Here are all the works of science fiction (so far) which have featured a drug named Rapture:

Odyssey 5

In the episode "Rapture," a scuzzy teenager named Justin Deckard manages to get a formula for a super-drug from the alien Sentients, who live on the Internet (sort of.) The drug links everyone who uses it telepathically, into a sort of gestalt, and gives you psionic powers that let you give other people nosebleeds and eyebleeds. Justin wants to use it to turn all his "friends" into a "hard drive" to give his own brain extra processing power. But it ends up making weird veins splotch out on his face, and then he has a druggy freakout and drives off a cliff. See clip above for how awesome a Rapture rave can be.

Spider-Man 2099:

Miguel O'Hara wants to quit his job at Alchemax, the evil company in the year 2099. But his boss (and secretly his dad) Tyler Stone doesn't want him to quit — so at Miguel's farewell dinner, Tyler spikes his drink with Rapture, a drug that bonds with your DNA to make you addicted for life. I forget exactly what the high from Rapture looks like, but it didn't seem that fun when I read this comic a decade ago — just sort of trippy. In any case, Alchemax is the only supplier of Rapture, so Miguel has to stay working for them or suffer horrible, unending withdrawal pains. Miguel instead decides to restore his DNA from a stored version, but his DNA gets mixed with spider DNA — turning him into Spider-Man.

Sagramanda by Alan Dean Foster:

In the not-too-distant future, Sagramanda is an Indian city of 100 million people — and it's plagued by a serial killer named Jena Chalmette, who is high on the drug Rapture-4. Writes Foster: "It sharply enhanced her emotions and heightened her perceptions. She believed it also altered the reality around her." It's also referred to as "Full-on Shakti," and Foster mentions that it causes visions.

City of Heroes

This happy MMORPG was terrorized by a new designer drug named Rapture that made its users "moody" and even more violent than usual. The drug also gives users greater strength and endurance and changes their body chemistry for some unknown, yet sinister, purpose. MAGI Investigators finally tracked down a drug lab in Skyway City, where it turned out "renegade Trolls" had been manufacturing the drug. The drug is a derivative of another substance known as Rapture X. Dood!

Violent New Breed (1996)

This is sort of a horror/fantasy movie, except that it's set in a dystopian future, and the demons in the film are dabbling in pharmacology. Says IMBD:

Demons have invaded the streets with a drug called Rapture (the ultimate high) that has half the human population hooked. I found this social commentary very refreshing and honest, as opposed to other films about addiction where we are asked over and over again to feel sorry for the addict. The drug is used to cloud their minds so the demons can use them as slaves and can use the women as vessels to impregnate and carry more demons, only these are half-breeds - demon and human mixed. Thus creating a "new breed" to control the planet.

"Into The Black" by Ally Blue

A gritty slash fic story set in a dystopian space colony. A gangster's mistress has been cheated of ten grams of the awesome drug Rapture, and there will be hell to pay. So what does the drug do? Not sure. Here's the description: "Rapture was horribly addictive and expensive, but was nevertheless wildly popular on the space stations orbiting the Outer Planets, where the air reeked of tight-packed humanity and despair and everyone wanted an escape, however temporary."

The real-life drug

And finally, there's a dietary supplement known as Piperazine — but the street name is Rapture. It causes psychotic episodes in some people who are unlucky enough to try it. It's a stimulant, but even when it works properly it's not that great, according to one guy who tried it:

I chose Rapture, which promised me "an intense mind and body sensory experience". Starting with one pill (just in case my head imploded, or a giant ringworm shot out of my stomach), I began a merry game of Circle Of Death. After about an hour I was still yawning and didn't feel much like going out. So I had another pill. One whole hour later there was still no effect, so I took the last of my recommended dose... At first I thought the pills were utter crap, as I yawned my way into the Outback (I'd had a long drive that day), but after a backdraft and some cheap chocolate mudshakes I realized that I was actually getting drunk backwards. I know that makes no sense.

