Mr Flibble is very cross ..!
May the excessive force be with you: Chap cuffed after Star Trek v Star Wars row turns bloody
A bloke was arrested after a shouting match with a pal over Star Wars versus Star Trek led to blood being spilled. Jerome Dewayne Whyte, 23, was collared by Oklahoma police at 6pm on July 1 after he and his roommate argued about the relative merits of the snooty space opera versus the sci-fi merchandizing vehicle turned …

I used to have an image of that as an error screen on a web app. I should not be allowed to do code unsupervised.
This is the correct order
Firefly
Serenity
Blakes 7
Space 1999 (1st Series)
Sapphire and Steel
The Tomorrow People (70's version)
UFO
and only then can you start to decide where to put Star Wars and Star Trek
Re: This is the correct order
the love boat was the greatest sci-fi ever, Every week new aliens giving opinions and joining in the plots

Re: This is the correct order
Sorry. You had Firefly and Serenity in that list. Meh! No Lexx, I notice. But UFO and Space:1999 are excellent. Dr Who is missed out of course as it goes without saying.
Re: This is the correct order
I am sorry but you have missed the flaming obvious.
WHERE IS "THE BOOK"? How can you have any list like this without it? We quote it, we emulate it, we breath it.... and its not even in your list!
Although I will give you bonus points for Space 1999! I used to love that....
... but am sad that you missed out Joe 90.....
Re: This is the correct order
Nice: it was getting a bit boring reading all those lists of the best sci fi, so you decided to list the worst.
Good job.
Re: This is the correct order
In "Clangers vs Predator", the Predator would HAVE to be voiced by a kazoo.
Re: 5th Element
I'm not going to get into the "which one is best" pissing contest, for a huge number of reasons, but in terms of Sci-Fi that I've enjoyed, I'd add in two up and coming newbies:
Killjoys (Canadian made series I believe) for snappy one liners and some interesting long term plot arcs
and
The Expanse. It started fairly badly, I'll grant you, but the plot started to develop nicely by the end of the first season. Hopefully season two will be out some time this century.......
Re: 5th Element
Good call on Killjoys and The Expanse (the book series is epic sci-fi and book 7 out this Xmas)... The Expanse is more Sci-Fi meets old timey Noir detective genre. If like me you'd read the first couple of books before the series came out, then you'll see how they streamlined the plot a little. but book one didn't end until midway through season 2 and we're only halfway through book 2 at the end of S2... So if you are waiting for season to start, you missed it by several months as it's been and gone and is available in various disreputable places.... don't forget that to err is human but to Arrrrrgggg is piracy. :P
If it was a stasis leak... this is where Rimmer would pop out of the table mumbling about things getting all confusing.
and I'd like to throw in Dark Matter currently it and Killjoys have each just started Season 3.
Re: 5th Element
Dark Matter even has some Wesley Crusher to make it vaguely relevant to the argument.

AH!! Sapphire and Steel!!
The only show that made perfect sense - as long as you were stoned.
Back to ST TNG, I always had big issues with the huge effing mistake in the opening Credits; they had the sunlight on the WRONG side Jupiter. Sun clearly on the left, right hand side of the Planet lit up.
Although I suppose it could be worse.
Anyone else notice that (According to Series one of "The 100"), "Gravity" is related to having any air; remove the air from the airlock and you float; pump the air back in, and you sink to the floor - in a rotating space station!!
Re: AH!! Sapphire and Steel!!
> Back to ST TNG, I always had big issues with the huge effing mistake in the opening Credits; they had the sunlight on the WRONG side Jupiter. Sun clearly on the left, right hand side of the Planet lit up.
Obviously the answer is time travel.
Clearly the Xindi went back in time and gave the solar system two suns for the duration of the title and then Captain Archer went back and fixed it.
Re: Club with only one member
Well, thanks for the upvotes guys, I always thought I was the only one.
Re: Club with only one member
I rewatched the whole series again recently and it holds up really well. OK the Saratoga looks a bit Minecraft but it still looks great. The thread throughout about fear of the other really chimes now with the in-vitros, the AI silicates and even the Chigs.
Icon > Chiggy Von Richthofen

