Sarah Jane Adventures - "Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith" (Parts 1 & 2)

Spoiler Level: High

The last story of Series 4 of Sarah Jane Advent- ures, can you believe it?  This is The Little Show That Could.  Story #24,  episodes 46 & 47.  (I love that they do that, by the way; it's like recapturing the old serialized format that Doctor Who used to have.  Maybe someday we'll get some stories that runs longer than 2 episodes.)

So, it's the end of the season, and the title of the last story is "Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith."  Which is a great concept for making one think that this might be the send-off for the entire show... if they hadn't announced that they've already filmed part of the next series!

The story itself holds up to the usual high quality of the rest of the season, albeit with a few somewhat large holes in logic towards the end.  Sarah Jane & crew meet up with Ruby White, another alien hunter who's just moved into the area.  After a shaky start she begins to fit in nicely with the group, while Sarah Jane starts to have memory lapses.  You know something's up when she asks Luke "And how's... oh, what's his name... the metal dog?"  And Sarah Jane continues to fall apart, to the point where she's ready to hand it all over to Ruby.

There's some very good developments in the second half; Luke comes back to try to help, so it's nice to have him back.  Unfortunately, even though he knows something is so radically wrong that he races on the scene cursing "What the hell is going on?!?" he didn't think to actually bring K9, so they have to consult him via videophone.  That's the first of those big gaps in logic I mentioned. Perhaps in this case they couldn't actually get the K9 prop to the set, so his scenes had to be literally phoned in?  Maybe it was a requirement by Bob Baker to keep K9 from being over exposed on both his own show and Sarah Jane adventures?  Beats me.  But it sure came across as odd.

It turns out Ruby is an alien that feeds off of extreme emotions such as excitement and despair, with the energy going into a very large stomach that's kept outside of her body. She intends to help out the alien invaders that Sarah Jane usually stops, which will raise the emotional level of the world, which she'll feed off of until the Earth is used up.  "Want to colonize the Earth? Pick a continent!" she shouts with glee.  Okay, so far so good.  So Luke hatches the plan to use a hologram system to make it look like the entire Earth is being bombarded with asteroids, which will raise the excitement level of the entire world at once and send Ruby into overload.

Umm, see the logic problems here?  Rich and I each saw a different one.  Rich pointed out that Luke has intentionally sent the entire world into a panic. This means that at the very least, there are going to be people dying from heart failure, if not auto accidents, suicides, what have you.  And I pointed out, umm, didn't Ruby just say that letting the Earth get attacked was part of her plan?!?  What was she planning on doing, saying "Yeah, could you please not all attack at once?  I can't take that.  Only attack one continent at a time, thanks!"  So really, what was Luke thinking?

The final bit of trouble is when she's banished back to her orbital prison cell.  They send Ruby back, but not her external stomach.  Wouldn't that mean she would keep getting powered up from the people of Earth?

So yeah, some big holes in the plot in the last half, but it was nice to see Luke and K9 again.  When things start to work out Luke blurts out, "Rani, I love you!" which might be intended in the vein of "You rock!" ...or might be intended to set up a love triangle, as Clyde and Rani were definitely clashing in this episode over Sarah Jane's leaving.  With all the set up they did for Clyde & Rani, I'm surprised that it didn't culminate in anything in this story, so I can't believe that Luke's comment wasn't intentional.

Sarah Jane Adventures will return in 2011, and I'll be looking forward to them.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Vortex by Troy Denning

Spoiler Level: High

We've crossed the halfway point in the Fate of the Jedi series, so things are finally kicking into high gear.

As far as Luke & Ben are concerned, they're still in the middle of their uneasy alliance with the Lost Tribe of the Sith.  You would have thought that since they've already discovered & killed Abeloth, an evil so strong that even the Sith would be willing to team up with Jedi to face her, that we'd be on the downswing.  But no, Abeloth doesn't have the decency to stay dead for even one book.  So it's back on the chase for her, with Ben Skywalker and his Sith would-be-girlfriend Vestara playing more of their mind games with each other.  By this point, Luke feels (and I'm right there with him) that there's no way Ben is going to be able to turn Vestara to the light.  Vestara is Sith born and bred, and she not only has no interest in being saved, she honestly believes Jedi morals to be pointless and counterproductive to survival.  Even Vestara is starting to realize that just as she'll never be turned to the light, she'll never be able to turn Ben to the dark side, so their relationship (such as it is) can only end in tragedy.  And to be honest, her constant betrayals are starting to become tiresome.

