Outsider literature

Truth with a plural S

If I had an extra life, I would go deep undercover in the following list of books, essays and reviews that has come into my possession.

By Alice Bailey, 1922

These texts are – with the possible exception of some very curious titles – for people, who see deception and dis-loyalty to all perpetrated by “people or beings of power” as a normal way of the world. And written by people not tacitly accepting consensual science and systematic thinking requiring real proofs, who may, or may not, wilfully perpetuate misunderstandings, illusions, dreams, half-truths, myths, legends and direct fabrications as the real thing – for their own 15 minutes, as explanations to personal in-explicable experiences or for cold, hard cash. Continue reading “Outsider literature”

Science Fiction TV-series, ho-kay

and fantasy as well. And a little bit of vampires and zombies too.

Does TV still rot your brain?

Girl Zombie from “The Walking Dead” [2010]
(2010) Much happiness due to the growth in number of character driven plots. Great pain, when studio heads have zero patience with story arcs unfolding over several years, thus needing interesting characters and not just great CGI/SFX.

Though… (Feb 2017) the past years it has felt as if most chances taken are with content topics, if at all, and not really with story and character development. Can’t really think of a series that really really touched me. Drama tear-jerking, sure. Believable HUMAN characters like in Sense8 or conflicts like Dark Matter and politicising conquest of near space in the Expanse. But any real depth to the whole of the series? No, sadly, no. Its all just story developing, which – when it’s okay – has simply avoided the most obvious of dramatic clichés and pitfalls. Finding the right bell to ring within the audience seems more important than telling a real story, so… often a steady and predictable decline from season 2. Do you disagree?

End of May 2020: I’m somehow looking forward to the first series (befitting of the present list), which clearly shows the effect of the Corona illness and the resulting social, economic etc. effects. So far all series on this list belongs to the world “before” – no social distancing, no problem that cannot be solved. Let’s see, how they do it.

Sept. 10th 2020: the list is 10 years now. Happy birthday. science fiction TV-series list!

Titles in red are shows with time travel elements, which are of particular interest to me; embedded links here lead to wikipedia pages.

At the page bottom is a list of series, I have yet to see, among these more than a few time travelling pieces 🙂

