If you’re still on holidays….! A friend of mine is on his holidays and I made this list of sci fi shows for him, of decent streaming shows and movies in the last ten years, as well as a couple of action series; I think his taste tends more towards hard sci fi, so the Expanse is probably the best, but I tried to indicate what I think are what I think the good ones to watch would be.
(This seems like I’ve watched a lot of sci fi! Actually sci fi is about all I watch, but I stream the shows in the holidays sometimes, particularly if I’m doing menial jobs like tidying up or sorting through documents or papers. )
Amazon Prime series:
Thought-provoking shows with some action
The Expanse (fantastic series, really excellent hard sci fi, slow though but very thoughtful )
The Man in the High Castle (alternative universes, alternate history where the Nazis and Japanese won world war II ) (it's good but a bit serious - I really enjoyed it )
The Peripheral (based on a William Gibson novel ) this is a fantastic series; really surprising plot twists.
Humans - English show about androids based on a graphic novel. Kind of deep and maybe too slow. Thought provoking in a way( I think this sort of science fiction is our society trying to work out in its head if people are machines or people. )
Not thought-provoking at all but good action movies or shows
Reacher - very enjoyable action series (Lee Child)
Jack Ryan - another very enjoyable action series. (Tom Clancy, who I think is a Christian author, but the Christian character of Jack Ryan’s boss in the books they made into a Moslem....!!!! Doesn't quite work as the preoccupations of Moslems are different generally. )
Battleship - pretty good action sci fi nothing too thoughtful about it
The Tomorrow War - another good action sci fi that's not too thoughtful but enjoyable
The Blackout - Russian sci fi movie with a decent plot and lots of action - it’s overdubbed very decently in US accented English but occasionally the characters behave in a very Russian way, which reminds the viewer they’re Russian. A blackout affects the whole world except for a circular area surrounding Moscow - an area in the shadow of the moon - turns out the earth was zapped with a beam from space - it’s got pretty decent aliens and rambunctious, unsubtle Russian dark humour.
Netflix shows
Thought provoking
Arrival - an old movie but very good if you haven't seen it. It's thought provoking about language.
They Cloned Tyrone - really hilariously funny sci fi action comedy movie, a bit alternative, a kind of cult movie (R rated, though - a fair bit of violence and swearing)
Next - I think this is based on a Philip K Dick book. A guy can see into the future five minutes or so and gets involved in a conspiracy - kind of wacky.
Stranger Things - series - sci fi/horror set in the 80s - they realise the 80s very well. It's quite good, but if you prefer hard sci fi it's not exactly that. Strangely enough I think a non-sci-fi person might like parts of this one - it's just that the eighties is so well realised. Gets a bit dark in places though. In a similar genre to "Poltergeist" but more sci-fi-ish.
Annihilation - not bad a kind of alternate zone called the "Shimmer" bizarre movie actually pretty good
Not as thought provoking but good action.
Edge of Tomorrow - very good sci fi action flick similar plot to the Tomorrow War - I watched it with Dad he enjoyed it too.
Colony - a reasonable sci fi TV show about an alien occupation following a family as they try to survive etc. It was pretty good. 2015 series.
Falling Skies - don't know if this is on Amazon Prime or Netflix but it's pretty good, maybe better than Colony; same basic plot. The leader of the resistance is actually a history teacher and an expert in the US Revolutionary War, and he uses his knowledge of history to inform his decisions.
Kind of silly but entertaining
Eureka - not a bad show - kindof light and brainless - a hidden town is a place where they do experiments with time and space and this guy is the sheriff
Resident Alien - a kind of detective TV show about an alien invader who takes the identity of the local town doctor and gets involved in a murder mystery.
Not a sci fi movie, but worth watching on Amazon Prime
Sound of Freedom is a Christian movie, that is definitely worth watching. It is based on a true story. Despite the plot which I describe below, it is very well done, and deals with the gross subject matter very wisely; so that it is actually quite inoffensive in a sense.
An FBI agent arrests a guy from a paedophile cartel and rescues a little boy from them. They restore the child to his father, but his father says, "What about my daughter? She's still out there somewhere."
The agent believes God is telling him to leave his job and go and rescue this girl. His wife tells him, "Go and do it."
He leaves his job, though it's just months until he gets his pension, and goes to rescue the little girl. It's a really good movie.