Top 5 Sci Fi Show First Seasons

Okay, awhile back I posted my list for the top 5 sci fi show seasons, and I did have a first season or two  on there. That eventually got me thinking about what the best first seasons have been for any show in the genre. A first season is very important, too; it provides a base for the show and an average to which you can compare later seasons, i.e., you compare a later season to the first to see how good it is. But, almost every first season has faults. Or does it? With that in mind, I've decided to make this list.

No spoilers, don't worry.

Oh, and a little note, I have not seen the first season of Heroes, and no one season wonders, i.e., no Firefly. Love that show to death, but I've decided not to put it on a list for once.

5. Falling Skies
At fifth is the first season of TNT's hit drama Falling Skies, which centers around a resistance group fighting aliens roughly a year after an unprovoked invasion of Earth wiped out 90% of the human population. The 2nd Mass, most notably Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), is a ragtag group of survivors trying to retake their home while dealing with grief, loss, and emotional drama, especially as Tom tries to keep his sons safe, which is hard to do when one of them was kidnapped by the aliens, which are called "Skitters", if you're wondering. Action, drama, mystery, and some pretty cool characters all help to drive the season and the show in general and add up to something pretty darn awesome. The second season actually premiers tomorrow night, and after season 1, I have high hopes.

4. The X Files

Nothing less then The X Files itself takes fourth. Skeptical FBI Agent Dana Scully is assigned to monitor believer Agent Fox Mulder at the X Files, the FBI's unsolved cases involving strange phenomena. The season's main storyline is about a government conspiracy involving aliens, the same aliens the kidnapped Mulder's sister as a child, as well as filler monster of the week episodes. Conspiracy, extreme possibility, and Mulder-Scully dynamic helped to make this show what it was: awesome. The alien myth-arc was always the most compelling part of the show, but most of the fillers are cool in their own right. You've got all that and the single greatest pilot episode of all time. If I have yet to make it clear, this season rocked. The fact that it isn't in first means there must be good stuff ahead.

3. Battlestar Galactica

First, I should establish that I'm not talking about the miniseries, I'm talking about the actual first season. The season follows the 50,000 surviving humans as they flee their homes on the 12 Colonies of Humanity after the Cylons, robots created by humans that have since rebelled and evolved, nuke the crap out of the place. Heading the fleet is the Battlestar Galactica, under Commander Bill Adama, which provided protection from attacking Cylons and contains most of the main characters. The humans are looking for Earth, the fabled 13th colony of humanity. Long story short, it's really good. It does just about everything, too: gun fights, space battles, mental and emotional tension, political thrills, spiritual debates, and richness of character. And were it not for one episode that was kind of a clunker, I would have it higher up.

2. Lost

A plane from Australia to LA goes down and lands on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. As the 48 passengers struggle to survive the hostile environment, stuff starts going down. Let me put is this way: there are polar bears on the island, and that's the least weird thing. Premise? Check. Interesting, compelling characters with backstories? Check. Intriguing, overarching mystery that makes you want more? Check. Plot twists that destroy, confirm, and alter all of your views on reality all at once? Check. The only reason I didn't put this at number 1 is that the first season of LOST technically wasn't sci fi. I mean there are sci fi elements in a lot of places, and the I know the show makes rather blunt use of those elements in later seasons, but at this point,  most of those could be glossed over by genre-haters. And if you're thinking that means this shouldn't be on the list at all, like I said, elements and and knowledge of what they do in later seasons. And this is my list. Mine.

1. The Walking Dead

The best first season for a sci fi show can go to none other than the Walking Dead. You know the drill: Deputy Rick Grimes is shot and goes into a coma. He wakes up in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. He struggles to survive as he searches for his wife and son, whom he's convinced are still alive somewhere. For those of you who don't know the show and think it's about zombies, it's not. It's about people. It uses the zombies and the post-apocalypse in general to show just what people become, which is in some cases, more human, when they're tested. So basically the show's actually got a lot of heart. That and blood, guts, and zombies getting plugged in the head. So yeah, we've got action, gore, characters that somehow feel even more human than us, and of course an awesome story arc that allows the episodes to flow into each other perfectly. The bottom line is that the first season of The Walking Dead truly deserves to be number one.

Okay, that's my list, but what's yours? Comment below, let me know!
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