Boston.com is running an article discussing their top 50 Sci-Fi TV shows of all-time. What are some of your favorites?"Well, let's start with their Number 8...
'Dr. Who'
No sci-fi show list is complete without Dr. Who. The series ran from 1963 to 1989 and featured several men as the doctor - a time traveling, eccentric alien - and his comrades. Sure, many of the monsters were terribly cheesy, but it is a classic nonetheless.
Ahem. And returned in 1996 and 2005, the former not very succesfully, the latter rather more so. And personally, I've always felt the "cheesyness" of the monsters, etc was a test of fan character. It's easy for you poncy 'X-Files' fans with your state of the art special F/X to suspend your disbelief...we have to work for it, you know...
I'd like to say a few words on behalf of a couple of shows that don't appear on their list. First, the televised version of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'.
I'm aware that Douglas Adams wasn't entirely happy with the production, but I think it stands up as a superb visualisation of his work. One that I believe will outlive the recent big screen version (which I admit I haven't seen)And if we stretch the definition of "sci-fi television show," which they seem to be doing, we have to include 'Batman: The Animated Series. One of the finest animated series ever made, and the finest dramatization of Batman I've ever seen.
Then there's their number 7...
'The Twilight Zone'
Not only is 'The Twilight Zone' one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever, it's one of the best shows of all time. Rod Serling hosted the show from 1959 to 1964. Each week he featured a usually creepy, sometime witty, show that ranged from alien invaders to time travel.
I'll add to this that the 1985 revival, which I wrote about on the old blog here, was at least its equal; literate, well-produced and superior.
And their number 5...
'Babylon 5'
'Babylon 5' is arguably one of the best sci-fi shows ever made. Some may compare it to 'Star Trek DS-9' but with a better plot and cast - you be the judge. In the meantime, we'll give 'Babylon 5'; a thumbs up showing in the No. 5 spot.
Number 5. Cute, huh? But I wouldn't argue with "one of the best sci-fi shows ever made;" it was. And when he was on his game B5 creator and chief writer JMS was one of the best. And let's just say if you believe some of the tittle, there's a reason why 'DS-9' resembled it...
And yeah, I'd include their:
Number 27
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
A fantastic show about a high school student with a bad reputation who has a destiny to kill vampires meandering about L.A. Buffey Summers is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar in a kick-butt role as the tough, but attractive, vampire slayer. She battled vampires from 1997-2003.
-and most of 'Angel,' with the tacit understanding that Buffy's battle against vampires really ended in 2001. Then she died and for only-guessed-at sins, was sent to hell. Wherein her life was turned into the kind of tiresome, badly-made and worse-written TV series in which strong women are murdered, and people who claimed to admire Buffy kept calling her torturer a genius. Other than that, they're quite right, it was fantastic.
I miss any?
2 comments:
A small correction: when Buffy died, her friends all assumed she'd gone to some hell-scape, but as our heroine made clear in the big musical show, she was actually yanked out of "heaven" when her friends revived her and pulled her back to Earth. Which made here return even worse . . .
I think you're missing my point. I'm aware that within the mythos of the series Buffy was in "heaven" between the fifth and sixth seasons.
The "hell" I was speaking of is the sixth and seventh seasons of the series, which, IMO, it's hard to imagine even worse...
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