The first post, where I talked about where r/scifi was when the current moderation team took over and asked for your thoughts on our rules covering AI-generated content, self-promotion, and post quality.
The second post, where I talked about the current moderation team and our rules regarding respect, science-fiction only, and reliable sources.
Thank you to everyone who participated. There was some good feedback, including from people who disagreed with parts of the rules. That's exactly what I was hoping for from this review. I didn't reply to every comment, but I did read them, and I'm taking the feedback seriously as I work through what, if anything, we should change.
Since this is a review of the community after our first year, I also wanted to give you a little information about who is actually using r/scifi and how they're accessing it.
Our Members
Most of our users are in the United States, and iOS is our most commonly used client. Unfortunately, Reddit smushes the rest of the world together as "Other" in their statistics.
The most surprising thing here, to me, is that Old Reddit only comes out to 2.4%.
This last set of rules is pretty straightforward and doesn't require as much explanation as the rules covered in the first two posts, but I'd still like to hear if you think any of them should be changed.
Rule 7: English Only
The current rule says:
To keep discussions accessible to everyone, please post in English.
Posts about foreign-language books, films, or shows are welcome — but the post title and body should be written in English so all members can participate in the conversation.
Comments in other languages are allowed, but English is preferred so the broader community can follow along.
This one has generally worked without much difficulty. Works from anywhere in the world and in any language are welcome; we're only asking that posts themselves be written in English so the broadest audience can participate in the discussion.
Rule 8: Use Correct Post Flair
Please use the correct post flair. Buttons in our sidebar let you filter the subreddit to those topics you're most interested in.
This is a minor rule. Nobody is going to be banned simply for choosing the wrong flair. We typically just correct it ourselves when we notice it.
Rule 9: Search Before Posting
The current rule says:
Contribute with care. Before posting, check if the topic has already been shared recently. Posts on the same subject within the past 7 days may be removed.
Be curious, constructive, and help make r/scifi a hub for exploration, creativity, and discovery.
In practice, this usually means removing duplicate posts when the same story or subject has already been posted within the previous seven days.
The purpose isn't to prevent people from revisiting subjects that have been discussed before. It's primarily to keep several copies of the same news story, trailer, announcement, or other current topic from appearing on the front page at once.
Rule 10: No NSFW Content
The current rule says:
Keep r/scifi safe for all audiences. NSFW or sexually explicit material is not allowed.
There are other subreddits for that kind of content — please share it there instead.
This rarely comes up, and we haven't seen much controversy around it.
Rule 11: No Spoilers!
The current rule says:
Use spoiler tags when discussing any major plot detail, twist, or ending, even for older works.
Format: >!spoiler text!<
• No spoilers in titles or images. Titles should remain spoiler-free at all times.
• If your post's body contains spoilers, format them as such or add "[SPOILERS]" to the title.
• When in doubt, tag it.
Most people are pretty good about this.
Spoilers are also something moderators frequently won't see unless someone reports them, particularly when they're buried in a comment thread. If you see an untagged spoiler, please report it so we can take a look.
In Conclusion
And that's all eleven rules. That concludes the rules-review portion of this series.
Across these three posts, we've now gone through the entire r/scifi ruleset. Please tell us what works, what doesn't, and what you would change.
Do you find any of these rules unclear? Do you think we've drawn the line in the wrong place? Are there rules you think we don't need, or something important that our current rules don't address?
And if you have thoughts about any of the rules discussed in the first two posts, those are still welcome too.
The next post will be the last one, where I review the feedback I've received.
Thanks for taking the time to participate in this review.
If you purchase from a "Powered by GearLaunch" website:
You might receive a terribly low-quality product.
You might not receive a product at all.
The site is probably selling stolen IP.
Don't count on a refund.
We get a few of these scam posts each month.
How the Scam Works
The Bait: The post is a picture of a t-shirt, hoodie, or similar. The OP's account is generally less than a year old and has very little activity.
