CoSForums Archive - TV Guide's 25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends

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Spikey

August 1st, 2004, 7:08 pm

Mundungus Fletc

August 1st, 2004, 7:13 pm

I guess the list must be American. No Red Dwarf, Hitchhiker's guide, Blake seven, or (revealing my antiquity) Quatermass can't be right

Resolute

August 1st, 2004, 7:17 pm

I'm pretty sure the list was only Television Sci-Fi, so that's why there's no literature stuff in there.

Personally, I would have put Star Trek at the top, or at least Captain Kirk at the top. I think he's a whole lot more legendary than the Twilight Zone.

And *** are the coneheads doing there? They do not count as Sci FI.

thethirdman

August 1st, 2004, 9:04 pm

I find very it hard to believe that Alf is ranked 5 slots above Mike and the Bots. Also Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5 weren't that great. Certainly there are more deserving Sci-Fi icons.

Here's a question for the posters in this thread. If you disagree with TV Guide, how would you rank the top 25 Sci-Fi legends?

IceKat55

August 1st, 2004, 9:53 pm

Here's a question for the posters in this thread. If you disagree with TV Guide, how would you rank the top 25 Sci-Fi legends?
Captain Malcolm Reynolds would Reign Supreme at # 1!!!! :lol:

I'm not a big Sci-Fi person in general, so I really don't have much to add to this thread. I loved the X-Files, so was glad to see Mulder on there, and ADORE Firefly, so I was (pleasantly surprised) THRILLED that my Cap'n even made the list!

trekkie450

August 1st, 2004, 9:56 pm

man where is Luke Skywalkers??

IceKat55

August 1st, 2004, 9:58 pm

man where is Luke Skywalkers??
Unfortunately, Luke was only on the Big Screen, not Television...this is TV Guide's Top 25 TV Greats list. :)

Midnightsfire

August 1st, 2004, 11:54 pm

Need to have to agree to a top 25 first..and I don't...

25 - Captain Video (Captain Video) Disagree...
24 - Dick Solomon (3rd Rock From The Sun) Disagree
23 - Ultraman (Ultraman)
22 - Doctor Who (Doctor Who)
21 - Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)
20 - John Crichton (Farscape)disagree
19 - Steve Austin & Jaime Sommers ($6M Dollar Man & Bionic Woman)
18 - Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Firefly) disagree
17 - Max Guevara (Dark Angel) Uncertain
16 - Allie Keys (Taken) disagree
15 - The Coneheads (Saturday Night Live)
14 - Robot (Lost In Space)
13 - MST3K Crew (Mystery Science Theater 3000) Uncertain
12 - Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap) Disagree
11 - Duncan MacLeod (Highlander) Uncertain
10 - Jack O'Neill (Stargate SG-1) Disagree
9 - Captain John Sheridan (Babylon 5) Disagree
8 - ALF (ALF)
7 - Fox Mulder (The X-Files)
6 - David Vincent (The Invaders) Disagree
5 - Diana (V) Hmm... Disagree too...
4 - George Jetson (The Jetsons)
3 - Uncle Martin (My Favorite Martian)
2 - Star Trek Crews (Star Trek)
1 - Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone)

No Outer Limits? No Red Dwarf? (Never saw Red Dwarf, but from what I've heard over the years, it should make an appearance.)

Spikey

August 2nd, 2004, 12:21 am

Whats the matter with firefly and quantum leap ?? are you saying they should be higher up or not in there at all ?? If its the 1st one that I agree if the 2nd one IMHO your quite MAD :p

DragonBlk17

August 2nd, 2004, 12:23 am

MST3K was really funny! They could of at least put them at the top 10, if not the top 5!

shieldmaiden72

August 2nd, 2004, 12:27 am

They missed Duck Dodgers and Marvin the Martian... :upset:

Spikey

August 2nd, 2004, 12:32 am

They missed loads Clark kent/Superman. Captain Dylan Hunt
from Andromeda. Plus of course all the great BRITISH sci-fi stuff.

