8 Sci-Fi Shows With The Best Space Battles

Image via MovieStillsDB Published Jul 25, 2026, 11:54 PM EDT Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes. Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses. They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer. In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18. Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Space battles are nothing new in the sci-fi genre, but these eight TV shows have the best out there. Sci-fi doesn’t inherently require characters to be in outer space, let alone participate in warfare. Plenty of stories include characters traveling through time and the development of robots. Still, space is a pretty traditional element in these stories, and it's fundamental to the popular space opera subgenre. Even the best sci-fi TV shows and movies can flounder in the realm of space battles. There are so many factors to consider. Members of the creative teams have to consider types of ships, weaponry, and movement. They have to decide whether to lean into real science. When orbital mechanics, aerospace engineering, and physics are brought into it, there’s a lot of room to go wrong. Luckily, these eight sci-fi TV shows, listed in no particular order, excel in space battles, whether that be because of entertainment value or the application of hard science. 8 Babylon 5 MovieStillsDB Babylon 5 was absolutely revolutionary when it came to space battles, as it was an early major TV show to completely replace miniaturized models with 100% CGI. Additionally, the show took a different approach to camera work and composition. Dynamic angles and movement made space feel like a real three-dimensional environment instead of a flat, fictional world. The staticness of space was previously an issue present throughout sci-fi TV. What’s more, Babylon 5 might not be hard sci-fi, but it still integrated real science like Newtonian physics and aerospace mechanics in a zero-g environment, making the battles feel like they could actually happen. If all that weren’t enough, Babylon 5 dared to give the space battles consequences. If characters or ships were taken out, they were gone. They didn’t just use space magic, retcons, or deus ex machina to help the narrative. 7 The Expanse The Expanse is another standout example of a great sci-fi TV show with top-notch space battles. The Prime Video TV show has a similar approach to Babylon 5, as ships are impacted by orbital mechanics and Newtonian physics. On top of that, The Expanse shows how the human body would be impacted by the G-forces, and they can even have deadly effects. Not every science detail is completely correct, but it tries much harder than other sci-fi TV shows. Another brilliant part about The Expanse’s space battles is that the ships’ defense comes from the armor and build, meaning a missile to the wrong place can actually have severe and explosive effects. When the ships are up close, they fight differently than when they’re at a distance, giving it more realism and visual variation. Ultimately, the attention to detail and larger budget means some space battles in The Expanse look better than sci-fi movies. 6 Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Some of the most impressive space battles on TV don’t come in live-action form, appearing in anime instead. The fights in Space Battleship Yamato 2199 stand out because they are not only realistic, to a degree, but visually engaging. The anime seamlessly blends together 3D models and hand-drawn animation, giving it a jaw-droppingly beautiful style. The movement of the ships and the fights are directly impacted by the shape and weight of naval battleships, rather than functioning like sci-fi spaceships. They even throw in details like periscopes and torpedoes that would be found under the water rather than in outer space. The characters in Space Battleship Yamato 2199 also use real tactical knowledge and strategy. It’s just as much a game of brains as it is a battle. 5 Space: Above And Beyond Image via MovieStillsDB The 90s TV show Space: Above and Beyond came out, and it unfortunately only lasted for a single season. It’s all but forgotten these days. However, the show included a great story and some of the best space battles. The space fights include zero-gravity inertia, which introduces realistic effects. Everything from the ships to the suits has a grittiness to it that makes it seem like they’ve been involved in battle before. Signal Received · Deep Space Broadcast The Ultimate Sci-Fi TV Trivia Quiz “The truth is out there.” 