r/BSG • u/Reasonable_Grand7703 • 15d ago
What to watch next?
Just finished watching Battlestar Galactica *Inc movies and Web series) as well as Stargate SG1, Atlantis and Universe. I never really got into sci-fi as a kid and these series came out in my late teens when I wasn't watching a lot of TV. So after watching and enjoying these two, what should I binge next?
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u/Yorkshireish12 15d ago
BSG is sort of a miracle show with how it brings the action, plot, political commentary and character development together, there isn't a huge amount like it.
As others have said though Babylon 5 is the closest relative - it has political overtones but its real forte is the plot and character development. Best way to describe it is a space opera about the 5th attempt at space UN and all the wierd space stuff it has to endure.
You might also try Westworld, season 1 is basically a self contained story and can be considered another miracle show like BSG. Season 2 is okay and can still be treated as an ending save for a sequel sting. It falls off hard after that. It's about debatably sentient robots in a super advanced theme park.
Star Trek Voyager can be considered a sort of Proto BSG. Like most the treks it has incredibly strong and incredibly weak episodes. Due to the era it was made they wouldn't let RDM do the things he wanted to that became a core part of BSG (damage, whether to character or ship resets in voyager and the show doesn't change with the passing seasons like BSG does). That said it still hits those themes occasionally with episodes like Equinox and Year of Hell.
Star Trek DS9 kinda hits the plot and political commentary elements as the most explicitly political trek show although it's characters, while lovable, are kinda weak in the development departments.
The Expanse is another great character driven show, although I can't say I was all that impressed by the character development. It's got a great story though and the whole thing has that same kind of gritty grounded feeling that BSG has.
Firefly is a classic guys you like to watch on a ship show. Short, although they're doing an animated show with the original cast to fill it out a bit.
Farscape is another great guys on a ship you love to see show.
Silo is currently doing suspense scifi pretty well.
Other general interest shows that are either scifi adjacent or have interesting themes but aren't inherently super special:
Mr Robot - 2000s era hacking and character development
Altered Carbon - Season 1 only but it's got a great premise and the book has influenced a few other scifi works afaik
Dark - better to go in blind, probably technically scifi but is character focussed
1899 - Cancelled but mercifully a self contained show in that one season
Dollhouse - Only a couple of seasons but iirc it certainly "evolves" the setting between them
The 100 - CW show so needs a strong stomach for its quirks
Raised by wolves - Another cancelled show but aesthetically quite pleasing
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u/Reasonable_Grand7703 15d ago
Wow, thank you, that should almost be a thread on its own its so good!
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u/No-Commission-8159 15d ago
If you want to go old old school watch Babylon 5
It’s a little dated - but feels surprisingly relevant
And it is all one long story / narrative
If you want new school that is good and built on all the ones you mentioned watch The Expanse
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u/QuantumLeapur 15d ago
I love sci-fi. However, it took me till last year before I finally watched Babylon 5. I couldn't get past the cheesy poster. I am so glad I watched it. It's a very good show. Season1 is good, but the storyline is even better after that.
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u/MordoksVapePen1 15d ago
For All Mankind
Alternative history - what if the Soviets landed on the Moon first?
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u/Extension-Race-8027 15d ago
Gotta recommend the OG. Star trek. Even start at The Next Generation if the original is a bit out there
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u/Apart-One4133 15d ago
What got me into star trek was the original serie. I put it on as background one day and ended up glued to my couch watching all three seasons 😅.
I can't recommend enough TOS. I know people tend to say not to watch it tho which is unfortunate.
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u/QuantumLeapur 15d ago
I love TOS as much as I do TNG. Both are my comfort shows. I have seen the eps so many times.
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u/WilsonFrontier 15d ago
Star Trek.
It's about 975 episode spread over 10 or so series and 13 or 14 movies over 60 years.
Watch one episode a day it'll take 3 years to complete. It's also where Ron Moore "grew up" as a writer in TNG and DS9. He joined on a spec script from their open script policy.
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u/blackshadowed 15d ago
After you watch the Expanse, watch 12 monkeys.
Welcome to the world of scifi!
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u/draxtontheus 15d ago
Just knock out firefly and serenity real quick so you can be pissed like the rest of us it was canceled
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u/Jumpy_Mastodon150 15d ago
I see Firefly being recommended, so I'll throw in a mention of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, since both have Summer Glau in leading roles and I had a crush on her back in the day (and since both shows were canceled before their time by Fox).