Basically, instead of the whole world spinning and everything becoming a blur, with me feeling like the only one standing straight, the world sat perfectly still and clear - a little too clear - and I felt myself moving.

Greatest drug in the universe.... or kind of a crappy high? That seems to be the one thing all of these versions have in common. Oh, and there's also this wacky satirical piece about British priests selling a drug called Rapture to convert new believers to their dwindling flocks.

We're focusing on really unsung series here, which means the list doesn't include shows like Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Blake's 7, which get plenty of love. Also, we're not including any shows currently on the air, on the theory that they could still get more love.

10. Space Island One (1998)
Why it's unsung: This German/Canadian co-production isn't out on DVD, and all of the websites about it have been down for a few years. There aren't even any clips on YouTube.
Why it rules: This is one of the most hard-science-focused SF shows. The crew of a corporate-funded space station mostly deals with scientifically plausible problems (with a couple of exceptions) and the stories focus on the ethical problems that come with profit-focused science. Yes, some episodes are a tad slow-moving, but the best dozen eps feature high drama and high weirdness. Sample plot lines: a lonely old NASA astronaut spends thousands of dollars calling 900 sex lines from the space station. The station gets the world's last sample of smallpox for safe-keeping, and the crew debates whether to destroy it.

9. Star Cops (1987)
Why it's unsung: This show about a police squad in the "Wild West" of space stations and moonbases suffered from a cheesy title and a ridiculous ELO-esque theme tune. (Which I've sort of gotten to love, for some dumb reason.)
Why it rules: Series creator Chris Boucher wrote some of the best episodes of the original Doctor Who, and then masterminded the scripts for Blake's 7. Several Star Cops episodes feature tons of Boucher's trademark razor-sharp dialog, plus the show fumbles towards a space-noir aesthetic, with the cop squad including a bribe-taker and a thuggish slob.

8. Surface (2005-2006)
Why it's unsung: Cancelled after just one season, this show about undersea intrigue failed to rope in the kind of audiences who were devouring Lost's tangled mysteries.
Why it rules: Dude, it had sea monsters! And there was a government coverup! And we had a strong female character — a scientist, even — investigating the emergence of a new and potentially world-ending form of sea life. And we never got to learn what was really going.

7. Odyssey 5 (2002)
Why it's unsung: This Canadian show about space shuttle astronauts who witness the destruction of Earth never got enough publicity during its initial U.S. run on Showtime. It felt like an attempt to do a mature extended-cable show like Big Love, only with a science fiction premise, and it failed to reach either audience. Showtime didn't even bother to show all of the first season, until 2004.
Why it rules: The main characters are all well-rounded and flawed. And the show's set-up, in which an alien sends their consciousnesses back in time five years to try and avert the world's destruction, generates tons of potential. The show is appearing intermittently on Sci Fi, and it's worth catching despite the inconclusive ending. The show was created by Manny Coto, who went on to mastermind the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise.

6. Journeyman (2007)
Why it's unsung: The first few weeks this time-travel show was on, its nickname was: "Gah, post-Heroes buzzkill!" The drama of Kevin McKidd struggling to hold onto his job and his marriage, while he kept slipping into the past, just felt a bit too draggy. But then something funny happened: Heroes started being the pain we endured to get to the reward of Journeyman.
Why it rules: The mystery of why Dan Vasser is traveling in time gets more intriguing, once a weird physicist starts spouting about wormholes. And all of the characters get more nicely complex as the show goes along. Most of all, though, all of Dan's meddling in the timestream has consequences he can't predict — and they only pile up more alarmingly over time.

5. Lexx (1997-2002)
Why it's unsung: At least in the U.S., this Canadian show never quite crossed over and gained a broader audience.
Why it rules: Just the fact that they're in a planet-eating bug ship is good enough for me. Not to mention the weird robot head with the love-slave programming implanted in it, while the cluster lizard/slavegirl who was supposed to get the programming runs free. It's a weirdly campy show, but actually has moments of genuine greatness.

4. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)
Why it's unsung: I know: How can a Star Trek series be unsung? But this one really is. It only recently got a DVD release, and people often skip over it in discussing Trek lore.
Why it rules: Thanks to a writer's strike that didn't apply to animation, the show managed to get some decent science fiction writers to contribute scripts, including Larry Niven and Larry Brody, plus original series veterans like David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana. The episodes are pretty fast-paced, thanks to their 22-minute runtimes, but that doesn't stop them dealing with ambitious ideas like antimatter universes, an "ultimate weapon" and time paradoxes.

3. Farscape (1999-2004)
Why it's unsung: Even for a Sci Fi Channel series whose name doesn't rhyme with "cattle car," Farscape flew under the radar. The muppet-esque Henson animatronic character probably made a lot of people think it was a kids' show.
Why it rules:Farscape had smart writing, good science and believable aliens — plus, it featured Scorpius as a villain Crichton's head long before BSG ever did the head-villain thing. Plus, we love the Moya, the living ship that Crichton finds himself on. The Sci Fi Channel is supposedly going to make 10 webisodes, but their status is uncertain.

2. Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993-1994)
Why it's unsung: This sci-fi Western ran in the "Friday night death slot," and breathed its last after only one season. Like many of the shows on this list, it has a cult following, but seldom gets much props as a science fiction show. And star Bruce Campbell in general deserves way more accolades than he ever gets.
Why it rules: It smudged genre lines with total abandon, and you never knew what sort of crazy gadgets would turn up, from an otherworldly superpowered orb to the Mobile Battle Wagon and the Amazing Rocket Car. Co-creator Carlton Cuse now works on Lost.

1. Max Headroom (1987-1988)
Why it's unsung: It's still not out on DVD, except for an out-of-print DVD of the original UK TV movie. The show has a cult following, but not as much as it deserves.
Why it rules: This cyberpunk show was prophetic in so many ways — TV ads feel so geared to short attention spans and DVR-skipping, they might as well be "blipverts." — and paranoia and corporate dystopias have seldom been so entertaining.

Monday night now has a Sarah Connor-shaped hole. (And a Heroes-shaped hole, and (sigh) a Journeyman-shaped hole too.) But there's still Kyle XY on ABC Family at 8, for another couple of weeks, and I'm going to explain to why this show is way better than you give it credit for. For one thing, it does the teen-with-superpowers thing better than any show since Buffy. And you can tell the characters care about each other. Plus, even though it's supposedly family friendly, it actually gets pretty raunchy, as in one recent episode where Kyle's stepsister Lori had to deal with her ex-boyfriend wanting to still have the occasional booty call. And this season features a female version of Kyle named Jessi XX, who is crazy and sadistic. Last week, she made Kyle's stepbrother do pushups with an evil leer on her face. But mostly, you should watch for Ally Sheedy, who just started playing Jessi's mom. We featured an awesome clip of Ally in action the other day. Ally Sheedy! I would watch her in anything.

Also today, the Sci Fi Channel is showing a marathon of the underrated show Odyssey 5 all afternoon. Probably right now, as you read this. Ditch work and go home to check it out. It features a car in space. And it did mental time-travel long before Lost.

And FX is showing The Day After Tomorrow at 5:30 PM, in case you saw 10,000 B.C. and want another hit of Emmercrack right away. And there's a new episode of Modern Marvels called "Strange Weapons" on the History Channel at 8 PM. Strange weapons are definitely the best kind.

Tuesday, there's a new episode of post-apocalyptic drama Jericho on CBS at 10 PM. As you can see from the five-minute preview clip below, it picks up right where last week's shocking episode left off. The military contractors that were put in charge of running the plucky town that survived a nuclear attack are openly treating Kansas like Iraq now, and acting as though they're above the law. It's hard to believe there are only two more episodes left after this one — and they may be the last, unless you can convince a few million people to tune in. Check out the first five minutes of the episode, and then start bugging your friends:

Right before Jericho, there's a new episode of The Universe on the History Channel at 9 PM. It's called "Colonizing Space," and it sounds pretty fucking trippy. It explains how we will grow food on Mars, and how we will recycle wastewater (read: drink our own pee) and introduce greenhouse gases to "revive" the red planet. It sounds totally demented, and I bet there will be CGI animations showing how greenhouse gases will make Mars semi-terraformed.

