Want to stir up some debate? Ask a group of genre fans to name the best genre show of all time and stand back.
TV Guide has published a list of the sixty greatest genre shows of all-time and it the results may surprise some but not others.
According to the magazine, the greatest sci-fi show of all time is…..Star Trek.
We’ve got the full list below for you to debate and ponder.
- Star Trek/Star Trek: The Next Generation
- The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
- Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)
- The X-Files
- Lost
- Doctor Who
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer
- The Walking Dead
- The Prisoner
- Game of Thrones
Of course, our news director already disagrees with the list and firmly believes that Doctor Who should be much, much higher.
Which shows do you think belong on the list? Which ones are missing? And does Game of Thrones deserve to be on there yet or should we wait and see how it all plays out?
No Babylon 5?!? You gotta be kidding me! Not only is it the best SF series ever, it’s arguably the best series including all genera’s. And, for the record, Game of Thrones is Fantasy, not Science Fiction.
My thoughts exactly.
I don’t consider Lost, Buffy or Game of Thrones as Sci-fi.
1Star Trek: TNG
2 Babylon 5
3 SGU
4 DS9
5 Firefly
6 Walking Dead
7 Orphan Black
8 Fringe
9 Enterprise
10 Voyager
of course BSG would have been at the top had it not been for the last 30 minutes.
You put Voyager ahead of BSG at all? What’s wrong with you? I don’t even know who you are… 😉
And yes, as much as I like Buffy and love Angel and Game of Thrones, neither of those are scifi. Not sure I’d count Walking Dead as scifi, personally.
Lost is in a weird overlap… I’d think it is more magical realism or paranormal fantasy, but some of the elements used in the story are scifi. That could be chalked up to the residual storylines needing to play out before everyone realized what/where they were, but overall, not scifi. Either way, still glad I never watched the show 😉
Not even the original Outer Limits makes the list? Really, people?
Voyager had some stand out episodes and was pretty good from season 5 on but most of all unlike BSG it didn’t have an ending that took it out of the sci-fi Genre and into magical fantasy land. Walkind Dead are science zombies with the CDC and brain scans etc. so it falls into the post apocalyptic sci-fi sub Genre for me.
Also I put SGU because it’s my personal favorite but I would have been happy to see SG-1 in the top 10 because it kicked off the Stargate Franchise which seems like it was all we had for a while. I will probably never get Dr. Who but I understand that it has earned it’s place up there.
I agree with you on BSG. Loved it all the way up to the horrible ending. If not for that, the blurays would be on my shelf.
I love nearly every show listed, however, if we are talking ALL TIME then TV Guide got it right. Star Trek still on top after almost 50 years and will remain so for eons while nearly all those others will be a long distant memory, if remembered at all, yes, even my beloved BSG. They must have listed only American shows because tied for the #1 slot should have been Doctor Who, now in its 50th year & still a worldwide favorite of sci-fi fans everywhere. I would be willing to bet that both Star Trek (old and any new incarnations) and Doctor Who (old and new regenerations) will still be around for our great, great, great, great, great, great, ad infinitum, grandchildren while the rest of the gang listed are long, long gone.
Yes, of course, TV Guide would, of necessity, be heavily invested of programs that have had wide distribution in the US, otherwise there’s no excuse for the exclusion of Blakes 7.
Most of the shows are okay on the list, but I see no mention of Farscape, The original Stargate series, Eureka, and Red Dwarf. First, the best way to start one of these things is to create a comprehensive list including shows like Lost in Space, Buck Rogers, Lexx and Quantum Leap then start eliminating them based on their short comings an elevating those that are simply too good to cut. Now do you count the best sci-fi anime shows on this list or separate one?
Others have mentioned this but I hate that they lumps anything with remotely fantasy ties into scifi.
Also, I do not think Game of Thrones should be up there because at this point no one knows how it ends. What if after the 4th season HBO cancels it (I know it would be a very doubt move but it could happen), then you would have an incomplete show.
Finally, I am totally flabbergasted that B5 is not in the top 10 (number 1 in my book because of the finale of BSG otherwise that would have been number 1).
I am thinking that someone who is not a scifi or geek person made this list.
Hey, wait a minute. Was Doctor Who on that list the whole time and I just missed it? If so I need to check my glasses or my mental status or both. Also, if so, disregard my above remarks, if not – Hey, wait a minute!
Doctor Who should be higher IMHO! But then again, most people who know me probably knew that objection was coming.