The Top 10 Best Sci-Fi TV Series (Of the Last Two Decades) and Books That Are Similar
You can easily find the top 10 TV series in science fiction according to various review sites.
This is my personal top 10 out of the top 100 highest-rated sci-fi series on Rotten Tomatoes. I have curated this list with one small limitation: it has to be less than 20 years old. I promise I won’t spoil anything if you haven’t already watched these series, and I’ll also be proposing some similar books that you can read, because well, we all know books are better than TV ;).
#10 Wayward Pines (Rotten Tomatoes #??)
This entry bumped Dark Matter off my top 10 (another good series to look into). Wayward Pines doesn’t have as many sci-fi elements as I typically like, but it is fantastic for two simple reasons: the twists in the plot, and the mystery that’s woven throughout the story. This series has it all: great characters, an amazing plot, and a unique setup. I really, really loved this series, and it would be topping my list if there were more Sci-Fi elements involved. I can’t say much about it that wouldn’t spoil the series for you, so just take my word for it: watch this, or better yet, read it, because it started out as a book series by Blake Crouch.
Similar Books: Wayward Pines, Broken Worlds: The Awakening
The world ended in a nuclear war. The only survivors are on a space station orbiting Earth. Strict population controls drive these survivors to send 100 juvenile delinquents down to Earth to fend for themselves. They discover that the surface is habitable, and there are other survivors down there with them—ruthless tribes of humans who would sooner kill them than help them. The earlier seasons are the best, but season six actually takes a unique turn as well. A highly enjoyable sci-fi / post-apocalyptic series, but grim and bloody (in case you’re squeamish). The only negative, and it still sticks out in my mind, is that this is definitely YA sci-fi, so you’ll be continually amazed that teenagers / young adults are calling the shots when more capable / knowledgeable adults would make much more sense.
Similar Books: The 100, Hell Divers
This series is about an alien occupation of Earth. It follows the resistance to the occupation and how we struggle to break free. There are plenty of post-apocalyptic themes here as well as sci-fi. I particularly enjoyed this series, to the point that it actually inspired one of my recent books. See below for something similar to read.
Similar Books: Occupied Earth, Occupation
#7 Stranger Things (Rotten Tomatoes #2)
This series is more of a fantasy than actual sci-fi, but it is still fantastic. Full of otherworldly monsters slipping through from another dimension known as the upside down, this series follows the lives of a group of kids in the 1980s, as well as a few of their parents. Despite the main characters being children, they’re all extremely relatable for adults, and the entire series is a nostalgic trip back to one’s own childhood. It’s hard not to love the characters, and the terrifying horror elements introduced by interdimensional monsters really make this series easy to binge.
Similar Books: It (Stephen King)
This is a military sci-fi / political series with elements of space opera as well as space exploration. The special effects are fantastic, and the universe is a compelling one with more realistic science than you typically find in the sci-fi genre. This series is set in a near future of Earth where Mars, Earth, and The Belt (miners who mine the asteroid belt and live in space) are all vying for dominance in our solar system. There’s plenty of friction between the three, and open war looks to be inevitable. The story is told from multiple points of view, and there is an evolving mystery at the heart of it. This series is particularly impressive because it manages to capture both the macroscopic Space Opera elements of sweeping, epic stories as well as the down-to-earth plot lines of everyday people caught up in the middle of it all.
Similar Books: Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1)
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I can’t say enough good things about The Orville. This is clearly a Star Trek rip-off, but don’t let that turn you away. It actually captures the spirit of Star Trek far better than Star Trek Discovery. This series is also about space exploration, and it’s not all action-driven, which reminds me a lot of the older Star Trek series. The only possible negative, is that this series is a spoof. If you’re looking for something grim or serious, keep looking, but if you don’t mind busting a gut while exploring the universe, you won’t find a better series anywhere than The Orville.
Similar Books: All Systems Red, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
This is an extension of the Stargate franchise, and as far as I’m concerned it is by far the best entry into that universe. The original SG-1 is now dated, and I always found it to be highly cheesy. Stargate Atlantis was good in its day, but dated by today’s standards. By contrast, this series is more recent and definitely takes itself seriously. It truly captures the spirit of space exploration. Apart from a few boring flashback sequences, this story is all about moving forward, exploring new planets and new sci-fi concepts. If you like stories about space exploration, this is about as good as it gets.