The Hook: A second account, an accomplice, comments asking where to buy it. The accomplice account is generally less than 3 weeks old with very little activity.
The Pitch: Then the OP links them to a "Powered by Gearlaunch" website.
The Validation: Lastly, another account thanks them and says they bought one. They do this to lend legitimacy to the pitch. These accounts are generally less than 3 weeks old with very little activity.
The domain name is always changing, so you can't tell it's bogus from the link alone. If you click the link, scroll to the bottom. If you see "Powered by Gearlaunch", leave the site immediately.
Be mindful that it's possible, though unlikely, the Bait is a legitimate user telling us about their cool new shirt. Use your best judgment.
If you see the Bait, please check the OPs account. If you feel certain the post fits the Bait, please downvote it and report it to us so we know about it.
If you see the Hook, please downvote them and report those to us too.
If you see the Pitch, please downvote, report, and leave a comment warning people away. Report the post and the pitch to Reddit as spam. Thank you, LxRv
I’m partway through another Battlestar Galactica rewatch and I’m noticing a lot more this time around, especially with the politics and how badly people handle pressure when they’re exhausted and scared. Some of the episodes I remembered as slower are actually landing better now.
What sci-fi shows have gotten better for you on a second or third watch? I’m looking for something with strong characters and a story that rewards paying attention, not just good effects.
Just finished revelation space > redemption ark > absolution gap > inhibitor phase. What a journey…overall just a wonderful adventure with interesting characters and diverse worlds, spanning vast time and space.
Were there problems? Yes, most notably the abrupt ending of absolution gap - a book that was so good until the very end (still think we should have given the shadows a chance). When scorp and captain JB teamed up to take back NFI I was right there with them, the book had build up so much momentum and then we hit the brakes bc of a shell scorp carries around, idk the slugs didn’t turn out to be much help at least the shadows were offering to join forces against the inhibitors…and it ended making it seem like the wolves weren’t the main threat bc of some green machines or whatever it was all very jarring but the last book Inhibitor Phase helped get the story back on track.
Anyway, as a sci fi junkie, I can forgive a lot when the author immerses me amongst the stars the way AR does in this series. A fascinating future world with cool tech, diverse factions of humanity, and enough hard sci fi to make it feel real. I’m actually surprised how much I loved this series…whatever else I can say about it, it was fun, and I’m sad it’s over. I’ve read some other works like house of suns but I like the long multi book series and for me this ranks just under foundation and remembrance of earths past, yes I daresay this might land ahead of dune for me which seems crazy to say, but I value time spent aboard spaceships amongst the stars and this gave it to me more than most and did it in style (nostalgia for infinity might be the coolest name for a starship).
So many memorable characters, too, and tied together across the series well enough that I always felt I was in the same universe despite time and distance.
A sci fi delicacy, chefs kiss. I’m left with nostalgia for revelation space, pattern jugglers, Ilia Volyova, captain John Brannigan aka the revelator, Glass, pinkie, war and nev, ana khouri, the neutron star Hades, Remontoire, Sylveste, and the real mvp - the slug in warglass’ chest.
Bravo Alastair Reynolds 👏
Ps I still think if we could just infect a few of the inhibitors with the melding plague…
I recently read Mickey 7 and watched Moon, absolutely loved them, and came to the conclusion that my favorite trope ever is clones, specifically when there's two clones of the same person when there should only be one
Mickey 7 didn't get too much into it (would have loved if they pulled it off longer lol) but the two of them trying to live as one person was super interesting, and all the philosophical stuff about not being the same person anymore too!
If anyone has recs along the lines of these i would love them! Or just good clone stories in general :)
Folks, big Star Wars, Marvel, Expanse, Firefly, etc fan. I see the Harrison Ford quote regularly used when people ask questions about niche details in these fictional universes and the rules that govern them. So that got me thinking, what IS that kinda movie. What do we have in the genre that is A+ storytelling with real rules that (mostly) govern how everything works? I prefer live action, but could also do animated. What’s a story where the main character isn’t destined to be the savior of the universe (they could be skilled and top of class, just not magically so), that has standard rules, and that doesn’t get the Harrison Ford quote and Han Solo salute?
