7 Great Sci-Fi Shows That Everyone Forgot About

Not every sci-fi TV show that’s worth watching manages to leave a mark. Some even had everything going for them, like solid ideas, interesting characters, creative scripts, and the kind of potential that could’ve made them cult classics over time. But then several other things get in the way, like poor publicity or the simple fact that they were just too ahead of their time for audiences to really get them. And when the gears stop turning, the show vanishes. A lot of them ended up shelved, forgotten, pushed aside. And there’s everything here: time travel, alien conspiracy, dystopia, absurd humor, a lunar base drifting in space – but none of them became a big hit or stuck around in fans’ minds.

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Here we’ve rounded up 7 sci-fi shows that everyone forgot about and that deserved way more attention than they ever got – because sometimes, the most interesting sci-fi is exactly the kind no one remembers existed in the first place.

1) Voyagers!

Voyagers! is one of those cases where a good idea just didn’t get the time it needed to really prove itself. The show followed Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum), a time traveler whose job was to fix historical events, and Jeffrey Jones (Meeno Peluce), a child prodigy who ends up tagging along by accident. The chemistry between them worked, and the show had this surprisingly educational vibe, mixing adventure with actual lessons. It was a weird but fun blend of family-friendly entertainment and time-travel sci-fi, and it worked pretty well – mostly because it never tried too hard to be something it wasn’t.

However, even with all that originality, the show got canceled – and that’s exactly what buried it. Part of that was a tough time slot with strong competition, part of it was the narrow target audience. These days, Voyagers! only really gets brought up by a handful of nostalgic fans, and even then, barely. But it deserved more credit for being a bold take on sci-fi that aimed to do more than just entertain.

2) Space: 1999

Looking like it was set to be a great sci-fi series of the ’70s, Space: 1999 never quite found the right balance, even though it was very good overall. The series showed the Alpha lunar base being launched into space after a nuclear explosion, forcing the crew to survive while wandering aimlessly. The visuals were impressive for the time, and there was ambition in the first season, as episodes attempted to emulate the philosophical style of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

After the second season, the tone kind of changed, ditching the complexity for simpler, “monster of the week” plots. But even so, Space: 1999 always had its own identity, and that’s what made it stand out. The fact that it basically vanished from pop culture conversation is kind of unfair, especially considering how important it was for sci-fi TV produced outside of Hollywood.

3) The Middleman

Almost no one remembers The Middleman, and that’s a shame. The show is an absurdly creative sci-fi comedy, where Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales), a visual artist, is recruited by a secret agency to deal with scientific and alien threats. The humor here is fast-paced, packed with nerdy references and sharp dialogue, not to mention the unique visual style that mashes up comics, pulp, and pop culture. It’s a real shame it never had the chance to grow and make a stronger mark.

Canceled after just 12 episodes, The Middleman‘s big issue was being a victim of low ratings and poor promotion. Even among sci-fi and geek culture fans, it barely gets mentioned – which just goes to show how fast good ideas get buried when they don’t follow the usual formula. With a bit more time on air, it could’ve become a cult favorite; instead, it ended up as just another forgotten gem.

4) Life on Mars

One of the best ideas of its kind on TV is Life on Mars, but the general public never gave it the attention it deserved. The plot centers on Sam Tyler (John Simm), a detective who suffers an accident and mysteriously wakes up in 1973, still in the police force, but surrounded by practices and mentalities completely different from his own. Interesting premise, right? The show constantly plays with the question of whether he’s in a coma, traveled through time, or just lost his mind – and it does so in a way that really pulls you in.

Despite some local success and even a sequel, Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars stayed locked in a niche. It got an American version (since the original is British), but even that didn’t help the original get the global attention it deserved like Doctor Who or Black Mirror, for example. It was a sharp, well-written series with solid character work and narrative tension, but it ended up totally forgotten in the sci-fi scene. If it had dropped during the streaming boom, maybe things would’ve gone very differently.

5) UFO

Before Battlestar Galactica and The X-Files, there was UFO: a sci-fi show that tackled alien invasions with surprising maturity for the ’70s. The plot followed SHADO, a covert military group tasked with fighting aliens who abducted humans for organ transplants. With the series had all the ingredients to become something big, especially considering how ahead of its time it felt.

Even so, it only got one season – and that’s pretty much why no one talks about it anymore. The mix of eccentric visuals and an episodic structure didn’t help it gain traction. Today, UFO is remembered by a tiny group of fans (and good luck finding it online), but it’s basically absent from any serious conversation about sci-fi TV. That’s a waste, because with the subjects it explored and the ambition it showed, it absolutely deserved a second look, especially if you’re into alien conspiracies done with some actual thought.

6) Planet of the Apes

Who doesn’t know the Planet of the Apes franchise? But not everyone’s familiar with the TV series, mainly because it never came close to having the cultural impact of the movies. Still, it’s a show that had merits that often get overlooked. In the plot, two astronauts travel through time and land in a future where intelligent apes dominate humans. With the help of a friendly chimpanzee, they try to survive and find a way to get back home. It was a more accessible and episodic take on the universe created in the films.

Unfortunately, when it aired in the mid-1970s, the series struggled with ratings and was canceled after just 14 episodes. With no time to grow or build a fan base, it vanished from the radar. Even among fans of the franchise, it rarely gets mentioned or revisited. The Planet of the Apes series is a solid example of how having a big name doesn’t always guarantee survival on TV – even when the story’s actually pretty good.

7) Taken

Produced by Steven Spielberg, Taken was a super ambitious show about alien abductions that covered 50 years of history, including Roswell, military conspiracies, and genetic experiments. The story followed three families and ended with the birth of a hybrid child with special abilities. The project had scope, suspense, and a really well-crafted script – no wonder it won the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries in the 2000s.

Taken was well received by critics, but weirdly, it kind of became an isolated experiment. Once it ended, it was never revisited or expanded, and barely anyone talks about it now. Considering how Hollywood today is all about remakes and reboots, it’s wild that it faded so fast. Maybe because it was a closed production with a style that feels a bit dated now, it just got left out of the sci-fi fan talks.