What is your favorite Earthside sci-fi program?

Normally, I am more a fan of space opera than earthbound science fiction. My favorite space operas are Farscape, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, Blake's 7, and to a lesser extent, the new Battlestar Galacatica. But I was wondering what your guys favorite Earthbound series are. To me, the top two Earthbound series are The Prisoner and Max Headroom. I think the Prisoner set the surrealist tone for so much of the Earth-centered sci-fi that came after it, only it did it much better. Max Headroom, meanwhile, was the definitive cyberpunk show. Politically, Earthbound series tend to emphasize paranoia and distrust of the government, healthy attributes in a state-controlled era of media-spinned, entertainment-saturated American citizens. Many of the top earthbound series have leaned heavily left, particularly Max Headroom and The X-Files. My fear with earthbound sci-fi is not that it will supplant space operas (though it is doing that), but that it will no longer be creative. I just can't get that interested in what's going on in Lost's island or in the parallel universes of Fringe. Neither series, right now at least, appeals to me. I want some real sci-fi ideas, and some new ones, not recycled and inferior copies of great Prisoner and X-Files episodes. The age of remakes and quasi-sci fi should be over. A return to cyberpunk, to thoughful space opera, to outlandish science fiction ideas, should begin.

Max Headroom's "War"

I rarely review individual episodes of a series, but Max Headroom is so good that I did want to talk about one particular excellent episode: War. In this episode, the lead character Eddison Carter starts covering a terrorist group (the White Brigade) which is launching attacks on the lower-end parts of Eddison's city. In a stunning twist, however, the terrorist is being funded by network tv to provide "entertainment terrorism", in order to keep the ratings up for certain networks. "War" is an exceptional episode, even if I do detect a certain amount of traditional Brit anti-Irish bias here. The idea of the media literally funding terrorism, of terrorists using special effects demonstrations in place of actual terrorist demolitions, etc. is truly mindblowing. Obviously, there are parallels between the White Brigade and groups like Fox News, that provide the same sort of terrorist "media events", which later turn out to be nothing. I think Max Headroom could do a slightly better job of paralleling government and corporate interests, but that's no fault of Headroom. In fact it's a tribute to the series, one of the few sci-fi series that imagined the future would be even worse than it is now. So, friends, if you get a chance, check it out.

Max Headroom: Anti-Corporate Rabblerousing

I just finished watching the complete Max Headroom series over a period of three days. I can't believe how good the series was! Impeccable writing and cynicism that is nearly a match for Blake's 7 makes Max Headroom one of the best sci-fi series I have ever seen, perhaps the best. The cyberpunk elements of the series are of course great, but what is truly distinctive is how the series used the character of Max to both gain and yet subvert its own advertisers. The set design on the series is absolutely phenomenal, and Max has proved to be a far more reliable barometer of the future then series like STNG. Practically every prediction made in the series has come true in some sense, and some of its warnings about cyberterrorism seem particularly prescient in an era dominated by spin-controlled media who seek to shut down organizations like Wikileaks. I feel so greatful I've had the opportunity to watch this show. It's the only series I've seen that goes beyond Blake's 7 in its attacks on corporate and media manipulation of working class and middle class populations (of which I am a member). I hope to include future entries on Max Headroom, as well as on Firefly, which I have also just finished. Hopefully, some Outer Limits reviews will also be coming your way as well.

Note: I'm still hard at work on the Encylopedia project. Here's the Dialogue breakdown

Babylon 5 (full), original BSG (full), Firefly (full), Max Headroom (full), new BSG (all but the last season and one episode of the 3rd), Farscape (slightly less than half way), Outer Limits (a little more than halfway full), Doctor Who (about 30 episodes done), Twilight Zone (complete), STNG (complete), TOS (complete), Space 1999 (complete), DS9 (about 3 seasons worth), Earth 2 (fully recorded), Blake's 7 (fullly recorded)

Series I have access to that have not been dialogue recorded: UFO, Buck Rogers, Torchwood, Alien Nation, The Prisoner, Hyperdrive, Red Dwarf, Dollhouse (VOY and DS9 I have access to scripts)

Series I soon hope to purchase: Space Precinct and\or Stargate SG-1

As I've said before, I'm going through each series and recording dialogue that deals with political, social, economic, religious, or philosophical issues. Some series, like SG-1, I'd prefer not to watch, so if anyone wants to take those ones over, it'd be a blast. This dialogue recording process has gone relatively well, and I'm hoping to eventually add Stargate Atlantis, Enterprise, Earth Final Conflict, and Andromeda to it, though I don't know that I will tackle the Japanese series myself (not because they are bad, but just because I don't know Japanese culture well enough to comment on them intelligently). Lost In Space is another one I should perhaps tackle.