Which sci-fi titles (movies, books) do you consider comforting, cozy, something you come back to from time to time? For me, I guess it is The Matrix. Still holds up to this day, gets better with every re-watch, and gives me a sense of peace when I need it.
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I’m at home in the chaotic universe of Douglas Adams.
I can see that. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie felt really comfy. I read the book, but it did not draw me in, for some reason. Any particular novel you like, other than obviously The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?
I felt the same way. I got about 2/3 of the way through the book and just did not GAF about a single character, so I tried the movie and it was much better. I haven’t read any of his others.
Try listening to the audiobooks narrated by the author himself. It’s amazing IMO.
Firefly is maximum comfy.
Still on my to-watch list
I don’t know if I should upvote you for having it on your list or downvote you for not having watched it already…
But wasn’t it cancelled? I’m not sure I want to watch something if the ending is missing.
I didn’t feel a lack of closure. It was still a few years before mass serialization of TV so episodes are largely self contained. There’s a movie that came out afterwards that gives some answers to a few questions that weren’t wrapped up.
Agree. For me the problem with it ending too soon is mostly that I liked it and wanted more , but it wasn’t really a single overarching story that needed an ending.
Contrast it with Babylon 5 where the overall story arc was everything
Yeah this is my answer as well.
I’ve heard of this. is it scifi? it always sounded like a YA novel title.
oh shit is there a film version?? I can’t read
10 episodes of a prematurely cancelled show due to the incompetence of Fox plus a movie called Serenity which wraps up what should have been the rest of season 1. It’s about a crew that does odd jobs in a Rimworld/space cowboy-esque theme.
I just watched it again for like the nth time. It’s still so good. It has Nathan Filion, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin and the fantastic Summer Glau!
The show is great, although i have noticed how it has a pretty high amount of shots of Summer Glau’s feet. Just Summer Glau walking and the camera panning to her feet, over and over, almost every episode. It doesn’t even make sense because the spaceship is made of metal grates and sheets, not carpet.
I’m guessing the show runner was into feet. But other than that, the show is pretty wholesome.
It has my all time favorite TV theme song too (ok, maybe tied with Trème).
For real. I always skip show intros, i find them a pointless waste of time and resources that I’m just going to skip anyway, but this show and Game of Thrones are the exceptions because of the cool songs. I am not familiar with Trème though.
It’s a docudrama about New Orleans right after Katrina. A great, but difficult and disturbing watch. It was mostly filmed locally and each episode was named after a song and featured a local band. It was also a fundraiser.
And here’s the Firefly theme. The only song I think I’ve air-violined to. So much nostalgia…
I’ve found myself rereading Old Man’s War multiple times.
I have the audiobook of that one. For me it’s Project Hail Mary.
Project Hail Mary definitely has a comfortably buddy feel to it
Anything written by Becky Chambers is like a comfy blanket for your soul. She puts so much humanity and empathy in stories about aliens.
I get that OP is almost more thinking of people’s “comfort food” works that serve that need for them personally, but Becky Chambers is very specifically writing to inspire that kind of feeling from the get-go. Life can get hard, bad things can happen, but good things too, and people (including pan-sexual bird aliens) are just living in the future the same way they do now and most of them are trying to be decent.
Murderbot of course (Martha Wells), also The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers. Also her novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate
okay. So. Murderbot hit a space for me. I read it in the middle of the pandemic. the wry, humor of it was just beautiful. the plot and story was engaging. The whole thing was beautiful.
incidentally, the librarian that turned me onto it (a very reliable source,) was kind of acting like how I imagine Gordon Ramsey might act when suggesting going out to KFC. Kind of discretely. kind of like maybe they were dealing weed. And maybe also, kinda like they felt guilty about that.
Pretty much any of the Wayfarers books by Becky Chambers, not so much for familiarity or nostalgia but because that’s intentionally part of their vibe
Thanks for the recommendation, haven’t read it!
On the topic of The Matrix, I’m surprised by the number of people who think that Matrix 1 2 & 3 are the only Matrices. In my opinion, The Animatrix is better than both sequels combined, by a lot, and most people seem to have never heard of it. If you’re a fan of The Matrix, watch The Animatrix!
I remember watching it back in the days. Some of the “parts” were a bit too weird (especially the animation) for my taste, but yeah, I enjoyed it overall.
No love for 4?
Does it deserve it? I haven’t watched it and tbh kind of afraid to touch
I’m aware of being the exception, but I liked it and view it as the real sequel to the first movie. It’s an appropriately tongue in cheek satire. The director knew what she was doing
4?
Outing myself as a youngster here, but the movie Treasure Planet.
Haven’t watched it, will check out
Was one of the last Disney movies to employ the older art style. Reminiscent of Iron Giant and Atlantis. A sci-fi take on Treasure Island, visually stunning and just a very comfy movie for me. Hope you enjoy it!
Treasure Planet came out in 2002. You could be in your early 30’s and have been in the target demographic for the film at the time.
For me it’s The Expanse.
And also pretty much anything by Philip K Dick.
For me it’s definitely a book that often doesn’t get much love: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. I read that book like ten times by now in both English and my mother tongue. Such a defining book for me since I first read it in my youth and it gave me a lot of food for thought regarding what it means to live a meaningful life. It is not really hardcore sci-fi after all but more a kind of coming-of-age novel that happens to take place in a sci-fi setting.
The 1973 BBC Radio Dramatization of Asimov’s Foundation. It’s about eight hours long and the voice work is quite good. It’s comfortable for me to listen to and come back to, very digestible. One complaint: I’ve yet to find a version that had properly equalized sound levels, so the comfortable listing volume for their speech throughout the work is suddenly jarringly loud when they switch to the machine-clacking “encyclopedia” segments that serve as segues between parts of the story. Other than that, I have no complaints: It’s a fairly faithful adaptation of the original work, and does not suffer from the fatigue and dating many other works do (in my opinion, audio balancing notwithstanding).
Had no idea this existed, thank you
The books Walkaway (Cory Doctorow) and Accelerando (Charles Stross) both give me nostalgia for a time when the future seemed like an exciting challenge instead of an unbearable one.
I would say mostly everything by Asimov and Clarke.
There is an evolutional optimism that always gives me cozy feeling
Here’s some I consider cozy:
- Asimov’s R. Daniel Olivaw Trilogy starting with “The Caves of Steel” is downright cozy.
- Nathan Lowell’s “Quarter Share” and the other “Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper”.
And if you like to listen to books, “Quarter Share” is available as a podcast: https://chartable.com/podcasts/quarter-share/episodes
Edit: It varies by book, but many chapters of “The Vorkosigan Saga” are downright cozy.
I adore the book The 5th Gender but it’s worth knowing in advance its also gay smut 😅
It’s really sweet and romantic gay smut though 🥺 and to be fair the sci-fi and mystery elements are genuinely fantastic. At the beginning I was worried it was gonna be overly quirky, just ignore that part. Its endearing quirky, I swear.
