# Best SF&F TV Shows



## Violanthe (Dec 28, 2006)

Our newest Top 10 project is the Best SF&F TV Shows. If you would like to help out by submitting your list, your opinion is both welcome and appreciated. Lists can also be submitted by email form. If you do submit a list, please post it here too, as a reply to this topic, so that we can all see and discuss your picks. 

While we're collecting lists, I'm also interested in your candid opinions:

So what do you think? What are the best SF&F TV Shows? Which are the most engaging? Memorable? What makes a great scifi or fantasy TV Show?


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## Starbrow (Dec 28, 2006)

I don't know if I can come up with the 10 best, but here's some of my favorites.

Babylon 5 was one of the very best SF series. The characters were wonderful.

Doctor Who is another great series, depending on which Doctor they had. The early special effects were quite cheesey, but the new series is much better done. I really like the new Doctors they've had, too.

I'm a fan of all the Star Trek variations, but my favorite is Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

Firefly had some pretty good episodes in it and a different perspective on what the future would be like. The characters were very good.


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## Halasían (Jan 3, 2007)

Violanthe said:


> So what do you think?
> What are the best SF&F TV Shows?
> Which are the most engaging? Memorable?
> What makes a great scifi or fantasy TV Show?


Good questions. I think what makes a good show is what it does for the individual. To hold one's interest through a series of shows makes it a good show, even if nobody else agrees with you and the show is quickly cancelled.

Heres my list:

1. *VR.5*
On _Fox Network_ (Aired 13 episodes in 1995 and was cancelled)
Created by _Jeannine Renshaw_

A quirky show that had an etheral quality to it. I enjoyed each show and was seriously bummed by its cancellation. I think it was ten years before its time, and if something similar came on today it may do better in the almighty ratings.

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2. *Highlander*
_Syndicated by Rysher & Gaumont Television_ (Aired 119 episodes over 6 seasons)
Based loosely on the movie _Highlander_

I liked the first movie, but thought the sequels were outrageously stupid. Then along came the series with Adrian Paul as Duncan McCloud. It was a bit cheesy at times, but I enjoyed the stories, especially in later seasons as the stories got darker.

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3. *Stargate SG1* 
On _Sci Fi Network_ (214 episodes over 10 seasons, 1997 to 2007, with the last 10 being aired early 2007)
Based on the movie _Stargate_ written by Dean Devlin

I didn't watch the series the first few seasons... not sure why. Maybe something else was on when it was airing, or I didn't have TV which was a good part of the 90s. I finally got Dish satellite about the 4th season and so I started watching it and enjoyed it alot. I've pretty much caught up on the past seasons watching reruns, and I enjoy now watching the Stargate Atlantis spin off. But I think the original series is good!

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4. *The Twilight Zone*
On CBS (aired 156 episodes between 1959 & 1964)
Created by Rod Serling

I would like to add an early pilot called _Time Element_ that aired on Desilu Playhouse in with the series. I have it on a home recorded VHS tape somewhere. I need to find it and burn a DVD. I did enjoy catching several episodes on Sci Fi channel over New Years as they were airing a marathon.

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5. *Star Trek**: Deep Space 9*http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine
Syndicated by Viacom (aired 176 episodes over 7 seasons, 1993 to 1999)
Created by _Rick Berman & Michael Piller_, based on Star Trek by _Gene Roddenberry_

I always had a love/hate relationship with the Star Trek franchise. My big sis watched the original & was hot on Kirk so she couldn't miss an episode, and I watched it as well and liked it (I think Grace Lee Whitney in those great Starfleet uniforms had alot to do with my watching it. When The Next Generation came on, I haed the first few episodes. farpointe was interesting, but when that wuss Picard surrendered the Enterprise in the first episode, it was so not Kirklike. No short skirts except for an ill-fitting one on Troi, and trying to Starfleet domesticate the Klingon Worf. No, I didn't watch it. I passed on the first couple seasons of it, catching only an episode here and there. They did get better. When Star Trek: DS9 came on, I was glad they brought over two of my favorite characters from TNg. Miles O'Brien and Worf! My reasons for liking DS9 so much more was the way the stories were presented. There was more personable relationships and a good mix of different cultures. Some say it was too 'soap opera'y', but I thiunk it had a good balance. The stationary perspective of a space station was different from the usual flying about, but the still had some flying about in the Defiant. And to take an original episode (tribbles) and merge an episiode into it was good television! I just think it was the best of the franchise.

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6. *Andromeda*
Syndicated by Pazsaz Entertainment (Aired 110 episodes in 5 seasons between 2000 & 2005)
Created by _Robert Hewitt Wolfe_ from an original concept by _Gene Roddenberry_

Though I never really cared for Kevin Sorbo, I thought he did a respectable job in this series. But it was the other characters that carried it (Tyr, Beka, Harper, Andromeda). To me, the Commwealth was what the Federation would become and the idea of a sientient shipwas interisting. I was bummed when Keith Hamilton Cobb (Tyr) bailed out after a season though.

