NationStates Jolt Archive

What's your favorite fantasy/sci-fi TV show that got cancelled far too early? (By that, I mean within only 1 or 2 seasons!)

Star Trek TOS

Ran for 3 seasons, and the last one was after a HUGE fan petition

the original series? next gen was better.
star trek enterprise is also being scrapped

The original Battlestar Galactica. It had VERY good watchership, and was AWESOME. Too bad they watered it down and went with Galactica 1980, which was a big afternoon special type show.

Second place would go to Miracles. It was freakin' awesome and they didn't show us the rest of the season even! And they had filmed it and everything.

Third place goes to The Others. They killed everyone at the end of the short 13 episode season, but I hear that a second season was in the works.

Chaudi - TNG was never scrapped...it ran to the full 7 seasons.

Enterprise has had 4 seasons - and is being scrapped because it is useless.

10 points to the first person who knows my answer to this question. It's not like I've ever kept it a secret.

the original series? next gen was better.
star trek enterprise is also being scrapped

:eek: Noooooooooooo...what sci-fi serial will i see now? :headbang:

"Farscape". It did get finished though - in a fashion.

Oh, and "Space 2063: Above and Beyond". And "Space Rangers". Anyone remember "Space Rangers"?

I really liked Tru Calling, Dark Angel, and John Doe. I also liked the others, but I must admit, Wonderfalls was just friggin' bizzare.

Enterprise was useless, tho this series is better, pity their scrapin it! Voyager was the best and i hope to fuck they dont cancel Atlantis, anyone like it as much as me?!?!

The original Mobile Suit Gundam's airing in the US - it's apparent unpopularity, coulpled with the 9/11 attacks, caused the series to get pulled off TV before the final episode aired.

10 points to the first person who knows my answer to this question. It's not like I've ever kept it a secret.
wats the question?

wats the question?

What's your favorite fantasy/sci-fi TV show that got cancelled far too early?

You know, the topic of the thread.

10 points are still up for grabs.

Farscape. I mean it was awesome, it just didn't appeal to a lot of the americans who've preferred a more heroic hero or sometihng.
eh, it was good but the ending just sucked! who the hell was that... thing!?
i'd have preffered it to just leave off than do what it did.

my second vote goes to enterprise. it was pretty rubbish UNTIL it got cancelled and then it started to get good. typical.

You know, the topic of the thread.

10 points are still up for grabs.

Firefly?

Firefly?
Ugh... Firefly was sorely disappointing to me.

You know, the topic of the thread.

10 points are still up for grabs.
Space 1999? Logan's Run the Series? Misfits of Science? AutoMan? Manimal? Wish Man? Viper? Street Hawk? Cleopatra 2525? Blue Thunder?

AAaaaahhhahahahahaaha...alright, I have no idea.

Firefly?

Space 1999? Logan's Run the Series? Misfits of Science? AutoMan? Manimal? Wish Man? Viper? Street Hawk? Cleopatra 2525? Blue Thunder?

AAaaaahhhahahahahaaha...alright, I have no idea.

Nope. None of those.

I am kind of sad that no one pays attention to what I say. :(

Nope. None of those.

I am kind of sad that no one pays attention to what I say. :(
Don't feel bad. I don't really pay attention to anything anybody says! :p

C´mon! Some HAS to know "Space Rangers", right?

Nope. None of those.

I am kind of sad that no one pays attention to what I say. :(
I would have been a little disappointed in you if any of my guess' where right. Or intrigued. Maybe a mix of the two...

Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century?

Okay, I'll stop...

Spy Games.. that was cancelled before it's time.

Firefly.

Damn you, Fox! Damn you to Hell! :headbang:

Futurama. Maan, that show rocked! Stupid people at Fox.

You know, the topic of the thread.

10 points are still up for grabs.

Farscape...

and it's the right answer. WHERE HAST THOU GONE, HARVEY?

Firefly!

Carnivale..... it only ran 2 seasons and left us high and dry at the end... anyone who hasent seen this series needs to

Farscape...

and it's the right answer. WHERE HAST THOU GONE, HARVEY?