Things have also finally kicked into high gear on Coruscant.  The Jedi have decided they've been doing the wrong thing by allowing themselves to be pushed into a corner by Chief of State Daala, and that the needs of the oppressed in the Galaxy at large and the threat of Abeloth and the Lost Tribe of the Sith in specific require they put an end to it now.  Sadly the only one who disagrees is (acting) Grand Master Kenth Hamner, who believes in loyalty to the Alliance first and foremost.  It's an honorable belief, but it's also what caused the downfall of the Jedi in the Clone Wars, and it's good to see the rest of the Jedi Council recognizing that problem this time, even if they don't make the exact parallel on their own.  Not that Daala is as evil as Palpatine, but she's certainly not upholding the spirit of freedom that the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi are supposed to represent.  It hasn't happened yet, but events in this series seem to be moving to drive the Jedi off of Coruscant altogether.  They've already established their training center on Ossus, which we know will become the home of the Jedi in the Legacy comic books, and at this point it would make sense if that's what the "Fate of the Jedi" referrs to.

Tahiri's trial for the assassination of Imperial Grand Admiral Pellaeon continues to fascinate me.  I keep expecting her lawyer to pull some amazing Perry Mason move, but he's much more subtle than that, and Tahiri's misunderstanding his approach almost derails it completely.  But the trial has switched from the prosecution stage to the defense stage now, so hopefully we'll be getting to see more of the trial in future books.  I'd really enjoy a whole book focused on just the trial.  (Law & Order: Coruscant, anyone?)

And Jag and Jaina are back on again, I'm happy to say.  At one point in the book, someone makes the observation that the problem with their relationship is they keep trying to serve three masters-- the needs of the Jedi, the needs of the Empire, and the needs of their relationship.  They need to put their relationship first for it to really work.  I imagine they'll learn that themselves at some point and Jaina will end up leaving the Jedi Order to be with Jag full time, which is how we'll wind up with Imperial Knights.  I hope we get to see the details of how that unfolds.

Hopefully Jaina & Jag will do better than poor Luke.  His romantic interests keep meeting nasty ends.  Has he got any left at this point?  Whoever Kol & Nat's mother is, at this point she can't be Mara Jade, Shira Brie, Callista or Akanah.  Seriously, if Luke Skywalker falls in love with you, you need to run.

No more Fate of the Jedi books until May!  Man, I miss being able to just dive right into the next book!

Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Child"

Spoiler Level: High

With the second season of Next Gen, things started to fall into place, and the highlight of this episode is really introducing us to the changes made from the first season.  Worf was made permanent head of security and finally got a matching yellow uniform to go with it, and so did Geordi since he was made Chief Engineer, a move that felt odd to me at the time but feels much more fitting now.  And Wesley got a real uniform, something that looked like he actually was a part of Starfleet and not like he just picked out his favorite shirt that he liked to wear when he was pretending he was in Starfleet because it had stripes on the applets.  Actually, Wesley become a much better character overall from this point on.  And then of course there's Ten Forward and Guinan.  Guinan says here she "never knew the captain until [she] came on board," which is of course problematic since later episodes imply they go way back, but either (a) she met Picard before this but never really knew him before now, or (b) it's just one of those early inconsistencies.

The story itself is a decent one; due to the Writers Strike of '88, it was a rewrite of a script intended for the "Star Trek Phase II" TV series that became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The concept of the little ball of light wandering into the Enterprise hadn't been done to death yet, and the effect is still quite nice to look at.  I especially like the little comet tail it has here and the way it leaves a little ripple as it passes through a wall or a floor.  And of course the small abortion debate that goes on once the crew learns Deanna is pregnant is just as relevant now as it was in 1988; nothing's really changed there.  And I do like that the moment Deanna says "I'm having this baby," everyone agrees that the discussion is over.

And then there's Pulaski.  I remember trying to approach her character with an open mind when she came on the show and just hating her, because I felt she was too much of a McCoy retread.  So I went into this one prepared to hate her, and I actually found her a little more sympathetic this time.  True, she doesn't treat Data any better than she would a tricorder, but going into it knowing she would be that way I found the bits where Data surprised her to be very good.  Had she stayed, I think watching her grow to understand Data and become his friend would have been enjoyable to watch.

Lastly, a version closer to the original script is being done by the Star Trek: Phase II fan film series, so I look forward to seeing the differences when that project is finished.

Top 100 Science Fiction TV Series, Part 4: 25-01

(25) Otherworld - Otherworld was a short lived series about a family that fell through a portal in The Great Pyramid and found themselves in an alternate universe, broken up into different Zones.  Every Zone is strictly isolated from each other and vastly different.  The Sterling family is traveling from Zone to Zone, learning more about the strange world they now live in, and how to get back home, with the Zone Trooper Kroll in hot pursuit.  The premise is used well in the few 8 episodes that were made, with the family visiting a city of androids, a tropical paradise, a zone where gender roles are reversed, and one where the family accidentally unleashed the concept of rock & roll, with all of the defiance and rebellion that goes with it.  For years after I saw this show, I wrote "OTHERWORLD" on the back of my $1 bills with an arrow pointing to the pyramid!

(24) Transformers: Beast Wars - Hands down, my favorite of the Transformers TV shows.  No humans, live ammo, memorable characters, and an unfolding story arc that just drew in tighter and tighter as the show went on.  This was the show that turned me into a Transformers fan and had me buying toys!

