The best Science-Fiction universe/story?

[Blue3]

I've gotten into a debate somewhere else about what the sci-fi equivalent to Lord of the Rings is... which I think is another way of saying, what is the best sci-fi universe and story? (Even though I think we can all agree the story and characters especially of LOTR could be improved, it's usually held up as the best of Fantasy overall... with others close to it being Harry Potter, EarthSea,  Narnia, and increasingly A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones).

When looking for the answer, the two book series that consistently come up are Dune and The Foundation.

But the most widely-known and popular sci-fi franchises are probably Star Trek and Star Wars... and I personally argue that Star Wars isn't even science fiction, it's fantasy in a space/futuristic setting, though sometimes others argue back that that's the same for other classic sci-fi books and series as well, so I'll let you guys decide.  (But if Star Wars does qualify, I think it's miles and miles ahead of Trek.)

I'm predicting there will probably be many votes for OTHER... this list was originally much longer, too long, so I decided to go with the top 4 people elsewhere seem to mention... so please specify. I'll allow up to 3 choices in case some people can't decide, or think some of these really don't belong here but the others do.



EDIT:

Version 2, with more poll options!
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=259470.0

[bagelman]

Voted for all that aren't star wars

[Mr. Smith]

Star Wars is one of the best Universes by far, but it isn't truly Sci-Fi so much as Fantasy.

I guess Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom Universe, if that counts. Dune's pretty good too.

Not much of a Trekkie.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Star Wars and if you include EU it's not even close

[Mr. Morden]

Well, going by my username, I should write in Babylon 5.  However, my current sci-fi obsession is The Expanse, so I'll write that one in:

x-write in: "The Expanse"

It's like Game of Thrones...but in space.

[MasterJedi]

Star Wars with the EU pre-Disney.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The one that's most appealing to my philosophical sensibilities is definitely Star Trek. I wish I was more familiar with Dune, though.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Write in: The Great Big Multiverse

[Meclazine for Israel]

Gravity

Just jokes.

I thought there was a few that really hit the nail on the head.

2001 A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Alien
Prometheus

[dead0man]

No love for the Gate?

[FairBol]

My favorites have always been Star Trek, Quantum Leap, and 90s cult favs Babylon 5 and Sliders. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

(Even though I think we can all agree the story and characters especially of LOTR could be improved

If you think that then you've not really understood it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I like Asimov but his writing in the Foundation series has not aged well.

They're still enjoyable as potboilers, but, yeah, Jesus are they of their time. Of course that's a common issue with Science Fiction.

[Blue3]

(Even though I think we can all agree the story and characters especially of LOTR could be improved

If you think that then you've not really understood it.

The Silmarillion does its stories better. Tolkien's LOTR characters can be rather flat in the books and talk too aristocratically (besides the hobbits and Gollum, and even there it's still a problem sometimes). I know Tolkien is capable of it, based on the Unfinished Tales and all the thought he put into things, it's just something he chose not to focus on. But my point is that overall LOTR is the choice for the best of the Fantasy genre that everyone usually agrees on (with Potter, EarthSea, Narnia, and ASOIAF close to it), and it is definitely one of the more influential on my life personally.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm really not sure. Dune has some stupid, stupid concepts and its treatment of sex and race has aged if anything worse than LotR's but the central conceits--the Spice and the sandworms--are fantastic. Doctor Who is too disjointed, sprawling, and massively variable in quality to really count as a coherent universe. Heinlein's terrible and I'm not familiar enough with Asimov or Clarke. Teito monogatari has some really cool intuitions about setting but its sensibilities are even more reactionary than is usual for the sort of story that it is and I'm also not sure it counts as science fiction; Legend of the Galactic Heroes has the former problem as well as some of Dune's problems but not as severely. There's something mean-spirited that I detect in a lot of Douglas Adams's work but his concepts and style do hold up well. Something has started to piss me off about the Hainish Cycle--which I'm sadly unsurprised no one else has mentioned--and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. I guess I'd say that's still overall the best-conceived.

But my point is that overall LOTR is the choice for the best of the Fantasy genre that everyone usually agrees on (with Potter, EarthSea, Narnia, and ASOIAF close to it),

I like all those series to varying extents but I wouldn't describe any of them as approaching LotR.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I like Asimov but his writing in the Foundation series has not aged well.

They're still enjoyable as potboilers, but, yeah, Jesus are they of their time. Of course that's a common issue with Science Fiction.

What about The Day Earth Stood Still?

[Enduro]

Any science fiction list without the Enderverse and Starship Troopers is incomplete.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Dune is the traditional answer to this but I find all but the original novel unreadable and some of the majority really, really hasn't aged very well (it's strange to think now but in the 60s there was actually a brief period of what we might call 'Hipster Islam', films like Lawrence of Arabia were also part of this trend).

Obviously though the correct answer for greatest Science Fiction novel is The Stars My Destination, from whose protagonist I get my forum name.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Also

Jack Vance >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> JRR Tolkein or nearly any other fantasy writer.

In a just less snobbish universe Vance would have been considered a potential Nobel laureate and not just sneered at for being a 'genre writer'.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Sirs Sam and Al are better.

[Meclazine for Israel]

I like Asimov but his writing in the Foundation series has not aged well.

Of course that's a common issue with Science Fiction.

Amazingly, I gave up reading Foundation slightly for that reason. Just give me the movie as I missed the true Sci-Fi part.

Sci-Fi is a really tricky genre. It needs be done by a "savant autism" genius to remain true to the overall theme. That is why Star Wars was such a success. The theme was immaculate at every level.

[Enduro]

I can't believe I forgot Firefly, that deserves to be on the list as well.

[Mr. Morden]

Why aren't you nerds watching "The Expanse"?  You're seriously missing out.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Why aren't you nerds watching "The Expanse"?  You're seriously missing out.

I do.

I wouldn't exactly compare it with Game of Thrones. It's still a good show though, since it's a very rare example of truly "hard" science fiction on television.

[Mr. Morden]

Why aren't you nerds watching "The Expanse"?  You're seriously missing out.

I do.

I wouldn't exactly compare it with Game of Thrones. It's still a good show though, since it's a very rare example of truly "hard" science fiction on television.

It's not as good as Game of Thrones was at it's peak, no, not even close.  But Game of Thrones right now has kind of lost me on suspension of disbelief.  It doesn't feel like a real world to me anymore, as the writers are having all the characters act in completely illogical fashion in order to advance the plot for the endgame.

The Expanse is still at the stage in its story where the world feels absolutely real to me, and events are just unfolding naturally, without it looking like there's the heavy hand of the writer moving things in the desired direction.  And of course, the fact that the technology all seems plausible, without any Trek-like magic tech or even FTL spaceships, also doesn't hurt on making me believe it's a real world.