Sci-fi Brilliant but Canceled or little known gems

[stj]

It seems that series that were renewed don't really qualify. And although quite a few have their good points the fans appreciate, whether they're gems is questionable. Have to agree about Wonderfalls and Miracles. Now and Again came close but serialization rendered its characters (especially Denis Haysbert's) bizarrely schizophrenic.

From way, way back, My Living Doll with Julie Newmar as Robert Cumming's robot.

More recent, Threshold might qualify. But I recently Netflixed a UK movie called Invasion: Earth that anticipated some of its better features. Still, the casting was genuinely gem-like!

 

[Sephiroth]

i remember space rangers, been trying to remember it's title for a while now, is it on dvd anywgere?

 

[Skywalker]

I never actually saw an episode, but a lot of people speak very highly of Kindred: The Embraced.

 

[Pengy]

Something Is Out There

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

For you Firefly fans, it starred Jubal Early as a perpetually 70s-funk cool guy, he was SO hilarious in that role.

With that description I suddenly remember that show, something about an Orange Volvo too. I think it was on when I was living with people who didn't care too much about the SF I wanted to watch, so I largely missed it.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

Space Above and beyond and Journeyman for starters.

 

[RAMA]

Star Cops(BBC)
Surface
Threshold
Max Headroom

RAMA

 

[Triskelion]

Another vote for Max Headroom.

Tracker, Adrian Paul's short-lived follow-up to the awesome Highlander.

There were also a couple great miniseries on network:

Brave New World, with Leonard Nimoy as the villain in charge.

Wild Palms, James Belushi in 1993. Which I liked at the time, who knows now.

There was a brief series around the late 90's, a science fiction noire in the vein of Bladerunner, with an android cop as the lead's partner. Anyone remember that? Like Data meets Seven (Pitt, not of Nine).

I like early Mutant X, good guys vs bad guys, and a magnetic Tom McCamus as Mason Eckhart. Can't go wrong with hot chick kung fu.

 

[Candlelight]

The Prisoner

How is that a cancelled or little known gem? It came to the end of it's run after McGoohan decided 17 was enough (he actually only wanted 7 but was forced to do more).

I thought most people knew of The Prisoner...

 

[FalTorPan]

Voyagers!
Automan

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Yipes! A resurrected thread!

Anyway, as long as this one has been raised from the dead, I'll take this opportunity to put my 2 cents in...and I'd definitely go with three shows besides Firefly:

1. Wonderfalls - this was an awesome little show. Every time I see a coin on the ground I still think of the barrel bear saying "Find a penny - pick it up"....and I occasionally console myself about this issue or that with a mental picture of the monkey bookend saying "It's perfectly normal". I'm just thankful that they did the first season as a self-contained unit with a good ending. I'd have loved to have seen more seasons, but the show is very watchable on DVD because it ends well.

The actors were all excellent too, and that cast deserved more of a chance than they got. Good to see Lee Pace on Pushing Daisies...but Wonderfalls was a fabulous show that got screwed over.

This show is also great because it contains one of the funniest lines ever uttered on a TV show: William Saddler's character informing his wife that there are plenty of ways to counteract depression besides taking a pill...and then yelling through the locked door at Jaye (his daughter)...."Jaye honey...when was the last time you had an orgasm???"

God that was a great show!!!

2. The Dresden Files - I never read the books, which was probably a good thing in terms of watching the show. I think the show was pretty good, actually. But I think that the problem came with those who had read all the books and thought those were better. Rarely are movies better than the books they are made from...and same with TV shows. I think Dresden suffered not because it was bad, but because it wasn't as good as the books for the viewers who had read them.

3. Jericho - it's true this show got more of a chance than the other two when it got that second mini-season. But the thing is that with a show like this, you have to watch it from the beginning. And at the beginning, this show got so screwed over that it never really had a chance to gain an audience...and so started that little mini-season in deficit position.

Great concept that should have been given more of a chance. But then...maybe alot of people stayed away because of the content. I think alot of people are actually so afraid of what would happen if such a thing were to occur in real life that they didn't even want to think about it by watching a show like Jericho. With most scifi shows, no matter how bad it gets, you are always assured that 'you are not in Kansas anymore' so it couldn't happen. With Jericho...well, you are IN Kansas.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

2. The Dresden Files - I never read the books, which was probably a good thing in terms of watching the show. I think the show was pretty good, actually. But I think that the problem came with those who had read all the books and thought those were better. Rarely are movies better than the books they are made from...and same with TV shows. I think Dresden suffered not because it was bad, but because it wasn't as good as the books for the viewers who had read them.

