What’s a piece of SF that you just couldn’t get into, even though you feel like you should?
I tried to watch Babylon 5, for instance, and just couldn’t connect to it. I know it’s popular and people love it, but it never hooked me.
Another is The Three Body Problem. I tried reading it after a friend’s glowing recommendation, but I couldn’t get past the first chapter. I even tried reading it in another language in case it was the translation I couldn’t connect with, but the same thing happened.
Both are things I feel like I should like, but just don’t.
The Expanse. I just can’t engage with the series. I understand it’s great, but I just can’t seem to gain any emotional attachment to the characters.
Came here to say this and I’m so relieved there’s someone else!
I read the first couple of books long before the series was a thing, they were ok but didn’t grab me enough to keep going. And then a few episodes into the TV version I gave up on that too. There’s nothing in particular I could point to that’s “bad” exactly, it’s just not for me.
The way people talk about it makes me think of revisiting it sometime but honestly, life’s too short to keep trying when something doesn’t appeal.
For me the Expanse really started to shine towards the end of season 1. Then when they hit seasons 2 and 3 I fell in love. But I totally get not being able to get into it, especially because the first season takes a long time to get rolling
This was my first thought. The TV adaptation at least. I’ve watch the first few episodes a few times and never feel the draw to keep going. Just kind of forget I started.
I agree with this one too. I watched the first episode years ago and simply never carried on to the second. Then a year or so later people told me it was amazing so I persevered to the end of the first season, then drifted off again. Then I later picked it up again, then dropped it, then picked it up again - and think I’m now early in the third season, but again haven’t actually watched an episode in about a year.
I keep trying because people who have similar taste to me tell me I will like it, but I just keep finding it a bit lukewarm - I’ll finish watching an episode once I’ve started, but I almost always have to force myself to carry on to the next episode. It seems to have all the components of a good sci-fi political thriller / space opera, but those components feel like they’re assembled so coldly that some magic is missing.
I haven’t tried the books so maybe they succeed where the show hasn’t yet for me.
I’ve read Neuromancer about 2/3 the way through a couple of times. I just can’t finish it.
Have you read the Burning Chrome collection and Johnny Mnemonic?
yeah tried that several times, just gave up.
The three body problem had a very slow start. It took me several attempts to get past the first section. But it’s definitely worth persevering with. It’s one of my favorite series now.
I’m going to try either the Chinese drama that came out earlier this year, or wait for the Netflix series. I just couldn’t get into the book, and I tried in both English and Japanese. I’d try in Chinese, but my Chinese is nowhere near good enough for that, alas.
Huh, I finished the first book right before checking Lemmy and writing this comment. I read it in German and I have to say that it’s extremely good, but some parts are… weird. The jumping between time is hard. Sentences like “They ate breakfast and 30 million years later they built a space cannon” (not an actual sentence in the book) are just weird :D
I will read the other books as well, though. The story is way too good.
I´m at the end of book two, about to start three. Actually the beginning is the best part because Ye Wenjie is the only character in the whole story that actually has a character, after that even the main characters are just cardboard cutouts and the story just ripples along. I keep reading anyway because every now and then Liu sprinkles in ideas that I have never heard of before in any science fiction universe.
Firefly (and it’s movie, Serenity). I just didn’t enjoy them, just didn’t click with me.
Not sure whether to upvote because you’re faithfully answering the question or downvote in furious rage at your answer.
whynotboth.gif trolololol.gif ;)
Foundation. I read I, Robot and loved it, but I couldn’t get into Foundation.
Foundation is probably the best harder scifi going right now, just the idea of the clone kings dawn dusk and day is worth it let alone the prime radiant and foundation itself.
Raised by wolves is a good one in a similar style, but it got cancelled before it was able to answer the bigger questions of the world building which is frustrating
Wow I had no idea there was a tv adaptation of it! I was talking about the books haha
ha funny, I’m not a reader so it never even crossed my mind that you weren’t talking about the show. well still, I highly recommend the show!
hey I watched the tv show last night thanks to your accidental recommendation and it’s great!! I was under the mistaken impression that s1 and 2 were all out and s3 was being released so now i’m devastated but I’ll binge s2 as soon as this season is finished and then wait for more haha
Funny people are saying the book is so hard to like, I have to assume the show is only as good as it is because it has the depth of the source material to draw from! Also when you’re done with foundation do Raised by Wolves for a similar vibe, and for a very different vibe the best new series of 2017: Blood Drive. It’s not directly comparable to foundation, but I tell everyone to watch it anyway. give it at least until the Suck Bus episode!
