The Best Science Fiction Series of All-Time

[Khan Singh]

Well, of course, if you read K/S stories.....

But we digress.

Stargate had a couple of good episodes, but never really had any big ideas. The acting is nothing special either.

Dr Who is a classic, of course, but never really rises to any dramatic heights. My favorite episode is Talons of Weng Chiang. The best Doctor and the best companion in an atmospheric take on Victorian science fiction. Even at the best of episodes though, Dr Who isn't serious enough to reach the top five for drama, or funny enough to get there for comedy.

[Paul Hanson]

Fair enough. It's just that I've never really liked Star Trek very much, for some reason. Maybe it's because Star Trek seems to turn each episode into some kind of morality tale, which I feel detracts from the enjoyment somewhat.

[Sprayber]

I watched all of TNG and DS9. At the time I thought they were alright, but when B5 started airing then the Trek universe started looking very bad. Then when I started watching Farscape, it started looking outright pathetic. My main complaints against Trek in general were that a lot of the eposides were tech gone bad or about how much humans have evolved compared to the primative peoples around them. The best moment for the whole Trek universe was the TOS and Wraith of Khan. Everything since has been a long serman about PC behavior. I mean come on. Riker lets Troy sleep with everyone else on the Enterprise and not be angry. Kirk would have kicked his ass and slept with his woman the first episode.

In a way, I'm glad Star Wars was not on TV. Because it would have suffered from the same problems trek did. Which may end up happening anyway if George Lucus panders to the lowest demonator like he did in TPM. (Death to Jar Jar)

Bottom line is that B5 and Farscape are just plain good stories. Trek never told us many stories. We learned that warp coils can go critical if the ship shakes a little bit. We learned that transporters won't work unles they are totally reconfigured on the spot without any trial runs whatsoever during a heated battle. But we didnt learn much else. The Trek books were far better then the Trek series.

And now they have Enterprise. They will do to it. what they did to Voyager.

[Richard Bruns]

I too like Stargate SG1 a lot. I think it has the best characters, plot, situation, and overall quality of the shows I've seen. It is the only one where everyone seems real and human. The cast of aliens, both friend and enemy, is diverse and well-managed. They do a fairly good job of tying them into Earth mythology.

It also portrays the military fairly well, and the overall situation is quite believable. Another big plus is that they (usually) refrain from demeaning the women with stupid fashion-show uniforms.

Mind that I've never seen Farscape, Babylon 5, or Quantum Leap, and several others; they might be as good but I haven't had the chance to find out.

Originally posted by Faeelin

I liked that show, but:

1) They killed off all the likable aliens.

2) How come they haven't usen stolen alien tech to equip themselves with something better than a machine gun?

Oddly enough, machine guns seem to be far more effective than ony of the alien hand weapons. They are the only things that could kill replicants for example. Anyway, it would sort of ruin the series if they got too much cool technology.

[Dauphin]

The unspoken love between Carter and O'Neill is another potential show spoiler. If they get together the show will die.

Another big plus is that they (usually) refrain from demeaning the women with stupid fashion-show uniforms.

Carter looked more than alright in the first series when dressed up in the"Chinese tribes" episode.

[Khan Singh]

DS9 was actually a very solid show. Decent acting, somewhat interesting setting and some good arcs. For a while I thought it was the best of the Treks. Unfortunately it never had any truly great episodes. No really bad episodes, and lots of good ones, but nothing really memorable. My vote for best episode is when they revisted The Trouble with Tribbles. It was so incredible from a technical standpoint that the technology itself constituted science fiction.

[Bkeela]

Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica were my two favourite sci-fi shows as a kid. I found Star Trek boring at the time, but later aquired a taste for it.

I hated Dr Who. Special effects were of paramount importance to me at that time, so Dr Who was therefore unwatchable. The stories were typically boring also. What a joke of a series.

Bkeela.

[monolith94]

#1. Dr. Who
A great series with superb acting and great concepts. As the longest running science fiction show ever, at thirty years, it certainly had the opportunity to develop! Great monsters, with the daleks and cybermen, and great villans, from the Master to the Rani. My favorite episode would probably be The Five Doctors, although anything with Peri is good too. The eight doctor was my personal favorite.

#2. Babylon 5
I picked up on this around the middle of the second season, where things were really starting to pick up. I watched all the way through the shadow war, and after, and really developed a closeness to the characters. The final episode, with the station being exploded, was masterfully done, I thought.