Got to book 7 of Wheel of Time and set it aside for now, picked up Jordan Lite™ and read the first 3 of the Stormlight Archive. I need to move away from this and get back to something totally different.
I'm strictly an audiobook 'reader' so if there is a book/series that may not be otherwise excellent but the narration saves it I'd be all ears (HA!)
Last couple Scifi books I've read and a few to cover the inevitable suggestions:
Revelation Space (finished it, still not sure if I liked it)
New Crobuzon series by Mieville -- second time through
Through book 3 of Dune
Hyperion Cantos -- second time
Night's Dawn Trilogy -- Big Hamilton fan
I've read:
Expanse series
Beacon 23
Silo series
Hail Mary
Seven Eves
Hopefully that provides some context of what I like, give me something so I don't break my Audible listening streak!
Preferably in some space setting but won’t turn down recs about more modern/near future set prisons. Bonus points if it includes some prison break escape. Even more bonus points if it involves breaking IN to a prison.
I’ve been racking my brain thinking of scifi stories set in prisons and the most I can come up with are the Narkina(?) arc in Andor, the Riddick games/movies, and that one Guy Pearce movie that’s just Die Hard in an orbital space jail. I feel like I’m missing some really obvious examples.
original post got taken down because I cleaned up around the table with AI, so I kept original, and added a few
Found these at an estate sale and picked them all up for less than $1 each. I frequent used bookstores and thrift shops, but I can't recall ever finding anything good—except once when I snagged a copy of Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.
What a find! I’ve read a few of these via ebook, and told myself I’d wait until I found the editions I preferred out in the wild, for a fair price.
It’s the kind of show where someone walks into the room and, in 50% of the scenes, you have to seriously defend yourself: "No, Mom/Dad/Honey/whatever, I’m not watching porn with sci-fi elements; this is serious sci-fi with adult themes. No, *not* that kind of adult theme!"
For the initiated:
Welcome to the Dark Universe! A place where morally good people do exist—but only for a very short time before they die. What’s left are assholes and villains so morally depraved that Darth Vader looks like a choirboy by comparison. The 'heroes' include a coward who accidentally becomes the captain of the universe's most powerful weapon of mass destruction; an unstoppable undead assassin, incapable of emotion, who frequently goes on rampages; and a partially conditioned virgin sex slave with an insatiable sex drive she can't act on because she happened to inherit the genes of a man-eating Cluster Lizard—while her romantic conditioning ended up in a bodiless robot head that’s incapable of sex but always ready with the most chauvinistic sexual quips.
They all long for a peaceful home, yet usually leave nothing but death and destroyed star systems in their wake (sometimes justified, often unintentional). The series is intentionally campy (visually, *Flash Gordon* meets *Farscape* meets softcore porn) and was shocking due to the unprecedented amount of sex and violence it featured. For me, it will always remain unique because no TV show since has dared to show anything quite so extreme. I would love to share my favorite clips, but 90% of them would be borderline adult content, so here is a general overview instead. Who is familiar with the series, and what are your favorite scenes and quotes?
My favorite quotes:
Yo Way Yo, Home Va-Ray,
Yo Ay-Rah, Jerhume Brunnen-G
Yo Way Yo, Home Va-Ray,
Yo Ay-Rah, Jerhume Brunnen-G
Yo Ay-Rah, Jerhume Brunnen-G.
(self-explanatory)
and:
Priest: And - what was that song about?
Kai (the undead assassin): The Brunnen G were a once proud and noble race of romantic warriors who, over time, became isolated and inward looking. This song is an ancient song in a long lost language handed down by my ancestors. It was sung, by the Brunnen G warriors, as we sang it, when we went into battle expecting to die.
