# Boston Globe's 50 best SF TV series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713 "2011-03-23T13:02:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/21 "2011-03-23T16:30:49Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > is _ **Lost In Space** _ on the list, if it isn’t, fuck 'em. #33. Behind _My Favorite Martian_ and ahead of _The Avengers_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/22 "2011-03-23T16:43:05Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Alternate top 12 (offa the top of my head) - roughly equal weight given to quality and historic importance: > > 1 - Star Trek > 2 - The Twilight Zone > 3 - Battlestar Galactica (new) > 4 - Star Trek: TNG > 5 - Dr. Who > 6 - Babylon 5 > 7 - Lost > 8 - ST: DS9 > 9 - Quantum Leap > 10 - The Outer Limits > 11 - Firefly > 12 - Futurama > > 12 cause I forgot Dr. Who and STTNG in my initial pass. At least two of those are fantasy. Not that I’m complaining - I’m another who thinks the distinction between the two genres is largely artificial ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/23 "2011-03-23T16:46:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > At least two of those are fantasy. Not that I’m complaining - I’m another who thinks the distinction between the two genres is largely artificial TZ and LOST? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/24 "2011-03-23T16:48:01Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > TZ and LOST? Lost and BSG. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/25 "2011-03-23T16:52:15Z")
I was pleased to see MST3K on the list, but otherwise, a big mess. Using a still from the TV movie to illustrate Doctor Who? The Jetsons ranked above Futurama? Logan’s Run? Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/26 "2011-03-23T16:56:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Lost and BSG. Well, I don’t think any of them (except maaybe Firefly if you squint hard at River’s special abilities plus some individual episodes of The Twilight Zone & The Outer Limits) really qualify as science fiction in the strictest Hal Clement sense; B5 had dubious “life energy” and psi, Star Trek’s energy beings are basically gods (never mind the dubious extrapolation of how transporter/duplicator/etc technology would work), I think Quantum Leap went into the “God wants you to do good things” direction towards the end. ETA: I probably should have made it a 13-part list with the X-Files in there at #7 ---
**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:** [March 23, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/27 "2011-03-23T17:07:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > …Ah, the old Damon Knight definition: “Science fiction is what I’m pointing to when I say, ‘that’s science fiction.’” Other than that, though, there is no definition that can include all the things you think are SF without including things that are fantasy (and vice versa). > … Yeah, but now I don’t have any way to tell what is science fiction, since Damon can no longer come to my house and point at my bookshelf… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/28 "2011-03-23T17:11:23Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Well, I don’t think any of them (except maaybe Firefly if you squint hard at River’s special abilities plus some individual episodes of The Twilight Zone & The Outer Limits) really qualify as science fiction in the strictest Hal Clement sense; B5 had dubious “life energy” and psi, Star Trek’s energy beings are basically gods (never mind the dubious extrapolation of how transporter/duplicator/etc technology would work), I think Quantum Leap went into the “God wants you to do good things” direction towards the end. Sometimes I suspect that hard science fiction purists see the “fiction” part as a barely-neccessary evil. Personally, I think SF is just another genre, and like with any other fiction, characters, plot and style should always come first. That aside, BSG was a classic case of almost pure fantasy in a vaguely science fiction setting. On the one hand, it had gods, angels, prophecies, ancient magical artifacts, ghosts and destinies; on the other hand, it never actually explained how anything worked - it used no technobabble whatsoever - and I can’t think of any plot that was ever resolved using science. If \*Star Wars \*was fantasy in space, then BSG was 10 times that. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/29 "2011-03-23T17:15:01Z")
Did _Space Ghost_ and/or _Space Ghost: Coast to Coast_ make the list? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/30 "2011-03-23T17:38:56Z")
> [@Boston Globe](#): > > “Logan’s Run” only ran a season or two Um, which is it? A season? Or two? Any review/list that can’t be arsed to put enough effort to get some basics about its subject matter isn’t worth the html it’s coded in. About #22, _Andromeda_: > [@Boston Globe](#): > > It’s not the best of Roddenberry, but it’s pretty good. “Pretty good.” :rolleyes: There was definitely a lot of thought going into this list, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/31 "2011-03-23T18:24:51Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > About #22, _Andromeda_: > “Pretty good.” :rolleyes: There was definitely a lot of thought going into this list, for sure. Not only that, but better than DS9. :rolleyes: Putting My Favorite Martian above Third Rock (and Futurama) is pretty feeble. Putting Science Fiction Theater in (which was seriously boring, even when I was 8 and pretty happy to see any TV) is feeble. No Kolchak, the Night Stalker? That was a very good show (the original one, of course.) MST3K at 9 is about the only quirky but reasonable thing on this list. They would have done better throwing a bunch of slips of paper with shows written on them down the stairs. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/32 "2011-03-23T18:47:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > But plenty of science fiction has horror elements. **Alien** was ripped off from A. E. Van Vogt’s “Black Destroyer,” for instance. “The Color Out of Space” was a science fiction story in all respects. Sure, theres gray areas, but there’s still a pretty good rule of thumb. If you want to wander around thinking “The Exorcist” is the same genre as “Star Trek,” fine for you, I’ll stick with my framework, thanks very much. And I guess you missed the point that “Alien” IS science fiction, not fantasy, in my book, so it’s quite consistent with “Black Destroyer” being SF as well. > [@](#): > > Ah, the old Damon Knight definition: “Science fiction is what I’m pointing to when I say, ‘that’s science fiction.’” Other than that, though, there is no definition that can include all the things you think are SF without including things that are fantasy (and vice versa). The perfect is the enemy of the good. I got a pretty good rule of thumb here. Not gonna worry if it does not cover every last movie, story and book in existence. > [@](#): > > And there is plenty of fantasy that is based upon realistic elements. **Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell** shows a realistic world where magic exists; and Asimov pointed out that magic is just the ability to get unlimited energy. **Replay** , a time travel book, won a World Fantasy Award. Gene Wolfe’s **The Shadow of the Torturer** also won. Stephen King’s **It** was nominated. **The City and the City** – about parallel worlds like Murray Leinster’s “Sideways in Time” – won last year. **Perfume** was another winner. > > And none of these books had “fairies, dragons, elves, genies, etc.” Yet they were all considered fantasy. > > There is no difference between the genres, other than the minor fact is that SF assumes there’s a “scientific” explanation. But functionally and thematically they are the same thing. You can still draw reasonable distinctions between them as genres. “Lord of the Rings” is fantasy even if it has a well thought out mythos that reads like a history, “Star Wars” is basically science fiction, even though it has the motherfricking Force gumming up the works. Maybe they’re the same to you, that’s your problem, not mine. ---
**Author:** ![atlantic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@atlantic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atlantic)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/33 "2011-03-23T18:48:44Z")
Is this a recent list? The description for LOST reads like the show is still on network TV. > [@](#): > > “Lost” promises another exciting season full of mystery and suspense. Just in case you’ve been living in a hole, here’s the plot: Dozens of people survive a plane crash and land on a mysterious island, which is full of secrets and supernatural things, including a huge creature who meanders in the woods. The future ranking of this hit ABC show on our list depends on whether the network is able to keep the mystery tasty enough for its viewers. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/34 "2011-03-23T20:25:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I can’t think of any plot that was ever resolved using science. Season 2, final episode: nuclear explosion’s EMP as signaling device. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/35 "2011-03-23T23:52:19Z")
Scot McCloud. Space Angel! ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/36 "2011-03-24T04:43:43Z")
Top 50 list is published, nerds express anger on the Internet. Surprise, surprise. Anyway, the correct top 10: 1. Twilight Zone (whichever version) 2. Futurama 3. Firefly 4. BSG 2004 5. The Outer Limits 6. Fringe 7. Sealab 2021 8. Timecop (yes, there was a tv show, and it was awesome) 9. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (way better than any film released since the 80s) 10. Millennium Sliders was great for ONE season, and then the show fell apart. And I enjoyed Lost a lot more when there was still hope of getting answers. And as you can probably guess, I’m not a Trek fan. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713/37 "2011-03-24T23:38:22Z")
Here’s the list for anyone too lazy to click or fed up with the scrolling: 1. Earth - Final Conflict 2. The Wild, Wild West 3. 3rd Rock From the Sun 4. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 5. That Was Then 6. The Greatest American Hero 7. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman 8. Nowhere Man 9. Science Fiction Theatre 10. Futurama 11. The Thunderbirds 12. (The new) V 13. Batman 14. Space 1999 15. The Bionic Woman 16. Battlestar Galactica’ (Original) 17. The Avengers 18. Lost in Space 19. My Favorite Martian 20. Alien Nation 21. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 22. The Six Million Dollar Man 23. Adventures of Superman 24. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 25. Stargate Atlantis 26. The Jetsons 27. Wonder Woman 28. Tales From the Crypt 29. Andromeda 30. Quantum Leap 31. The Hitchhiker 32. Dark Angel 33. (The original) ‘V’ 34. Firefly 35. Flash Gordon 36. Logan’s Run 37. Star Trek Voyager 38. The Outer Limits 39. Xena: Warrior Princess 40. LOST 41. Sliders 42. Mystery Science Theater 3000 43. Dr Who 44. The Twilight Zone 45. Stargate SG-1 46. Babylon 5 47. The X-Files 48. Star Trek: The Next Generation 49. (Original) Star Trek 50. Battlestar Galactica (New) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-globes-50-best-sf-tv-series/575713.md?page=1)