Glad you mentioned it though, because indeed I might be interested in a tv version that’s easier to get into than the books.
Raised by Wolves was pretty bizarre. I loved the first season, up until the weird flying worm thing, and second season just seemed off-the-rails batshit insane. haha
I was definitely intending to watch season 3, though I didn’t really understand what was going on. I’m not completely surprised it was canceled.
Harder sci-fi? It leans hard on religion and philosophy and royal court intrigue.
I was coming to post Foundation for all those reasons. I wish there were more choices for people who want “hard” sci-fi.
The last decent one I came across was “Braking Day” by Adam Oyebanji.
Does anyone have recs for hard sci-fi that doesn’t lean on “magic”?
there was a conversation on here about Greg Egan the other day.
thats what i call hard scifi.
i used to read that at lot and was glad to be reminded to look it up again.
http://www.gregegan.net/
permutation city, all the short stories, diaspora, i started on quarantine, still think that’s a cool idea, even if it is improbable (thats a joke, it’s not a spoiler until you observe the story).i think i gave up around teranesia which might’ve started to go over my head.
but reading this group has inspred me to go back and revisit.damn ive got to start buying Interzone again.
edit >>>> link to actual thread: https://lemmy.world/post/1892921
maybe it was a different group . . .
The original Foundation is a product of its time. It is amazing when read in the context of the 1950s, but tricky today. Try Caves of Steel to further the I Robot read. Asimov built an entire future history spanning 10s of thousands of years.
Thanks! I might actually own a copy of this, although I don’t think I ever started it. I’ve added it to my TBR on goodreads in any case, next time I want to read some scifi I’ll check it out!
This is me. And speaking as someone who tends to love his writing otherwise. It took me several tries to get through Foundation and once I finally finished it I was left with zero desire to read any other books in that series.
never really liked any Asimov - bu i did quit quite early on foundation.
i guess im more of a Dick.If you want to try Asimov again & haven’t tried I, Robot yet, I do recommend that. It’s quite accessible (imo) and a lot of fun.
Something about the Stargate franchise has simply never appealed to me. I saw the original movie as a kid and enjoyed it, with a distinct memory of the “Rainbow Road” travel effect feeling pretty intense because I was sitting closer to the screen than usual. It was fun, if a bit slight.
I’ve seen a bits and pieces of the shows here and there, and nothing about them is drawing me in. I might like them, but I just have zero desire to dive in. Seems like low-budget camp with a learning curve.
Honorable mention to The Orville, which I do like quite a bit, but I find the unadulterated love for it baffling; it’s a deeply flawed show that makes up for a lot with sheer heart and some decent scripts from the Star Trek slush pile.
The Orville is just Star Trek fan show with sex and poop jokes (and one that doesn’t take itself serioisly, sometimes to a fault). It’s enjoyable but it just doesn’t try to be anything more than “funny Trek”. Fun, but too derivative.
Futurama never worked for me. I don’t like the Simpsons either, so maybe that’s why.
Anything by Matt Groening is always the same. He’s always trying to make fun of TV tropes and subvert them but at the same time he’s stuck with the restrictions of commercial, ad-compatible mainstream TV.
@stopthatgirl7 I’ve started Dune numerous times. I get further each time, but I’m still not very far along. I think there’s a tone change between the opening of the book and the move to Arrakis. Paul’s mother has just met with the “house mother” in my latest attempt. I’ll get there. Eventually.
I tried Dune a few times, I just can’t do it. Not the books, not the miniseries, not the new movie. In theory it sounds great, but… It’s not gripping me at all for some reason.
Dune is one of my favorite series, but I can totally see why it would be jarring. Unfortunately there are a couple of major tonal shifts throughout the series. Heck… there’s a couple just in the first book. It is definitely a very dense read. Lots going on and a lot of moving parts to track. There’s even a glossary in the back to keep track of it with maps heh.
It’s a really interesting universe. Herbert was really into philosophy and lead a really interesting life (his biography written by his son is an interesting read as well). It doesn’t get any less dense and layered unfortunately, if that is what is keeping you out of it.
The Sci-fi mini-series was good and hit most of the major points pretty well, if you just can’t deal with the books themselves. It might bring you back with some renewed interest. The new movies are interesting as a fan, but don’t really tell the story fully, IMHO.
i did love dune, enjoyed the variety and dynamics; but i struggled with all the follow ups i think it just became more style, complexity and politics and there was not enough story left to drag me through it.
(cf. War and Peace)I really enjoy the philosophical and psychological study of humanity through sci-fi, so I enjoyed that thread through the whole series. I’ve read far too much of it lol. But I totally get it when people have to tap out… it’s a dense series of books.
