FTA-TV Top 10 Sci Fi Shows of All Time

[Bomberboyokay]

I watched heaps of Star Trek episodes from little kid to adult when Next Generation was still going in 90's but would not have a clue how many episodes I not seen or movies I missed.
What made you determined to watch every single episode and movie?

I'd seen a bunch of '90s Star Trek when I was younger and generally enjoyed it. Other shows and movies have been aping things from it so I knew it had a significance and legacy. Knew the person who made Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) had written for it. RedLetterMedia referenced Star Trek endlessly. I was past the "Nah the sets/effects look crap" mindset that would've got in the way, particularly for the '60s episodes, when I was younger. Can watch an episode now and appreciate the time and money and year it was when they made it. There wasn't and still isn't many good current shows set in space. The Expanse and Stargate Universe (and Altered Carbon though I can't remember much of it actually being in space) are the only ones from the last decade that come to mind.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Fantasy is a big deal because Game of Thrones did really well and the comic book stuff seems permanent. I'd probably realised it was going to be a long wait for HBO or the like to do a dead serious space drama. Feel that series will happen eventually and people will go 'How didn't this happen already?'. In the mean time Star Trek has a big archive for me.

 

[djrossie16]

In the last year i bought the entire box set movie and series of Battlestar Galactica dvd (from some dodgey cash coverters) . Better late than never! Glad I still have the old dvd player hooked up to my old tv with the existing surround sound system set up from ages ago. Forget about how good the show was it sounded as good. All those dogfight scenes . Exhilarating stuff
Currently a huge fan of The Expanse. Recently finished season 4. Its one of my favourite shows. Very good in so many different areas. So many fascinating characters and has a great vision in its storyline and setting. I'll hopefully track down the books one day.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Currently a huge fan of The Expanse. Recently finished season 4. Its one of my favourite shows. Very good in so many different areas. So many fascinating characters and has a great vision in its storyline and setting. I'll hopefully track down the books one day.

I've enjoyed The Expanse books but knowing what's going to happen has diminished the fun. I'd wait until the show's finished. Book series isn't even finished.

 

[footyfan1978]

I'd seen a bunch of '90s Star Trek when I was younger and generally enjoyed it. Other shows and movies have been aping things from it so I knew it had a significance and legacy. Knew the person who made Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) had written for it. RedLetterMedia referenced Star Trek endlessly. I was past the "Nah the sets/effects look crap" mindset that would've got in the way, particularly for the '60s episodes, when I was younger. Can watch an episode now and appreciate the time and money and year it was when they made it. There wasn't and still isn't many good current shows set in space. The Expanse and Stargate Universe (and Altered Carbon though I can't remember much of it actually being in space) are the only ones from the last decade that come to mind.

There were some other space shows made back then but I cannot recall their names. The British made some good ones too. Blake 7 was something I saw a few episodes of but more character driven show than American space shows which are more about sci-fi concepts and more optimistic/cheesy story lines than British tend to make.
I could live with the cheesy moments as Star Trek in essence just really got into the sci-fi concepts well and explored so many ideas without feeling the need to develop the characters too much. Do not think I will ever see all episodes though. I have no idea of how many episodes of Star Trek Next Generation I seen. Would have seen a lot more of that, than the other versions.

Good luck on your Marathon viewing.
It would be overwhelming to try to see every episode.

 

[Kram]

Blake's 7 >>>>>>>> Star Trek

 

[footyfan1978]

Blake's 7 >>>>>>>> Star Trek

Calm down...

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Babylon 5 is on my eventual to do list. Sounds like a cross between Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Something funny Kram

 

[footyfan1978]

Watched a few episodes of things like Bablyon 5 and Farscape but could never get into and just seemed second or third rate attempts at Star Trek with more slant on imaginary space politics than pure sci-fi slant.


ha ha. just found Blake 7 on youtube and seeing opening of it make me realise Red Dwarf is the comedy inspired from it.

 

[Kram]

Walter White:
His buddies, Beaver and what's-his-name?
Kuby:
Uh, Badger and Skinny Pete. Yeah, no, he's not with them.
Walter White:
They could be covering for him.
Kuby:
I posed as a meter reader. I put a bug in the tall kid's mom's place. For three hours straight, all he talked about was something called Babylon 5.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Breaking Bad is the top desert show ever.

 

[JackOutback]

Deep Space 9, Babylon 5 and BSG are the top tier sci-fi shows.

 

[Andre]

Blake's 7 though; I re-watched a few episodes of this on Youtube maybe a year ago and really enjoyed them - it was horribly dated in many ways, but the story was good enough to keep me watching; prime material for a re-make as it is all but forgotten, in some ways it was ahead of it's time as it was really dystopic, wasn't afraid to mess with it's main cast (the titular Blake himself was absent for large stretches of the show's run) and some of the characters were extremely nuanced; there were few out and out goodies or baddies.