🚀DeepSpaceFinal frontiers ⌛TimeTravelWibbly wobbly 👽AliensWe are not alone 👁DystopiaThe black mirror 💡UpsideDownHawkins, 1983 ENGAGE → 01 The most famous opening monologue in TV sci-fi begins: “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the ___.” Complete the line from the original 1966 Star Trek series. AUSS Voyager BUSS Defiant CStarship Enterprise DUSS Discovery ✓ Engage! William Shatner’s iconic opening — “Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” — has become one of the most quoted passages in all television. Later Trek series would adapt it, but the Enterprise is the one that started it all. ✗ Subspace interference! The answer is Starship Enterprise. USS Voyager belongs to the 1995–2001 series, the Defiant to Deep Space Nine, and the Discovery to the modern 2017 series. It’s the original Enterprise, captained by James T. Kirk, that William Shatner immortalized in that final-frontier monologue. NEXT → 02 The Doctor’s time machine is disguised as a 1960s British police box and is famously bigger on the inside than the outside. What is the acronym it’s known by? ATRACIS BTARDIS CTRADIS DTANDIS ✓ Allons-y! TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The name was coined by the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan in the very first 1963 episode. The police-box shape is the result of its chameleon circuit getting stuck while parked in 1963 London — and it’s stayed that way for sixty-plus years. ✗ Chronal distortion! The answer is TARDIS — Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The other options are invented distractors. The TARDIS first appeared in 1963 and has followed every regeneration of the Doctor since, though its interior famously redesigns itself whenever the showrunners want a fresh look. NEXT → 03 The acclaimed 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot — considered one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows ever made — was developed by which writer-producer, a veteran of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine? ARonald D. Moore BJ. Michael Straczynski CDavid Eick DGlen A. Larson ✓ So say we all! Ronald D. Moore developed the modern Battlestar Galactica, reimagining Glen A. Larson’s 1978 original as a gritty, post-9/11 political allegory. Moore had cut his teeth writing many of TNG and DS9’s best episodes. His BSG aired 2004–2009 and tackled terrorism, torture, faith, and what it means to be human. ✗ Frak! The answer is Ronald D. Moore. J. Michael Straczynski created Babylon 5, David Eick was Moore’s co-executive-producer on BSG, and Glen A. Larson created the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica. Moore took Larson’s cheesy space opera and rebuilt it into a Peabody Award-winning meditation on war and morality. NEXT → 04 Netflix’s ’80s-drenched sci-fi hit Stranger Things is set in a small American town sitting above a secret government lab that tore a hole into the “Upside Down.” What is the town called? ADerry, Maine BCastle Rock, Oregon CHawkins, Indiana DSpringwood, Ohio ✓ Friends don’t lie! Hawkins, Indiana is the fictional town the Duffer Brothers invented for Stranger Things — home to Hawkins National Laboratory, where Dr. Brenner’s MKUltra-style experiments opened a rift into the Upside Down. The show is actually filmed in Jackson, Georgia, but the Hawkins sign is now an iconic TV landmark. ✗ The Upside Down! The answer is Hawkins, Indiana. Derry is Stephen King’s fictional town from IT, Castle Rock is another King town (and an anthology series), and Springwood is from A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Duffer Brothers deliberately evoked King’s small-town horror tradition when creating Hawkins. NEXT → 05 In The X-Files, Fox Mulder has a famous poster hanging in his FBI basement office — a UFO photograph with a three-word tagline beneath it. What does the tagline say? A“Trust No One” B“The Truth Is Out There” C“Deny Everything” D“I Want To Believe” ✓ The truth is out there! “I Want To Believe” sits below a blurry UFO photo on the poster that hangs in Mulder’s basement office throughout the series. The line became so associated with the show that it was used as the title of the 2008 feature film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe. ✗ File that one away! The answer is “I Want To Believe.” “Trust No One,” “Deny Everything,” and “The Truth Is Out There” are all iconic X-Files taglines — but it’s “I Want To Believe” that’s literally printed on the UFO poster in Mulder’s office, and which became the title of the franchise’s 2008 movie. NEXT → 06 Apple TV+’s Severance — about office workers whose memories are surgically divided between their work and personal lives — was created by a first-time showrunner who used to be a customer service rep. Who is he? ADamon Lindelof BDan Erickson CBen Stiller DJonathan Nolan ✓ Praise Kier! Dan Erickson wrote the Severance pilot while working soul-crushing office jobs — literally daydreaming about splitting his mind so the “work-him” would suffer instead. Ben Stiller came on as executive producer and directed most episodes, but Erickson is the creator whose personal ennui gave us Lumon Industries. ✗ Outie interference! The answer is Dan Erickson. Damon Lindelof created Lost, The Leftovers, and Watchmen; Ben Stiller is Severance’s executive producer and primary director (but not its creator); Jonathan Nolan created Westworld and Person of Interest. Erickson’s script sat on the Black List for years before Stiller championed it. NEXT → 07 In 2018, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror released a groundbreaking feature-length episode that let viewers make choose-your-own-adventure style decisions for the protagonist. What was it called? ABandersnatch BUSS Callister CSan Junipero DMetalhead ✓ Interactive transmission received! Bandersnatch followed young programmer Stefan as he adapted a choose-your-own-adventure novel in 1984. Viewers could make choices at key moments, branching the story into multiple endings. It was Netflix’s most ambitious interactive experiment — and the meta commentary on viewer control remains quintessential Black