36 best science fiction TV series, ranked worst to first

Image: Netflix

8. Black Mirror

While Outer Limits and Twilight Zone were the science fiction anthology series that remains the template for all that followed, the Netflix series Black Mirror took the ideas and updated it for a new generation — and if anyone thought Twilight Zone made people think, Black Mirror chose to scare people outright.

When it comes to Black Mirror, the series chose to take the philosophical questions posed by The Twilight Zone and dedicate the entire series into looking at what happens when technology goes bad — a science fiction topic since the days of Blade Runner and this series is steeped in the kind of questions asked by someone like Philip K. Dick.

The series originally aired in the UK and Netflix purchased the rights and created a third and fourth season. These episodes are all longer than normal anthology show episodes and there are also fewer of them in a season — with 19 total between the four aired seasons so far.

Thanks to Netflix, there is no fear of censorship, which creates thought-provoking and frightening storylines. While this is a Netflix series, Black Mirror is not something anyone wants to binge-watch, because each episode has you questioning the world in which we live and watching too many in repetition is not encouraged.

The one episode that stands above them all is “San Junipero,” from the third season, and that episode won a Primetime Emmy Award. Things got even better in season 4 when the series picked up eight Emmy nominations.

The fifth season of Black Mirror has started filming for possibly a 2019 release.