Your Top Science-Fiction Shows of All Time

[Jokerz79]

Top Five in no Order

Star Trek Franchise

Babylon 5

Battlestar Galactica (Remake Series).

Dr. Who.

X-Files.

Honorable Mentions Red Dwarf, Fringe, Orville, Farscape, Eureka, Sliders, Firefly, Original Battlestar, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Warehouse 13, & Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis

[Deathstroke]

Babylon 5
Firefly
Star Trek (all of them under one banner)
Farscape
Doctor Who
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (not sure if it counts but if it does I want it on my list)

[Zero Hunter]

Farscape
Babylon 5
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (it is better then TNG ..... there I said it)
Doctor Who
Orphan Black

[Jim Kelly]

I forgot about SLIDERS which was another favourite--at least when it was being made in Vancouver. I might be the only one who watched THE STARLOST. This was a Canadian science fiction series made in 1973, created by Harlan Ellison and starring Keir Dullea. It might have looked cheap to Americans, but I remember there being a lot of talk about it being a very expensive project for Canada--our TV shows were national embarrassments back then. It all took place on a giant space ship called the Ark.

[Sutekh]

Deep Space Nine
Babylon 5
Altered Carbon
Firefly
either Earth: Final Conflict or Andromeda

[TriggerWarning]

1. Farscape
2. Alias (it was a sci fi show disguised as a spy thriller)
3. Fringe
4. The X-Files
5. Orphan Black
6. Lost
7. Star Trek: TNG

[TriggerWarning]

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (not sure if it counts but if it does I want it on my list)

I thought about Buffy and Angel but decided they were urban fantasy rather than sci fi. If we counted them though Angel would be #1 on my list followed by Buffy at #2.

[AndrewCrossett]

Yeah, I wasn't counting Buffy and Angel, though both had some sci-fi in them.

[Powerboy]

This is tough because there are so many great shows and then I tend to distinguish between science fiction and fantasy. Then there are shows I loved that got canceled after a few episodes.

Star Trek: the original, the Next Generation and DS9 for sure but I'll just count them as Star Trek so I have room for other choices.

Babylon 5.

Doctor Who.

The original Twilight Zone though whether it was science fiction or Fantasy depended on the episode.

Let me say there have been so many sci fi shows I loved (and this is not necessarily my favorites in order) that choosing the fifth and last is almost an impossible task. Depending on how loosely I define science fiction, the possibilities are endless. The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. Lost in Space (yes it was made for kids and, as such, was great and I loved the recent remake too). The Outer Limits. The Incredible Hulk. Various shows about Superman. 1960's Batman. Hercules and Xena if we are counting Fantasy. Bewitched for that matter if Fantasy counts. Plus the thousand other shows I'll remember that I forgot right after I post this.

But, if we are going with shows that have at least a pretense of being science fiction and not fantasy, I will say the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, counting them as one show as I did with Star Trek.

I discounted shows that lasted a short time but some of them I would count as favorites. "The Fantastic Journey" was one such show as was the "Logan's Run" television show. "Beast Master" and "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World" were up there but I consider them primarily fantasy.

[AndrewCrossett]

This is why I prefer the label "speculative fiction" to cover basically stories about anything that couldn't happen in the real world with the period's level of knowledge or technology. That covers sci-fi, fantasy, horror, superhero, and even alternate history stuff like steampunk.

[stargazer01]

I wanted this thread to be more about Sci-Fi. I agree that Doctor Who has some fantasy elements like Superman, but it really tries to be more science based most of the time I think. Superman is a fantasy dressed as science lol. Even Star Trek has characters like Q who is god-like with his omnipotent powers.

I really see horror and pure fantasy as different genres, but sometimes they collide with Sci-Fi like the Alien movies.

[Ozymandias]

I really see horror and pure fantasy as different genres, but sometimes they collide with Sci-Fi

The lines really blur when you take into consideration Clarke's definition of magic, but as long as you don't get in the story, a direct link to technology, the supernatural should still be considered as its own thing. Otherwise what's the point in labelling, if you later amalgamate several into a bigger category?

[Jim Kelly]

I discounted shows that lasted a short time but some of them I would count as favorites.

When I look at it, I realize that almost all the shows that I listed in my first post were only on for one season. That only leaves Star Trek, Lost in Space and Quantum Leap. But I actually had to look at it, because in my memory these shows were on for several seasons--given time passed much slower back then. It's genuinely surprising to me that Time Tunnel, the Invaders, Planet of the Apes and Battlestar Galactica didn't get a second season. In my mind they did.

Looking up the Time Tunnel on Wikipedia, it says that Timeless was a remake. I watched that series and never thought it had any connection to the Time Tunnel. They are really different in the means of time travel and the effects of time travel. I would really like to see someone tackle the Time Tunnel as a major movie concept. The series wowed me as a kid--although now I recognize they were using film from the 20th Century Fox library for different time periods. An update could have the Time Tunnel being a wormhole in reality into which the travellers enter to get to different places in the past.

[stargazer01]

The lines really blur when you take into consideration Clarke's definition of magic, but as long as you don't get in the story, a direct link to technology, the supernatural should still be considered as its own thing. Otherwise what's the point in labelling, if you later amalgamate several into a bigger category?

I agree, Supernatural should be separate from Sci-Fi. It's about things that are still considered pure myth not realistic.

When I look at it, I realize that almost all the shows that I listed in my first post were only on for one season. That only leaves Star Trek, Lost in Space and Quantum Leap. But I actually had to look at it, because in my memory these shows were on for several seasons--given time passed much slower back then. It's genuinely surprising to me that Time Tunnel, the Invaders, Planet of the Apes and Battlestar Galactica didn't get a second season. In my mind they did.

Looking up the Time Tunnel on Wikipedia, it says that Timeless was a remake. I watched that series and never thought it had any connection to the Time Tunnel. They are really different in the means of time travel and the effects of time travel. I would really like to see someone tackle the Time Tunnel as a major movie concept. The series wowed me as a kid--although now I recognize they were using film from the 20th Century Fox library for different time periods. An update could have the Time Tunnel being a wormhole in reality into which the travellers enter to get to different places in the past.

Interesting, I didn't know some of those old shows only lasted one season. Felt longer. Besides Trek and Doctor Who, the other Sci-Fi franchise I can remember that lasted more than 5 seasons is Stargate SG1. Smallville is another genre show that lasted many years (10 like SG1).

[TheBlackTerror]

, Planet of the Apes and Battlestar Galactica didn't get a second season. In my mind they did.

.

I thought the TV POTA series could be surprisingly character driven and poignant. Some episodes like the Liberator and Up above the world so High were very well written