Is TOS the best sci-fi TV American series until 1985?

[Grant]

I happen to think that TOS is the best American sci-fi series until 1985 (which is a date I just plucked from thin air)

What do other people here think?

If you think TOS was the best sci-fi series up to that time then say what your runner-up is....

if you don't--what is your choice?

Lastly, if you want to say an anthology show like Outer Limits etc.--fine, but also list your choice for 'non-anthology'


By the way, my runner-up is: The Invaders---(IN COLOR!!)

 

[Greg Cox]

I happen to think that TOS is the best American sci-fi series until 1985 (which is a date I just plucked from thin air)

What do other people here think?

If you think TOS was the best sci-fi series up to that time then say what your runner-up is....

if you don't--what is your choice?

Lastly, if you want to say an anthology show like Outer Limits etc.--fine, but also list your choice for 'non-anthology'


By the way, my runner-up is: The Invaders---(IN COLOR!!)

I would say THE TWILIGHT ZONE gives TOS a run for its money. Can't think of a non-anthology show although I'm sure some of our British comrades will nominate DOCTOR WHO . . ..

 

[Grant]

^^^^^

TLZ does give TOS a run and why do you think I said 'American' show!

I am surprised you don't have a show from that 40 yer period that you think was at least very good!

 

[Galileo7]

TOS is one of the best, definitely, of an extremely short list of good science-fiction television during that period. I would also have to include the original Twilight Zone (anthology) and Space:1999.

 

[Greg Cox]

^^^^^

TLZ does give TOS a run and why do you think I said 'American' show!

I am surprised you don't have a show from that 40 yer period that you think was at least very good!

Oops! I missed the "American" part.

And, yeah, TZ, the original OUTER LIMITS, and TOS pretty much trump all the seventies stuff.

 

[Grant]

I know it aired in the US, but Space:1999 was UK produced.

Yes, the list is short...........

Time Tunnel
Land of the Giants
Lost in Space
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Planet of the Apes
Logan's Run
6 Million Dollar Man
Bionic Woman
Buck Rogers
BattleStar Galactica


pretty slim pickings

 

[Greg Cox]

It gets better if you include the British product: BLAKE'S SEVEN, SAPPHIRE & STEEL, THE PRISONER, and (arguably) THE AVENGERS.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I know it aired in the US, but Space:1999 was UK produced.

Yes, the list is short...........

Time Tunnel
Land of the Giants
Lost in Space
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Planet of the Apes
Logan's Run
6 Million Dollar Man
Bionic Woman
Buck Rogers
BattleStar Galactica


pretty slim pickings

The pickings aren't quite that slim. See also:

The Invaders
Fantastic Journey
V
The Invisible Man
The Gemini Man
Beyond Westworld
Future Cop
The Immortal
The Wild Wild West
Project UFO
Salvage One
Voyagers!

and more, if you want to reach back into the 50's, like Science Fiction Theater, Captain Video, Rocky Jones, Flash Gordon, Men into Space, and so on.

Not to mention the comedies like, It's About Time, Quark and others. Plus the super-hero shows like The Incredible Hulk, which I can see not including.

For my money, Star Trek was the best of the American sci-fi shows. The Twilight Zone was a fantasy anthology with plenty of episodes falling outside the realm of science fiction. I'm used to fantasy technology counting as sci-fi (like transporters and such). However, unexplained, magical things happening that have nothing to do with technology were the order of the day in The Twilight Zone. That, to me, makes TZ a fantasy series, not science fiction.But even if we put it in the sci-fi category, I still revisit Trek a LOT more than TZ.

But if you look at my top three favorite TV shows ever, you'll probably find my judgment in question:

Star Trek
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Space:1999

 

[Greg Cox]

TZ, being an anthology, is hard to pigeon-hole, but it wasn't strictly fantasy. They did plenty of episodes involving aliens, robots, space explorers, time-travel, nuclear war, other dimensions, and so on. Indeed, several of its most famous episodes were pure sf:

"They Serve Man," "Time Enough at Last," "Steel," "The Invaders," "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," "Two," "Third from the Sun," "Little Girl Lost," etc.

