Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows Of All Time

[fugiman]

Let me say this, Buffy is a good show, and from time to time I do enjoy it, but its not the best show ever, I mean DS9 anyday of the week is more enjoyable

[maneth]

It's #5 on the list, keep up

Doctor Who is also on the list, at #8. And Farscape may have been filmed in Australia, but it's owned by SFC--making it most definitely an American production.

Oops! My bad. I checked at least three times, but I guess I was too tired. Shouldn't've posted.

[Bill K]

These kinds of lists can spark some interesting discussions as to what ranks where, but first the list itself has to have some degree of ligitimacy, and this one conjures up visions of 2 or 3 kids sitting around the college dorm room in their underwear, eating pizza, and tossing out whatever shows pop into their heads.....Half the stuff doesn't belong, 3rd Rock, Jetsons and My Favorite Martian are sit coms, Man from UNCLE and Avengers are spy shows, (how did they leave out "Get Smart"?) Xena is fantasy, the cartoon based shows, Superman, Batman and WW are, well, cartoon based shows, while Buffy is either (take your pick) fantasy and doesn't belong, or vastly underrated if it does.....as for the legimate sci fi shows, much of the rankings defy logic...Sliders 11 pos. higher than Quantum Leap!?...BSG at no.2 already before evening finishing it's run?...and as others have noted, arguably top 10 shows DS-9 and Farscape aren't even on the list! A well conceived top 50 would be interesting, this isn't (well conceived or interesting).

Bill K

[X-3-0-2]

I do question whether shows like Buffy, Xena, Wild Wild West are sci-fi shows. I would have liked to see Farscape, Star Trek: DS9, The Prisoner, The Invaders, etc on the list.

This list came out first in 2005, and it was very premature. LOST started with promise, good actors, dramatic intro but got very silly. Lots of cliffhangers that become anti-climaxes, to much filler material, dumb new musical score each week, boring love triangle in LOST and the flashbacks became pointless

Many of the recaps were badly done, consisting of random clips throughout the entire series, rather than the previous episode. Right now i'd rather have watched the polar bears rip the survivors to shreds rather than watch another lamo backstory/flashback



The new BSG has squandered most of its potential. Black Market, Heroes, Sacrifice and Unfinished Business (Rocky in Space) were some of the show's worst. Most fans would have been relieved to see Starbuck dead because it means we can finally put the Lee/Kara crap to bed. Unfortunately for RDM, since season 1 there has been a sharp decline in the quality of writing. people realizing the Cylons never had a plan and Moore just made it up as he went along or had stolen from Larson & DeSanto for his movie. The lack of action made the show very slow paced.

Moore’s use of “All Along the Watchtower” as a siren song to the four citizens of the fleet was dumb, the show has been going nowhere these past 2 seasons. I'd rather the killer badguys be Reavers, Goa'uld or Daleks than silly sexbot Cylons. The hendrix/dylan season finale was incredibly stupid. Did they forget about the Cylon detector ? Or that Chief not Cylon Bommer was falling asleep during episode 33 ? It has lost all the great action, good drama and clever writing of the first seasons and the miniseries.

[1DanielForMe]

"Futurama" definitely belongs on this list. Regardless of whether a show is a cartoon (or a sitcom, for that matter), if it involves the future, aliens, as yet undiscovered or un-invented technology, or any other such elements in relation to the sci-fi genera, it is a sci-fi series. I agree that Xena should not be on there. It is strictly fantasy, and even Buffy is really in the adventure horror genera.

In any case, as to SG-1's placement: While I think the series should have been higher (at least number two, and I do not concur with the list makers in their opinion that the new "Battlestar Galactica" is better than the old one, for that matter, while I'm complaining, I don't understand why "Babylon 5" was so high up, or why it was on the list at all, I think they placed that show at 5 simply because there is a five in the name), I do think it's pretty sweet that they list SG-1 in the top 10, especially after Entertainment Weakly (yes, I meant to spell it that way, I'm usually not one for puns, but I couldn't help myself) didn't list it at all.

[-Major Woody]

My Top 5:

5. SG-1
4. DS9
3. Farscape
2. Firefly
1. Babylon 5

[McClance]

Like others have said, FarScape should have been on there.

But, at least Babylon 5 and both Stargates were there and Star Trek was well represented by 3 out of 5 series. A lot better than the last list I saw that listed the "best" science fiction shows in the past 25 years. That list had no FS, B5, or SG.

[Missster.Freeman]

I was a bit surprised that FarScape and DS9 weren't there, but heyho, I guess they thought Star Trek was more than covered by including TOS and TNG. B5 might also have been their preferred space station series. I know it was a close run thing between B5 and DS9 when I watched them. It was so hard to decide which was the better of the two.

[MmmmMcKAy]

There's some real crap on there(IMHO), like Wonder Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man but some great stuff too, like BSG(new one), Atlantis, Buffy and Star Trek, Batman, The X-Files and The Twilight Zone.

A lot of the shows I've never even seen.

[McClance]

I can't believe 3rd Rock got on there...

[Xicer]

Yea I'm surprised at some of the shows on there that barely, if at all, are "Science Fiction"

However I do like that B5 got high in the list, it normally isn't recognized by most people. Farscape should have been on there though.

[kmiller1610]

Sci Fi fans come in such a vareity of shapes, how can any such list be accurate?

For the literate among us, B5, based on Tolkein, is a masterpiece, but its dated graphics and lack of outside scenes make it feel limited. I can't see the Buffy lovers getting into it.

But Buffy itself is Fantasy, not Science Fiction. Josh Wheadon is a master of characters and compelling stories, but the list says "Sci-Fi"

BGA is too dark for me, not enough laughs.

Star Trek is dated. The only Trek series that wears well is DS9 and it's not even on the list.

If Firefly had run at least a few years, it probably would be in the top 5.

Stargate SG-1 is still number one. Best balance of characters, longevity, continutiy, action, FX and pure sci-fi. The only legitimate dig against SG is how derivative its plots are.

But you can't have everything.........

[MmmmMcKAy]

I'm a Buffy lover and also have all of Babylon 5 and enjoy it a lot. I prefer Buffy, though.

[starshineRoxie]

I don't know how old this list is at boston.com, but at least it includes Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. The list is at: http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/gallery/topscifishows/

I do question whether shows like Buffy, Xena, Wild Wild West are sci-fi shows. I would have liked to see Farscape, Star Trek: DS9, The Prisoner, The Invaders, etc on the list.

I'm surprised there are not more lists like this online when I google "best sci-fi tv shows".

I'm honestly not surprised by most entries on this list. Being a huge fan of old and new television shows in general, I think it's interesting that a professional critic would still rank some of the oldies above some of the newer stuff out now.

I also think that this list is about how some shows rated on TV and what some people will think about these shows will not always agree with the list. Most people's opinions are rarely completely in sync with tv networks.

I'm pretty sure that American Sci Fi can include fantasy like Buffy, Xena, and Wild Wild West, because there aren't as many genres that can be freeing enough to let writers play around with myths like Science Fiction can. Fantasy is Sci Fi's sibling so to speak.