Mirror. ✗ Null pointer! The answer is Bandersnatch. USS Callister is the Emmy-winning Star Trek riff, San Junipero is the beloved ’80s romance episode, and Metalhead is the black-and-white robot-dog thriller. All are Black Mirror, but only Bandersnatch was the interactive choose-your-own-adventure special that launched in December 2018. NEXT → 08 Joss Whedon’s space-western Firefly became a legendary cult classic after Fox infamously cancelled it — airing episodes out of order, burying the pilot, and pulling the plug. How many episodes aired on Fox before cancellation? A8 B11 C13 D22 ✓ Shiny! Only 11 of the 14 produced Firefly episodes aired on Fox in late 2002 before the network pulled the plug. The remaining three (including the two-hour pilot “Serenity”) first aired in proper order on the Sci-Fi Channel and eventually on DVD. Fan outcry led to the 2005 film Serenity — a rare cinematic rescue for a cancelled series. ✗ Fox strikes again! The answer is 11. Fourteen episodes were actually filmed, but Fox only aired 11 before cancellation, and they aired them out of order with the pilot held until last. The complete set finally aired on Sci-Fi Channel and DVD, and the fan-driven “Browncoats” campaign eventually convinced Universal to greenlight Serenity. REVEAL MY SCORE → Transmission Complete · Signal Decoded Your Sci-Fi Rating 👽 / 8 Trekkie-level canon — or still buffering? ⤴ RETRANSMIT The ship designs themselves were nice to look at, rather than feeling like copies of other sci-fi vehicles. The SA-43 Hammerhead and the Chig Bommer are my personal favorites. Space: Above and Beyond also mixed together dogfights and space battles. To keep things engaging, the space battles also have a psychological effect on the infantry and pilots. This makes it extremely similar to real-life war. 4 Cowboy Bebop The sci-fi anime Cowboy Bebop has great space battles, even though they are more one-on-one dogfights than major-scale fights between legions. The TV show has iconic ships with unique and recognizable designs, which makes it easier to follow who is doing what at all times. Each of the ships has different strengths and weaknesses, making it feel like a real fight. On top of that, Cowboy Bebop stands out because of the great choreography. The movements and attacks never feel repetitive. The tight and high-speed maneuvers feel almost like a dance, except there are real stakes. While the focus of this ranking is on TV shows, it’s worth noting that the Cowboy Bebop movie’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is truly the best of the best of the franchise, showing Spike and the Swordfish II up against far more advanced military jets. 3 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine As a long-time Trekkie, Deep Space Nine isn’t my favorite in terms of story and tone. However, it is an incredible show that really brings it with the space battles. When it comes to scope alone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine outdoes every other show. Audiences frequently watch hundreds of ships going up against each other, rather than smaller dogfights. The scenes are incredibly detailed, and the choreography is engaging to watch. These two factors give it major rewatchability. Additionally, the battles in Deep Space Nine are dictated by the plot. They have a clear purpose, and the emotional effects linger on the story and characters. The military strategy in the space battles also felt realistic and grounded. Ultimately, it seems appropriate that one of the darkest Star Trek shows of all time would also have the best space battles. 2 Legend of the Galactic Heroes The anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes is one of the best military stories in the medium, and that extends to the space battles as well. The battles seem to me like it was inspired by Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The TV show mirrors many 19th-century battles in the six-book account of history, setting it apart from most sci-fi shows. The decisions made throughout the war anime feel like a chess game. Sometimes, ships are sacrificed for what they believe is the greater good. The structures and formations of the ships matter, making attacks more or less effective. On top of that, there is nonstop death and actual political consequences. Ultimately, Legend of the Galactic Heroes might not be the most beautifully animated series, but it’s certainly worth the watch if only for the space battles. 1 Battlestar Galactica The remake of Battlestar Galactica is widely considered one of the best sci-fi TV shows, but it’s also a standout choice because of its space battles. Like many of the other shows on this list, it incorporates real science. Rather than science fantasy energy lasers, Battlestar Galactica’s weapons feel real, including creating shrapnel. They don’t create fake rocket sounds because there’s no sound in space, choosing instead to use radio communications and the sounds inside the ships. The cinematography style makes the space battles even more impressive because it almost seems like audiences are watching a documentary of real events. Adding to that, the enemy parties fight in different styles, rather than everything feeling the same. For all these reasons, Battlestar Galactica is one of the must-watch shows for viewers who love a good sci-fi space battle.