On select Tuesdays, we’re going to have some fun with the
“Tuesday Tops”, and talk about the top “things” in different categories of my
choosing (hey, it’s my blog!) I was
chatting on one of my Facebook groups about old TV shows, and how there are
always great shows that get cancelled before their time, especially in the
sci-fi area. So many of them were really
great, and had tons of potential. So
this week, in the first edition of the “Tuesday Tops”, I bring you my list of
the Top Ten Sci Fi Shows Cancelled Before Their Time!
I did have to have a couple of criteria. First, it had to be a show I saw when it was
aired. So, shows like the original “Star
Trek”, which many I’m sure would feel belong on this list, was originally aired
before I was even born, so it’s out.
Second, it had to have an unsatisfying ending or obviously had more
story to tell. You’ll see several of
these were cancelled after cliffhanger season finales.
#10 Invasion
Network: ABC
Seasons: 1
Years: 2005-2006
This story, which was certainly influenced by “Invasion of
the Body Snatchers”, took place in a small town in Florida in the aftermath of
a hurricane. People who were caught in
the storm seemed to have “changed” somehow.
Other strange occurrences, including the appearance of odd glowing
creatures in the water, filled the days following the devastating event. The series finale centered around a second
hurricane headed for the area and fears, among those not affected by the first,
about what the second might do.
I’m not sure why this series did not take off. William Fichtner provided a sufficient creepy
factor as the town sheriff who was obviously no longer himself. The rest of the cast was solid, and shows
like this that have an air of mystery about them (What were the creatures? Where did they come from and what did they
want?) have always appealed to me.
Creator Shaun Cassidy stated that the show was originally conceived as a
five-season story arc. It could be that
production costs and a dislike of the show by ABC executives, despite a strong
core following and critical acclaim, led to the demise of this series.
#9 Threshold
Network: CBS
Seasons: 1
Years: 2005-2006
I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that the same year
“Invasion” came to ABC, this series landed on CBS. However, “Threshold” had a different take on
the alien invasion theme. In the pilot,
a strange interdimensional probe appears near a U.S. Navy vessel. It emits a signal that, over time, rewrites
the DNA of those who are exposed to it, and turns them into super-human
soldiers with the overwhelming drive to propagate the signal and eventually
have the entire human race join them.
The “Threshold” team is assembled to combat this threat, led by Dr.
Molly Anne Caffrey, a scientist who had written several poorly received (until
this point) response plans to combat various alien invasion scenarios.
This series was cancelled after only 10 aired episodes, so
it was never really given a chance to develop.
The premise was different enough where it might not have appealed to a
wide audience. It was at times a little
more cerebral than your typical alien invasion action-fest. I think if it were given a chance, the
characters (especially Dr. Caffrey and team member Arthur Ramsey, played by the
very good Peter Dinklage) would have had an opportunity to grow into their
roles. Brent Spiner and Charles S Dutton
were also part of the above-average cast.
#8 Flashforward
Network: ABC
Seasons: 1
Years: 2009-2010
Everyone on Earth simultaneously blacks out for 2 minutes
and 17 seconds, causing accidents, deaths, and mass chaos. In the aftermath, it is discovered that for
that short period of time, everyone received a glimpse of where they will be
exactly six months from that point. An
FBI task force is formed to investigate how the blackout occurred and in doing
so, several members are led to question what they saw … or didn’t see.
I loved this show. It
had a very “Lost” feel about it, and in fact there was some speculation on the
internet that this show might eventually crossover into the story that “Lost”
built, since they were both ABC series.
The show won one Emmy and was nominated for two others. As I recall, the series finale ended with a
second blackout occurring. Honestly, ABC
messed this one up by putting the show on a three-month hiatus in the middle of
its first season. It could never get its traction back after that, and thus
another great show got cancelled with a cliffhanger as its series finale.
One powerful event in the series centered around the fact
that, of course, there were many people that saw nothing during the
blackout. The theory was that these
people were to die sometime in those six months. In order to prove that the future could be
changed, one character who saw in his vision that sometime in the next six
months he will have killed a mother and a child in a car accident (and it was
revealed that they saw nothing in their vision), committed suicide to prevent
that from happening.
#7 The 4400
Network: USA Network
Seasons: 4
Years: 2004-2007
In one eventful day, 4400 missing persons are suddenly,
simultaneously returned. None of them
have aged past the day they were taken.
Each one is returned with some kind of new ability they must learn to
control and decide how to use. Some just want to be left alone, some want to
use their abilities to help, others want to use them just to help
themselves. A special task force is
assembled to investigate what happened and to stop those who decide to use
their abilities in the wrong way.
Four seasons seems like a long time, except for the fact
that this was a USA Network summer series of only about 10 or 11 episodes a
season, with months in between. This
show is the first on the list where the producers seemed to know the show might
not be renewed, so they wrote a finale that could have continued the story but
also cleared up at least some of the plot points. Even so, this show could have gone on for quite
a while.
#6 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Network: Fox
Seasons: 2
Years: 2008-2009
Not much needs to be said about the premise for this
show. It takes place after the events of
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, as Sarah and John Connor continue to fight to
ensure Skynet never gets built. Several
terminators are sent back in time at various points, but their mission seems to
have changed slightly. Instead of just
going after the Connors, they also appear to be trying to bring about the very
events that lead to their own creation.
Summer Glau takes over as the terminator (given the name Cameron) sent
back to be John’s protector – a great casting choice in my humble opinion. I actually read that the role was created
with her in mind because of her action scenes in “Serenity”.
