Looking for dark sci-fi or fantasy TV suggestions

Logan wrote: ^^^ I really enjoyed Dark as well. Planning to watching the second series of Kingdom (a Korean historical zombie show) next. I binged the sometimes quite dark Star Trek: Picard -- just finished episode 10. It had its flaws, but I loved it. It has heart, the character of Picard genuinely moved me, and 7 of 9 kicked ass. It was better than I expected.

 

richardh wrote: Logan wrote: ^^^ I really enjoyed Dark as well. Planning to watching the second series of Kingdom (a Korean historical zombie show) next. I binged the sometimes quite dark Star Trek: Picard -- just finished episode 10. It had its flaws, but I loved it. It has heart, the character of Picard genuinely moved me, and 7 of 9 kicked ass. It was better than I expected.   I keep thinking about checking out Kingdom. I notice that some foreign language shows on Netflix only have 'descriptive' sub titles (like Freud) I don't need to know that a bird is tweeting for instance. Anyway if it has normal sub titles I will give it a go. I absolutely loved Picard from start to finish. I love sci-fi with 'heart' and it looks like the crew are assembled for a season two (although I guess that will held up like everything else at the moment) I don't know if anyone bothers with Apple TV but there are some great fantasy sci-fi things on there Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories See ( written by 'Peaky Blinders' Steve Knight) For All Mankind The latter of those is absolutely superb and asks 'what if America had lost the space race?' and would they have pushed the space programme further to try and achieve something else instead. Interesting idea that features Joel Kinnerman who was in Altered Carbon. Loving it!

I too loved Picard from start to finish. It had so much heart, and did bring tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, and it can be very dark (and
actually horrific -- an eye scene in particular), but it also delighted me. The f-bombs, not that they bother me, could be a bit jarring and felt forced at times. Some of the dialogue I felt clunky, but never from Picard (loved how all the old faces were handled). To me it was lovingly handled, and any little nit-picky criticisms I could make did not take away from my very positive experience. I think it was sensitively handled, poignant especially on issues of mortality, and this is kind of how I love to see a continuation handled.

I then decided to give Star Trek Discovery season two a go, (I liked season one much more than many although not nearly as much as Picard), but felt that retro-fitting, handling of past characters didn't work so well. They have someone playing Christopher Pike, well, I loved Jeffrey Hunter as Pike in the Star Trek pilot and the cobbled together Menagerie from the original series. I would have love to see how things would have gone with him had he continued, but this Pike felt nothing like the original. As a homage to that character, it didn't work for me. I'd rather they reference old characters than have new takes on them with new actors most of the time. By bringing in actual actors playing their characters from Star Trek, they did them and me justice. Beautifully handled, I thought, and they also managed to tell the story without overdoing it on exposition (I don't expect everyone who watched to know Star Trek as well as I do, but I think they could get it). I thought Hughs handling was really well-done, and I liked other new characters (thought Narek was very well-written and performed).

Would love to watch For All Mankind (and I love Peaky Blinders). As for Altered Carbon, I watched season one (not sure if I watched season two -- my memory is failing). I liked it but it fell a little flat for me (seemed a little style over substance sometimes to me). A show with some similar themes that I preferred was the French series Ad Vitam.

As for Kingdom, just for the cinematography, it's gorgeous to look at. I have heard that season two is better from some because it's faster-paced, and not bring, and that makes me reluctant as I loved the pacing of the first season/series and did not find it at all boring. Maybe that is the case of someone who is more primed on so-called art house cinema or action films -- well, I've watched a lot of both and can enjoy both (and sometimes it like action art house).

^ I get that, but I found Picard ultimately optimistic, and its heart outweighed the cynicism for me. I found it genuinely touching. The edginess and violent aspects felt rather gratuitous to me sometimes.   Different times -- it's not totally out-of-place in the history of Star Trek. I loved Picard however canonical, or true to Roddenberry's vision, I consider it to be. Discovery hasn't worked as well for me.

By the way, after watching the latest Westworld, I feel I was too critical of it before. It's fallen into place and I'm loving it. When I get the chance to re-watch it as a binge, I think I'll like the whole thing. It's understandable that it would have need more exposition and explanation for those who haven't watched it all or paid close enough attention.

