# Best and Worst Science Fiction Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2011, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608 "2011-07-11T10:47:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/1 "2011-07-11T10:47:28Z")
My list Best- Babylon 5 Star Trek (original) Firefly Dr. Who (original) Blakes’ 7 Worst Battlestar Galactica (Original) Star Trek:Enterprise Star Trek:Voyager Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. I could give (dis)honorable mention to such abortions as “Star Rangers” and “Mercy Point”, which were mercifully cancelled after only a few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/2 "2011-07-11T11:13:40Z")
Quark. For both categories. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/3 "2011-07-11T11:53:46Z")
[The Mars trilogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy)by Kim Stanley Robinson for best ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/4 "2011-07-11T12:02:10Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > [The Mars trilogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy)by Kim Stanley Robinson > > for best I think I was limiting myself to TV shows. I apologize if I didn’t make that clear. On a side note, I forgot to add “Farscape” to my best list. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/5 "2011-07-11T13:21:53Z")
Best: _Star Trek Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The X-Files_ Worst: _Star Trek: Enterprise Star Trek: Voyager Jason of Star Command SeaQuest DSV_ Of course there are some exceptionally bad episodes among the best series, and some exceptionally good episodes among the worst series. But those are outliers, the exceptions that prove the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/6 "2011-07-11T13:38:33Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Worst > > Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. Okay, Andromeda was pretty bad more often than not. Granted. Clunky writing + mediocre acting = nothing spectacular. But there’s no way this show belongs on a “Worst Of” list. For one thing, the ship’s AI was hot enough to singe asbestos. For another, the concept was really pretty great - life after the fall of the Federation (in all but name). At its best, the show did a fine job of contrasting basically-Starfleet ideals with a very, very grim universe. It wasn’t great television - but it wasn’t irredeemable dreck. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/7 "2011-07-12T00:58:46Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Okay, Andromeda was pretty bad more often than not. Granted. Clunky writing + mediocre acting = nothing spectacular. But there’s no way this show belongs on a “Worst Of” list. For one thing, the ship’s AI was hot enough to singe asbestos. For another, the concept was really pretty great - life after the fall of the Federation (in all but name). At its best, the show did a fine job of contrasting basically-Starfleet ideals with a very, very grim universe. > > It wasn’t great television - but it wasn’t irredeemable dreck. I think the problem was the series was just based on some strange scribbles by Roddenberry and they kept changing direction until it collapsed. I stopped somewhere in the middle of the fifth season where they were trapped in the pocket universe where they didn’t have to spend money on special effects or something. Another series I’d add to my worst of list would be “Earth:Final Conflict”. At the end, it turned into “Renee the Alien Slayer” because that other show had a kick butt chick who killed vampires or something. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/8 "2011-07-12T01:43:15Z")
“V” sucked. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/9 "2011-07-12T03:16:26Z")
No hatred for Lexx? Best: ST: DS9 Babylon 5 X-Files ST: TNG Worst: Lexx ST: Voyager ST: Enterprise ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/10 "2011-07-12T04:23:27Z")
Best: ST: DS9 (Best of the Treks) Firefly X-Files Cowboy Beebop (Am I really the first person to name a cartoon. Seems there have been a couple pretty good animated sci-fi series, and its an easy way to get around the need for a special effects budget) Worst ST: Enterprise (Voyager was on the whole pretty terrible, but they had some fun episodes, and so were better then Enterprise.) Dr. Who (Yea, I know people love it, but I’ve tried to watch it like 6 times, its dumb) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/11 "2011-07-12T04:49:02Z")
Best: Futurama Star Trek (original) Honorable Mention: Selected episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits The Space Explorers Worst: Land of the Giants ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/12 "2011-07-12T05:38:05Z")
Worst of the 70s: Space 1999 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/13 "2011-07-12T09:29:01Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > No hatred for Lexx? I worked so hard to repress it, and you come and drudge it up once more. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/14 "2011-07-12T09:42:35Z")
> [@Stowed\_Bob](#): > > I worked so hard to repress it, and you come and drudge it up once more. I think Lexx deserves it’s own “so bad it’s good” category. In fact, I think Lexx is so bad it goes around the circle a few times before landing on ‘good’ again. It certainly defies most SF storytelling conventions. The protagonists are amoral and incompetent and keep breaking things (like, say, the entire friggin’ universe). Original and entertainingly weird. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/15 "2011-07-12T10:15:41Z")
Best: Firefly Babylon 5 Stargate: SG1 Stargate: Atlantis Star Trek TOS Worst: Lost in Space Star Trek Voyager Battlestar Galactica (original) ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/16 "2011-07-12T10:53:09Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > No hatred for Lexx? Oh, yeah, I forgot that. That was terrible! And I watched every episode, which is even sadder, really. Beat me, hurt me, make me write bad checks. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/17 "2011-07-12T11:27:52Z")
TV? Ah, man. I was all keyed up to launch into yet another rant about how much I hated L. Ron Hubbard’s “Mission: Earth” series. I guess I’ll just have to swallow the bile. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/18 "2011-07-12T15:07:57Z")
Best: Star Trek OS Firefly Worse: Lost in Space (is there any even competition?) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/19 "2011-07-12T15:20:55Z")
Best: Doctor Who (new series) Firefly Worst: Don’t know, haven’t seen much other sci-fi. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608/20 "2011-07-12T15:50:04Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > Best: Star Trek OS > Firefly > > Worse: Lost in Space (is there any even competition?) Lost in Space has iconic moments, even though it sucks. You must not have seen Land of the Giants. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-science-fiction-series/588608.md?page=2)