Top 50 Sci-Fi TV
Boston.com has assembled their list of the top 50 Sci-Fi TV shows of all time, in a sucky format that makes you click through 50 pages to find out what it is. Burningbird prints the whole list. I don't have time to comment on all 50, but here are some that would top my list:
Star Trek - the original: They got number 1 right, at least. In reality, it's not the best Sci-Fi show ever, but it deserves number one for being the granddaddy of all classics.
Battlestar Galactica (new): One of the best shows on TV. Period. No spoilers, please! I've got the last two episodes on the DVR.
Babylon 5: Love this show. It's a shame that they had to rush to wrap up the story arc in season 4 when they didn't know if they'd get renewal, but that's my only complaint. Some of the best Sci-Fi TV ever made.
Firefly: I kept running across this name in Sci-Fi forms. The fans, Browncoats, named after the (failed) resistance to the central government called the Alliance, are legendary. So, I jumped at the chance to see it when Sci-Fi started running it before their Friday night line up. In a few short weeks, (there were only 14 episodes made, 11 shown before it was canceled), I've fallen in love with the characters. Who knew that a quasi-western Sci-Fi could work so well? In fact, the DVD's of the series should arrive today. Good news for those persistent fans. The movie, Serenity, comes out Sept. 30. This is great Sci-Fi and a great underdog story. Shiny!
Other shows that would make my list would be Sliders, Quantum Leap, Twilight Zone, Voyager, Lost in Space, and Stargate SG-1. What tops your Sci-Fi TV list?
Sliders...mmm, back when Jerry O'Connell was still kinda geeky.
Speaking of which, someone should throw "My Secret Identity" in there.
Posted by: rew | September 26, 2005 at 04:08 PM
No Farscape! I can't believe the Boston.com people thought drek like "Logan's Run" was better than "Farscape"... *sigh* Here's hoping syndication will be kind to it.
Posted by: Joan | September 27, 2005 at 12:34 AM
Rew,
Sliders: Of course I mean the early episodes with Wade as the female character and Johnathon Davies as the Professor. Before the uber geeky brother character was added.
Joan,
I'm sure I'll get around to Farscape one of these days. FWIW, there was a lot of groaning on /. over the omission.
Posted by: Sandy | September 27, 2005 at 12:52 AM
I loved "Quantum Leap" though I never saw it until it was in syndication. Nine or ten years ago (my, time flies) it was on every night at 10 and I got hooked. It was great watching it this way without the one week between episodes. The concluding show of the series, "Mirror Image", was one of the best episodes I've ever seen on television in any genre and did a deft job of tieing up the mystery/spirituality/purpose without forcing it all into a tidy box.
Posted by: Night Writer | September 27, 2005 at 11:51 AM
Plus, Scott Bakula has an excellent singing voice.
Posted by: rew | September 27, 2005 at 11:53 AM
Hmm. Like you I recently got seriously-in-need-of-professional-help hooked on Firefly. Star Trek TOS, Next Generation and Deep Space Nine would be on my list. (Voyager should be tossed post haste into the nearest industrial incinerator.) Yes, Babylon 5 is among the best ever. (I'm not including Season 5 with Fembot Byron, and the movies.)
As a youth, I might have include Space Academy and Jason of Star Command.
Actually, I'm amazed there even *are* 50 SciFi TV shows. Did pretty much everything make the list?
Posted by: Jeff | September 27, 2005 at 12:41 PM
Rew, you really are a kindred spirit, in spite of our political persuasions.
My intention with ordering the DVD's was to see all the series before the movie release. If you don't have them, I'd be happy to lend them to you when we're done watching them.
Posted by: Sandy | September 27, 2005 at 04:46 PM
Ha! I got signaturea mixed up and it's actually Jeff who joins me in my Firefly/Serenity obsession, not Rew. My bad.
Next Generation was good, but they were so "pushing the New Age agenda", that it drove me nuts. We never got seriously into Deep Space 9. (The PiC was put off by the whole Oracle bit and the fact that it was Star Trek and they stayed in one place all the time!)
I'm with you on Season 5 for Babylon.
Posted by: Sandy | September 27, 2005 at 05:37 PM
Yeah, Next Generation drowned in sappyness at times, but when it was good, it was good. Few shows created a rich, believable world like Star Trek did.
As for DS9, I agree, the whole Prophet thing was hokey. But throw that out, and there was some great storytelling.
Speaking of which, I forget to mention one of my top two or three all time faves: Dr. Who
Cheesiest. Sets. Ever. True, but almost always top notch stories. Dr. Who had its own Wesley Crusher, Adric, and we all cheered mightily when Adric plowed into Earth and killed the dinosaurs.
Posted by: Jeff | September 27, 2005 at 07:13 PM