So, here we are for your second edition of N4N. This time, we’re covering TV shows, and I really had a tough time picking these. There are more, obviously, but these are the ones I most enjoyed, so I hope you enjoy them,too. Once again, this is in no particular order; they’re all fantastic.
The Shows
1. “Firefly”
I would like to take this chance to warn you that there is only one season. I mentioned this before, but I want to make absolute sure that I’m not sending you to the wolves of despair without forewarning. You will be depressed when you finish this, but you could always continue the series on through the movie, “Serenity,” and the comic book series, also called “Serenity.” Either way, it’s a beautiful season all about space cowboys that will make you laugh and maybe even cry.
2. “Star Trek”
Now, this is one that I can’t exactly speak confidently on, considering that I’m very early on in the first season. Even so, I’m sure you won’t need me to tell you how fantastic this show is. “Star Trek” has done a lot for the science fiction genre as a whole, and this show obviously comes highly recommended throughout the nerd kingdom.
My buddy Joe gave me some advice on how to watch this one since he’s a ridiculously awesome Trekkie, but it’s a pretty long list. I’ll hopefully be able to get that one to you guys soon.
3. “Warehouse 13”
This original SyFy series was incredible (all five seasons). It was all about a group of agents working to find artifacts, which have special powers, and return them to the warehouse for safekeeping. What I loved about this show was how these characters became such an amazing family and really developed as the story went on. This is your invitation to endless wonder.
Enjoy it, or else.
“Eureka” is the sister show for “Warehouse 13,” but I never watched much of it. I’m sure it’s great, but it doesn’t have Myka and H.G. Wells, so whatever.
4. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
I’m not going to lie; this is my favorite show ever. It had its ups and downs, most notably in the first season, but it is excellent overall. Buffy starts out the show as a teenage girl who has been given the remarkable task of being the bastion against a world full of evil: A vampire slayer. She is the Chosen One and fights the forces of darkness while trying to balance a normal life.
I love this show because, as with “Warehouse 13,” the inter-character relations constantly develop, and it deals with some really hard issues–with a supernatural twist. I normally recommend that people just read a synopsis of the first season and watch maybe the first and last episode of that instead of watching the whole thing. It can get pretty…cheesy.
If you’ve got the inner strength to make it through that and still watch the rest of this brilliant show, go right ahead. It still has a lot of great moments, and you can’t say no to more Willow.
Oh, and there’s a lot of butt-kicking going on.
I met Eliza Dushku at a con once (she plays Faith, the brunette), and she’s wicked cool. I pretty much swooned.
The sister show “Angel” is apparently really good, but I’m having a hard time getting through it. I mean, they took my least favorite characters from “Buffy” and made “Angel” out of it, so it’s not surprising. Both are available on Netflix.
5. “Xena: Warrior Princess”
This show is all about an Amazonian warrior princess who starts out as a truly awesome villain in the “Hercules” television series. When we get to the show “Xena: Warrior Princess,” however, she has decided to redeem herself.
Her plucky sidekick Gabrielle tags along on her adventures and helps keep her straight (*giggle*), but she still struggles against her violent past and bloodthirsty tendencies. Plus, the fight scenes are super cool, and I’m a total Greek mythology geek, so that’s fun. If you want to see a chick flipping around and kicking tail in the ancient world, this is the show for you.
This and “Hercules,” the, ah, brother show are available on Netflix. I watched only the episodes that Xena appeared in, so I can’t say much other than that Lucy Lawless was great in them.
6. “Battlestar Galactica”
I have gotten to mid-season 3 on this one, and I am admittedly struggling a bit, especially now that Netflix stopped showing it. Despite that, it’s still well-worth the watch.
The first two seasons of “Battlestar” were so great that I lost sleep over it. Seriously. Starbuck is one of the coolest characters out there, and Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos are amazing actors. I shook his hand once at a con, actually. I don’t think I was supposed to, but I did.
At the beginning of the show, a race of robots called Cylons have wiped out the entire human race, save for a small fleet of ships. This fleet, led by the Battlestar Galactica, has survived and is trying to find Earth, which is a place right out of legend (lots of controversy there).
