Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows according to IGN

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Read this a couple days ago. I disagree with their top choice, but that’s only because I never watched Battlestar Galactica (I’m considering it as soon as I finish Firefly). But even if I had, I’d still not put Star Trek at #2. I mean, if it weren’t for Star Trek, we wouldn’t have Battlestar Galactica or any other sci-fi show. Before Star Trek, sci-fi was considered silly. Star Trek made it seem serious. I’m also kinda surprised they didn’t include Star Trek Voyager. I didn’t think it was a bad show once it got its groove going.
So, discuss: were the shows good choices?
 
rocklobster said:
Read this
Read this a couple days ago. I disagree with their top choice, but that’s only because I never watched Battlestar Galactica (I’m considering it as soon as I finish Firefly). But even if I had, I’d still not put Star Trek at #2. I mean, if it weren’t for Star Trek, we wouldn’t have Battlestar Galactica or any other sci-fi show. Before Star Trek, sci-fi was considered silly. Star Trek made it seem serious. I’m also kinda surprised they didn’t include Star Trek Voyager. I didn’t think it was a bad show once it got its groove going.
So, discuss: were the shows good choices?
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You. Stop watching firefly. Stop right now. You can come back to the series. Start on Battlestar Galactica. You will NOT be sorry for putting off Firefly until later. BSG 2000s, frankly does sci-fi so well that it kicks Star Trek in the throat.

As for other picks, I could dismiss most of them. Transformers deserves to be much higher on the list. Star Wars: the Clone Wars SHOULDN’T be on the list at all. Doctor Who is a nitch gen show, and in no way should beat LOST, Outter Limits, or ST:TNG,
 
Actaeon said:
You. Stop watching firefly. Stop right now. You can come back to the series. Start on Battlestar Galactica. You will NOT be sorry for putting off Firefly until later. BSG 2000s, frankly does sci-fi so well that it kicks Star Trek in the throat.
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No, no it doesn’t. The only thing BSG does better than ST or Firefly are the fight sequences. That’s it.
 
oldcatholicguy said:
No, no it doesn’t. The only thing BSG does better than ST or Firefly are the fight sequences. That’s it.
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Well, that and it’s a lot less far fetched (no hydrolic doors that slide into nowhere, very limited resources/fuel). The gritty realism is what made it for me.

Well, that and the practical applicability: where ST handles real social issues, it does so with kid gloves on. BSG is an in your face metaphor for 9/11 and the ensuing war on terror, and approaches those social issues like a cage fighter with his gloves off. The commentary is much more striking.
 
rocklobster said:
Read this
Read this a couple days ago. I disagree with their top choice, but that’s only because I never watched Battlestar Galactica (I’m considering it as soon as I finish Firefly).
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BSG is better than Firefly. Do not disagree with it if you have not seen it.
But even if I had, I’d still not put Star Trek at #2. I mean, if it weren’t for Star Trek, we wouldn’t have Battlestar Galactica or any other sci-fi show.
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That is true, but it does not make it the best. It makes it the most influential.
oldcatholicguy said:
No, no it doesn’t. The only thing BSG does better than ST or Firefly are the fight sequences. That’s it.
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LOL. Clearly not true. It prompts thought in a way Firefly never did, and deeper thoughts than ST did.
 
Baelor said:
BSG is better than Firefly. Do not disagree with it if you have not seen it.

I’ve seen BSG, the new BSG, and Firefly. Firefly wins in all but special effects and computer generated graphics.

That is true, but it does not make it the best. It makes it the most influential.

LOL. Clearly not true. It prompts thought in a way Firefly never did, and deeper thoughts than ST did.
No it doesn’t. It’s a reused concept (the original BSG) of an updated scifi program (the original BSG) that address issues already covered, and for the most part covered better, in the original BSG and other scifi programs propped up by special effects and graphics.
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oldcatholicguy said:
No it doesn’t. It’s a reused concept (the original BSG)
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The show took the premise and the names of the characters, and basically nothing else. The original was a brainless attempt to make money off of Star Wars; the second was used as a vehicle to examine timely issues of politics, morality, philosophy, and religion. Those are hardly the same thing.
that address issues already covered
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The original BSG was sterile intellectually. Star Trek had its intellectual moments, but cannot compare to BSG.
 
I prefer the original BG. Great to see Transformers made the list, but the God Gambit a fantastic show dealing with what makes a god a God was very heavy.
 
Though I’ve not seen Battlestar Galactica, X-Files is too low at #5. Even going outside the genre of sci-fi, it might have been the best show ever in television (which makes that disastrous 2008 movie all the more of a shame).

Glad to see MST3K higher on there too. 🙂 And Lost has no business in top lists. I’m sorry, but I thought that show was intriguing for a couple seasons but just became a commercial disaster of writers flying by the seat of their pants, trying to come up with cliffhangers they never knew how to solve or answer, just to get you to watch another week. Firefly probably could move up a slot or two as well. I also was glad to see them call The 4400 underrated. It was a decent show a lot of people never saw.
 
