By Drew Dietsch
| Published
We love the ‘90s here at Giant Freakin Robot. We also love sci-fi and binging TV shows.
So we got the gang together and decided to pick some sci-fi TV shows that still have the magic three decades later.
These are the ‘90s sci-fi series that are still worth checking out.
The X-Files
One of the biggest phenomenons of the ‘90s, The X-Files has been revived and is even getting rebooted, but the original run of the show still deserves to be discovered by new fans.
The series would become known for its grander alien conspiracy but fans would come to love the singular adventures of FBI Special Agents Mulder and Scully as they traverse the country seeking the truths behind strange and unexplainable events.
Yes, the alien conspiracy ends up collapsing under its own narrative weight but that doesn’t discount how great The X-Files is when it’s operating at its best, which is more often than not.
With plenty of episodes to scratch every supernatural and sci-fi itch you could dream up, it’s still worth believing in The X-Files.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The Next Generation might be the more beloved series, but Star Trek hit its storytelling pinnacle with Deep Space Nine.
Trading the franchise’s usual exploratory spaceship for an orbiting space station, Deep Space Nine centers around the planet Bajor as it recovers from a brutal fascist occupation by the planet Cardassia.
The station’s commander, Benjamin Sisko, reluctantly takes the job as Federation steward of a former Cardassian outpost orbiting Bajor.
When a stable wormhole is discovered just outside of Bajoran space, it kicks off a series that would dive deeper and darker than any previous Star Trek film or TV series.
This didn’t sit well with a lot of fans at the time as it seemed antagonistic towards Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s utopian ideas.
The series was controversial and difficult to embrace during its initial run on TV.
But, time has been overly kind to Deep Space Nine.
Thanks to its morally complex characters and challenging storytelling – the most impressive being the seasons-long Dominion War arc – Deep Space Nine is now appreciated by new generations of fans.
There’s no question in our minds that Deep Space Nine isn’t just great as a ‘90s sci-fi series. It’s the best Star Trek series of all time. If that doesn’t make it worth watching, what does?
Sliders
Before Marvel laid claim to the multiverse, this cult TV show captured the wacky fun of alternate universes
For our money, Sliders did it better.
Sliders is about a scientific wunderkind who builds technology allowing him and his friends to visit parallel Earths with realities completely different from their own.
However, they get stuck sliding from world to world and, in perfect Quantum Leap style, are hoping that the next jump—er, slide—is the one that brings them home.
The performances in Sliders are top-notch (particularly series lead Jerry O’Connell), but the highlight of the show is its high-flying concept.
Every episode gets to play with “what if?” sci-fi scenarios, and you can tell just how much fun the series was to make when you watch it.
From deep alternate history to adorable schlock, these episodes have a bit of everything.
If you like surprises in storytelling, you’re sure to love Sliders, a show where anything could (and often does) happen.
Cowboy Bebop
When it comes to the greatest anime series of all time, you’ll be hard-pressed to find Cowboy Bebop outside of that conversation.
This iconic animated series is about Spike Spiegel and his partner Jet Black, two bounty hunters who will take on almost any job if the price is right.
However, their wallets are threatened by ghosts from the pasts as well as new crew members who are just as delightfully deranged as the bad guys they help put away.
It’s impossible to pick the best part of Cowboy Bebop, but gun to our head, we’d have to go with the music.
Courtesy of Yoko Kano, this series cranked out one jazzy riff after another, creating arguably the best anime soundtrack ever. Is it really even arguable?
Killer animation, colorful characters, wild adventures, you’ll get it all and more once you board the Bebop and sail out into the stars.
See you later, space cowboy.
Stargate SG-1
No one would have guessed 1994’s Stargate would end up creating one of television’s greatest sci-fi franchises, but thanks to the success of Stargate SG-1 only 3 years later, that’s exactly what happened.
Following the soldiers and scientists of Stargate Command, the series went far beyond the movie to create an entire universe filled with ancient mysteries, warring civilizations, and legends come to life.
While not as famous as the crew of the Starship Enterprise, every character is someone’s favorite, and all of them are given episodes to shine, from the time-looping “Window of Opportunity” to the fun-filled “100.”
In a just world, Stargate SG-1 would be as famous and beloved as Star Trek and Star Wars; instead, it will just have to settle for being one of the best sci-fi shows of all time.
Babylon 5
For sci-fi fans, there’s been nothing quite like Babylon 5, even if it might seem to share a space-station-centric story with the best Star Trek series.
The Babylon 5 space station sits at the center of intergalactic politics, filling the show with political intrigue, physics-based space ships, and excellent characters that are still highlighted today as some of the best in sci-fi.
Londo, Sheridan, Neroon, Delenn, and plenty others showcase just how great Babylon 5 is at focusing on well-developed characters without sacrificing the bigger sci-fi/action picture.