#3. Farscape
The acting is genuine, the ideas are original, and the production is top notch. What more could you ask for?

#4. Star Trek: The Next Generation
The premiere form of escapism for me. Watching an episode makes feel like a child again, without a care in the world. There were some true gems thrown in there, with some excellent characters (Worf, Picard and Data being the best, imo).

#5. Red Dwarf
Funny, funny and funny! Much funnier than MST3K, in my opinion, because in MST3K they're always trying to squeeze in their laughs, and throw them in a rapid succession, jab, jab, jab. In Red Dwarf, the timing is much better. Plus the fact that it has actual actors and it has an actual plot. Much more interesting and entertaining.

I could do other lists for books/movies but I'll leave that for another day .

[catullus]

In no particular order:

Red Dwarf. Also winner of best song competition.

HitchHiker TV series. Astonishing visual effects. And almost as fun as the book series.

Dr. Who. A masterpiece of TV.

Babylon 5. The only true epic Science Fiction series. Magnificent.


The various ST series (as well as Stargate, Space:above and beyond, and dozens of other series) suffer from being too dead serious, while having too cheesy effects and too stereotypic stories.
Low budget demands humour, as seen in Red Dwarf. An ambition of being serious demands a great story (like Bab 5).

C.

[Tolls]

Dr Who for me, simply for the variety of stories in its long history...but, and it's a big BUT, it also had a lot of dross.

For every great (like Talons, or Genesis, or Green Death (sort of)) we also have the likes of Rubber Dinosaur Invasion, Timelash, Paradise Towers, or Zarbi.

For every good performance as the Doctor from any of the actors we have the truly risible (Hartnell being senile, Pertwee gurning, Tom being Tom, I could go on)...

I can't agree with KS on the drama and comedy sides...or maybe I just can't see his point...

[monolith94]

Hey! Jon Pertwee was great! And what does gurning mean?

[Tolls]

This is gurning:

http://www.benjerry.co.uk/index.html?/gurning/

Basically pulling ridiculous faces, which Jon was rather good at ("look in pain, Jon")...McCoy did it as well (especially in the TV movie during the regeneration sequence)...

Don't get me wrong, they all did good stuff (even Colin ), but they all had their bad days as well.

[monolith94]

What was up with Colin??? He was like, BLEH! I'm ANGRY!

Totally disconcerting. . . Too sarcastic.

[Wraith]

--"has any other series ever had the audacity to drive their main character insane for a full season?"

Well, many of the US sci-fi shows seem to have rather crazy characters. Of course, the writers don't see them that way, so maybe that is a difference.
Haven't really seen much of Farscape, though.

--"What about Robotech"

It sucks. As an early anime release in the US, it's got a place in history, but you will not be able to watch it again. I know, I remember liking this show, and I've tried.
It doesn't help that what was called Robotech in the US is really a hacked-up dubbing of three seperate series.

I am glad you brought up anime, but there are far better choices.

Serial Experiments: Lain
Unique show, deals with technology and identity. The pacing and lack of action won't appeal to all, but a truly top-notch show for those who "get it". Great art, unique character design, good story, good music.

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Taking giant robot (mecha) shows in a new direction, this one has good action, good characters, and a good story, and we can't forget good mechs.

Crest of the Stars
Great characters, good story, this is one of the better examples of space opera around.

Cowboy Bebop
Action, comedy, drama, and above all else, style. More episodic than epic, but this is not a problem as the series is mostly a character study of the main cast. It has something for everyone, and a truly great soundtrack.

And so on.

--"For its time, Star Trek: TOS was quite good, but often I find the series unwatchable these days."

Still has some of the best Trek episodes ever, though. None of the later series ever got to the level of "City on the Edge of Forever" or "Amok Time".

--"When a sci-fi programme has a gay character in it, I'll vote."

There's an entire category of anime focused on gay characters, yaoi or shounen ai. There are some sci-fi shows in that category. This category tends to be more focused on relationships than anything else, but there are some sci-fi settings. And same-sex relationships are pretty common in anime, especially Clamp productions.

Wraith
"Man fears the darkness, and so he scrapes away at the edges of it with fire."
-- Rei Ayanami ("Neon Genesis Evangelion")

[Zealot]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
I like Stargate personally.

Love the show!