10 points to Jordaxia.

John Doe is the single most tragic loss, though Firefly comes close.

Futurama. Maan, that show rocked! Stupid people at Fox.You have to admire their thought process. Hey, let's buy another TV show from Matt Groening and then shift it out of its slot for The Simpsons reruns every other week, don't mention it in polite conversation or adverts and wonder why it doesn't earn instant mass popularity beyond a hardened cadre of enlightened fans. OMG, they are the 5@\/\/y (u5+0/\/\0rz!!!1

Sweet mother of kibble, hath mercy 'pon me...

The X-Files. I was sooo disappointed there was no follow-on or spin-off sequel! It was one of the few programs on TV that assumed the viewer could actually think! :(

Now and Again.

CBS Series. John Goodman gets hit by a train ad has his brain put into an engineered body by the government. He still loves his family but they will be killed if he contacts them.

Funny. Romantic. Great acting. Great writing. Ended in a cliff- hanger.

Farscape has to be the best sci-fi show ever. I heard they might bring it back and I certainly
hope they do!

Farscape has to be the best sci-fi show ever. I heard they might bring it back and I certainly
hope they do!
I thought it violated every law of physics. All that does for me is make me cross and irritable. ;)

I thought it violated every law of physics. All that does for me is make me cross and irritable. ;)

anyone who considers the laws of physics important in sci-fi is missing the point of sci-fi, in my opinion. Just because it's got science in the name doesn't mean it needs to be scientifically accurate. If sci-fi adhered rigidly to them... well it'd be a lot more limited and a lot less fun :p

The X-Files. I was sooo disappointed there was no follow-on or spin-off sequel! It was one of the few programs on TV that assumed the viewer could actually think! :(

X-Files finale was very annoying. It didn't answer any of the mysteries of the show. What was the point of Mulder and Scully going through everything they did without getting hard answers on everything? The truth IS out there correct?

anyone who considers the laws of physics important in sci-fi is missing the point of sci-fi, in my opinion. Just because it's got science in the name doesn't mean it needs to be scientifically accurate. If sci-fi adhered rigidly to them... well it'd be a lot more limited and a lot less fun :p

They're missing the "fi" of sci-fi.

Space Above and Beyond. Best SciFi show I've ever watched. Fox screwed up their scheduling and didn't play it when they said they would, ergo few people watched it, ergo they decided it was not good, ergo they cancelled it after a single season.

Yeah, everybody hates Fox.

Babylon 5. Even though it ran 5 seasons, it seemed to me that it was cut short. Especicially after sci-fi channel maimed the spin off movies that could have spawned a more successful follow-up. (You fivers out there know Crusade sucked.)

X-Files finale was very annoying. It didn't answer any of the mysteries of the show. What was the point of Mulder and Scully going through everything they did without getting hard answers on everything? The truth IS out there correct?
Hmmm. I thought all of the basic questions were answered in the last few installments in the series. Which ones didn't you think were answered?

Space Above and Beyond. Best SciFi show I've ever watched. Fox screwed up their scheduling and didn't play it when they said they would, ergo few people watched it, ergo they decided it was not good, ergo they cancelled it after a single season.

Yeah, everybody hates Fox.

That was a great show! They ran it on the Sci-Fi channel for a while after Fox dumped it.

It seems that Fox has dumped more great sci-fi shows than any other network.

Yeah, everybody hates Fox. In the word of Amy Wong: D'uh.

anyone who considers the laws of physics important in sci-fi is missing the point of sci-fi, in my opinion. Just because it's got science in the name doesn't mean it needs to be scientifically accurate. If sci-fi adhered rigidly to them... well it'd be a lot more limited and a lot less fun :p
Well, I always thought that's one of the reasons they called it "science" fiction. The writers can play around with the frontiers of physics, but take cognizance of the known laws. Anything else would be "fantasy," as in "science fiction AND fantasy."

Hmmm. I thought all of the basic questions were answered in the last few installments in the series. Which ones didn't you think were answered?