Visit CancelledSciFi to see if your favourite is sinking or swimming…

Enjoy,
kenneth Krabat
Last updated February 2022


  • 12 Monkeys (2015, TV version of the Terry Gilliam movie Twelve Monkeys)(The problem with remakes is you can only do SO much – OR deviate totally from the story and ending. And the ending of the movie was very bleak. As of 2017 the TV-series is still going. (Apart from money) I wonder how come? There is not much of the the quirkiness of the movie here, just a “save the universe by travelling to the past and discovering what the layman’s version of free will really means”.) (3 seasons, good production value, medium fare.)
  • 3rd Rock from the Sun [Aliens visiting Earth, bumbling around. Likable characters, but in all its zany soapness mostly a pointer to normalcy][many, many seasons, forgot how many]
  • 5ive days to midnight (time travel mini-series)(fine)
  • A Discovery of Witches (2018)(A woman is discovering her powers and falling for someone, who has never mated)(S01 had way to much naked skin in it, as if any self respecting fantasy today has to appeal to more base instincts and nightly fantasies, but with mating identification out of the way it recovered in S02 and became a TT-series with good reason, which is a rare phenomenon these days.)(I am actually enjoying the historical part of it – and how it takes place in two realms at the same time – though apparently without causing any changes to the future… Ah, you can’t win them all! But it is see-worthy)(S02E03)(renewed for S03 in 2021)(S02 end: I DO despise the use of the child as pure function: It has an important task to perform, and as such has to be kept in reserve for that function – and every time the script cannot avoid having the child in frame, it is ushered out of the picture in order to focus on the romantic entanglement, which leaves no space for mum-dad-normality. Seriously, this is dramatic child abuse, which reflects back on the characters – from allowing this they appear cold and uncaringly focused on their own desires. Ass wipes.)
  • ad vitam (French, 2019)(Humans have stopped the ageing proces. If you want. And some don’t. And some are not compatible.)(ep1, it’s kinda hard to figure out, what it’s about. Nice, gritty atmosphere, but it seems the idea is: If you don’t have to die, you don’t age mentally, which IS a theory, but kinda lame.)
  • Aftermath (2016, Supernatural apocalypse. As if human struggle isn’t relevant enough without “a common enemy to all”.)
  • Airlock (web-series) (bob-bob)
  • Alcatraz (Trying to capitalise on Lost, eh?! You lost that one, you did!)
  • Alice [2020, Korean, 16 eps, finished) This was a weird trip.  Not just a very convoluted time travel story probably extended from maybe 8 compressed eps to fill 16, with forays into parallel realities (dimensions, so called), but also many tangents, sudden backstories, Deus ex Machina, character mutations, plenty plot holes, fantasy and magic painting over unresolved science (= much), and lots and lots of tears, streaming tears in every episode, plus a view to a very strange culture, where no one kisses on TV, and there’s nothing strange about hitting children, and ridiculously immature and co-dependant behaviour is almost expected of women as well as young men, plus pedophilia between the main characters may or may not be averted.)(It begins with a book predicting the end of Time Travel, and by consciously or through bad writing keeping you confused about when and how you are yanked in all directions, while every cliché in the book of daytime TV is thrown at you smothered in tears. I mean, it’s crazy how much they cry! But for some reason I watched it to its end. You can too, there are many reasons both to and not to. It’s quite simply a very, very weird culture clash and mash of tropes and clichés and immature adults, and did I mention tears?)
  • Alice in Borderland (2020, Japan, renewed for S02)(Inside of a 4 minute long first one-shot scene 3 friends go from a super busy Tokyo to a Tokyo devoid of most people. The only ones left are forced to fight for their survival in what can only be regarded as a young person’s version of existence, complete with invisible control and thin line between competence and luck.)(Very violent and devoid of any semblance of empathy, much like the comic from which it originates.)
  • Alien Nation (Series from the movie. Police partnership btw. Aliens and Humans, racial comment, Sunday fare)
  • Almost Human (Human cops teaming up with android partner (white and black…)(S01 Nov. 2013 – not holding my breath)(I let go of my breath – hero/sidekick white/black killed it for me]
  • Alphas (another super-ability series. Let’s see if they can find the story (July 2011).)(Cancelled due to lack of direction or stupidity)(Then picked up again, and now showing promise, even if lacking in emotive ability)(Then someone dropped the ball again)
  • Altered Carbon (2018. Convergent future, just more lavish for the rich and more shitty for all the rest. But you can store memories and swop bodies – if you can afford it. I read the book. Guy hired as dick to investigate mega-rich man’s murder. Cool combi of noir and japanese – constantly reminded that the Thomas Jane (the Expanse)/Dolph Lundgreen clone and Updated Dick in New Skin really houses a japanese mercenary holding serious grudges.)(Team’s really worked on the ambience, with more than a sideways glance to the original Bladerunner, but upgraded by way of CGI and the soon obvious consequences of class division on immortality and what ever consequences it has to swap bodies)(Unfortunately the Dick/Warrior person is way too much in control and thus only has opinions and skills to show for; not so much to empathise with. But 10 for mood. Most def!)(S01E02)(The grandmother scene in E03 is both hilarious and touching). (series ending: Could it have been just a tad less emotional! Well, I  would not have had to FF at the ending of an otherwise quite brilliant story! Sad.)
  • Amazing Stories (2020, anthology) (Reinvention of the formula) (Like the DUST compilation on youtube, but more on people, less on tech)
  • American Gods [I Found the book strained. Liked s01, but cannot remember a single thing. Ah, wait. A man shrinking between a sexual goddess’ legs to be absorbed back into the dark…)
  • Andromeda [5 seasons. At season 2 I wondered why they kept on going. Then I stopped wondering, having found a satisfactory answer: Gene Roddenberry never did get the concept of human development, yeah, that thing, you know.] (Onwards, Ever Onwards, intellectually fuelled pioneers swinging the blunt but great human drive and self-righteous ethics with which to judge and understand everything. And Kevin Sorbo didn’t help One Itty Bit. Talk about stiff. As in “what the heck am I still doing here?!”)
  • Another Life (Artifact arrives in orbit. Astronauts go to examine.) (Actually better than the many many reviews of those, who only watched ep01.) (Sadly Kate Sackhoff is directed to conform to previous characters, or she is just a not-so-good actor. But it’s been renewed for s02, so give it a shot.)
  • Ark (TT, 2009, 9 eps, cancelled)(strangers from 2 time periods wake aboard a space ship)
  • Arrow (Semi-super hero with a bow and unrealisticly learned skills of parkour and martial arts, and Super predictable. A kind of modern Bruce Wayne. Watching S1, as there is nothing else at the moment.)(S2 just begun – March 2013)(Oh, how I hate avenging so-called heroes. “[Such and such person] failed this city. He/She must pay!” My god, how stupid and small their universe. Even if an allegory of a Fox-world consisting entirely of gun-toting republicans!)(Oh, vigilante-something-for-everyone.)
  • Ascension (mini-series, fine)(Large distance space travel, murder, suspense in closed room environment. Should it have a sequel? You Decide.)
  • Ash vs. Evil Dead (Ash lives and is as stupid, selfish and resourceful as ever, and now his desire for pussy has unleashed EVIL onto the earth again – albeit in a somewhat different form than usual.)(Charming in an Ash kind of way, if you get my drift.) (1 cool season, so far). (Good chainsaw-loving, blood-spurting, gut-ripping, fun-having, plus that special brand of cowardice, Ash’erdice, in just the right dosage). (S02 continues the search for max primetime splatter, all in good fun and keeping the hilarity down to a manageable 30 minutes)(S3 spells the end for Ash. I wonder whom now will guard Humanity against reason and empathic conduct?)
  • Avenue  5 (2020)(Everyone seems to hate this, but I love it. Brilliant British symbolism of everything going to pots, literally. Hugh Laurie is one of the British kings of sarcasm, and it might be an acquired taste, but stay with this metaphor and see where it takes you. I think its redefinition of how dark comedy changes glow includes the light of evil too.) (S01e04, I particularly like the parts of friends in stable orbit.)(Can’t wait to see how it pans out. Very rare, good scifi comedy. It’s great!!)(s01e06)(Picked up for s02 – thank the Gods there are still intelligent people in that business)(Writers allegedly using Corona break in filming to finalise scripts for the next season. So, it may happen. Happy about that. So much non-funny stuff out there.)(Filming of S02 is wrapped! Yay!)
  • Awake (Loved the concept of the main character always being awake, but in two very different realities.) Cancelled due to I don’t know what – but it was quite obvious the police chief’s nefarious conduct initially was heading in a different direction from the one apparently needed to conclude the series, once it was cancelled. Too bad. Brilliant concept.)
  • Away (2020) (Mom is captain of the first Mars mission) (Ep.3 and you know that every following ep will deal with one serious conflict and strike a kind balance between viewers’ predjudice and the concept that all people belong to the same tribe. Tearjerker moments are a given. Characters are one-dimensional, because we already know that every one has an inner conflict dictating their behaviour, making the mission one long therapy session. Make ME the leader of this multi billion money project and I would fire all of them, except maybe the lead, as she is perfect in every way… No, wait, she is the flawless human robot and the others are humans… no, hold on, what is this about? Do we care, should anyone care? This is a leisure cruise to Mars.)(Well, I surrendered. It resolves nicely, and I forgive them for the tears – as every sacrifice in life, including the ones felt by all, all have a weight in tears, shed or unshed (due to dehydration…). Watch it. You WILL cry. But will it make you hope for this? For its opposite? )
  • Battlestar Galactica (1978, 24 eps, two seasons) I admit to not watching all. But it’s there and it’s historic… Dated, when it comes to story structure and gender relationships. Never mind the CGI – special effects are always at the top of their time (and money).
  • Beau Séjour aka Hotel Beau Séjour  (Belgian/Flemish 2017. You’re dead, but 5 people can see and touch you. When you open a door and walk through, only these 5 can see it. When you steal and drive a motorcycle, that motorcycle is still in the garage, where you stole it. Food you eat is still where you took it. Maybe you will vanish, once you discover who killed you, but you MUST know.) (10 cool eps, and then in the last 10 minutes the scriptwriters/producers listened to the wrong suggestions about the general level of intelligence in the average watcher and just all-around betrayed all the cool up parallel death/alive world shit, that was SUCH a refreshingly new idea (perfect overlay of everything in the two dimensions, cup whole in one, in the other it was dropped on the floor and broke. Perfect.)
  • Beforeigners (Norwegian/English 2019) (People arriving from the past to settle in present day. Brilliant concept taken to the max: Imagining the behaviour of these people not easily converting to modern day “civilisation”.)(Most certainly a refugee/migration analogy, but good fun and exciting.)(S02, 2022) (Luddites subversing all, and Jack the Ripper back on the scene. Dual-direction timetravellers, MI6 sending TT-agents back, King Olav on coke, options are open i all directions with this openness to the past, the series can run for decades, if they can keep the characters interesting. Much to be happy about. Alfrildr is a GREAT viking character!]
  • Being Human (stay away from US version!)(World populated by the creatures of darkness trying to live ordinary lives. Season 1 and 2 are shiningly brilliant)
  • Believe (Very much like Touch, except with a girl visionary with other super powers, whom everybody wants to get hold of to experiment on. A tad predictable.)
  • Best friends whenever (2015. Teen time travel)(Too Disney. There IS such a thing).
  • BioHackers (German, 2020)(One must consistantly admire as well as feel sad with the success of Netflix’ multi language project – but what apart from entertainment would have the power to dissolve the Babel to show the Human?) (How common the stereotypes of science: the boring and meek are good and decent, the bad are wild and recklessly crazy and egotistical. Scienctist to save all children. Why? Because this will forgive what she has done… One needs to add a few levels to the character basements, oneself, for motives to become semi-realistic. Challenging ending.)(S02 SO refreshing to forget the actors are speaking German. Theme about loyalty, about memory being taken away, and returned, the science is hogwash and put into words quite unnecessary, the ending is quite bleak and we are led to understand there are no second chances for those, who stray. Loyalty is all.)
  • Black Mirror (Brilliant mini-series 3 eps)(New eps coming – 2013)(hm…)(Saw a btw seasons special that completely turned me off. The self absorbed promotion of something so fictitious… gah! Have never returned – even if people say I should. Same feeling as mr. Robot; people say I should, and my gut says ‘s gotta be somethin’ else! ] [Saw S4 (2017-18) – quite an improvement.)(Still, the brevity of the format feels a bit strange. One full universe in one short morality tale, while also trying to avoid the pitfall of cardboard characters and predictable ending in the vein of Twilight Zone – delicate balance. But I DID feel some satisfaction.)(Now on S05, and seems to have run its course. )
  • Blake’s 7 (British TV-scifi was always about people and production value secondary. I believe it was a form of arrogance coupled with many-to-please/low budget, but they have pulled off many a series and film on attention to content. This is one.)
  • Blood Machines (2020, 3 eps) (Very strange placements of rolling credits making me suspect… something… but it’s weird, yeah. Why even bother with 3 eps, since they’re all very short? Except maybe to have people forget just how bad the previous ep was, bad, but strange, weird, far-out – like som roly-poly mockup of 80’s 8bit computer graphics paired with late 60/70’s acid-mimickry and modern day green-screens – loaded with scifi-spaceships and lots of breast and nude young women in a non-sensical story of females evening out the score of historical abuse from misogynic (male) psychopaths (if that is even a thing?). It’s really not very good, and comes across more like some sort of proof-of-concept – not so much on the technical side, as probably most young computer adepts today can render these effects with a decent CPU, but rather on the moral side: That a male writer/director can be a vengeful feminist. Just sad its so bad.)
  • Bloom (2019) (Berry restores youth…)(Simply the Best time of your life…)
  • Boku dake ga inai machi(2016, Erased, animation,13 eps.) Sent back in time to prevent his mother’s death. Brilliant!)
  • Braindead (Decent Aussie combo of politics and creapy invasion – but it kinda smells of “politicians can’t be helped”…)(But a good laugh)
  • Brave New World (2020) (Seems to be a free love story, the right to love, better living (and crowd control) through SOMA and abstinence of attachment) (I wasn’t expecting much, but the brits have a way of turning something absurd into a simili of normalcy. S01e01 is delicately… different. I like writing that doesn’t try to deliver the premise in the first 5 minutes. Even though we know the story… “Quite frankly, Bernie: If you’re not happy, you’re nothing at all”) (Oh, AND slaves, and murder.)(Well, as it turns out its not British, but American. They are just exploiting the formula. E03 Nothing new to see. All just the same formulaic tension structure, back and forth bwtween cardboard cutouts, even the most “sensitive” and “interesting” of them. All who feel are abandoned. Yeah, we get that. So, how does that feel, chum?)
  • BSG (Battlestar Galactica) (2000s) (Very dead-on, though old-school “sci-fi’ish” re-awakening of series from the 80’s – updated with central characters having changed gender. Basic premise: Earth is destroyed by Cylons, an artificial intelligence entity in several parts, and the remaining humans are running for their lives in all available spaceships. Among several existential questions the series explores life in space with limited resources and the fractions into unity that ultimately occurs, when keeping contact to the other living humans entails crossing merciless vacuum.) (What nailed it for me was how Admiral Adama, the chief of fleet tactics, turned off the water faucet immediately after wetting his tooth brush) (Loved the series. But @ series end fans had compiled a two meter long list of plot holes they wished resolved, which of course was impossible. Many do not agree, but I say this: Have a good friend, who doesn’t care for BSG, watch the last episode and tell you what happens!!!) (I didn’t know what was coming.)
  • Caprica (pre-quel to Battlestar Galactica) (will it continue, will it be cancelled due to stupidity?) (Cancelled due to lack of courage)
  • Carnivale (Amazing!) (a stretch to call it science fiction, but still…) (cancelled due to stupidity)(Oh, god, if we had seen the whole of the planned 3 parts rather than just the one! SO… so…!)(The word I was looking for 4-5 years ago was UNFAIR!)
  • CAT.8 (2013, 2 eps miniseries) Man-made end of the world, again, science to the rescue, again. Doesn’t pretending to wield science for either good or bad kinda become boring in the long run? Isn’t it kinda for Good (for most people), if it doesn’t go Bad (for most people)?
  • Charlie Jade (See our own universe with parallel universe eyes) (okay)
  • Childhood’s end (I know I read it some 30 years ago, but can’t remember what it was about or how it ends.) (2 eps so far – not exactly mind boggling with the concept of the alien look-a-like; it reeks of short story expanded into novel – or mini-series) (But the general concept of bringing up Baby, I mean Humanity, is pure Clarke essence. Civilisation was his thing, really. Possibly it was a projection?) (Okay, Clarke did say that magic in one culture is indistinguishable from technology in another, but this is preposterous).
  • Chocky (3 short BBC children series, aliens, mind talk, very dated)
  • Class (2016) (Teenagers in time. Not holding my breath, but giving it a shot. Brit teen-angst, here I come)(2016, 1 season, cancelled?)(Coal Hill School/Acadamy, where it all takes place, is a spin-off from Doctor Who)(Well, it’s very BBC YA-like, with recognisable YA identificators such as bullying, masturbation, homosexuality etc. Similar in style to Wizards vs Aliens, but probably owing more to the narrow minds of British YA TV altogether than the mind of brilliant and former Doctor Who writer, Russel T. Davies, whose idea that was.)(Hmmm, kind of liking the street-freshness – but then again, Russel T.. Davies always was better at the dark things than whats-his-name, who fucked up the good Doctor the last few years) (Time Travel is breaking down the walls to “the other place” and teenagers are destined to save existence, again. Might be prudent. We all know, what will happen, when we send adults!)
  • Cleverman (A bit slow, but horribly fouled up version of the Aussie concept of “the Cleverman”, turning the main character into a super hero and avatar of the suppressed, which in no way is what it was.)(But kinda decent as is.)
  • Cold Lazarus (Dennis Potter [of Singing Detective-fame] is always interesting) (Cryogenics, with a twist)
  • Colony (2016 Earth occupied. I got bored after 2 eps. Rating is high. Maybe if I’m ever in the mood for the American Family Struggling to Take ON the Enemy As One) (It was renewed for S03 2018. Good for you.) (People keep pestering me to watch it, give it time! They have NO idea just HOW much there is to watch! It’s like saying to an avid reader You Have To Read This Book, so you boy it and place it on the pile on the night stand.) (It’s still there.) (Buried, but there)
  • Come back alive (aka. please come back, Mister) (2016, Korea)(Man is worked to death, but gets a second chance. Then everything devolves into normalcy. Kind of.)
  • Continuum (Corporate, fascist regime in the future, and our heroine travels back in time to defend just that. Seriously.)(Okay, maybe she WILL realize her mistake and become a good person…)(She did.)
  • Counterpart (Parallel dimensions. S01E01, J.K. Simmons incredible as the double agent, so to speak, and the whole idea is crazy in a good way. Completely changed my mind after the first ep. Just get it up, you people!) (Diplomacy across dimensions is such a fucking cool concept! And I love that it takes place in Germany!)[E05 – J.K. Simmons, you ROCK!]
  • Crime Traveller (a bit dated, even in 1998, but good time travel concept)
  • Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol (2021) (Expect Dan Brown, but thank god he didn’t write the script!)
  • Danger 5 (Spy spoof, very entertaining)
  • Dark (German, children vanishing, S01E02 so far interesting)(Concept with the nuclear plant as part of the villany is a bit… predictable. Simple drama technique: Show the gun, use the gun) (10 eps in S01 – okay, you got me!)(Absolutely Fucking Brilliant seasonal ending!) (S2 now belongs to Netflix and it’s been synchronised into English. Really. Is that what we want? Eradicate cultural differences?!)(S2E1 nothing spectacular, not holding my breath)(2020 Havent gottten past e01 yet)
  • Dark Season (BBC, children, 6 eps)(What happens when you try to bribe children with computers… well, it worked in 1991)
  • Dark Matter (Take a scientific concept as title for a series and have a bunch of people wake up without memories and come to understand they were really bad people before whatever wiped their minds, and now that they don’t remember anything all is fine. Not.)(Well, there’s nothing really at the moment, so I gave it another chance. And though its not riveting, there is a slow build-up to cohesion between the very Firefly-like dissimilar characters. But a bit too well polished to really engage, But I still have one and a half season left, so…) (2 seasons/2016) (Okay, Im sold.)(Hooked)……………. They CANCELLED S03!) (Why is it that… No, never fucking mind. These people have no clue.]
  • Dark Skies (1996, 2 seasons)(UFO-confidential, “they are here”, Roswell) (It was in the wake of X-files. WAS it over-shadowed? I’ll let you know in 15 episodes) (Main character’s front-boss went to greater fame in X-files)(Man, is there a version without voice-over?!) (Now I remember. There’s nothing straight cut about this. Ultra Paranoia).)
  • Day 5 (2016, Sleep, and you die!) (It feels as if there is no hope; very real. I need something else at present, so am giving it a miss at ep. 4)
  • Daybreak (2019) (Kinda like a diary, breaking the 4th wall, but in a meta-way – as IF there really isn’t anyone out there watching, which there most likely wouldn’t be, if the world HAD ended like this: Bomb, mostly only teens live, teens form gangs and have turfs and being teens they are really inexperienced and cruel and smart and funny and just trying to survive). (No big questions, really, just gruesome survival and looking into the camera)(Guess I’ll give ep 4 a whirl too – the teacher-witch-insane-not-quite-zombie-adult has potential)(Just gets better and better, and even has touching moments of people-connect. All far from bubblegum America. Good Stuff!)
  • DC’s Legends of tomorrow (Hard not to try to follow this shallow actors-must-hate-it piece of crap story writing about sailing the time stream… Yeah, how often does a time travel series swing by?! I haven’t read the comics, but I assume its on the same level of stereotyping – intelligent, but psycho, dumb, but psycho, brilliant, but psycho, but can learn empathy, loving, and loving, and brainy, but nerdy, but handsome… oh, god, and nothing is saved by brilliant CGI and violent and sloppy fights.) (1s/2016)(S02 did not improve)(And no one misses the guy with the hapless diction, overplaying psychopath, macho freak. He’s just gone.)(Oh, and Suddenly it was named DC’s Legends of… rather than just Legends of… – taking on Marvel on the nam egiving level. This present increase in Super Hero series and movies is wearing thin.)
  • Dead Set (The Ultimate in no-hope zombie land! Mini-series) (Brilliant! And be warned: Any reading about is a spoiler.)
  • Debris (2021, 13 eps, cancelled, no big loss) (A jumble of tropes with a base in techno-magical effects on humans and human affairs from debris from an alien ship fallen to Earth, but the idea soon wears out. If you get past the first couple of eps, you will probably want to stay for the rest. Like emptying the candy bowl, though you know it’s bad for you. But you then most likely will marvel at the magnificently alienness of the debris and how difficult an actual contact would probably be, yes, so, so much!)(But, my gods, the time travel/dimension skipping/parallel worlds dual-episode, with its 50% “but it was all a dream” should figure as worst episode writing of the year candidate! Shame on you lazy bum writers for this burnout. An affront to all time travel logic accumulated over the past 30 years.)
  • Defiance (I do love aliens with a personality, but why do they always have to be more evil or more nice that humans?! And why do alien names follow suit – bad=Names begin with K or Z with lots of r’s. Nice=lots of vocal and air blown through H-names…)(It must be really hard to be a TV-executive…)
  • Defying Gravity (loved the slow buildup, and hated the feeling that the writers were being pushed to speed it up, thus signing their own death certificate)
  • Devs (2020)(Digital corp hides secret and chooses between their brightest to participate. What IS the secret that it must float in a vaccuum chamber?)(S1E01, Easy pace, objective placed center and fast, whodunnits are known, are they cold, is it necessary, is the Universe at stake, or simple humans playing Gods believing they understand? Def. intrigued and eager to get to ep02, no false moves here, but Director Alex Garland likes big moves, big scenary, someone whispered in his ear at some point: You wanna make it big, make it BIG!)(E03 has me intrigued, but not too much. We know there’s a secret, and it probably will entail time travel, other dimensions, data from the future or similar, so no big surprises there)(Kinda goes downhill, even to the point of not feeling I was missing anything, when I semi-watched e05 without sound. But I WILL return to sound and e05 again – there is something in the insistence of the character contacts – evil-good, enthusiastic-party killing, hopeful-despondent – which in a sense “elongates” the whole piece. And then the odd images that go on for long enough to accept they’re not just cutting off of the budget.)
  • Dimension 404 [the Dimension of error 404 is the notorious Dead End of the internet-link. And I think it will remain so.] [2017, s01]
  • Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (2016, so now they are trying once more to put Dirk Gently into moving images. I suppose they will get it right one day. This one exemplifies what happens, when something distinctly British is translated into US dramatic terminology. And how US rights’ owners make square pegs go into the round holes of the US marked) (Seems to be renewed for 2017 S02, but the year now having too few months left to show it may be similar to the sofa impossibly stuck on the landing outside of DG’s office for the whole of book one, we shall see. Or not, maybe.)(S02 Ho-kay… That is INSANE! Someone made a brainfart and it is good and it is strong and it is crazy in a whole new direction, and I am VERY amused! (Douglas Adams is probably not turning in his grave.))(Stupidly, but not surprisingly cancelled at end of S02)(Dumbells!)
  • Disenchantment (2018) [Matt Groening product. Have seen it all, you know. good Sunday fare, or 20 eps for an overnight train ride] [Simpsons talking about human stupidity in the present LSD-style, Futurama talking about human stupidity in the future LSD-style, Disenchantment talking about human stupidity in the (fictional) past… LSD-style. Real past is boring, except possibly LSD-style. What’s left? Monsters-in-the-closet, Skeletons in the past, Hell on Earth (wasn’t there a brief series like that at some point?), done LSD-style? But, nahh, he’s not gonna go hungry.]
  • Dispatch from Elsewhere (2020)(For some reason I thought there was only going to be 4 eps, when I found it. Imagine my delight, well, imagine any delight, when I discovered that this quirky, 4th wall, existential other series focusing from single POV in every episode up till now) has 6 more episodes, and #5 is on tonight!)(e05: Yay!!)(AND it keeps getting better. Straight A’s)
  • Doctor Who (the resurrected Doctor, seasons 1, 5 and 6 are excellent in my eyes, David Tennant playing the Doctor in s.2,3 og 4 I find less interesting, even if the arcs here are better than anything before and after. The last doctors (S07-09) are straight out boring, and only for the die-hards, who cannot get enough. The Who-Universe is being emptied out. Nothing new is coming is. The companions are life-less and un-threatening. I have stopped caring.)(The series is actually being killed by incompetence masked as good story writing. There is an utter fear of women present – for lack of initiative to have the doctor grow up, as he was on his way to in the first eps. Steven Moffat is terrible! A brilliant populist w/o anything on heart, sadly.)(Now, 2o18, the long awaited female incarnation of the doctor. The writing is much better, so far (e06), but it’s now become sightseeing historical events and meeting Real Historical Characters, the most boring way to spend Time. Giving the writers time to land it differently, but not holding my breath. Actually not much difference in the character – the quirky peace loving childishness is still there. Which in a way is a good thing. So, why am I bored?)(She is SO fake and OVER-directed that I cannot BEAR watching it. Totally screwed it up! Absolutely and totally!)
  • Doll House (cancelled, due to boredom, I guess)(Even if there were some interesting details – but the waking of the artificial character-trope was not well handled. And maybe a bit too much focus on flesh and not enough on character?)
  • Don’t look Deeper (webseries, 2020) (She suspects she is something not human.) (S01e01, format functions, and we don’t dally, straight on to deeper complexities in e02. But invariably episode endings will feel contrived as plot deepens and goes into longer spin. So it seems.) (On an actor level the lead is an absolut bomb, absolutely gorgeous!) (12 eps, coming of age LBGTQ+, which feels un-contrived and happily normal. But the ending?! We have SO much to talk about, you and me, for a long time coming!)
  • Doom patrol 2019 (I did see the first ep, can’t recall a thing) (Got bored, looked around, and there it was again). (Oh, I’m so fed up with super heroes, and making even “special fantastic people” into “normal humans”, but this bunch of misfits forced to work together (towards the very simple goal of finding their surrogate father, well, yeah, but keeping it simple) this is fun and good energy.)(Watched the whole season, not holding my breath, but good energy)(S02e01 has our heroes somewhat cut down to size. It should be more interesting that it sounds, but somehow it is very normal. And thus unnessessary. Cant get past ep4)
  • Dystopia (SE, 2021, 8 eps) A bunch of rich, young kids are planning a big role play event at an abandoned facility somewhere in Sweden. What they don’t know about are the experimentations on cute little guinea pigs gone horribly wrong many, many years ago, labs now covered over with fake cement walls, while some not so adult adult is overseeing the sights, in a take on modern Sweden very open to bribery to open up the facility.) (S01, accidental stops on FF should give the gist of it. And they all talk, and talk and talk. And talk some more. Very little fantastic elements, or horror, or even deep drama. FF even to last second cliffhangers are a waste of time and tension.) (And they talk, like a lot, did I mention that?)
  • Dystopia (UK, 2019, 8 eps.) (Research on a teleportation device leads to accidental discovery of Time Travel! I should be all exited.) (I was.)
  • Early Edition (1996) (He gets tomorrow’s new in tomorrow’s paper. What is he gonna do about it?)(The belief in humans is strong in this one!) (I always wondered what he did, when he wasn’t working for the rest of us. Very long and plenty workdays there).
  • Earth: Final Conflict (Invasion, 5 seasons, no great loss)
  • Eerie Indiana, the Other Dimension (1998, children, very entertaining) (Single eps, always strange and entertaining)
  • El Ministerio del Tiempo (The Time Ministerie) (Spanish, 2S, still going (2017), have seen e1 and 2, and I am not holding my breath.)(3 people from 3 ages brought together to prevent changes to the Spanish History. Refreshing that other nations than USA matter!)[It is packed with cryptic references to the history of Spain, none are explained, everyone are expected to know them.]
  • Emergence (2019)(in the vein of “little-town mysterious”, but give it 3 eps at least.)
  • Eureka (contrived and without emotional substance, but they really work at making it balance between far out silly and good fun)(Final eps descending into pure Eureka silliness. I finally get it: It’s a hi-teck babble for people with low attention span or with a real need to disengage, and nothing wrong with that. The science if pure nonsense; it could just as well have been magic.)(Ended)
  • Extant (2014, july ep.1.) (Female astronaut returns to Earth pregnant after 1 year alone in space)(May result in a season 2, thus adding to the pile of Wasted Effort In Spite of Good Intentions – due to production intentionally safeguarding the actor’s reputation as a good person; I won’t mention her name; as she also produces, she doesn’t deserve it, despite some good acting and cleavage) (Warning: Did result in a Season 2)
  • Falling skies (Just into S02. Last humans + aliens plot. May yet pick up energy, but stalling from need to credibly oppose the oppressors. Same problem as “V”)(Entered into last season. Still boring. Too much form, too little human intent to really matter)
  • Falling Water (2016)(3 unrelated people dreaming part of the same dream)(Making absolutely sure in the intro that the premise is unmissable. Kinda like saying that all prizes on the top shelf are worth less that in would cost you to win one.) (S01e01 2 minutes in and it is very missable. Sorry.)(3 seasons 2018. Some say it’s improved. Waiting for a rainy day. [Sorry])
  • Farscape 4 seasons/88 episodes + 2 double episodes “The peacekeeper War” (A looong way from home, and Sci-fi TV’s greatest villean!) (Cancelled due to stupidity and adult darkness, then rounded off with a miniseries). (How ever fantastic and mold-breaking Farscape was, it still was not allowed to become really painful. “Don’t tamper with a well-proven formula” and all that… But viewers also grow up, the world around changes. Darkness is nuanced. There were the slightest hints at that – and then “goodbye”.) (Fear kills many good things.)
  • Final Space (Animation, comedy)(Sounds solidly crazy)(Not bad, but not crazy in the Rick & Morty sense of the word. Decently crazy.)
  • Find me in Paris (2018) (Ballet and Paris, and Time Travel) (What more do you need?) (3 seasons)
  • Firefly (Cowboys in space – probably the greatest loss to Science Fiction TV, apart from Stargate Universe. Infectious good spirits!) (14 eps, ended with a movie, Serenity, worthy and decent, but still sad. Cancelled due to Incompetence and Stupidity!)
  • First Wave (Invasion, 3 seasons, missable)(Actually not – it was cancelled after just 3 seasons due to stupidity. But those were the days (1999-2003) of Hits Asunder = “Nielsen rating below xxx, no advertising money, die”, never mind good script, production value, acting etc (you know, the boring stuff)
  • Flash Forward (cancelled due to studio stupidity!)
  • For All Mankind (2019, 3 seasons 2021) (Alternate history humans-on-the-moon series, with good portrayal of the family situation of astronauts, the ambitions, the race to be first with everything, the duty to country, to ideals, the little men and women fighting the big fights – all in a setting of fake glory that no one ever questions, because the cause is bigger than any one individual, Russians and North Americans alike.)(Strong ensemble play by all. Enjoyable.)(Now on to s02 with a grin)
  • Forever (1st ep, 2014)(Nope) (6 years later: During the Corona dry spell I am going back to unfinished business)(Forever could in many ways be called a mixture of New Amsterdam with its 400 year old New Yorker immortal, and if any way similar in energy or motivation as the Sherlock Holmes versions “Elementary” and “Castle”, its safe to say Forever existed prior to those. Unfortunately Ioan Gruffudd’s acting in my mind struggled with an intended credible AND lighthearted portrayal of a 200 year old man for too many episodes for the ratings to permit the production of a season 2 – which, mind you, in those days consisted of 22 eps.) (The writers and the director were totally unaware of how to portray the pain of the immortal as well as what the heck an English gentleman REALLY is, and visibly steered the lead in the wrong direction, starting episode 3, when Ioan Gruffudd obviously took too long about finding the character inside the meager script and faulty direction. Thus sank that ship.)(The corporate murder of New Amsterdam was a sin, but just imagine the things they could dredge up today, only 6-7 years later, with the immortality idea, a better lead, more than a tad better writers, and maybe Judd Hirsch again as the immortal’s old son, with better material than comedic one-liners!) (Ep 20. NOW I’m sticking with it. It has a certain charm, but I AM wondering if our lead is EVER going to reveal his secret to his police partner, who is in fact accepting way too much reckless behaviour brought on by the lead’s certainty of immortality).
  • Fortitude (2015) (Strictly speaking not scifi. Or horror. Or ghost story. Or fantasy. More like a twisted morality tale, or a tale of humans with all our shit on top rather than neatly driving the dramatic machinery underneath. No, actually, this is a sick story beginning somewhere very familiar and then it just spirals into deeper and darker weirdness for 2 seasons, about insects from the past, dinosaurs thawing from climate change, shamanism of old with transport to the land of the dead, and a sick sick sick tale of life extension in a very special fashion, and then there was a season 3, but only consisting of 4 episodes, for what you’ld call a plothole and direction fixer-season. But damn, if they didn’t tie things up, all the sick shit they threw out there, sick shit and behaviour as stand-ins for character, maaan – they themselves would have been left for the polar bears to chew on! And IF they had invested more in character building, the ending would have been the meanest ending of them all, the fucking lot, ever! But we are only left with (some…) mental clarity rather than catharsis as shared pain. And for that I am really really thankful, I really am! Had it not been for the white landscapes of Iceland (pretending to be Svalbard, the Northern-most inhabited place in the world), this downward, plothole riddled hellride would have been unbearable.)(It’s not. It’s remarkably bad plotting tossed onto a seemingly well known dramatic formula haphazardly strung together from all of the weird stories you know, and then the scriptwriters had som Acid or reindeer juice and then all of it made sense!)(And the gory details – who the fuck taught them to build up to gore making sense!?)(Don’t even pretend you understand, what I am saying here.)(Watch it or don’t – it will make no difference in your life what-so-ever.)
  • Foundation (2021, Apple) (The by-many-long-awaited filming of Asimov’s famous 6-volume human-univers-epic. Not so by me.)(DO tell a new story, rather than look around for something to fill in the gap left by Game of Thrones’ POULARITY, oh, did I sound to be assuming it’s all about money. Sorry, if I stepped on anyone’s toes, but yes, that is what I’m saying. It is all about money, marked shares. Creatives are just bought to provide that outcome.)(This series is a resolve – a way to film something near un-filmable, but, then again, also slated for 7 seasons to keep Apple’s seat hot in the streaming business. Lets hope then that people stay interested.)(Look, its not boring. Its just still finding its feet. And probably will appear do so in the first season, of which 2 eps are streamable. But it is very, very bloody, and there is too long sex scenes masking as intimace and desire – making it a drama for teens attracted to such, while the story, the importance of psychohistory, genuinely suffers. Psychohistory is simply what the protagonist Hari Seldon does: Calculates the future mathematically, apparently to greater probability than any before him, making him a threat and bound for exile. But that is just saying it out loud. Where is the showing it?)(So, again: A very hard tale to film – if you wish to have viewers connect on a personal level to characters and not just to the protagonist himself and the havoc his calculations and ideas wreck. I’m not exactly waiting in tension for the continuation. Personal prediction: Dead at season 2 end, if they don’t start speaking to an adult audience.)
  • Freakish (2016) (Oh, no, those not dead in the attack are infected by something, and we’re all only teenagers left to deal with the situation, oh no!)
  • Fringe (how it suddenly picked up in S03 and now is running with the Torch of relevant scifi!) (Now ended, on a satisfying, if predicable note) (My vote for most heart portraying actress ever! Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham)
  • Futurama (killed by the studio and revived years later, now on S07. Good, light entertainment 1000 years in the future. This how of “continuously being for sale without learning anything” could only have come from the creator of the Simpsons, Matt Groening! Lovely!)
  • Future Man (I should be excited. It’s a Time Travel series!) (But, like I said 10 years ago, the TT as central trope AND simple plot device is now coming into play far and wide, and there are A LOT of tropes involved in a TT optional universe – and I say that, because we have seen them. So. Come.Up.With.Something.New! to do with TT! Or just rarely seen. Like Dark, f.ex)(Well, following a period of personal adjusting-to-form… S02 is opening new vistas, when it comes to mixing comedy and science fiction (time travel, alternative realities). Yes, TT is a central issue here (get back to one’s “own” time), while at the same time acting out a TOTALLY zany story fraught with great stupidity, insane computers, dying world, and basic basic emotions unchecked by reason AND a BIG BIG dong (really!)(I’m just about to embark onto S03, and I have NO expectations – one too many show has taken the wrong road for reasons only CEO’s know – but it’s very obvious that the show feels NO obligations to be political correct, and as such manages to tell their very own, way out there, crazyfunny story of silly asses in possession of great tech.)(Okay, its way out there great!)
  • Galactica 1980 (1980) (10 eps, 1 season, cancelled due to bad ratings) Dated.
  • Game of Thrones (Good soap violence. Good scripts. Good Arc! Strictly speaking Medieval Fantasy) (Okay, I strung it out to the middle of s02 – then I let them have their bloodletting to themselves).
  • Goodnight Sweetheart (British retro-fix, “the old days were better”)(Time travel between London pubs, more or less, but very period British.)
  • Gravity Falls (animation.)(I can’t actually remember anything about this, but my notes say “great”, so “great” it is!)(41 eps)(Well, checked imdb, and can still remember nothing! Weird.)
  • Halfway across the Galaxy and Turn Left (Australian 1993, 2S28E, fine children’s show)
  • HALO (2022)(I never play computer games; when would I find the time!)(This came out of the blue, great ep01, great ep02, great ep03 etc. – the modern way of storytelling, the US way, borders formulaic, “give the people what they want”, the people expects visualisations of the stories they already know to be precise and even more visually striking than they themselves can express, but this is beginning to rub off on every US series. Only the Netflix take – distributing and thus inviting non-US-countries to join the acceptance of Babel (some call it the The New Golden Age of TV) – seems to cause any real variety, thereby leaving all up to acting – for people strong in tropes.)(I cannot imagine, however, that actors aren’t thrilled to be able to develop characters over a long time, except when a show drags and producers don’t want leads to change – like Michael in Star Trek Explorer – a pain to watch her struggle with very little material). (With HALO I was merrily free of all story-expectations, having never played the game, and was thus able to watch the progression, the constant imbedded cliff-hangers/show the gun, use the gun pointing to further calamities – and this one is on rails: Automatons, almost, called Spartans (from the Greek warriors devoid of fear in battle) are developed by one mono-focussed scientist (old trope) to aid humanity (and her own un-emphatic, amoral creative visions) against a species of aliens. A device is found, which affects the Master Chief of the Spartans , while simultaneously pointing towards an even greater find – which naturally the Aliens also want, for unfathomable religious purposes, naturally, as human fighting is always sanctioned by righteous morals, naturally… and this is where the motivating trope begins to stink more than a bit. BUT… leaving the moralising to the producers, the story progresses on rails, and has battle scenes worthy of 8K-inspection. AND, saying it again, since I don’t know the story, tropic overload is my guide – and I see the story going nowhere, meaning into surprising GoT-killing off leads. But very tight dosages, great for immersed consumption, never a dull moment, all lean meat, propulsion-wise, and more than adequate acting (I just don’t know how they do the green screen thing). But you could fool me in every scene – the production value has the look of the (expensive) real-life stage work of SG-1 s01-05)(Have done s01e06, want more, it takes my mind off of things.)
  • HAPPY! (2017) (How often to you run into a scifi comedy, which is actually funny!?) (Crass and corrupt cop hating himself is challenged by the arrival of an unrelentlessly optimistic, blue animated horse named Happy that only he can see. )(2 seasons)
  • Hard Sun (Got a script, but friends and producers… say Its Just Too Normal And Why Not Make It Scifi, For Example About The World Ending!) (Some interesting characters, but really, guys: You wrote yourself into a corner. If this is the end of the world, you have to go through with it. You know: Show the gun, use the gun!) (Hashtag #ScriptWriterSuicide) (6 eps. 2018)(cancelled after one season – probably due to lack of funds to realise the world following the final ep)(sad)(OR the ending was like that to compensate for the cancellation?)
  • Harsh Realm (simulation reality) (cancelled at no big loss).(Military messiah in a simulated reality)(Charlton Heston with a terrier)
  • Helix (2014. 1 Season. Virus research in Antarctica. Totally unbelievable tech and architecture-in-ice. Kinda silly storyline descending into very stupid. Don’t bother with renewing it for further episodes.) (Oh, god. Some exec didn’t see s01 before renewing!)
  • H.G.Wells’ The Invisible Man (Early superhero series…)
  • His Dark materials (2019) (TV version of the book series “his dark materials”. Okay fare, and SOO much better than the Nicole Kidman movie, where they killed off the religious part of the plot. But even here it feels cautious. Would I have enjoyed it more, had I not read the books and LOVED them? Something is missing. Lets see if we get back to it, Covid-19 and a young lead, which may have grown too much for the second season?!) (S02 worked okay. Still not UP there, but very tight and decent storytelling, which in my mind hovers somewhere in between too short and too long. Weird. But GREAT universe, thanks to Philip Pullman, the author.)
  • Holmes and Yoyo (1976, policeman and android partner)(Saw it in my 20’s. Good, clean, Family entertainment re. how to live your live as a good (US-American) person.)
  • Homecoming (2020, not so much science fiction as just around the corner or has-been-here-for-long-but-only-conspiracy-nuts-really-believe-it)(Julia Roberts and Sissy Spacek – thats very, very good! Maybe not in the acting sense-of-new, where actors seem to somehow either occupy their roles or not – well, Sissy Spacek is like that – but Julia Roberts begins as the classic movie star, who PLAYS, and you don’t know who she really is, but during the series she relaxes into the role. I love their faces – human, crooked faces. And no, I’m not saying anything about the series. I like it, though)(Okay, its about soldiers coming home and being promised help – but is it?)
  • Humans (One should think that History teaches, but naturally that only goes if you know your history. As no one would suspect an expensive TV-series of being part of national education about the abolition of slavery, right, and an owner’s alleged right over hisher property? …)
  • Hunters (Terrorists are kinda aliens! Or aliens are terrorist? Symbolism is a bit thick here.) (1S/2016)
  • Hyperdrive (Occasionally funny BBC spaceship series with toe-cringing characters, who set new (relevant) standards for use of normal people on TV)
  • I am Frankie. [Android Teenager having the upper hand at high school, hero avatar teen god, protector against all vile bullying, while showing the joys af learning, haha] [Please let me know if fast-forwarding through S01, while assuming unintended absence of remarkable relevance, could simply fatten up already well chewed tropes.]
  • I’m Not Okay With This (2020) (Coming-of-Age drama about a young woman with powers, she finds hard to control, but also are not freaking out, because naturally unlike any other teen she has no desire to upload selfies to SoMe, as superhero shows have taught her she is only one call away from dissection by 2-letter agencies. Or something… Well, accept this ignorance, and the show is actually half decent, and the lead refreshingly be-pimpled.)(But the number of shows lead by “strong, determined women” is on the rise. This is one.)(Oh, also gender politics at play here.)
  • Impulse (2018. Ep01 the first 5 minutes pulled me in like the cow splitting in “Under the dome” ep01, but even so the singular deal-with-rape in a budding recognition of teleportation powers-story with both international and local side story persecution is maybe wisely only given 10 eps, and how they will resolve even that in the last 4 eps is beyond me.)(What absolute CRUD! Worst piece of story arc and incomprehensible approval by story excecs since Andromeda – and that was even understandably bad. It MUST have been sold on the teleportation effects ALONE, and then all of the studio excecs left for holiday for the duration of shooting and came back to this!)(coming of age as different) (Forgot all about this and got aboard s02, ball well picked up. Now run to the 3rd season and get on with it!)
  • Into the Night (2020) (Sun as killer. Suddenly.) (1 season)
  • Invasion (Something in the water) (Cancelled due to Studio exec incompetence) (Watch it anyway)
  • Invisible City [aka. Cidade Invisível, Brazil, 2021] [American Gods done the Brazilian way] (Just now getting to it. AC was somewhat entertaining, but highly forgettable stuff, and so was the Gaiman-book. It might have something to do with ignorance: Building on top of ignorance requires a lot of strong characters, and what the book had lots of page space in which to construct and interspace and directly explain, the series skipped to the “funny parts”. So, hopes not up too high. But… it’s in BRAZIL!] [AND it has an environmental edge and People of Concern]
    IQ-145 (web-series 2008) [Funny how the webseries has imdb8+, and the subsequent movie, The Palmer Supremacy (2014) is around imdb4] (Neural interface. Yeah, but it was 2008. Suspension of disbelief, each to his own. Say after me: “Gizmos are Good!” And now “Gizmos in any age are good!” Great, yes.]
  • It’s about time (animation, dated, travel to past, bring back pre-historic cave people)
  • Jake 2.0 16 eps. (Unfortunately upgraded, then hunted teen-looking NSA computer technician adult) (Cancelled, thank you. I mean: Nanomites!?)
  • Japan Sinks: 2020 (2020, animation, Japan…)  Following a family through a global catastrophy. Absolutely brilliant and credible – taking into account that the living are the makes of history. Adapted from a story from 1973, “Japan sinks”.
  • Jekyll (a modern Jekyll/Hyde. Brilliantly dark, amazing acting!) (Or is it acting… Ha, it’s THAT good!) (6 eps.)
  • Jeremiah (post-apocalyptic) (okay)
  • Jericho (because of the mood) (cancelled due to stupidity)
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel (Threw me off in ep1, as did the book on page 40, 3 times) (I’m fine, don’t worry.)
  • Journeyman 1 season/13 episodes (Cancelled due to stupidity)
  • Just add magic [I’m too old for obvious lessons in morality, but when it comes to daytimeTV programming kids with dos and donts I have an urge to smash something][2 seasons, possibly in hiatus (oct.17) but who really cares?] [The ratings must be from Christian US citizens or people in general, who reluctantly must raise their children without nannies!]
  • Just beyond (1 season, Hopefully all, Disney) (Yes, it is so much just exactly beyond into weirdland that its hardly worth the time. You will not have it back in moral return – a child is not raised by TV or by Disney; it is raised by caring adults, who are there when their child needs adequate support and understanding of an overwhelming or incomprehensible world. Stop wasting the world’s resources on this kind of crap. It’s not even juvenile, for crying out loud, it’s just OLD.)
  • Killjoys (“Music-video” scifi series with the depth of a supermarket plastic bag.) (Count me out)
  • Kinvig (The Brits have a knack for normalising scifi – its an acquired taste, but I like it)