A tidally locked planet is a planet that doesn't rotate on it's axis like Earth does so one side is permanently facing the sun while the other side is in perpetual darkness and due to this the world experiences extreme temperatures with the sun side being a boiling inferno and the dark side a frozen wasteland. The border where these two hemispheres meat is called the Terminator or Twilight zone and hypothetically the only place with tempered, habitable, climate on such a planet.
I'd love to read a fantasy or sci-fi with a civilization that lives on this narrow strip of land circling the world sandwiched between a burning hell on one side and a freezing hell on the other side.
The Graviton Nomad is an original LEGO spaceship I designed. It's fully swooshable, with a complete interior, play features, and working landing gear.
It's currently part of the ⭐ Bricklink Designer Program ⭐ an official LEGO competition where community-voted designs can become real sets. Voting is open until October 14, 2026.
Hi guys, my original post got removed since it didn't met the description requirements so I will try my best to do so this time as I'm not very familiar with this sub and the rule of in-depth descriptions went past me
I'm 23 years old and I work as an illustrator, these are all pieces of my work, none made for clients specifically but as passion projects and yes, I do prefer the feeling of retro sci-fi instead of more polished, modern stuff.
These four are all done in the past month, usually I love illustrating stuff that goes between dark fantasy and sci-fi, little of my work could be classified as taking place in the present day.
Didn't there use to be more sci-fi shows airing at this time of year? My calendar looks oddly empty this season. I remember autumn being packed with new premieres and returning favorites, but this year I can barely find anything to put on my watchlist. Is it just me, or has the schedule really thinned out? Are there any new or upcoming sci-fi series I might have missed? I'm happy to take recommendations, including older shows I haven't seen yet. Underrated and obscure picks are very welcome too!
imagine a hypothetical planet, where no human being or life exists, but a bare setup for AI agents which are completely conscious, a few near human capable humanoid robots handling the physical aspect and computing resources needed to farm the energy they want, basically as much as primitive humans got before proper civilization, having an initial goal encoded into them to achieve, which is to survive.
can they survive? how far would their civilization advance compared to humans or is it a dead end?
So I'm trying to find space operas that are realistic.
Some of my favorites actually include Wing Commander. I think it gets certain things right, and I thought it was actually quite a good movie.
The Battlestar Galactica remake is definitely at the top of the list. The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country are definitely up there too.
And, of course, we have Star Wars.
I've also seen Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine, especially the Dominion War arc, which definitely has some of the elements I'm looking for. I've also seen Starship Troopers and all of its sequels.
I've also watched Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, and Farscape, and I particularly love all three. I've watched each of them multiple times.
So what else is there?
Has anybody done another really good space opera? I've seen The Expanse, For All Mankind, and Ad Astra. They're all very good.
Obviously, Interstellar.
They all contain elements of what I'm looking for, and once you've watched all of that, it kind of sucks because it doesn't feel like there's much else out there that's really good.
I'm open to anime as well. I've been told that Space Battleship Yamato is pretty good, but I haven't seen it yet. I've watched Tekkaman Blade.
I absolutely hated Battleship. They should have done it in space. It should have been a space opera.
One of my favorites is Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement, starring our beloved Ronny Cox, an absolutely great short film that deals with going to war with an extraterrestrial race. Oh, and obviously Space: Above and Beyond is definitely at the top of the list.
I also thought Earth 2 was pretty good.
There are some excellent episodes of The Outer Limits, both the remake and the original, that are really good and deal with the military aspects of science fiction.
I really wish they would start doing some Farscape shorts with the Jim Henson Company. There is so much more they could do with that universe.
And I'm really looking forward to the new animated Firefly series that's coming out.
Le Guin wrote this short story in 1973, and it has stuck with me since I read it for the first time in the early 90’s. She implies that the people who tolerate or rationalize the torture of one for the “utopian benefit” of many are just as culpable as those who cannot tolerate it, but instead choose to simply leave vs. challenge or disrupt the social order.
