Society's fascination with aliens, time travel, outer space, and everything in between has only grown stronger over the years. Yet despite its futuristic concepts, the sci-fi genre has been around long before foldable computers and smartphones became reality. Many of these shows featured ambitious ideas that were far ahead of their time, exploring themes and technologies that continue to resonate with audiences today.
Unfortunately, not all of them received the recognition they deserved. Unlike modern series that can spread through social media and word of mouth at lightning speed, certain sci-fi shows struggled to find a wide audience and gradually faded from public memory. They may be forgotten today, but they also helped lay the foundation for the genre as we know it. From invasive drones that monitor our every move to a spiritual successor to The Twilight Zone, here are the forgotten sci-fi shows that are perfect from start to finish.
'UFO' (1970–1971)
Image via ITVThere's an extraterrestrial object looming around in UFO. In a futuristic 1980, Earth faces a terrifying threat from a mysterious alien race that abducts and kills humans to harvest their body parts. To combat the invasion, a covert military network called SHADO devises a plan to attack these creatures.
With the show being a product of the '70s, UFO has that classic futuristic aesthetic combined with the fashions of the era. From silver jumpsuits to purple wigs, the show proves that sci-fi can be just as stylish. But UFO is far from gimmicky, utilizing advanced arsenals like submarine-launched aircraft and interceptor spacecraft to save the world.
'Space: 1999' (1975–1977)
Image via ITVBefore the turn of the new millennium, Space: 1999 kicks off with a catastrophic explosion at a nuclear waste storage site on the moon. In the aftermath of the disaster, Earth's satellite is hurled out of orbit. With no communications available, a group of scientists, astronauts, and support personnel are all stranded on Moonbase Alpha with no way to reach Earth.
Typically, a situation like the one in Space: 1999 would instantly pull people into crisis mode, and that's exactly what happens. However, there's also an existential sentimentality that comes with being so far removed from the calamities of Earth. Space: 1999 has a philosophical edge that emerges when these experts are left vulnerable, with nothing but their humanity on the line.
'Doomwatch' (1970–1972)
Image via BBC OneThere's a science-based, crime-fighting organization dedicated to investigating disasters, and it's featured in Doomwatch. Led by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Spencer Quist (John Paul), Doomwatch is a government agency tasked with investigating dangers that are often the result of humanity's own actions. From deadly bacteria to mind-altering experiments, Doomwatch is a scientist's worst nightmare come true.
The pursuit of science is often considered a noble endeavor. However, things can become complicated when personal, governmental, or corporate interests get involved. It is not uncommon for scientific discoveries to be misused, which, in Doomwatch, can lead to everything from environmental disasters to corporate misconduct. It goes to show that intellectual progress can be dangerous when ethics are left behind.
'Omniscient' (2020)
Image via NetflixOmniscient is set in a city where every citizen is monitored by an insect-like drone operated by the Omniscient System Company. Designed to prevent crime before it happens, these machines track behavior around the clock and have helped create a society where human judgment has been replaced by algorithmic certainty.
That certainty is put to the test through Nina Peixoto (Carla Salle), a programming trainee whose world is shattered when she finds her father dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Despite the evidence, the drone assigned to him reports that no crime occurred, and authorities quickly close the case. Refusing to accept the machine's verdict, Nina discovers secrets that could expose the flaws at the heart of a system built on unquestioned surveillance.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
FIND YOUR HERO →
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.
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02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.
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03
What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.
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04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.
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05
You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.
APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.
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06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.
AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.
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07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?
AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.
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08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.
REVEAL MY HERO →
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
- You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
- You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
- Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
- That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
- You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
- Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
- Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
- That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.
- You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
- You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
- Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
- That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
- You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
- Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
- You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
- When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
- You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
- Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
- Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
- That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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'Firefly' (2002)
Space cowboys are alive and barely surviving in Firefly. In the aftermath of a lost civil war, Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) has turned his life around from rebel soldier to manning the transport ship Serenity. Along with his mismatched crew, the ship takes on whatever odd jobs it can find. Whether they're legal or not, that's another question.