It's been so long that I can't remember all my complaints. But I do remember that the final episodes answered their particular mystery without answering the larger conspiracy.

Well, I always thought that's one of the reasons they called it "science" fiction. The writers can play around with the frontiers of physics, but take cognizance of the known laws. Anything else would be "fantasy," as in "science fiction AND fantasy."

One and the same, surely? Sci-fi-fa doesn't roll off the tongue well, really. I personally think that sci-fi is a misnomer. The science simply indicates that the magic and dragons is changed for starships and blasters, nothing more. If sci-fi strictly held the laws of physics, space battles would be boring, taking place at hundreds of thousands of km, with no sound, and no real visibility, either. Ships would move really slowly for fear of crushing themselves... the list really is endless.

Fiction is definitely the keyword in sci-fi.

I was always taught that science fiction and fantasy are two different genres. One explains its fictional occurances with science and psuedoscience and one explains its fictional occurances with magic, myth, etc.

EDIT: I thought I'd add that many supposedly science fiction books/movies/TV shows tend to cross into fantasy in some places. I tend to find it annoying.

If sci-fi strictly held the laws of physics, space battles would be boring, taking place at hundreds of thousands of km, with no sound, and no real visibility, either. Ships would move really slowly for fear of crushing themselves... the list really is endless.
You mean like the "2001: A Space Odessy" series? That was true "science" fiction.

I was always taught that science fiction and fantasy are two different genres. One explains its fictional occurances with science and psuedoscience and one explains its fictional occurances with magic, myth, etc.
Ditto!

You mean like the "2001: A Space Odessy" series? That was true "science" fiction.

Perhaps. But would you really like every movie to be like 2001? It would get... tedious. Besides, I STILL don't understand 2001. I don't consider myself unintelligent... but I have watched that movie several times and left unsatisfied. At least with star wars you have a resolution that you don't need to be Plato to understand, even if it is the stinking rebels that win.

Perhaps. But would you really like every movie to be like 2001? It would get... tedious. Besides, I STILL don't understand 2001. I don't consider myself unintelligent... but I have watched that movie several times and left unsatisfied. At least with star wars you have a resolution that you don't need to be Plato to understand, even if it is the stinking rebels that win.
LOL! Point taken. But the movie was intended to make you think, not to give you all the answers. My pet peeve for space-related movies is when there's sound in a vacume. I will usually turn right off, unless it's deliberately intended to be a kind of spoof, like Star Wars. Then I just do my best to suspend judgment.

LOL! Point taken. But the movie was intended to make you think, not to give you all the answers. My pet peeve for space-related movies is when there's sound in a vacume. I will usually turn right off, unless it's deliberately intended to be a kind of spoof, like Star Wars. Then I just do my best to suspend judgment.

damn. I kinda wish you hadn't said Star wars now... I would have made the TIE-fighter appeal. Which kinda goes like "listen to the TIE-fighter. Just listen to it. doesn't that sound cool? HOW COULD YOU GO WITHOUT?"

Erm... oh yeah... how do I remember sound in a vacuum being justified? Ah, this is it. Think about it this way. In a combat situation, you want to have all your senses relaying information. If a pilot has a squad of fighters blasting at him from...err...6 o'clock (:D) then if an onboard computer relays that info as sound from that direction, he can take advantage of it. And that's why sound travels through space. I actually think that the lack of sound in space can be quite atmospheric though. on the whole, it doesn't annoy me. Big ships exploding just don't sound right without the groan of the superstructure as it collapses,and bass rumbles of the munitions hold exploding. Babylon five done it well. Sometimes it'd be silent. sometimes it'd have the beam cannons and the plasma guns making noise. it worked well.

back on 2001. That movie was designed to make you think, and star wars was just designed to be basically a fantasy story set in space. They have very different purposes. I'm not opposed to sci-fi being thought provoking, nor am I opposed to it being just... a good movie/book. variety is they key, as in everything.

10 points to Jordaxia.

I knowed that it began with F, but that was it.