(23) Firefly - I don't do vampires, so for me this is the series that made me realize why everyone made such a fuss over Joss Whedon.  I watched the first episode or two on Fox, and I enjoyed them enough, but it wasn't until the show came out on DVD that I really gave it a chance.  Lots of people have tried space westerns; this is the show that made it work.

(22) The 4400 - Remember how I said I love shows that change the world they take place in?  This was one of the best.  4400 people who have vanished from Earth throughout the last century are all returned at once in a great ball of light.  The media takes to calling them The 4400, and readjusting to the modern world is th least of their problems-- they've all been altered in some way.  Each year this show upped the stakes, going from discovering who took them and why they sent them back, to all of them having special abilities, to the potential for their abilities to cross over to average people, to all of Seattle being seized by the enhanced portion of the population and renamed Promise City. The 4400 was a show that didn't pull its punches.

(21) Stargate SG-1 - I remember walking out of the theater from Stargate and saying "Wow, that was way cooler than I expected it to be.  I hope they do a sequel."  So I was very open to it becoming a TV series.  And the series was a great one, well deserving of holding the record for Longest Running US SF TV Series at ten years and 214 episodes.  (Certainly more deserving than a certain super hero show that's going to claim that title by a mere four more episodes by the end of this season.)  Stargate SG-1 was great for many reasons:  it was a great blend of science fiction and the military, as Stargate Command was a division of the US Air Force; we watched the Earth grow from a tiny little nuisance to the bad guys to a major player in the galaxy; we watched Stargate Command as they constantly worked to adapt alien technology, to the point where they now have their own fleet of spaceships capable of intergalactic flight and squads of fighters, American made versions of the Death Gliders from the original movie, now called X-302s and looking like something that actually is a cross between an alien fighter and something made by the US Air Force; and finally, the show never took itself too seriously.  It had a sense of humor about itself. 

(20) Neon Genesis Evangelion   - Evangelion was a game changer, like Macross and Gundam before it.  After Evangelion came along, mecha all had to be organic looking and storylines had to be more confusing.  The thing is, no one's ever come close to doing it like Evangelion did.  It seems like everyone gets a different interpretation of what they've seen, and according to the director they're all right.  And while there's a lot of things about the "End of Evangelion" movie version of the ending that I enjoy, I vastly prefer the more upbeat TV series ending.

(19) The Prisoner - ...And speaking of bizarre series that are open to a interpretation, Number 6 comes in at Number 19.  While not a science fiction show per se, it's hard to say exactly what kind of show it actually is, and it does have many sf elements to it such as super computers, body-swapping and dream manipulations.  It's also one of those shows where each episode sticks with you long after you've seen it, and you find yourself constantly thinking about what different things each episode meant.

(18) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Deep Space Nine is probably the best written Star Trek of all.  It has the strongest story arcs, the most character growth, the biggest events to happen to the Federation on-screen, and hands down the best finale of any Star Trek TV series.  So why isn't it my top Trek show?  Well, I guess because at times Babylon 5 beat them to the punch so I didn't fully appreciate what they were doing at the time they were doing it; and, to be honest, the show didn't really come into its own until Next Gen went off the air.  And because even though this one may be the best written over all, I loved Next Gen and TOS just a little bit more.  My gut just says it belongs here, even though I feel like it deserves to be higher.

(17) Macross 7 - Nekki Basara is my hero.  He's like a cross between Rick Hunter and John Lennon. Inspired by Lynn Minmei, Basara believes music has the power to move mountains, reach souls and change the universe.  Not everyone gets his dream, especially his lead duet partner Mylene Jenius, who just happens to be the daughter of Space War I ace pilot Max Jenius, who's now the captain of the colony ship Macross 7.  This Japanese sequel to the original Macross TV series has a lot of heart and a lot of great music, and characters so touching that my wife and I named our daughter after one of them. 

(16) Alien Nation - After V, Kenneth Johnson took another shot at human-alien relationships with Alien Nation.  This time the aliens (the Tenctonese, also referred to as the Newcomers) were stranded on Earth, forcing them to try to learn how to fit in with human society.  The result was a fantastic character-driven show with an eye on discrimination, gender roles, and the general expectations we tend to take for granted in our every day lives.

(15) Battlestar Galactica (1978) - The original Battlestar Galactica kicks the remake's butt to Caprica and back.  Yeah, that's right.  I said it.  Because the original Galactica was about the iconic battle of good versus evil.  Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba were people you could look up to and aspire to be like.  Baltar was a traitor to his own species out of a vain desire to be made ruler of his Colony, Count Iblis was a fallen angel, and the Cylons were unstoppable killing machines that fought humanity for a thousand years and just plain looked cool.  When I watched Battlestar Galactica, I actually felt like I was looking into a different culture and seeing a lost tribe of humanity. And Muffit was cute.  So there!

