Your favorite obscure Scifi?

[CaptainChewbacca]

My favorite, which came up in a chat with my brother tonight, was the 1998 Anime series "Invasion: America". The scope, the characters, the action, I just felt it was awesome and would easily spend $50 to get all 13 episodes.

So, what's your favorite scifi nobody else remembers? (Firefly is too obvious(.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

My favorite, which came up in a chat with my brother tonight, was the 1998 Anime series "Invasion: America". The scope, the characters, the action, I just felt it was awesome and would easily spend $50 to get all 13 episodes.

So, what's your favorite scifi nobody else remembers? (Firefly is too obvious(.

OMG! I remember that! It was the most awesome thing ever! I had the novel/novelization (?) to the first installment, I must've read it 300 times. I was so sad when it wasn't continued.

Anyways, 40k certainly isn't obscure anymore these days, so I'll have to say Dietz's earlier work, such as the Bounty trilogy, Bodyguard, and such. But then I'm a military-SF fanwhore.

[CaptainChewbacca]

My favorite, which came up in a chat with my brother tonight, was the 1998 Anime series "Invasion: America". The scope, the characters, the action, I just felt it was awesome and would easily spend $50 to get all 13 episodes.

So, what's your favorite scifi nobody else remembers? (Firefly is too obvious(.

OMG! I remember that! It was the most awesome thing ever! I had the novel/novelization (?) to the first installment, I must've read it 300 times. I was so sad when it wasn't continued.

Did you get the second installment in the novel series? Also excellent.

[Trogdor]

I'm a big fan of Ben Bova's sci-fi novels. I'm not sure if it's really obscure, but AFAIK, they've never been mentioned here by anyone but myself, and I don't know any sci-fi fans in real life, except for one friend of mine, who's into more mainstream sci-fi (SW, ST, B5).

[Srynerson]

Not necessarily my favorite, but Alphaville by Jean Luc Godard is obscure but good trippy '60s sci-fi. I tend to be surprised that it doesn't get more attention because of its similarities to The Prisoner (it was released two years before The Prisoner started shooting).

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Alphaville isn't technically science fiction. It's a noir thriller, part of a series of films Godard made after the New Wave ended, in an attept to find a genre in narrative film that was best suited in communicating politics, before deciding to abandon narrative film altogether in favour of pure political cinema after May '68.

But if you want to call it sci-fi, go ahead.

Anyway, I can't think of anything at the moment that's genuinely obscure, but as a placeholder for the time being, I'll just say Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam novel trilogy.

Would The Dune Encyclopedia on its own count? That thing is a real gem...

[Stark]

Greg Egan novels. None of your simpering standard-scifi rubbish, it makes you put the book down and scratch your head to try and work out exactly what's going on. And it has simulated universes that go on simulating after the computers stop, cops who turn on their duty neural mods and never turn them off, and other messed up stuff. Brought to you by the guy with the 'quantum soccer' applet on his website!

[Crossroads Inc.]

Theres a really cool, really old book that I forget the name of.

All I remember is it involved xenophobic 7fingered Rabbit Aliens who land in a colony ship in America in the 1940's and o one fnds out till the late 60's.

[mr friendly guy]

Obviously Firefly.

I will also second "Invasion America". It had its moments, but I never saw the end of it.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Firefly isn't obscure.

[NecronLord]

Anyways, 40k certainly isn't obscure anymore these days,

Sure it is. The man on the street has little to no knowledge of it.

[Plekhanov]

Alphaville isn't technically science fiction. It's a noir thriller, part of a series of films Godard made after the New Wave ended, in an attept to find a genre in narrative film that was best suited in communicating politics, before deciding to abandon narrative film altogether in favour of pure political cinema after May '68.

But if you want to call it sci-fi, go ahead.

How is alphaville not sci-fi? It's set in some kind of futuristic city which has been taken over by a supercomputer that doses the population up on pills, what is that if not sci-fi?

[The Grim Squeaker]

Anyways, 40k certainly isn't obscure anymore these days,

Sure it is. The man on the street has little to no knowledge of it.

By that definition only SW, ST and maybe Asimov are not obscure.

While it may be obscure to someone without any knowledge of sci fi, but anyone with a little knowledge in sci fi would know about (For example) Asimov and Arthur C Clarke's work, and out of the average sci fi fan population WH40k really is not obscure compared to even the culture books, since it is one of the 3 best known series after the big 2.
Plenty of people also know about it from the games anyway, which further increases it's "popularity".

Does Philip K Dick count as obscure sci fi if I'm talking about his non movie books and short stories

[NecronLord]

By that definition only SW, ST and maybe Asimov are not obscure.

Correct. Over here, Dr. Who too.

since it is one of the 3 best known series after the big 2.

Proof?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

How is alphaville not sci-fi?

Because it's Godard.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Does Philip K Dick count as obscure sci fi if I'm talking about his non movie books and short stories

No, because he was actually one of the heavies of science fiction literature.

[Plekhanov]

How is alphaville not sci-fi?

Because it's Godard.

Sorry I must have missed the memo that stated that Godard & scifi are mutually exclusive, what does it matter who directed it? It is set in a futuristic city with a wierd supercomputer that's taken over a city therefore it's scifi.

Godard directed it so it’s prententious & French but that doesn’t stop it being Sci-Fi it just means its pretentious, French SciFi.