  • Kipo and the age of the Wonderbeasts (2019, animated) (I could just FEEL there was something special going on here, but the timing was wrong and I didn’t even make it through ep1. But I Will Get There, I am sure!)(And did I get there, 2.5 years later! ) (The world has ended, people died, life on the surface got a shot of some viral growth hormone and became gigantic and as such deadly to humans. [Dinosaur-size happy dogs bumbling across a green pasture Kipo and friends are trying to cross, on the dirt between 50 foot grass straws, is hair raising]. But she needs to get back to her family and kin, of which there is no trace in the underground lair, where she grew up.)(The characters, the voices, the characters again, the crazy messed up world of ruins and gigantic insects, fungus, mammals, and the characters – man 3 seasons of this, plus the endlessly positive Kipo, who refuses to let her self be swayed by the fears of rejection and death and inability to change, which characterises everyone on the surface. She comes from a place of light, the beacon of ideals and hope and trust in the best in everyone. You will also want to see it to its end. To go into a new life, filled with the opposite of every other sarcastic, ironic, tongue in cheek story out there is these dystopian times. I wish I was her.)
  • Last Resort (2012) (Barely science fiction, but since we in the reality of 2021 are still not in a new nuclear war, I guess it would count as such:US Navy sub is mixed up in sinister plans involving the subs nuclear warheads, leaving the submarine and its crew more or less stranded on a fictional island surrounded by a blockade of warships all intent on blowing it up, aledgedly to protect the world from the “mad submarine captain”)(Series was cancelled, but concluded nicely. All acting was way above par, moving into excellent, even as the script was greatly fragmented – possibly due to cancellation stress – and the camerawork and lighting was out of a crappy daytime soap. Shame on you for saving on this – with such an acting crew aboard!)(Think captain Kurtz, with a few surprises, and you are not far off in regards to the inspiration for the captain character and his XO. And and not a bad history update, either!)
  • Legion (2017) (S01ep04 is next for me, and I am THRILLED! I normally take a long time to warm to hero series, but the Marvel universe does merit credit for memorable storylines and characters. This mind fuck series goes a bit further and is showing gooood promise. April 17][Never thought they could go to S02, but they are now trying very hard to surpass all the crazyness. I am positive a joint on this side of the set would work equally well.] [now renewed for a s3! Strange how some executives cancel what does not look like the rest, while some cancel if it does. But all no matter what the viewers have to say!] (Brain on fire!)
  • Les Revenant (French, brilliant series! 8 eps)(The US version is… okay)(The dead come back).
  • Life on Mars (the UK-version) (US-version sucks big time!) (A stretch to call its time travel trope relevant)
  • Lifeline (TT) (2017, youtube red) (Insurance company using time travel to prevent their clients’ deaths. Really!? ) (Cancelled after the first 8 ep)(Ending has repercussions, which may be more interesting as possibilities than an actual second season)
  • Limetown (2019) (atmospheric suspense is all I can remember after 1 ep)(Something about people vanishing, while Limetown does not. The horror, the horror…)
  • Limitless (Using one’s full potential… through a drug…) (Continues on from the movie by the same name. Has potential, but verges on comedy with the big-boy-character raking in all attention) (S01 2015)
  • Lloyd in Space (animation, children)
  • Loki [Marvel, 2021] (You Have To See This, It Has Time Travel In It! my good friend said (who is also a Marvel fan). And so it has. Time Travel as a means to escape, Time Travel as a reason to punish, Time Travel as means of Change and reason to Restore, And Loki really IS not trustworthy, and closer to the un-perverted Loke, God from Asgard, than the Devil Incarnate from the Newer Edda heavily influenced by the Christian invasion. But what can I say? After 2 eps. I find it hard to remember anything about it. Sure, the cut in Owen Wilson’s nose stands out. And some of the backdrops from the TVA headquarter. But that’s it. What is it really about? As in “anything”?)
  • LOST (Plane crashes on island, and survivors must deal with internal strife, creatures of the night, deadly conspiracies and human experimentation, a lunatic dicator, plus love, treason and every other conceivable human emotion x 100 before realising that… Ah, that would be telling. DO NOT read up on this, if you don’t know the ending. It is a BRILLIANT series, when it comes to writer’s abuse of characters and throwing every conceivable TV trope as spanners into the works, every time something seems to begin to function. Very nasty, that!) (Also, LOST is a model for how to round off a TV-series, even if there were more plot holes than plot points.)
  • Lost in space (Some of the CGI-drama was stunningly breathtaking! How normal the CGI department has become as player in today’s scifi, but never among the prime credits. Can’t recall what else it was about. A decent update of the old series as far as Im concerned, and fittingly only 10 eps. But then again I did’t grow up with daytime TV.)(Renewed for S2. I might have a glance)
  • Love, Death & Robots (Anthology series. WHAT in the world was the rave about? Was I asleep?)
  • Made for love (2021) (Rich psycho husband keeps her locked up in a house in the desert, playing the part of a loving wife. She’s a wimp and never tries to escape. Before she does.)
  • Making History [2017, Why is it that when money is sunk into Time Travel, the show easily becomes a history lesson, singularly about US history? When Any time is just A time!] [S01 is 9 episodes, and a Time Traveler has to independently support Time Travel, which is an interesting concept] [AND there’s a bland human interest story in there too, if you like that kind of filler.]
  • Maniac (2018, miniseries)(could have been great acid fun – Jonah Hill/Emma Stone – two naturally wild humans, but if you WANT something to be crazy, to rival eg Jekyll or Legion, its bound to go meeh. And it did go meeh. But of course if Maniac was the first ever “crazy show” you watched and it blew your top off, I envy you! So much great stuff UNSEEN!) (But I forgot what it was about fast. I wonder why. Well cast crazy actors, Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, but maybe too insulated in its craziness – good for stoners, and if not stoned no releations to anything apart from the idea?)
  • Manifest (2018) (Plane in air moves people 5 years into the future of their relatives’ bereavement and relief 🙂 We’ll see if the use of time travel is just yet another bad pretext for a catalog of soap TV tropes. If the trailer is any indication, that may be the case.)(trailer)
  • Mars [2016, docu-kinda-scifi] [mini-series] [What CAN possibly go wrong, naturally intending for the mission to go right!]
  • Marvel’s Agent Carter (Decent, no, really tight, good fun)(Retro) (I hope it resumes, but fat luck on that!)(It did not. Damn!)(2 seasons)
  • Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Avengers Movies’ spin-off, light entertainment in the same vein)(2013) (How it picked up in 2014. Quite entertaining, and interesting mix-in with cinematic movies on the same timeline and arc!) (Good tale of betrayal and how to deal with hurt feelings) (Still rolling, 2016, but I care less for the storyline now, as changed behavior of major characters deviate unrealistically from their previously presented (though stereo-typed) personality.)(MAN! 2017 season going off-world is sucking me in, in a fully good way, CGI, story and all. Even if it feels like a re-boot, “now that we have this cool concept and cool characters that we don’t want to let go of”) (I admit: Cannot be bothered to see if it checks with the paper canon)(Renewed for s6. Can’t say I’m trilled – the cast begins to seem a little worse for wear.)(Innocence gone, Quake is intolerable, but the convergence of alternate timelines is… well, I guess the Unused Trope Box was empty.)(s06)(how can they go on with this? But swapping things around and returning love to where it belongs is the safe bet. Plus a lot of time hopping and paradox avoiding. Good fun most of the way.)
  • Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Really good first season. She’s a drunk, fed up with a lot of stuff and she IS a hero, no matter how much she denies it. Brilliant villain in S01)(Can they do it again with s02?)(HAVE peeked at S2, but was not pulled in. Will give it a chance at a binge-fest.)(peaked slightly at S2, not impressed, but S3 was decent, if unfulfilled and caused the character of JJ seem even more uncompromisingly inescapable righteous.THAT taints it a bit, and the appearance of another of Marvels characters (Luke Cage) in the last, slightly unnecessary ep seemed little more than a commercial.)
  • Mindhunter (Did I not see it? But I DID!? Was it not good? But I believe it was excellent!? At least s01? So why is it not here? Maybe there is nothing fantastic about it!? Well, it’s here now, so take it as a recommendation, you!)
  • Minority report (You know its about money, when it’s been a decade since the movie. Come on, guys! You’re lazy. Why don’t you do some world building instead – take a gander at the consequences of living in a world like that?)
  • Missions (Fully dislikable French billionaire buys his way to Mars alongside a host of equally dislikable crew members, and crashes in the most unbelievable lack of back-up systems without means to escape the planet. And then weird things begin to happen. As if everything wasn’t already totally fucked to begin with.)(Bad acting, bad script, and too many close-ups of faces speak of a very tight budget. Maybe just a trickle more on script development?)(10 eps., 2017, French)(But there IS tension. Will give it 2 more 25 min eps, before fully gouging it).
  • Mork & Mindy (not that much sci-fi comedy around and Robin Williams was fresh from the creativity vat!)
  • Mr. Robot (When the pilot came out, it was seemingly much anticipated. And, well, up until halfway through I was duly WOW’ed, but then in the Ferris Wheel I realised this is JUST a story, the scriptwriters never lived this, it was just research on hackers and hacking well done, for once! And since the show is about what to do with the increasing corpocracy and power mindfucks played on all, that just killed it for me. Real solutions are needed. Not putting people to sleep over this too!) [People are telling me to get back to it, but I lost it.] [Well, I finally gave in. Now its my most anticipated series, cant wait to find the time to binge again!] [And then somehow I lost it again. What’s with that thing?!]
  • My favorite martian (it worked a lot of the time – seeing US with outside eyes)
  • My own worst enemy (cancelled due to stupidity)(Really!)(Man, that was potential!)
  • NOS4A2 (2019, s01 and 02 so far, horror) (Zachary Quinto of Heroes and Star Trek fame) (Immortal feeds off of children’s souls and deposits remains in Christmasland, where its forbidden to be unhappy)
  • Now and Again (1999, 1 season, 22 eps) (I want my body back, brain transplant)(Body-dead has brain implanted in younger body)(Series with a heart, for once) (Cancelled due to stupidity!)
  • Oasis (Interesting pilot. Mining a new planet, no one is there, or…?(Pilot April 2017. Will there be more?)
  • OK Computer (2021, India) (TV becoming internationally viewed, and subtitled too, may not be all good for individuality in the long run, but it does bring a lot of weird and possible culturally unifying observations along with it, if one is to believe there still is such a thing as cultural honesty (rather than catering to the masses). (This projection slightly into the future (2031) presents the struggle of equality between humans and robot similar to how white people struggled to believe blacks had feelings and intellect, only we are more used to polarised struggles. The director has something important to say, not new, but increasingly relevant to our time, but first he must lure people in with a mixture of 1980s aesthetics and B-movie budgets, unusually fine direction and acting, and a crazy convoluted story, which for dramatic reasons could have been over in 2 or 3 eps, but HAD to be extended to attain the platform at the end of episode 6, where the speech is delivered to the 1 billion people of India, as well as the rest of us.)(My mouth agape for 3 episodes, then great happines I let myself be lured, ushered, dramatically forced, enticed through the last 3. The end really is dear. Logical well suited of science fiction; one cannot demand more from such shows: Even when they are brilliant, any story is still only HEART or NO HEART. This one is HEART.
  • Omniscient [aka. Onisciente, Brazil, 1 season 6 eps) Absolute surveillance as private enterprise – no police, no crime, nothing to fear, the system never fails. Great… (Imagine absolute control over every aspect of your private life, and not just surveillance, but also un-contestable instruction by an uncaring AI to instantly judge and sentence any action deemed criminal. And then imagine someone acquired all of that power as their own.  This is very well written as a though experiment, while the technology may be a bit lacking in understanding. But then just forget about individuals in power and say “System” or “Group” or “Party”. Same shit. )  (Ending open to a possibility of more, but direction then becomes predictable. An ending as this one is fine as a singular, dark story of lust for power.)
  • Origin (2018) (A group of people wake up on a cryoship én route to another planet. Nowhere near their destination. E01 now at 3rd attempt. I cannot recall the others. Only one season. Maybe for a reason.)(Pace is slow. A bit like attempting LOST, in space, but at the wrong day and age. Anyway, something is on that ship along with them.)
  • Orphan Black (Very strong 1st season. S02 running – less will-to-watch, can’t figure out what’s different?)(Accidentally saw a between-season promo-show with the star of Orphan Black. THAT killed it for me. The arrogance!)(People praising S02. Once the memory of that promo-show wears off, I may give it another shot)(I did. I couldn’t get past S03e02. Sorry.)
  • Other Space (2015, British space soap humour)(Killed due to producer-cowardice)(Series ended nicely) (Might still be watchable on DUST (oct.21)).
  • Outcast [Some Spooky black shit] [Gets better in a steady curve] [2 seasons, 2017, written by Kirkman, who wrote both Zombies and humans to hell with the Walking Dead]
  • Outcasts (British future soap)(Improves a bit in time.)
  • Over the Garden Wall [DELIGHTFULL animated all too brief series]
  • Paradox (2009, data from the future) (Okay) (Cancelled due to lack of imagination)
  • Penny Dreadful (S01 2014)(Every modern monster myth, both litterary and historical, thrown together to form a diabolically delightful and raw series with Amazing Eva Green and Strong and cunning Timothy Dalton at the edge of darkness!)(Maintaining the standard)
  • People of Earth (2016, Abductions and sharing circles, aliens are homosexual and reptilian, bug-eyed and angelic like, and the series is funny and serious too. Crazy, if it wasn’t so… normal like.] [Bring on the next!][Then renewed for a 3rd season, hoorayy!][Then inexsplicably cancelled with S2 as the last. Due to stupidity and ignorance of all the lame brain fodder executives out there.][Really brilliant, actually!]
  • Person of Interest (Almost not sci-fi) (Into its 2nd season. Fumbling about for something to make emotionally relevant, and will probably not be renewed for a 3rd season.)(GOT renewed and is an okay show about surveillance)(Has actually managed to stay consistent over 4 seasons, with very little shift in arc-direction or scope. I mean: AI running surveillance or the whole Earth, no big difference) (I mourned the unexpected departure of a lead role. But I suppose it was inevitable. As the plot descended into battling the AI directly, she had less and less human interaction material to work with.)
  • Persons Unknown (kind of LOST/Prisoner-like, but evolving)(Cancelled due to lack of direction)
  • Phil of the Future (2004, future family go back 15 years) (Oh, no: To be forced to live and laugh in 2004, again! when you’re really from grand, amazing 2021! )
  • Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams [Anthology series] [I wonder how many on this production line have actually bothered to read the body of work of PKD. That’s where the message is. Not in individual stories of paranoia inducing absence of control over fate and reality]
  • Pioneer One (Spaceship crashing on Earth) (Kickstarter series)
  • Powers (2015, The superhero concept in general need complex humans to give purpose and opposition to the powers that separate them from others, often burdening the endowed with unwanted responsibility, as well as providing profitable attention. This is one such show. Stealing the idea of transferable/stealable powers from the original Heroes, it goes deeper, trying to depict the hunger for the power fix and the ennui of being alone in a world constantly craving one’s help and attention.
  • Preacher (2016)(Everyone wants me to love this). (Now renewed for s03!)(Now 4 seasons)(Poster is cool).
  • Prey (1998) (Having replaced the previous civilisation 40.000 years ago, now humans are the prey)
  • Primevil (Dinosaurs breaking through from 100-65 million years ago so regularly that a show could be filmed every week.)(Cancelled from exhaustion. Just bad writing without ways to go, and make it interesting).
  • Primevil, New World (The new world referred to is USA. Dinosaurs still breaking through regularly)(Not bad, actually, and 2013 seems to be on the way to a sizable story arc).
  • Quatermass (British 1979, 4 eps. – good quality)
  • Quantum Leap (No real story arc, but thumbs up for its social conscience)(Like Sundays in the rain with ice cream) (Visiting various historical times in time to do good by overtaking the mind of a person not locally regarded as competent to solve the present conflict, mostly leaving a local hero behind, while our real conflict solver skips to a new mind.) (When did he ever sleep?)
  • Rabbids Invasion (May correctly portray the fictional (very low) IQ of rabbits evolutionarily in possession of minimal self awareness, or may be the found videos of an entirely alien species, their limited number indicating the were probably left on Earth by casually visiting or casualty stricken alien spaceship)(Or maybe not. Rabbids get in anywhere! WAA WAA WAAAAAAHHHHHH!)
  • Ragnarok (2020) (Norwegian, young man coming to realise his true identity, can’t say more, would spoil it all, but its good fun)
  • Raised by Wolves (2020)(Ridley Scott is directly involved and even directs a few episodes)(One feels his animosity towards organised religion, the abstinence from which provides any story with enough unpredictability to make it interesting. Human suffering over worship.)(Android to raise human children away from religious reach. Android is a fierce mother protector. Very fierce)(Awaiting ep 4 with more than a little excitement.)
  • Raising Dion (2019)(Kid’s got all kinds of powers, and preventing those from destroying all and everything or attracting the ever superhero hungry government agencies from finding out is a full-time job for a single mom. Is THAT a metafore for raising children, generally, aimed at single parents? If so, well played. Not too uniteresting for the rest of us (me))
  • Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion (German b/w star trek-like series, just 7 eps)
  • ReGenesis 4 seasons (Germ scientists – strictly speaking not science fiction, but on the edge. Brilliant lead character)
  • Resident Alien (2021)(Razor sharp witted human being playing uintentially sharp witted alien, well, just an alien with zero understanding of humanity’s ways, sorry, US American ways,  daytime soap style, taking over human body thereby replacing human person with-a-function needed in small-town and as such having to integrate until he, it, discovers the technology lost with which to eradicate all humans, preferably before he, it, becomes too integrated into human, ie. US American ways, to be able to do his job, well, ep. 4 and keep on going this way and I too will be gone.)(What the fuck are you doing there, you dumb ass? Why can’t your agent find you a job befitting of your sharpness? Are you both just waiting this one out for everyone ELSE to see, what you can do?!)(Okay, lets get this over with)(Alright. I DO understand about Family. And Community. But US America seems to OVER emphasise thise in a HUMONGOUS way! While we Europeans just worry about losing our national culture, each and every one of us nationalities.)(Damn, I got hit.)(Moments of magic. Okay. Keep it up, and I’ll hang with you.)(Maaan, and you go do a thing like this! Screw this. You’ve got me hoked – but I hate you!)
  • Revolution (2012, postapocalyptic, total loss of power, vigilantes and local milita take over, and then what? 2 eps in, and it looks totally unappealing)
  • Rick and Morty (Ab-so-lu-te and all stops out-BRILLIANT!)(S02 2015)(For un-likeability the characters beat every animated series out there.)(The way they resolved the cliff-hanger from end of S01… I shake my head in admiration. Then S0202… Scriptwriter Dan Harmon is a serious threat to depression everywhere!) [Rick and Morty is a drug. I spoke like them for 3 hours straight after first 2 eps of s03, driving the GF crazy. Took effort to make it burn out. It’s THAT good!][Now renewed for a whopping 40 more episodes! Can scripters Dan Harmon & Justin Roland stay insane long enough for the series to poke that hole into a seriously fucked up, but more reasonably so (than the present, which for all intents and purposes keeps on resembling a very badly written, though unpredictably changing arc) alternative universe for everyone to escape to, thus avoiding the pitiful pitfalls of the present “real” universe?! I will be observing, hopefully participating, soon, soon!] (s04) (Well, I suspect my off of pot-condition is responsible for dialing down the inzaniness for me. No lack of far out ideas or solutions in s04 – i’m unfortunately just not reacting to it like before.)
  • Robin Cook’s Invasion (Invasion by infection)(bob-bob)
  • Russian Doll (2019, She dies and returns. 8 eps. Watched it twice. Modern classic!)(renewed for s02, 2022, GREAT!)
  • Salvation [Astroid is coming for Earth. The powers squabble away everyone’s time with power games]. [Actually not so bad, even if gaining that Americanism progressively and strongly ep by ep. Probably wont be renewed, but that’s okay. It’s played out its mission of waylaying Russia in the modern day, while still playing the BEST nations. That’s all right, you may.] [Surpriiise! It got renewed! Now, go play that ball!][Well. The ball got dropped in S02E01. Maybe they should have told the president-actor to tone down her serious, compassionate demeanour a bit, maybe not pant so much – except it’s possibly not her fault, but an in-bred opinion with some producers – that such a “disaster” series, in order to “function with the audience”, must give off a controlled, panicky vibe by all in power, while the rest (of us) have to panic (the man on the street, the electrician, the simple folks, right!?] [Serious waste of time; all characters, the fraud, the betrayals, the undercover emotion, the genius promoted to cheerleader, the Astroid threat – all is seen before. And less boringly so.]
  • Sanctuary (Protecting the odd ones out. Always.) (59 eps, Amanda Tapping “reaching her comfort zone” as a reviewer called it. Not my kind of show, even if I agree with the pretext).
  • Saving Hope (Hospital series with doctor (Daniel Jackson of SG-1) seeing the dead. Strictly speaking just supernatural, but very charming – and the being dead-concept strikes a chord.)(S03 coming 2014)
  • Scorpion (tech-series with lots of holes. Not holding my breath. s01e10)(Light Sunday fare. Okay).
  • Sense8 (I can pick holes in this mini-series with a tweezer, but there is only one way to characterise it: It is full of love!)(10 eps. Not sure I want a 2nd season)(X-mas episode a jubilant advocation of sexuality translating into We Are All Connected By Being Human. BRAVO!)(Now I’m looking forward to S02 and willing to forgive everything)(2017, I forgave everything. Even if s02 not so intense as S01, and an ending reeking of premature cancellation – it is still the TV-show about human love that came before anyone was ready, but right in time to be the first to celebrate Universal Love, the unafraidness of loving and accepting humans rather than how they look (no fat people, though)). (Thank you).
  • Seven days (Go back 7 days to fix big calamities)(Okay, but formulaic)(3 seasons)
  • Shoebox Zoo (2004, 2 seasons, children, fantasy)(Thieves punished of stealing an 11th century Wizard’s Book of Forbidden Knowledge appear in the 21st century as wooden figures and an 11 year old girl is possibly the prophesized “Chosen One” to break the spell)(on youtube)(Well played by the female protagonist, but way too much music to “add” suspense, for my taste. Computer animated figures well made compared to the tech of the time, integration with live action on level with contemporary SFX. Good character voices. The voice-over possibly an acquired taste.) (“There’s nothing strange about magic. It’s only science by another name”)
  • Si no t’hagués conegut (if I hadn’t met you)  (Catalonia, 2018, 1 season, might be renewed for 2022, even if I cannot see how to progress from the end. It’s perfect as it is!)(Man loses his wife and children to a car accident, which he believes is his fault. And that’s all you get. Google it as your own loss.)
  • Sisyphus The Myth (2021, Korea) (I can’t remember shit after ep 1, but it was really weird in a South Korean way, I mean, like not doing stuff and things in a familiar way. But I promise I’ll re-watch it, as I believe it was a TT-series, and those are hard to come by.)(And actually: I had crazy far-out morning last-stage REM-sleep dream of a Korean nature. I think its somehow infectious. It was really weird!)(Ah, wait. There was the plane-scene! Well, I could watch that again! Taking the “look where you are driving!” TV-trope to whole new hights!)
  • Skyward [2017, good teenagers stuck in suspension of disbelief-dimension, where technology awareness excludes calling authorities or posting on social media, once the three stereotypes hunt and catch an actual alien.]
  • Sliders (great 1st season, then 4 not so amazing, but I did love the concept of alternate worlds – 1 new pr episode!)(Kind of did for travelling between dimension what Quantum Leap did for time travelling in minds)
  • Snowpiercer (2020) (An allegorical train in perpetual motion around the globe with the rich at one end and the poor and weaker at the other and a rebellion sending hordes up through the train to its engine… at least that’s how the movie went. And then a rant about caste exploitation and such.) (Molding a TC series closely on the crummy movie – what can possibly go wrong? I don’t know and I have no intentions of finding out. Except in the company of friends, plus a back-up plan, if it actually is as horrible as the movie).
  • Solar Opposites (2020, anim, US, s01) (Someone called this a lightweight Rick & Morty. After 1 ep I would agree, but lets see… See what I did there? Was I not being super-fair? For loving Roilands other show I’ll give this one a 3 ep-go.) (Crazy rhymes, I know. SO show!) (Go, go, go) (BTW, its about these crazy stranded super brainiac aliens stranded on Earth, waiting to go somewhere else, and while stranded they are being really ha ha ha ha funny crazy weird doing weird crazy fucked-up shit. Really!)(Well, kinda okay, but very much R&M with other characters and a different story) (Now renewed for s03. We see money at the horizon.)(All right, gotta give credit to THE WALL. The wall! The see-through multi-layered aquarium in the alien “children”‘s bedroom for humans shrunk by the alien teen only bent on capture, while his emphatic “sister” is revered as a deity by the shrunken ones for her kindness and consideration, THAT WALL!)(And then it all became better. I don’t want to live inside Justin Roiland’s head. End of story. Oh, and there’s a holiday special too. )
