Being an ’80s kid meant that you had an abundance of great TV shows to watch while growing up during the ’90s. It was the best time for television series aimed at children, as we didn’t have nearly as many before the ’80s, and in the most recent decades, kids have been more focused on YouTube videos than they are on TV shows. While all genres were pretty prominent in the ’90s for kids, even including horror with series like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Goosebumps, sci-fi was almost always front and center.
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In fact, the sci-fi shows from the ’90s for kids often blended genres. Some were funny, a few had superheroes, and several were educational. There are plenty that every kid remembers, from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Dexter’s Laboratory to The Magic School Bus, but it’s always fun to look back and rediscover the shows you forgot about. These are the sci-fi TV series that almost all of us watched while growing up, yet they have been forgotten about over the years. They come in both live-action and animated formats, and span several subgenres, yet all share sci-fi qualities and the fact that they’ve been unjustly lost to time in some way.
5) VR Troopers
There’s a pretty clear reason why VR Troopers isn’t remembered by all that many people. The show felt like a direct ripoff of the far more popular Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. However, it also came from Saban Entertainment, so they were more like sister series than competitors. VR Troopers followed the same main setup, as it utilized stock footage from several Japanese shows and incorporated it into a more modern and American narrative.
The show focused on three teens trained in karate who defend Earth by using their skills and highly advanced virtual reality gear. The “VR” dimension was home to all sorts of mutants who wanted to cross into our world to conquer it. VR Troopers premiered in 1994 and only had two seasons as they ran out of stock footage rather quickly, yet it was fun while it lasted. It’s easy to forget about the series, especially since it often aired right after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
4) Space Cases
Space Cases is one of those shows that was far more intriguing than it looked on paper. On the surface, it seemed like a goofy show set in space featuring a bunch of kids and aliens. However, it actually often dealt with more mature themes than a lot of other Nickelodeon shows during its run in 1996 and 1997. The nostalgic show followed a gang of misfit students and a couple of adults who are stranded in space on an alien ship, often facing danger as they attempt to get back home.
In a lot of ways, Space Cases felt like Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was wildly popular at the time, for children. George Takei even played a recurring character, and the legendary Mark Hamill made a guest appearance. It was exactly the kind of show that got kids more into sci-fi, and though it was forgotten, it did air some reruns during the 2010s on TeenNick.
3) Mummies Alive!
The shortest-lived show on this list is Mummies Alive! Although it was a sci-fi series, it also dabbled in fantasy, horror, and especially in mythology. The story is set in modern San Francisco and centers on a young boy who is the reincarnation of a prince from Ancient Egypt. An evil sorcerer seeking immortality is freed after being entombed alive for centuries and targets the young boy, who is protected by guardian mummies.
Kids were able to watch this show and learn more about ancient Egypt and mythology, as gods like Anubis, Sekhmet, and more made appearances. The animation style was cool and the entire premise felt unique, which attracted viewers. Maybe the reason this excellent show isn’t all that well remembered is that it only spanned 42 episodes in 1997. Regardless, it deserves to be better remembered along the lines of Gargoyles, which has a more passionate and loyal fanbase.
2) Beast Wars: Transformers
There aren’t many cartoons from the ’80s that defined the sci-fi genre more than The Transformers. Kids everywhere loved seeing Autobots battle Decepticons as they transformed from robots into cars, planes, and weapons. The ‘90s brought the franchise back but with a twist. Beast Wars: Transformers was set 300 years after the events of the ’80s series, yet also had a prehistoric feel to it. The descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons, the Maximals and Predacons, were now warring and they transformed into various animals.
The show featured the kind of sci-fi action that made the franchise popular in the first place and the full CGI animation style was unlike almost anything else on TV. That helped it stand out to the point where it won a Daytime Emmy Award. Airing from 1996 through 1999, Beast Wars: Transformers was a hit and although most people have forgotten it, the show still has a solid cult following.
1) The Secret World Of Alex Mack
One of the most beloved, yet overlooked today, kids’ shows of the ’90s was The Secret World of Alex Mack. Starring Larisa Oleynik as the titular Alex Mack, the series centers on her life after an accident involving an experimental chemical turns her from an ordinary girl into someone with various superpowers. She develops telekinesis, the ability to morph into liquid, and can generate electricity, among other things.
It feels like modern TV has plenty of shows about a regular person ending up wth superpowers, but this was one of the earliest cases, especially for children. We watched as Alex struggled with her unpredictable powers and fought back against the CEO of the chemical company who inadvertently did this to her. The Nickelodeon show became wildly popular during the mid-’90s (it premiered in 1994) and even spawned a series of tie-in novels. Alas, it’s a series nobody seems to mention anymore, although the cast did reunite in 2018.
Did we forget your favorite forgotten ’90s sci-fi show? Tell us in the comments.
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