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Top 50 Science Fiction TV Shows
pbaumgar writes "Boston.com is running an article discussing their top 50 Sci-Fi TV shows of all-time. What are some of your favorites?" From the article: "Number 10 -'Sliders. 'Sliders' should have been a widespread hit, but it was ahead of its time. The show was about a wiz-kid genius Quinn Mallory, played by Jerry O'Connell, and his band of three companions who slide among Earth's alternate realities. Toward the end of the series, the show quickly slid in quality as three of its stars - O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd and John Rhys-Davies - departed and were replaced by others. A tragic demise to a fine show." They don't even give a nod to greatest-trek-of-all-time DS9, so I don't know about this list.
It only lasted a single season but I really liked Space, Above and Beyond.
I don't see why a sci-fi series shouldn't have a soap-operatic quality to it. Babylon 5 (and, on its heels, DS9) showed other sci-fi writers that a long-term, overarching plot is well-received by many sci-fi fans. Witness Voyager, on the other hand, where the only thing tying the shows together was this "Oh Noes, We're A Bazillion Light Years From Home" thing, while five minutes before the end of every episode they pushed the Magic Reset Button to solve their problem and restore the plot to the way it was when the episode started.
These days, every episode of Stargate SG-1/Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica (some of the most popular current sci-fi) is based on the entire series up until that point (in fact, the first line in most episodes of SG-1 these days is Chris Judge saying, "Previously, on Stargate SG-1...").
Besides, the soap operatic plot of most sci-fi shows holds up to scrutiny a lot better than most actual soap operas: "I love you, but.... I have amnesia!"
Red Dwarf
I don't think I saw Blake's 7 or H2G2 in their either, so it's more a top 50 US Sci-Fi, rather than a general top 50.
Top 10 missing ones:
Red Dwarf
Blake's 7
Battle of the Planets (C'mon, Futurama's in there!)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
DS9
Lexx
The Prisoner
Seaquest DSV
Stingray
Captain Scarlett
Seems someone's got selective-memoryitis...
Where is The Prisioner? I mean it's not exatly Sci-fi, but neither is this list, and at least it was innovative.
Max Headroom would have defenitely gotten my vote. But this list is shit anyway. Voyager is 12 but Firefly is 17? Blasphemey.
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
Great, now I feel old.... (I remember The Invaders first-run) .... The Invaders was one of the very first SF series to achieve mainstream acceptance and commercial success, as it generated an audience among folk who normally only watched soaps and dramas.
I agree with someone above who said that this article was for the purpose of generating traffic, and the list was pretty much pulled out of their ass. That is, it's whatever shows they could remember offhand, with no research whatsoever, and probably by a mainstream TV type rather than a viewer who gravitates toward SF as such.
And mind you, I'm not a purist who says it has to have Science and Social Issues and can't have Fantasy or Whatever -- to me, "Science Fiction" is a broad enough umbrella to cover all these and many more, including a lot of fringe subgenres (yes, folks, The Original Wild Wild West was SF, despite initial appearances. Actually, there have been several SF series set in a Western environment.)
Side thought: one reason some SF series are dull is because they ARE "purist SF" and contain nothing but science and the future, without any concern for who *lives* there.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
How in the crap can the Jetsons beat Futurama? Futurama should have been in the top twenty at least.
Don't get me wrong, Enterprise jumped the shark on occasion (alien Nazis), but at least Enterprise had a little humor, characters with personality, and story arcs about characters you actually cared about. They were just occasionally a little too far-fetched.
DS9, by contrast, when it wasn't devolving into wormhole fantasy and pseudo-spiritual Bajoran mythos crap, could just as easily have happened in 20th century Earth if you substitute the Chunnel for the wormhole and convince the military to fly jets through it. There was nothing futuristic about it. It was just a protracted war with an enemy who was basically evil by design rather than actually a war over something tangible like territory. It's basically the war on terror, only with an even less well-defined objective.
The characters were wooden, the story lines boring, and the whole Dax changeover ranks right up there with the whole baby switching thing. The whole series read like gratuitous verbal masturbation by Berman and Friends. If DS9 is the best Trek has to offer, the franchise should just die now and for all time.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Did you miss Xena? I didn't read the entire list.