Firefly walked so that shows like The Expanse could run. In between the sword duels and bounty hunting, the series serves as a commentary on the divide between ordinary people and a powerful central government, with outlaws like the crew of the Serenity caught in the middle. And rather than featuring a conventional futuristic aesthetic, Firefly creates a unique world combining familiar cowboy sensibilities and high-tech space travel.
'Bodies' (2023)
Image via NetflixBased on the DC Vertigo graphic novel of the same name, Bodies spans four timelines and follows four detectives investigating the same naked corpse found on Longharvest Lane in London's Whitechapel district. From 1890 to 2053, each investigator discovers the same victim with the same injuries, slowly uncovering a conspiracy tied to a man determined to preserve his version of history.
Despite its high-concept sci-fi premise, Bodies also explores how oppression can become a cycle of its own. Each detective faces different forms of prejudice and social pressure, shaping how they approach the case and the world around them. Some patterns in history can be just as difficult to break as a time loop.
'The Outer Limits' (1995–2002)
Image via ShowtimeThe Outer Limits is an anthology series in which every episode presents a self-contained story following a scientific mishap. Many of its tales follow scientists or everyday people as they confront dangerous discoveries, from intelligent creatures emerging from Martian soil to jealous androids and wealthy individuals desperate to escape death.
Because of the show's format, the series allows viewers to jump into any episode without prior knowledge and still enjoy a complete experience. Often compared to an overlooked successor to The Twilight Zone, the show explores humanity's flaws, scientific ambition, and the unintended consequences of alien encounters, while still delivering plenty of suspense and creature-feature thrills.
'Continuum' (2012–2015)
Image via ShowcaseTime travel and police work are a dangerous combination. Continuum introduces audiences to Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols), a police officer from 2077 who is unexpectedly transported to present-day Vancouver. She's not alone — the terrorist group Liber8 makes the journey with her.
While Liber8's extremist methods are difficult to defend, the group also blurs the line between heroes and villains. Their movement emerges as a violent response to corporations that use biometric surveillance to exert control over law enforcement. As a dedicated officer, Kiera's always believed in following the rules. But as she begins to realize that the police are little more than pawns of the wealthy and powerful, she's forced to question everything she once stood for.
'Babylon 5' (1993–1998)
Image via PTENSet in 2258 aboard a massive space station built after the Earth-Minbari War, Babylon 5 follows Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) and later Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) as they navigate a web of political tensions. Charged with maintaining peace among competing alien powers while managing unrest within the Earth Alliance, Sheridan must keep fragile alliances intact as the Interstellar Alliance begins to take shape.
Babylon 5 is a screenwriting risk that paid off in the long run. The series was planned as a complete five-season saga from the very beginning, allowing for rich character development and intricate political arcs. It's a luxury that even much of today's television can't afford, and Babylon 5 took full advantage of that opportunity to deepen its exploration of diplomacy, bureaucracy, and power on a galactic scale.
'Dollhouse' (2009–2010)
Image via FOXIn a secret underground facility known as the Dollhouse, men and women called "Actives" have their memories erased. Left as blank canvases, these victims are implanted with custom identities and abilities tailored to the needs of wealthy clients. One of these Actives is Echo (Eliza Dushku), who begins to show signs of self-awareness despite repeated memory wipes.
Dollhouse gives off strong Black Mirror energy by exploring themes of agency and autonomy. It remains highly relevant in today's world, where AI is increasingly becoming the norm. Society expects AI systems to do our bidding, and while that role is currently limited to chatbots and automation, it's not hard to imagine a future where powerful individuals use this technology to exploit others, much like what happens in Dollhouse.
Dollhouse
Release Date 2009 - 2010-00-00
Network FOX
Directors Joss Whedon
English (US) ·