm not complaining.  The rooms are nice. The internet is wireless, (though not free.)  We'd recommend it, or stay there ourselves again.  It's just that you only have so much time in a week and we were mostly out touring caves, gold mines, rafting, (though female dictators don't row - they hire man-servants), and let's not forget my wonderful experience at Pike's Peak.

As the name implies, the view off our balcony was Cheyenne Mountain, the real life location of NORAD, the U.S. Northern Command, and other various cool military alphabet bearing type agencies, entrenched in the granite and self-sustaining for 800 people up to 30 days after they close the blast doors.

If that wasn't cool enough by itself, SciFi fans are familiar with Cheyenne mountain as the fictional home of the Stargate, used by Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c to travel to other planets, defending the earth against alien enemies, whose names can apparently be pronounced in a multitude of ways, (Gould, Goo-A-Ould, etc.)

For the men in our party, (that would be the PiC and the Boy), the mere presence of the mountain was like dangling honey in the front of Poo Bear, like offering a pork project to Congress, like an open bar to the Fraters, like other Lilekesque analogies that I'm not nearly talented enough to come up with, with the basic idea being they were drawn to it like flies to flypaper.

I determined that I'd best go along to supervise their planned adventure, to see how close they could get to the fictional home of the Stargate. The exit to Norad Road was marked, "Authorized Vehicles only."  I drove by, an action immediately met with the query, "Why did you do that?" 

Sensing they would not be easily dissuaded, I turned around, determined to take the exit on our next pass.  When we reached the top, we were greeted by this sign:

Thankfully, the phrase, "Use of deadly force is authorized", and the SUV parked just up the road bearing the enforcers of said deadly force, was enough to convince them they'd given this quest their best effort, even if our closest view of the facility was the one from our balcony.

It's easy to understand that you can get to the mountain entrance if you're somebody, like the Denver Bronco Cheerleaders, or Ermey from Mail Call.  But, the fact that they let in David Copperfield when we couldn't get past the gate?  Cuts like a knife, I tell you.

Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Cliches

You can find it here.  From first glance it seems quite extensive, including a rating system, e.g. (not too bad, but over-used, interesting the first time, used in Star Trek, etc.) For example:

- The time traveller helps the future society mellow out by introducing music from his period.

- Humans have a special quality that makes us unique, so that even superbeings can learn something from us.

-  The lowest-ranking members of any mission team are doomed.

Spaceship Geek Joy!

Via Brian, a full color chart of all the various space vessels and their comparative sizes.  They're all there.  Star Trek, Star Wars, B5, Galactica, even Lexx!  Dive in and enjoy the Sci-Fi.  It is good.