(14) Blake's 7 - There's really never been another show like Blake's 7.  Political criminal Roj Blake forms a band of freedom fighters to stand against the all-powerful Federation.  Except a lot of the people in his band are really only there because it beats rotting in a Federation prison, and are really more interested in self-preservation than the cause.  Lots of questions are raised here, such as what are the lengths that people will go in the name of freedom? Is it still doing the right thing if you're only doing it to save yourself?  Can you really trust each other to have your back when the chips are down?  The special effects are some of the poorest in television history (paper animation spaceships were common in the first two seasons, and I swear they used Lego bricks for a space station once), but the writing was usually top notch and made it all worth while.  It also has, quite possibly, the most memorable ending in SF TV history.  It's the ending I compare all other show endings to.

(13) Greatest American Hero - ...Or "Superflop," as I used to call it as a young teenager!  What made The Greatest American Hero so very special is it's not just the story of a guy who's given a super-hero suit by aliens, it's what would happen if the Odd Couple were given a super-hero suit by aliens.  Ralph Hinkley is a good-hearted school teacher who wants to help everyone, and the aliens have chosen to partner him up with Bill Maxwell, a dyed-in-the-wool FBI agent who bleeds red, white and blue and is ready to do whatever it takes to defend the good ol' US of A from the Commies.  The arguments Ralph & Bill would have over how the suit should be used were often hysterical and occasionally poignant, but what really made the special was the true friendship that was underneath it all. 

(12) V: The Final Battle - Even though the shift had started towards action in this follow-up to the original V miniseries, it still kept the drama of a fascist America under the control of the alien Visitors, with scenes such as Donovan's own mother turning against him, the Visitors spinning a raid against them on live television into propaganda, and scenes of average guys being hunted down in the streets.  The ending is of course truly beautiful, with the Resistance spreading the Red Dust worldwide via hot air balloons and people filling the streets celebrating the return of their freedom, all set to some of the most beautiful music Dennis McCarthy has ever written. It may not be the follow-up that creator Kenneth Johnson intended, but it didn't disappoint me in the slightest.

(11) Star Trek: The Next Generation - As I mentioned before, I've done a lot of agonizing over whether DS9 and TNG should be switching places in this list, but the bottom line I keep coming to is that Next Gen deserves to be here.  Arguably the most successful Star Trek ever, The Next Generation was what built Star Trek into a much vaster universe, not only setting the frame work for everything that was to come later but introducing us to characters that would become as iconic as Kirk and Spock.  I'll never forget my step-Dad saying "You know, Picard is rapidly becoming my ideal of what a Starfleet captain is supposed to be."

(10) Red Dwarf  - "Boys from the Dwarf!!"  Three million years out into deep space, slacker Dave Lister awakens from suspended animation to find he's probably the last human alive.  His only companions are a hologram of his dead neurotic bunkmate Arnold J. Rimmer, a Cat who's evolved from Lister's pet cat, a senile computer named Holly and an android named Kryten.  And hilarity then ensues.  The first two seasons are much more character driven and are probably my favorite.  With the third season the show started playing more with getting off the ship and all the strange things that the universe has to offer, none of which ever included aliens.  They met androids, holograms, GELFs (Genetically Engineered Life Forms), despair squids and who knows what else, and every single time their origins could all be traced back to Earth.  But what the show was really about was how Lister would rather quit doing all of it and just have a beer and a curry, how Rimmer wanted so desperately to be successful but never would be, and how much the Cat was in love with himself.  Often charming, occasionally poignant and always funny, Red Dwarf is a true gem.

(9) Babylon 5 - Babylon 5 was the game changer.  We all take 5-year story arcs for granted now, but back in 1993 J. Michael Straczynski had to fight tooth and nail to make it happen. Babylon 5 was the first science fiction show to use the drama and sensibility of shows like Hill Street Blues.  Every choice made by a major character on Babylon 5 had consequences-- friendships and alliances changed forever, empires rose and fell, and not a single character was the same in the final episode as they were in their first episode.

(8) Farscape - Babylon 5 may have changed the game, but nobody, I mean nobody played it better than Farscape. The premise is that an astronaut named John Crichton finds himself trapped in another part of the universe and immediately becomes immersed in the people and troubles he finds there.  Does he want to get home?  Sure.  Does he spend all his time dwelling on it like Star Trek: Voyager? Nope, he learns to make a new life for himself there and value it just as highly as his life back on Earth.  Do the producers feel like if Crichton ever gets home they won't have a show like Voyager?  Nope. Does it promise an ending where all will be answered then not answer everything like Babylon 5?  Nope. No, the only thing that Farscape delivered was consistent strong story arcs, character growth, amusing dialogue, and a satisfying ending.

(7) Max Headroom - I've already gushed in my review of the Max Headroom DVD Box Set about why I love this show, so what new can I possibly say?  This show parodied television itself in biting satire, often taking shots at their own real-life network and sponsors.  It's a world where corporations run everything, and the biggest corporation of them all is television. Where televisions are given to the homeless, where your consumerism matters more than your life.  And the only shining light with a moral compass is TV reporter Edison Carter.  Max Headroom himself is a computer download of Edison's mind, and in addition to providing the comedy to the show often provides the mirror for humanity, being the one unafraid to say what's really going on.  Max Headroom taught me to keep a wary on what the media is trying to sell me, whether that's junk food, entertainment or the news.