Edited by Logan - March 30 2020 at 15:11

Logan wrote: richardh wrote: Logan wrote: ^^^ I really enjoyed Dark as well. Planning to watching the second series of Kingdom (a Korean historical zombie show) next. I binged the sometimes quite dark Star Trek: Picard -- just finished episode 10. It had its flaws, but I loved it. It has heart, the character of Picard genuinely moved me, and 7 of 9 kicked ass. It was better than I expected.   I keep thinking about checking out Kingdom. I notice that some foreign language shows on Netflix only have 'descriptive' sub titles (like Freud) I don't need to know that a bird is tweeting for instance. Anyway if it has normal sub titles I will give it a go. I absolutely loved Picard from start to finish. I love sci-fi with 'heart' and it looks like the crew are assembled for a season two (although I guess that will held up like everything else at the moment) I don't know if anyone bothers with Apple TV but there are some great fantasy sci-fi things on there Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories See ( written by 'Peaky Blinders' Steve Knight) For All Mankind The latter of those is absolutely superb and asks 'what if America had lost the space race?' and would they have pushed the space programme further to try and achieve something else instead. Interesting idea that features Joel Kinnerman who was in Altered Carbon. Loving it!  I too loved Picard from start to finish. It had so much heart, and did bring tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, and it can be very dark (and actually horrific -- an eye scene in particular), but it also delighted me. The f-bombs, not that they bother me, could be a bit jarring and felt forced at times. Some of the dialogue I felt clunky, but never from Picard (loved how all the old faces were handled). To me it was lovingly handled, and any little nit-picky criticisms I could make did not take away from my very positive experience. I think it was sensitively handled, poignant especially on issues of mortality, and this is kind of how I love to see a continuation handled. I then decided to give Star Trek Discovery season two a go, (I liked season one much more than many although not nearly as much as Picard), but felt that retro-fitting, handling of past characters didn't work so well. They have someone playing Christopher Pike, well, I loved Jeffrey Hunter as Pike in the Star Trek pilot and the cobbled together Menagerie from the original series. I would have love to see how things would have gone with him had he continued, but this Pike felt nothing like the original. As a homage to that character, it didn't work for me. I'd rather they reference old characters than have new takes on them with new actors most of the time. By bringing in actual actors playing their characters from Star Trek, they did them and me justice. Beautifully handled, I thought, and they also managed to tell the story without overdoing it on exposition (I don't expect everyone who watched to know Star Trek as well as I do, but I think they could get it). I thought Hughs handling was really well-done, and I liked other new characters (thought Narek was very well-written and performed). Would love to watch For All Mankind (and I love Peaky Blinders). As for Altered Carbon, I watched season one (not sure if I watched season two -- my memory is failing). I liked it but it fell a little flat for me (seemed a little style over substance sometimes to me). A show with some similar themes that I preferred was the French series Ad Vitam. As for Kingdom, just for the cinematography, it's gorgeous to look at. I have heard that season two is better from some because it's faster-paced, and not bring, and that makes me reluctant as I loved the pacing of the first season/series and did not find it at all boring. Maybe that is the case of someone who is more primed on so-called art house cinema or action films -- well, I've watched a lot of both and can enjoy both (and sometimes it like action art house).

 

I finished with Discovery, and still enjoyed it considerably n the whole (a bit up and down for me, unlike Picard, which I really loved). I'm glad they showed actual footage from the Star Trek pilot (later done as the Cage), but they did it in such a hokey way. I didn't mind their version of Pike, except he never really seemed true to the original Christopher Pike. If I compare to Doctor Who, I think that show did a better job of bringing back the first Doctor, first in the excellent An Adventure in Space in Time (David Bradley playing William Hartnell), and then appearing in The Doctor Falls (wonderful episode, I thought), and substantially in Peter Capaldi's final episode (an episode I liked more than most it seems). I so miss Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat.

I have not been enjoying this season much of Westworld. I haven't liked the pacing, and don't find it terribly intriguing or engaging. I do like the potential of Vincent Cassel's character, Serac (fine actor), but the season is just not coming together well for me. I feel it needs both trimming, a little more wit, better dialogue, deeper and subtler characterisations, and more substance. The first season of Westworld was, I thought, brilliant (Anthony Hopkins was amazing), and I liked the second one more than most.

I don't have Apple TV, or Amazon Prime any longer, but I would love to see For All Mankind and Strories from the Loop. By War of the Worlds I guess you mean the latest series. I like the one from the 80s, and have enjoyed the book and various versions of that (a favourite being the BBC radio 4 drama).

A few of my dark favourite show of this millenium have been, which might not fit the topic well:

Fargo
Westworld (season one especially)
Les Revenants (The Returned)
Utopia
Äkta människor (Real Humans)
Black Mirror
Inside No. 9
In the Flesh
Dead Set
The Bridge
Misfits
Psychoville
Kingdom
Death Note (the anime series)
Carnivale
Ad Vitam (it's French and rather similar to Altered Carbon, but I preferred Ad Vitam)
The Boys
Preacher
Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

And while not really dark, I did love Amazon's Good Omens (love the book, and really love the BBC radio version -- re-listened to the radio version a number of times).

