8 Sci-Fi Shows That Get Better the Stranger They Become, Ranked by Weirdness

There are plenty of genres that can get away with being a little odd and goofy on the small screen, but there is arguably no genre better-suited for tones as quirky and weird as those achieved by several of the best science fiction TV shows in history. These are, after all, stories that ask the audience to suspend their disbelief when experiencing stories full of futuristic, high-tech, and parallel-universe speculative elements, and that weirdness can go a long way in making those speculative words particularly engaging.

From long-running classics like Doctor Who to ongoing modern gems like Severance, there are eight particularly noteworthy sci-fi shows which get even better the stranger they become as they go on. Ranked here from weird to weirdest, they just so happen to be eight of the most widely celebrated an universally beloved science fiction TV shows of all time. Coincidence? Fans of bizarre and quirky sci-fi would likely not think so.

8

‘Doctor Who’ (1963–Present)

Although it hasn’t been on the air every single year since it first aired back in 1963, and currently seems to be entering yet another hiatus, Doctor Who nevertheless holds the record as the longest-running science fiction show in the history of television. It tells the story of the titular Doctor, an eccentric alien who travels through time and space with companions from several corners of the universe. Every time he dies, he’s able to regenerate into a new body and personality, a concept that has been key to the show’s survival and timelessness throughout all these years.

All in all, Doctor Who is almost undeniably one of the best and most essential network TV shows of all time, but any kind of normal time-traveling show would likely have grown stale after a few years. The way this British classic has endured the test of time has been by embracing the wildest of premises and the weirdest of ideas, growing more entertaining the more out-there those ideas get. It’s prone to going overboard with some of those ideas (cough, the Slitheen, cough), but when it’s dialed in just right, it can be a real treat.

7

‘Legion’ (2017–2019)

Image via FX

Marvel has delivered several of the greatest and most memorable superhero TV shows in history, several of them contained within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it just so happens that one of the best Marvel shows to date is not connected to the MCU at all. We are, of course, talking about Legion, set in a universe parallel to the X-Men film series and following a troubled young man whose lifelong hallucinations turn out to actually be the manifestation of godlike mutant powers.

It’s one of the most flawless three-season TV shows in history, and since its protagonist is a man with a particularly odd psyche, it should come as no surprise that the series makes constant use of surrealist elements. Those elements only keep growing more intense as the show goes on, and the more intense they become, the harder it becomes to take one’s eyes off the screen. Legion is phenomenal enough as it is, but the more it operates on dream logic, the more fun it becomes.

6

‘Farscape’ (1999–2003)

Image via SYFY

The Australian-American series Farscape is one of the greatest cult classic sci-fi shows of all time, one of those classic sci-fi shows that are still worth binge-watching today. Co-produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, this Rockne S. O’Bannon creation is about an American astronaut who’s accidentally propelled through a wormhole into a distant galaxy, where he joins a spaceship crew while escaping from a ruthless military regime.

Full of stunning production values that have only gotten better-looking and more impressive with age, Farscape has some of the coolest — yet weirdest — world-building of any sci-fi show from the past three decades. It’s a show which rejects sterile sci-fi tropes and instead embraces space as messy and chaotic, full of richly original alien designs, jaw-dropping animatronics and prosthetics, and delectably quirky creative choices.

5

‘The OA’ (2016–2019)

Image via Netflix

Though it’s an absolute tragedy that Netflix canceled The OA after two short-lived seasons due to high production costs and low viewership, it’s nevertheless one of the greatest sci-fi shows of the last 10 years. In it, a blind woman returns home after having gone missing for seven years, recruiting five local strangers to help her save a group of dimensional captives.

It’s one of those sci-fi shows that feel completely different after The Big Twist, and even though it can be frustrating to get to the season two finale and run into a cliffhanger that may very well never be resolved, it’s still a must-see show for people who love thought-provoking science fiction. The weirdness here is all perfectly calculated and carefully deliberate, testing the audience and how far they’re willing to go in believing that the protagonist really is an interdimensional traveler.

4

‘The Prisoner’ (1967–1968)

Image via ITV

Patrick McGoohan‘s British cult classic The Prisoner is one of those near-perfect sci-fi shows that nobody remembers anymore, but it’s oh so worth either rewatching or discovering today. Far ahead of its time and avant-garde in a way that not many sci-fi series from the ’60s ever were, it tells the story of an unnamed secret agent who one day resigns from his job, then gets abducted and taken to a remote community where he’s interrogated to find out why he quit.

The show feels kind of like a Trojan horse of sorts, and that was entirely by design. What at first may look like a sleek, old-school British spy thriller gradually reveals itself to be something far more radical, surreal, and—of course—strange. It’s precisely through this weirdness that The Prisoner explores themes of identity, state control, and surveillance, and it really wouldn’t work at all without those growing oddities. The best part is that the more overt those oddities get, the more fascinating the whole show becomes.

3

‘Severance’ (2022–Present)

Image via Apple TV

Apple TV jumped aboard the streaming train relatively late into the game, yet they have already delivered several of the greatest streaming-original sci-fi shows of all time, which certainly includes Severance. In it, a team of office workers is revealed to have undergone a brain procedure that separates their “work selves” from their “personal life selves.” What ensues is precisely the kind of mystery box sci-fi show that the world had needed since Lost‘s conclusion 16 years ago.

Severance is one of the best sci-fi shows of the last 50 years, and that’s precisely because it refuses to offer answers to its many mysteries in anything more than tiny doses. Whenever it does answer a question, it brings up at least a couple more—typically far more head-scratchingly bizarre. It’s surreal, it’s satirical, it’s intentionally over-the-top, and that’s all what makes it so hard to stop watching.

2

‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ (2016–2017)

Image via AMC Studios

Based on the novel series of the same name by Douglas Adams, one of the greatest satirists that speculative fiction has ever been graced with, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is one of the most underrated time travel shows of all time. In it, an everyman bellhop and a chaotic, self-proclaimed “holistic detective” who trusts the universe to guide his every decision team up to solve an increasingly weird, mind-bending murder mystery.

For people who love Sherlock Holmes stories but constantly find themselves thinking “this needs to make me question my very existence and somehow involve time travel,” Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a must-see through and through. With an absurdist sense of humor and a story that relies on weird narrative coincidences, it surely doesn’t appeal to every kind of television fan’s palate, but there’s something irresistibly charming about its increasingly bizarre tone.

1

‘Lexx’ (1997–2002)

Image via Sci Fi Channel

One of the most criminally underappreciated sci-fi cult classics of ’90s television is the Canadian-German co-production Lexx, one of those underrated sci-fi shows that are much better than they look. In it, a ragtag crew of escaped convicts and misfits steal the Lexx, a sentient, planet-destroying starship, and flee across a series of chaotic universes. Over the course of its four-season run, Lexx dipped its toes into all kinds of diverse tones and subgenres, delivering one of the most well-rounded experiences that any classic sci-fi show ever had to offer.

Sexy, grotesque, vast, and completely unapologetic in its campy weirdness, the world of Lexx is just as quirky, unique, and flawed as its characters. The show embraces dark humor, nihilistic themes, and even occasional elements of body horror to elevate its story, delivering an experience so entertainingly varied that you can never quite predict where it’s going to go next.

Lexx

Release Date

1996 – 2002-00-00

• 

  Brian Downey

  Stanley H. Tweedle

• 

•