The Greatest Sci Fi/Fantasy TV Shows: Considering the case for the sci fi and fantasy television shows that should be counted among the greatest of all time.
What Is It?
The twelve colonies had been at war with the robotic Cylons, which they had created as servants, but an armistice has kept the peace for 40 years. However, the Cylons unleash a surprise attack that wipes out the majority of the human population as well as their ability to retaliate. The aging Battlestar: Galactica is the only warship to survive and it must lead a fleet containing the remaining refugees of the human race to the legendary thirteenth colony known as Earth.
Aired: The Sci Fi Channel, 2003-09, 4 Seasons Totaling 76 Episodes plus a Two-Part Mini-Series
Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park
Developed By: Ronald D. Moore
Argument to Count It as One of the Greatest Sci Fi TV Shows:
When the Battlestar Galactica mini-series arrived on The Sci Fi Channel in 2003, it defied expectations and ended up launching a series that would have a major impact on sci-fi TV and the television medium in general. It drew its concept from a campy, family-friendly 1970s series that was truncated by poor network decision-making (more on that at this link), but delivered a dark re-imagining that took it in a very different direction.
Unlike the original, the new BSG went for more of a hard sci-fi angle (though it did work in some mysticism as well), and it also completely dispensed with the campy tone. This was an intense series that focused on the fact that the humans were in a desperate struggle for survival and had to face many hard choices. It worked in themes that related to the contemporary political environment at the time it was produced, and the show was not afraid to push the boundaries with some of its stories. It did not pull its punches and had a palpable grimness, perhaps going too dark at times. But when the show was at its best, which was quite often during its first two-to-three seasons, it delivered some hard-hitting, essential sci-fi TV.
The cast and production were a major part of the show’s success as well. The list of actors who have since become well-known genre names includes Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, and more. But the show had an extensive cast beyond that and all brought their A-game to help bump the production to the next level. The special effects were first-rate as well, utilizing CGI technology to its fullest extent and helping BSG stand out as one of the early “prestige” shows on television, not just another basic cable scripted entry padding the schedule.
BSG does get dinged for its finale which many considered to be disappointing, but the journey to get to that point is worth the ride. The show delivered an important shift for sci-fi TV, and it is still recognized for its accomplishments twenty years later, which surely counts it as one of the greatest genre entries of all-time.
Argument Against:
Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica surely counts as an important entry for sci-fi TV, and its early years do deliver some all-time great moments and characters for the genre. But the show seemed to suggest that it had a plan guiding its story while in truth the creative team was pretty much making it up as they went along. The first couple of seasons were pretty tight, but after that, the writers seemed to lose their way and their grip on the story. This became quite obvious when they did things like reveal the “Final Five” and kill off characters only to bring them back as an angel. As the show moved into its third and fourth seasons, it just seemed to meander and get far too convoluted while using mysticism to explain away plot holes. And no, the movie The Plan—which arrived after the series had ended—did not succeed at retro-fitting a true plan to explain the leaps in logic.
Then there is that finale. While the story had taken some odd twists and turns by the time the fourth season was wrapping up, fans hoped that the finale would bring everything together and deliver an ending that would assure BSG would stand as one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows of all time. But the general consensus is that it failed on that part, leaving the final two seasons as a major disappointment. So while the show started off strong, it ran out of steam about midway through, and that should impact where it stands when ranking it among the best-of-the-best genre entries.
Johnny Jay’s Take:
When I first watched the Battlestar: Galactica mini-series in 2003, I have to admit that I was somewhat underwhelmed. It was an interesting take on the original series and it had its moments, but I was not quite as enthused as others who watched it. But when the first episode of the series proper arrived, “33”, I was hooked. The intensity and drama of that story and the episodes that followed really took sci-fi TV to the next level. And the show would keep that up through the end of its second season and into the third. It was definitely an intense watch with its hard-hitting drama and downbeat story turns. But it was appointment television.
Diminishing returns started to set in by the end of the third season, though, and the fourth year went completely off the rails at times, especially with its finale. Still, I recognize what BSG accomplished and I do count it among the all-time greats of sci-fi TV. I tend to put it lower in the rankings than where I typically see it land in other lists (I consider it a Top 20 show, not a Top 10), but I acknowledge that it made quite an impact and deserves recognition as an important genre entry.
Where Can You Watch It?
The entire series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray, and it is also available for purchase VOD. It is available for streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video which includes the mini-series.
Do you consider Battlestar: Galactica to be one of the greatest sci fi/fantasy TV shows of all time, or did its later seasons and finale diminish its standing? Chime in with your thoughts below or at our discussion thread at r/SciFiTV.
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I found nuBSG to be a consistently overrated show. I’m not sure why it became the sort of breakout hit that it did considering the meandering aimlessness of it’s story line. Maybe it was having higher profile film actors like Olmos and McDonnell at a time before that became more common. Maybe it was more appealing to sci-fi lite sorts of people who are more interested in “the personal human drama” aspect (which completely turns me off personally) – the film/tv critic crowd. It became obvious early on that despite the tagline (“they have a plan”) they didn’t have anything planned out at all (rather like ‘Lost’). In general I tend to consider a good show to have a high level of episode rewatchability – nuBSG did not have that quality IMO. There were tidbits that I liked here and there but on the whole it didn’t amount to much.
While he was not mentioned in the previous comments, my recollection that the star of the show, Battlestar Galactica (remake) was none other then Edward James O. who was a pioneer because he was hispanic and at the time there still were not a lot of Hispanic characters staring in TV shows at that time. Mr. James was best known for being the police captain to Sonny and Crocket in the Miami Vice series. He also was a character actor in many movies and was the star in at least one of them, I believe it was called “American Me”. I wonder what happened to him, he may have retired but I sure enjoyed his performances.