Ahead of it's time for the heroes, other than Blake himself, were very much just in it for themselves as much as to do good. Especially Avon. Eldest son is named Blake after this show

I'm not going to redo my list, but from when I did in 2011 shows since then that would be in contention to take a top 10 spot would be Stranger Things. I've enjoyed The Expanse, Travellrs and West World, but wouldn't put them in top 10 contention. West World if they'd been able to maintain that first series level (or had stopped at one season), would be there.

One thing I'd say as sci-fi (/fantasy, in which I'd include Superheros) fans is we're lucky that conventions exist to be able to listen to some of the actors and actresses and get photo's with or autographs from. There aren't 'hospital show' conventions or 'cop show' conventions etc. (or if their are, they are extremely rare, as I've never heard of one). I don't want to tally up how much my wife and I have dropped on photo's with and autographs the last 10 years from those that have come out to Australia for Con's.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Twilight Zone, the original Star Trek the top two for me.

Original Lost in Space was huge when I was a kid. For some reason I used to have nightmare occasionally with me holding my mum’s hand in backyard watching as Dr Smith tried to sneak over our back fence! Weird s**t.

Space 1999 another one that I got into as a teen about a decade or so after it was made.

X-Files rounding it off.

 

[NSWCROW]

Fantasy is a big deal because Game of Thrones did really well and the comic book stuff seems permanent. I'd probably realised it was going to be a long wait for HBO or the like to do a dead serious space drama. Feel that series will happen eventually and people will go 'How didn't this happen already?'. In the mean time Star Trek has a big archive for me.

" The Sword of Truth " deserves to be remade properly. ( " Legend of the Seeker " was trash apart from Bridget Regan )

 

[Taylor]

Babylon 5 is on my eventual to do list. Sounds like a cross between Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

The first season is alright, better second time around. After that it gets awesome. The effects don't stack up but the stories and the characters are rich.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Started BSG (2000s) recently (currently through the miniseries and up to S1E10) and whilst I'm finding it watchable enough, it hasn't really come anywhere remotely close to the praise. Mostly it just seems like a generic space show, although like The Searchers it does have that aspect of an American Gothic self-searching dumping ground time capsule. But the themes, even for then, aren't handled in a particularly compelling or intriguing manner.

The Six in Baltar's head stuff is absolutely cringey to sit through, and the Helo plot on Caprica isn't much better. Hopefully those subplots come to a point by the end of the season and/or get shelved, because the core of the show is solid enough without those painful distractions.

dude

i found the camera work to be exceptionally engaging. firefly might've been the first nerd tv show that did "documentary cam" but BSG took it to another level, including the scenes in space. it was clearly and objectively better than anything speculative fiction was offering in 2004. the sound is also excellent (in space); it tells us "yes, we know space has no sound but sound makes space combat more awesome".

your description of "generic" is a bit odd; in 2004 which scifi series' were presenting an overarching narrative with a definitive beginning, middle and end? babylon 5 ended 5 years prior and there wasn't much going on during that time which was doing anything similar (maybe Lost?). it was a long 5 years for me haha so i'd be interested to know which series were doing something comparable at the time. additionally, which scifi series/space operas were raising issues of rape during wartime or as torture, debates re abortion, terrorism by "good guys", or had combat engagements based on actual tactics rather than reversing the polarity of the flux capacitor in order to overcharge the tachyon field of the pulse generated by the ship's penis? B5 tried and results were ok, but that's about it.

additionally, despite B5's awesomeness scifi in 2004 was still a dirty genre as far as mainstream television was concerned, so BSG had to soften a market relatively hostile to nerdism. GoT has done similar (x100) more recently. it was a completely different TV landscape to today.

having said that though, i could complain about BSG's shortcomings all day because it never did deliver on its promise (for various reasons). however, it clearly overshadowed the other space operas which had come before or were around during its run.

/nerd.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Babylon 5 is on my eventual to do list. Sounds like a cross between Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

seriously, the modern TV narrative format we all love today began with B5. however, it really hasn't aged well as far as SFX is concerned (it's also not in widescreen). i still love the graphics in space (it looks like a low-res computer game really) but the in-ship/station stuff looks dated as *.

it's also nothing like star trek (because it's good ). DS9 is similar only because it tried to copy B5.

the 2 main problems with B5 are:

1- it took too long to really dig into its narrative arc (understandable given 1994 TV) so there are many really forgettable episodes in its first season which are as pointless as any other scifi show at the time. worse though haha is that you still need to watch those episodes because there are little narrative hints along the way that give context to later events.

