1. Automan
This thing was pure digital fever dream. A cop and his AI sidekick who could manifest a car, a helicopter, whatever, out of light. The glowing outlines and primitive CGI were wild, like watching a video game glitch out on prime time. It was clunky but brilliant, an early look at virtual reality before anyone knew what that really meant. And it was gone too soon, a neon flash in the pan.
2. V
The original mini-series, man. Before the endless sequels and reboots. This was straight-up paranoia fuel, a masterclass in slow-burn terror. Giant spaceships over major cities, lizard people in human skin, eating rodents, and that chilling allegorical dread. It played like a sci-fi soap opera with real teeth, dragging audiences into a nightmare of occupation and resistance. Pure 80s maximalism, and it left a mark.
3. Alien Nation
After the movie, the TV series took this concept and ran with it, hard. It was a gritty cop drama, but with displaced alien refugees trying to integrate into L.A. society. All that practical makeup, the culture clashes, the social commentary on immigration – it was surprisingly heavy for syndicated fare. Not just a procedural, but a genuine exploration of 'the other,' wrapped in a sci-fi package. Underrated.
4. Forever Knight
A vampire cop, working nights in Toronto, haunted by his immortality and seeking redemption. This show was moody, broody, and utterly unique for its time. It leaned into the noir detective tropes, but gave them a gothic, supernatural twist. Nick Knight was a reluctant hero, a creature of the night fighting crime and his own inner demons. It felt like a graphic novel brought to life, on late-night TV.
5. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Bruce Campbell, riding a horse, hunting futuristic artifacts in the Old West. This was Saturday night gold, pure genre-bending madness. It had cowboys, secret societies, rocket boots, and Campbell's signature smirk. A proto-steampunk western with a huge sense of humor and a genuine cult following that grew after its untimely cancellation. It was just too weird, too smart, too much fun for network TV.
6. VR.5
This one was a trip. Sydney Bloom could hack into people's minds through VR, manipulating their subconscious. It was pure 90s cyber-noir, drenched in neon and digital haze, with a narrative that played fast and loose with reality. Experimental, visually striking, and deeply unsettling, it felt like a broadcast signal intrusion from another dimension. Too ahead of its time, too dreamlike, too weird to last.
7. Lexx
Forget polished sci-fi, Lexx was a derelict space leviathan piloted by a motley crew of misfits. It was grotesque, hilarious, and deeply unsettling, born from a Canadian-German co-production. Imagine a living, sentient spaceship the size of Manhattan, powered by dark matter. This was low-budget cult gold, embracing its weirdness with punk rock abandon. Pure, unadulterated, maximalist sci-fi absurdity. And yes, it was glorious.
