r/scifi

Preferably in some space setting but won’t turn down recs about more modern/near future set prisons. Bonus points if it includes some prison break escape. Even more bonus points if it involves breaking IN to a prison.

I’ve been racking my brain thinking of scifi stories set in prisons and the most I can come up with are the Narkina(?) arc in Andor, the Riddick games/movies, and that one Guy Pearce movie that’s just Die Hard in an orbital space jail. I feel like I’m missing some really obvious examples.

So I'm trying to find space operas that are realistic.

Some of my favorites actually include Wing Commander. I think it gets certain things right, and I thought it was actually quite a good movie.

The Battlestar Galactica remake is definitely at the top of the list. The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country are definitely up there too.

And, of course, we have Star Wars.

I've also seen Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine, especially the Dominion War arc, which definitely has some of the elements I'm looking for. I've also seen Starship Troopers and all of its sequels.

I've also watched Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, and Farscape, and I particularly love all three. I've watched each of them multiple times.

So what else is there?

Has anybody done another really good space opera? I've seen The Expanse, For All Mankind, and Ad Astra. They're all very good.

Obviously, Interstellar.

They all contain elements of what I'm looking for, and once you've watched all of that, it kind of sucks because it doesn't feel like there's much else out there that's really good.

I'm open to anime as well. I've been told that Space Battleship Yamato is pretty good, but I haven't seen it yet. I've watched Tekkaman Blade.

I absolutely hated Battleship. They should have done it in space. It should have been a space opera.

One of my favorites is Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement, starring our beloved Ronny Cox, an absolutely great short film that deals with going to war with an extraterrestrial race. Oh, and obviously Space: Above and Beyond is definitely at the top of the list.

I also thought Earth 2 was pretty good.

There are some excellent episodes of The Outer Limits, both the remake and the original, that are really good and deal with the military aspects of science fiction.

I really wish they would start doing some Farscape shorts with the Jim Henson Company. There is so much more they could do with that universe.

And I'm really looking forward to the new animated Firefly series that's coming out.

So what else is there?

A tidally locked planet is a planet that doesn't rotate on it's axis like Earth does so one side is permanently facing the sun while the other side is in perpetual darkness and due to this the world experiences extreme temperatures with the sun side being a boiling inferno and the dark side a frozen wasteland. The border where these two hemispheres meat is called the Terminator or Twilight zone and hypothetically the only place with tempered, habitable, climate on such a planet.

I'd love to read a fantasy or sci-fi with a civilization that lives on this narrow strip of land circling the world sandwiched between a burning hell on one side and a freezing hell on the other side.

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to get into Sci-Fi after spending much of my initial days in high fantasy or even fantasy in general. Loved LoTR, Asoiaf and Percy Jackson in particular as books. Funnily enough my first actual book was Asimov's Foundation and Earth but it was much complex for me at that time. Except for that my entire exposure to SciFi is from shows, movies and games. Loved to watch The Martian and absolutely adored The Expanse(until Amazon happened). Mass Effect, Halo, Death Stranding and No Man's Sky are the jewels of my Steam library. Although Cyberpunk 2077 is my favorite game, I guess that falls under the distinct Cyberpunk genre so not looking to get anything for that. So here I am, looking to get into SciFi books again and would appreciate you guys help in regards with recommendations.

imagine a hypothetical planet, where no human being or life exists, but a bare setup for AI agents which are completely conscious, a few near human capable humanoid robots handling the physical aspect and computing resources needed to farm the energy they want, basically as much as primitive humans got before proper civilization, having an initial goal encoded into them to achieve, which is to survive.

can they survive? how far would their civilization advance compared to humans or is it a dead end?

I love the genre sci-fi-philosophy and books that make you question life and existence basically. My favorites so far are:

Contact, Carl Sagan
Story of your life and others and exhalation, Ted chiang
Dispossessed, leguin
Hyperion, Simmons
Three body problem

I recently read dark matter and thought it was meh. Looking for a book that fits my preferences!

