These 18 Sci-Fi Shows Are the Escape From Reality You Need

This question originally appeared on Quora: What are the best science fiction television series? Read on for an epic answer from Quora user Ben Sinclair.

Sapphire and Steel

Sapphire and Steel

Another British oldie, [Sapphire and Steel] is a fantastic example of what can be done with no budget, barely any cast and — in many cases — not even much of a set. It's very slow. I don't know whether modern audiences would have the patience, but it was brilliant in just what it didn't allow you to know. Watching it, you grab hold of any tiny hint of the characters' histories almost out of desperation. It got cancelled and that made its finale go from spooky to oh-my-god-this-is-insane territory.

V

V

I'm going against a lot of popular opinion here I think [but] the 21st century remake is dreadful. The original is brilliant.

UFO

UFO

Kind-of-a-prequel to Space: 1999, but dealt with a lot more believable science, where the latter strayed into weirdo-fantasy territory too often.

Ulysses 31

Ulysses 31

This is another Japanese non-live-action affair. It's animation and it's awesome.

X-Bomber (Star Fleet)

X-Bomber (Star Fleet)

Puppet-y, like Thunderbirds, but Japanese and with a story arc. Massively forgotten now (except Brian May famously did a cover of the theme music), this is actually really good sci-fi in a Buck Rogers kind of way.

Star Trek

Star Trek

There's some very good science fiction hidden in Star Trek, but that's not why it's so enjoyable. It's identifiable, exciting, and comfortable all at the same time. Not to mention groundbreaking (of course).

Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf

Nobody has really managed to make a decent science fiction comedy show apart from this one.

Max Headroom

Max Headroom

This was a more Americanized version of the original (20 Minutes Into the Future) but it introduced the mainstream TV viewing world to cyberpunk.

Orphan Black

Orphan Black

Maybe a little low on believable science fiction, especially in the later series, but amazingly produced and acted. Evidence that science fiction can be contemporary and still good.

Continuum

Continuum

Time travel doesn't get done very well on TV. This is a show which took a season or so to get into its stride, but is well worth a watch.

Lexx

Lexx

Oh Lexx. It's daft and obsessed with sex in the same way Fez was in the last season of That '70s Show... but it's great. Imagine if Terry Gilliam had been given free reign to make a TV series. There's some really good [science fiction] in here too, hidden behind the crew's petty squabbling.

Blake's 7

Blake's 7

It's pretty obvious when you watch a some of the most successful modern science fiction that the characters and plots had been done before. Blake's 7 was a knock-off of a lot of American shows — it wanted to be both [Star Trek and Star Wars] but they barely had enough budget to get decent haircuts. The story of a bunch of people who don't necessarily get along very well in a dirty, miserable future has ben done to death now. It's very basic, but there are some fantastic characters: Servalan is one of the best villains to ever appear on screen. Watching her walk across a battlefield wearing a white evening dress like she-just-don't-care ... and Avon was the best anti-hero.

It was silly and very very like Doctor Who in terms of production (they shared a lot of kit) but this is the show which defined my childhood, and I see echoes of it everywhere. Plus, it has one of the best endings of any show ever.

Day of the Triffids (the 1980s series)

Day of the Triffids (the 1980s series)

Another cosy catastrophe. If you want to know what it's like, well the first 15 minutes of 28 Days Later are pretty much lifted from the Triffids story and the rest of this series plays out very like Survivors.

Humans

Humans

A For Andromeda

A For Andromeda

This is another one of those shows where the plot predates a lot of modern [science fiction] movies — though maybe it takes a little from This Island Earth itself. Essentially, aliens tell us how to build a woman, but then we have to figure it out from there by ourselves.

12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys

It's not terribly like the film in terms of feeling, but it fills in the plot quite nicely. It's one of the better time-travel shows I've seen even without having Gilliam at the helm.

Awake

Awake

This was about a man who existed in two possible universes. Kinda. Cancelled early, making the last episodes rush to wrap things up one way or another. People seem to dismiss this show as a one-trick pony but it was spectacularly well acted. The psychiatrist sessions in particular.