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7. *The Pretender*
On NBC & TNT Network (Aired 86 episodes in 4 seasons between 1996 and 2000. TNT and 20th Century Fox produced two post-series-cancellation TV movies that aired in 2001 to close out the story)
Created by _Steven Long Mitchell_ & _Craig W. Van Sickle_

I loved the intrigue in this show, It had the whole secret organization messing with minds formula ala Prisoner going for it, and it kept my interest. I loved Andrea Parker as Miss Parker, for she played what I think was probably the best good-looking mini-skirted mean ***** character ever. She refused to buckle to the network request for political correctness and stop smoking on-camera. She did quit in the last season with her quitting smoking a part of the storyline, and she became even more *****y!

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8. *Firefly*
On Fox Network (aired 15 episodes in 2002)
Created by by Joss Whedon

It was one I was unsure of at forst but I stayed with it and it grew on me. It apparently didn't grow on enough people to satisfy ratings-hungry networks and was prematurely cancelled like my #1 show. It did get a new breath with the movie Serenity.

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9. *Sliders*
On Fox & Sci Fi Network (aired 88 episodes from 1995 to 2000)
Created by _Tracy Tormé_ and _Robert Weiss_

To me this was kind of a mix of _The Time Tunnel_, _Stargate_, and _Quantum Leap_. I liked it because it was fun to watch.

~

10. *The Prisoner*
(aired 17 episodes in 1 season in 1967)
Created by Patrick McGoohan

My big sister had to watch this so I did too. A most intriguing series that only ran one season. A sort of a sequel to Patrick's longer running _Danger Man_ series.


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## Ithrynluin (Jan 14, 2007)

I cannot come up with a Top Ten either, as I haven't seen that many sci-fi shows, or at least I haven't seen _enough_ of most to really be able to give a confident opinion.

*Farscape* - To me not only the best science fiction show ever, but probably the best show ever, period. It is so different than anything else on TV, smart, sexy, innovative, funny, ingenious, with great plots and superb character development. And I could go on praising it for a long time. Sadly, an untimely death befell the show after season 4, because supposedly it didn't reach out to a wide range of viewers. This is all the more frustrating when you look at what kind of rubbish 'graces' today's TV, and not only that, but for how long said rubbish continues! Ah well, the way of the masses, I guess... 

Starbrow mentions *Babylon 5*, and I concur that this is a great science fiction series. I've started watching it a year ago, because many people recommended it to me as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, sci-fi shows ever. Frankly, it does not top Farscape for me (and I don't think anything ever will), but it is an excellent show in its own right with a great cast, amazing story arcs, and some stunning visuals. I'm currently halfway through season 3 (of 5).

I guess I could also mention _Lost_ and _Futurama_, though they are not outright science fiction but a mixture of different elements. Both are outstanding shows, the first excelling in mystery (for want of a better term) and the second in comedy, and both are part of my personal top favourite shows.

I've also dabbled in some _Star Trek_, particularly _Voyager_, but I have seen far too little of it to give an informed opinion. I have a hunch it's pretty good, though.


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## Violanthe (Jan 17, 2007)

Great choices! This will definitely be an interesting list.


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## Neumy (Feb 2, 2007)

Don't forget Red Dwarf.

That's my #1

Then maybe Firefly, Star Trek (next gen only), & Dr Who


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## Maia (Feb 2, 2007)

_Carnivale_ is the best SF&F show I have seen.


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## Hobbit-GalRosie (Feb 2, 2007)

Firefly, all the way. Easily my pick for best SF show, and constantly battling Haibane-Renmei for the top TV show period.

Of course, I like fantasy better than sci-fi, but fantasy TV shows are always totally messed up. And not in a good way! lol.


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## Rhiannon (Mar 24, 2007)

My TV watching is really limited these days--I've never been good at keeping up with shows unless they air repeatedly. DVDs are my friend. But I still don't think I've said enough to come up with a full 10, so let's do 5. That said...

1. Firefly--100% My love for Firefly cannot be expressed. Whedon owns my soul.

2. Supernatural--this may push the definition of an SF/F TV show, I guess, but I love it so very much (what I've seen...must. get. DVDs.)

3. Star Trek: DS9--my brother was a fanatic, and I was sucked into the madness pretty quickly. *cough*
So I had a crush on Worf. So what. 

4. Red Dwarf--of course. 

5. Angel--it's cheesy and melodramatic, but for some reason it just makes me happy. Happy happy.


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## Halasían (May 17, 2019)

I wonder how Violanthe is doing these days. Her site has been dead for years. Loved discussing books, film, and TV with her across many a site on the internet ever since I met her on Darkstarr.

As for this list, I will add *Chambers* and the new *Lost in Space*....


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