Geek Wars in Spaaaaaaaace!
Okay, that's not entirely appropriate considering that most of the selections involve stories that never leave Earth's atmosphere, but I suspect either brain damage or an amazingly tight deadline was behind what Boston.com's entertainment staff cooked up as their Top 50 Science Fiction Shows of All Time.
They appear to be approaching it in a hierarchical structure, but that only makes the choices and arrangements all the more baffling. The order seems almost random, but they repeatedly make a point of the numbering. The sound of the barrel's bottom not only being scraped but pierced is heard several times. Their definition of "science fiction" is somewhat elastic, too, as can be seen by the inclusion of items like The Hitchhiker (at #20, no less!), and Xena (at #12!), which makes the inclusion of Batman seem reasonable. They were obviously trying for as eclectic a mix as they could, which led them to include Tales From the Crypt, and to choose Star Trek: Voyager (at #14!) but not mention Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Trying to claim that DS9 was somehow something outside this category would be a tough argument to make in a list that includes The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (What... no Get Smart?)
Still, it's more an exercise in nostalgia than anything else. Nothing to get upset over.
But, hey... Greatest American Hero, but no My Secret Identity?
Comments
As for the writing of the actual article, under the Logan's Run entry, there is the phrase "ran for a season or two". Well, which is it? The whole artilce read like someone writing with a gun to their head. Fast, loose, and not well researched.
But Sliders placed pretty high, so I was satisfied.