Friday, September 03, 2010

The Couch Potato Chronicles: A Primer of 20 Classic Sci-Fi TV Shows

Here you go, kids, so have at it over the 3-day weekend!  There is, of course, lots of room for argument.  

(For instance? The writer didn't like "Firefly"'s episode "Shindig," which I absolutely
adore.  And "Supernatural" isn't on the list at all ... though I'll be the first to admit it's (a) more a guilty pleasure than a classic, and (b) La Parisienne and the Kamikaze Editor and I all thought the most recent season was mostly a crashing bore.  Still, I've got a bone to pick with the list if it's going to include "Torchwood"-- and recommend the deplorable "Children of Earth" story! -- and not "Supernatural" which, at its best, gave us snappily witty, tongue-in-cheek, meta-theatrical episodes like "Hollywood Babylon," "Monster Movie," and "Changing Channels."  Also, how can "Farscape" not be on this list?!)  

I pretty much love almost all the 20 shows on the list, but if I had to choose 5 listed shows that you MUST watch, I pick the following in alphabetical order:

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • the new Doctor Who (i.e., Nine, Ten, and now Eleven)
  • Firefly
  • The Prisoner
  • Star Trek 
You still must watch "Farscape," though.  Oh, and I heartily recommend the BBC "Life On Mars" also, though it's arguably not quite as obviously sci-fi as some of the other shows on the list.  But if the list can include "Lost," then I don't see why it can't include a crime drama that plays with the idea of reality, time, and consciousness.  The new "V" is fun too, and "Journeyman" is a "Firefly"-esque sad tale of what might have been if it had lasted longer.   "Kings" is a hard-to-classify bit of actual creativity.  On the animated side, you can't beat "Futurama" with a stick.

No comments: