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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.