Fox has a history of not giving good shows a chance, and
this was no exception. It did have a
couple of problems – it basically completely diverged from the Terminator 3 storyline. Some fans were completely ok with this, I’m
sure a few had a problem with it. And
the casting of Shirley Manson as a T-1000 just didn’t work for me. But still, as a huge fan of the Terminator
movies, this series greatly added to the story and deserved better than a
cliffhanger ending (the series ended with teenage John sent into the
apocalyptic future). No resolution, of
course.
#5 Space: Above and Beyond
Network: Fox
Seasons: 1
Years: 1995-1996
An Earth colony 16 light-years from Earth is destroyed in an
alien attack, and the attackers are headed for Earth itself. With Earth at war with an unknown enemy,
the series focuses on a particular unit of Marine pilots and their struggles
with the enemy and each other.
Hey, look, here’s Fox again!
This show was of course action-packed, but also dealt with the dirty
side of conflict. The good guys were not
always perfect, and the bad guys weren’t always pure evil. The revelation towards the end of the series
that the Chigs (the aliens) may have actually been from Earth was a great
twist. This was the new “Battlestar
Galactica” before the new “Battlestar Galactica”. I did read that a couple of the actors might
not have been happy with the show, but my bet is production costs eventually
killed this one well before its time.
The effects were very good for the time on television, and the show
earned two Emmy nominations.
#4 Star Trek: Enterprise
Network: UPN
Seasons: 4
Years: 2001-2005
The prequel series to the original, this series took place
during the very beginnings of the Federation, following the crew of the first
starship Enterprise under the command of Jonathan Archer and the first
multi-species crew in Starfleet, which at the time was purely an Earth military
force.
This was the only one of the new Star Trek series that
lasted less than seven seasons, and it showed as the finale (which was probably
always meant to be the formation of the Federation) felt very rushed. Plus they brought in two Next Generation
characters for the finale (Riker and Troi) which they probably were meaning for
an episode in the middle of the series.
I felt like every Star Trek series since the original seemed to need
about two seasons under its belt before it really hit its stride, and
Enterprise was like this too. Basically,
it was starting to get really good when it got cancelled. This marked the end (for now) of Star Trek on
television – it remains to be seen if the J.J. Abrams reboot movies will revive
this great franchise on the small screen.
I just have to say one thing – what were they thinking with
that horrible opening theme song????
#3 Eureka
Network: SyFy
Seasons: 5
Years: 2006-2012
What do you get when you put a regular guy in charge of
security at a town full of supergenius scientists pushing the cutting edge of
technology, often at their own peril and putting the entire world at risk
almost every week? You get the town of
Eureka, Oregon. Sheriff Jack Carter,
almost by accident, falls into the job of head of law enforcement in the town
where the government has collected the greatest scientific minds of the time.
This quirky show is by far the best SyFy has ever produced,
with action, humor, great characters, and enough continuing story arcs to keep
continuity freaks like me interested. To
be honest, the show didn’t end on a big cliffhanger and the end was fairly
satisfying – this show is on the list because I just didn’t want it to
end. The chemistry between the two leads
was great too.
#2 Torchwood
Network: BBC/Starz
Seasons: 4
Years: 2006-2011
This spinoff of Doctor Who follows the popular character
Captain Jack Harkness, who heads Torchwood Three, the last remaining operating
division of Torchwood. Their mission is
to monitor a space-time rift running through Cardiff and protect humanity from
all manner of extraterrestrial and extradimensional threats that are attracted
to it. Gwen Cooper is the newest member
of Torchwood and almost plays Companion to Captain Jack. The show consisted of two full seasons and
was followed by what amounted to two mini-series. The final ten-episode miniseries, “Miracle
Day”, was aired by Starz and added Mekhi Phifer to the cast as a CIA agent
working with Torchwood.
Every time a season of this show ends, there is a clamoring
for more, and for good reason. Jack
Harkness is probably the most popular non-companion character from the new
Doctor Who series, and the platonic chemistry between he and Gwen is the heart
of the show. This is the all-grown-up,
dark version of Doctor Who – Torchwood is willing to do things that the Doctor
would likely never do, and are put into situations where they have little
choice. Why is this on the list? Because I really want to know what happens to
Mekhi Phifer’s character – and there are always new stories to be told about
this group. Even as I write this, there
is ongoing speculation about a new season, and if anyone is willing to bring
back shows after multi-year breaks, it’s the Brits.
#1 Firefly
Network: Fox
Seasons: 1
Years: 2002-2003
Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a
small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the
galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them. Sounds simple enough right? What that canned synopsis doesn’t tell you is
how great the characters, stories, dialog, and action were in this short-lived combination
of Science Fiction and Western from the genius mind of Joss Whedon.
This one makes me want to scream. There is absolutely no reason this show should
not have worked, other than gross mismanagement by the network. Episodes were aired inconsistently and out of
order. I have to admit, I broke my own
rule with this one – this is the one show on the list I did not see when it was
aired. Only later, when I got the DVD
set, did I appreciate what a great series this was and had the potential to
be. The follow-on motion picture
“Serenity”, although also great, only did so much to satiate the appetite for
this show. Shame on you Fox, shame!!
So, that is my list.
What about you? Do you remember
any of these shows? Are there others you
think should be on the list?
Also, what other types of “lists” do you think would be fun
to come up with?
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Rudy and Trish are the main characters in our two published short stories in the "Evernight: Romance in a World of Darkness" anthologies. You can get to know them as well as get 23 other great stories! Here's where you can find them:
