Earth: Final Conflict. One of the many major TV series that held the great Gene Roddenberry's name that ran after his death. This one was the antithesis of Star Trek with alien explorers coming to earth instead of us going to them. Though some people say that Gene had nothing to do with this series they were mistaken. The Earth: Final Conflict series was based on a series of short stories he wrote and decided to make into a series before his death. If you don't think this one should be included here please find the series and watch it, I always thought it was well written and had some fairly good acting.
Escape From New York/L.A. Not the so much a dualogy as the same movie taking place on opposite sides of the US. Kurt Russell was great as Snake Plisskin and both movies have great back-story and supporting cast. John Carpenter isn't well known for sci-fi of writing music but for these movies he did both.
Stargate Sg1/ Atlantis. A wonderful movie that looks at the possibility that records from Egypt are falsified and that the carbon dating on the pyramid is correct and it's a lot older then we think. It had some great characters that carried on into the series that really didn't have much to do with the movie but was still well written. Atlantis brought in an even larger universe by adding a whole new galaxy.
Andromeda. Often ignored do to the bad acting of Kevin Sorbo, this series takes place in the far-flung future long after man has left earth. Another of the Gene Roddenberry shows released after his death. This one had the help of Jurassic Park creator Michael Crichton to help out. I have herd that Crichton created this series but some checking found that Roddenberry did conceived it long before it became a series. The reason it's here and not before Stargate is because it ran 6 seasons with all the bad acting and many fans were sad to see it go.
Alien. I know what your thinking, Alien is a horror flick. You right but it has one thing most horror doesn't have, it takes place in our future far from earth. To tell you the truth I don't like James Cameron much but he struck gold with this one. The first two were truly great and the third one had an ok story but introduced the fact the aliens in the movies change color and physical features depending on what they hatch from. The last one was a joke but what the hay it'' still part of the series as is another franchise.
Predator. One of my all time favorites, this series has it going on. The first one is more horror then sci-fi and doesn't show you very much of the long lived, big game hunting alien but Arnold Schwarzenegger kicking the hell out of a technologically and considerably stronger killing machine with archaic weapons is great. The second one showed even more of the alien and showed how much fun you can have with the story and our history. It also shows you the first hint of what would become Alien vs. Predator. I include that here because there are for Alien movies and only two Predator movies plus I don't really feel the need to get to much into them now with two out and more on the way.
Terminator. To make it into the top four on my list you much have at least one ongoing series and one movie, Terminator has three movies and one ongoing series which comes as a shock considering that James Cameron created it. Arnold appears in the movies and has hinted that after her finishes his term as govinator may star in a forth. The series isn't as well written as the movies and screws over the continuity but considering the movies did that to themselves, it's no surprise.
Star Trek. The largest and most pervasive franchise of all time, Star trek is good for people of all ages and sexes. Even now the people who control this media monster are making a movie that takes place before the original crews even got on the enterprise. I know I will catch hell for it being this low on the list but come on people, its day is done. Let the classics stand on their own. Of course when it was in it's prime Star Trek was truly great and had some of the best spin-offs of all time. The Next Generation got things rolling and lasted a lot longer then it's predecessor. DS9 and Voyager were no where near as popular as the original or TNG but had great stories and DS9 showed the only mass space battle to appear in the series or movies. Enterprise was no where near as good or as popular as the rest of the franchise but had it's good points including dealing with a set of races that is barley even mentioned in the other series. There are also countless books to read that deal with multiple facets of the Star Trek universe.
Firefly/Serenity. Now I'm in real trouble. I just put a relatively un-none franchise above one of the ones who have the largest following in the world. I come's down to one big thing, Joss Wedon's space adventure is a masterpiece where Star Trek is just a media Juggernaut. Star Trek took nearly twenty years before fans finally talked its creators into making movies Firefly ended only 2.5 years before they made the movie. There is also more books and fan fiction for Firefly then Star Trek. I want to see more of the series and more movies as well as see Joss read some of that fan fiction and make it cannon. Everyone who agrees with me should write him and let him know we want more.
The Star Wars Saga. It is common knowledge that Star Wars holds many awards for special FX and great story telling but that isn't the reason it received this spot. The massive following on the other hand should put it on the top of any greatest list. There is more fan fiction out there for this series then any other. I know some of you are saying that it needed both movies and TV series to make it this high on the list and Star Wars has that and much more. Everyone knows about the movies but did you know that Star Wars has had a grand total of three spin-off cartoon series, two spin-off live action movies, five animated movies/specials and more books then any other sci-fi franchise. On top of that there is a very successful toy line and countless bits of fan fiction and groups out there to add too the fun. Star Wars is and always will be the Greatest Franchise of all time.
I know I will here all kinds of snide remakes from fans of Star Trek and I'm sure I will be told that I forgot some of the crapper sci-fi out there. I'm also sure I'll here from fans of some horror of fantasy franchise that their fave's aren't on here. In order to avoid some of this as much as possible, This is about sci-fi and it's my opinion so don't give me to much crap.
