I must confess it took me awhile to settle on how many tv serials I was going to focus on because try as I might, limiting myself to 10 tv serials of all-time was simply not going to happen anytime soon! I’m the worst at creating lists of this nature for this very reason! I tend to *love!* more than I can eclipse into a short list or even a long list! I am forever betwixt what to include and what to wait until another time to highlight! I mean, how do you ultimately select what to feature and then, there is the whole matter of which order to place the ones you choose on the list itself! I must say, as you read this list, they are NOT listed in order of preference or any sort of favouritism on my behalf! They are simply a list that is generated to give out the most thought upon science fiction tv serials that I have enjoyed watching throughout my life! :)

1. Star Trek: the Original Series – Quintessentially, my favourite moments of being with my Dad after school were spent surrounding myself with the original crew of the Enterprise! :) The fun we had settling in to watch mini-marathons whilst Dad introduced me to all the main characters, as much as imparting to me about their ‘quirks’ and classically known best ‘scenes’ and ‘dialogue exchanges!’. The two of us would spent quite literally HOURS vegged out in front of the tv, caught up in all of their crazy adventures, one after the other! I loved the heart of the series the most, and the way in which the characters and story-lines made you feel inside whilst the credits rolled. Trek left the impression in me (even as a young girl) that despite how frustrating and difficult life can become, there is always the hope of a better future and a better way in which society will one day live in harmony. I loved the merit of the show’s mission statement as much as I simply loved tagging along for the adventure! Mum would join us as well, as they truly loved Trek long before I was ever a whisper in the cosmos! I would grow to see my *first!* Trek motion picture out-of-state whilst on holiday, and yes, I can even tell you which one it was because it remained my ‘favourite’ Trek film until I saw ‘Insurrection’. (which coincidentally is the last Trek film I’ll ever see) I had the sheer pleasure of seeing “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country“!! The pure magnitude of being able to go into a theater and see all the lovely characters which were at that point beloved by me (and my parents!) simply rocked my world! I remember it was one of the ‘premieres’ which affected me the most! Mostly as I think back on it because the dynamics of the cast, and the content of the story-line were with such a precision that it felt like one of my first ‘growing-up’ films! Where I could see the echoes of my childhood might be falling away towards my young adult years. I was completely captivated by the chaos the events in this film evoked as much as the fact I simply enjoyed every inch of the story! I must’ve seen this film several times before we gathered the boxed set of all the original Trek films! You know, the set that shows the Enterprise?
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation – I actually didn’t warm up to this series initially because I was torn between watching this series and another that was competing my attention in the same ‘timeslot!’ This is of course a bit before I learnt how to use the VCR! Laughs. I finally succumbed to Mum & Da telling me I’d regret it if I didn’t start to watch the series as it unfolded, so for the most part, I came in right as Dr. Crusher made her exit and Dr. Pulaski was entering. From that moment forward I was glued to the tv and the other series, I randomly caught until I asked Da to finally show me how to set the VCR! Laughs. Having entered Trek through the original series, I was completely mesmerized by this version! A lot had changed since the days of Kirk, Bones, Scotty, and Spock! I liked the new senior crew quite a heap, and I liked that their dynamics of relating to each other was just as fraught with quirky instances as the previous crew! I like it when there is internal drama inside of a cast, because it’s through their dysfunction that they endear you to them, but I must confess, of all the ensembles I’ve favoured in tv serials, this is the one that I think they allowed to function as a family unit moreso than with other serials! I loved the interplay with other races as well as how Captain Picard had as much restraint as Captain Kirk with Starfleet Command! I think I singularly felt like the torch was passed seeing that he gave them as much of a run for their money as his predecessor! Considering that I named 3 of my dear cats after the crew of this Enterprise, I think you can see where my heart lies and returns back to the most! :) I can still remember when it was time for the Next Generation films to get underway and launch onto the silver screen!! Ooh, my dear stars! I was bouncy with excitement!! I still remember attending them, too! Full of smiles and eager to see what was going to unfold next! It’s hard for me to pick a favourite amongst: Generations, First Contact, and Insurrection, but I tend to lean towards Insurrection for a variety of reasons, most of all, First Contact is very draining emotionally, as I always found the Borg & the Romulan story-lines to be a bit difficult to always watch!