(6) The Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams' comedic masterpiece.  I actually first discovered the Guide on the radio; my local NPR station was airing it right before the Star Wars radio adaptation, and I soon found myself deliberately tuning in early just to catch "that crazy show."  A few years later my local PBS station ran the TV series, which lead me to discover the books, and from there it was all over.  I remember a friend at school watching this and saying "I could have done a better job filming in my basement!"  Looking at it now and comparing it to Blake's 7 and the Doctor Who episodes that aired at the time, I now see that for the BBC, this was big budget!  I've read that people tend to prefer Geoffrey McGivern's performance as Ford Prefect in the radio show, but my favorite performance of Ford will always be David Dixon's right here in the TV series.  There was just this twinkle in his eyes that always made you slightly question his sanity.  The Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy taught me that the universe is an insane place, and the ones who get through it the best are the ones who can roll with that and know where their towels are.

(5) V (1983) - The original and the best.  The original V told the tale of the Visitors, aliens who came to Earth promising peace and friendship, but in reality established a fascist grip on the world.  What made V so fascinating to me as a teenager was it showed how good people could be willing to turn a blind eye to what was happening right in front of them.  If aliens had shown up right then and there claiming to be peaceful and offered a youth program, I would have been firstr in line.  Would I have been willing to see the truth when they they told me that scientists were turning into terrorists, and I needed to turn in my neighbors, friends and family if they were acting suspicious?  If it had happened to me for real at that age I can't honestly say, but thanks to this show I was asking myself that very question once it ended.  V taught me to question anyone who says I need to give up my freedoms for "the greater good."

(Oh, and "V" stands for victory, for standing up against tyranny, just like it did in World War II.  Not Visitor.  Period.)

(4) FTL Newsfeed - When the Sci-Fi Channel first came on (remember them?) they would run all kinds of short films and animations and bumpers and just generally imaginative stuff.  So when I first caught FTL Newsfeed, I had no idea what I was seeing.  A bald green man would come on and start talking about clones or Mars or Virtual Reality, and then it would end within a minute and move on to something else.  After a few days, I started realizing that these odd little vignettes were connected to each other and a story was slowly unfolding.  I realized that this "FTL Newsfeed" was a 60-second glimpse into the of today's news from 150 years in the future.  It was the invention of the microseries, using just 60 seconds a day to tell stories of clone civil rights, secret AIs that were really running everything, VR addiction, and future politics and environmental issues. And I was hooked.  Soon I was making sure to watch it every day.  Then I started recording it every day.  Then I was making my own FTL Newsfeed music videos!  Never before or since has 60 seconds a day been used to such creative lengths.

(3) Robotech - For decades, if you had asked me what my #1 show was, I would have said Robotech.  I've already blogged in detail how this show changed my life in my tribute to Carl Macek. Robotech is a multi-generational odyssey about how the Earth is forever changed when an alien named Zor sends the last Protoculture factory to Earth, hidden away in an alien battleship.  It was the first serialized story to suck me in and grab me, and I totally fell in love with the entire saga, and by extension the original Japanese Macross timeline as well. Anime purists will say this show is a butchered translation-- I say the Robotech universe is more than the sum of its parts.

(2) Doctor Who - This show has the ultimate format.  You've got the TARDIS, a machine that can go anywhere in all of space and time.  You've got the Doctor, a man who when he dies can regenerate his body into a complete new one.  With a format like that, you can go anywhere and do anything with anyone.  And that's why this is the longest running show in science fiction history, with over 31 seasons, the first 26 of which were aired right in a row.  It means the one constant of the show is change-- oh sure, you've got your eras where things are the same for a few years, but inevitably an actor playing the Doctor leaves, or a new producer comes in and feels it's time to update the show.  But just like the universe itself, Doctor Who is always moving, changing and growing.

Yet there are certain things that are universal about the Doctor-- his belief in justice, his curiosity and wonder.  His desire to share that with his companions.  And of course that old familiar blue Police Box, the TARDIS.  And that no matter what phase the show is in, I'll find something to enjoy in it.

I have lifelong friends because of Doctor Who.  I've spent at least one day a year watching nothing but Doctor Who ALL DAY for the last 14 years with some of them.  So I have to ask myself, why isn't it #1?  Because of...

(1) Star Trek - With the pendulum swinging on the Doctor Who side as far as new material goes, part of me really feels that Doctor Who deserves the #1 spot right now.  But when I look deep into my obsessive little fanboy heart, I have to admit that I love Star Trek just a little bit more.  And when I try to figure out which Star Trek I love most, it's always the original.  So congratulations, Trek-- you are the top show.  The animated version may be what introduced me to Trek, but it's the original show that turned me into a science fiction fan for life, and opened my eyes up to the excitement and wonder that really exists in the universe.  When I watch a feed from the International Space Station on the NASA Channel I still get a chill of excitement.  I say to myself, that's no special effect, man... that's the real deal. It's the same excitement I got when I discovered Kirk and Spock weren't cartoon characters all over again.  And just like the original Trek, it never grows old.


