Favorite short lived Sci-Fi series [Archive]

HardyGirl

Jul 24, '07, 9:35 PM

Hi,

Cat's Custom Mego of Automan got me thinking:

There were a lot of great short lived Sci-Fi series that just weren't given a fair chance. Among my faves are:

Manimal
Automan
The Magician
Planet Of The Apes
Human Target
The Invisible Man
Gemini Man
American Gothic
Roar
Invasion

What are your faves?

The Toyroom

Jul 24, '07, 9:46 PM

One of mine was The Phoenix.

ABMAC

Jul 24, '07, 10:06 PM

Planet of the Apes
Fantastic Journey
Logan's Run
Man from Atlantis
Quark

batmanmc

Jul 24, '07, 10:08 PM

planet of the apes.
quantum lep which was on for a little bit. mike

ABMAC

Jul 24, '07, 10:34 PM

planet of the apes.
quantum lep which was on for a little bit. mike

Quantum Leap was on for five years, so I don't think it qualifies as short-lived, but it could easily have gone another five without running out of ideas.

highquality

Jul 24, '07, 10:53 PM

Space: Above and Beyond. The production values on this series were incredible.

Definitely Firefly. It was a completely character driven show. The production values drop off pretty badly towards the end and eventually caused the death of a GREAT show.

The Powers of Mathew Starr. I think I liked this show. I remember being upset when it was cancelled.

HardyGirl

Jul 24, '07, 11:03 PM

Wow, I forgot about Matthew Starr. I liked it best when it first started and Lou Gossett Jr. was in it.:yeah:

Yeah, I'll add Earth 2 and Space: Above & Beyond to that. And also SeaQuest DSV (not to be confused w/ 2020). Sunday night was good!

txteach

Jul 24, '07, 11:07 PM

UFO, Firefly, 7 days, Logan's Run.

Bionic Joe

Jul 25, '07, 12:23 AM

have to go with QUARK loved the Bettys/ LOGANS RUN/ PLANET OF THE APES/ THE ARCHER FUGTIVE FROM THE EMPIRE/

danadoll

Jul 25, '07, 2:20 AM

Space:1999

thunderbolt

Jul 25, '07, 4:11 AM

Project Blue Book
Space Above and Beyond
Millenium (well, it had 3 seasons)
Quark

Hulk

Jul 25, '07, 4:56 AM

Recently, I really enjoyed Surface and Invasion

saildog

Jul 25, '07, 7:05 AM

Firefly...it had it all.

I also liked Threshold.

ctc

Jul 25, '07, 8:26 AM

Hmmmm....

-Logan's Run
-The Phoenix (although I haven't seen it since I was a kid; so I don't know how much I'd like it now.)
-Quark
-UFO (I would have liked to see how this one ended.)
-the prisioner (Although it was SUPPOSED to end when it did; so I don't know if that counts as short lived.)
-The Adventures of Brisco County JR. (Don't know if this counts as short lived either, but I did enjoy it.)

Don C.

palitoy

Jul 25, '07, 9:17 AM

Planet of the Apes
Beyond Westworld
Fantastic Journey
The Phoenix
Once a Hero
The Highwayman
UFO
Logan's Run
Man from Atlantis
Quark
Cliffhangers
Man Called Sloane
Sable
Holmes and Yo-Yo (I don't wish to find out if i liked this series as an adult)

Busted Pilots I love
Planet Earth
Genesis 2
The Stranger
Badlands: 2005
Island City
Strange New World

The Bat

Jul 25, '07, 9:27 AM

The Night Stalker!

jwyblejr

Jul 25, '07, 2:23 PM

Does any of the shows on Sci-Fi count like Proof Positive? Or the one they had last season with the four people investigating various going ons?

jemboy2004

Jul 25, '07, 6:32 PM

starbuk V was only on 1 season so I'd say V the series!

I got it on DVD recently and have to admit it was not as cool as I remember it but still I liked seeing it again after about 20 years of not seeing it at all.

ABMAC

Jul 25, '07, 6:58 PM

I almost forgot Alien Nation.

batmanmc

Jul 25, '07, 8:01 PM

i forgot about v. i used to watch the series. mike

Meule

Jul 26, '07, 5:09 AM

Firefly
Seaquest DSV
Space: Above and Beyond
The Highwayman
Surface
Invasion

Captain

Jul 29, '07, 3:40 PM

Most of mine have already been mentioned....except for one...Otherworld. This one ran in the mid-eighties, and I thought it had some potential.

Wasnt really sc-fi, but I wish Tales of the Gold Monkey had lasted longer as well.

Blue Meanie

Jul 29, '07, 8:16 PM

Here are a few:

Space Above and Beyond
Jake 2.0 (Six Million Dollar Man knock-off)
Firefly
Dark Angel

Not really sci-fi but has that cult flavor to it like most Sci-Fi stuff has:

Nowhere Man
John Doe

monkeyboy

Aug 3, '07, 12:57 PM

I loved earth2 it was just getting good and after 2 seasons got axe with no wrap up!

