I saw it in first run. Time Tunnel too. (Do you remember how they drove to the lab site?)

Yes, I am that old.

pink_clerical_collar

Farscape is a little sung, but not nearly enough when compared to things that are completely over-rated. (I'm not naming names...) Brilliant.

Alizarin

UFO

ralfy

Chiper

And what underwater energy weapons? Are you sure you're talking about the right show?

Chiper

And it wasn't as good.

Meiran

RAHfanboy

tezby

and THEN the sci-fi channel bought the rights, and drove it straight into the ground, retitling it "lexx." to say "lexx" is an unsung series is kinda obvious -- it flat out sucked. and to make matters slightly more insulting, those who caught the original episodes knew it used to be pretty damned awesome.

sci-fi network does this. they take good shows, buy them, and completely ruin them.

arachnophilia

[en.wikipedia.org]

apocalypso_grrrl

As for the Canadian shows you mention, nearly all Cdn TV shows are undersung in foreign markets (if they even make it that far). Heck, they're underpromoted in Canada too. :)

apocalypso_grrrl

A really asinine move.

prom77

NerissaCodrus

Another one I think gets overlooked quite a bit, though I wouldn't expect to see it on this list given its non-existent fan base, is The Chronicle. If you were looking for camp, oddness, and excellent writing across the board, you could find it there every Friday after Farscape for a season.

AngryLagomorph

trekkie

Madmaph

And I'm in full agreement on The Powers of Matthew Star; the show that introduced us all to the glory of Louis Gossett Jr. well before Enemy Mine and Iron Eagle.

z3rks

cde

I watched it as a kid, and even though the aliens that popped up from the ground would scare the !@*#&%@! out of me, I loved the show. I don't really rememeber if they actually made it to the coast to set up their civilization or not.

WookieCookie

JacquelinePterelaos

RAHfanboy

RAHfanboy

rogerniner

electrogruve

Pouncer

Pouncer

Remember the "Happy Satellite Day"?

There was that episode where it is shown that everyone celebrated when corporate networks are shooting down old satellites with lasers and all the debris falling from the sky falls onto the streets of the city.

Somehow, that might really happen. After all we're celebrating all kinds of Sh*t (including the day of the Apple).

Klappstuhl

Klappstuhl

FiorellaGaloolie

marc

But it started with a lot of promise, and had great characters and decent acting.... not something you can say for a lot of network scifi shows.

drmaybe

nekussa

That '93-'94 season, Fox had Brisco at 8pm Friday... Oh what was on next??? I can't remember some retread.. Wait a sec... Some unlikely show...

Oh yah, I remember, that show X-Files was on at 9pm on Fox.

radio1

egsmachine

_Odyssey 5_ had a GREAT first 2 hours, and the last hour was really good, but the 12 or so hours in between were exceptionally mediocre.

I might also add _Earth 2_ to the list since I think it got dismissed as kiddie sci-fi and was not watched much, but I could be wrong. I recently re-watched it and enjoyed it again the second time around. Warning: The DVD has 2 episodes out-of-order (one major, one minor), so you should look up the correct order online before watching.

_Survivors_ would be my favorite of the British shows that are not well-known to US audiences. It has a familiar premise: 99% of the world population is killed by some unknown biological agent. However, the show is different from most in that it focuses on rebuilding society. Some highlights: grocery stores become quickly raided and canned food is basically a money supply, some people go around and try to shut down the nuclear reactors to avoid an accident, someone gets a train line running on a schedule (and small trading villages build up around it), and the show ends with the creation of a trustworthy money system.

Taed

Millenium season two was outstanding.

Millenium season three was an afront to the art of writing a decent script.

I blame Fox, because they're such a convenient scapegoat for the loss of many of my favourite shows.