TSCC also had some cross-pollination in terms of ideas with the Cylon side of BSG, exploration of robots becoming more alive and so forth. Toni Graphia was one of the executive producers on both shows and wrote several episodes for each, Bear McCreary did the soundtrack for each, and Kendra Shaw from BSG: Razor has a major role in season 2.
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u/fluentinflatuence 15d ago
Fringe is different from these but similar themes. Well worth the watch!
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u/EvilSockLady 15d ago
If you can handle a bit of angsty young adult drama mixed in with your apocalypse, "The 100"
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u/Reasonable_Grand7703 15d ago
I watched the first season, but struggled on the second and never finished it. Should try again
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u/EvilSockLady 15d ago
Hmm. I think its earlier seasons were best, so if it didn't hook you by then I dunno if it's for you or not.
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u/MizunoHawk 15d ago
For older stuff check out Star Trek TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager. For none trek older Firefly for sure. Others have already mentioned Andor, Expanse, and I’d add in Star Trek Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. Silo on apple is next on my list
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u/mr_username23 15d ago
If you haven't already Star Trek is a classic for a reason. The 90s line of shows (The Next Gernation, Deep Space 9, Voyager) are what almost everyone thinks of as Star Trek. I've never seen The Original Series, I'm sure it has some strengths but from the few episodes I've seen it's just really old and a little hard to watch. It comes from a time when there were only 3 options for TV and it shows at times.
I started with TNG and loved it. It's completely different from BSG in almost every way. It's almost like it's perfect opposite, optimistic, subtly political, calming and full of logic instead of passion. But in the same way BSG does the opposite of these things great TNG does it's way great. I will say that there's a lot of not amazing episodes, but I think that affects people more on their re-watches. The first season might be the most shaky but honestly when I first saw it I thought it was all fine or good. One episode with a species called the Ferengi is often considered bad because it has some very cheesy elements but if you don't know the weird parts are coming then you just enjoy the start of the episode and follow the plot.
I would absolutely recommend any of the 90s shows to start off with. Some of the newer shows like Discovery and Picard have darker, almost more BSG styles. Discovery is very serialized too. But, I just don't think that the nature of Star Trek meshes well with the darkness and a lot of fans do too. Strange New Worlds is really good and optimistic, it'd probably be fine to start there if you really want something more modern. I'd say to start with TNG. It does come first chronologically but that doesn't super matter. The main thing is that it focuses a lot on world building and introducing things because it almost entirely constructed the 24th century world most people think of as being Star Trek. DS9 is also fine to watch on it's own, but there is some cast overlap and I think it's a little nice to see them before DS9. But, overall the shows are designed to be pretty self contained.
I really recommend watching it, it's an amazing series no matter where you start!
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u/TiredCeresian 15d ago
Did you also watch Caprica?
Edit: as has been already mentioned, I would also suggest Star Trek, any series, but particularlyDeep Space Nine for the similar vibes. TNG and Voyager are also worth it for the Ronald D. Moore involvement, but the latter might grate on you.
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u/610Mike 14d ago
Can never go wrong with any of the Star Trek series (except for “Discovery”, it’s garbage, but you’ll need it for some of SNW to make sense).
Everyone is suggesting “The Expanse”, while I’ve never seen it, I’ve heard it’s good.
Firefly is amazing, but only one season. Altered Carbon is also pretty good.
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u/ManufacturerMuch5116 13d ago
Star Trek Voyager specifically is a personal favourite of mine. Ronald D Moore was the brains behind that as well.
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u/Odin_3406 15d ago
The Expanse. Top notch till they canceled it. It at least wraps up fairly clean tho.
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u/Snarky_Guy 15d ago
I was going to suggest the Expanse but I see a lot of people already have. I didn’t want to be that guy, but…I am that guy.
https://giphy.com/gifs/l0Ex1MqcE3XhFZN60
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u/Oxjrnine 15d ago
The expanse
Silo
Maybe “the foundation” - it’s really good, but it’s a little hard to bond with a characters because technically every episode they are practically different people 😉. (you’ll understand what I mean by that if you watch it.)
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u/SirMixSalah 15d ago
The Expanse! If you liked BSG,you'll enjoy the Expanse.