3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – I remember being ever so eager for this series to début! So much so, I couldn’t think of much else during the time I had to wait for the season première!! I instantly loved everything about it – from where it was set inside the world of Trek, to the characters (such a hodgepodge of a crew!) and their personal backgrounds (talk about fascinating me for hours!), to the very set they used to depict the series focal point and the sound they used in the opening credits! I loved every inch of it, and I was thankful that this time around I hadn’t hesitated to see it from the beginning! The only part that was disappointing for me was twofold: when I started to take on more classes in my sophomore year, I felt like I had lost my footing for the series! :( When I was able to return back to it, everything was changing rather rapidly, as the war was pretty much over-with, and there was rumours about Jadzia Dax not returning as well.  Although I liked her replacement as I had seen her in other sci-fi shows! She would go on to be a main character in “The Dead Zone” as well! :) At some point, I would like to see everything from the beginning and re-discover what I loved about this series originally and carry my focus through into the ending seasons! They had so much to give and focus on, that I always felt sad that they didn’t take this to film!
4. Star Trek: Voyager – I picked up with this series right in time, which was fantastic because it was the first time we had a woman in the seat of the Captain’s chair, and I was struck by this being monumental! I liked the diversity of the crew this time as well, because each Trek series would always improve on having each character enter into the story with an equally varied and diverse background as to what led them to serve with Starfleet and be aboard ship as crew! In this case, what was intriguing is that half the crew were actually renegades who ended up being stranded with the crew of Voyager! How they incorporated both crew together into a seamless (or thereabouts!) senior crew I thought was a slice of brilliance! As much as giving them very distinct characteristics and personality traits like Tom’s preference for learning everything about the 20th century! Between Voyager & DS9, I felt like Trek was heading in all the right directions! I loved how you could catch an episode of any Trek you wanted to see at various times of the day or night as well!
5. Quantum Leap – I spent most of my 8th grade year wrapped up in the adventures of Dr. Samuel Beckett, his sidekick Al, and the quirky voice on the other end of the dimensional space “Ziggy”, of which was a computer! I loved the science of the series as much as I simply loved the history of what was presented each week that I tuned in as they would pull stories out of our own actual historical archives in order to draw out the best characters to pursue and for Sam to ‘leap into’ to right a wrong! It was very unique in its approach to science fiction story-telling because you truly had to ‘look close’ to see the sci-fi elements inside it! I loved that about this series, as much as I liked seeing a lot of heart stitched into the stories themselves! Although I was a dedicated watcher for years, I never did see the pivotal “leap home”, unlike my Mum! One day!
6. Battlestar Gallactica (Original) – I don’t have as much to say about this series as I have only seen a handful of episodes, as they stopped airing them right at the moment I found them on one of the cable channels who was still featuring them in the afternoons! :( Sighs. What I liked about it though was classic space opera story-lines intermixed with humour and heart. I always like finding the heart of a story and the heart of a character’s past, present, or future. I sort of seek out stories either in print or in this format that go to the core of the human condition. You could say its a preference of mine, actually! I do know that I appreciated the format of this original take on Gallactica rather the newer incarnation. But, then, if you have noticed I prefer originals nearly 9 out of 10 times!
7. seaQuest DSV (Season One) – Who wouldn’t enjoy a tv serial that takes place under the ocean!? I mean, seriously!? I loved how it had a feel for reality as it was being produced as much as it was a glimpse into the near future of what could be. I liked the transitions between fact and fiction as well. I am only a fan of the first season, however, as there were too many changes for my taste as it entered into the latter seasons. I even missed the inclusion of Dr. Robert Ballard at the ending sequences of the episodes as well as say, half the cast!? Sighs. The best part of what made seaQuest a special show is the fact that the first year proved that it had all the elements in place to make watching the series a memorable occasion! The fact that they touched on environmental, oceanographical, and geological sciences was all the more fun for me!
8. The Sentinel – From the moment I first watched the interaction between Jim and Blair, I knew I had to keep tuning in! The plot behind how Ellison received his ‘heightened’ senses was a new twist I thought on the genre, and it kept me on my toes to see how they would showcase his abilities next! I loved the fact he was a cop, because I have a soft spot for mysteries and police series! I think their quirky sense of humour never failed to itch my funny-bone and the way in which Blair would always overstep his bounds as a ‘ride along’ never failed to entertain me! Truly, as you went along with it you were curious as to who was teaching whom!
9. The Dead Zone – At first, I must confess, I wasn’t sure if I could handle this series as it truly pushed the envelope of what I considered ‘horror’ and what I considered ‘science fiction’ however, somehow I was won over by both the cast and the scripts — which led me to leading my Mum and Da to get wrapped up in the story as well! So much so, we decided not to watch it as it aired but rather opted instead to purchase the seasonal dvds, which would allow us more time to view the series! :) I believe we made it through the third season before realising that the story-lines were getting a bit too difficult to watch! We sort of suspended watching this indefinitely but want to resume the series at some point as we want to go through the rest of the third and carry into the fourth! I am not sure how I feel about the fifth season, as I was still keeping up with the series as it aired at the time. I will have to wait and see, I suppose! Unless someone posts a comment and says that watching the fourth without the fifth wouldn’t be so bad!? :) One can hope! Again, what drew me into this series was the heart of the characters, I mean, who couldn’t relate to the absolute shock of waking up from a coma and finding that your entire life was flipped on its heel because your son is being raised by another man?
