I’m so geeked about my first geeky post!  I’m a huge fan of science fiction, fantasy, & historical fiction.  Post apocalyptic, time travel, dungeons and dragons – books, movies and tv series are my thing.  I’m actually watching AMC’s The Walking Dead marathon as I type this – super excited it returns tonight!  I’m still mourning [SPOILER ALERT] the death of Beth…sigh.  This show is notorious for killing off characters unexpectedly and we, the viewers, still come back for more.

Compelling believable plots is what hooks me.  I will admit that I have pretty eclectic taste so my sci-fi recommendations may be absurd to you depending on your preferences.  I enjoy everything from TWD to BBC’s Doctor Who.

I’ve stumbled upon a few little known shows that I have found interesting thanks to the greatest technological advance in entertainment of the past century…Netflix.  And frankly, I don’t know anyone else who’s watching these series, so I hope some of you out there will join me and hopefully they don’t get cancelled too soon (R.I.P. Firefly).

The 100
I was skeptical on this one.  The CW has been known for it’s teen shows since the 90’s when the network was called The WB with the annoying dancing frog in the top hat.  But after reading the premise I gave it a shot.

It’s set in the future a hundred years after an extinction level nuclear event kills every living thing and Earth’s remnant is living in a gigantic space station.  In order to see if the world has become habitable again, 100 juvenile delinquents are sent to the surface to test it out.  Seems brutal, right?  I know.  That’s what intrigued me enough to watch.

Though it starts off with the typical teenage angst that I expected, it quickly proves to be a show about the adults and the burden of keeping the last of humanity alive.  It can be a bit “lord of the flies-ish” but there are many twists and turns and plenty drama to keep my attention.

Helix
When the Sci-Fi network changed their name to Syfy a few years ago I thought things were going even further downhill for an already struggling network airing mostly corny shows and low budget tv movies with cheap special effects.  I was wrong.

Helix is a hidden gem.  CDC doctors are sent to a secret underground lab located in Antarctica to investigate an outbreak of an unknown deadly virus.  This sounds so typical and you’re probably thinking you seen this before.  Well, no you haven’t!  If you were a fan of Lost – the most epic science fiction/fantasy show of all time by the way – you will get a kick out of this show.

You can’t have a plot like this without a mysterious person working for a mysterious corporation with ulterior motives.  The CDC doctors are in way over their head and as the story unfolds, there’s more at stake than getting sick.  It starts a little slow, but hang in there and you won’t be disappointed.

Z Nation
Another cool show on Syfy, Z Nation is about people struggling to survive after a virus has turned the majority of the world’s population into mindless cannibals.  Now before you die hard The Walking Dead fans (I’m one too, duh) tune me out let me say that though the premise is similar, this is a different type of zombie apocalypse series.

This show manages to combine the cheesiness (Sharknado, anyone?) that the Syfy channel is known for with some dramatic elements like TWD.  Some of you may hate this, but I like it.  There are equal amounts of laugh out loud ‘are they serious?’ scenes and ‘whoa, I didn’t see that coming’ moments.  Basically, it’s a dramedy – drama & comedy all in one.

Of course The Walking Dead has no competition here.  But it is quite funny, has great one-liners, and it’s interesting to compare the two.

So is anyone else watching these shows besides me?  I’d love to hear from you…but only after The Walking Dead return tonight.  Priorities people.  Priorities.