Copyright Screen Rant
It only took the pilots of these three series to convince me that these were going to be great sci-fi TV shows. Until only recently, the pilot episode of a television show should never have been used to help you determine if you were going to enjoy a show or not, but TV has changed in the last 15 years. Before streamers and a greater emphasis on television in general, networks would often order a pilot, and then, depending on the success of the pilot, order a season afterward. Then, there would also likely be some changes made to the tone of the show and maybe even the story and the characters, depending on feedback. All this to say, unless you're looking at more recent TV shows, judging a TV show based solely on its first episode would likely lead to people being uninterested in even the best sci-fi shows of all time. However, there are certainly some that came swinging right out of the gate, announcing their status as a masterpiece from the first. Fringe (2008-2013) Fringe is a sci-fi TV show that has been climbing up the ranking of great TV shows over the past couple of years. It's not that it's been reevaluated; it's just that when it premiered, it never quite got the attention it deserved. Perhaps the Lost hangover made people a bit J.J. Abrams-averse for a couple of years. Now, with the show easily available on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, more people are getting the chance to watch the series. Fringe is a quintessential sci-fi TV show, and centers on the "Fringe Division" of the FBI, which focuses, you guessed it, on fringe science, leading the agents to uncover a parallel universe. Fringe's pilot episode starts with a bang and a grizzly, bizarre crime involving a biological pathogen killing everyone on board an airline flight. Characters die, plots are uncovered, and Abrams brings his feature film know-how to the small screen, making the Fringe pilot feel like a momentous occasion that promises more greatness and gruesomeness to come. Andor (2022-2025) Andor is one of the most grounded Star Wars productions in the franchise, and in some ways, it may be the most sci-fi-heavy of the movies and shows. Star Wars, since its inception, has been nearly as beholden to fantasy tropes as it has sci-fi ones, after all. Andor strips away some of that fantasy and finds something new. Taking place five years before Rogue One and A New Hope, Andor depicts the ins and outs of the tyrannical Galactic Empire's operations, and how they suppress the citizens they oversee. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is one of these citizens. Andor begins as a cynic but comes around to the idea that revolution can save the people of the galaxy. The pilot of Andor, "Kassa", is the perfect introduction to Tony Gilroy's new take on the Star Wars universe. It's a pilot filled with noir sensibilities and a grittiness that the franchise has been lacking for years. There is no lack of exposition in the episode. Far from being overloaded, it immediately locks you into the story at hand. Mrs. Davis (2023) Damon Lindelof's fourth TV show is his weirdest, and that's saying a lot considering his first three include polar bears in the tropics, people being raptured, and raining squid. Mrs. Davis is a Peacock original miniseries and one of the best shows on the streamer at that. You won't find as fun-loving and out there a sci-fi show as this. A black comedy that inextricably links religion and science, Mrs. Davis is set in a world where an artificial intelligence has ceased hunger, war, sadness, and, effectively, purpose. The frustratingly helpful Mrs. Davis does have her (it's) detractors, however. One is Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin), a sardonic nun who found Jesus.