2- B5 was constantly held beneath the Cancellation Axe of Greediness. it hurt the story; this is why seasons 3 and 4 are some of the best television in the genre- they're packed with the majority of the main arc because straczynski was constantly worried about cancellation after each season. the final season (5) is therefore fairly mediocre because he'd crammed in most of the main narrative events into 3 and 4.

 

[Roobs321]

dude

i found the camera work to be exceptionally engaging. firefly might've been the first nerd tv show that did "documentary cam" but BSG took it to another level, including the scenes in space. it was clearly and objectively better than anything speculative fiction was offering in 2004. the sound is also excellent (in space); it tells us "yes, we know space has no sound but sound makes space combat more awesome".

your description of "generic" is a bit odd; in 2004 which scifi series' were presenting an overarching narrative with a definitive beginning, middle and end? babylon 5 ended 5 years prior and there wasn't much going on during that time which was doing anything similar (maybe Lost?). it was a long 5 years for me haha so i'd be interested to know which series were doing something comparable at the time. additionally, which scifi series/space operas were raising issues of rape during wartime or as torture, debates re abortion, terrorism by "good guys", or had combat engagements based on actual tactics rather than reversing the polarity of the flux capacitor in order to overcharge the tachyon field of the pulse generated by the ship's penis? B5 tried and results were ok, but that's about it.

additionally, despite B5's awesomeness scifi in 2004 was still a dirty genre as far as mainstream television was concerned, so BSG had to soften a market relatively hostile to nerdism. GoT has done similar (x100) more recently. it was a completely different TV landscape to today.

having said that though, i could complain about BSG's shortcomings all day because it never did deliver on its promise (for various reasons). however, it clearly overshadowed the other space operas which had come before or were around during its run.

/nerd.

I'm in my 30s, I remember when this started up, I just don't find anything special about it. It lacks imagination, has these recurring cringe subplots, and tends to be soapy (made even cheesier by the shaky cam). Only two of the regular cast (the name leads) have rock solid performances. Michael Rymer (who set much of the style and tone) has never been a decent filmmaker. Deceit-based plotting and some contextual intrigue is really all it has going for it.

Does anyone honestly enjoy the Six in Baltar's head stuff? Terrible, clunky, undying, sleazy plot device.

I just think they had some reeeeeally good publicists who persuaded enough people that this was guilt-free prestige television.

 

[JackOutback]

seriously, the modern TV narrative format we all love today began with B5. however, it really hasn't aged well as far as SFX is concerned (it's also not in widescreen). i still love the graphics in space (it looks like a low-res computer game really) but the in-ship/station stuff looks dated as fu**.

it's also nothing like star trek (because it's good ). DS9 is similar only because it tried to copy B5.

the 2 main problems with B5 are:

1- it took too long to really dig into its narrative arc (understandable given 1994 TV) so there are many really forgettable episodes in its first season which are as pointless as any other scifi show at the time. worse though haha is that you still need to watch those episodes because there are little narrative hints along the way that give context to later events.

2- B5 was constantly held beneath the Cancellation Axe of Greediness. it hurt the story; this is why seasons 3 and 4 are some of the best television in the genre- they're packed with the majority of the main arc because straczynski was constantly worried about cancellation after each season. the final season (5) is therefore fairly mediocre because he'd crammed in most of the main narrative events into 3 and 4.

He was famously told it was getting cancelled after season 4, wrapped it all up, only to be told there would’ve a season 5. Held back the finale, then cobbled together a poor final season that didn’t make much sense. Seasons 2-4 are some of the best sci-fi ever.

 

[Taylor]

additionally, despite B5's awesomeness scifi in 2004 was still a dirty genre as far as mainstream television was concerned

This is a huge part of why sci fi now is so rubbish.

Sci fi tv was looked down on by "real TV producers" and then they saw what sort of money it started making and decided they could jump into the genre and do it better...

...except they totally missed the point and tried to run their same manufactured drama wearing a star trek or other t shirt.

 

[Taylor]

He was famously told it was getting cancelled after season 4, wrapped it all up, only to be told there would’ve a season 5. Held back the finale, then cobbled together a poor final season that didn’t make much sense. Seasons 2-4 are some of the best sci-fi ever.

There is no need to watch season five of B5, the majority of the story is wrapped up in that 1000 years in the future episode

 

[JackOutback]

Yep, you can watch season 4 and the season 5 finale and not miss a thing.

 

[edgie]

Never watched Farscape, tempted to give it a go given the StarGate connections and that it was partially Australian.