No matter what side of the Star Trek versus Star Wars debate, the consensus is simple: space exploration is awesome! For nearly a century, the world has consistently tuned in to enjoy the excitement and adventure of exploring space, and there are no signs of that stopping.
With groundbreaking series such as Star Trek, paving the way for spin-offs and the genre of science fiction in general, the world agrees: We want space! Drama, comedy, animation, and Westerns have eagerly broken into space over the last century, and how the world wants to explore it!
From the creative mind behind The Simpsons (Matt Groening), Futurama follows Philip J. Fry (Billy West), a lazy delivery boy who gets inadvertently cryogenically frozen for a century. Upon waking up, he gets a job, again as a delivery boy, and the show follows his workplace shenanigans.
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Along with West, the show boasts an all-star cast of Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, and Phil LaMarr. Despite the show having been canceled on two separate occasions and from two separate networks, it has endured and continues to be an epic, spaced-out adventure, with a new season in tow.
The year was 1993, and CBS decided to take a chance on this short-lived cult space drama, and unfortunately, it did not last. Space Rangers follows the rag-tag Space Rangers Corps, the only line of defense against space exploration criminal activity.
The show only lasted six episodes, but each was packed with solid entertainment. With Jack McGee, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Clint Howard, and Linda Hunt, this was a fun stepping stone for some of these actors as they went on to star in truly great projects.
Another masterful series by the great mind of Gene Roddenberry is Andromeda. Here, we follow as Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) seeks peace in the very distant future but gets caught in an event horizon and is frozen in time for hundreds of years.
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Upon being discovered, Hunt begins to try and reinstate peace in the universe with a new crew. Among them is Rhade (Steve Bacic), Doyle (Brandy Ledford), and Gemini (Laura Bertram). Each episode of the five wonderful seasons is full-force excitement and entertainment.
Like many amazing series on television, Defying Gravity was taken away from us far before it should have been. In this ambitious drama, we watched the adventures of eight astronauts braving space as the first space mission after the Mars landing.
Their space travels were constantly broadcast back to Earth as an intergalactic reality show. Christina Cox and Ron Livingston take the lead and show that their talents are truly out of this world. While thirteen episodes were produced, only eight ever aired on ABC.
Categorized as a space Western drama series, Firefly remains one of Joss Whedon's greatest creations. Following the crew of misfits aboard the Serenity with Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) as their captain, this series created a whole new universe for science fiction fans to fall in love with!
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The show included the wonderful Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, and Adam Baldwin. Unfortunately, it was canceled before the first season had been fully aired; it has become a cult classic, inspiring a stand-alone film and non-stop cries from fans to have new episodes of the show produced!
What is described as the Space Age counterpart to The Flintstones, The Jetsons follows the titular family in a comical representation of family life in futuristic space. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in the 1960s, then again in the 1980s, The Jetsons' is one of the most recognizable animated sitcoms of all time.
Along with one of the catchiest theme songs, The Jetsons served as an influential animation to open the door to more amazing space exploration shows. The popularity of the show returned a few decades later when it was revived in the 1980s for a whole new generation of space lovers!
We all know the tagline: Space: the final frontier. It has inspired generations since it was first uttered in September 1966 by Captain James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner) on the Starship USS Enterprise.
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Star Trek was, and still is to this day, a truly inspirational series, being all about human courage, progress, and ingenuity. Bones (Deforest Kelley) and the incredible Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) brought Shatner's crew together. Star Trek continues to inspire with new series and movies sprouting up regularly, all owing everything to this original series!
While it is a far cry from the various Star Trek series' greatness, The Orville is a wonderful new take on space exploration entertainment. With the endlessly talented mind of Seth MacFarlane (of Family Guy fame) at the helm, this show was bound to be a wildly successful and exciting series.
With the help of Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, and Scott Grimes, MacFarlane is able to bring his passion project to life. This team has proven over the already three seasons that they clearly love what they do and bring their absolute best to each and every single episode.
From the amazing minds of Jon Favreau and creators at Disney, The Mandalorian followed the adventures the titular bounty hunter set several years after Return of the Jedi. Starring Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers, Werner Herzog, and Ming-Na Wen, the show is both visually stunning and critically entertaining.
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The show has already released three wildly successful seasons on the Disney+ platform, and a fourth is currently in the works. It has also spawned multiple spin-off series, such as The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew. This is definitely a true testament to the lasting impression that the Star Wars universe has left upon the world and that it still desires more.
While it is not the original in the series, Star Trek: The Next Generation surpasses the original in greatness and entertainment. Shatner may have paved the way for space exploration, but Patrick Stewart was truly born to play Captain Jean-Luc Picard!
Along with Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, and more, helped round out the amazing crew of the new Starship Enterprise! Set a whole century after the original series, The Next Generation is truly one of the greatest space shows to ever air.
KEEP READING: 25 Best Episodes of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' Ranked