But yay NBC! 30 Rock has been renewed for a third season!

darcymcgee

Way back, kiddies, TV was available in only two colors and SFX consisted mostly of stop motion & scaled models (can't do greenscreen in B&W).
This is a test - What was the only real way of distinguishing the 'Invaders' from us Earthborn folk?
Yes, I am that old.

lazyeight

I've just finished watching Charlie Jade on FX (sky TV), was excellent and I IMDB'd it recently to find out it was made 2005

rickster999

@Darkedge:
*flies into an uncontrollable rage when reminded of Starship Troopers, the Movie/Shows/etc*

You do know the book is about Humans in Gorilla-shaped Mecha fighting the bugs, and not a condemnation of neo Fascist tendencies in government (IMO, anyway)? Verhoeven didn't even read the frakking book, he just decided we didn't get the message from RoboCop so he'd make it a bit more obvious and have Neil Patrick Harris do his best Goebbels impression on top of ruining the plot in every way he could muster while still retaining enough elements of the book to keep the name...

Sorry Darkedge, thats not really directed at you, you just made me think of it :)

Carry on! ;)

DaiMacculate

Madmaph

bazmannz

deckard97

Again British scifi - Max Headroom also great - I have 4 episodes on VHS that I paid a hell of alot to buy. If anyone can move them to digial media I'd be interested.

Space AAB is starship troopers done well, sorely missed by me too.

Thanks i09 you have dredged up alot of good memories for me :)

Darkedge

+ Watch video

CantankerousDave

Annalee Newitz

Farscape is far from unsung, but I might say that it's undersung. So sad how Sci-Fi treated it.

I tried to watch Lexx once, just in case I was missing something. After suffering through three or four episodes, I decided that I wasn't. Yuck. Just yuck.

Was Brisco County Jr. the one with John de Lancie? If so, I saw a couple of episodes here and there and rather enjoyed it (mostly for the John de Lancie). If not, I'm always getting this show mixed up with whatever that other one was.

Max Headroom is great. Matt Frewer is great. Definitely unsung! In fact, I think we could all use a little Max Headroom right now. (This post in general could have used more clips...)

+ Watch video

You have slightly piqued my interest with Odyssey 5 and Journeyman. I may look those two up in the near future.

bluewyvern

tezby

Journeyman sounded more like a Quantum Leap remake than it turned out to be. He never dealt with consequences, and his "missions" were much more cheerful. The consequences and the dark, "realistic" atmosphere made it something to write home about.

Farscape...Farscape had terrible episode premises (the crew goes back in time to the 1970s at Halloween!), poor production value, and too many embarassingly bad episodes for me to show it to anyone. That said, Crichton was an incredible character and made the show great for people who got into it. Also, Chiana (Gigi Edgley) was unbelievably hot, despite the makeup. "Those guys" have been known to watch for her alone.

Balius

darcymcgee

Does Not Equal

doubledumbassonyou

Acheman

orbital1

Hototogisu

darundal

I'd also put in a vote for Starlost which I saw when I was 12 or 13 years old. When you're that age you look past production values as your mind is being blown by the ideas and the concepts. Haven't seen it since and can't imagine how bad it must be production-wise, but as far as influencing me and probably many others into harder SF, it deserves a rating.

May I just put in a late nomination for Andromeda? Kevin Sorbo, thy name is quality.

tezby

Cacafuego

ANother vote for Space: Above and Beyond.
Man, that show had such promise, but they 'mainstreamed' it after the first season and it got less interesting as it become more violent. Giving us hermaphroditic Zen aliens made one think so much that I guess the idiots that run the network were freaked out by not having the plot shoved in their faces every five minutes.

Red Dwarf, Star Cops and A for Andromeda (original version) make my list too.

splig

Surface.... are FREAKIN' KIDDING?!?! what a load. that show was utter crap. puh-leeeeease.

saketini99

[en.wikipedia.org]

[en.wikipedia.org]

aspiringexpatriate

Oh yeah, and I'm surprised that out of 100+ comments no-one's mentioned Dark Angel yet.

Zombat

It didn't help that Fox forced a different vision of the show down the viewer's throats. I can't tell you how surprised I was to learn that the first two episodes were the last ones premiered on that bastard FOX. The broadcast order was horrible, the advertising never let me know it even existed... they were setting up the damn show for failure. Which makes me pants-sad.

I watched Lexx back in the day, but largely because I loved the show when it came to the start and close of each season. Following Kai's story was probably the biggest draw for me, but there was also the whole "being a stupid high school male who thinks hearing about sex is awesome" thing. I wish to hell that the Tales from a Parallel Universe were available on official DVDs, all the fakeys go for so much money it's ridiculous, and I'm of the opinion that VHS is dead.

