Favorite Sci-fi

[skythorn]

post acopolyptic comics anyone - is favourite SF for me?

A UK weird one - phenomenal weekly output but still prefer CD to this one - http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23

Thriller thing - future world with nice art - plot slow but pleasing - http://pritchslapped.com/subterfuge/one

[cbhacking]

Generally agreement with the shout-outs to Babylon 5 and the classics of golden-age sci-fi.

I also recently started the Off Armageddon Reef series. Weber actually has a lot of other stuff that's well worth reading; he's best known for the Honor Harrington books (space opera but with a strang character focus, started out as "Horatio Hornblower in space" but has become very much its own thing) but has written some other excellent sci-fi.

Actually, that's as good a place as any to drop a link: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com Baen (sci-fi publisher, in case anybody doesn't recognize the name) puts CDs with freely redistributable ebooks inside many of their hardcover releases. The owner of the linked site takes these CDs and posts the contents online (which is, amazingly enough, perfectly legal - Baen is awesome that way). I won't claim that everything on the site is a must-read, but if you're looking for 100 or so free ebooks of generally high quality, have at it.

Because it must be mentioned, Dragon's Egg. Hard sci-fi about life evolving on a neutron star.
Old Man's War (and sequels) by John Scalzi. Join the military on your 80th birthday, knowing that you'll never be allowed to return to Earth. Quite possibly the best-ever example of taking the basis of Starship Troopers and really running with it, without the heavy political commentary.
The entire Ender's Game series and everything related to it (Orson Scott Card) is another obligatory. I'd also recommend the Homecoming series (Memory of Earth is the first).
Nightfall, both versions.

For sci-fi movies, the Trek movies (to one degree or another) and Star Wars movies (same disclaimer) plus Serenity (of course).
District 9, though it helps that I've been to South Africa and actually have family in the area, which made it easier to associate with the social commentary prior to the major sci-fi awesomeness.
Avatar, it's actually got a lot more science to it than many people realize.
... I clearly don't watch enough movies, because those last two are both recent and I can't recall any others worthy of mention at present.
The Matrix, though I'm less fanatic about it than many.

[skythorn]

Yar, Dragon's Egg (Robert Foward) was an awesome concept.

Here's another good webcomic that is sf-based - Moontown. Slow update schedule - (I respect David's regular output more and more now.)

http://moon-town.com/comic/episode-one/

There used to be good ones over at www.zuda.com - but they have stopped being free to the public with their stock, and have started to find a pay-to-use system, last I checked, there was still good material available - but it's not Crimson Dark.

[allikat]

Tv series: Dr. Who (Old series, esp. 4th doctor), Dr Who (New series, David Tennant's time), Babylon5, Trek ToS, New Battlestar Galactica.
Films: StarTrek 2, 6, Starwars (all 6), older 1970's/80's scifi movies.
Books? Flipping loads, especially Niven/Pournelle, A.C. Clarke, Ben Bova, James Blish, A.E. van Vogt, E.E. 'Doc' Smith, and many, many more.

[Democratus]

I'm a big fan of hard SciFi. My favorite being Clarke's "Rendezvous With Rama". Niven's early work (pre FTL perioed) in the Known Worlds is good stuff too.

For movies, there is the excellent Moon starring Sam Rockwell and Outland starring Sean Connery. Both take very few liberties with the science part of the equation. Alien and Aliens take only a few more steps outside of realistic science and are great stories.

FTL and artifical gravity are usually the two biggest pills one has to swallow in SciFi. They are pure "handwavium" but without them it can be difficult to tell a story. Constantly floating protagonists are distracting to the audience. But if you open the artifical gravity box, you do need to address the other implications of such technology. For example, it should be childs play to escape the gravity well of a planet with this kind of technology.

I'm really enjoying the CD story and there is still enough "crunchy" science in the midst of the fiction to satisfy an old kermudgen like myself.

[edgeverse]

I like:

Star Wars
(old) Dr Who
Aliens
Predator
Godzilla (the Japanese REAL Godzilla)
Ultraman
Guyver
Various Anime
StarGate SG1
Warehouse 13

[NefariousDrO]

Anybody here ever read any of the Merchanter Series by C.J. Cherryh? I highly recommend them, a solidly-built universe that's self-consistent and holds up well under the "hard-sf" lens while still being primarily character-driven stories. I wish there were more SF writers like her out there.

[Vile]

Downbelow Station was a big thing in its day, but her Merchanter books are sadly under-marketed these days (most are out of print, I think). Excellent vision of a largely space-based civilisation. There are few planets, and most don't get a look-in (except in Downbelow).

She also wrote the rather excellent Chanur series about a very nicely realised alien culture.

[NefariousDrO]

I got hooked when "Tripoint" came out, then I read "Finity's End" which is another superb book. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've not read any of the Chanur novels, and considering my own extensive background in anthropology and archeology that seems kind of unforgivable to me...

[NefariousDrO]

There was a really good series by Stephen Donaldson that started out with "The Real Story". Unfortunately you have to wade through two books of the main character being raped and degraded in the worst ways possible, I only kept going because someone I respected told me it got better. And it did. By the third book I was totally hooked straight through to the end. Solid world-building and incredibly solid characterization. I just hate what he puts his characters through, is all.