The website Newsarama recently published a (rather baked) "Top 10 Sci Fi shows of all time" list. Ben and Eugene, the guys at the Fusion Patrol Sci Fi podcast (subscribe here) followed that up with a critique of the Newsarama list and their own Top Ten. Their list made a whole lot more sense. I recommend the Fusion Patrol podcast in general, but these two episodes in particular.
Here below, as the first leg of a planned four-part presentation of the Childhood Recovery Project, is the bottom three of my Top Ten. While I have my respectful differences with the Fusion Patrol list, I have only one (huge) disagreement. Check out the Newsarama list, the podcasts of the Fusion Patrol list, and my list and then discuss on the Fusion Patrol forum or on their twitter feed.
To wit. . .
While I try to make an objective case for most of my top ten, I am allowing myself subjective pics for positions 9 and 10. Bear with me.
10: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -
I can already hear the howls of "that's not science fiction." Fair enough. But this show was solidly in the realm of science fiction for me with it's use of fanciful technology. Much of what was fanciful then is commonplace now. There were robotic arm manipulators, remote control flying saucers, gyro-controlled billiard balls in a rigged game of pool, computers able to defeat chess masters, felt on a poker table that could read the cards in a poker hand, and a computer that can't lose at Jeopardy.OK. I made that last one up. But not really.
Mission: Impossible comes to my mind as sci-fi because for a couple of reasons peculiar to me. First, it was in an approximately six-month rotation with "Star Trek" as the post-Ten-O'clock news program on local TV station Channel 13 in Indianapolis in the '70's when I was growing up. I was always disappointed when Star Trek went on it's hiatus, but Mission: Impossible quickly grew on me as a worthy substitute. And, while this does not make it Sci Fi per se, Leonard Nimoy went directly from Star Trek to Mission: Impossible. He even appears to still be stuck in "Spock mode" in the first episode in which he appears. Watch his mannerisms in the "apartment scene" at the beginning of the Season 4 opener, "The Code." (That can be viewed on Netflix.) There is also the connection to "Space: 1999" in Martin Landau and Barbara Bain.
9: MAN FROM ATLANTIS -
I haven't actually laid eyes on this show outside a few YouTube clips since the '70's, and I readily take the word of the Fusion Patrol Guys' that it sucks. But for all it's faults, in the drought of TV sci-fi in the '70's, this was a cool drink of water to a very thirsty kid. This is definitely a subjective pick on my part based much more on nostalgia and the impact it had on me at age 10 than any attempt on my part to evangelize for it and say, "You've GOT to see this." It was a show I very much looked forward to every week when it was originally on the air, though I am sure I would now find it extremely cringe-worthy now. One thing I will stand by, though, is that "Man From Atlantis" had great music. See my other post on the theme for this show by the late composer Fred Karlin.(Incidentally, the only reason I ever found the Fusion Patrol podcast in the first place is because I did a search for "Man From Atlantis" in iTunes.)
8: SPACE: 1999 -
First of all, let me acknowledge the bad, BAD science in this show. The moon traveling at hyper-light speeds? Randomly bumping into inhabited planets two dozen times a year? If the moon traveled at speeds necessary to reach a different solar system on average twice a month, it would zip by them so fast there would never be time for a story to develop. An attempt was made to explain this by introducing the concept of "Space Warps" in the second season, but it's still utterly preposterous to have the moon as a space vehicle.I agree with the Fusion Patrol Guys that the first season was far superior to the second, and like them, I also admit I had the reverse opinion at the time the show first aired. But as a model nut, the great thing about this show for me is that it had more space ships on average per episode than pretty much any sci-fi show in history. Only the "Ragtag Fleet" of the original Battlestar Galactica can equal it. Martin Landau is superb as the Commander, and the special effects were low-tech, but very ambitious and mostly successful.
This show differs from Star Trek and many other shows in that mysteries are raised in many episodes and just not explained. This works with the setting in the near future (at least it was "future" in the 1970's) with the heroes becoming accidental space explorers before their time. They were fine tooling around the earth and moon, but just weren't ready for deep space. Episodes like "Collision Course" and "The Black Sun" emphasize how small we humans are in the context of the universe, and that there will simply be some shit out there that we never will understand.
TOMORROW: Positions 7 thru 5.
In the beginning, Gene Roddenberry looked upon television and saw it was void and without form. And Gene said, "Let there be Star Trek," and there was "Star Trek" and the Great Bird of the Galaxy saw that it was good.
"Man From Atlantis" theme on iTunes Music Store