I knowed that it began with F, but that was it.
*Sighs.*

Well, I always thought that's one of the reasons they called it "science" fiction. The writers can play around with the frontiers of physics, but take cognizance of the known laws. Anything else would be "fantasy," as in "science fiction AND fantasy."

That sort of eliminates much of the x-files then.

LOL! Point taken. But the movie was intended to make you think, not to give you all the answers. My pet peeve for space-related movies is when there's sound in a vacume. I will usually turn right off, unless it's deliberately intended to be a kind of spoof, like Star Wars. Then I just do my best to suspend judgment.

There wasn't in firefly. Just one of the many things that made it fantastic.

Biggest tragedy is "Firefly"...

Did someone on the thread say "Carnivale" had been cancelled? :(

That'd be a close second.

Earth: Final Conflict - although, in all fairness, the second series sucked

Enterprise was useless, tho this series is better, pity their scrapin it! Voyager was the best and i hope to fuck they dont cancel Atlantis, anyone like it as much as me?!?!

Atlantis is fantastic, so much better than SG1 :D

Does 'Invader Zim' count?

Cathenia

Frelling Farscape!!!

Farscape has to be the best sci-fi show ever. I heard they might bring it back and I certainly
hope they do!
haven't read far enough to know if someone already answered this...

they are "finishing it off" by filming a mini-series about the war. I don't know if that will lead back into a new series or not, but there has been no word about that. I suspect the networks are willing to give it another shot if allowing the mini-series, so it will probably depend on the popularity.

go buy dvd's, it's the new democracy!

dvd sales of firefly is what got it a movie and the chance at a new series afterwards.

Firefly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That show was genius!
It was a crime that fox killed it after 1/2 a season.
What a bunch of blundering idiots.
I am so looking forward to seeing serinity on the big screen though this fall.
Such a great beginning of a series

My second is of course Babylon 5.
Even though they finished the 5 year Arc I wanted more then what the specials & crusade gave me.
JMS you rule!

I was always taught that science fiction and fantasy are two different genres. One explains its fictional occurances with science and psuedoscience and one explains its fictional occurances with magic, myth, etc.

EDIT: I thought I'd add that many supposedly science fiction books/movies/TV shows tend to cross into fantasy in some places. I tend to find it annoying.

Yep, and there's a bit more to it than just explaining fictional occurances. There are certain conventions to do with the way the story is told.

Assimov described the difference as science fiction, being based on science, is at least potentially real. Fantasy isn't.

For example, Starwars is actually a fantasy, not a sci-fi. Technically it's epic fantasy, but that's just getting picky.
It's pretty much a staple of fantasy that there is good and evil. You can think of Starwars almost as Lord of the Rings, in space.

There is some confusion, when you get "sci-fi" like startrek, or flash gordon, where there are planets with donosaurs, bug-eyed aliens, and other "fantasy" elements. Technically this genre is called space-opera, and often does incorporate many fantasy elements.

Of course, considering the topic, if you want a lovely example of cross-genres show, there's firefly. Which is really a western, which just happens to be set in space. The sort of character types, settings, and stories really come straight from a western show. It's also my vote, along with Farscape (a fantasy), for "Sci-Fi" show cancelled too soon.

Hope that made sense, and I'm not just rambling!

The X-Files. I was sooo disappointed there was no follow-on or spin-off sequel! It was one of the few programs on TV that assumed the viewer could actually think! :(
There was a spin-off of X-Files. It was called the Lone Gunman. Yet another casulty of fox's stipidity.

Does 'Invader Zim' count?

Cathenia
Of course Invader Zim counts!
Sci Fi can be in cartoon form.
I also think the cartoon Droids was cut way too short. Anyone remember that? I think it would have been better if they hadn't combined it with those annoying Ewoks.

Oy, now I'm torn. You've got NextGen (which, if'n I recall correctly, WAS torpedoed by Paramount because they were releasing Generations at the time), you've got Bab5, which was cancelled, then wasn't, and therefore apparently stank near the end, but (from the limited bits I've seen) was very very good, and you've got Firefly, which I've been getting more and more interested in as time goes by.

