Strap in, everyone! Today, we are heading down memory lane. We are going to talk about some of our favorite sci-fi television shows- shows that were cancelled too soon, breaking all of our hearts. Without further ado, here is our top 5 list of outstanding sci-fi series that got canceled.
FireFly
Oh, Firefly, the pain is real even after all these years. This poor leaf in the wind never even had a proper chance to soar. With hurdles like episodes being aired out of order from the beginning and air time changes, it’s a wonder it made it as long as it did.
Firefly was a collection of marvelous characters right down to her ship. Even out of order, it's a show to be loved by its fans, known as Browncoats. The writing was excellent, the cast steller, filled with a ton of thrilling heroics in space. Consider this: in its only season, the Serenity firmly entrenched itself as an icon along side the Millennium Falcon as the smuggler’s ship of choice!
The show possessed such a strong fanbase they would do the impossible: the show would be resurrected in movie form in a time before Kickstarter. Firefly, you will forever be missed.
The Expanse
Based on a series of novels by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse was part of Syfy’s return to Sci-fi. The show has thus far been an overwhelming success and built quite a following. Why Sci-Fi did not renegotiate for more seasons of this show is hard fathom. It was among the top five shows they were airing at the time, and both the critics and the fans loved the show. Still, The Expanse was canceled after three sessions, even though it had a 100% rating for its third season and a 90% overall rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Its ratings were well deserved! A solar system on the brink of war, politics, conspiracy, stunning special effects, and excellent actors brought this space opera to life. We loved every bit of the show’s tension. Thankfully it seems that this beautiful, noir, sci-fi drama looks to have been rescued by Amazon.
Almost Human
At first glance of Almost Human, it looked like Syfy was going to have a tremendous hit on their hands. With Karl Urban and Michael Ealy playing law enforcement partners in a cyberpunk future and being produced by JJ Abrams, who would have imagined this show being dropped after 1 season?
Leave it to Syfy to once again set a TV show up for failure by airing the episodes out of order. You’d think they would have learned their lesson with Firefly, but apparently they did not. Instead, they went one better and aired even more episodes out of order. The result was chaos, as the order the episodes aired was 1,5,6,7,8,3,10,2,9,4, the final three episodes in order instead of 1-13. Sadly the show was doomed from the start.
The show was set in 2048 in a cyberpunk world where the human police force is augmented by android partners. The story develops as the friendship between officer and android builds. There was the beginnings of a much deeper story that was developed. But everything was too hard to follow with the episodes played so greatly out of order.
Space Above and Beyond
Admittedly, we are reaching far back for this one. Space Above and Beyond was one part Battlestar Galactica one part Starship Troopers. Mankind is at war with an alien species and we the audience are along for the ride in Hammerhead zero-g space fighters.
It's hard to deny the show took a little bit of inspiration from full metal jacket as well. With the stars of the show all being Marines. It even had a cameo from the late great Lee Army as teams Drill Instructor.
The characters were diverse and the action was intense. All in all, it was great fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, the show was produced in a day and age where if you were not pulling in tens of millions of viewers, your fate was certain. In a different time like today, it may have been a success.
Stargate Universe
This was another great sci-fi show that had a shaky start. When the show found its legs, it proved it could stand apart from the rest of the Stargate shows. Sadly, right as it the show found its direction, Syfy moved its time slot, embraced wrestling and left Stargate Universe to die.
The show had more than 34 webisodes, as well as a comic series, after its cancelation. Thankfully, for a time it was able to live on for its fans past its cancelation.
Shows like these are part of the inspiration for building the Atomic Network platform. We feel the pain of these lost series’ and are striving to create a more community driven network than has ever existed. Whereas networks like Syfy have broken our hearts and shown how disconnected from their audience they’ve grown, you will never be disenfranchised with Atomic Network. The decision of whether a show lives or dies won’t be made by a board of directors but with the fans themselves. Join us on our journey and be a part of our growing community at www.AtomicNetwork.tv.