New Nerd Talk!!! Nerd Talk is where some of the Nerds here at SWN (with special guest this week, Chris 51 from Area 51 Tattoo shop and A&E’s Epic Ink (FB page HERE)) answer questions from you, the fans, about Nerd culture … this week we talk about our favorite Sci-Fi TV show. Also check out our last  Nerd Talk HERE where we talk about our favorite vehicles from a show and/or movie. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE, we have some video Nerd Talks up right now and we will continue to do our video toy reviews here in the future. Thanks for reading and if you got a question to ask the Nerds you can email us at Snarfkris@somewhatnerdy.com and make sure to comment with your own answers in the comment section below or on the FB page HERE.

Chris 51

Well this is a perplexing question to say the least. After much inner turmoil and and debate between the two halves of my Epic Brain I have come to an uneasy solution.

The logical side of my brain tells me that it’s a no-brainer, Star Trek The Next Generation wins every time. BUT, the emotional and sensual side of my mellon screams for Firefly.

Here is my dilemma of Epic proportions. STAR TREK The Next Generation offers something that no other sci-fi show does, it has peace and exploration to serve the dreamer in us all, and has the intellectual prowess to stimulate any great mind. The acting is sophisticated like its captain and the story lines are morally just.

Meanwhile, FIREFLY offers a totally different perspective on the future. One that I think is more realistic and appeals to the realist in us. It has fighting with fists, guns and ships. Stealing to survive probably goes against most moral codes, but it does so in an honorable way. The acting is a recipe of brute force, a dash of love and topped with the perfect amount of humor, just like its captain. Not to mention it has three beautiful women in the crew; a resident classy prostitute (no thats not an oxymoronic statement), the greasy-hot engineer and a crazy karate mental case; it doesnt get much more entertaining (and arousing) than that. I think the final argument that will make Firefly edge out its space-dwelling counterparts is the simple fact that it is a mix of an old-western, asian-culture influenced and futuristic space-crime underdog-wins cannibalstic bad-guy adventure. Simply put, it fuckin rocked! It and was ahead of it’s time and should be back on for a 10th season!

Now that I have overstayed my lyrical welcome, I invite you to debate my flawless findings after you realize that like usual, my anecdotes are as genius as they are stimulating haha. Love you all, and remember…geeks unite!

 Raz

Favourite Sci-Fi tv series, well I’ll be honest I would’ve picked “X-Files” but I picked that for a past post and don’t want to pick the same thing twice. So instead I’m going to choose the AMAZING show that is “Red Dwarf”. This series is immensely huge in the UK but never seemed to find success elsewhere, such a shame really as it’s full of great humour and is perfect for people who don’t take their Sci-Fi too seriously.

Yes it’s full of humongous plot holes and it hasn’t aged well but that’s all part of it’s charm, the writing of the characters is brilliant and so well acted that you can’t help but feel for each one of them. It ran for 8 series and ended on a HUGE cliffhanger, it looked set to never return but due to constant fan demand after ten years it came back as a 3-part special which was so well received we got another season, it received mixed reactions but I really enjoyed seeing the crew back on my screen. I also enjoyed the novels they released, some of the funniest writing I’ve ever read and I read a-lot.

The humour is very British and I think that’s why it never did do well elsewhere, but if you can please give it a try, you seriously are missing out on some Sci-Fi comedy gold. Now, smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast!

Derf

This week’s Nerd Talk was actually one of the most difficult questions for me to answer. There are so many great Sci-Fi shows out there. I knew Star Trek was going to be grabbed by someone so I knew that would be out. I then found myself thinking, exactly what qualifies as Sci-Fi? I mean, could I go the comic route with the Hulk or the Flash, or maybe the animated route with Futurama or Transformers, the choices were just numerous. Well,after thinking long and hard, I came to the conclusion of Stargate SG-1 as my favorite Sci-Fi show, especially the Richard Dean Anderson years. After he left the show, I wasn’t killing myself to see the new episodes the night they premiered.

The reason I am drawn to this show is the fact that I am a big fan of Science and of History. The thought of a wormhole or stargate that could take you to another world that would have resemble the Earth in a different point of history always intrigued me. If you remember the first season was on Showtime, which allowed for more interesting direction. I believe this is what drew people in at first. Then when the show was moved to the Sci-Fi channel, now known as SyFy, it helped build that network.