For the uninitiated:

Yes, this actually aired on TV.

It’s the kind of show where someone walks into the room and, in 50% of the scenes, you have to seriously defend yourself: "No, Mom/Dad/Honey/whatever, I’m not watching porn with sci-fi elements; this is serious sci-fi with adult themes. No, *not* that kind of adult theme!"

For the initiated:

Welcome to the Dark Universe! A place where morally good people do exist—but only for a very short time before they die. What’s left are assholes and villains so morally depraved that Darth Vader looks like a choirboy by comparison. The 'heroes' include a coward who accidentally becomes the captain of the universe's most powerful weapon of mass destruction; an unstoppable undead assassin, incapable of emotion, who frequently goes on rampages; and a partially conditioned virgin sex slave with an insatiable sex drive she can't act on because she happened to inherit the genes of a man-eating Cluster Lizard—while her romantic conditioning ended up in a bodiless robot head that’s incapable of sex but always ready with the most chauvinistic sexual quips.

They all long for a peaceful home, yet usually leave nothing but death and destroyed star systems in their wake (sometimes justified, often unintentional). The series is intentionally campy (visually, *Flash Gordon* meets *Farscape* meets softcore porn) and was shocking due to the unprecedented amount of sex and violence it featured. For me, it will always remain unique because no TV show since has dared to show anything quite so extreme. I would love to share my favorite clips, but 90% of them would be borderline adult content, so here is a general overview instead. Who is familiar with the series, and what are your favorite scenes and quotes?

My favorite quotes:

Yo Way Yo, Home Va-Ray,

Yo Ay-Rah, Jerhume Brunnen-G

Yo Way Yo, Home Va-Ray,

Yo Ay-Rah, Jerhume Brunnen-G

Yo Ay-Rah, Jerhume Brunnen-G.

(self-explanatory)

and:

Priest: And - what was that song about?

Kai (the undead assassin): The Brunnen G were a once proud and noble race of romantic warriors who, over time, became isolated and inward looking. This song is an ancient song in a long lost language handed down by my ancestors. It was sung, by the Brunnen G warriors, as we sang it, when we went into battle expecting to die.

Priest: And - what happened?

Kai: We died.

Priest: Oh

Can someone please recommend me some books (indies preferably, but I'll take anything) where there's a lot of sass, light-hearted sarcasm, good banter, and all-round gallow humor?

I'm talking about staring at a dangerous situation, main cast is clearly outnumbered/outgunned, and someone goes "I knew I should've worn my lucky underwear this morning!" only to be shut down with a snappy, "Shut it, Jack. I'd like to actually make it to my bed tonight!"

Checked out a handful of sci-fi military & space operas but the atmosphere was pretty stiff and formal. I want less "Sir! Yes, Sir!" and more of "Ayyyye! That's what I'm talkin' about Cap!"

Bonus points if it has my all-time favorite trope of a good ol' ragtag team!

Edit: Thank you everyone! I have tons of good recs now to last me the rest of this month! I really appreciate it! Life sucks sometimes, and I like how these characters deal with their situations. It always gives me a good laugh.

Just watching Star Wars' original trilogy recap on YT. The Empire built vast array of military vehicles and 2 death stars in these films. But Star Wars shy away from destruction of planets caused by resources extractions, or just that the extraction technologies of these civilizations aren't that advanced to extract resources deep in the planet core, or to preserve the galaxy? Some other sci-fi have extracting resources down to the core that it destroyed planets, albeit not entirely human or aliens alone. Can planet be destroyed by resources extraction?

Didn't there use to be more sci-fi shows airing at this time of year? My calendar looks oddly empty this season. I remember autumn being packed with new premieres and returning favorites, but this year I can barely find anything to put on my watchlist. Is it just me, or has the schedule really thinned out? Are there any new or upcoming sci-fi series I might have missed? I'm happy to take recommendations, including older shows I haven't seen yet. Underrated and obscure picks are very welcome too!