Firefly should be at the top of any television show list, period. Best show ever made of any genre.
 
I don’t consider X-Files to be SciFi. More like supernatural fantasy.

Stargate SG1 is easily my favorite and I’m a huge SciFi geek. It’s not art, nor literary level drama, just fantastically fun escapism.

BSG puts me to sleep. I guess I like SciFi action rather better than SciFi soap opera…

Firefly rocks, I agree. Top 5 for sure. Farscape was pale in comparison. Trek breaks the top 5 solely for being such a pioneer. Doctor Who also really has to be in there.

For me:
  1. Stargate SG1
  2. Firefly
  3. Doctor Who
  4. Star Trek (original and NexGen. Later stuff got boring…)
  5. Stargate Atlantis: cheesier, but almost as addictive as the real thing!
 
Actaeon said:
Well, that and it’s a lot less far fetched (no hydrolic doors that slide into nowhere, very limited resources/fuel). The gritty realism is what made it for me.
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LOL! The genre is inherently about people routinely able to do things that are impossible at our level of tech. You can swallow FTL drives, but choke on door geometrics? Really? 😉

P.S. My above is TV series, not feature films.
 
Okay, here’s their list.

50 Space Above and Beyond
49 Caprica
48 Star Trek: The Animated Series
47 Amazing Stories
46 The Invaders
45 The Wild Wild West
44 Roswell
43 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
42 Lost in Space
41 Voltron: Defender of the Universe
40 Eureka
39 Robotech
38 The Jetsons
37 Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman/G-Force)
36 Max Headroom
35 The Six Million Dollar Man
34 Aeon Flux
33 Stargate: Universe
32 Transformers
31 Nowhere Man
30 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
29 Cowboy Beebop
28 Life on Mars
27 The 4400
26 Neon Genesis Evangelion
25 Quantum Leap
24 The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.
23 Alien Nation
22 Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato
21 Farscape
20 Red Dwarf
19 Stargate SG-1
18 Fringe
17 Torchwood
16 Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles
15 Futurama
14 V (Original)
13 Babylon 5
12 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
11 Mystery Science Theater 3000
10 Firefly
9 The Outer Limits
8 The Prisoner
7 Star Trek: The Next Generation
6 Lost
5 The X-Files
4 Doctor Who
3 The Twilight Zone
2 Star Trek: The Original Series
1 Battlestar Galactica (2004)
 
Of the ones I’ve seen, I’d rank them like this (subject to change, depending on the day ;)):
1 The X-Files
2 Mystery Science Theater 3000
3 Firefly
4 The 4400
5 The Twilight Zone
6 V (Original)
7 Lost in Space
8 Star Trek: The Original Series
9 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
10 Quantum Leap
11 The Jetsons
12 Lost
 
manualman said:
I don’t consider X-Files to be SciFi. More like supernatural fantasy.
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I would class it closer to sci-fi because as the creator said, he wanted to include story lines that usually bordered on the extremes of plausibility, i.e. something for which there are actual claims, or on the edges of science. Examples of course would be UFOs, or stuff like parasites, time travel, spontaneous combustion, etc… Scully even added the scientific angle. Fantasy would be, to me, more along the lines of, I dunno, fantasy - like goblins and magic wands and stuff.
 
It’s opinion, so we can disagree without anybody burning at the stake… 😉

But I still say that X-Files isn’t SciFi because even if there IS ultimately a scientific explanation for the weird stuff that shows up constantly in the show, it is so far beyond the comprehension of the characters that it might just as well be magic wands and goblins.

To me, SciFi involves a different level of technology, but the main characters live IN that level of tech and take it for granted as much as we do iphones, jetliners and automobiles.

Can’t believe nobody else ranks Stargate way up there!
 
manualman said:
It’s opinion, so we can disagree without anybody burning at the stake… 😉

But I still say that X-Files isn’t SciFi because even if there IS ultimately a scientific explanation for the weird stuff that shows up constantly in the show, it is so far beyond the comprehension of the characters that it might just as well be magic wands and goblins.

To me, SciFi involves a different level of technology, but the main characters live IN that level of tech and take it for granted as much as we do iphones, jetliners and automobiles.

Can’t believe nobody else ranks Stargate way up there!
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Wouldn’t that definition of science fiction also elimate more shows than just the X-Files (such as Twilight Zone, Fringe, and Lost…to name a few)?
 
Yep. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of that kind of show (currently enjoying Warehouse 13). I just don’t think of it as SciFi.
 
manualman said:
Yep. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of that kind of show (currently enjoying Warehouse 13). I just don’t think of it as SciFi.
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Fair enough. I guess I just lump together anything that is “out there” as science fiction. 😛
 
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