In closing I'd just like to say THANK YOU to everyone who's been reading this and posting comments, both here and on Facebook.  I'm glad you've all been enjoying this with me, and I'm grateful and honored that you found my list interesting!  I had a LOT of fun making it, even when some of the choices were really hard to make!  Our tastes change over time, and I'm sure this list is different now than it would have been 10 years ago, and 10 years from now it'll be different still.  I was inspired by io9 making their list... now go make yours!  I'd love to read it!!

Top 100 Science Fiction TV Series, Part 3: 50-26

(50) Masters of Science Fiction - This short-lived series only lasted 6 episodes, but I loved every one of them.  With stories by Harlan Ellison and Robert A. Heinlen, it lived up to its title.  And as with all my favorite anthologies, I never knew if the ending was going to be upbeat, downbeat, or bittersweet.  I wish there were more.

(49) Heroes - A great look at what might happen if normal, everyday people gained super-powers.  I'm not a hater of everything after the first season, but I will confess I feel the show lost its way; it seemed to me like they would start taking the show in one direction, get scared when it got bad feedback, and then try to undo everything they had just done.  Which was a real shame.  IMHO, the people making the show should have ignored the message boards and just stuck to their original vision, because let's get real, hating on stuff is one of the things we fanboys do best.  But despite all this, the characters were always compelling, which made even the most convoluted story arc enjoyable to watch.

(48) Star Trek: Enterprise - This prequel to the original Star Trek was a bit of a mixed bag.  The first two seasons were very hit-or-miss for me, with it often feeling more like a prequel to NextGen more than to TOS.  Then came the third season with it's year-long Xindi arc, full of terrorism and stories that could often be considered pro-war metaphors and it's oh-so-predictable ending, and lacking any real drama because no one believed for a minute that they were going to blow up Earth, alter the time stream and make it so Kirk and Picard were never born.  (Yet even then, that season still had some very good episodes, most notably "Twilight" and "E² ")

But then something magical happened: in it's fourth and final season, Manny Cotto took over, and quickly made classic-Trek novelists Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens executive story editors.  What we got was then was a true Trek prequel, with stories that not only explained many classic Trek mysteries (such as the change in the Klingons' appearance), but reconciled many things that felt inconsistent with Enterprise as a show from the start.  The characters started getting fleshed out, and by the end of the season I found myself caring about them for the first time. While other shows on this list may have had their placings lowered because they went downhill, this show is just the opposite-- it makes it in the top 50 because it started out mediocre and became something oh, so special.  (Just be sure to ignore the final episode.)

(47) GaoGaiGar - A classic mecha series with fun characters, awesome robots, great music, beautiful animation and lots of Shouting Attacks!!!  This show sucked me in right from the beginning and never let go.

(46) Charlie Jade - A compelling tale of three parallel worlds and corporate greed.  Part of what made this show even more interesting for me is that it was filmed in South Africa, so the parts that take place in our universe had many elements about them that were unfamiliar to me, so I didn't know which universe was ours until Nelson Mandela was mentioned.  Essentially, Charlie Jade comes from the Alphaverse, a used up Blade Runner-esque universe, where the corporate leaders plan to replenish themselves from the near paradise of the Gammaverse.  A pesky side effect of this is the destruction of the Betaverse that resides in between the two, but hey, that's not their universe, so who cares?  Well, we care, because the Betaverse is our universe.  Luckily for us, Charlie Jade cares too.

(45) Stargate Atlantis - Stargate SG-1's sister show about an international Stargate team that sets up base in a different galaxy on the lost Ancient outpost of Atlantis.  While consistently a strong show, I definitely got more into it once SG-1 went off the air. One place where Atlantis thrived where similar shows like Voyager missed the boat was the show didn't depend on them being cut off from Earth; as the series progressed, they developed better and faster ways to travel back and forth between the Pegasus galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy, to the point where episodes could just as easily be set on Earth as on Atlantis.  Add to that an interesting cast, a *ahem* sense of humor, and some cool Ancient tech and you had a show that complimented SG-1 quite nicely.

(44) Smallville - If you click on the "Smallville" tag on any of my Smallville reviews on this blog, you'll see I've had a real love/hate affair with this show over the last ten years, with most of the love having been during the final two seasons.  The show's early seasons, featuring Clark's teenage angst Supersized, also featured a lot of Kryptonite freak-of-the-week episodes, memory wipes, and waaaay too much on-again/off-again with Lana Lang.  However we also got to see some great new characters such as Lionel Luthor and Chloe Sullivan, some truly great guest appearances by Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, and a more innocent Lex Luthor.  (I still feel that if Clark had learned to say "Thank you, Lex," everytime Lex stepped up to try to help out the Kents, Lex might not have turned out so evil.)  But for this comic book geek, the show really stepped up in its 8th season, when Lana finally moved on and the focus shifted to Clark establishing a new life for himself in Metropolis, and we started getting tons of cool comic book connections like the Legion of Super Heroes, Doomsday, and the Justice Society.  The show has definitely had its ups and downs for me, but overall there's been more ups than downs, and lately it's just been (sorry, I have to say it) up, up and away.

