Do You Remember These Sci-Fi Shows?
One of the best things about the internet today is the amount of great experiences that we have access to, in the form of videos, movies, and television series that we can watch anytime, anywhere. It’s a great field which has the potential for fresh ideas, and the platform that they are in provide an incentive for bigger and bolder stories, and not to mention, deeper pockets.
Given the dizzying speed with which technology develops, Sci-Fi proves to be one of the most exciting genres to watch. In an interview with Clive Thompson, he claimed that Sci-Fi is the last bastion of philosophical writing—the genre simply allows for tackling the most important current issues, involving the new possibilities that technology opens up.
A lot of great stuff has indeed been coming out. But before there were shows like Black Mirror, Westworld, and Colony, stories exploring similar themes have engaged people for years and years.
Here’s a look at some of the best Sci-Fi shows that brought people together in a room to stare at that glowing black box, and paved the way for today’s Sci-Fi renaissance.
1. Battlestar Galactica
Image credit: Autostraddle
While the original series in the 1970s was a failed franchise, a reboot in the past decade put Battlestar Galactica on the map of Sci-Fi set in space.
It’s rare for reboots to top an original, but the second Battlestar series engaged fans for years with its complex themes and stories, and its legacy continues to this day. Leading online gaming site Slingo realized the popularity of the franchise and released a Battlestar Galactica slots game, paying homage to the series’ elements and characters while tapping into the immense fanbase the show still has to this day.
Although not quite as popular as some of the biggest franchises, Battlestar Galactica’s unique legacy runs deep due to its more profound explorations of multiple themes in Sci-Fi, which it was able to afford because of its format.
2. Star Trek: Next Generation
Image credit: Screen Rant
Star Trek was a utopian Sci-Fi series, which took on likewise difficult themes. Like the second Battlestar Galactica, “Next Generation” was a reboot that deserved its new generation of fans.
As an article on WIRED points out, the series attempted to envision a future that’s light years better than we have, which was immensely refreshing when compared to the dystopian visions of the other Sci-Fi big shots of its time.
Instead of post-apocalyptic suffering imagined as the consequence of present failures and neglect, it featured scenarios where humankind faced much bigger challenges than we’d like to imagine, and found ways to come together to overcome these.
3. X-Files
Image credit: Screen Rant
This series is probably among the most difficult to binge-watch, and really harks back to a time when TV shows simply went on, and on, and on.
What hooked viewers to the X-Files was its unique take on aliens. Beyond simply imagining what otherworldly creatures might be like—something that continues to remain a mystery to us decades later— the show never failed to focus on the greater darkness that we humans actually experience. And the vast expanse of what we still don’t know about ourselves.
As this list on Vulture discussed, the show used aliens and monsters to explore such themes. Because of this, the show’s themes remain relevant to us today, and would probably continue to be in years to come.