You Can't Call Yourself a Sci-Fi Fan Unless You've Seen These 7 Shows

Image via HBO Published Jul 26, 2026, 7:21 PM EDT Kareem is a veteran editor and writer with over 15 years of experience covering all forms of entertainment, from music to movies. He serves as a High Trending List Writer for Collider, covering all things TV. His work has been seen in numerous online publications such as FanSided, AXS, Examiner, Narcity, HuffPost, and ScreenRant. He first began his professional writing career in 2011 writing political columns for HubPages, gradualaly building his portfolio until he was rewarded with his first paid writing position with News Headquarters in 2013. Since then, Kareem has covered everything imaginable, from writing political news columns for Examiner, reviewing the latest albums for AXS.com, and giving a unique take on sports, food, and the entertainment industry for Fansided.com. He had another online stop at Narcity, covering travel and things to do in his native Florida, before finally bringing his uniquely immense writing talent and voice to Valnet in 2020, first as a List Writer for ScreenRant before taking his talents to Collider in 2021. During his time at Collider, Kareem has showcased his talented writing style on a number of beats, trailer previews (DOTA: Dragon's Blood) to season premiers (Abbott Elementary), to Lists ranking everything from 80s Sitcoms (which holds a special place in his heart), to classic Disney Channel shows. When he's not working, you can catch him bing-watching classic horror movies (he's a huge fan of Friday the 13th), hitting bike trails, and playing UNO (and losing) during game nights with friends. He calls Orlando, FL home. Sign in to your Collider account Science fiction is a genre that's enjoyed by millions of people all around the world, from the casual to the hardcore. However, we often wonder how many people out there can truly call themselves sci-fi diehards if they haven't watched every single sci-fi classic there is to watch? On the television front, there are great sci-fi shows that haven't really been seen by all fans of the genre, or are greatly overlooked; and that really makes you think, how can they call themselves sci-fi fans if they haven't seen these classic shows? It's a question that can easily make your head spin if not approached logically. So, we want to put sci-fi fans to the test, to see how many are really out there by listing the shows that all true sci-fi fans should have seen by now. There are some that are underrated gems, others that are obvious classics. But, overall, we picked these shows because they are all certified classics, and should be seen at least once by all sci-fi fans. If you haven't seen these awesome shows, can you, honestly, call yourself a fan of this fascinating genre? We're going to see if that's the case. So, without further ado, let's get to it. 'Fringe' (2008–2013) Image via FOX Oh, yes, we're starting off with quite a show here. There are not many modern sci-fi fans who have seen Fringe, or even remember this show. It's often fallen on many "underrated" and "forgotten" lists. But, among true, diehard sci-fi fans (like yours truly), Fringe is a show that is fondly remembered for pushing the boundaries of the genre, and mixing sci-fi with the paranormal. If one can describe this wonderfully delightful manic series in one word, it's "weird," and once you see the pilot episode, you'll see why that word is perfectly apt here. Premiering on Fox in 2008, and running for five seasons, Fringe follows a special division within the FBI that follows fringe science to investigate paranormal incidents that are related to a separate, parallel universe. So, in a sense, Fringe was one of the first shows that truly dove into the "multiverse," with viewers witnessing alternate realities, and the FBI team that's trained to keep it all under control. Fringe is well remembered among diehards, and forgotten by the casual fans of the genre. So, if you want to be recognized as a true sci-fi fan, find this show and binge-watch it. You will be in for a truly bizarre watch, in a good way. 'Humans' (2015–2018) Image via AMC By the mid-2010s. AMC was still riding the Walking Dead gravy train. So, in 2015, at the height of their powers, they helped import a sci-fi show from Britain called Humans that, in the end, was unable to capture the magic the Walkers had on its audience. However, if you're a true fan of the genre, fond memories of this underrated series will quickly flood back to you. Created by Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent, Humans was a deep dive into how robots, called "synths," were having an outsized impact on human society, from social to psychological. There isn't anything truly menacing about Humans, but it did a good job in highlighting the impact robots have on our society, and acted as a bit of a warning sign for the future (one that we aren't listening to, apparently). Some may have found this series to be a dud, but for diehard sci-fi fans, Humans was a gem, a show that really wanted to look at robots' impact on society. 'The Outer Limits' (1963–1965) Image via ABC If you're one of those fans that only watched The Twilight Zone, and quickly dismissed ABC's The Outer Limits as a copy of the iconic CBS series, then can you honestly call yourself a sci-fi fan? If so, you'll realize that this series, which did take inspiration from The Twilight Zone, was just as good as its more famous counterpart. In fact, aside from the anthology nature of each series, The Outer Limits pushed the boundaries a lot further than its counterpart, and that's where the two begin to separate and become their own series. Created by Leslie Stevens, the stories told in The Outer Limits were more tied to sci-fi, and you can honestly make the distinction that this series was the grandfather of the horror sci-fi subgenre. Most of the episodes in The Outer Limits were terrifying, scarier than The Twilight Zone if we're being honest; and the show wanted to make a point that a show could push the sci-fi genre to its "outer limits." So, if you want to really call yourself a sci-fi fan, you should give The Outer Limits another chance. You'll be glad you did. 