Similar Books: Dark Space Universe (Book 1)
This is a PG-rated space adventure available on Netflix. It’s actually a remake of the older version. An interstellar colony ship gets lost in space. The colonists are forced to abandon the ship, and they crash land on a strange planet where they are faced with an ongoing set of challenges to their survival. The plot is very similar to a sci-fi version of the Swiss family Robinson, which it unashamedly mimics, even in the fact that the main characters’ last name is Robinson. But everything has a sci-fi slant to it, so I’ll let that go. This particular series is better in the first season than the second, but it still rates highly on my list, because I have seen so few space adventures, as opposed to Space Operas or Military Sci-Fi epics.
Similar Books: Into the Unknown
#2 The Mandalorian (2019) (Rotten Tomatoes #??)
I signed up for Disney+ just so that I could watch this series, and I suspect I’m not the only one. This is a Star Wars TV series (live action, not animated) about a bounty hunter who travels the galaxy making money by capturing or killing criminals. The series takes a sharp left turn from there as the main character is hired to kill an unknown target for an officer of the now-defeated Galactic Empire. The story is actually surprisingly good, and involves far fewer fantasy elements than we’re used to with Star Wars. I can’t recommend this series highly enough for fans of Star Wars and Sci-Fi alike.
Similar Books: The Mandalorian Armor
This is a slightly older TV series (2005), but by far the best that I’ve ever watched. It’s about a far future of humanity in which we have colonized 13 different planets. We were forced to leave Earth behind a long time ago, but no one can remember why, or even where it is. A race of exiled androids that we created known as Cylons hatches a violent plot to wipe us out early on in this series, and the survivors are left to flee the colonies aboard an aging warship called the Galactica. With the ship being hounded relentlessly by Cylons, the main characters must flee to safety, ultimately searching for our long-lost homeworld, Earth, in the process.
This series is what I would call realistic sci-fi. With very few fantasy elements, excellent action sequences, unforgettable characters, and plenty of plot twists. Battlestar Galactica is to Sci-Fi what Game of Thrones is to Fantasy.
Similar Books: Dark Space, The Legacy Fleet Series
Jasper Scott is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 20 sci-fi novels including the best selling First Encounter, The New Frontiers trilogy and Dark Space series. With over a million books sold, Jasper's work has been translated into various languages and published around the world.
Jasper writes fast-paced books with unexpected twists and flawed characters. He was born and raised in Canada by South African parents, with a British heritage on his mother's side and German on his father's. He now lives in an exotic locale with his wife, their two kids, and two chihuahuas.
I think you missed “Babylon 5”!
It did say of the last 20 years
Yes, Babylon 5 is the best Sci Fi show of all time but just outside the 20 year window
Rob Hinckley is right, about missing Babylon 5, BUT I think you’re absolutely correct with your #1 choice.
Agree 100 % with your #1 choice!
Well I like some of these picks. But here are my top 5.
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. The Expanse
3. Stranger Things
4. The 100
5. StarTrek: Picard
Good pics! The Colony and The Hundred are amongst my faves. I also loved ‘V’ (the most recent series) – a really tense, alien-invasion-or-is-it? type scenario, with characters that constantly lied, played each other and rebelled… Great stuff! It was just about to get really interesting when it got canned, sadly – a depressingly common theme amongst decent SF 🙁
Tony
I’ll admit I only ever watched Battlestar Galactica. Some of the others are on my to watch list if I can find them where I live (Expanse, Lost in Space, Mandalorian) but I agree that Galactica deserves its spot.
Thanks for the list.
I would have expected Doctor Who on the list somewhere
Babylon 5 missed, all Star Trek series, and Dr. Who
I love most of these, but my all time favorite is Farscape. Battlestar Galactica was awesome, but always dark and heavy.
I’d add the excellent Netflix series ‘Travellers’, a unique spin on time travel, because it’s the consciousness of travelling humans, not actual atoms, that gets sent back to current day, to help us avert catastrophes (the current COVID-19 situation feels as if it would work perfectly within the Travellers canon. It also has Eric McCormack (of Will & Grace) doing some of his best work, and all the rest of the cast is just as fine. For me, the icing on the cake is that it’s entirely shot in Vancouver, BC (like many Sci Fi and Superhero shows like Battestar Galactica, Arrow, and The Flash), so I have a lot of fun spotting local landmarks in the background of scenes.