The show itself stands alone as a classic, but I love how the show tied in with the film Stargate starring Kurt Russell and James Spader. The show was never short on adventure and intrigue. Richard Dean Anderson’s role as Colonel O’Neil was brilliant and brought humor yet guidance to the show. Michael Shanks interpretation of Daniel Jackson was spot on and Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter was just absolutely brilliant. Then we have Christopher Judge’s flawless interpretation of Teal’c which really sold the show. Like I said earlier, the show is a classic and that is why I chose it to be my favorite Sci-Fi show.

Well, that is my thought about the topic, what is yours?

Critter

I know this is where classics like Star Trek, Dr. Who, or Firefly shine, but if I’m being honest with myself, my favorite sci-fi show is Futurama. I’ve actually been working on an inforgraph to illustrate why Philip J. Fry is the greatest sci-fi hero of all time. Sadly, it’s no-where near complete, but I can still give you reasons why Futurama is an awesome sci-fi show:

1. The main character, Philip J. Fry, is cryogenically frozen by an ancient and adorable alien to make sure he can save the universe in the future from giant floating brains (multiple times). The fact the writers had this worked out since the beginning is extremely impressive in the show’s story line.
2. Fry’s best friend is a human hating robot.
3. The love of his life is a cyclops mutant.
4. They go to space. A lot. Kind of a staple for a lot of science fiction shows.
5. Fry has time traveled into the past and is his own grandpa. He did the nasty in the past-y.
6. They’ve seen the universe end and begin…a couple times.
7. Actual mathematical theorems have been published by the writers of the show as actual contributions to the academic world.
8. Had the Star Trek cast featured in an episode, so that alone makes it pretty cool.

I could go on and on about how the show tackles time paradoxes, multiple universes, alien wars, etc. but I think you get the idea. Plus the show is freaking hilarious. For some reason Fry, the a slacker moron is a hero of mine. I’m not sure what that says about me though.

Snarfkris

Very, very hard question and I can’t pick just one so I’m going with Firefly and Futurama. Both canceled way to early (Futurama twice!) both very well written, both very well done, and both I miss everyday. It’s two shows I can watch over and over again especially Firefly … its the show if I can’t figure out what I want to watch … it’s Firefly time. Need some back ground noise while I’m doing something … it’s Firefly time. Just finished watch every episode of Firefly … it’s Firefly time! It never gets old.

Futurama I love for almost all the same reasons. It’s just prefect! Funny, well written, emotional (dare you to watch Jurassic Bark episode and not cry!) Disagree with me? Well you can ….

Billiam

I’d feel like a broken record if I talked about Stargate SG1 again.  It’s my favorite Sci-Fi show, but I’ve already wrote about it. So instead what I’ll do is write about the spin off, Stargate Atlantis.

Back in 2004 Sci-Fi (when it was still Sci-Fi and not Syfy) launched a spin off of their successful Stargate SG1 series. This took a group of new characters and sent them to the Pegasus galaxy through a stargate powered by Ancient technology.  This second series was successful but only lasted half as long as it’s predecessor. The reason I loved it and the reason it lasted at all is because it was familiar while still being unique.  There was still a team of main characters who traveled through the galaxy using the stargates but not only was it a new group, but the galaxy, bad guys, and overall situation was new. When they arrived on the other side, in the Ancient city of Atlantis, they learned that they were stuck. The power needed to open a gate to the the Milky Way could only be produced by a working ZPM or Zero Point Module. I won’t go deeper into the details of the series but what I will say is that Stargate Atlantis was able to find a life of it’s own and get out from under the shadow of it’s big brother.

This series didn’t suffer the same problem Stargate SG1 did in it’s early years (that it was very episodic and had very little ongoing story) so I didn’t lose interest. I very quickly got invested with this new cast of characters who include Jason Mamoa (Game of Thrones, also soon to be playing Aquaman), David Hewlett (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Splice), and most notably for all us nerds, Jewel Staite (Firely, Did I even have to list this? Does any nerd not know who she is?). It wasn’t an all-star cast but they were all still very good at what they did and were able, along with the writing, to create an immerseive world that was not only full of science fiction action, but thought provoking social commentary too.