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.

Re:Sliders

I've heard John Rhys-Davies in person speak about his leaving sliders. It was several years ago and so I'd probably not even try and quote what he actually said whilst I was present, the gist of it was that he left because although he loved the concept of the series he saw it already going downhill before he decided to leave. I think he's been quite public about this and I managed to find this quote [sliders.net].

"I like SF. I love intelligent SF," Rhys-Davies says in his deep basso voice. "When you come across good writing, and I think 'Scorpion' was finely written, it's a wonderful thing. I had just come through a period where the contractual nature of my job obliged me to take scripts that frankly wouldn't get past Writing 101. We had the most wonderful series concept with Sliders, but we did everything that had been done before and we did it every damned episode. We did Species. We did Tremors. We did Twister. We did War of the Worlds. We did The Island of Dr. Moreau. It was out of control, just out of control.

"I think Tracy did a nice job early on. We had our differences and we fought occasionally. In the end, Sliders wasn't the worst experience I ever had. I was just disappointed. Again, I love SF. I'm a passionate believer in Sliders. The series could have been great. The public always understood the of Sliders. The public understood that you could go anywhere in the galaxy. The writers, though, would try to graft a Law and Order story, or something they had done or seen before, onto Sliders and just make the characters work around it."

Flamebait Squared

Slashdot is not a place for a reasonable discussion of Sci-Fi shows. This might hurt someone's karma...

ranking

Dr Who was relegated to number 8 while Stargate got number 6?! Something is very wrong with this list.

Doctor Who: 1963-2007 (at least)

Also, oddly they say it ran from 1963 to 1989... Hmmm, you know... I could swear I saw something on BBC 1 called Dr. something a short while back.. I wonder what it could be.

Doctor Who [bbc.co.uk] was resurrected in 2005; 2006 is in production, and has been green-lighted through 2007.

Re:ranking

BSG has proven to be interesting but the writers are stuck on the idea that changing the sex of known characters constitutes "unique" changes. After the premier that "stunt" loses all meaning.

There is also the possibility that the series is highly rated because it's simply a good show and not because it is completely "unique" from the original.

The fact that Starbuck used to be a guy doesn't have any impact on that unless you're stuck on the original series. Starbuck being a woman has created some interesting plot points, and the "stunt" you were referring to has only been made a big deal by detractors, not the producers. It has never been a major selling point to watch the show.

BSG is doing well because it's simply a good, entertaining, and thoughtful show. The end.

Re:ranking

My complaint is that The Twilight Zone (Original Rod Serling version) was way down the list. That was easily the greatest Speculative Fiction series ever made for TV. Easily. Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: TNG were good series, true, but not as good as Twilight Zone. Some of the greatest SF/Fantasy writers ever wrote for it, and I most emphatically include Rod Serling among their number.

The Twilight Zone will stand the test of time. It already has since it's a creature of the late 1950s to early 1960s. While so much of what is on the list will be forgotten, it will remain a classic.

No Max Headroom?

Wah??

Re:No Max Headroom?

Max Headroom would have defenitely gotten my vote. But this list is shit anyway. Voyager is 12 but Firefly is 17? Blasphemey.

Re:No Max Headroom?

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!

Um, hello

There are better sci fi shows than Farscape, but there aren't 50 sci fi shows better than Farscape. What a horrible omission from that list.

Re:Um, hello

Totally agree, Farscape are a definite top ten. The list is plainly flawed, lacking both Farscape and Red Dwarf.

I'm not sure of the list either.

Come on, they put the Thunderbirds in front of Futurama... That's just wrong.

Space Above and Beyond

It only lasted a single season but I really liked Space, Above and Beyond.

Re:Space Above and Beyond

I have to agree. As someone else said of Farscape, there are better SF shows, but there certainly aren't 50 of them! How it could be left off (along with Farscape and Red Dwarf apparently) is a mystery to me. Sure, it started poorly, but the last 2/3rds of the season were great. It had a lot more darkness and grit than many SF shows.