  • Solos (Anthology series, 2021) (Also with timetravel, but it seems to be more like actor’s pieces, 1 to max 3 characters with one central famous actor doing a monologue in one setting. Idea is not bad, but the quality of the monologues are… They may have done alright on stage, but taking time out to establish that we are in Science Fiction-land, and then not really use that for anything, while spending way too much time on character establishment, which goes nowhere, because the episode ends… 3-4 of those and the mode and premise made everything overly predictable and boring, because you knew nothing would follow in the wake of the actor having shone…) (The writing was simply not good enough, and I find it hard to envision just exactly HOW this got published – except for “signed names will generate interest”… yeah, but you are forgetting that the famous actors are all humans too, who love a challenge, and this drivel could probably fool someone away long enough from stage, but overly melodramatic drivel to boot it is.)
  • Something is out there [1988, 1 season, 8 eps] [Saw the movie, which was a surprisingly solid B-movie about an Alien trapped on Earth] [The series continue, kind of, where the movie left off. Same actors. Looking forward to it after ep1]
  • Space 1999 (2 seasons, mid-70s) (British 1st take on the Star Trek formula) (The moon slips out of orbit and spins into the Universe, taking the space station Moonbase Alpha and its crew with it, who must deal with food shortages, everyday conflicts and philosophical existential explorations in this very British TV show.) (One imdb-commenter called S01 very serious: “like seeing 24 mini-movies”. I concur. S02 descended into campy silliness, though, possibly from pressure from above.)
  • Space Force (2020, Steve Carell, comedy) (saw 1 ep, must have been the same one everyone else saw, at least the ”mew!” looked like I felt.) (Has been picked up for season 2, allegedly because “the Office” distanced itself from season 1 and became a hit… Well. Probably won’t look in that direction until the list at the bottom leaves nothing to be desired on any given rainy Sunday or The Orange Horror vacates the White House without making a fuss).
  • Space Island One (story and character driven Brit show) (2 seasons)
  • Squid Game (S.Korea, 2021) just now getting to it. (2021, 9 eps, Korean) (This is a sick series. Thought out by perverted minds. And an example of the darks side of the world in symbolic form. We all want to stay alive. And here are our loser warriors, fighting a losing game, and winning. Nobody needs to see this. Nobody, who is an all loving person in total control of his or her own place in the world. All, who are not, root for your underdogs. But not like this. (It does NOT appear to be anything but a look into the instrumentations of a sadistic  collective mind of moneymen and dramatics having learned the lessons of an inhumane repressive society to the fullest (Korea), stereotyping fucking everyone failing the smorgasbord of capitalism and thus attempting to rise to success  through unopposed moral shortcomings (the game) and personal low self esteem (spending other people’s money) for the purpose of speaking to humans of the world, who have given up. Have you given up? Have I? The borders of reason are being moved here. Korea is infecting the rest of the world with their passive aggression and emotional suicide. And Netflix is in it for the numbers. Give love, give peace, give hope, give the future a chance, don’t watch it, say no. Better look at the world around you. Attempt to see all of the beauty for yourself. Even in those you find weak. Even in your own “weakness”. Don’t watch it. (ep 4) You cannot unsee the darkness that made this.
  • Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (2016, If you could be lucky in anything you did, from falling from up hight to placing a bet with lousy odds, what would you choose to do with that luck? Would it change you?)(Okay. Favorite actor, James Nesbitt. If EVER he played Doctor Who, THAT would lift to heights above Christopher Eccleston re-boot era!)
  • Star Cops (1987, BBC, 9 eps) (Politics and detection in space, dealing with the catalog of things to go wrong in near space for any number of reasons, the appointed space cop very reluctant and apparently able to travel at will, need and leisure between a space station and Earth. At ep 2/9 at present and quite bored with the lack of story tension, the incessant social bickering, the little British people, always going by the lowest common denominator at any given opportunity with alcohol as the only working lubricant, and open hostility between people more likely than likeability for what ever reasons.)(Will it improve in the 7 eps left? Probably not)
  • Star-Crossed (2014)(Alien boy and Earth girl, and political implications reminiscent of terrorism and freedom-fighting. Kinda light fare, but may appease young viewers)(2014) (Cancelled after 1 season – negative reviewers chiding the network (WB) for continually talking down to their teen audience.)
  • Stargate Atlantis (Wasn’t for me. The aliens from an alternative universe – because the kinda “spent” all room in ours for new development – felt contrived. Boring)(5 seasons)
  • Stargate Origins (2018)(WHAT could almost be better than a new SG-adventure! But who would have expected something with SO low production value, over-acting, bad script, lack of tension!?)(3×10 min. as “pilot” – which is another way of saying “proof of concept”. But Hellooo! 200+ episodes should be more than enough to prove concept. Just get out there and hire good scriptwriters and make some good stories, and you’ll re-open the franchise to millions of dedicated fans! What could be more obvious!)(Ninnigans!)
  • Stargate SG-1 (I was staying away for the longest time, due to accidental perusals of a few minutes of a few eps. But then I needed something and got the whole 10 seasons together – 214 episodes… – and began from one end. (8 seasons in and I have NEVER seen so high production value in a scifi series as the first 5 seasons. And, frankly – even if the acting is sometimes lousy, and I feel the synopsises appear lame and predictable, I always leave an ep with a feeling of MORE than good scriptwriting. Exalted, enthusiastic scriptwriting, inside a potentially never-ending arc – but soon, they will HAVE to involve the citizens of earth. No matter the budget… It’s not gonna happen, I know.)(A few time travel eps here and there).(Yeah, it IS military rainy-Sunday-TV)(All 214 episodes of it, plus 5 seasons of Stargate Atlantis plus 2 of Stargate Universe plus 3 TV-movies).
  • Stargate Universe (My all-time favorite universe-dreamer series. I mean: A Stargate and a Starship travelling to the beginning of time, all in one! What more could you want?!) (Now cancelled due to GREAT GREAT STUPIDITY) (If SG-1 became all about fighting bad guys wanting to take Earth out, Atlantis  a perpetuation of that a long way from home plus more money coming in, then Universe was the beam of hope in the murky waters of existence, the human joy of real exploration with all the darkness of near-death and exhaustion and betrayal included to try and discover “why are we here?”. Fucking brilliant. What a sad person – the one who killed it.)
  • Starhunter (2000, 2 seasons) (Bounty hunters. Seasonal arcs. Unjustly cancelled).
  • Starman (15 years after the movie).
  • Star Trek Discovery [2017, Prison story has much in its wake, feels dark and good, though not in the way of Star Gate Universe – just allowing darkness.] [S01, 3 eps][Kinda skipping stones here, going into silliness to try to make a new villain – and the GhostIntoTheMachine turnabout of lead character was totally unacceptable!] (Renewed for S02 – you arrogant assholes thinking fans will eat up your shit, no matter what!] [Yes, they do. Now renewed for S3. People, there is ZERO nourishment here. NONE. It is devoid of originality, as it circles way inside the parameters of political correctness. Puke inducing!] [Even if I’m crazy about a few of the really awkward characters.][S03 now. Boy, they are heroic! Characters as shallow as eating ice cream, when you’re really hungry.  Formula down pat!][And now on to S04, of which I have seen 2 eps, and cannot remember A thing!]
  • Star Trek – Enterprise (I never thought I’d find Star Trek interesting enough to follow, but beginning 2001 its actually quite charming – even if some things have changed over the years, when it comes to acceptance of what humans are allowed to do simply because they descend from John Wayne. Scott Bakula is a charming captain, and all other characters get to flesh out their characters.) (Nice touch with a female Vulcan/Spock. With very hard nipples in the first episode. That cannot be incidental, and I cannot ever forgive, sorry.) (4 seasons, 90 episodes)
  • Startrek Picard (2020)(Interesting to see him get old. He kinda smiles a lot, the actor, which seems out of sync with the character, not a lot of pain there, and the story is little more than straight foreward startrek bubblegum. But I’m intrigued. There are a few interesting characters there. S01Ep 6. Im hanging in there).
  • Star Trek Prodigy  (2021, animation) (The characters are pleasingly idiosyncratic (=likeable), but the well known ST-universe is scrubbed free of Pain and Mean; not a trace of darkness so far.] [S01E01, and waiting for heavy rains and a succession of Sundays to view the rest]
  • Star Trek Short Treks (2018) (Discovery Personennel having single experiences)
  • Station Eleven [2021, from novel by Emily St. John Mandel of the same name][Seen 3 eps, and having read the novel in 2014, of which I remember ZERO, this is nasty in the good way. Jumping between a forward progressing  present, where a flu with a mortality rate of 99% hits the world to follow Kirsten, a 9 year old girl, and in her future up to 20 years later, where she is the star in a Shakespeare travelling company, crazy and disturbed, to say the least, the jumps are used as character construction on the spot – this behaviour or feeling refers to this behaviour, this to this, etc, to create the impression of direct links between traumatic and postive events in the creation of character. Probably many will find this wildly inaccurate, and might be the reason for some of the low scores out there – but for me the illusion WORKS! in a very disturbing way. What could be regarded as subtraction from perfection is that everyone else appear not be under the heavy influence of the past that makes her such a charismatic actor and influence, thereby indicating that only people with such traumatic pasts can become great artists and leaders – meaning most people, who don’t appear disturbed by the past, are not material for greatness and great destruction. Do I agree? Nahhhh… but of course there is something in such a claim – it’s just the literal way of linking great purpose and reason for same, and kinda gung-ho. But such is literature, and here it translates very well to the video medium, where everything needs to be shown, because it’s hard to show, what takes place inside a mind, without “telling”. ]
  • Stitchers (Promising)(2015)(Entering a dead person’s last thoughts, but very formulaic. How do you fuck up such an idea to make for interesting drama? You need someone who can abuse this tech. And the game is on…) (In love with their idea and being good guys, they were too late with an arc, and it felt glued on and you could see it on the actors. Quiet death, goodbye.)
  • Stranger Things (mini-series made out of all the Spielberg movies never made. Really! But I liked it.)(To watch with likeminded friend and ice cream) [renewed for s02][which was… okay, but as it is now renewed for S03 the interesting thing to see will be Eleven growing older on TV. I have no high hopes for the storyline in itself. Its kinda spent; can’t really grow. The script must enter deeper into the darkness of real humans, and I believe they don’t dare do that] [Renewed for S3. Maybe another series in which the child actors grow up. Sorry, child actors lose their attractiveness, when they become too self aware, both of being in the spotlight, but worse the awareness of acting methods children should not be aware about, yet.]
  • Surface (Cancelled due to stupidity, I mean: That LAST image paved the way to a whole new world!) (It’s actually becoming relevant in a realistic kind of way! Maybe they should serialise Stephen Baxter’s 2 adjoining novels on the same topic?)
  • Survivors (British Post Apocalyptic series from the 70’s – Very BLEAK) (38 eps)(AMAZING, when I was a young person. The horror of being alone and at the mercy of the political, greedy, violent people, which stable society has ways to deal with, and post-apocalyptic scenarios cause to expand in every direction without regard for the concept of LIFE.]
  • Survivors (2008, 2 season, 12 eps, cancelled) Based on the book based on the first series of the same name. Seems planned for longer run – as it ends on a cliffhanger – but was hit by and died due to ratings. Yeah, that one.
  • Sweet Home [Korea, 2021, s01 10 eps] Monsters overtake the world. But they take on the form and “function” of the innermost feelings of those touched. People in a highrise try to understand, and like always very few know how to collaborate for the common good. Harry Harryhousen would have loved the stop motion brainless creature with the extensible body mass!] (E03 so far predictable, but there might still be new monsters to come. It’s very bloody, but in a fictionalised way.]
  • Sweet Tooth (2021, 8 eps, many story threads dangling at season’s end)(Hen or the hen’s egg? Virus and new born humans with animal features – which caused which? – and is that really interesting in this coming-of-age-story in a really hostile world – at least if you are born to bear the brunt of survivor’s anger?)(Young deer-boy, Sweet Tooth, goes to look for his mother with only a photograph to go by.)(6 eps in: Don’t think too much about the basic premise – the trope bag is wonderfully shaken to mix up all things about relationships between opposites and strangers. Will it matter in the long run that the ones set to inherit the Earth are literally a mixture of various animals and humans? Philosophically one could say that humans by no means would d/evolve into something “better” or more in tune with “Nature” by becoming owls, deer, pigs, roosters etc. That is a question of character. And if you see that you become a better individual from being hunted by all mean, xenofobic characters in existance, you have probably taken the analogy too far. Just have fun with it. Ep. 5 is a little unpleasant to watch, but look where the camera STAYS.)
  • Taken (UFO, abductions, Spielberg, don’t worry, no one gets hurt for real.)(Mini series, 10 eps.)
  • Tales from the Loop (2020)(Description undescipherable, poster thrilling, s01e, sweep me away!)(e01 Brillant)(A melancholic string of permutative storytelling pearls. Such sadness and wonder from the place of the heart. Both at once. This and Dispatches from Elsewhere seem to share something – maybe its simply “heart”. And I feel this butterfly of sadness flap its wings inside of me – that this was a new trend, having heart – and maybe, maybe the corona crisis will sweep this away by stories of sadness without wonder.)
  • Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Not bad, actually. A bit formulaic, but… there IS something there.)(Yes, there is. Summer Glau is spectacular)
  • The 100 (Get rid of the young – not because it makes sense to kill all the young, but because it’s an easy way of giving primetime another Lord of the Flies on Alien Planet)(Some say it’s decent – I lasted 4 eps and saw nothing but LOST in space). [Now it’s all grown up to s6 – my, my, how time did fly, while I had my back turned.]
  • the 4400 (4400 abductees arrive back on Earth, most endowed with both scary and beneficial new talents.) (4 seasons. I’d say the first 2 seasons were brilliant, in that they explored new territory later picked up by series like Heroes and all later (but then-only-on-paper-heroes) Marvel-series: Normal people being endowed with “super powers”, and how that changes them, for better or worse.
  • The Aliens (have landed and they need to be managed in special compounds, and the police is not to bright either and maybe not what they pretend)(I stuck around for just 2 eps, so I suppose they are still in there)
  • The Astronauts (2020, so far 1 season, 10 eps) (Which scifi tropes this daytime show for kids considers vital is anyone’s guess, but I suppose all just boils down to “light viewing of the positive kind”. Even so, and even if the kids have a lot of this annoyingly stereotypic characterisation spawned by Disney (this is Nikelodeon), through-out it’s infectious in a good way and will even take you out on the edge of your seat : 5 kids, all children of people connected to an upcoming rocket launch aiming to close-examine an object having entered the solar system, are manipulated by the rocket’s onboard AI to come aboard before launch to snoop (like strong, independant, curious, ideal modern day children), where upon the rocket begins launch. The show then deals with maximising “natural talents blooming in the event of an emergency”. That’s not so bad.)(And the cliffhanger towards S02 is gooood!)
  • The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff (Strictly speaking not science fiction, but reminiscent of Neil Gaiman and Terry Gilliam! Promising (jan. 2012))
  • The Booth at the End (Everybody wants something, and here you get to give something in return. Brilliant!!) (10 eps.)
  • The Crossing (Refugees from a war in the future)(S01, 12 eps)(april 2018)(Premise is formulaic and (halfways) becomes a joining of legal representatives in order to stay true to both present day humans and alien (in actuality, as they ARE different due to different demands)  future humans, while debating the human element in an advanced human, represented by the need to nurse and attend to a child. I can almost hear the pitch – but I believe they were disallowed too radical a show. Too bad. Already cancelled, possibly because of demands to prove worthy in just 12 eps).
  • The Cul de Sac (2016) (so far 2 seasons, which I managed to not hear one word about?)(Children transported to alternate universe, where technology doesn’t work!! Well, that should get the pre-, recently post- and present teens gasping in horror… We shall see.)(only 21 min episodes… Does not bode well. Is it a… gasp… web-series!!!!!?)(Lord of the flies, young dictator, fascism, white supremacy, hapless school children, the magic terror of crazy clouds, rolling thunder and CGI wave of energy vaporising people but architecture is impenetrable, humans causing armageddon through incessant need for energy, adults turning into light sensitive monster hunting youth…! There must be some tropes, they missed touching upon?!)
  • the Dark Crystal (2019) (unbearable to watch. Henson’s creature shop doesn’t age well (I grew up with it), except in the very open mind of the inner child, please open!)
  • The Event (When will the event take place…!?)(Cancelled due to lack of combustible direction).
  • The Expanse (1st season, 3 eps in and looking good!) (Solar system politics) (Best at present)(only 10 eps in s01. Too brief!)(S02 e01 Not as strong, and the Alien virus or whatever feels kinda lame on top of the political conflict btw Mars, Earth, Belters and independant financial contractors. Not sufficiently fleshed out – even if production value never ceases to amaze. THIS is the stuff of our future – if we survive to leave the Earth, that is). (Has been renewed by Amazon, following the cancellation by SyFy after S3. A lot of people crossing their fingers for this. But to my mind its veering into lala-land of fighting aliens, rather than sticking to internal politics – even if “what better way to describe humanity’s ability to work together, when the Earth is no longer the only space politically to defend and control, than to squabble over minor shit and then be hit with demands of cooperation, while OldEarth politicians still hang on to their old ways, and Mars colonists defend their new one, and the Belters mostly just fight for their individual lives, frontier style?” [then thomas jane almost got to dump the hat he hated, and all was good, and it must never, never stop. Like they say: Defining!!!] [OAHH! Expanse has a S06 coming up!! Woa!]
  • The Fades (6 episodes mini-series, 2010) Bleak and imminently watchable. Iain De Caestecker (Fitz from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) playing the lead.
  • The Future Is Wild [unintentionally politically incorrect animated series of youths traveling to the future to find a new place for humanity] [1 season]
  • The Girl from tomorrow (2 independant childrens series, trapped in the past) (dated)
  • The Good Place [2016 So you wake up dead. In The Good Place. Except you should have been, you know, in the Bad Place.] (FUN) [S02 in progress. Very different from S01. You’ll see.] [Very uniquely a comedy with a long arch, which has potential to equip the main characters for much greater things and drama involving all (after)life – but I don’t believe the studio dares] [Well, it got renewed – thats a beginning] (Oh, how lovely it ends! How absolutely brilliant!! Thank you thank you thank you!!)
  • The Handmaid’s Tale [2017, from the novel by Margareth Arwood) (Watch how easily women are stripped of rights, and turned into birth mother slaves)(The first 3 episodes had me out on the edge of the seat, and the whole “what if” playing out as an allegory of fascism and complete takeover by the white male, is most brilliant. I rather hope there will be no continuation, as the ending was very literary and un-TV-like. Thank you for that.) (Apart from that it is an anachronism dating back to the time before cloning and women selling their womb and child. If such present day methods of dealing with childlessness had been hinted at in the TV-version, the act of slavery and subjugation would not just have been the story of the Old Testament white male supremacist, but an unnecessary act of cruelty rivalling Nazi death camps, making it a completely different story. But as such, it is still a vital story of lack of empathy.) (S02 Never thought they could top S01, but they did. THIS is the most unpleasant and realistic take on religious dystopia and how people are bound by their individual fear, religious fervour, and amoral rationale. Totally nail-bitingly so! And regarding the option of cloning: There is a religious answer to everything. THIS is the shits! Total subversion. The epitome of false entitlement!] [Now s3. Go Get Them!]  (Cant watch it alone. The nastiest dystopian society of all – SO close to reality. Plus actor Elizabeth Moss incarnates righteous anger in a way that is ofttimes unbearable to watch). (S04 –approaching war, which the zealots cannot be allowed to win, story growing from individual timeline to bigger scope, which feels like the real, real world is hanging in the balance of the outcome. How very rare!)(Cant watch it alone anymore. The nastiest dystopian society of all – SO close to reality. Plus actor Elizabeth Moss incarnates righteous anger in a way that is ofttimes unbearable to watch).
  • The I-Land [I’m sure I saw this, but cannot remember a thing about it] [1 season]
  • The Innocents (2018, Norway) (1st season, a rare treat of tightness and well written plot and dialogue, except Guy Pearce, the main man, nothing wrong with him except his fame precedes his talent. Buy I cannot get my arms down over the tightness of it all. On ep 3 of 8. Sometimes I simply had to look away, so well sucked in was I. Very fine butterfly meetings between the main characters and their brief human rest-outs on the delta of life – very elegantly made. And if the last credits are to be believed, they have made me believe that Norwegian city locations were London and valleys, inlets, lakes and mounts of the North of England. Impressive, then!) (Oh, did I mention it’s about 100% physical imitation (under duress) leaving the copied in a state of coma? Easy on the VFX-budget and possibly corny confrontations with Original Self; well avoided, ye writers! While opening up to “the arise of the comatic to resist their copy”, da Dahh!).
  • The Invisible man (2000s, 2 seasons of 26 eps each) (Fun, due to infectious mood)
  • The Last Man on Earth (I almost cannot watch it for its particular brand of embarrasment comedy about the few survivors of the End Days. But on my good days, it IS good and a perfect portrayal of going insane from not being wanted, and from trying not to cringe away from the very few others to pick from for human company) (Uses a swimming pool to defecate in, as there is no more running water. And then proceeds to live right next to it.) (Totally toes-cringing look at end-of-the-world depression populated by narcissists of all sexes, kinda similar to now) (Kinda good.) (s02 2015) (Man, I hate both leads! Insane responses to an insane situation – being almost alone in the world)(But I hate the normals even more, which make the insane reactions the new normal. Neo-crazies?)Watch it with someone you love!) (2S/2016) (WILL get back to this) (Very conflicted about this)(haven’t yet managed to get back to it. Maybe one day. S04 now…)(Now cancelled. With the weather going into Red Hot there may not BE winters long enough to justify this, paradoxically.)
  • The Last Ship (2014, Viruses, military, yeah, that kind)(Renewed) (Now incredibly into S04)
  • The Last Train (British post-apocalypsis)
  • The Leftovers [2% of humanity vanishes. Who or what are you, if you are left behind? Some go into religious explanations, others seek to science for answers, and yet others just go quietly or not so quietly insane – but society falls apart] [Good examination of the loss of the unconscious assumption of meaning and purpose, brilliant cast, brilliant writing] [2017 S03 8 eps. Satisfactorily resolved]
  • The Librarians (2014, Yes, I know, we all miss Indiana Jones, but Noah Wyle is alleviating symptoms of withdrawal for anyone still missing Warehouse 13). [2017 3 Seasons, alledgedly renewed for 2018] [kinda still there, but failing to grow the universe IN or OUT]
  • The Lost Room (great premise for a mini-series, 6 eps.)(Actually, really great!)
  • The Magicians (2015, Magic academy. Hmmm) (Got to like the chaotic dissonance of light and dark, and the reasons for seeking one or the other as human and character logical, rather than politically correct.) [2 seasons, I would want more) (Renewed for 2018, yey!)
  • the Mandalorian (2019) s01e01 (Somewhat refreshing take on StarWars, though very “good guy can kill everything”ish, which is disgusting. Ending of e01 might take it straight into SW canon with no way out, and THAT looks less than promising.) (s01)(The ending did take the story directly into SW canon, with a long future ahead of itself. Probably. But it has a violence to it that just doesn’t sit well with me.)(S02e03, most TV has the same problem: If the audience cannot either admire or identify the traits of some characters (I did not say identify WITH – that’s just psychology text 101 BS), there wont be an audience. So, quirky shows that are slightly funny, but also serious; serious shows that are not depressing; depressing shows that need to be funny too… all of it the Tornado of Life circling the quiet place, where most things happen to other people, except they don’t, but let’s stay with that illusion and not make a show to reveal that fact. And so they all look alike now. Apart from the few breakaway ones. This is not one such.]
  • The Man In The High Castle (So far just the pilot, and I am not impressed, sorry. Please hook up PKD to a generator – I believe he is rotating in his grave.)(Some like it. So, I’m waiting for a day of cats and dogs).