Babylon 5 tells a complete story, from beginning to end, and even the weakest episodes still have important scenes and plot beats that push the story forward.
Watch for yourself and decide if you’ll join the camp that feels Babylon 5 is the superior ‘90s sci-fi space station series.
Space: Above and Beyond
For a single glorious season, Space: Above and Beyond brought military sci-fi to television by making it dirty, gritty, and showing how combat forever changes even the strongest soldiers.
The Wild Cards squadron, originally acting as the rear guard for Earth, finds themselves fighting on the front lines of the war against the insectoid Chigs.
No other 90s series handled open warfare as well as Space: Above and Beyond.
It also challenged authority by showing how far the good guys would go to win a war.
Underrated and overlooked, Space: Above and Beyond was never given the time to find an audience.
If you want sci-fi from the era that’s a little different, a little darker, and a little more thought-provoking, this is the forgotten series for you.
Farscape
Guardians of the Galaxy owes a debt to this off-kilter late-90’s sci-fi series. See if this sounds familiar.
A crew of oddball misfits who don’t like each other have to work together to survive at the edge of the galaxy.
And there’s only one human who happens to be extra important because of a secret locked inside his head.
Hmm.
Admittedly, Farscape takes a season to get going, but by the time Season 2 rolls around, it’s a bonkers roller coaster with the crew of the sentient ship Moya trying to stay one step ahead of both the leather-clad sociopath Scorpius and the Peacekeepers.
Farscape certainly edges out Star Trek when it comes to looney plots, but it takes other big creative swings worth celebrating.
For example, the decision to use the Jim Henson Workshop to create puppets as focal characters throughout the show.
Farscape is very strange. It’s not going to click for everyone.
But if you’re a sci-fi fan that also enjoys dark comedy and welcomes absurdity in your space shows, we can’t recommend it hard enough.
Futurama
Looking for a shining example of how the adult animated humor of The Simpsons can beautifully intersect with Philip K. Dick-style worldbuilding in a comedy series? Then look no further than Futurama.
Futurama centers on Phillip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy who wakes up 1,000 years in the future after accidentally trapping himself in a cryogenic pod.
In the year 3,000, he scores a new job working for Planet Express, an intergalactic delivery company owned by a senile mad scientist and staffed by a cyclops captain, an alcohol-fueled robot with a penchant for petty mischief, a by-the-books bureaucrat, a spoiled Heiress from Mars, and… Zoidberg.
The series goes hard with its brand of absurdist comedy, using tried-and-true sci-fi tropes as a vehicle for its brainy sense of humor.
Mind swaps, deliberately convoluted time loops, parallel universe trickery, those terrifying alien overlords from Omicron Persei 8, Futurama’s worldbuilding and in-universe technology is fantastical, funny, and filled with heart.
Equal parts intelligent and idiotic, Futurama isn’t just top-tier sci-fi comedy, it’s some of the best sci-fi TV, period.
Nightman
If you’ve ever thought about committing crimes near a jazz club, Night Man is the wakeup call you need because the guy ripping on the saxophone by day is blasting bad guys after hours.
When jazz musician Johnny Domino is struck by lightning, he develops the innate ability to hear evil thoughts that keep him awake at night.
Donning a bulletproof bodysuit and calling himself Night Man, Johnny doesn’t necessarily have any other powers, but his new threads allow him to defy the laws of gravity, camouflage himself with holographic technology, and see in the dark while firing lasers at the evildoers occupying the mean streets of San Francisco.
Celebrated for its low-budget charm and commitment to the bit, Night Man plays out like a bargain bin Batman with plenty of smooth jazz to set the mood, but holds its own thanks to the physicality and charisma that Matt McColm brings to the character.
Cheesy yet sincere, and with enough tasty licks to keep your ears perked up throughout its run, Night Man is a must-see for sci-fi fans who are looking for something a little left-of-center without skimping on the action.
We’d love to ask the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia folks if Mac has ever seen this.
Eerie Indiana
Want to book a one-way trip to the strangest community you’ll ever visit?
Then it’s high time you take a trip to Eerie, Indiana, a hypnotically strange series that plays like The X-Files for kids raised on Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?
When teenager Marshall Teller moves with his family to the small town of Eerie, Indiana, he finds himself occupying an uncanny valley of sorts where tupperware-slinging housewives crack the code to immortality, cryptids run amok, Elvis Presley is alive and well, and following Daylight Saving Time protocol means being thrust into a dangerous alternate dimension.
Eerie, Indiana treads the line between creepy and campy, and its storytelling is clever enough to stick with you for days without weighing too heavily on your conscience.
It’s fun for the entire family if you’re looking for a wholesome scare that’s not too life-altering for the kids.
If you grew up with a penchant for investigating the strange happenings that supposedly occurred in your own hometown, then watching Eerie, Indiana will feel like revisiting distant childhood memories that don’t seem real, but you’ll never forget.