I own all of Farscape on DVD. Watched Journeyman to the end, but stopped caring in the middle somewhere, liked the way it ended. Can't really speak to the rest of it.

Maldron

Mathmos

Would love to have more Space: Above and Beyond.

EBone

geekgrrl

Parker Stevenson and Ashley Crow playing the leads, with Asimov also part of the staff of the show. It was too smart to stay on the air.

vjmurphy

And I remember getting up on Saturday morning to watch the rather well written ST animated series. One word: Kzinti.

victheremin

Threshold ruled, I have it on DVD.

And where the hell is Max Headroom?? Sons of bitches.

doctor_cos

Yeah, I'm sure it was a gem.

TheGreat&PowerfulTurtle

MelvinaHamster

Justin K. Rivers

Randomeis

Yes, It was great.
"In space no one can hear you scream,
unless it's the battle cry of the United States Marines!"

Zantor

CantankerousDave

"Mercy Point" I actually Video taped the pilot episode. I may find the courage to watch it again some day

Zantor

Stanley, Zev, Kai and Robothead 7-90 are one of the great Sci-fi families. The unique combination of satire and down right evil villains made it so much fun to watch. Plus the show reveled in irony. So many times were the largest of triumphs obliterated by the dumbest twists of fate.
"YO WAY YO"!

Love BRISCO!

The theme of the show was "The Coming Thing". It had an almost "Forrest Gump" type slant on history. Also, great characters: Brisco, Socrates Poole, Lord Bowler and Dixie Cousins plus a cast of teriffic villans. Top writing and casting made this show a gem. You may recongnize the theme music. It was later used by NBC as their Olympic Coverage theme.

Zantor

~j

j4yx0r

and what, no love for quark!?

firesign

DrMeteorologist

beercheck

choinski

Does Not Equal

haggardprincess

My vote is for Star Cops. Caught that on re-runs of course, but thought it was well done especially on those BBC level of Space F/X... Never caught Space Island One.

CmdrHunt

Grey_Area

I love that idea. No way a studio would make it in the US though.

aspiringexpatriate

goose666

To be honest, I blame poor promos and spotty advertising, everything in Fox's lackluster ad campaign leading up to the show premiere led me to believe it was going to be total cheese, and not one place did I see Joss Whedon's name on those promos either. It may have said "From the Creator of Buffy" but I don't seem to recall that either.

Of course I love the show now but I won't claim that I ever watched it before cancellation, as that would be a lie ;)

DaiMacculate

FoolsRun

Speaking of Space Military Wars, wouldn't it be a great idea to do a show about interstellar conflict in an existing and established universe that didn't have a static cast? I was thinking a "war" iteration of Star Trek for instance, where a season would consist of 2-3 episode arcs that follow a particular crew through a mission from assignment to conclusion, set against great "historical" trek conflicts like the Romulan War among many others (could do one war per season or just skip around). Since many/most of these crews wouldn't be going home at the end of their dangerous missions, you could score some nice acting talent that normally wouldn't want a regular trek gig for fear of typecasting (though as Patrick Stewart demonstrates that only really hurts Bad actors), you'd have a new ship every few eps so nobody gets bored (and wouldn't need the same number of sets as story arcs, since ship models stay in service for decades).

It could work in other settings, I just use Trek as an example because its well known and has a long, if not very well constructed, pre-show history to draw from. You could even get some fan participation in the form of voting on which non-show but established Trek Crews (New Frontier among others) get to be featured in a season-ending arc at some point.

Yeah thats a whale of a post for the second page of a thread, but oh well ;)

DaiMacculate

Ddoom

rogerniner

Does Not Equal

I also agree with the above poster who said Threshold should have been on there, and while we're at it, where's Brimstone? That show wasn't science fiction as much as it was supernatural fiction, but Surface wasn't as scientific, either. (I guess Firefly is unsung but gets enough love from fans to be exempt from the list.)

Does Not Equal

NefariousNewt

"So rocket powered cars and electric machines in the Old West is not Sci-Fi (Brisco County)?"

Well, sure - but they were sort of epiphenomenal to the story. I would call it a show with some VSF elements.

@CSX321:

I did like Misfits , though it was more supers than SF, to me.

-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

I'm still astonished and disgusted that Doing Time on Planet Earth was left off this list. Best Show Ever!

Rus

Belabras

loudambiance

SeeingI

I remember watching The Big Lebowski years later and seeing the scene where the cops are sitting on the Dude's couch, interviewing him about the missing Credence tapes, looking at the blond cop and going, "Hey! It's the guy from Brisco County Jr!"

tk.

Anyways, for the most part it was low budget and silly, but I remember it having lots of potential. And like SAAB and BSG, I'm a sucker for space military wars, even if they're not the best stuff out there.

And did no one see Legend? It was like The Wild Wild West with pinache.

aspiringexpatriate

Cacafuego

Star Trek Animated lives fondly only in people's memories that saw it when they were 8. The worst animation Filmation had to offer with hacked plotting. Sadly, the writing is mostly to blame - sure it had great writers, but none that knew how to write in a 22 minute format.

Odyssey 5 would have been a good TV movie, but they had to go and try a series with a premise that had only the one note and had nowhere to go after the big reveal.

I strongly disagree with almost every show on your list that it is worth anybodies time to find these shows - and thank god somebody in the various home video departments has the good sense to NOT issue these shows on DVD. I would be soooo pissed if I paid $45 for a season of LEXX!

bdavis007

V.I.N.CENT

beercheck

rogerniner

TheRunningboard7

rogerniner

AmishJohn

My wife suspects I planned our entire Scotalnd trip around getting Region 2 Star Cops DVDs. It's only very slightly true.

I had to review the Threshold pilot. I lauded Peter Dinklege as much as I could, then hazed the rest of it. It was bad. Gnaw-off-my-own-ankle-to-escape Bad. Sadly, I only got about halfway through my ankle before my teeth broke.

Rus

Not really scifi, but awesome none the less.

drukus

All_Thumbs

I would have picked Threshold, as well. It wasn't great, but still kind of fun.

Anybody remember Misfits of Science? Is Eureka too poplular to make the list?

CSX321

PVIII

Surface on the other hand was a huge turd.

I agree that Brisco County Jr. and Farscape are hardly unsung.

Oasx

Agree with you about Space AAB though, whats really funny is that I distinctly remember watching the killer androids episode when it aired and thinking that was kind of a rip-off of original BSG, then in some ways new BSG comes full circle by adopting Humanoid Robots (really more cyborgs in the case of "skinjobs", but whatever) itself ;)

DaiMacculate

Space Above & Beyond had all the same problem the modern BSG does - a plot full of weird mysterious conspiracies that can't possibly make any sense. On top of that, it had worse acting, plots, and special effects. I tried to like it, and failed.

Seaquest DSV was god-awful. Energy weapons underwater? Pirate submarines !? I won't even get into the impossible size / composition of that boat... It was as bad as original Trek, or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Max Headroom was awesome, and so was Brisco County - but the latter wasn't really sci-fi, even distantly.

Here's my nominee for Unsung SF TV - Commando Cody. Sure, it was fairly cheezy, but it had better science than most modern shows do, and it was exceptional for the time.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

lascauxcaveman

And how about some love for Invisible Man? It took awhile for me to get into the show, but it was both funny and interesting, which, of course, meant it got canceled.

Belabras

RAHfanboy

I feel like I have lost a friend. That feeling where every time you think about them there are fond memories but also a little twinge of pain knowing that you will never see them again or know what could have been.

Unfortunately there are no new episodes in heaven. I am going to go get a tissue now. I have suffered enough for one day.

EracMan

draconismoi

1. The Twilight Zone (Original Series)- A show that defined a genre.

2. UFO/Space: 1999- Both of these shows should be included if for different reasons.

3. The Man from Atlantis- The TV movies were far superior to the short lived series but it deserves a mention as the story line and characters were intriguing.

4. The Starlost- This oft forgotten show (for good reason), which sadly became a production fiasco, was simultaneously one of the most promising and poorly executed shows in sci-fi. It also greatly influenced sci-fi. It starred Keir Dullea of 2001 and guest starred John Colicos (the original BSG, Barry Morse, and Walter Koenig. Some of the best sci-fi writers in the business at the time submitted scripts. Even to this day I harbor a hope that this franchise can be resurrected and produced as the storyline deserved.

