Top sci fi tv shows of all time: now discussing YOUR LIST

Well said.

 

How the hell is Batman sci-fi anyway? I mean, they had electrically heated underwear in reality in the 60s.

 

The same can be said of any comic book superhero series: is it really sci fi? But at any rate this is just one of several questionable entries on the list. You can easily make the argument that Superman has the superior claim to the sci fi genre although I disagree with that.

 

Oh you know, futuristic Bat Computer and high-tech crime lab, fiery propulsion system on the Batmobile, Mr. Freeze with his cryogenic suit, various bat-gadgets, etc. Sci-fi is in the mind, chico.

 

Strictly speaking, Spongebob could be catergorized as Sci-Fi.

 

Yeah, but did they have giant ice cream cones? Well, did they?????

 

37. 'Space 1999'

When the moon gets pulled out of orbit in 1999, astronauts on Moon Base Alpha are pulled into space with it. Led by the valiant Commander John Koenig (played by Martin Landau) and assisted by Dr. Helena Russell (Barbara Bain), the crew explore and battle their way across the universe. "Space 1999" lasted only two years, from 1975-1977.

This is another one of the shows that owned my sci-fi lovin heart as a child. I had a lovely die cast metal Eagle transporter. It was beautiful. But after Star Wars came along it ended up in a garage sale.

I am now getting the entire series one disk at a time through Netflix, and I can tell you for certain that it does not fully live up to my own heavily filtered nostalgic memory of it. One thing I knew even then was that the basic premise of the show was idiotic. Describing it with the banned r word would be too complimentary.

So, we're storing all our nuclear waste on the moon, which detonates and blasts the moon out of orbit with its colony intact. The vagrant moon passes through a new solar system pretty much every week, leading to some dicey situations and exciting adventure. Let's just say the physics of this are unconvincing.

That aside, and I admit it's hard to get past that, there is some fun stuff here, a few individual episodes that are outstanding, effects work that was near state of the art for the pre Dykstra era (and had a direct lineage to the work on Kubrick's 2001). Plus Martin Landau.

 

I've never seen this one, though I've heard of it.

 

You've got to love the special guest stars:

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/ml/spml0102.jpg]
Peter Cushing

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/motd/spmotd0102.jpg]
Joan Collins

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/e/spe29644.jpg]
Christopher Lee

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/tm/sptm01895.jpg]
Brian Blessed

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/tim/sptim022.jpg]
Leo McKern

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/fol/spfol041.jpg]
Ian McShane

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/tbc/sptbc088.jpg]
David Prowse!?

[image=http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/ac/spac2118.jpg]
Julian Glover

 

After that last post, I hope this is on DVD. I really hope it is!

 

It is. Disk one of season one is at my house right now.

 

Although I never saw the series itself, I did see a TV movie involving the Black Sun (apparently they edited together 2-3 episodes?). Don't remember much about it apart from the aforementioned 'black sun' and the station slowly freezing. And that chick who could transform into, well, anything (like a ninja ).

EDIT: and those 'special guest stars' - OMG what the hell? I can't get over Peter Cushing in that wig.

 

Space 1999 jumped the shark at the outset of season two. They brought someone to try to sex it up to U.S. tv standards in order to sell it to American network executives. The results were laughable, and inevitably when none of the big three wanted it, the show was canceled. Overall the show did well in syndication, but not well enough to justify its budget.

 

As much as I hate to move on...

36. 'The Bionic Woman'

"The Bionic Woman" was like "Charlie's Angel's" with three women combined into one. When Jamie Sommers (played by Lindsay Wagner) has a horrific parachuting accident, the government rebuilds her using the latest technology. This "Six Million Dollar Man" spinoff survived from 1976-1978.

I did not love this show the way I loved the Six Million Dollar Man, but I was extremely excited when Jamie Sommers and Steve Austin teamed up to help Sandy Duncan recover her stolen Sasquatch.

Too bad the attempt to revive the show for a new generation failed.

 

Never watched either of these shows, I'm afraid.

 

I remember watching the original when I was kid in syndication and the six million dollar man.

 

"Space: 1999" was running every saturday morning when i was a kid for a year.. It was pretty entertaining.


"The Bionic Woman" was cool. For whatever reason, i'm one of those rare folks that actually preferred it to the original "Six Million Dollar Man"...

I even had the Bionic Woman BOARD GAME

 

35. 'Battlestar Galactica' (Original)

The 1978 series "Battlestar Galactica" is a fantastic story of 12 colonies destroyed by a race of mechanized beings called Cylons, who are bent on destroying mankind. Commander Adama, played by the late Lorne Green, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet across the galaxy in search of the lost 13th tribe, who settled on a planet called Earth. The great cast included Dirk Benedict as Starbuck and Richard Hatch as Apollo.

Hats off to the original for its elegant sci fi premise and its role as inspiration for the magnificent 21st century version. Plus there's that Star Wars connection with John Dykstra leaving ILM to form Apogee and landing Battlestar Galactica as his first project, with George Lucas suing Universal for infringement on his Star Wars copyrights with the show, etc. Fun stuff. Lucas actually lost this lawsuit, but still. The Viper. I mean, common.

 

I've seen a few episodes of this one, I think. They are variable, but at least one was very good.

 

Loved this as a kid. Apollo was kind of dull, but Dirk Benedict's Starbuck was always worth watching.

 

The good one I saw concerned Apollo, however.

 

Was it the western-style one where he has to out-draw "Red-Eye"?

 

Eh, i loved the original BSG as a kid.. Actually picked up the entire series on DVD...There were some terrific episodes, like the Guns Of Navarone-esque "Pulsar on Ice Planet Zero", "Lost Planet of the Gods", "War of the Gods" and "The Long Patrol"...

My dad's favourite episode is "The Lost Warrior"....Which was pretty cool with "Red Eye"..


Lucifer was one character from the original that i'm kind of disappointed never really received an update in the new show... He was awesome..


"By your command."

 

I remember Space 1999 from my childhood, I think I watched every episode, but looking back, can't remember anything other than it being canceled, and that the second season wasn't as good as the first. But I can't for the life of me remember why.

Like many my age, I loved the original BSG. Dirk Benedict was a great Starbuck, at least in the cheesiness of the show. I still have no idea what possessed them to jump forward to the Galactica 1980 concept, it was just absolutely awful.

 

The studio and the network didn't realize that they had a hit with Battlestar until after the sets had been struck and the cast and crew scattered to other projects. That's when they came up with Galactical 1980, to give the fans more Battlestar, even though they weren't able to reunite most of the original cast.