Re: Club with only one member
Right, a remake of "Tour of Duty", mashed together with "Top Gun" and "Starship Troopers".
Real logical, train a bunch of people to fly super sophisticated space fighters, then use them as infantry grunts for 90% of the time.
FFS the opening credits contained clones of several ToD credit scenes!!
Re: Club with only one member
You forgot Platoon which was the "inspiration" for Tour of Duty or say Joe Haldeman's The Forever War or Aliens or.........
All I said was I liked it. Didn't say it was original.
Enterprise
I've been watching Enterprise lately. Like all Trek spinoffs it doesn't start getting decent until the 3rd season. I figure it tanked because of the Meh quality of the first two seasons, and Trek exhaustion from so many consecutive years of Trek on TV.
A few more decent shows that got cancelled before their time, while Star Trek franchises tediously trudged on and on:
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Dark Angel
Defying Gravity
Odyssey 5
Surprised by the enthusiasm of fellow Trekkers ...
... for what I always call Deep Sh*t Nine, .... they don't "Boldly go ... " anywhere. It kind of ruined it for me. Also, they have money. Both Kirk & Picard pontificate often about the nastiness of societies where money makes the world go 'round, even as Riker goes off to play poker and Paramount kept milking the cash cow that ST became. DS9 might have been a very nice series on it's own but it's a black sheep of the ST family, IMHO.
Re: Surprised by the enthusiasm of fellow Trekkers ...
While B5 was always better, I quite liked DS9. Your comment about money would make sence if it had been a federation station, but really it was bajoran under a federation "protectorate" type agreement.
Re: they don't boldly go anywhere
As a rule they didn't really boldly go anywhere in the other series either, given that they'd invariably start each episode in exactly the same place, plot-wise, as they started the previous one.

Just to throw this in the mix.
Tripping the rift. Crude cartoon but sooo funny.
Star Trek: The animated series.
Martian Chronicles
The Invaders
Space 1999
I'm glad there's some love for Space 1999, but not as much as I'd hoped for. Kids these days ...

As a TV series, Babylon 5 beats all non-anime space operas hands down. Nothing is really close. If we add animated series to the question, Futurama may look better than B5 for some, and Knights of Sidonia is clearly the best space opera / sci-fi series of all times.

@Ramazan
Knights of Sidonia
Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
Planetes
Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
Martian Successor Nadesico
Anything with Star in the title is crap
And yes, I include "Stars in their eyes"
This is just proof of why people should stfu regarding Star rubbish.
jussayin...
NONE of you would have a universe to rave about if Voltron didn't defend it...
You're all welcome!
You're all wrong!!
There is only one true 'Space Opera'........
Piiiigggs in Spaaaacccceeee
Many years ago, in the Virgin Games Centre on Oxford Street, I watched a pair of grown men almost come to blows in an argument over who would win in a battle between the USS Enterprise and an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Well since if I recall correctly, the Imperial Star Destroyers used 'turbo lasers', and the USS Enterprise shields were supposed to be impervious to lasers, and it has greater manoeuvrability, I would suspect Enterprise could win, but I am unaware of the other weapons the star destroyer has available.
I would find it a fascinating discussion over a few cold ciders!

Which Enterprise?
_ and A would do it,
D would walk it
Defiant would absolutely destroy it.
Froods
Sitting with my towel, sipping a pangalacticgargleblaster and reading this with bemusement.
Which is better?
Surely they're all the same?
(Braced and ready for the tirade of downvotes!)

Moonbase Alpha?
Buck Rogers?
Oh.
What about Robotech? The one with the Miss Macross Contest? Minmei?
Or Thunderbirds?
Ah well.