Best Sci-Fi TV of All Time Tournament - Results!

Ladies and gentlemen, here we are. You have voted by the thousands, and the results are in.

You have selected...bum-ba-ba-bum!...Firefly as the Greatest Sci-Fi TV Show of All Time!

I must confess, I'm confused. I really, really like Firefly. I may even love Firefly, and I will admit the Comic Con Firefly Reunion panel made me a little misty-eyed. but it ran for 14 frickin' episodes and a movie. I guess it really is how you use it...

So congratulations to Firefly and all you Browncoats out there who drummed up a tremendous response to every round of the voting (and managed to squeak Doctor Who). And let me say to Star Trek: The Next Generation that there's no shame in coming in second out of a strong 32-show field, especially when you totally flattened every other show you faced (including my pick, The Twilight Zone). So to you I will simply quote one of our site commenters, and say in closing "Shaka, when the walls fell."

TO VIEW THE PREVIOUS ROUNDS, CLICK HERE.

Best Sci-Fi TV of All Time Tournament Bracket (Final Round)

Guys, I have to admit I'm a little stunned. I did not see Picard and Riker unseating Kirk and Spock in the Classic side of the bracket and heading into the Finals. Sure, The Next Generation ran for much longer than Star Trek The Original Series, and sure the third and final season of Star Trek is a hot mess, but I figured if this was a popularity contest, the "logical" choice would be...well, no matter. You've spoken with your votes, and if I'm being honest, you probably made the right call about the better show. For the record, The Next Generation went gangbusters out of the gate, but Star Trek made a valiant comeback toward the end and ultimately, only 18 votes out of hundreds cast separated the two shows.

Firefly didn't surprise me this week, but I sure didn't have it getting past Doctor Who last week. Do I prefer Firefly? I do. But I'm only one man. One man with whom, in this case, thousands of people happily agree.

So here we are. The Finals. Will the scion of a long-established dynasty walk away with the crown? Or will the 14-episodes-and-a-movie upstart put another feather in the cap of Mr. Neil Young's line that it's better to burn out than to fade away? We'll soon see. Off you go!

To see the results of previous rounds, please click here.

Best Sci-Fi TV of All Time Tournament Bracket (Round of 4)

VOTING FOR THIS ROUND HAS CONCLUDED. TO VOTE IN THE FINALS, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

The Round of 8 was, without a doubt, the round with the most gnashing of teeth, and probably even tears, of any so far. For this was the round where Doctor Who faced off against Firefly.

Thousands of votes were cast (thank you, everybody), and ultimately, by only a half a percentage point, it was decided that Serenity would keep flying. (Insert wild celebration/screams of rage as you will).

Now in this Round of 4, you must face another impossible choice: Kirk & Spock vs. Picard & Riker. Is Star Trek: The Next Generation a better show than the one that begat all others, Star Trek? It's your call. But it is certain that an entry from the Star Trek franchise will face off against either Firefly or the Battlestar Galactica reboot in the Finals.

Some housekeeping: to see the results of previous rounds, click here. To review the utterly unscientific criteria used to delineate the Classic from Modern regions, check out the Round of 32 post. Many Reddit users pointed out that I had the order of the matches in the first round out-of-order, which I have consistently acknowledged, and apologize for once again. And for those of you who vitriolically demanded a larger image of the bracket, your wish has been granted.

Now, have fun, and on with the voting!

CLASSIC FINAL

MODERN FINAL

Check back next week for the Final Round!

Best Sci-Fi TV of All Time Tournament Bracket (Round of 8)

VOTING FOR THE ROUND OF 8 HAS ENDED. CLICK HERE TO VOTE ON THE NEXT ROUND.

The basketball tournaments have finished (congratulations, Connecticut men, women), but things are just heating up for us sci-fi nerds. We've reached the Round of 8 in the fan-voted poll of the Greatest Sci-Fi TV Show of All-Time. (Previous rounds here)

There are some tough matchups in these four games.* Will the Whohards and Fireflickians battle to the death to see which show is better? Or just stuff the ballot box? Star Trek: The Next Generation continued its blistering run through its region and beat my pick, The Twilight Zone, handily. I was surprised how brutally The X-Files crushed Lost (by almost 60 percentage points), but can it steamroll fan-darling Battlestar Galactica? Our top vote-getter in this round was Star Trek, but can it be upset by Twin Peaks, the little-engine-that-could who people said didn't even belong in this bracket?

All of these questions and more (or actually, just these questions) will be answered in a few days. So get voting!

CLASSIC NORTH
CLASSIC SOUTH
MODERN NORTH
MODERN SOUTH


*Reddit users once again pointed out that I goofed the order of the initial round's games. I get it, I get it. But there's not "Ctrl-Z" in life, sadly.

Best Sci-Fi TV of All Time Tournament Bracket (Round of 16)

VOTING HAS CLOSED FOR THIS ROUND. CHECK OUT THE ROUND OF 8 HERE.

The NCAA Tournament is about to resume for the Final Four games, and the results are in for Round 1 of the Nerds of a Feather Greatest Sci-Fi TV Show of All Time Bracketology Extravaganza™. If you missed the first post, the tl/dr version is I made a list of 32 contemporary and classic sci-fi shows, and completely unscientifically lumped them into regions and seedings. Then, a lot of votes came in!

There were not a lot of surprises in the Round of 32, which makes me feel like I got the initial seeds somewhat correct. As Reddit pointed out, however, I constructed the bracket wrong, and Number 1 and Number 2 seeds should not have met until the Round of 8. That's my fault. Nevertheless, I like the matchups in this round, and feel like we're going to wind up in the right place eventually, wherever that may be. Here's where we stand now:

Some cool things about the Round of 32:

• There were two upsets. Six-Seeded The Six Million Dollar Man reached out and bionically slapped The Prisoner, so it has to go back to the village, and The Fall Guy Lee Majors moves on. And Stargate SG-1, which maybe should've been seeded higher, took down Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• The top vote-getter of all entries was Star Trek: The Next Generation, followed by Firefly.
• Number Two seed Lost faced an unexpectedly tough challenge from Seven-Seeded Sliders, but most of the closest races were in the (4) vs (5) matchups.
• Every show, even the Eight-Seeds, got multiple votes

So what's going to happen in the Round of 16? Will Star Trek: The Next Generation continue steamrolling the competition, even when the competition is The Twilight Zone? Can the speculative fiction Twin Peaks make a deep run in this sci-fi bracket where some say it doesn't belong? Can a battered Lost rally and challenge The X-Files? I sure don't know, but it's up to you guys. Vote below!

CLASSIC NORTH
CLASSIC SOUTH
MODERN NORTH
MODERN SOUTH

Best Sci-Fi TV of All Time Tournament Bracket (Round of 32)

VOTING FOR THE ROUND OF 32 HAS ENDED. VOTE ON THE ROUND OF 16 HERE. 

For the second year, KPCC in Pasadena, California, has made a public radio bracket for NPR shows. Some of my favorite podcasts, like 99% Invisible and Radiolab are in it (and Radiolab might be cruising to victory), and that gave me an idea. What about a bracket for Sci-Fi TV Shows? When we put it to a vote, what would the fans decide is/was the greatest Sci-Fi TV Show of All Time?

What say we find out?

I've taken 32 shows, and grouped them into four regions, Classic North, Classic South, Modern North, and Modern South, with the four No. 1 seeds The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Dr. Who, and The X-Files, respectively. The "modern" line was drawn somewhere around 1995, encompassing the last 20 years. It's all entirely unscientific, but hopefully fun. Participate by voting in the polls below, and every few days we'll tally the votes and the winners will advance to the next round. There's also a printable bracket so you can play along at home. Vote as often as you'd like. Painting the show's colors on your body is optional.

Let's go!

CLASSIC NORTH


CLASSIC SOUTH


MODERN NORTH


MODERN SOUTH


Happy bracketing! And if you start any office pools or anything, let us know. We'd love to hear about it.

Posted by Vance K - Cult film aficionado, unapologetic lover of terrible movies, and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2012.