I have the same reaction to Lord of the Rings. I love the story, but I can’t slog through reading the books. The peter jackson films were a god send for me.
I can’t seem get into Star Trek. I’ve seen several variations of movies and shows, but it’s just not for me
The original series is just god awful and I basically love everything else up until to the new movies. (Any trekies in the house wanna fight about Enterprise being the best trek series?)
First, the Trekkers would like a word with you about that slur…
I just talked about this with customers im my shop last week…
I’m a Trekkie and a Trekker. 🖖
If Swifties become Swifters, the merch people could clean up! 🧹
Furries & Bronies, Furrers & Broners? 🤣
Um, nah. Sounds naughty. 🦫🍆
Is Enterprise the best Star Trek series? No way.
Is Enterprise s4 arguably the best individual Star Trek season? Very possible.
Enterprise is a mixed bag for me. I very much disliked the temporal cold war and the season long Xindi war.
But, they had some of the best mirror universe eps. in all of trek and I think, a great cast.
My problem with the earlier seasons is that the human characters all behave like irrational over-emotional caricatures of humans, as if they were written by Vulcan logic absolutists expressly for the purposes of anti-human propaganda. A moderately intelligent human today wouldn’t behave the way they sometimes do, yet we’re to believe that the best and brightest of humanity in the 22nd century would.
By season 4 they had ironed out the kinks and finally told some great stories, but by that point too many people had switched off.
I am really digging Strange New Worlds. It feels like Star Trek to me. (As opposed to Discovery, which-- well, let’s just say I’m not a fan haha.)
hah, the only ones i liked were the early ones.
square acting, awful dialogue, kirk sh*gging random aliens.
comedy gold.without that we’d have no Zapp Brannigan!
I loved Babylon 5 but Crusade just hasn’t clicked for me
I don’t think Crusade clicked for anyone. Hence Crusade getting cancelled midway through its first season.
To be honest, all of the ‘post-B5’ B5 has been difficult. JMS apparently literally thought up the gist of the five season plot (which ended up being condensed into seasons 1-4 of the show as they were unsure if they would get cancelled - hence so much happening in s4) while he was in the shower, and it was one of the best sci-fi stories ever told. But it’s seemed clear to me that everything he’s done since B5 s4 has not reached anything like the same levels.
He told a great story, and he created a great universe, but I think he doesn’t really know how to tell other great stories in that universe.
I’m not sure if I’ve given it enough of a try, but I wanted to get into the Culture series and started with Consider Phlebas. After three (four?) chapters I changed it out for a different book; I considered “The Player of Games” instead, but the plot didn’t sound exciting.
Not sure if I should give it a second chance or not. After those chapters I just didn’t really care what happened next, nor did I care much for the main character.
I switched to Project Hail Mary and love it.I think Use of Weapons is the best Culture novel so I’d recommend giving it a shot. Having said that, i just loved Consider Phlebas pretty much from page one. Banks always had trouble writing compelling plots. The main attraction to me is the imaginative scope of the worlds he created.
Banks is my favourite sci fi author, but I to struggled with Consider Phlebas. Consider reading Player of Games. The culture books can be read as stand alone books without missing to much. I think Banks found his stride with Player of Games.
I read The Three Body Problem, but it wasn’t engaging enough to read the sequels. I’m not into sci-fi adjacent films like Pacific Rim and superhero or comic book movies. In general, I have a strong preference for sci-fi books over movies and TV shows because books can go places that visual media can’t.
@stopthatgirl7 I agree with Three Body Problem. For me, it was an absolute slog to get through. I thought maybe The Dark Forest would be better, but I fell off of it immediately. As far as movies go … It was The Matrix for me. It was fine, but just fine. So much so that I did not even bother with the last two.
Star Trek, both the old and new ones
Battlestar GalacticaI could not get I to BSG! I tried. No one was relatable or sympathetic.
Yeah, by the end of the story all the characters had been shown to be so awful that I didn’t care what happened to any of them.
Dhalgen. I know some people absolutely love this book but to me it was just a directionless ramble from one random sci-fi plot to the next with little-to-no resolution to any of them.
And come on one-shoe-guy: When somebody offers you a new pair of shoes, put the damn things on instead of saying you’re good and continuing to hobble around half shod / half barefoot.
Same here. I feel the same way about a lot of New Wave SF from that era. I like J.G. Ballard because he’s such a strong writer that he can pull off that sort of plotless “experimental” stuff, but the rest of them don’t do it for me. Why would I want to read an SF writer trying to write like William S. Burroughs when I can just read William S. Burroughs?