'Black Mirror' (2011–Present) There are many who heap a lot of praise on Black Mirror, Netflix's anthology series that can be seen as a modern-day version of The Twilight Zone. But, you have those few that just simply won't give this series the respect it deserves; and they also happen to call themselves fans of sci-fi. The truth of the matter is, you can't be a sci-fi fan and not be a fan of Black Mirror. Created by Charlie Brooker, this British series does a tremendous job at highlighting how society's technological advancements can actually work to the detriment of human society. Whether it's your cell phone scoring your social interactions, or being controlled by an implant called "Z-Eyes," Black Mirror holds up a "mirror" to how we can use technological advancement in the worst possible ways. Black Mirror is a show that deserves respect among sci-fi purists, and you can't call yourself one if you haven't seen this series. Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Westworld' (2016–2022) Image via HBO If you're a sci-fi fan, and you live and breathe this genre, then you have no doubt seen Westworld, the underrated 1973 sci-fi film about androids malfunctioning at a futuristic vacation resort. Now, you will truly be a dedicated fan of the genre if you've seen the TV adaptation of Westworld, produced by HBO and allowing the story of the movie to be fleshed out to tell a broader, more sinister story. Westworld has its critics, but one really can't deny that HBO's Westworld is one of the best modern sci-fi series. From its storyline to the dynamic cinematography, Westworld is a show that truly astounds all those who watch it, and is a perfect representation of what a modern sci-fi classic should be. Can you really call yourself a fan of the genre if you have yet to see Westworld? In my opinion, you really can't. 'Battlestar Galactica' (2003–2009) Image via SYFY The 2000s was a banner decade for the sci-fi genre. So many great sci-fi shows premiered during this decade, with one of the best being Battlestar Galactica. A modern reboot of the 1978 series, Battlestar Galactica basically followed on the path the original series laid out. Set on a planetary system called the Twelve Colonies of Kobal, the show follows the crew of Battlestar Galactica, an "ancient" ship that was on its way to being displayed in a museum, until it becomes the only survivor of a sneak attack by the Cylons. With the ship surviving the battle, the crew sets forth to a colony known as Earth. There was a lot to love about Battlestar Galactica, and we mean a lot. Many consider it one of the better reboots of a classic series. The writing was great, the visual effects were stunning, and the characters were intriguing and interesting to watch. It's a sci-fi series that defined the genre in the 2000s, and is considered one of the best shows of the decade. So, to sum it all up, you can't really call yourself a sci-fi fan if you haven't seen Battlestar Galactica. Some may question this, but to not watch one of the best sci-fi shows of the 2000s and still be a fan of the genre raises eyebrows. 'The Twilight Zone' (1959–1964) Image via CBS We can (sort of) understand that you haven't seen Fringe, or feel that Black Mirror is, at times, a tough series to watch. We can understand, truly. However, there is one show that every diehard sci-fi fan has seen, and, for those that have yet to watch this show, you can't truly call yourself a fan of the genre. We're talking, of course, about The Twilight Zone, the legendary series that every sci-fi fan should be required to watch. Created by Rod Serling and premiering on CBS in 1959, The Twilight Zone ushered in the birth of sci-fi television, with its stories that flowed seamlessly through sci-fi, fantasy, and horror to create a truly unique and timely series. Even the opening title card is iconic, with Serling, who also hosted the show, introducing us to the weird world of The Twilight Zone, a place filled with disturbing, unusual events, in a creepy, awesome monologue. The show is an unquestioned classic, one that true sci-fi fans love and adore. If you have not seen this classic, then can you, honestly, call yourself a sci-fi fan? The Twilight Zone Release Date 1959 - 1964 Network CBS Showrunner Rod Serling Directors John Brahm, Buzz Kulik, Douglas Heyes, Lamont Johnson, Richard L. Bare, James Sheldon, Richard Donner, Don Medford, Montgomery Pittman, Abner Biberman, Alan Crosland, Jr., Alvin Ganzer, Elliot Silverstein, Jack Smight, Joseph M. Newman, Ted Post, William Claxton, Jus Addiss, Mitchell Leisen, Perry Lafferty, Robert Florey, Robert Parrish, Ron Winston, Stuart Rosenberg Writers Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Earl Hamner, Jr., George Clayton Johnson, Jerry Sohl, Henry Slesar, Martin Goldsmith, Anthony Wilson, Bernard C. Schoenfeld, Bill Idelson, E. Jack Neuman, Jerome Bixby, Jerry McNeely, John Collier, John Furia, Jr., John Tomerlin, Lucille Fletcher, Ray Bradbury, Reginald Rose, Sam Rolfe, Adele T. Strassfield Main Genre Sci-Fi Seasons 5 Producers Herbert Hirschman, William Froug, Buck Houghton, Bert Granet, Marcel Ichac Creator(s) Rod Serling Story By rod serling Streaming Service(s) Paramount Plus Executive Producer(s) Rod Serling