Also a little cnfusing is that while they managed to pick up Nowhere Man (which was a surprisingly good show all things considered) they somehow neglected The Prisoner (to which Nowhere Man owes a great deal).

And how exactly does Firefly finish behind Voyager and Xena?

Seems like a real slap dash hodge podge to me.

Jedidiah.

Science Fiction?

They have a pretty weird definition of science fiction. I mean, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.? Mystery Science Theater 3000? Tales from the Crypt? Avengers? Batman? Buffy? Why not Friends while you're at it? I mean, a New York without any colored people?

Re:Science Fiction?

" They have a pretty weird definition of science fiction"

The media industry, in deciding what genre a show is, can't slice the pie too fine, or the definitions become useless. They are more likely to define the genres according to audience, since that's what advertisers want to see. So, no Horror-fantasy, Horror, High Fantasy, or Historical Fantasy genre labels for us.

Given that the media industry has so much influence on public perception of things, is it surprising that people slowly change how they label things to fit the media labels?

From http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Science_ficti on_on_television [laborlawtalk.com]:

"There is some ambiguity as to what exactly "science fiction" covers in terms of television. In recent years, the term has come to cover any programme that deals in the fantastical or even merely the horrific, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed or Angel. More accurately these programmes are not science fiction as they don't involve any real scientific element, and are perhaps more comfortably covered under the generic term "telefantasy"."

Science Fiction?!!

I'm sorry, and I'm sure this is beating a dead horse, but Superman, Batman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, et als. are not SCIENCE FICTION. Granted, there may be a correlation between the viewership of said shows, but these shows don't even pretend to be futuristic, or contain a science element at all. Batman, maybe, but I hate it when people lump these things all under the "sci fi" umbrella. This is why we have all this horror shlock on the Sci-Fi channel and things like Farscape get cancelled.

Re:Science Fiction?!!

Aliens don't make science fiction.

Science fiction needs two elements - *science* and *fiction*. Everything else is just fluff.

Superman and Buffy have no science elements. They are merely fiction.

No Lexx?

The top ten of this list I can agree with. Lost isn't even close to sci-fi, but man, how do you leave off Lexx from this list? Nothing grabbed my attention(and made me cover myself with a pillow) more than that show did.

They forgot the #1 Sci-Fi show!

I watched it [wikipedia.org] once, it was too alien to me.

Synapsis: This head alien interrogates others [wikipedia.org] like it regarding its numerous abuses by Man. Freaky episodes about the aliens' fashion, body morphing in their latter life stage, even discussions about how they can get their alien race to win the Presidency [wikipedia.org].

Eerie.

The Prisoner

Greatest 50, my arse! Where's The Prisoner?

Prisoner Not Sci-Fi?

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.

Re:Too bad...

Yeah. Don't the writers know that TV is about pure, accurate depictions of science? You'd think they were trying to entertain us or something! Stupid unenlightened TV writers!

That's why I only watch PBS and listen to NPR -- so I can be safe from entertainment and news about regular people.

Best sf show

Hands down, Farscape. Well-thought-out, well-scripted, believable aliens, and an interesting ship. 'S a crying shame that the SciFi channel pulled the plug. I really miss it. It made cable tv worth the money - that, and F1 racing.

Next best is an oldie: The Prisoner. If you're under 40, you likely missed it. :( #6 just refused to cave in, and he won... or did he?

Re:Idiotic List

Shows like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone were not always sci-fi, but when they were, they were usually the absolute best. Cutting out these shows would be like cutting Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and others from a list of the best rock music, because some of their music wasn't rock.

I have never understood why so many people seem to believe that "sci-fi" must include aliens or space ships to be sci-fi. Sci-fi often becomes confused with fantasy.