IceKat55

August 2nd, 2004, 2:31 am

Whats the matter with firefly and quantum leap ?? are you saying they should be higher up or not in there at all ?? If its the 1st one that I agree if the 2nd one IMHO your quite MAD :p
ALF??? Midnightsfire chose ALF over Cap'n "Tightpants" Reynolds?? *shakes head* Insane Troll logic. ;)

Spikey

August 2nd, 2004, 4:35 am

ALF??? Midnightsfire chose ALF over Cap'n "Tightpants" Reynolds?? *shakes head* Insane Troll logic. ;)

Oh yes i'm with you there :) damm we keep agreeing this is NOT good :p

thethirdman

August 2nd, 2004, 6:03 am

13 - MST3K Crew (Mystery Science Theater 3000) Uncertain

Would you like to try to convert you to an MST3K fan now or later? :evil:

Also, I agree with you on The Outer Limits. The show's opening sequence is classic. I can just hear the narrator saying, "We control the verticle..."

Midnightsfire

August 2nd, 2004, 10:43 am

I only used the order that they were in not what I thought they should be in.

There are so many real classics out there that much of that list is kinda inane.

Indeed, if I were to really scrutinize it, I'd say that most don't deserve to be called "classic" when looking back to the base of science-fiction classics. Many on this list would never have existed if it werent' for that foundation that was built in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ok...Much of it was in the cinema like Robby the robot in Forbidden Planet. Klaatu Barad Nicto! (The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea...
Land of the Giants
Captain Scarlet, arguably one of the most violent series ever made for children.

Even the 70s show, the Land of the Lost isn't mentioned.

Space Giants...

Y'know, there are way too many to mention. Some of the first anime: Kimba, Astroboy, Marineboy, Speed Racer...

gives up....for now.

trekkie450

August 4th, 2004, 7:44 pm

Luke went to the small screen, hasnt anyone seen The christmas special of starwars?

Rae_G

September 30th, 2004, 7:04 pm

Ahh but if you notice they weren't talking strictly about "specials" they were all from TV series. So unfortunately Luke still doesn't make the cut, because it was not a TV series. Just a one time special.

If they were mixing TV and Movie then you know full well Luke would be in the list.

---

I for one would definitely have to rearrange the list a bit. Move John Crichton down a bit closer to around 10ish. Cause Farscape is just one of the best shows ever. But of course we are missing the rest of Moya's crew as well.

And of course just having Cap'n Tightpants on the list makes me all sorts of happy, but of course we have to give credit where credit is due to the other cast members of Firefly. They are the ones that make all Mal's greatness shine XD So I'd actually adjust his listing to "Firefly crew"

Tane

September 30th, 2004, 7:28 pm

I have to say Star Trek Crew should have taken number 1 spot for the shear fact that they would if separated and deemed individual nearly taken all the 25 places.

The Twilight Zone, original series rocks and in a way should be tied with Star Trek. I'm still trying to make up my mind on the New Twilight Zone currently on Sky Sci-fi channel.

Rapunzel

September 30th, 2004, 7:32 pm

11 - Duncan MacLeod (Highlander) ??

Is Highlander sci-fi? I haven't watched a whole lot of it, but I had the impression that it's more fantasy/swords and sorcery, and not sci-fi. Is there a Highlander fan here who can explain the "science" part of it to me?

fenellaevangela

September 30th, 2004, 7:57 pm

TV Guide's 25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends:

25 - Captain Video (Captain Video)
24 - Dick Solomon (3rd Rock From The Sun)
23 - Ultraman (Ultraman)
22 - Doctor Who (Doctor Who)
21 - Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)
20 - John Crichton (Farscape)
19 - Steve Austin & Jaime Sommers ($6M Dollar Man & Bionic Woman)
18 - Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Firefly)
17 - Max Guevara (Dark Angel)
16 - Allie Keys (Taken)
15 - The Coneheads (Saturday Night Live)
14 - Robot (Lost In Space)
13 - MST3K Crew (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
12 - Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap)
11 - Duncan MacLeod (Highlander)
10 - Jack O'Neill (Stargate SG-1)
9 - Captain John Sheridan (Babylon 5)
8 - ALF (ALF)
7 - Fox Mulder (The X-Files) (also )
6 - David Vincent (The Invaders)
5 - Diana (V)
4 - George Jetson (The Jetsons)
3 - Uncle Martin (My Favorite Martian)
2 - Star Trek Crews (Star Trek)
1 - Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone)

Obviously North American, no doubt about it.

A lot of these are from good series, but the fact is that there are so many they should have mentioned! I would like to have seen Rimmer (Red Dwarf), or Lister, or Cat. Cat is funny, and I have to say that I've never seen a character like him...

