Your Top Science-Fiction Shows of All Time

[stargazer01]

What are your Top 5 or 7 Sci-Fi shows of all time?


Remember, this is a personal list. Everybody's list could be different and that's ok. You can include animation if you think it's good Sci-Fi.


I actually haven't seen all Sci-Fi shows out there (especially in the last decade), so it will be interesting to see what the consensus is here.

I definitely love:

-Star Trek. TOS, TNG, DS9, VOYAGER. Never got into Enterprise. Still haven't seen Discovery, but plan to. Trek is still my #1 Sci-Fi series. Adore the concept.

-Doctor Who. Not a fan of all eras, but I really loved the Eccleston/Tennant years and some of Tom Baker. Haven't seen much of Classic Who (recommend stories if you want). Not a fan of Capaldi or the female Doctor.

-Stargate SG1. Really enjoyed this show. Some cool mythology based on ancient Egypt myth and history. Never finished Stargate Stlantis, was it really good as a whole? I liked it at first (it was intriguing) but got a bit bored in the second or third years.

-Babylon 5. I loved it, but haven't seen it in many years. Does it hold up? How many movies were there, and worth watching?

-The Outer Limits. Just loved most of the episodes that aired in the late 90s-00s. I miss it. Is Black Mirror like it? Heard it was good.

-The Twilight Zone. It's a classic. Many episodes still feel relevant today, imo.

-The Orville. Almost forgot this. Seasons 1 and 2 were so good. Fun, visually stunning, and thought-provoking stories. Some of the best Sci-Fi on par with Trek. So far at least. I love this show.

[AndrewCrossett]

In alphabetical order:

Agents of SHIELD
Firefly
Lost
Star Trek (TOS)
The Twilight Zone (original)
The Venture Bros.
The X-Files

Honorable mentions: Agent Carter, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, Futurama, Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Orville, Star Trek: TNG, Westworld

[Jim Kelly]

Not naming more recent shows--and I only came to Doctor Who in the last ten years--but the top all time series for me were Star Trek, Lost in Space, the Time Tunnel, the Invaders, Planet of the Apes, the Fantastic Journey, Battlestar Galactica and Quantum Leap.

[Scott Taylor]

Babylon 5
Star Trek TOS
Land of the Lost
Stranger Things
War of the Worlds
V (Original one, the new one fell short)
Lost in Space
The Incredible Hulk
Star Wars the Clone Wars
Superfriends
Lexx

[TheBlackTerror]

Not naming more recent shows--and I only came to Doctor Who in the last ten years--but the top all time series for me were Star Trek, Lost in Space, the Time Tunnel, the Invaders, Planet of the Apes, the Fantastic Journey, Battlestar Galactica and Quantum Leap.

Yup a lot of these would be on my list too

I'd add
Space:1999
The Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman
The Dead Zone TV series
The Greatest American Hero
Jason of Star Command/Space Academy
Land of the Giants
The Man in the High Castle
The Night Gallery
The Prisoner
Red Dwarf

[stargazer01]

Not naming more recent shows--and I only came to Doctor Who in the last ten years--but the top all time series for me were Star Trek, Lost in Space, the Time Tunnel, the Invaders, Planet of the Apes, the Fantastic Journey, Battlestar Galactica and Quantum Leap.

you don't love any Sci-Fi show from the 90s and after?


I forgot about The X-Files. Some really great standalone episodes. I didn't like how it ended in the last season. Not a big fan of the mythology episodes. Big fan of the main 2 characters and their friendship and ideology clashes.

Recently read about the Red Dwarf show and it sounded quite intriguing.

Was a big fan of The Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman shows as a child but I haven't seen them in a long time, so can't remember much.

[Jim Kelly]

you don't love any Sci-Fi show from the 90s and after?

Well I did include QUANTUM LEAP. But to say a show is my favourite of all time seems like a lot of weight to put on the shows that I've seen more recently. Who knows if I'm just infatuated now and, in twenty years, I'll feel completely different. The shows I listed are those that I remember loving at the time and the love has stayed with me all these years--even if I know they were kind of stupid shows and maybe can't hold up as great science fiction, I still hold them in my heart.

I like DOCTOR WHO now, but maybe I won't always feel that way. Also, I find it hard to think of DW as science fiction--it's more like a great British soap opera anthology series. Likewise with OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE--which I saw as a little boy--those weren't science fiction, those were documentaries. Even QUANTUM LEAP is less of a science fiction and more of a Scott Bakula actor's workshop.

[Sandmans_Raven]

Oh boy, I need to think about this one a little bit but the ones that come to mind immediately are:

Fringe
MST3K
Twilight Zone
WestWorld
X-Files
Futurama
Cowboy Bebop

[Nate Grey]

DS9 and Earth: Final Conflict instantly come to mind. I'd love to see both rebooted now that I'm thinking about it.

[stargazer01]

Well I did include QUANTUM LEAP. But to say a show is my favourite of all time seems like a lot of weight to put on the shows that I've seen more recently. Who knows if I'm just infatuated now and, in twenty years, I'll feel completely different. The shows I listed are those that I remember loving at the time and the love has stayed with me all these years--even if I know they were kind of stupid shows and maybe can't hold up as great science fiction, I still hold them in my heart.

I like DOCTOR WHO now, but maybe I won't always feel that way. Also, I find it hard to think of DW as science fiction--it's more like a great British soap opera anthology series. Likewise with OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE--which I saw as a little boy--those weren't science fiction, those were documentaries. Even QUANTUM LEAP is less of a science fiction and more of a Scott Bakula actor's workshop.

OK, thank you for the explanation. Personally, I see Doctor Who more Science-Fantasy than real Sci-Fi, but sometimes really feel very Sci-Fi-ish so I like to include it in lists like this.

The Outer Limits show from the late 90s was very Sci-Fi to me. The 60s Twilight Zone too. Not all the episodes but many.

[Jackalope89]

MST3K (glad I'm not the only one to mention it)
DBZ
Star Wars
DCAU of the 90s-early 2000s
Teen Titans animated series

Admittedly, after the early-mid 2000s, I kind of switched gears into more fantasy/supernatural genres.

[MRP]

from animation

Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman
Flash Gordon (animated series)-Flash is one of the icons of sci-fi but is largely overlooked in the modern era. The cartoon was an excellent adaptation of the property filtered through a younger lens
Star Wars: Rebels
Jonny Quest (adventure with some sci-fi elements that work very well)

live action

Star Trek: TOS
X-Files
The Expanse
Doctor Who (particularly the Pertwee and Tom Baker years)

honorable mentions to Babylon 5, the original Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: TNG.

-M

[Ozymandias]

Black Mirror
Legion
The Leftovers
The OA
Westworld

[Dr. Skeleton]

Star Trek
Twilight Zone
The Outer Limits
Farscape
Sliders
Lost In Space
Lexx

[Sandmans_Raven]

from animation

Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman
Flash Gordon (animated series)-Flash is one of the icons of sci-fi but is largely overlooked in the modern era. The cartoon was an excellent adaptation of the property filtered through a younger lens
Star Wars: Rebels
Jonny Quest (adventure with some sci-fi elements that work very well)


-M

Oh dang, I didn't even think about animation and Futurama is one of my favorite shows of all time