Now that that's said, I'd also like to second Earth's Orbit's opinion's re: SF and F. There IS quite a difference, and as a fan of both I'm rather shocked that people think the two are interchangable.

Firefly?
Hells yeah

Now and Again.......

I don't know why, but something about that show really touched home...

Well, I always thought that's one of the reasons they called it "science" fiction. The writers can play around with the frontiers of physics, but take cognizance of the known laws. Anything else would be "fantasy," as in "science fiction AND fantasy."

Any good scientist will tell you that nothing in science has ever been proven because it is impossible to prove anything beyond any doubt. The fact is that everything we know about physics could be wrong.

I'm rememded of an episode of Stargate SG-1 when Carter is explaining Quantam Physics to an advanced alien. He finds it facinating not because of any scientific insight her explination provides but because of how completely wrong her understanding of physics is.

I don't recognize any of the shows listed in the poll...

Oy, now I'm torn. You've got NextGen (which, if'n I recall correctly, WAS torpedoed by Paramount because they were releasing Generations at the time), you've got Bab5, which was cancelled, then wasn't, and therefore apparently stank near the end, but (from the limited bits I've seen) was very very good, and you've got Firefly, which I've been getting more and more interested in as time goes by.

Now that that's said, I'd also like to second Earth's Orbit's opinion's re: SF and F. There IS quite a difference, and as a fan of both I'm rather shocked that people think the two are interchangable.

Bab 5 did not suck toward the end. The last season did have a few bad episodes but it also had some of the best episodes in the series.
The Londo/Gakkar plot was amazing! Plus the Garibaldi/Bester plat was amazing as well.
The series fanaile was one of the best endings I've ever seen in Sci Fi.

Now and Again.......

I don't know why, but something about that show really touched home...
Now and Again.

CBS Series. John Goodman gets hit by a train ad has his brain put into an engineered body by the government. He still loves his family but they will be killed if he contacts them.

Funny. Romantic. Great acting. Great writing. Ended in a cliff- hanger.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who misses that show! It was very popular in Australia, to the point where they would show it Tuesday evening and then repeat it again late Thursday night! Did they make a second season? It never aired here if they did. :(

this thread is a sham. you failed to mention Dr. Who.

this thread is a sham. you failed to mention Dr. Who.
I thought "Who" was starting up again in 2006?

The original Mobile Suit Gundam's airing in the US - it's apparent unpopularity, coulpled with the 9/11 attacks, caused the series to get pulled off TV before the final episode aired.
What did Mobile Suit Gundam have to do with 9/11?

I thought "Who" was starting up again in 2006?
thats only because BBC cancelled it when it got to popular. the fans were forced to petition until the BBC brought it back

I have not heard of a single show you listed, probably because they were all awful.


The answer is "Exo Squad."

I'm glad I'm not the only one who misses that show! It was very popular in Australia, to the point where they would show it Tuesday evening and then repeat it again late Thursday night! Did they make a second season? It never aired here if they did. :(

Nope. They were planning to but CBS canceled the series for no apparent reason.

this thread is a sham. you failed to mention Dr. Who.
You mean the new Dr Who? I didn't know it had been cancelled. The old one lasted quite a bit.

"Farscape". It did get finished though - in a fashion.

Oh, and "Space 2063: Above and Beyond". And "Space Rangers". Anyone remember "Space Rangers"?

Agreed. Above and Beyond was bloody awesome. Farscape could've, and should've gone on far longer, imo. When I watched the miniseries ending, I liked it, but..it didn't feel very fulfilling.

Well, i personally think that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was cancelled far too soon. 7 seasons is just not enough...sigh...and the musical episode was freaking awesome!!!!!!!

7 seasons is fairly robust as television series go. Angel could have done with a 6th season. Either that, or the last season could have ended with more finality.

Well Tru Calling yes
I never watched JAke 2.0 something better was on.
John Doe really disapointed at that
The Pretender It and Stargate were on right before/after each other and i watched them religously
The Tick-Thats Science Fiction right.<.<..>.>.Bat MAnuel
Dark Angel What more can i say http://deb.org/NS-NL/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/1-worship.gif