John Crichton (Farscape) is a little iffy. I'm not disputing that Farscape was a
great show (I watched it religiously), but there is the fact that it was cancelled after only a few seasons, and is a very recent show. I don't think it can be considered 'legend' until it's a bit older (same for Taken, Dark Angel, and maybe one or two more), but that's just my opinion.

I would like to re-ask this question: Who is Captain Video? He's the only one on the list that I've never heard of.

Alf I agree with, only b/c he's so well known.

They seemed to be very picky with some (i.e. Mulder but not Scully) yet undecided on others (i.e. Star Trek crews). I don't like this double standard. Though I suppose that to put Kirk but not Spock, or Data, or Picard, or Odo, or Seven, would have been worse...

Third Rock from the Sun was more comedy than Sci-fi, despite the fact that the main characters were aliens. It's pretty much the same thing for the Jetsons.

I tink Doctor Who should be higher up. He can take Jack O'Neill's spot, esspecially since I think that show is rubbish. The MOVIE was great, and since movies aren't included, Stargate shouldn't be included.

Well, that's my two cents! :)

Rae_G

October 1st, 2004, 6:21 pm

John Crichton (Farscape) is a little iffy. I'm not disputing that Farscape was a
great show (I watched it religiously), but there is the fact that it was cancelled after only a few seasons, and is a very recent show. I don't think it can be considered 'legend' until it's a bit older (same for Taken, Dark Angel, and maybe one or two more), but that's just my opinion.

Well it was 4 seasons long, and that is about the general life of a show now a days. Very rarely do you get a good show that runs beyond it's 4/5th season. Half of the early cancelled shows are axed after 12 eppys, so the fact that this show made it to 4 seasons is almost godly.

That and Sci-fi wrongly axed the show. Which is why I assume is half the reason they agreed to make the Peacekeepr Wars movie to be a possible lead in for a 6th season (since movie will be season 5). Due to the fact that it was on of their top rated shows when they cut it, IMO I have to say Farscape does deserve to be in the ranking.

---

As for Highlander, I agree, I saw it as more of a fantasy series too...but if you consider the movies, where they were aliens from another planet, fighting for domination to go back and rule the universe, yeah I can see the sci-fi angle to it. It's just not played out that way in the TV series.

BornIn1142

October 1st, 2004, 6:34 pm

Also Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5 weren't that great. Certainly there are more deserving Sci-Fi icons.

To say it straight... I think you're wrong? Tell me, how much of Babylon 5 have you seen? 3-4 episodes?

But I think Kosh would be btter of there instead of Sheridan.

RogueJedi86

November 22nd, 2004, 11:30 pm

Luke Skywalker should be on the list.
If anyone else remembers-Luke Skywalker was on the TV special "The Star Wars Holiday Special".
Sure that special sucked to high heaven but it still gives him credit for being on TV as Luke Skywalker and not just as a guest spot stuff like Mupept Show.

chronium

November 23rd, 2004, 3:12 pm

ok I sordove agree that Jack O'neil might not be apropriate for the list but one of the 4 main characters would be or do what they did with star trek and say stargate crew.

as for outer limits not being on the list well name a character thats in every single show, if you can then that character would be on the list but since thats not going to happen its not going to be on the list

Wab

November 23rd, 2004, 3:21 pm

No Red Dwarf, HHGTTG, Blakes 7, Dr Who, Thunderbirds, Tomorrow People, Bounty Hamster, Farscape...

loony4moony

November 23rd, 2004, 6:02 pm

That list is very definitely American. :grumble: No Red Dwarf!

I'm pretty sure the list was only Television Sci-Fi, so that's why there's no literature stuff in there.
If you mean HHGTTG, a TV series was made, long ago in the mists of time...

Bunny

December 5th, 2004, 1:57 am

I agree. American Science Fiction.
Actually I love American Sci Fi but I'm sorry that British Sci Fi isn't better represented. Also Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5 weren't that great. Certainly there are more deserving Sci-Fi icons. Nooooooo. Well, here I am talking Babylon 5. One of the best Science Fiction shows ever. The problem with Babylon 5 was that you had to watch it in sequence, but that was the only problem. It was riveting. All of the cast of B5 as Science Fiction Legends.
Red Dwarf cast also, for making me laugh so much.
Actually, I think that we should be including all the writers in this, otherwise the actors wouldn't have had anything to say.