The TV series introduced me to the books, and yeah, the books are better, but the series is enjoyable enough in it's own right, and gets better as the series goes on.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Wonderfalls - this was an awesome little show. Every time I see a coin on the ground I still think of the barrel bear saying "Find a penny - pick it up"....and I occasionally console myself about this issue or that with a mental picture of the monkey bookend saying "It's perfectly normal". I'm just thankful that they did the first season as a self-contained unit with a good ending. I'd have loved to have seen more seasons, but the show is very watchable on DVD because it ends well.

Yeah. Plus, I think some of the ideas they had for season 2 were kinda . (Sharon gets pregnant from the semen leftover in her girlfriend's vagina?!?)

Still, I loved the show a lot. Katie Finneran & Caroline Dhavernas are 2 of the cutest actresses in TV history. (Heaven would be making them the bread in a me-sandwich.)

I kept picturing what would happen if they ever did a crossover episode with Early Edition. (Gary is on vacation at Niagara Falls. Jaye accidentally injures Gary, preventing him from using the paper. Jaye now has to deal with both the paper and the animals.)

Odyssey 5 was a great show. Rarely have I so fallen in love with a show from the 1st episode. Even if the show never comes back, I'd love to see Dr. Kurt Mendell on another series.

 

[Starbreaker]

Odyssey 5 was a great show. Rarely have I so fallen in love with a show from the 1st episode. Even if the show never comes back, I'd love to see Dr. Kurt Mendell on another series.

The pilot episode of Odyssey 5 was brilliant and remains one of my favorite episodes of any TV show ever.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

The Prisoner

How is that a cancelled or little known gem? It came to the end of it's run after McGoohan decided 17 was enough (he actually only wanted 7 but was forced to do more).

I thought most people knew of The Prisoner...

Although, according the The Prisoner Companion, there were ideas of continuing the show for a second series but with a more world-spanning manner. The idea was to follow Number 48 (Alexis Kanner) and the Butler (Angelo Muscat) as the are chased across the world following the events of "Fall Out," iirc.

Speaking of only 7 episodes, I hope that the new AMC version will use those seven as the basis of the mini-series.

Producer George Markstein also proposed a continuation of The Prisoner before his falling out with McGoohan. From wikipedia:

According to Markstein: "The Prisoner was going to leave the Village and he was going to have adventures in many parts of the world, but ultimately he would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background… and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Doesn't Markstein also believe that Number Six is John Drake (McGoohan's earlier spy character), while McG himself says the opposite?

 

[The Mule]

everyone, hang you heads in shame for letting this thread go on so long without mentioning The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. a one-season wonder that was on Fox in the early 90s, starring Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead and every other Sam Raimi film) in a mad-cap western with sci-fi overtones (time travel, aliens, rockets, etc.) finally out of DVD. go watch it and enjoy yourself

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^ Doesn't Markstein also believe that Number Six is John Drake (McGoohan's earlier spy character), while McG himself says the opposite?

Yeah, Markstein says that the Prisoner is John Drake while McGoohan says he isn't. Then again, they also disagree as to who came up with the initial premise of the series. Markstein says he came up with it. McGoohan says that he first brought the premise to ITV with the notion of it being a seven-episode mini.

 

[FalTorPan]

From way, way back, My Living Doll with Julie Newmar as Robert Cumming's robot.

I have two episodes of that series on VHS. It wasn't bad.

 

[Kryton]

^ Doesn't Markstein also believe that Number Six is John Drake (McGoohan's earlier spy character), while McG himself says the opposite?

Yeah, Markstein says that the Prisoner is John Drake while McGoohan says he isn't. Then again, they also disagree as to who came up with the initial premise of the series. Markstein says he came up with it. McGoohan says that he first brought the premise to ITV with the notion of it being a seven-episode mini.

It doesn't hurt to keep in mind McGoohan pretty much shut down "Danger Man" to morph into "The Prisoner". He COULD have given Number 6 a name if he'd wanted to. I think it's pretty clear he was "cashing in" on the John Drake thing, personally.