5. Lost in Space- Particularly with the seriousness of season 1 prior to the campiness that made the show a circus.

Logan5

PVIII

I originally had no intention of watching it but I ended up watching the third episode ( didn't feel like changing the channel) and was hooked.

Why oh why do all the good sci-fi shows get cancelled?

EracMan

Tim Faulkner

Killa_Charlie

I wish Earth2 was better because the premise was so wonderfully suited to episodic TV. I'd love to see a show like that revisited.

Oxfordian

Also you lose for Farscape, because its no where near unsung, its pretty much as infamous as Firefly.

Log1c

PVIII

I thought Space:AAB was pretty awesome, too. It reminded me of the Wing Commander games.

Seaquest DSV was good, too. Yes, it definitely got weird. But I liked it.

Briscoe County and Max Headroom are both classics. I actually "taped" much of Max Headroom on these archaic magnetic-media devices we used to call "VCRs". I wonder if they're still viable?

/goes to scrounge around for a "VCR" in the garage

Belial

Where is VR5?

The network that aired that show pissed off the entire nation by cancelling a great show just when the questions we all wanted answered were about to get answered!

dOk

I have sadly yet to see Farscape (it's on my "to do list", tought) but as for the rest of the list, I loved Max Headroom, even if I was just a kid, loved and watched every episode of Surface, was amazed to see Odyssey 5 on a local tv channel, the same channel that broadcasted Lexxx to completion (lots of sex and amazing performance by many guest actors, including Rutger "Roy Batty" Hauer on a couple of episodes). Brico County Jr. was the first time I have ever seen Bruce Campbell, its was just awesome!

Great list, charlie. :)

Shiryu

And what about Earth: Final Conflict? Gene Roddenbery's drug-induced alien invasion trip with hermaphroditic transparent 'companions' bent on world domination with alien virus symbiotic weapons? I mean, yes, it did tank after the 3rd or 4th season, but the 1st season alone really touched on topics that none of the other comparative scifi shows did during that period.

Also, TekWar. Terrible. But SO hilarious. Deserves a mention, at least.

admnoyce

Ryan H

PVIII

Marcus

femto

Ryan H

cybereality

+ Watch video

PVIII

Marcus

PVIII

aspiringexpatriate

Plague

So Invasion was boring, but it did feel like it was going somewhere. There were good moments, like the brother meeting his half-formed doppleganger.

I would add Babylon 5's Crusade spinoff too. Great ensemble cast, no budget.

Seth L

BTW, the idea of time travel is far more believeable than the house he lived in on the series. 2 story Victorian with a yard and a stay at home mom on a reporter's salary in this town? Really??

Epaminondas

aspiringexpatriate

femto

I also second a vote for Time Trax, as well as the Time Cop tv series. Sure they were campy like most early 90s shows, but they were loads of fun.

The one show I miss the most and still have yet to get my hands on is FX: The Series. A very lovable cast and a fun plot line involving a special effects wizard using his hight tech gadgets to assist the Toronto police department.

Chiper

Liked this list though, especially Brisco County Jr, John de Lancie as Tesla in particular was awesome..;)

DaiMacculate

Space Above and Beyond was an excellent show.

jp182

aspiringexpatriate

Mathmos

RAHfanboy

Just kidding.

Marcus

Surface was fun, I'll give it that, but is was so horribly melodramatic, and the science was apalling.

Lexx was really campy. Like nothing but camp, and sort of fantasy-ish.

Ditto everyone's not-unsung Farscape comments.

And I'd include Nowhere Man, Earth 2, and Space:AAB as well!

Seth L

And Carla Gugino rocked on Threshold -- I'd definitely put it as both better and more unsung than Surface.

Evil Tortie's Mom

atomsmasher

But much love for Brisco, Trek, Max, and wow-I-forgot-that-till-now for Star Cops and Space Island One. If only the latter had had a budget of more than could be found in couch cushions.

Evil Tortie's Mom

/looking for my jaunt belt...

Marcus

nerdgaymer

Oh, what about that UPN show from the mid 90s, Nowhere Man? Or Lazarus Man, or Time Trax?

Time Trax was good.

aspiringexpatriate