Yet another lengthy list of the Top 50 SF Shows of All Time. Not bad, but …
- Les is irked by ST:TOS making #1 on the list. As a ground-breaker, and as ongoing (if more than a bit cheesy) entertainment, I don’t cavil at that nod. However …
- ST:TNG as #3? Give me a break. Especially with …
- B5 as #5? B5 is not without faults, especially early on, but season by season it beat the pants off of TNG for story, characterization, and sfx.
- Battlestar Galactica (the new one) is certainly worthy, but it’s way too early on (and we’re way too close to it) to give it the #2 place.
- For the record, Xena was fantasy, not sf. Actually, Twilight Zone was fantasy at least as often, but I’m willing to stretch the point. For that matter, Quantum Leap was pretty much fantasy, too. As was Buffy (which gets beat by … Andromeda?!)
- Alien Nation should have ranked higher (certainly much higher than Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea).
- Firefly (#17) gets beat out by ST:Voyager (#14) and, for the love of God, Logan’s Run (#15)? Jesus wept.
Okay, so it is kind of bad. But rantworthy, which is almost as good, and it’s an fun list to read through (if you ignore the order).
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Maybe I’m prejudiced, but I always thought Space1999 was better than the original Battlestar Gallatica. And are superheros, by their nature, science fiction?
The term “sci-fi” here seems to cover anything live-action (or with marionettes) that isn’t grounded in conventional (TV) reality, so SF, Fantasy, Super-Heroes, etc. are all fair game.
And, yes, S:1999 was a much better series than the original BG. For that matter, the Wild Wild West was better than both of them.
No UFO? No Prisoner? No DS9? No frelling Farscape?!
I couldn’t find anything as to methodology for the list. Which is likely telling.
Space: 1999 (Year One) was at least as good or better than BS:G 1.0 (Year One). But then anything was better than BS:G 1.0 (Year Two), a.k.a., “Battlestar 1980”.
I agree…no UFO? Damn fine show. When I got the DVD’s, I was surprised at how intelligent/adult some of the episodes were.
Actually, I believe that “Logan’s Run” only ran one season. I did a paper on the books/movie/comics/show for a media class in college. Some of the scripts and work by David Gerrold were good, but ruined in the process of (errr) “translation”.
I see a correlation between newer = more higher ratings, though.
Too much fantasy listed. There should be a different list. No Quatermass? No Invaders? No A for Andromeda/Andromeda Breakthrough? No Star Cops? No Blake? Etc…
No Red Dwarf. No Quark. No …
Yes, there’s definitely an historic bias (nostalgia shows + recent hits).
Harlan Ellison also wrote at least one ep of Logan’s Run, as I recall. And, to be fair, it wasn’t an awful show, but it certainly doesn’t merit the rank it had.
S:1999 and UFO both suffered (from an American audience perspective) from the British SF penchant for bizarre opacity and complexities that became acid-trip mystical sorts of things. On the other hand, there were some fine eps, too. And even on a bad day, they were better than the best BS:G ’79.
The Invaders! Oh, yeah! And, Wonder Woman and Lois & Clark, but no Incredible Hulk? My Favorite Martian? If fantasy is acceptible, why not Bewitched, or I Dream of Jeannie (which had rocket ships, too!).
VttBotS, but no Land of the Giants? Lost in Space, but no Time Tunnel?
Earth, the Final Conflict, but no Space: Above & Beyond?
No Farscape? Crikey.
Feh.
‘Fraid the Boston.com list is more than a little bit taahded.