[The Grim Squeaker]

By that definition only SW, ST and maybe Asimov are not obscure.

Correct. Over here, Dr. Who too.

So od you agree or disgaree, there is a difference between obscure sci fi and non extremely popular sci fi.

since it is one of the 3 best known series after the big 2.

Proof?

[/quote]
Hmm, I was talking from personal experience and I'll conceed this although a google has this:

Results 1 - 10 of about 4,120,000 English and Hebrew pages for warhammer
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,900,000 English and Hebrew pages for warhammer 4

Results 1 - 10 of about 4,930,000 English and Hebrew pages for New battlestar galactica
Results 1 - 10 of about 5,900,000 English and Hebrew pages for battlestar galactica

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,650,000 English and Hebrew pages for firefly AND"sci fi"
Results 1 - 10 of about 4,820,000 for "babylon 5"

Results 1 - 10 of about 18,700,000 for stargate
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,730,000 English and Hebrew pages for stargate "sg1 OR atlantis"

A few Googles have Either Stargate or Battle star galactica as the most popular, although this is not a relaible method of testing in the absence of anything else I'll take this as evidence, therefore conceeding my statement about 40k being among the most popular sci fi series.

Sorry for the unbacked statement , I'm used to 40k being well known on various boards and lost proportion due to the lack of many sci fi series on tv here (Changing my exposure to it). - A complete fallacy, my apologies.

No, because he was actually one of the heavies of science fiction literature.

I know that , the question is if we're using the "definition" of obscure sci fi as non popular sci fi, or non mainstream sci fi.
[Mainstream being Star wars, non mainstream but popular being (For example) Dan simmons or Philip K dick [arguable], and obscure being some of the previous examples such as Slaan by voght.)

[NecronLord]

So od you agree or disgaree, there is a difference between obscure sci fi and non extremely popular sci fi.

People on the street here immediately recognise a TARDIS, or an Enterprise, or the millennium falcon. There's nowhere near comparable brand recognition for a leman russ tank.

[The Grim Squeaker]

So od you agree or disgaree, there is a difference between obscure sci fi and non extremely popular sci fi.

People on the street here immediately recognise a TARDIS, or an Enterprise, or the millennium falcon. There's nowhere near comparable brand recognition for a leman russ tank.

True but those are extemely popular series, saying that someothing is obscure compared to the most popular 2-3 series in the world (Or area in Dr.Who's case ) is not very accurate.

For example Tchacovsky is hardly obscure and anyone with a small amount of classical msuic should recognize the name but he isn't as popular as Beethoven or Mozhart. B
ut is Tchaikovvsky (wrote the music of swan lake) obscure? Hell no.

[NecronLord]

There's obscure by our nerdy standards, and then there's obscure by the general population's standards.

[The Grim Squeaker]

There's obscure by our nerdy standards, and then there's obscure by the general population's standards.

Exactly my point, although most real sci fi fans on the board represent the more extreme end of sci fi knowledge, but you have pretty much just said my point.

[Manus Celer Dei]

Full Metal Panic. I'd say it counts as sci-fi.

[Lagmonster]

Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger or Damned trilogies. Great stuff.

[Lex]

By that definition only SW, ST and maybe Asimov are not obscure.

Correct. Over here, Dr. Who too.

So od you agree or disgaree, there is a difference between obscure sci fi and non extremely popular sci fi.

since it is one of the 3 best known series after the big 2.

Proof?

Hmm, I was talking from personal experience and I'll conceed this although a google has this:

Results 1 - 10 of about 4,120,000 English and Hebrew pages for warhammer
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,900,000 English and Hebrew pages for warhammer 4

Results 1 - 10 of about 4,930,000 English and Hebrew pages for New battlestar galactica
Results 1 - 10 of about 5,900,000 English and Hebrew pages for battlestar galactica

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,650,000 English and Hebrew pages for firefly AND"sci fi"
Results 1 - 10 of about 4,820,000 for "babylon 5"

Results 1 - 10 of about 18,700,000 for stargate
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,730,000 English and Hebrew pages for stargate "sg1 OR atlantis"

A few Googles have Either Stargate or Battle star galactica as the most popular, although this is not a relaible method of testing in the absence of anything else I'll take this as evidence, therefore conceeding my statement about 40k being among the most popular sci fi series.

Sorry for the unbacked statement , I'm used to 40k being well known on various boards and lost proportion due to the lack of many sci fi series on tv here (Changing my exposure to it). - A complete fallacy, my apologies.

No, because he was actually one of the heavies of science fiction literature.

I know that , the question is if we're using the "definition" of obscure sci fi as non popular sci fi, or non mainstream sci fi.
[Mainstream being Star wars, non mainstream but popular being (For example) Dan simmons or Philip K dick [arguable], and obscure being some of the previous examples such as Slaan by voght.)[/quote]

I'd pretty much agree, most members of this board do not share the definitions of the "average joe"

an all in all google search gave me this:
star wars 56,900,000
star trek 24,200,000
babylon 5 8,570,000
stargate 7,150,000
battlestar galactica 4,090,000
warhammer 40k 3,470,000
Asimov 3,150,000

nevertheless, I believe here in austria, star trek is the most popular, followed by star wars and stargate... battlestar and babylon might rank 4-5, but warhammer is mostly unknown.. and I'd say onl 10 out of a million here have erver heard of dr. who... same goes for asimov im afraid[/i]