 

[Grant]

I had already mentioned Invaders and by slim pickins I meant any shows that could be considered good. That list is of shows are less famous than the ones i listed.

So yeah, quality sci-fi was slim pickins in that era.

 

[MacLeod]

V (well the Mini-series and V: The Final Battle) were decent enough, sadly the same can not be said for the series which continued on from them.

AS for the best US Sci-Fi show upto 1985, Star Trek would seem the obvious choice as it has managed to stay around for over four decades. A fairer criteria might be to say was TOS the best Sci-Fi show of it's era ie. the 1960's. Rather than trying to compare things from decades apart.

As for British Sci-Fi shows from the same era upto 1985, there are plenty to choose from. But really only one has had the staying power. Whilst some have remained in the public mind others have faded away

Doctor Who
The Prisoner
Terrahawks
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
The Invisible Man
Survivors
The Tomorrow People
The Tripods
Doomwatch
Time Slip
Space 1999
Sapphire and Steel
Blake's 7
The Day of The Triffids
Department S
Thunderbirds
Fireball XL5
Joe 90

I could go

 

[Greg Cox]

The Invaders
Fantastic Journey
V
The Invisible Man
The Gemini Man
Beyond Westworld
Future Cop
The Immortal
The Wild Wild West
Project UFO
Salvage One
Voyagers!

True, but I'm not sure any of those hold a candle to STAR TREK or THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

 

[Grant]

And is calling Wild Wild West, sci-fi, accurate?

I know they had gadgets and a few sci-fi concepts thrown in, but c'mon it's a western with some high tech spy nods.

Also, if you can name an American sci-fi show of the 70s or early 80s that's better than TOS--I'd be happy narrow it to best sci-fi of the 60s.

But that was my point--nothing before it or 20 years after it, topped it. IMO.

 

[Greg Cox]

Yeah, I remember griping during the early eighties that the quality of TV sf had gone down since the days of STAR TREK . . . .

 

[Grant]

Yeah, I remember griping during the early eighties that the quality of TV sf had gone down since the days of STAR TREK . . . .

and that's a sad commentary on TV sci-fi, in general.

You have to hand it to Serling, Roddenberry an Stefano--they created better sci-fi on a shoestring, than others did with better tech, bigger budgets and better acceptance of the subject matter by the public, for many years after.

 

[Harvey]

Yeah, I remember griping during the early eighties that the quality of TV sf had gone down since the days of STAR TREK . . . .

Given that the standard-bearer of TV sf from the 1970s is probably Space: 1999, it's hard to disagree with that assessment. As woeful as a number of 1960s sf shows were (paging anything Irwin Allen ever produced!), compared to sf TV in the 70s, many were classics.

 

[MacLeod]

But is it more a case of there is/was just more of it in certain periods following the cancellation of TOS?

The more of something that is produced the greater the likelyhood of some it being sub-par.

 

[Harvey]

Well, following Sturgeon's law, the vast majority of television sf would be crap. Still, I think the output during the 60s and 90s was far more interesting than that of either the 70s or the 80s (excluding TNG, although I think the best of that series was produced in the 90s).

 

[MacLeod]

The vast majority of TV is crap period.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I had already mentioned Invaders and by slim pickins I meant any shows that could be considered good. That list is of shows are less famous than the ones i listed.

So yeah, quality sci-fi was slim pickins in that era.

Ah, I thought you just mean US sci-fi shows in general (being famous and being good, though, are separate issues). If you mean actually GOOD, then the real list is even shorter than yours. Honestly, much as I love them, the Irwin Allen series can be excluded. So could Planet of the Apes, Logan's Run, Buck Rogers & Battlestar Galactica.

If you're shooting for simply enjoyable, yes, they'd all be on the list. But quality sci-fi? I don't think the bionic shows would qualify either.