  • The Max headroom Show (1985, post-apocalyptic TV-presenter,  seems dated now, but was a revelation back then of sarcasm and social commentary in scifi)
  • The Middleman (really fun stuff! – cancelled due to stupidity)
  • The Neighbours (Brilliant first season, a gated community of golf playing aliens, then descended into lack of direction in s02. Sad)
  • The Nevers [1 season, 6 eps, Joss Whedon – replaced as show runner] [London late 1800s, pre combustion cars, alien event has given strange and peculiar powers to some people – clarity of mind, inventiveness, height, causing people to tell the truth, mind reading, fireballs out of hands, teleportation – the lot, and regular folks are swaying from fear to admiration, while Power has its own plans for all ][All is seen before in some fashion or other, but charmingly, albeit grimly, put together, with Hope and Beauty snatched away in a cruel fashion. There is a certain abuse of the character’s feelings resembling emotional porn similar to some of Lars von Trier’s films, but nowhere near as deep and uncompromising.)(Not holding my breath for a possible next season – even if the steampunk inventions are Lovely!)
  • The Nine Lives of Chloe King (Cancelled after 1 season)
  • The OA (8 episodes working from a 7 episode level plain achieved by an outstanding pilot to a (steep decline of Hollywood teen fare from a) dramatical POV quite ass-licking conclusion)(1 season, and they can keep it for all I care!)(Betraying the whole of the premise of saving one’s soul along with everything else in a fell swoop)(Go suck eggs!)(Even if the prisoner/prisoner’s was interesting, the Stockholm syndrome is a one-on-one-thing and as such totally misrepresented) [Okay, I have now forgotten the basis for my loathing and disappointment and will simply warn everyone that they may not like the ending, or that it’s debatable.](Surprisingly renewed for S02) (S2 totally forgettable, I already did.)
  • the Order (2019) (10 eps of 50 min.s) (I’m not often attracted to magic and the occult. It’s requires a suspension of disbelief I find difficult. But trusting the first scene of e01 as lodestone suddenly was 5 episodes later!) (Under great pressure from his grandfather he is accepted into a University with an un-advertized magic sub-section, where he´s supposed to kill his father for having caused his mother’s death), but events spiral out of control and he suddenly finds himself craving adult autonomy. They must grow up, right!) (Magic and warewolfes, keeping complexities simple and teenagey, good production values with CGI not showing too much, but not too original. Okay 500 minutes spend in bed coughing)
  • The Orville [2017, Seth MacFarlane Star Trek spoof is actually not funny in a funny way. But COULD find its feet; presently its just ep5] [Conscious stereotyping/spoofing is dangerous, and it does wobble a bit here, trying to walk the spoof (anti) and the philosophical (pro) way at the same time. We’ll see][Well, never quite found it – but it gets a second chance with renewal] [I get it now. S2. Farting throughout the universe, like an old marriage, where love crashes with personality, and infatuation is long ago replaced by necessity. It grows on you. But like any old marriage it needs relevant crisis for the parts to come together. And like any old marriage, apart from societal crisis, that has to be invented and sought out. We’ll see.]
  • The Outlander (She is transported from our day to the Scottish past to fall in love and be confused about who to love.)(Everything for love – even abuse of the time travel trope!)(Now renewed for s5 and s6. Say what?!It must be the romance doing it.)
  • The Outsider (2020, s01, yet another Stephen King, and maybe, just maybe, they are getting him now!)(Grim murder, certain murderer (much too certain for some, less so for others), innocent, overlooked children seeing things no one else can, and someone doing the job of not giving up!)(4 eps in and I’m hooked!)
  • The Passage (2019) (Well, it just goes to show that even underneath huge, hulky 3-letter agency men a devoted heart of gold resides)(Agent tasked with bringing in a young girl for an experiment decides to not follow his orders, as the projected road towards salvation of humanity from self-made monsters may not be the right one).( Was not renewed – to the chagrin of both fans of the book trilogy it’s based on and of the series as it progressed. Myself? Can’t recall diddly squat.)
  • The Prisoner (orig. 17 ep. series – elegant, British, mysterious, philosophical!)(Avoid the 2009 remake like the plague).
  • the Purge  (I hated the purge movies idea and the 10 minutes I watched, and I will not go near this series even simply as sound. “Free killing!” Fucking perverts.)
  • The Rain (2018, Danish dystopic miniseries about a killer rain. Yes, a killer rain… Which is only dangerous, when falling over Denmark, and always preceeded by thunder. SO preposterous that one could think it an Asylum production!)(Following renewal and the order of not just one, but two full seasons, the director stated that it infused the writing and the  cast with a calm not found (and sorely missed…) in the first season.)(Actually not so bad as the big-on-suspension-of disbelief of s01. Watchable, one might say. And its relevance for Danes – seeing their country devastated by societal dissolution of order and normalcy – cannot be discounted… discounting the behaviour of young people.)
  • The Refugees (Kinda like the basic idea: 3 billion people escape from the future, but none can talk about what they know. Reeeeaallly! It’s like when the world is going under in a show, but what the script really means is that USA is hit with disaster, and who cares about the rest of the world!? Total lack of perspective and understanding of everything outside of dramatic practicality. It’s called “lazy writers” and narrow minded producers.)(Still remains popular for its character development – in a sense The Handmainden’s Tale must have learned from this – but for me it’s lost what ever charm it had].
  • the Returned (see Les Revenant)
  • the Rook (2019) supernatural. Fine
  • The Silent Sea [2022, S01] Space Melodrama [Korean Drama is an aquired taste, for me. Over-acting, childish behaviour in adults, strict authority, female stereoptypes, lack of physical intimacy – the list of just HOW different it is from the culture I know is endless. And as pop-art often is directly reflective of or mocking subconscious needs or fears, one could “look” for the essence of a culture by looking at, what its artists praise or denigrade.] [Here is South Koreas’s first Space Adventure, and not just any: SK HAD a space station on the Moon, but “something” happened. And nobody will tell the astronauts what that is, so they can prepare for danger, as they retrieve a mysterious object, and they are also not allowed to know what it is. VERY NOT western TV-taught Space Behaviour; most of the astronauts are emotionally immature, in or outside of their functions, rather than “All are in it together, and we work as a team based on information!”] [Wonderful Bae Doona (of Sense8, Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending and even the S.Korean The Host) is a reluctant scientist in for the ride, but acting SO deadpan non-melodramatic inside of the usual over-acting katarsis that it feels like a corporate decision. No ONE series is likely to change the dramatic core of a nation, but her role’s refusal to be part of the irresponsible antics of the other character [S01E01] could be a signal to the audience to “grow up and be yourself”. And I so wish it is; the S.Korean culture I have seen reflected in its TV tells of a society so strictly bound in conventions that it seems like an emotional prison, where everyone is both required to be in total control AND await instructions and permissions to act from their programming/training. But, knowing TV, this might simply be the one role catering to those in the audience, who recognise silent independant authority in everyday life, while dramatically teasing those, who in real life scorn the fact of personal independence, thus promising a change in the character of the scientist – that she will “come out” of her closet and join the society on everyone’s terms… Horrible thought!] [in regards to being in space… So far it is as if NO ONE in the script department has ever researched the demands of space from ANY source – in science, literature, movies, real life. In ep01 it’s toe-cringingly gross, how science and common sense is disregarded in order to dramatically have a “rescue mission” crash on the Moon within the first episode to get suspense started. ][NOT expecting anything but horror out of this. Moon is just a stage. Not anything to culturally acquire or dream of. Nothing new.][Okay, s02 and on: Suspension of disbelief is easier in a nation not used to space travel, but seeing that Netflix is a global distributor it would have been easy to come closer to reality – rather than just make up some action to go to the moon. – But it’s growing on me. There is a tension here, flashing btw past and present, the ghosts of persons past appearing as physical memory, while hanging on to the dictatorial captain boss trope, SO so worn out in the west, but effective in the Korean society, where things go by the book. But… no more. Watch. It’s a creeper.][And all about water – which in the west is a metaphor for feelings – but here is an actual problem.]
  • The Six Million Dollar Man [Lee Majors as the cybernetically enhanced astronaut turned agent. I saw all the episodes I could in the 6 weeks I spent in L.A. in 1977. It was a novelty, but somewhat lame with this incredulous superman masked as a boring adult.)
  • the Sparticle Mystery (World without adults, All adults have vanished) (39 eps)
  • The Star Lost (Harlan Ellison’s idea)(Generation ship after the death of Earth)(Only watched a few eps. Kinda dated, even if I love the idea.)
  • The Strain (Benito del Torro producing. Ep. 1 tonight. lets see.)(E10 Still haven’t lost me) (The scope and mythology is intriguing. Biology or evil from another realm?) (I got lost in S01. May return, but I’m basically more on the production value and imagery than into the Vampire/succubus/domination/possession/Alien changing from within-theme) (2017 S04)
  • The Strangerers (Crazy English mini-series, 9 eps. Very funny. Aliens landing, who have studied 50’s mannerisms)(Yes, it is spelled that way)
  • the Thundermans (family of superheroes, live-action soap)
  • The Time Tunnel (30 episodes of 2 scientists time skipping)(Nice 60’s aestetics, but quite predictable)
  • the Tribes of Europe (2021, s01)(Nation states have broken down due to global blackout, micro-states are emerging, tribes. Not expecting much from this.)(e01 8 minutes in: idyllic Mountain Tribe shooting proud wolves vs. insane Totalitatian State leader with 6 inch heels and dramatic makeup… well…)
  • the Tripods (BBC children, from John Christopher’s trilogy) (Okay)
  • the Umbrella Company (s01e01) (I think I’m about done with super heroes and villains and people with extreme and special abilities. I realise they are metaphors for suppressed desires and all that jazz, but even giving them real world psychological problems doesn’t make them easier to identify with over the age of 30. Please stop now. You are just making things worse.)
  • The Walking Dead (incredibly violent, not better than the comic, just more explicit)(Man, where’s the dialogue?!)(Shaping up in S04 – 2013)(I never returned – but then again I also did read all of the comics).
  • the War of the worlds (UK, mini series, 2 eps) – s01e01 (Horribly unconvincing, botched acting, story and CGI, and the flash forwards to the time after the invasion totally killing story and flow. Did they have 20 eps planned and were told to cut them down to 2?)
  • the Whispers (Children’s invisible alien invader friends or something.)(S01, 5 eps in so far okay, but not many calories.) (E10: semi-fast progressing into retirement – they are trying to walk the path between fast drama and real life, and its just too shaky; wasted opportunities for dealing with shame and reproach and fearing your own children and hating yourself, but no. They can’t pull it off). (Cancelled)
  • They Came From Somewhere Else (Wacky British scifi-comedy, possibly an acquired taste, but is there really such a thing as too wacky !) (6 eps)
  • This Is Not My Life [2010, New Zeeland] [Aliens, take-over etc. Okay. 13 eps, killed mid-stream by stupidity and greed]
  • Three Moons over Milford (the series was just finding its feet, and then it was cancelled!) (8 eps)
  • Threshold (Invasion scheme altering human DNA to change us into aliens.) (Always us and them. WE are the aliens.) (Well, anyway. Brilliant show cancelled due to stupidity)
  • Tidsrejsen (the Time Journey), DR’s julekalender 2014 (Danish christmas calendar series for children i 24 episodes)(Not too bad, though very formulaic)
  • Time Prisoner [China, 2021, Animation ‘a la Final Fantasy][1st ep @ Dailymotion] [Skip – unless you are into monster-fighting time travellers, who appear to do nothing but that] [So far not on imdb]
  • Time Travelling Bong (Mini series for dopers.. Very fan’ish, but budget does well.)
  • Timeless (2016, Protection of time)(s01 striking many false notes making my teeth jarr. Comedy, political criticism, soap, historical correct, do they know?)(Seems up for cancellation) (Nope, renewed for 2018)
  • Timeslip (Complex children’s series from the 70’s, 26 eps)
  • Tom’s Midnight Garden (children’s series from 1974 and again 1989)
  • Tomorrow when the world began (2016, Aussie global devastation series for young people)
  • Torchwood (spin-off of Doctor Who. 1st TV-series with explicitly gay immortal, Captain Jack Harkness and Welsh super(sensitive)female 😀 – seasons 2-4 are captivating).
  • Touch (Yet another stereotype save the world-piece, but still entertaining. Killed due to lack of grandeur, I believe. Even if the characters could have grown stronger, if f.ex. forced on the run) (The series was revived, and that was exactly, what happened. Maybe because producer and lead is the same RL-person?)
  • Travelers (Time Travel by way of taking over bodies at (future determined) time-of-death) (Not a bad idea, and ripe with evolving paradoxes due to meddling with circumstance, but formulaic to the point of regressing to soapy relationships in order to hide lack of content and keep production costs down. SO transparent) (S01 kinda decent, but I do not hold my breath for S02) (Renewed for S02) (Yet another example of studios needing light, unchallenging fare for those generally imbibing TV as substitute for social interaction).
  • Tripped (Dimensional travelling dudes fast losing their other-dimensional counterparts, and being long-time stoners makes for less than instantaneous comprehension of WTF to do about it! Fun.)
  • True Blood (Could be more serious – they avoid exploiting the potential real darkness of the soul. Too bad. And sad.) (But crazy-wild first few seasons, before descending into easy nudity.)
  • Twilight Zone (Anthology of moral tales, set in magic, fantasy and scifi-scenarios. Has a format spawned a lot of similar
  • the Twilight Zone (2019)
  • Ultraviolet (1998, Vampires. And 10 years later Stephen Moyer is cast as a vampire in TrueBlood) (Dark – for 1998)
  • Under the Dome (Stephen King serialisation, more than half-decent)(S01 okay, S02 I gave up on. Now the Dome can do anything – and that’s boring. The Dome as metaphor for a non-caring God? Boring.)
  • Undermind (ITV series from 1965, alien invasion, brainwashing, subversive acts, sabotage, danger)
  • Undone (2016) (Rotoscopy) (Brilliance, clarity of vision, such images!) (Looking to save her dead father)(Also in the past, did I say that?) (Renewed for season 2 to come out in 2019, but 2020 it hastn’t yet). (Damn!)
  • Upload (2020, 10 eps)(Remember, when you were still on modem, while your friends were on T3-lines? Can you imagine that the plan for your afterlife was like that – the difference between a landscape lush with life, mansion rooms and maple syrup/bacon bagels for breakfast – and a bunk bed in a room with pay-for-view window? Now, go watch Upload. It should go directly to seasonal renewal!)(Hard to wish Jeff Bezos well, though…) (A renewal was made few days after premiere) (Oh, Andy Allo!)
  • Utopia (2013, UK) (A comic spells the end of the world, and a group of young people hope to prevent it) (Will watch both seasons, before finishing the re-make. ) (S0201. I’m very grateful to the Brits for making scifi with human content. THIS IS THE REAL THING. Characters you can identify with, characters with real flaws, characters who act in crazy, unpredictable ways from their own real beliefs! Comparing this and the recent 2020 US-remake is like comparing a homemade meal made with love and attention AND a burger meal in a snazzy bag surrounded by constant commercials with actors paid to act happy. I’m done talking about the US-version, except I may finish watching it, when I’m through the 2nd season here.)(The world is ending andne who is responsible is now predicting it fr0m beyond curable sanity or the grave, even, maybe, leaving 5 people up against it all without a say in the matter. No superheroes here. Just people trying to find a life for themselves, who are mercilessly forced into the real world. See it. At least before the remake!)
  • Utopia (2020, US remake) (I had the 2013 original on my to-watch-list, and forgotten all about it. I saw this (remake of) Utopia mentioned somewhere as a must-watch, and timed it with my GF.)(E01 had scenes that were hard to watch for their very graphic content, but one incident in e02 made us stop the stream to look at each other: “This totally and without warning changes the dramatic contract, and it’s very very dark. Do WE want to go down that way?” [We’re both writers and know that you become what you interact with – boundaries shift and tolerance lowers]. We took a pause from it and then decided it was fiction, however gruesome, and the story seemed unpredictable. However, post e03 it now feels as if the scene in mention was designed with only the purpose of keeping (young) viewers psyched, similar to the graphic WOW-effect of e01 that made us look away.)(Will watch the original from 2013, before I venture any further.)(Don’t bother. Comparatively this is heartless shit. “There can’t be two bosses” the psycho-heroine said, and shot the sacrifice lamb introduced to the story for the same reason – to shock and “bring something new”. But it’s just faking cool with  violence. The UK series IS cool. This monster is just cheap burgers wrapped in lies.)
  • V (2010) (For every episode it struggled back to a promise of something new in the coming episode, until it ran out of excuses to try.) (The original series is equally irrelevant).
  • Voyagers (A bit dated, and for youngster, but fun) (time travel)
  • War of the worlds (france/uk) (2019)(S1e02 – so far very convincing alien invasion, the whole idea of HOW to take over the WHOLE world in one blow without killing off other biological life, and then do away with escapees of the genecide procedure: Brilliant, no less!)
  • Warehouse 13 (They are obviously having fun, and everyone love the Pandora’s Box trope) (Okay finish with S05)
  • Watchmen (2019) – s01e01 (What struck me, again, was this increased humanisation of superheroes – which by the way was started for real with the Watchmen movie! – but now it annoys the hell out of me. Enough already! So, leaving it for a rainy winter.)(Everybody loves them. Well, I suppose I must give it another chance…) (Or not.)
  • Wayward Pines (Oddland looking much like Normalland, but it’s not. So, it has ferocious monsters outside the door and nobody speaks about anything to the trapped newcomers, who have to figure everything out at the same pace as the viewer, who, however, is way ahead into Boredomland, where nothing surprising is sure to ever happen). (Mysteriously renewed for 2nd season).
  • Welcome to Paradox (Anthology series in the vein of Twilight Zone) (13 eps)
  • Westworld (2016. Modern take on the Yul Brunner movie from the 70’s)(1 season. Most likely no more.)(In my mind the aspiration to or imbuement with omnipotence makes for un-nourishing fare. From super heroes to robots with adjustable parameters for independence and “free will”. For me science fiction is a case of HUmans against (their own lust for) technology. Acquiring it makes it Fantasy and magic.)(Memorable characters, though). (Renewed for s02, 2018)(And SO far – s02E02 – upping the ante! But I fear what the restriction of the (dramatic) locale (surrounded by the real world) can do to hamper the coming-to-consciousness of the robots – but VERY interesting IF they will beat us humans at our own devious game and enter into the real world, bringing their own, dawning terms! Yes, very exciting, if they do!)(Renewed for S3. I suppose it’s both violent and intelligent enough to satisfy across a broad spectrum, including (robot)females on the path of vengeance with the worst case of un-sentimentality towards a lesser species seen outside of “a Handmaid’s Tale”). (S03 Entering into the real world!)(S03 Well Worth the Wait!)
  • What lives Inside (Brilliant proof of concept-animation, and worst case of commercialism ever seen. Talk about product placement! Fuck off, [insert correct IT-mogul]. Web series)
  • White Wall (2020, s01)(I thought I did make a write-up of the pilot, which was around for a long time, but apparently I forgot. And then suddenly my national broadcast had on the whole series! Cudos to them, lucky for me. 7 eps in a binge, what a ride! SO rare to see sci-fi, which can tell a story of importance to humans and the species without consorting to massive SFX.  And so relieving to see something that does not conform to “rescue this, save that, revenge those” so prevalent in the minds of formulaic US script-writers. Please bring out more of the wonder, let us be humble for a second in the face of a universe so infinitely older than any living thing we have ever seen traces of, trusting that events and beings will rise, many times over, and long after our own species have all turned to dust, literally. Wonder – that is what makes life worth living. Not all the petty squabbles born of fleeting emotions taking root in feeble minds!)(Can’t see there’ll be a second season, though. The scriptwriters might have known there wouldn’t be a second season, or someone nudged them or put a gun to their heads, because the ending is neither cliffhanger nor resolution. And we are talking the last minute or so. But forgive in advance, and go watch a great, great show, larger than life, pointing us on.)
  • Wild Palms (Mini-series. Brilliant for its day.)
  • Will vs. the Future (2017, Pilot. Future warrior tells teenager that he will grow up to destroy the world) (Story can go anywhere, even into complex Hero’s Journey (remember Darth Vader growing up), but usually youth TV series never do)
  • Wizards vs. Aliens (Russel T. Davies retirement series after Doctor Who. Okay, but at ep 10, s01 still hasn’t found its real voice) (I think he misses Doctor Who).(And we miss him at the story-helm!)
  • Y: The last Man (2021) (The world just keeps on ending. Every time a little more elaborate or well CGI’ed than the last. 2 eps into s01, and I see daytime drama of love and loss, and I think: The target group watching for reasons of interest… does it really exist? Isn’t this just a reflection of some crappy nihilism, nobody fucking cares enough to check out the world for good things? Maybe that helping other people is not such a bad thing? But, 2 eps in and they have basically wiped out all men, all males, in the world. And rather than have the males rescue the females and children it is now women rescuing women. Do I as a male find that interesting? The president’s celebrity daughter, whose previous existence consisted of promoting the raising to upper class women of their boys as free in spirit rather than have them be ostracised by social shaming, is shamed by the script, when she mentions the sperm banks of her own family, as she has just lost her 3 boys, whereas the female president and staff has secured the content of some random sperm banks, anything possible, in script-land meaning just any man will do, because “there are more important things at hand right now.” Like food and water etc. Live, then concern yourselves with gene quality and origin. That is an interesting concept.)(I might even see it through just for that attempt at a real philosophical question: What if only women were left and they ran the world – here with the focus on USA and the system of government there – which does not apply to the rest of the world, making the series very politically US-centric). (Values… My ass!)
  • Years and years (2019) – (British modern scifi in the vein of every daytime soap ever made in England since 1950. Couldn’t get through e01 for the sheer level of “reality” compressing the family into a tight unit just longing for a peaceful tea.)
  • Yonderland (8 eps. 2013. Not holding my breath for a season 2. Housewife gets sucked into alternate world populated by nitwit dummies with long noses. Yawn. Though some love it.)
  • You, me and the Apocalypse (Very fresh take on end-of-the-word trope. Good acting, corny characters, delicate antagonist, some religious people we would prefer over those we know, and an ending worthy of humanity’s puny existence. If indeed it IS puny.) (1 season, can’t imagine there will be another).(Watch it!)
  • X-files (Well, you know – everyone in power covers up everything to do with aliens and strange phenomenon, which apparently riddles everyone and his neighbour. Yes… It’s so hard to feel alone.) (From worst to best episode – but why not do them again sequentially, if you have a lie-in due to broken brain, knees or relationship with yourself, the ex or trust in general?) (2016 – new series – let’s see, what they are up to) (No need to see the reboot. Sorry. But you did well to create a new genre to boost self-esteem of conspiracy nuts everywhere.)
  • Z Nation (More zombies. As symbols of mind control, unbridled consumerism, and loosing touch with oneself through abdication of impulse control, okay, relevant comment, but otherwise… I am bored.)
  • Zapped (2016-18, 3 seasons)(If British humour is a still an unaquired taste, this might not be the place to begin. But if you are into Ank-Morpok, or some such, you should not go amiss of this little, well, gem sounds really expensive, doesn’t it, piece of polished coal, maybe? Well, by that I do not in any way mean diamond, which is more like some kind of compressed coal that dinosaurs sat on, ain’t it! Well, anyway!) (Brian Weaver is leading the life of any upstanding English citizen, and I say that with no lack of pride, as I am not an English citizen, when stupidity leads him to be transported to another dimension, or some such, where stupid choices follow stupid decision follow stupid actions follow stupid conclusions, and even more stupidity follows, as Brian Weaver for some reason continues to attempt to try to make his way back to his dinky little upstanding life, that stupid sod. Yes, so it is.) (In this realm he finds actual friends, who sorta don’t protest about trying to kinda rescue him, when yet again his stupidity and complacency and his eagerness to, for what ever not-nak stupid reason, go back to England, yet again brings him into mortal danger. And Howell the Wizard is his almost nearly kinda best friend, and My New Hero. So, here is the likeness of Howell., that I shot.  You will notice that he is not paying that attempt any heed, and that this fan photo is the only image in this list, (apart from the one in the beginning, which is not a hero, nor anybody’s friend, I think!))