Also on Tuesday/Wednesday at midnight, there's Cherry 2000 on Encore. Robot sex, plus Melanie Griffith doing Mad Max. Come on, you know that's better than sleeping.

Wednesday, ABC Family is showing Pleasantville, which is sort of slipstream, except it's not all that great. But it does feature Joan Allen masturbating and causing a nearby tree to spontaneously combust. Plus Reese Witherspoon is the school slut! (Somehow I doubt ABC Family will show this film uncut.) There's also a rerun of UFO Hunters on History at 10 PM.

Thursday at 8, there's a new Smallville on The CW. The show's back after a brief hiatus, and Pete Ross returns for a guest appearance. Remember him? Clark's best friend? And now he's got superpowers from — I wish I was kidding about this — meteor-laced chewing gum. It's that extra flavor stripe that gives you the power to stretch and sort of teleport your hands, apparently. Actually, I'm not clear on what Pete's superpower is, but it seems to involve a weird noise. Here's an unfinished preview clip from the episode:

And then at 9, there's a new Lost on ABC. If you average out the quality of "The Constant" and "The Other Woman," you get a pretty good couple of episodes. In general, the consensus seems to be that the show's improved a lot this season. And this week, you get to find out who the last two members of the Oceanic Six are (which should surprise nobody.) We also deal more with that "pregnant women die on the island" thing, which always weirds me out. Here's the trailer for the episode, and check out the two preview clips we posted on Friday:

Or if you're over Smallville and Lost, you can watch 12 Monkeys on Encore at 8, and daydream about the days when Terry Gilliam was still great.

Thursday/Friday at 3:00 AM, there's a TV movie called Alien Abduction on Sci Fi. A woman gets abducted by aliens and then winds up in a mental institution. Where the quality of the anal probes is much lower.

Friday night, there's a rerun of a House episode about a boy who claims that he's been abducted by aliens, and he has a tracking device in his neck. Is he right? Are alien abductions going to become part of the ongoing storylines in the hospital? I won't give away the twist ending, but someone on IMDB calls this the "worst House episode ever." Based on the full synopsis, the episode is definitely science fiction in any case.

Also, the Disney Channel has Sky High at 8 PM. Sci Fi has a couple of Stargate: Atlantis reruns at 9 and 10, and Encore has the original Alien at 9:50.

Saturday, there's a new Torchwood at 6 and 9 on BBC America. I'm not sure which episode we're up to in America, but it scarcely matters. The major character who died a while back is still dead, and angsting about it. That goes on for about three episodes in a row, and you may not actually be able to tell them apart even while watching them. Here are our recaps of the most recent episodes. Actually, Torchwood was doing a lot better for a while there, and the main reason to keep watching is to hope it pulls back up again.

Also, on Saturday morning, there's back-to-back Legion of Superheroes and Spectacular Spider-Man, starting at 9:30 AM on The CW. And then at 1 PM, The CW is showing Solaris, the Soderbergh/Clooney remake. At 3:10 on TMC, there's Free Enterprise, the weird movie about Star Trek fans that helped turn William Shatner into the self-mocking figure he is today. And Disney has The Incredibles at 9 PM.

Sunday evening, G4 is showing a bunch of reruns of Wired For Sex, which is worth checking out if you haven't seen it. Find out about that whole cybersex thing the kids are into.

The other one, of course, is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The only lame part of the Odyssey 5 pilot is the kindly old man from outer space who rescues the last few humans, on the space shuttle. He sends their memories back in time, so their five-years-ago selves remember the destruction of Earth. It's a bit cheesy, but could be the set-up for a cool show. Too bad it only lasted one season.