Posted on 07/25/2015 11:07:06 AM PDT by EveningStar
From the whiz-bang and cheesy to the far-out and prematurely cancelled, sci-fi and TV have had a nice run. We locked ourselves in the basement with several milk crates of VHS tapes, laser discs, and back issues of Starlog to come up with the top 50 science-fiction television shows.
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I did think many of the twilight episodes were quite good. In particular the Kick the Can episode and Monsters are due on Maple street. But hands down, IMO, the best Sci Fi TV series was and ever shall be the 1960s episodes of The Outer Limits. And that is not just me. Spielberg and Cronenberg and Steven king have been quoted saying the same thing. Do yourself a favor and search YouTube for The man that was never born - with Martin Landau or the phenomenal Architects of Fear with Robert Culp. That whole 1st season includes The amazing haunting score from Dominic Fronteire. In both of those 2 episodes, the female leads bring a sweet sadness to the thing and bring the Sci Fi down to a very real emotional level. Yes that is what this situation would feel like. They help us feel that. And Sci Fi isn’t just about super scary monsters and crap. There is metaphor to be found in these stories. We can learn from them. And this has been much of my problem of the morphing of stra trek into rock ‘um sock’um starfights between the Klingons and the Federation. I quickly grew tired of that story arc.
There are really only three Anime that should be considered IMO. Ghost in the Shell I think stands toe to toe with any sci fi in book or video. Neon Genesis Evangelion as a groundbreaking point in Anime and Saikano, which may or may not be ‘sci-fi’ enough to be on the list as it’s more human interest than ‘pure’ sci fi.
I don't normally watch Anime but Evangelion was good.
Space:1999 should be higher on the list, and U.F.O. should be right by it.
That was a movie. Not a show.
Others that didn’t make the list:
Science Fiction Theater (1955)
U.F.O. (1969)
The Starlost (1973)
The Avengers (1961-1969)
The Champions (1968)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-1968)
The Time Tunnel (1966-1967)
Land of the Giants (1968-1970)
Ultraman
Jonny Quest (1964-1965)
Earth Final Conflict
Robotech?
True. That one does. Probably more than any really. How did I forget that?
What I'm noticing now is that when you start watching a new show, you may not know what genre it fits into. With shows like Wayward Pines or Under the Dome you don't immediately know how the event or environment is going to be explained, scientifically or supernaturally. I'd have kept watching The Strain more if it turned out to be more SF than supernatural nazi-zombie-vampire horror.
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Any list that doesn’t have Star Trek TOS in the top 2 isn’t much of a list.
Dr. Who/Star Trek TOS? Toss up!
Where would any of the other shows be without those two? No where! They wouldn’t have ever been made.
And where is “The Invaders”?
I was looking for “One Step Beyond”.
I really enjoyed that show.
I think I remember that one. Didn’t they have big eyes, large Heads with the exposed Brains?
There was also an Alien with that look in “This Island Earth”. Not the Guys with the John Kerry Foreheads.
Agreed, though I thought they came up with a particularly clever, sublime ending for the US version of LOM (though its execution was a bit cheap).
I wasthinking what about “Chuck”? Super NSA/CIA data base computer program flashed into his brain should qualify for science fiction. Plus Sarah Walker was smoking hot, Major Casey was a bad ass, and hus nerd friend Morgan.
“but when they got to the Borg, that was great! “
ST:TNG’s Borg concept was a direct lift from Dr. Who’s Cybermen.
I tried to watch it but it never gripped me.
Initially Colm Meaney was going to be Gene Hunt which was a selling point to me but he was cut.
It was the 0 worship at the end that did it to me.
I agree with a lot of the list except for the top 5.
The Next Generation should be in the top 5 however.
I also liked “Total Recall” a lot in the original and the remake.
A huge oversight or should I say a ‘hugh oversight that is serrius’ is that Falling Skies is not on the list.
Anyone else watch this show?
Why they used the names of all the Brit LOM characters for the US version I never understood - it made for an NYPD precinct with ridiculously Anglo names.
If the list was for feature films my top three, in no particular order, would be Forbidden Planet, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. But any of these lists are entirely subjective. There will always be disagreement about what’s left out and the order. And as far as ST-TNG is concerned, we’ll always have Q and the Borg, the latter being a foreshadowing of the homosexual assimilationist Left.
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