If we were to make a list of "best" sci-fi, and strictly adhered to them being actual sci-fi, I do not believe you could get a list of 50 if you limited yourself to television. In order to have a list with any meaning, you would have to seperate the truly great from shows that either failed entirely, or were never able to garner more than a niche audience. And because of the non-linear nature of the best specimens of sci-fi (Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, etc - shows that were not dedicated to sci-fi-only), you would be forced to either include these sometimes-sci-fi shows, or admit that your list just lost it's heaviest hitters.

In such a list, I get the feeling that Farscape MIGHT only stand a chance of getting in. As for Lexx, First Wave, this new BSG, and many of the other shows experiencing a brief period of popularity or who have a dedicated and vocal but small audience... they wouldn't stand a chance.

As for Stargate, I never personally got into the show, but it would most likely make it into such a list intact. It's probably the only currently running show that would.

And dammit Star Trek SHOULD be at the top of the list. No one can say another sci-fi show has had a greater impact. Twilight Zone would be next in line, then probably Lost In Space (another show I never loved, but has stood the test of time).

firefly?

I can't believe no one seems to have mentioned this yet, slashdot is not normally short of firefly fanboys. Not that it actually deserves top spot, that should belong to Babylon 5, with Blake's 7 in second, but IMO firefly should still have made top 10

list as high quality as navigation

Well, this list is clearly just a cheap method to generate ad revenue, but if we give the paper the benifit of the doubt, I think the list is a bit daft.

Xena, though a fine show, is hardly a science fiction. It has none of the technology, exploration of current social problems, or even exploration of various cultures. Pretty much it just a medeival cop show.

Sliders was not ahead of it's time. It was just another huckleberry finn, star trek, docotor who knockoff with none of the redeeming factors. It is quite suitable for the adolecent maile, with a good role model, a pretty girl into geeks, and trivial story line. However, there are no layers that might make it interesting to an adult. The writing was woodden, even by scifi standards.

One contemporary scifi show that is seldom mentioned is 'The Cape'. Based on reality, good exploration life, and how we might move forward. Much more interesting than anything I saw on that list, though the show only works if you ignore current reality, as is true for most scifi.

Full Listing

From scovetta.blogspot.com [blogspot.com]:

50. 'Earth - Final Conflict'
49. 'The Wild Wild West'
48. '3rd Rock From The Sun'
47. 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'
46. 'That Was Then'
45. 'The Greatest American Hero'
44. 'Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'
43. 'Nowhere Man'
42. 'Science Fiction Theatre'
41. 'Futurama'
40. 'The Thunderbirds'
39. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'
38. 'Batman'
37. 'Space 1999'
36. 'The Bionic Woman'
35. 'Battlestar Galactica' (Original)
34. 'The Avengers'
33. 'Lost In Space'
32. 'My Favorite Martian'
31. 'Alien Nation'
30. 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'
29. 'The Six Million Dollar Man'
28. 'Adventures of Superman'
27. 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
26. 'Stargate Atlantis'
25. 'The Jetsons'
24. 'Wonder Woman'
23. 'Tales from the Crypt'
22. 'Andromeda'
21. 'Quantum Leap'
20. 'The Hitchhiker'
19. 'Dark Angel'
18. 'V'
17. 'Firefly'
16. 'Flash Gordon'
15. 'Logan's Run'
14. 'Star Trek Voyager'
13. 'The Outer Limits'
12. 'Xena: Warrior Princess'
11. 'Lost'
10. 'Sliders'
9. 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'
8. 'Dr. Who'
7. 'The Twilight Zone'
6. 'Stargate SG-1'
5. 'Babylon 5'
4. 'The X-Files'
3. 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'
2. 'Battlestar Galactica' (New)
1. 'Star Trek' (Original)

Re:Full Listing

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...

"The Time Tunnel"

What about "The Time Tunnel [tvparty.com]"? The list has "Quantum Leap" and QL is simply an updated TTT. Both were pretty much the same thing except QL overlayed a social commentary on the time jumps that TTT didn't.

ad revenue

1. Post list of top 50 things a geek cares about.
    1a. doesn't matter how accurate or well researched the list is

2. Make list available one item per time on a page heavy with ads

3. Post link to /.

4. There is no ..., just straight profit from the geeks clicking through 50 pages of ads.

Sci-Fi? Nah, Fantasy..