The biggest thing for this series, however, is trying to figure out who’s a Cylon; there are 12 models in all, but they don’t just come out and show you what these models look like. That mystery brings up a really awesome amount of intrigue and suspicion amongst the crewmembers, and it’s glorious. If you watch this, prepare to be obsessed for at least a little while, as we learn from “Portlandia”:
If you’re having trouble with what order to watch “Battlestar” in, what with all of the podcasts and off-shoots, check out this blog. It really helped me out, and there aren’t any spoilers.
The old “Battlestar Galactica” is still on Netflix, however, and if you like old sci-fi like I do, it’s a must-see.
7. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
This is one of the only two ongoing shows that I’m going to recommend here because they’re naturally going be hard to catch up on. The first season is on Netflix, but we’re knee-deep in season 2 right now (the mid-season break ended on Tuesday, and it was amazing). If you’re a fan of the Marvel movies—Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, so on—you will love this show.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a secret government organization focused around controlling the superhuman threat to society. If you watch this show, expect a lot of Marvel references, awesome spy fights and a fair amount of intrigue. I won’t tell you more because I can’t really claim that you deserve spoilers, as it’s still ongoing.
I will, however, recommend the mini-series “Agent Carter” to go along with this, which just finished in February with its eighth episode, and it was really an excellent show.
It follows what happens to Agent Carter after the events of “Captain America,” and it’s a really great ’40s detective story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not to mention, she kicks some serious tail. ABC shows a few of the latest episodes of their shows on the website. As for the rest, I had to pay for them. You can either do that or start recording season 3 when it starts and just wait for season 2 to show up on Netflix.
8. “Heroes”
I admittedly haven’t finished this one either, but I can tell you that the first two seasons are sublime. After that, well…let’s just not talk about it.
If you love watching people run around with superpowers, this is the show for you. This show isn’t ridiculously action-packed, but it’s more of a drama, showing how these people deal with superhuman abilities. There are obviously disasters to prevent (save the cheerleader, save the world), but it’s a very people-centered show.
In other news, there is a reboot coming to NBC for the show called “Heroes Reborn,” so now is as good a time as any to hit this show up. There are some videos up about who all will be returning, but I found them entirely too annoying to watch all the way through. I also don’t want to subject you to that. Either way, here’s the teaser trailer that aired during the Super Bowl:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6zVQXpUe_0
9. “The X-Files”
This is the show that I’m currently watching, and it is glorious. Season one, as it is with many shows, runs a bit slowly, but it’s still an interesting watch. It does get a bit cheesy at times, but they make it fun.
This show is all about the investigations of the skeptical Dana Scully and “spooky” Fox Mulder as they delve into the supernatural. Ghosts, werewolves and many aliens await you here.
This show is on Netflix as of now, but sources say that could change, considering Fox’s interest in rebooting the show, which will include the original duo. The nine seasons will still be available on Amazon Prime, apparently, so no need to fully panic.
And because I couldn’t resist adding Scully making faces:
10. “The 100”
This is an excellent show to watch if you’re going to be stuck inside for, say, a long time…like I am right now with the second Snowpocalypse of 2015. It’s sci-fi, so that’s how I’m getting away with calling it geeky.
The plot is that it’s the future, and Earth was irradiated by warfare 97 years ago. The remaining survivors are in a space station, waiting for things to get safer down below, but there’s a malfunction. The oxygen supply is getting dangerously low, and one of their only options is to send some people down to test out Earth a little early to see how things go.
So, in this future civilization, crimes are severely punished, usually by death from exposure to the vacuum of space. I mean, there’s only so many supplies, right? So that’s legitimate, but of course they won’t just kill the kids. Instead, they lock them up. Well, that makes them the perfect candidates to go to Earth, right?
It’s a really awesome show, and I’m marathoning it right now, so I’ll try to keep from blabbing on about it. Just check it out!
Ahem, I mean please check it out. Season one is on Netflix, and I’m going to do the same to catch up on this one as I had to do to catch up on “S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Other geekery
No science geekery for today, everyone. Newton’s Laws made me mad.
I know, I know, your inner nerd probably disagrees with some of my decisions here. The truth is, a few of the other shows I want to add here are ones that are still on my list, like “Farscape,” “Chuck” and “Charmed.” There are also other shows out there that will never make my list, like “Doctor Who” and “Supernatural,” but that’s not because they suck or anything. It’s just that, well, I don’t like them.