I tried to re-watch Utopia, but right now it's too dark for me.

I do wish it was easier to get more non-English language TV shows here, and more access to classics. Got a bit tried of re-watching Blake's 7 and The Prisoner.

Edited by Logan - April 14 2020 at 09:45

Edited by richardh - April 16 2020 at 00:33

^^ I liked American Gods season one a lot, and I loved the Amazon/ BBC Good Omens. It has heart, especially in Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship, and it can be very funny. My wife loved it too, and we hardly ever watch the same shows (she's mostly into Korean dramas). For Christmas I only asked for two things, the Pratchett/Gaiman Good Omens novel and a book of philosophy based on Black Mirror. Mentioned it various times, but I really loved the BBC radio drama version of Good Omens. Like the Amazon/BBC version, it also has six episodes. Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap are great in that. Despite that being an audio drama, when I think Crowley I picture Peter Serafinowicz before picturing David Tennant. I love radio plays and audio drams and comedies, especially things made for BBC, and spend more time listening to such things than watching TV (I can do other things at the same time, or just close my eyes). It's been great for when I need to rest my eyes. It's not currently available on the BBC app, but is available at archive.org (could be a better quality upload): https://archive.org/details/episode16adaptationofgoodomensasairedonbbcradio4   I love that and have listened to the BBC Radio 4 version many times. Seen the show twice through. It's interesting to note the differences between the novel, the show, and the radio series. The show focuses more on the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale, and that delightful "love story" is the heart of the show.

As for Westworld, I mostly loved the last episode. I like it when it's more character focused, as well as the mystery element, and less about the action sequences so-to-speak. I still found unnecessary and questionable bits. That action sequence with Maeve near the beginning felt gratuitous to me, and again the machine taking care of the goons felt unnecessary and, some of it felt too convenient. I really liked the episode, but I am finding it hard to be completely immersed in it as I end up analysing it and questioning their choices as I watch it. It rarely feels organic, and tends to feel overly contrived (I like having contrived mysteries). There was a long "Genre" drug scne with Aaron Paul's character in an earlier episode that I thought could have been done so much more interestingly/ creatively.

The first season was, I think, brilliant. I would have made it less explicitly violent and sex/nudity filled, not because I'm a prude or squeamish, but more because it sometimes strikes me as being that kind of edgy for the sake of being edgy. The violence and sex are important to the story, especially in season one, but sometimes it felt gratuitous to me.

For those into Westworld, provided you can find it and don't mind, or enjoy as I do, subtitles (I love subtitles and non-English language film and TV), the Swedish Real Humans I found excellent. It was remade as Humans for Channel 4, but the remake didn't resonate as much with me, and I stopped watching it. Remakes can be difficult to watch if one loved the original. I loved the French Les Revenants (the Returned) series, but couldn't get through the American remake of The Returned (I didn't think it was nearly as good). I do think Humans was good in its own right, and now that it's been years since I watched "Äkta människor", maybe I'll give Humans a go again.

Most recently I've been watching Watchmen (the HBO series). I have HBO "on demand" coupled with something called Crave TV here in Canada.

Spoke about it before, but I do wish there were more fans of Inside No. 9. From the last series, I thought "Misdirection" in particular was so great. It was also nice to see the young man from Bandersnatch. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are two of my favourite people that I've never met. I hope to one of these days. Basically, they're doing what I dreamed of doing, but I was too lazy, misguided, and full of doubt to really try (I did try to shop my stuff to CBC television, but I didn't go about it the right way). One of my relatives was high up in the BBC (my father's step brother or half brother?), and I used to dream that I would get writing for the BBC. Not that such nepotism would have worked, and my dad became completely estranged from his parents after their divorce, and I never got to know my British relatives.

I actually really like the original Battlestar Galactica despite the cheesiness. It's not as obviously cheesy as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (but that's also more tongue-in-cheek, silly entertainment and was never as serious as the original BG).   I even rather liked Galactica 1980, even though it was pretty terrible. I was pretty critical of the re-imagined version when it came out (I was part of a sci-fi forum at the time), but I grew to really like it. I didn't finish watching the spin-off Caprica.

Slow burning indeed! My wife and I watched the first three episodes, and the nay-sayers were right -- it was slow. Painfully slow. It's like the director told everyone to slow their delivery, then pause between dialog lines, and then double or triple the length of their pauses. Twenty minutes of a simple story line were stretched out to an hour. On a positive note, the cinematography, acting, and production were fine. Writing and directing? Not so much.

Argo2112 wrote: This is probably old news by now but I just started the reboot of Battlestar Galactia with Edward James Olmos.  I was reluctant to try it because the original was so cheesy but this version is much improved. Solid cast, good writing, dark storylines. Definitely recommend it.