..and they missed the best fantasy show of them all [foxnews.com].

Who is number one?

Where is The Prisioner? I mean it's not exatly Sci-fi, but neither is this list, and at least it was innovative.

Can we mod an entire *News Article* as Flamebait?

"They don't even give a nod to greatest-trek-of-all-time DS9"

Flamebait (-1)

Jilted Again

When will these Sci-Fi "critics" finally live up to their lofty edifice and recognize Lost Saucer as one of the greats?

Someday, Ruth Buzzy and Jim Neighbors will get their due.

You suck, Boston.com

This isn't really a story; its just a bunch of blurbs about show plots with actually no commentary whatsoever. I clicked through fifty pages of that nonsense hoping to find some meat to it, but I hath been led down a path of ad impressions and wasted time. From now on I'm boycotting all thigns Boston, except when the Sox play the Yankees, and then only to root for the Yankees. Thats right Boston.com, I said go Yankees.

On a slightly more relevent note, I just marathoned like seven episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica on my DVR, and I think it might actually be the best show on TV, including those edgy shows on cable where they show boobies. Its that good.

WTF?

Number 27: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'

Number 12: 'Xena: Warrior Princess'

Xena better than Buffy? Both sci-fi?

Crap list...

Whaaa-waaaa--wwwwaaattt?????

no Salvage, Blue Thunder, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Automan, Max Headroom or The Prisoner????

Lexx, Lexx, Lexx, Lexx

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 !

RED DWARF!!!

Nuff said.

Re:DS9???

But have you seen the list?
A lot of those shows aren't Science Fiction.

Re:I call shenanigans...

Um, they ranked the new BSG #2.

Re:DS9???

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!"

Re:Soap Opera, DS9, B5, BSG

I won't complain about the possibility of a Sci Fi being a soap opera.

Babylon 5 was not a soap opera. Babylon 5 was a story. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. Towards the end of B5 you can definitely see all of the pieces being moved off of the board one by one.

A soap opera is not going anywhere. Things just keep happening. You can keep it up for as long as you want. Characters can come and go. The basic direction can change. This is very different than a novel, or Babylon 5.

DS 9 might be a soap opera. (I quit watching after 2nd season due to liking B5 better and had insufficient time for both DS9 and B5.) I don't know if DS9 was a soap opera. Was the story working its way towards any overall conclusion?

This brings me to the new Battlestar Galactica. I wonder if it is like B5 in that there is a distinct conclusion that they are heading towards? Maybe so, but maybe they don't have a plan for getting there? Will they drive off into the ditch along the way and never get to the conclusion. I sure hope not. I would be very disappointed in investing time to watch it.

Re:New BSG is #2? WTF?

Now I've tried it(Battlestar Galactica). Thanks to some of these people, I've watched MANY episodes of it, and I understand it less each time. How can even average-smart people put up with such terrible writing? Such stupid plots and stupider plot holes? Such transparent and flacid attempts to be edgy and gritty? Such... lack of immagination?
(edit mine)

In contrast to the origional series aka Wagon Train in Space staring Lorne Greene? A boy and his mechanical dog? And evil inverse video goat man? Making it a point to create perfectly reflective robots without regard to lighting resulting in having to use colored filters so you couldn't see the crew? Recycled special effects from the movie which employed recycled special effects. Not to speak of Galactica 1980 who had a group of kids farm with their super strength or play baseball and win to avoid detection from the goverment. Or worse yet "You're pregnant? How is this possible? Must have been devine intervention!" Can you say a transparent attempt to prevent kids from finding out where babies come from?

I know there are fans of the old series who might be offended, but let's face it BSG 1979 had some awful moments and the new series in many regards is an improvement. I agree it shouldn't get a #2 spot. It's too new and hasn't had long enough to prove itself.