Though in their defense, Xena had at least one episode about cloning in modern times. On a similar note, Buffy had the occasional episode that could qualify equally well as science fiction(Robot buffy, the Internet using robot in season 1, etc). Neither were.
Yea That is a crime. They also left out.
Red Dwarf.
Blake's Seven.
Star Cops. I really liked that one from the BBC.
Both series called Probe. Probe from the 80s was written by Asimov no less. I didn't remember Probe from the 70s until I looked up the one from the 80s. It could be redone today.
You also had Time Tunnel from the 60s
I dream of Jeanne! Think about it. It had fantasy, the guy was an Astronaut. It was as much science fiction as say Buffy, or Third Rock. It was also very popular.
And the almost forgotten Planet of the Apes TV series.
And of course a HUGE Hit show that seems to be totaly forgotten from the list... Mork and Mindy!
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
This show, more than anything else, caused me to pursue a career in engineering. The whole idea that science and engineering could restore a man who lost two legs, an arm and an eye to full function convinced me that the way for me to make a difference in the world was to learn how to design electronics and robotics. I'll admit that 30 years later, we still haven't created technology equal to that depicted on the show, but that doesn't change my opinion that the only way to improve the human condition is through intelligent application of engineering.
I am not a crackpot.
Agreed. Red Dwarf belongs near the top.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
you didn't read closely.
When Starbuck was presented as a woman that indeed was unique and a good change to make. After listening to the podcast for Pegasus the writers seem to think that it still is original to recast male characters are female characters. The whole story of multiple Boomers, who used to be a male character, also is a great touch because they did something with the character other than changing the sex. The problem that currently exist with the Starbuck character is that it is very little different from the first Starbuck other than sex. It would be nice to see some creativity in regards to the character.
Strong female characters are needed in Science Fiction. Too often we get bouncing boobs on horses or what boils down to girls on trampolines. BSG comes close to these violations much more this second season as compared to the first.
Some good strong female characters from science fiction shows.
Samantha Carter : Stargate SG-1
Delenn : B5
Susan Ivanova : B5
Ensign Ro : ST:DS9
Captain Janeway : Star Trek Voyager
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Episode 1 introduces the balloon-like Rover, guardian of the Village. No technology like it existed then or now. Later in the episode, #6 is given an "electropass" which, by inferrance, amounts to a low range wireless transmitter, which emits a "key" signal to Rover, telling it to ignore the bearer. This is not dissimilar to current technologies which didn't exist in 1967 (such as bluetooth or WiFi).
Episode 3 (A B & C) features "dream viewing" technology, something far beyond the grasp of even current technology.
Episode 5 (The Schizoid Man) mentions and Episode 6 (The General) features an advanced AI in charge of predicting complex social patterns and forming brainwashing strategies. It is presented as being capable of answering any question, with the exception of one, insoluble by man nor machine.
Episode 6 also features a concept called "speed-learn," a process by which a person can quickly absorb large amounts of information via a television broadcast. It is presented as giving a full 9-week class in the space of 30 seconds.
Episode 12 (A Change of Mind) fatures a non-invasive form of neurosurgery, using highly focused soundwaves. Although the device is not used on #6, its functionality is demonstrated. Technology such as this did not exist in 1967, and likely does not exist now.
Episode 14 (Living in Harmony) features a combination of hallucinogenic drugs and audio stimuli which produces an impossible effect with any known drugs.
Many elements within the series are used frequently, including implied mind-control rays/beams/lights/sounds which induce instant paralysis, the precise location of The Village, and the unknown function of the teeter-totter device.
And if the final episode (Fall Out) takes place in this universe, I want to know how.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
where the hell is Lexx? it makes my top 50 easily so does
Time Tunnel, Land of The Giants and The Invaders
There are a bunch of good SciFi series out there that far outranks some of the ones that made the top 50 -
I love Linda Carter as Wonder Woman, but give me a break as SciFi it does not even rate a number IMHO !