Steeler80

Aug 5, '07, 1:24 PM

UFO
Planet of the Apes
Man from Atlantis

JDeRouen

Aug 5, '07, 2:27 PM

Nowhere Man

grayhank

Aug 5, '07, 3:54 PM

Battlestar Galactica (the original) - Actually only lasted 1 season before it became a spin-off of itself called Galactica 80.

Firefly

Sliders

Millennium, Harsh Realm & The Lone Gunmen (Seems Chris Carter couldn't really catch a break beyond The X-Files)

Buck Rogers

Angel - (ok at least this one had 5 seasons but ended on a huge cliffhanger and was cancelled before it got resolved).

BubbleGumFink

Aug 18, '07, 12:04 PM

Wasnt really sc-fi, but I wish Tales of the Gold Monkey had lasted longer as well.

I'm with you.

samurainoir

Aug 20, '07, 11:45 PM

Hard Time on Planet Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_time_on_planet_earth)

The Babylon 5 spinoff Crusade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusade_%28TV_series%29)

Jeremiah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_%28TV_series%29)

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Marenghi%27s_Darkplace)

There was a wealth of short lived syndicated Scifi that was produced in Canada...
War of the Worlds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_%28TV_series%29)
Total Recall 2070 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Recall_2070)
Robocop: The Series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboCop:_The_Series)
RoboCop: Prime Directives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboCop:_Prime_Directives)

LadyZod

Aug 21, '07, 1:22 AM

HardyGirl

Aug 21, '07, 8:30 AM

I liked The Others. I was sorry it was cancelled.

JDeRouen

Aug 21, '07, 8:34 AM

I was a fan of The Others too!

monkeyboy

Aug 21, '07, 10:14 AM

I don't know if this is a fair topic... my Sci-fi tastes lean towards the cheesy, and often BAD, which oddly enough leads to quick cancellation by people who know better than me (or least who get paid better than me).

I'll try to list a few that no one else has...

SU 2 (Special Unit 2)
Eerie, Indiana
VR5
Vanished
Freaky Links
Poltergeist the Legacy
The Others

All I can say is, thanks be to DVD (at least for some of these series) i was thinking of poltergeist the legacy but couldnt think of name!it was actually on for quite awhile ,but it was hard to find i used to watch on a canadian channel,till cable broadcasters blocked signal!

Lanboy

Aug 21, '07, 7:07 PM

The Starlost hasn't been mentioned...created by Harlan Ellison, then disowned once he saw the finished product.

Loved Logan's Run and Battlestar Galactica as a kid.

Merlyn1976

Aug 21, '07, 7:20 PM

Misfits of Science....

kresge1

Aug 23, '07, 9:21 PM

I thought Tru-calling was good and deserved some more episodes

batmanmc

Aug 23, '07, 10:17 PM

Brue

Aug 23, '07, 10:59 PM

Briscoe county was a sci fi show????

Some shows mention tough only having one or 2 seasons got re-aired oftten enough it is hard to say they were short-lived (like Galactica)

I can't add anything new to the list but I watched Automan weekly with my friends in high school. I should have taped it when it was re-aired a few years ago for what I believe was the first and last re-air.

I also LOVED man from atlantis.

jds1911a1

Aug 28, '07, 6:59 AM

a sort of sci fi show mystery science theathre where a guy and a robot and gumball amde fun of really bad movies. they were in a spaceship . a cool show., too bad its not on anymore. anybody else remeber this show.

a classic that show is a sign of thinking outside the box who knew people making fun of bad SCI fi flicks which everyone does woudl make money and it probably made a BUNCH
__________________________________________

Briscoe county was a sci fi show????

Some shows mention tough only having one or 2 seasons got re-aired oftten enough it is hard to say they were short-lived (like Galactica)

I can't add anything new to the list but I watched Automan weekly with my friends in high school. I should have taped it when it was re-aired a few years ago for what I believe was the first and last re-air.

I also LOVED man from atlantis.

sort of while set in the old west it is full of "futurustic" gadgets kind of like wild wild west.

ctc

Aug 29, '07, 3:04 PM

>Briscoe county was a sci fi show????

Had an extraterrestrial device, time travel, and the professor was always working on "the coming thing."

Dunno if I'd call "Mystery Science Theater 3000" short lived. It was on for ten years....

Don C.

LordMalvolio

Sep 8, '07, 6:59 PM

My favs were:

-UFO
-Quark
-Salvage One
-Koshak: The Night Stalker
-Project Bluebook
-

toysrus

Sep 8, '07, 8:53 PM

Mine was POTA for sure! And yes Phoenix was cool, I have that somewhere on DVD, a DVD-R that is. That show was never released officially.

One of mine was The Phoenix.

theantiquetiger

Sep 8, '07, 11:16 PM

I loved V as a kid.

batmanmc

Sep 9, '07, 10:50 AM

My favs were:

-UFO
-Quark
-Salvage One
-Koshak: The Night Stalker
-Project Bluebook
-

i forgot about ufo. that wwas a great show.

