Science Fiction Wrap-Up

I thought I would wrap up our science fiction round-ups with a summary post.  All of the shows we listed are in tabular form with links to our articles.

Show	Tony’s Rank	Kevin’s Rank	Discrepancy
The 4400	N/A	HM
Alcatraz	14	N/A	Kevin never saw the series
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.	N/A	HM	Neither of us saw the series
Alien Nation	N/A	18
Babylon 5	N/A	4	Tony never saw the series
Battlestar Galactica	2	N/A	Kevin never saw the series
Blakes 7	N/A	HM	Neither of us saw the series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	N/A	8	Tony says not sci-fi
Caprica	6	N/A	Kevin never saw the series
Continuum	N/A	HM+	Tony never saw the series
Dark Skies	N/A	17	Tony never saw the series
Doctor Who	1	N/A	Kevin only saw a couple of episodes
Dollhouse	12	N/A	Kevin didn’t see the series at series runtime.  Might now rank in top 20.
Earth: Final Conflict	N/A	15	Tony never saw the series
Farscape	5	11
Firefly	3	2
Fringe	N/A	N/A	Kevin never saw the series
Futurama	7	N/A	Kevin thought it was okay early on
Heroes	9	N/A	Kevin never saw the series
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy	HM	N/A	Kevin thought the production values were terrible in the ‘80s series
La Femme Nikita	N/A	5	Tony might not think it’s sci-fi
Lost	N/A	HM	Kevin never saw the series
Max Headroom	N/A	6	Tony never saw the series
MST3K	N/A	3	Tony focused on series; Kevin focused on shows
The Outer Limits	N/A	13	Tony never saw the series
The Prisoner	N/A	1	Tony never saw the series
Quantum Leap	15	16
Red Dwarf	HM	N/A	Kevin never saw enough to like it
Seaquest DSV	8	N/A	Kevin never liked it
The Six Million Dollar Man	HM	N/A	Kevin never liked it
Space:  Above and Beyond	N/A	19	Tony never saw the series
The Stand	11	N/A	Kevin never saw the mini-series
Stargate SG-1	N/A	14	Tony never saw the series
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine	HM	N/A	Kevin never liked Star Trek
Star Trek:  The Next Generation	10	N/A	Kevin never liked Star Trek
Star Trek (The Original Series)	HM	HM	Neither of us liked the series
Star Trek:  Voyager	HM	N/A	Kevin never liked Star Trek
Supernatural	N/A	HM	Kevin never saw the series
Torchwood	4	N/A	Kevin never saw the series
The Twilight Zone	HM	7	Tony never saw many episodes
Twin Peaks	N/A	HM	Tony says not sci-fi; Kevin never saw the series
Ultraviolet	N/A	9	Tony never saw the series, might not think it sci-fi
V	N/A	12	Tony never saw the series
The X-Files	13	10

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for:  hardcore analysis.  All in all, I’m surprised to see so much discrepancy between these two lists.  Tony and I have a pretty broad range of shared tastes in science fiction, so to see us come up with radically different lists is quite interesting.  I think part of it has to do with when each of us really got into watching a lot of sci-fi TV:  my primary years were the 1990s (followed by the last couple of years with Netflix) and Tony’s looks to be more the 2000s.

• Closest Matches:  Firefly (K2-T3) and Quantum Leap (K16-T15) were exceptionally close matches, followed by the X-Files (K10-T13) and Farscape (K11-T5).  These were the only four shows we had in common.
• Biggest Discrepancies:  The Prisoner (K1-TN), Doctor Who (KN-T1).  Neither of us had the other’s #1 science fiction show on the list.  In fact, of our top 5s, we only shared Firefly in common.
• Biggest Regret:  I didn’t list Farscape higher.  When I originally planned my list out, I expected Farscape to be in the top 5.  I just kept running into other shows that I preferred.  In retrospect, I could see flipping Ultraviolet (K9-TN) and Farscape.
• Lesson Learned:  After going through Tony’s list, I started watching Dollhouse (T12).  I have three episodes to go, but it might bump Space:  Above and Beyond (K19-TN) as #19 on the list.  I also intend to watch Battlestar Galactica, which I’m sure will be high on the list.  Doctor Who is on my queue as well, if only because of the number of people around me who love that series.
• Themes:  4 of my top 6 shows are about the individual striking out against a corrupt State.  The Prisoner, Firefly, and Max Headroom are most explicit about this, but I can make a great case about La Femme Nikita as well.  I’m a sucker for anti-State television, apparently.

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