I apologize for those series I have either forgotten – due to too much TV – or missed – due to too much TV. But hey, DO tell me about it \|/

 

Yet to watch…

  • 2091 – gamers discovering all is not well with the game, oh no!
  • 3%
  • 8 Tage (German, 8 Days) (to the apocalypse – what to do, while waiting?)
  • A step into the past (Hong Kong historical time travel)(not seen yet, but will) (13 eps)
  • A.I.SHA – My virtual girlfriend (2016)
  • Abbyss [aka. Eobiseu] – Korean drama about dying and returning in new bodies
  • Adventure Time (animation, looks great)
  • Afterlife (2005, 2 seasons, 14 eps) The medium and the academic involved in supernatural events
  • Afterworld (130 2min. eps, dystopia, animation) (Ended)
  • Age of the living dead (2018) – humans and vampires co-existing while plotting to kill each other. How exciting.
  • Alice (2013)
  • Alien Isolation, The Digital Series (2019, Animation) (Ripley’s daughter and her story)
  • Alien Surf Girl/Lightning Point  (2012, alien student)
  • Another Life
  • Ark II (1976, Post- Apocalpic)
  • Ashes to ashes (2008, kind-of sequel to the British “Life on Mars” (which is much much better than the US remake) (Losing privileges as a female police woman of 2008 by being propelled back into police work as a woman in 1981)
  • Assassination classroom – anime (2015) – kill the teacher as graduation assignment
  • Atropa (1992, TT, animated)
  • Atropa (2018) (mini-series, 7 eps)
  • Automata (2017, humans and robots must now again work together)
  • Babylon 5 (I know people say: “Get past the first season…” So, this I will do one day)
  • Bakumatsu Kokosei (1994) – Students fall through an Earthquake fissure and are transported to the Edo Era.
  • Ballad :Na mo naki koi no uta (miniSeries) boy travels back in time to prove himself

  • Ballmastrz: 9000 (animation, sport)