YoungOnce

Sep 17, '07, 11:56 AM

Everything's been mentioned, but really, if anything deserved a longer run, it was Firefly.

As a young one, The Night Stalker seemed really spooky to me back then. Now it seems pretty "quaint".

I'm just waiting for LOST to start back up.

Flynne

Sep 17, '07, 1:19 PM

Firefly - my number #1 cancellation regret - cancelled before the first episode ever ran. This is my favorite TV show of all-time.
The Tick (live action) - another show that was picking up speed, yet cancelled before it hit the airwaves.
Crusade - I loved this characters that drove this show, but the plug was pulled after only 4 episodes ran.
Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers - who knows if this series would have survived if SciFi had not chosen to premiere it on a Saturday night during the NFL Playoffs (on the same night of the infamous Patriots / Raiders "Tuck Rule" game, no less). It was cancelled when the pilot failed to draw enough viewers.
Voyagers - who knew being and idiot was lethal? Jon Erik Hexum, or at least he might have known if he survived.
Birds of Prey - I totally do not defend my love of this series. It was a guilty pleasure in the extreme.
The Night Stalker (2006) - It wasn't Darren McGavin, but it was alright for what it was.

GeneralApeGuy

Sep 17, '07, 6:27 PM

Planet of the Apes
Battlestar Galactica
Space: 1999
the V
Buck Rogers
Alien Nation
Babylon 5

The Star Trek TV series have'nt showing up long time but few times showing up at very late night..........:smiley8:

thunderbolt

Sep 18, '07, 4:04 AM

Didn't Babylon 5 run for a while?

GeneralApeGuy

Sep 21, '07, 12:39 AM

Didn't Babylon 5 run for a while?

I have watched that few times in the early morning about 4:00a.m - 5:00a.m 'cuz that's awful early mornings, no time to watch that every early mornings :googly: . I went to bed at 12:00a.m..... and missed it. :smiley8:

I dunno why they canceled Babylon 5 over 8 years! :confused:

LordMalvolio

Sep 21, '07, 6:58 PM

Ugh, that new Night Stalker blew! I so wanted this series to be good, as I loved the original! They missed a great op to make a good "spooky" investigative show. At least they gave him a Mustang... and the theme song from the original was so good, they should have done an updated version.

kingdom warrior

Sep 21, '07, 9:17 PM

UFO and Firefly.

EllaJames

Sep 28, '07, 2:22 PM

I'll have to say Greatest American Hero (if we call 3 seasons short), and I also kind of miss Roswell.

johnpauljones

Oct 22, '07, 10:58 PM

I consider one season or less to be short lived so:
Quark
POTA
The Fantastic Journey (Roddy McDowall and Ike Eisenmann both in this show) Has anyone mentioned this one?

Bo8a_Fett

Nov 26, '07, 6:52 PM

My faves are:
The Prisoner (17 episodes)
Sapphire and Steel (6 stories)
Captain Scarlet ( original puppet version)
U.F.O.
Quatermass (4 stories in 50 years)

monkey tennis

Dec 1, '07, 11:49 AM

Day of The Triffids (BBC)

And I know it's not SCI-FI (different glasses) but I miss:
Black Books
Spaced
Rentaghost
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

Bo8a_Fett

Dec 1, '07, 3:05 PM

How come this posts choices havn't been picked apart reguarding whether it's sci-fi or not????????????????????? The mind boggles.
Anyway some more for ya all
Casting the Runes
The Stone Tapes
Beasts
The Omega Factor

The Sentry

Dec 5, '07, 12:12 AM

Firefly is the greatest Sci-fi show ever IMO. Malcom Reynolds was awesome, and River was a cutie!

fallensaviour

Dec 5, '07, 7:40 AM

Firefly is the greatest Sci-fi show ever IMO. Malcom Reynolds was awesome, and River was a cutie!

I'm gonna have to call a big DITTO here.One of the greatest short lived sci-fi tv shows ever!!!Thank goodness for the Serenity movie.Not many canceled shows get a theatrical movie.I wish they would do another one... :drool_y:

The Sentry

Dec 5, '07, 12:24 PM

I'm gonna have to call a big DITTO here.One of the greatest short lived sci-fi tv shows ever!!!Thank goodness for the Serenity movie.Not many canceled shows get a theatrical movie.I wish they would do another one... :drool_y:

What I liked about the show is it was written properly, it had everything needed to make for a great drama, plus the actors were top notch, I mean you had to like everyone on that ship, I mean they went through alot in that short amount of time. The movie tied up everything nicely, but there are 2 things I wanted to know that I will never know, 1. Why did Book know as much as he did, "I wasn't always a shepherd." would be he only reply, but the Alliance took him right in when he got shot,(EP."Safe") and 2. "Two by two, hands of blue." What were they? I mean I know they were after River, but WHO WERE THEY? *groans* I guess I'll never know. *sighs*:muh: