There have been a lot of great sci-fi shows over the years, and most of them owe their existence to the shows that defined the genre. Science fiction has been around since the beginning of moving pictures, as one of the oldest movies in history was a sci-fi film. When TV was gaining popularity, sci-fi found a home there as well.
Over the years, television has brought sci-fi fans space operas as multi-season shows, as well as time-travel shows, sci-fi horror and fantasy series, and more. These are often among the highest-rated shows on television, proving that sci-fi could transcend just the genre fans. It all started with these sci-fi shows that defined what fans should expect.
The Twilight Zone
If there is one area that has been a massive success for sci-fi, it is the anthology series format. Shows like The Outer Limits and even horror shows like Tales from the Crypt owe their entire existence to The Twilight Zone, the anthology series that made the entire sci-fi subgenre possible.
The Twilight Zone had five seasons of original episodes from 1959 to 1964, and these episodes match up to, and often exceed, any short-form sci-fi or horror anthology episode in any series since. It also had some very famous names involved, including William Shatner and Dennis Hopper.
The series was remade later by Jordan Peele, but the original is still the go-to series for some of the best and most thought-provoking stories in sci-fi television. The Twilight Zone is the anthology series that created the format for everything that followed it.
Doctor Who
When it started, no one could have believed that Doctor Who would become the longest-running sci-fi series of all time. That is because when the show premiered in 1963, it was an educational series using the themes of science fiction, and it ended up popular but not hugely successful.
However, it morphed and changed over the years into something different. After the BBC canceled it in 1989, the series returned in 1996 with a TV movie and then again in 2005, where it has been running ever since. There have been several Doctors, and their recasting was written into the series.
With 26 classic seasons and multiple revival series, there have been over 800 episodes, and Doctor Who taught sci-fi creators how to make something that could last theoretically forever. While its performance on Disney+ showed American audiences might not embrace it as strongly, Doctor Who is still an iconic show that works well to this day.
Star Trek
Star Trek was a success years before Star Wars was created. The Original Series aired from 1966 to 1969, and then movies followed a decade later. It was Star Trek that showed that space operas could work so well. Even though Star Wars came to theaters before Star Trek had a movie, Star Trek showed that it could succeed with episodic storytelling.
Not only did Star Trek create the template for space operas on television, but it did it better than almost every show that followed, as the first Battlestar Galactica tried to combine Star Trek and Star Wars into something new and ended up ending after one season.
However, Star Trek has now had 10 live-action series over the years, as well as multiple animated series and even an anthology TV series of shorts. Nothing has been as successful as Star Trek on television when it comes to space opera entertainment.
Battlestar Galactica
While the 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica was a one-season series that ended almost as soon as it began, things changed in 2003. This was when Ronald D. Moore reimagined the story and created something special with his reboot of Battlestar Galactica.
It seems almost hard to believe this was a Sci Fi Channel series because that cable network is known for mostly schlocky sci-fi movies and shows, and Battlestar Galactica was prestige television and featured some of the best political intrigue in any sci-fi TV show.
TV shows that have aired this century, such as The Expanse, exist because Battlestar Galactica proved that it could create compelling and award-winning television. As great as Star Trek has been, it was Battlestar Galactica that proved that sci-fi could rise above its genre trappings.
The X-Files
While The Twilight Zone mastered the anthology sci-fi format on television, it was The X-Files that mastered the Monster of the Week format. Both of those sci-fi shows used a similar tactic in creating new monsters and situations in each episode, but The X-Files did it with serialized elements.
That is because The X-Files showed how to do the anthology-styled format, but added two main characters who investigated each case, and then added an overall mythology (the alien storylines) to keep fans as invested in the characters as they were in the individual cases playing out in each episode.
While Supernatural lasted for 15 seasons, it never would have worked without The X-Files showing sci-fi fans that it could work so well. This even helped lead to shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which continued to toy with the format that was set here.
Firefly
Joss Whedon did something very different with his show Firefly. He took the ideas that Star Trek brought with the space opera, the ideas he came up with for conflicted characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and he threw them both into the Western genre to create a new subgenre.
Firefly is, at its core, a Western space opera series, with Nathan Fillion as the captain of a spaceship called Serenity, and they are traveling through space, trying to avoid getting involved with the people who won a recent civil war, of which they were on the losing side.
The series is based on a Western ideal, as they are looking for a new home in an almost pioneer world, as they move further away from the war that tore their world apart. It was a hugely popular series that was canceled after one season, but it still got a movie years later to tie up loose ends.
Lost
Lost did something no sci-fi show had done before. It was a colossal success when it debuted on ABC in 2004. That is because this series started with an event no one could turn away from and then unleashed nonstop mysteries that kept the viewers captivated throughout the series’ run.
The first episode had a plane crash on a deserted island, and the survivors tried to survive as best they could. However, they soon learned the island held some dangerous mysteries. The series was also known for its flashbacks, with each episode focusing on a specific character’s backstory.
Network television has tried to find shows like Lost to fill in the gap since it ended, and almost nothing has connected as well as this groundbreaking, genre-defining series. Lost was iconic, and it proved that mainstream fans could latch onto sci-fi television if it had a story to tell.
Black Mirror
While The Twilight Zone was the sci-fi series that defined the idea of anthology television, Black Mirror was revolutionary for a similar reason. Yes, Black Mirror wouldn’t have existed without The Twilight Zone paving the way, but Black Mirror added something to update it for a new generation.
While the classic anthology series was all about using sci-fi to tell morality tales, Black Mirror used its stories to deal with the fear of technology and the dangers of misusing technology for nefarious reasons. It is similar to what The Twilight Zone did, but it was different enough to change the genre.
Black Mirror knows that simple sci-fi ideas don’t work as well as they used to, but everyone is scared of AI, “Big Brother,” and other technological fears, and that is how this British series changed sci-fi television.
Dark
Dark took the idea that Lost had when it came to captivating and intelligent mystery sci-fi television and took it to the extreme. While Lost was confusing, it was a show made for mainstream audiences, and it clearly laid out all the questions it wanted to answer.
Dark did something much more interesting. This German Netflix sci-fi series set up its mysteries and trusted its audience to follow along and keep up with the mysteries. This series didn’t spoon-feed anything to the fans and instead treated the audience like intelligent viewers and let them figure things out along the way.
Dark was a show that offered up smart, compelling, and often confusing sci-fi stories, and it remains one of the best shows to debut on television over the last decade.
Stranger Things
Stranger Things did something very different with sci-fi television storytelling. This wasn’t about creating smart television that pushed the imagination of the viewers. If anything, this was like what Lost did and brought sci-fi horror to mainstream audiences in a very enjoyable format.
However, Stranger Things did something even bigger. It took 1980s nostalgia and added it to the mix, making sure that the Netflix series would end up bigger than life, delivering something that drew in massive numbers of viewers throughout its run.
By taking sci-fi horror and adding nostalgia from the ’80s, Stranger Things was able to take the basic template that shows like Lost created and turn it into something that eclipsed even that show for mainstream audiences. Stranger Things defines everything fans love today about sci-fi television.