  • Better Than Us (2018, near-present day Moscow, on the first murder committed by a machine)
  • Beyond (2017) 12 years in a coma gives you special abilities
  • Birds of Prey
  • Black Lightning
  • Blame The Hero (TT, 2019, save the world from Armageddon in the past)
  • Body Cam (2020, revenge story, and stricktly speaking supernatural)
  • Burning Zone (1996, viruses)
  • Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949, Guardians of the safety of the World)
  • Carole & Tuesday (2019, anime, 2 seasons) Mars is colonised, people are consumers, two young girls accidentally meet around a deep wish to make music, affecting more than just those two
  • Castle Rock (Stephen King-series)
  • Century City (2004, law firm in 2030 tacling (imagined) future cases)
  • Cheat (2017) (game)
  • Circle (2017, dual, concurrent timelines (“time streams”)
  • Code Name Eternity (2000, Alien landing on Earth with the intent to find bro, then make Earth habitable for more bros, no matter what.)
  • CoinCoin and the Extra Humans (alien invasion)
  • Coji-Coji (1997, 100 eps) “Neither animals nor humans, not boys or girls, not from here or from outer space, the protagonist Coji-Coji, represents a perfect existence, where truths of life are constantly being delivered and no words of malice can be spoken.”
  • Coma (miniseries, 2 eps, 2012)
  • Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1955, children)
  • Cowboy Bebob
  • Creeped out (2017) kids
  • Critters, a new binge (the name alone reeks of exploitation) (2019)
  • Crunch Time (2016, mini-series, accidental creation of a black hole)
  • Crusade (Babylon 5 spin-off)(Find a cure or every human is dead in 5 years)
  • Cul-de-sac (2016) (no power, no adults, no internet)(post-apocalyptic)
  • Curfew
  • Dans une galaxie près de chez vous (1999, Go look for another planet, this one’s all used up!)
  • Dark Angel
  • Dark Oracle (TT 2004, children, mix animation/live action)
  • Darna (2009, Phillipine superheroine)
  • Dead at 21 (1994, 1 year to removed intelligence enhancing implant)
  • Delete (2013, Sentient AI defending itself)
  • Department S (1969, 28 episodes, 1 season) The exploits of legendary Jason King and his two collegues in a fictional subgroup under Interpol taking cases no one else want (or believe). Sound familiar?
  • Dr. Shrinker (Mad doctor shrinking a bunch of kids)
  • Dresden Files (2007) Wizard helps police in Chicago (an extended pilot exists)
  • Drop Dead Weird (2017, zombie parents…)
  • Duel (2017, clones)
  • Earth 2 (1994, 1 season 22 eps)(Remnants of humanity seeking a new world)
  • Electric city (20 short animations exploring modern dilemmas and challenges)(Tom Hanks-project…)
  • Erased (2016, TT, anim) TT to prevent death (12 eps, ended)
  • Erased (2017, TT, live action)  TT to prevent death (12 eps, ended)
  • Extinct (2017, 400 years after the extinction of the humans species, Aliens help the survivors)
  • Familiar Wife (2020, Korea) Husband thrown into alternate existence, where he is no longer married to his wife
  • Far Out Space Nuts (1975, children)
  • Fate: The Winx Saga [Ireland, 2021] Young adult, witchcraft.
  • Fear Death, The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015) – crimes in 19th century London, re-animation
  • First Born (1988, genetics, animal/human hybrid)
  • Forbidden Science (2009, anthology of scifi and erotic programming)
  • Freakish (2016) Fallout victims/Infected diseased vs. the uninfected
  • Frequency (2016, Changing time by communicating with the past)(talking to her dead father living 23 years in the past)
  • Future Girl (2016)
  • Future Sex (2018, anthology, sex of the future…)
  • FutureStates (2010, anthology of future USA)
  • Gemini Division (2008, synthetic life forms)
  • Gemini Man (1976) (Invisibility)
  • gen:LOCK (2019, animation) (global war, last humans, weaponized robots)
  • Ghost Adventures
  • Ghost writer (2019) (Ghost releasing fictional characters into the real world)
  • Gifted
  • Girls’ last tour (2017, Animation) Two girls have each other in a dying world otherwise emptied of humans
  • Glitch (2015) (6 people return form the dead)
  • Go Back Couple (aka.Gobaekbubu, 2017, Korea) Married couple travles in time to when they were young and did not yet hate each other… (1 season)
  • Go Go Sister aka Project Makeover aka Eon-ni-ga-gan-da (mini series, 2nd chance)
  • Gotham
  • Guardian (2018, Chinese, 10.000 years of peace btw. humans…)
  • H+ (2012) High-tech data access and its drawback
  • Hard Time on Planet Earth (1989, cancelled, 1 season) Alien exiled to Earth with a robot supervisor keeping him “normal” still managed the weekly goofy behaviour expected of anyone from out of town. 
  • HarmonQuest (2016, 3 seasons, 30 eps) Dan Harmon w comedian friends attempt to play Fantasy Role Playing games in front of a live audience.
  • I Am Not Okay With This (2020) Teens, crushes and keeping superpowers in check)
  • If I hadn’t met you (TT, 2018, 10 eps) (man travels to parallel universe to seek a better fate for his  wife)
  • Incorporated (kinda seems like a normal money/greed soap in SciFi hide. Not exactly scrambling to watch)(Well, the ratings seem to want to scramble!)
  • Intruders – Secret society seeks refuge in the body of others.
  • Inuyashiki: The Last Hero (2017, 11 eps., Anime) Old, and dying of Cancer, he gets a new lease of life
  • Invasion Earth (1998)
  • iZombie (Sorry, haven’t and will not bother – but now renewed for S5) (Zombies and I have this uneasy relationship, where they agree to stay out of my backyard, symbolic vengeance of over-bloated consumerism and all, and agree to keep passing open windows. So, there.)
  • Jack & Bobby (2004) grooming one of two sons for president in 2041…
  • Jeff & Some Aliens (2017, aliens deciding to or not to destroy Earth based on Jeff’s actions (the most average guy in the world))
  • Jinn (2019)
  • Juda (2017) – marrying an obsession for poker with vampirism might not be the greatest of ideas…
  • Jupiter’s legacy (2021) Superpowers, young people, cancelled after 1 season
  • Kairos (or Kairoseu) (2020, Korea) Korean film-makers please their audience with soap-level characterisations and conflict, but full of magic, wonder and technology. And any trope you can squeeze in.
  • Kevin (Probably) Saves The World (2017, 1 season, 16 eps)  (Kevin is hired by an angel to help save the world) (Reviews agree on it being “very likable”.) Cancelled.
  • Kings (2009) – modern/future mythos kinda like a royalty-in-suits-learning-how-to-be-Game-of-thrones
  • Kiss Me First (2018, 6 ep- miniseries, real-virtual world mixup) Escaping into virtuality to escape “reality”
  • Kolchak, the Night Stalker (1974, 1 season) – reporter going after the (supernatural) things that police and other reporters wont touch
  • Labyrinth – Time Travel, moderne day/France – 1 season
  • Last Resort (2012) – to avoid being caught in a possible military coup, a nuclear sub commander declares his sub an independant state!
  • Legend of Earthsea (2004, 2 eps) Isabella Rossolini and Danny Glover in Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy told in 2 episodes… Seriously!? Well, its SyFy Channel…
  • Legend of Korra
  • Leila (2019) (Indian dystopia)
  • Life After People (Population:0) (Docu, scifi)
  • Listeners (2020, 1 season, 12 eps) In a world without music boy meets girl with audio jack in her body and sweet music can begin…
  • Locke & Key (2020) (Time and mind-bending keys in a mysterious house…
  • Made in Abyss (2019, animation)
  • Manhole (aka. Maen-hol, 2017) Travelling between times via a manhole to prevent a wedding (16 eps.)
  • Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D./Slingshot (Independant mini-.series) (2016) featuring Yo-Yo Rodriguez) (I like AoS)
  • Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger (did I mention that I’m up to here with the super empowered?)
  • Marvel’s Daredevil (did I mention that I’m up to here with the super empowered?)
  • Marvel’s Inhumans (did I mention that I’m up to here with the super empowered?)
  • Marvel’s Iron fist (did I mention that I’m up to here with the super empowered?)
  • Marvel’s Luke Cage (did I mention that I’m up to here with the super empowered?)
  • Marvel’s Runaways (did I mention that I’m up to here with the super empowered?)
  • Marvel’s The Defenders [2017 Have yet to watch, but I LOVED Jessica Jones for the character!]
  • Median (2016, Quatar’s first excursion into scifi) (And the crowd goes WILD… well, probably not)
  • Memories of Alhambre 2018) AR and love
  • Men into Space (1959)
  • Metal Hurlant Chronicles (2012) [Metal Hurlant the French precurser for Heavy Metal – the magazine, that is] Anthology series taking place on a new planet every episode. 2 seasons, 12 eps. Looks promising!
  • Mirror Mirror (TT, Children 100 years apart communicate via mirror) (20 eps) (australian link)
  • Miss 2059 (2016, representing Earth in Alien tournament just with beauty box, wits and a healthy white girl moral)
  • Minsters at work (2021) Animation. Yeah, those from Monsters Inc. (Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Henry Winkler – one should come just for the voices!)
  • Mr Mercedes (2017, Stephen King, serial killer gotten away, nah)
  • My hero (2000, 6 seasons) When superpowers are wasted in everyday lives. Well, some found it funny.
  • My love from another star (2012) – Longivity, Lanky body and Long legs.
  • Nightflyers
  • No ordinary Family (2010) – gaining new powers, but w/o the manual
  • Now Apocalypse (2019)- end of the world, possibly too much weed, definitely coming of age
  • Nude (2018, France of the future, satire, zeitgeist comment)
  • Objectif: Nul (French space comedy in the vein of Red Dwarf)
  • Obsolete (2019) Animation, trading with aliens,weapons spreding like virus
  • October Faction (2020) (Monster hunters retire, teens)
  • Odyssey 5 (2002) (Crew in orbit watching Earth implode is sent 5 years back in time to try to prevent it.)(cancelled, 20 eps, 1 season)(Director wanted to return to it to give it a proper ending.)
  • On Children (2018, Taiwanese anthology, miniseries/five 90min independant films on the theme)(Described as dark, and mainly focusing on the mother/child relationship, which apparently is a very hush-hush topic in Asia.)
  • One-punch man (2015, anime, supposedly great story of boredom following super powers)
  • Osmosis (2019) dating mating
  • Otherworld (1985) Other world and get home
  • Out of the Unknown (BBC scifi twilight zone look-alike)
  • Painkiller Jane (2005) Canadian, 1 season, 22 eps, cancelled.
  • Pandora (2019)
  • Perversions of Science (1997, anthology)
  • Phineas and Ferb (2007-2015, “no such thing as an ordinary day for Pheneas and Ferb”)
  • Photon (1986, children)
  • Plan B (TT 2017)
  • Project Blue Book (2019) (investigating UFOs in the cold war era.)
  • Project Orpheus (2016, 1 season, 12 eps) Students discover something.
  • Proof (2015, reincarnation)
  • Q.E.D.  (1982, BBC, Jules Verne-like explorer in an alternate pre-WWI England)
  • Quantum Break (TT, the end of Time) (Game tie-in)
  • Quark (1978) (Spoof, intergalactic garbage truck adventures)
  • REBOOT The Guardian Code (2018) (youth saves everything)
  • Regular Show (2009-2017, animation) (great)
  • RePlay (comedy series in Wish-I-could-Do-Over fashion)
  • Residue – (2015) mini-series – Tropes, but what tropes: Government cover-up, journalist investigating, paranomality, mysterious explosions (could it happen again?) and Search for the Truth.)(DID I see this? Even imdb  spoiler alerts cannot jog such a memory.)
  • Resurrection (2014) – dead loved ones in a small town USA begin coming back, 3 seasons
  • Reverie (2018) [Virtual reality gone wrong]
  • Riftworld Chronicles (2015, rift btw. dimensions, fantastic foes coming through)
  • Ring of Fire (2012, oops, accidentally set the atmosphere in fire!)
  • Room 404 [hotel room where various, serious shit happens]
  • Salvage 1 (1979) going to the moon on a shoestring budget
  • Santa Clarita Diet [More zombies, starring Drew Barrymore. I think not. But renewed for s3.][Commenters share my pain, “… watching her stumble and bumble through the crisply written scenes”. Yeah, that about sums her up for me. But otherwise SCD appears to be a blast.]
  • Saving Grace (2007, 3 seasons, Holly Hunter) Angel gives cop a new lease on life
  • Second chance (2016(Haven’t given it the first, yet.)
  • Section Zero (2016) (in the future cops with integrity are losing to new violent militias)
  • See (2019 – humans have evolved into blindness, but 2 children are born seeing, woa!
  • Shazam (1974) Captain Marvel
  • Shield of tomorrow (2017)
  • Shadow and Bone (2021) fantasy. Getting high praise.
  • Signal (TT 2016, detectives talking over time
  • Silent Eye (2018, 4 eps)
  • Silversun (2004, children, generation ship)
  • Sleepwalkers (1997, entering the minds of people)
  • Somewhere Between (2017)(TT, forewarning of death) (knowing your daughter will be murdered, but not by whom or why)
  • South of Hell (2015, 1 season, 8 eps) Maria, demon hunter for hire, has a demon living inside feeding on the evil, she exercises from others.
  • Space – above and beyond (1995) (Earth vs. Aliens, Marines to the rescue)( fending off aliens in 2063)
  • Space Academy (1977, children)
  • Space precinct (1994, Earthlings and Aliens co-habitat)
  • Spellbinder (1995, alternate world, going home)
  • Spides (2020) (New party drug makes aliens inhabit people’s bodies… Did I mention “party drug”?)
  • SS-GB (2017, mini series) (Alternative universe, where Nazi Germany won WWII and occupies Britain. British detective investigating.)
  • Stan Against Evil (2016, 3 seasons, 24 eps) Policeman against forces of evil
  • Star Cops (1987, BBC)
  • Survivors (2008)
  • Svengoolie on Me-TV (anthology presentaion of old scifi and horror)
  • Swamp thing (2019)
  • Syn (2017)
  • Tatau (2015, Maori fantasy/scifi)
  • TekWar (William Shatner’s “masterpiece” of VR-enhanced criminals…)
  • Terra Nova – documents the Shannon family’s experiences as they establish themselves as members of a colony, set up 85 million years in the Earth’s past
  • the 100 – youth exiled from dwindling Human population in space to re-populate the Earth, or some such.
  • the Adventures of Brisco County, jr. (27 eps) (yet to be seen)
  • the Almighty Johnsons (2011, Australia)
  • the Boy From Space (1971, terrifying kids-show)
  • the Boys (2019) “In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, The Boys centres on a group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys,” who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.”
  • The Changes (1975, BBC, yet another Post-Apocalyptic show to brainwash British kids into model citizens (machines turn agains people))
  • The City & The City (2018) – twin cities, with a mythical city lodged in the spaces inbetween
  • The Day After (2013, Polish, attempting selective eugenics kills indiscriminately)
  • The Deep (2010)
  • The Defective – 2021, anime – Unable to use the central intelligence interface
  • The Fantastic Journey (1977) time- and dimensional travel to find their way home
  • the Feed (2019) – mind hi-jack
  • The Fire Next Time (1993, mini-series, world ending in 2017 as the climate wrecks havoc)
  • The First (2018 colonisation of Mars)
  • The Gifted
  • The Gates – 2010, 1 season – things taking place inside the gated community
  • The Greatest American Hero (1981) lost the manual to the high-tech suit of arms and special abilities for some reason given to him by Aliens. How social commentary!
  • The Head (1994, animation, alien living in a human’s head)
  • The Hollow (strangers forced together to work out why)
  • The Hot zone
  • The Immortal (TT, 1969) Immortal being hunted for his (mortal) blood
  • The Immortal (TT, 2000) Warrior hunts demons
  • The InBetween – 2019 – claivoyant woman helping police with things
  • the Innocents (2016)
  • The Martian Chronicles (from Ray Bradbury) (Have yet to see)
  • The Master and Margarita (2005) From Bulkakov’s novel of the devil visiting earth, setting of supernatural events
  • The Messengers (2015, 1 season) People die in a BigObject crash on Earth and reawakens to the probably daunting task of preventing the Apocalypse
  • The Mercury Men(retro web-series, 10 eps)
  • The New Tomorrow (2005, Totally clean children survive in a post apocalyptic world)
  • The Phoenix (TT, 1982) Visitor from another world
  • The Powerless (2017, Insurance against super heroes and villains)
  • The Promised Neverland (2019) manga
  • The Protector
  • The Purge
  • The Quatermass Experiment (1953, by Nigel Kneale!)
  • The resistance (2010)
  • the School Nurse File (2020, Korea) School Nurse protects students from monsters only she can see.
  • The Shivering truth (2019)
  • The Society
  • The Swamp Thing (2019)
  • The Triangle 2005 (mini series)
  • the Umbrella academy – tried to watch it, but i’ve had it to here with superheroes, of what ever denomination.
  • the Unlisted (2019) Australian government tracking all youth
  • The Vault (2018, webseries)
  • the Visitor (TT, 1997)
  • the Visitor from the Future (TT, 2009, 4 seasons, French, on youtube) (Wanna see – hope it’s subtitled) (trying to save the future of Earth by meddling with the viewer’s present)
  • The Wheel of Time (2021) Probably wont see it. Never read any of it. Fantasy. Endless.
  • Time after Time (TT, 2017) (H.G.Wells, his friend Jack the Ripper and the Time Machine. Well, not thrilled by the prospect.)
  • Time Belt (2003, 5 eps, yet to see) (A product of a monthly contest “Channel 101” founded by Dan Harmon…)
  • Time Cop (TT, 1997, after the movie, yet to see)
  • Time of Eve (2008, 1 season, 6 eps) Android-holics vs. Android Liberation
  • Time Riders (yet to see) (4 eps)
  • The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994, 4 seasons, 78 eps, Nickelodeon) Girl with super powers from poisonous chemicals. People remember it as fun. Time Slip (26 ep. not quite children’s series of two teens projecting themselves into past and future, tackling serious topics like cloning, laser tracking and global warming (this was in 1970…))
  • Time Squad (yet to see) (animation)
  • Time Trackers (yet to see)
  • Time Trax (1993, TT, lawman from the future looking to go home, 2 seasons, 44 eps.) yet to see
  • Time Wasters [2017-2019] Struggling jazzband is propelled back to the 1950s
  • Tin Man (2007) mini-series, retelling of OZ
  • Todd, and the Book of Pure Evil (2010
  • Tomorrow when the war began (yet to see) (technically speaking not sci-fi, and a reality for many, but for “westerners” it’s still in the future)
  • Total Recall 2070 (1999) 1 season, 22 eps. 
  • Tracker (2001, 200 alien criminals on the run in Chicago)
  • Transfer (2017) mind-transfer on the run
  • Treasure Island in Outer Space (1987, treasure island in the year 2300)
  • Trepalium (2016) in the future employed and the unemployed are kept apart by a wall
  • Tripping the Rift (2004, animation) Far out adventures in a far out universe
  • Trigun (comes recommended due to excellent storytelling. Must see)
  • Twice upon a Time (aka. Il était une seconde fois, 2019, French, 4 eps) Man receives a time portal in the mail, giving him a chance to hook up with his ex after a crushing break.
  • Ultra Q (1966, the beginning of the Ultraman franchise)
  • Ultraman (2019) super powers
  • Uninhabited Planet Survive (aka. Mujin wakusei Survive, 2003, 53 eps, anime) Youths crashlanding on habitable, yet uninhabited planet, must survive.
  • Utopia Falls (2020) Drama, scifi AND musical!)
  • Visible Man (2017, Turkish, Everyone else is invisible…)
  • VR.5 (1995, VR-access to another’s subconscious)
  • Weird City (anthology, 2019) 6 eps. 1 season
  • WHOOPS, Apocalypse (1982, BBC, John Cleese as a terrorist)
  • Witchblade (2000) – intelligent weapon, Police woman fighting forces of darkness
  • Wonderfalls (2004) Crazy girl is directed via animal figurines to help people
  • World on a Wire (1973), simulated reality
  • World’s end (2015)