10. The Six-Billion Dollar Man (Original) – This along with my 11th choice go hand in hand as far as I’m concerned, because I would always watch one episode after the other, as they would air these back to back! I sometimes had trouble remembering they were different series entirely! I have since gone on to watch Lee Majors and Lindsey Wagner in other roles, the latter of which I can happily say has been featured in more than two Hallmark Channel films which delights me to no end! I think what I was struck with originally about these two series is the ingenious way their characters were first altered but then, how they each had to learn how to live and perform with those ‘bionic’ upgrades! To me, these are priceless science fiction tv series!
11. The Bionic Woman (Original) – (see above) And, no, I didn’t have any interest in seeing the remake!
12. Babylon 5 – At the time, I couldn’t fathom why no one was talking about B5 with the same tenacity that I was! I mean, no one seemed to care that much about this series, which I had found sad, but I continued to watch it due to the level of the story-lines and the consistency of the production quality! Imagine my surprise how years (and I mean years!) after I watched these air originally that the sci-fi community started to embrace the series more readily and its now spoken about rather fondly! I look forward to gathering these on seasonal dvd sometime so that I not only can re-live my memories of when I first watched it, but I can see the last two seasons as I didn’t get to watch those as regularly! I just loved the concept of the universe and how everyone on Babylon 5 interacted with each other and with the constant stream of visitors! It was very much on a similar vein as DS9 but with its own original feet to stand on!
13. Airwolf – I barely remember this series other than the fact that I enjoyed watching it!
14. Alf – Who wouldn’t get caught up in Alf and the family he would drive literally bananas because he didn’t always understand how to function in our world!? It took me awhile to realise ‘who’ Alf was as far as ‘who’ portrayed him, but what I liked about the series was the honesty of it! The believability factor and the way in which the series developed. It was definitely a warm and cuddly tv series and I sort of miss some of that innocence on tv nowadays!
15. Eerie, Indiana – One of the first series where I was more spooked than entertained but I liked the format of the series!
16. Highlander – Not only is the series I was first introduced to the lovely music of  “Queen”, but it was the series that made me realise that for a girl who was not attracted to horror films or tv series, she sure knew how to pick quirky-odd series to become endeared to watching! (The whole beheading thing!?) I guess you could say between the Scottish history, the accents, and the whole immortal storyline — I was just hooked! I didn’t apologise for it either! I proudly watched Highlander every chance I could!!
17. Time Trax – I truly loved this series, but what frustrated me was the intermittent viewing schedule! I know it aired regularly elsewhere but for the life of me, I couldn’t catch it weekly but rather every odd moon when the feed would come through!? Very strange. Brilliant show!
18. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. / Legend / Beauty & the Beast – This became a hard spot to fill because I didn’t want to not mention these three serials, which is why I ‘tied’ them to this spot! The first one is pure genius for hilarity and quirkiness! The second runs on the same vein, but I liked the Steampunk attitude that was cast in for good measure! And, the third — come on! Who wouldn’t love a sci-fi romance series!?
19. Ghost Whisperer – Due to the ability to ILL tv series through my local library, my Mum, Da, & I are slowly starting to make our way through the complete series of “Ghost Whisperer” which was inspired due to the fact Mum & I caught back to back marathons of the series on two networks in the Summer months of 2012! So much so, we nearly saw half or more of each of the first 3 seasons! We decided this year as 2013 began that we’d find the time to start to ILL the series! We successfully cried our way through season one, but we only made it to the opening bits of season two before Summer began! We’ll have to pick it up again next year, of course, as the holidays are upon us shortly! What I love about it is Hewitt’s ability to transform her character Melinda into a person you can instantly relate too and rally behind. Her ability to see ghosts and to help them move forward is done in such a natural way in their story-telling that you do not realise your always watching a series rooted in science fiction!
20. Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman – Seriously, what bonefide Superman appreciator wouldn’t love this series!?

Curious About: Alien Nation, The Avengers (Original), The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Stargate: SG-I, ST: Enterprise, and The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne.

Previously Curious About: Doctor Who!

I look forward to seeing comments populate to see if I have selected any that are warmly regarded by you, dear hearts! At least we have been given a wide choice of what we can watch, eh!? IF you would like to create your own blog post that speaks about your own Top 10 or Top 20 List of Favourite Science Fiction Tv Serials of All-Time, I encourage you to drop back and share the link of your post here on Jorie Loves A Story! As always, I encourage you to remember to link directly to your post and not your homepages! :)

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