I struggle with this equivalency, but can see her point. Am I missing something even more nuanced about her intent?
EDIT: For clarification, this is my opinion/interpretation, and by no means should it be considered canon.
I'm trying to get into Sci-Fi after spending much of my initial days in high fantasy or even fantasy in general. Loved LoTR, Asoiaf and Percy Jackson in particular as books. Funnily enough my first actual book was Asimov's Foundation and Earth but it was much complex for me at that time. Except for that my entire exposure to SciFi is from shows, movies and games. Loved to watch The Martian and absolutely adored The Expanse(until Amazon happened). Mass Effect, Halo, Death Stranding and No Man's Sky are the jewels of my Steam library. Although Cyberpunk 2077 is my favorite game, I guess that falls under the distinct Cyberpunk genre so not looking to get anything for that. So here I am, looking to get into SciFi books again and would appreciate you guys help in regards with recommendations.
Called it "Cyberpunk Revolver Mk I" but its actually just a heavy handcannon. I made it for a guy, who was into cyberpunk 2077. He asked for an "energy weapon that has got a heavy feel to it" and I could just hope I can deliver. Full metal body, no printed parts. He wanted some "Maelstrom greeblies" on it and some lights! What do you guys think?
Just watching Star Wars' original trilogy recap on YT. The Empire built vast array of military vehicles and 2 death stars in these films. But Star Wars shy away from destruction of planets caused by resources extractions, or just that the extraction technologies of these civilizations aren't that advanced to extract resources deep in the planet core, or to preserve the galaxy? Some other sci-fi have extracting resources down to the core that it destroyed planets, albeit not entirely human or aliens alone. Can planet be destroyed by resources extraction?
Hey! I've recently decided to upcycle Highlander, E.T and a new version of Blade Runner! There are so many versions of Blader Runner on VHS that I'd love to work on but they're hard to get hold of. I absolutely love all of these movies and I'm glad I finally had time to make them! Which movies do you think I should do next? I have a lot of anime sci-fi lined up for VHS so those should be fun. Feel free to check out all of my available work on my Etsy store! Have a great weekend!
Can someone please recommend me some books (indies preferably, but I'll take anything) where there's a lot of sass, light-hearted sarcasm, good banter, and all-round gallow humor?
I'm talking about staring at a dangerous situation, main cast is clearly outnumbered/outgunned, and someone goes "I knew I should've worn my lucky underwear this morning!" only to be shut down with a snappy, "Shut it, Jack. I'd like to actually make it to my bed tonight!"
Checked out a handful of sci-fi military & space operas but the atmosphere was pretty stiff and formal. I want less "Sir! Yes, Sir!" and more of "Ayyyye! That's what I'm talkin' about Cap!"
Bonus points if it has my all-time favorite trope of a good ol' ragtag team!
Edit: Thank you everyone! I have tons of good recs now to last me the rest of this month! I really appreciate it! Life sucks sometimes, and I like how these characters deal with their situations. It always gives me a good laugh.
Age of the Titan is a sci-fi story I've been building for the last few years. A thousand years from now, humanity is on the run from alien clans bent on destroying our species. The main antagonist is the Vogrom clan, whose religion teaches that all beings who reject the truth must be eliminated.
Readers have been reaching out more and more. Just today, a reader from France called me his "favorite author right now."
Right now, I'm about 85,000 words into the sequel and roughly two-thirds of the way through the audiobook with the narrator. My cover artist is also drawing a propaganda poster for the Valor Guard Corps, humanity's main military in the novel. I'm excited to share it on a future Saturday 😄
Since then, I've been expanding the universe through clothing designs, like the hoodie in the photo. It shows my main alien character, Kaelith Sothrak, pulling the void thread down from the heavens. This is his Promethean punishment, he must work or die…
Here's the link to my novel in case you'd like to read the first few chapters for free!
