I was casually surfing the internet this past Saturday morning while reviewing some audio and I ran across a promoted PopularMechanics.com article from March of 2013 written by Jordan Hoffman titled “The 50 Greatest Sci-Fi TV Shows.” For those that don’t know Jordan is the host of the new official Star Trek podcast “ENGAGE” which debuts June 15^th, 2016. Jordan has also been a pretty prolific scifi writer, film critic and blogger for the past 13 years and you can find Jordan on Twitter @jhoffman or through this admittedly slow to update blog page at www.jordanhoffman.com.  I remember coming across this specific article in 2013 and since Popular Mechanics laid it out as click bait with each page being only one of the 50 shows I quickly got discouraged and navigated away from the story. This time I actually took time to sift through it and was both a bit appalled and intrigued by the rankings. To a certain extent a list like this will always be subjective to each individual. However, since this list if a bit dated and not counting some of the great shows of the past few years and some of the past greats that I felt should have been included in Jordan’s list but were not. To recap Jordan’s list please checkout Jordon’s original article here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/g156/the-50-greatest-sci-fi-tv-shows

At this point I’m compelled to point out some notable shows that were not included in this list either due to being omitted or that they had not yet debuted at this time this article was published.

Defiance is definitely at the top of my list of shows not represented in Jordan’s article. In my opinion it was a severely underrated show that had incredible potential. I even podcasted about the show on Voices Of Defiance. Defiance absolutely deserves a place on any list like this. Since it premiered a few months after Jordon’s article was published I’ll give him a pass for not including it.

Disney’s purchase of Star Wars had occurred less than 6 months before Jordan’s article was published and a full 18 months before Star Wars Rebels premiered. Amazingly it had soared to the top of anyone’s list such as this since its premiere.  However, Star Wars Clone Wars was not included in Jordan’s original list and in my opinion should have definitely been included.

SyFy channel’s revised lineup that currently includes The Expanse, 12 Monkeys, Dark Matter, and Killjoys should definitely all be considered as well as recently completed Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Eureka, Stargate Atlantic and Stargate Universe. And while we’re at it let’s just list off Andromeda and Continuum as well, regardless of being true SyFy properties or not.

I was glad to see such iconic cartoons such as Starblazers and Battle Of The Planets on Jordon’s list but I was confused by the shunning of Robotech and the original American run of Voltron and my son would be horrified by the absence of Gundam Wing.

Seaquest DSV was also a unique show not listed and even though the show waned as it passed into it’s later seasons it was truly revolutionary for being a prime time network show set underneath the Earth’s ocean surface.

There was a distinct absence of Enterprise noted as well. Other than The Original Star Trek series Enterprise is the only show included in the current film adaption’s timeline. Plus everyone is still wondering what Scotty did with Porthos. A show cut off before it should have been it definitely deserves consideration on any similar list.

Admittedly the current crop of Comic Book related television shows probably could be considered in this list as well. So shows like Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow, and Supergirl should be in contention for spots on this list.

I’ll be mulling over Jordan’s list for future discussions on the GonnaGeek.com Podcast so feel free to drop a comment below on any show that you feel should be included. For reference purposes I’ve listed Jordon’s 1 through 50 list below as well but I do encourage you to head on over to his original article for full explanations of why he choose each show. And get ready to catch Jordon on Engage The Official Star Trek Podcast later this week at http://www1.play.it/audio/engage-the-official-star-trek-podcast/

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also reference my fellow Voices Of Defiance cohosts Sean and Shannon O’Hara’s new podcast project SciFi Boneyard which can be found at http://www.scifiboneyard.com/ for some fun talk about shows like these that are no longer on the air.

And without futher adieu here is Jordan Hoffman’s 50 Greatest Sci-Fi TV Shows List:

1. Doctor Who
2. The X-Files
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009)
5. The Twilight Zone
6. Star Trek: The Original Series
7. The Prisoner
8. Neon Genesis Evangelion
9. Fringe
10. The Outer Limits
11. Firefly
12. Lost
13. V (1983–1985)
14. Stargate SG-1
15. Blake’s 7
16. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
17. Mystery Science Theater 3000
18. Sliders
19. Babylon 5
20. Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato
21. Quantum Leap
22. Farscape
23. Torchwood
24. Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles
25. Max Headroom
26. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
27. Red Dwarf
28. Logan’s Run
29. Futurama
30. Battlestar Galactica (1978–1979)
31. Lost in Space
32. Star Trek: Voyager
33. Alien Nation
34. Caprica
35. Cowboy Bebop
36. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
37. Twin Peaks
38. War of the Worlds (1988–1990)
39. Lexx
40. Life on Mars (2006-2007)
41. Battle of the Planets
42. Dollhouse
43. Space: Above and Beyond
44. Jericho
45. Knight Rider
46. Dark Angel
47. The Six Million Dollar Man
48. Space: 1999
49. Land of the Lost
50. Thunderbirds

Again, please let me know what you think of this list or if you have shows that you think should be considered for a revised list int he comment below.

Until Next Time….

~SP