(43) V (2009) - When I first reviewed this series, I called it "better than V: The Series, but not as good as V: The Final Battle, and not in the same league as the original V mini-series."  I still stand by that; it's a good science fiction drama, but it missed the point of what V was all about.  I'm happy to say that turned around in the first season's final episode, and hope that the point of V -- resisting fascist opression -- will continue to grow in the next season.

(42) Salvage 1 - Salvage 1 was the story of a junk man, played by Andy Griffith, who built his own rocket ship out of leftover NASA parts and flew it to the moon to retrieve all the junk left behind from the moon landings.  I kid you not.  It started out as a TV movie (named simply "Salvage"), and since ol' Andy still had the rocket just sitting around, he found something new to do with it each week.

(41) Jeremiah - Jeremiah was a post-apocalyptic story where all the adults were wiped out by a plague, leaving only children to fend for themselves and rebuild the world.  It was made by J. Michael Straczynski (of Babylon 5 fame) and based off of a Belgian comic book by Hermann Huppen.  After a rocky first season, the show really hit its stride in its second season, especially with the introduction of Mister Smith.  It also has a very satisfying ending for a JMS project.

(40) Gundam Wing - This was the show that introduced Gundam to America, and it's probably still the most successful Gundam show released over here.  I've enjoyed all the other Gundam shows I've seen (the movie versions of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, and Gundam 0080 & 0083, and the first half of G Gundam), but there's still something special about this one.

(39) Twilight Zone - Ahh, the definitive anthology series.  The series that, to this day, all other SF anthology series are compared against.  What sets The Twilight Zone apart isn't just the twists and turns each stories take, but never knowing what kind of  ending you were going to get.  I've enjoyed all three versions of this show.  I used to watch the original 1959 version back when I was working the night shift, and I was a regular watching of the 1985 revival version.  I'm not sure I caught any of the 2002 version besides "It's Still a Good Life," but I really enjoyed that one.  If I had my own sci-fi channel, I'd run all three series in the same time slot.

(38) The Phoenix - Ahh, what a lost gem this was.  Judson Scott played Bennu, a peaceful alien who was placed in a sarcophagus on Earth.  He's awakened in the 20th Century, and in typical 1980's TV style wanders around the country doing good deeds and helping out people in need while on his search for his mate Mira, who is hidden somewhere on Earth.  He has a golden amulet which gives him all kinds of mental powers, including being able to talk to kittens.  It also had one of the coolest, most memorable opening title sequences and theme songs ever.  I can still hear it in my head without even trying, and it only lasted for 5 episodes!  It was aired as a summer series at the same time as T.J. Hooker.  Hooker was picked up for a full second season, and the Phoenix wasn't.  I still wish it had been to this day. 

(37) Crusade - Babylon 5's Yamato-esque spinoff about the starship Excalibur and its crew, who have only one year to find a cure to a deadly plague threatening Earth.  This was supposed to be the next big series for  J. Michael Straczynski,  now working with TNT instead of syndication like the first four seasons of Babylon 5.  But the network kept messing with him and the entire project was abandoned after half a season.  Which is a shame, because a lot is set up here and never resolved; the closest we get is some answers given by JMS in the audio commentary of the DVDs, and even that's removed in later printings.  But there was enough fascinating characters, witty dialogue and interesting stories that even the network messing around with it couldn't hurt the end result.  I'd still like to see this story continued in another medium some day, but like most of JMS's projects, he's moved on.

(36) Pushing Daisies - The facts are these:  Pushing Daisies was a quirky little show about a man who could touch someone who had died and bring them back to life.  If he touched them a second time, they were dead for good.  If he didn't touch them a second time within 60 seconds, someone else would die in their place.  So he winds up with a private detective, and together they touch murdered people, find out who murdered them, catch them, and then claim the reward.

But that's really not what the show is about at all.  What the show is about is fast, snappy dialogue, human emotions and insecurities, and love triumphing over death.  It's a soap opera of the best kind, and one of the few supernatural shows I never missed.

(35) Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers - To me, Galaxy Rangers was the show that said Yes, America can do cool science fiction cartoons.  It was still episodic, so we hadn't quite caught up to the Japanese yet, but it was beautifully animated (by Japanese anime studio TMS) and intelligently written, with fantastic spaceships, robot horses, cool looking aliens, a Clint Eastwood stand-in and a kick-butt theme song.

(34) The Tripods - This BBC series is based on a trilogy of young adult books written by John Christopher, about a future where alien Tripods have invaded the Earth and made humans their slaves.  It follows the adventures of three young boys who rebel against the system, and find themselves learning about just who and what the Tripods really are.  It's a serial storyline, and was often run right before Doctor Who when I was growing up, and I made a point to never miss it.  Sadly, only two of the three books were completed for television, but the original books make for a great read and give a very satisfying ending.

(33) The Mysterious Cities of Gold - Now this was a cool anime series that was full of surprises.  It starts off as a pure historical story, set in the sixteenth century about a Spanish boy named Esteban who winds up in South America searching through Incan and Mayan lands for seven mythical Cities of Gold.  However the longer the series goes on and the more they discover about these Cities of Gold leads the series more and more into science fiction territory, and by the final episodes it's gone completely SF.  The show itself is a lost treasure, and one worth watching if you can find it.

(32) Torchwood - This Doctor Who spinoff was just too damn dark for me when it first premiered.  I absolutely loved Captain Jack in Doctor Who, but in Torchwood's first series Jack had become so angsty he wasn't any fun anymore.  Luckily the Doctor sorted him out, and from Series 2 on he was more of the fun-loving Jack I enjoyed.  In fact, the second series overall was much more enjoyable for me.  When looked at as a whole, in the first season we see Gwen become a part of Torchwood, and slowly lose her humanity as the rest of the team already has.  In the second series, she digs her heels in and says no, she's going to hold on to what makes her human, and instead of Torchwood bringing her down, she brings the rest of Torchwood up.  (And Gwen was damn lucky by the end of Series , "Children of Earth;" if she's smart, she'll stay out of Series Four as much as she can!)

Not to mention the fact that as a bi guy myself, it's rare to see a show where everyone in the cast is open to both genders.  Granted, it's taken to such an extreme here that even I'm saying "Oh come one, now!" at times, but it's still nice to see it happen somewhere.

(31) Star Trek (animated) - This is it, the one that started it all.  This was my first science fiction show.  I was five years old, and this was just another cartoon to have on Saturday mornings.  Until my mother came down one morning and said "What is this?!?"  "Star Track," I answered, only half-paying attention.  Mom checked the TV Guide, and then said to me "That's not Star Trek, this is Star Trek," and flipped the channel to a rerun of "All Our Yesterdays."  I was floored.  Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the transporter, phasers, the Enterprise, in the flip of a channel they suddenly weren't a cartoon anymore, they were real!  From that moment on this became my favorite cartoon.  I ate up all the Star Trek I could find, and when that ran out I moved on to Space: 1999, and then this little movie called Star Wars came out...

(30) The Stand  - I am really, really not a horror fan, so as such I've never really been into Stephen King.  But this eight-hour mini-series about the end of the world and the final battle between good and evil that follows it just kept me riveted from beginning to end.  I almost read the book, but confess I was scared off by its being freakin' huge.  This miniseries still stays with me to this day, and firmly earns it a place on my list.

(29) Dollhouse - This Joss Whedon series about people who have new personalities imprinted for their clients got off to a slow start, and was often lacking Whedon's trademark snappy dialogue.  But luckily for me I never got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I didn't notice what was missing and was instead intrigued by what I was seeing.  Then the series kicked into high gear, and became the kind of sci-fi I love-- a high stakes world-changer, with characters I had grown to care about.  It tells a full, concise story with a beginning, middle and end in just 26 episodes, which is more than other shows have been able to do with five+ years.

(28) Starblazers - The undisputed King of Anime in America.  This was the show that first showed us what could really be done with serialized animated storytelling, and it captured the hearts and minds of a generation of kids.

Umm, except me.  Yeah, umm, I caught one or two episodes when it was first on and was just confused by it, so... I never really watched it.  But then years later I got into Robotech, and you couldn't talk with anyone about Robotech without them bringing up Star Blazers, so once the series came out on VHS I started watching it.  Then I saw what all the fuss was about and fell in love with the Yamato all on my own.  Like I always say, it's called a classic for a reason.

(27) Star Wars: Droids - Another one of the cool cartoons to come out of the 80's.  Droids featured mild story arcs; Set before the original Star Wars, R2-D2 and C-3PO would meet up with a new owner, have a story arc of 4-5 episodes with them, and then end up having to move on.  The series only lasted one season, which was 13 episodes plus a one-hour special.  My personal favorite story arc was "The Adventures of Mungo Baobab," because it featured the Empire, characters got killed, and Mungo himself was just so damn cool.

(26) Star Wars: The Clone Wars - This series is almost like having a new installment of the movies each week.  After all, the ships and Battle Droids have all been CGI in the Prequel trilogy to begin with, and the CGI battle scenes here are just as awesome to watch.  Plus, Anakin comes across as a whole lot cooler.  (It's a shame Obi-Wan doesn't, but hey, you can't have everything.)  Not to mention the beautiful landscapes as we get to see many worlds in the Star Wars universe that we've only read about before.  With some strong story telling that doesn't pull its punches with a war story, this show makes a worthy addition to the Star Wars universe.

Coming up tomorrow-- the grand finale: the top 25 shows!