The Sci-Fi TV Shows That Shaped My Young Imagination

I was born just two years before Star Wars landed in cinemas and quietly changed everything. I didn’t see it in a theatre at the time for obvious reasons, but its impact filtered down fast, onto television, into toy shops, and straight into school playgrounds. Suddenly, space wasn’t just a backdrop for low-budget sci-fi anymore. It was epic, serious, and full of possibility.

Toys, lunchboxes, annuals, and posters started appearing everywhere. Spaceships weren’t just something you watched on TV, they were something you played with, talked about in school, and carried around in your head long after the episode ended. Even if you hadn’t seen the films properly yet, you knew this world mattered.

Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and V complete TV series box sets on Blu-ray and DVD

Almost overnight, television followed suit. What came next wasn’t subtle, but it was powerful. Looking back now, I can see how three sci-fi shows in particular lodged themselves in my imagination while I was still very young, even if I didn’t fully understand what I was watching at the time. Each one took a different approach to the future, and all three helped shape how space, danger, and possibility were presented on TV in the years that followed.

Battlestar Galactica Original Series

Battlestar Galactica felt enormous. The ships, the uniforms, the constant sense of danger, it didn’t feel like normal television. It felt closer to a feature film that just happened to be playing in the sitting room.

Even as a child, you could sense that this was a world with rules and consequences. People died. Ships were destroyed. There was a seriousness to it that stayed with me, even if I was only catching episodes here and there. In hindsight, it’s obvious how much it owed to Star Wars, but at the time it stood entirely on its own.

It made space feel vast, hostile, and oddly believable in a way few TV shows had managed before.

My 2 Cents

I owned the DVD box set years ago, sold it, and eventually bought it again, this time on Blu-ray. Watching it with older eyes, you can see how the show gradually drifted away from deep-space storytelling. Crews leave known space, only to arrive on planets populated by humans, and later encounter Cylons in places where they have no real reason to be. It’s very much a product of 1970s television logic.

That said, I was still delighted when the franchise was rebooted years later, and I loved that series too. The original may be flawed, but its ambition and scale are exactly why it still matters, and why it’s worth revisiting today.

Battlestar Galactica 1980

Battlestar Galactica 1980 felt smaller almost immediately. The sense of danger was dialled back, the stakes felt lower, and the vastness of space that defined the original series was largely gone.

Instead of an ongoing struggle for survival, the show shifted focus to Earth, modern-day Earth, no less. The story became lighter, safer, and far more episodic. Where the original series treated space as hostile and unforgiving, this version often felt like it was trying to blend science fiction with family-friendly adventure.

Even at the time, it was clear this wasn’t the same show.

My 2 Cents

This is where Battlestar Galactica lost its way.

The decision to set much of the series on Earth fundamentally changed the tone, and not for the better. The tension that made the original compelling was replaced with humour, simplified plots, and a younger-skewing audience in mind. Characters felt less vulnerable, and the constant threat of the Cylons was reduced to something closer to an inconvenience than an existential danger.

Watching it now, it feels like a product of network pressure rather than creative intent. The darker themes didn’t fit the new direction, and the show never really figured out what it wanted to be. It also didn’t help that the Cylons’ presence on Earth made little sense, especially when you step back and think about their motivations.

I’ll be honest, I don’t revisit this one often. It’s interesting from a historical point of view, and as a cautionary tale about how quickly a show can change when it chases a different audience. But as a continuation of Battlestar Galactica, it never earned its place.

If the original series felt cinematic and ambitious, Battlestar Galactica 1980 felt compromised, which is why it’s largely remembered as a footnote rather than a true sequel. That said, I did enjoy the flying bikes, even if the effects were fairly rough. It was the 1980s, after all.

If you’re buying the box set, Battlestar Galactica 1980 is usually included, though it’s worth checking before you order. It’s not essential viewing by any stretch, but it’s worth a watch purely for nostalgia and curiosity.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

If Battlestar Galactica was serious, Buck Rogers was pure adventure. Brighter, lighter, and more optimistic, it felt like the fun side of sci-fi. Laser fights, futuristic cities, and the idea that the future might actually be exciting rather than terrifying.

This was the show that leaned more into imagination than realism. You didn’t need to follow every episode to enjoy it. You could drop in, absorb the visuals, and let your mind run with it afterwards. For a kid, that mattered.

It balanced out Battlestar perfectly. One showed the dangers of space, the other showed its promise.

My 2 Cents

This was an important show in its own right and very much part of the same late-70s sci-fi moment as Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. It was deliberately lighter in tone, with plenty of humour, cheeky dialogue, and more than a bit of adult innuendo. A lot of it went straight over younger viewers’ heads at the time, but it’s much more obvious on a rewatch.

Wilma Deering’s outfits didn’t hurt either. If you’ve seen the show, you already know what I mean.

Season one is still great fun and holds up surprisingly well, even if it reuses space footage in the same way Battlestar did. Budgets were tight in that era, and it shows, but it never really gets in the way of the enjoyment. I bought the box set back in the early 2000s, and season one was exactly as I remembered it.

Season two, however, is a different story. Moving the action off Earth and into a spaceship stripped away much of what made the show work in the first place. The tone shifted, the energy dropped, and the whole thing felt like a different series. Hawk was a decent addition, but he couldn’t save a season that had lost its identity.

Still, as a piece of sci-fi nostalgia, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is well worth revisiting. Just manage your expectations once season two rolls around. I sold my DVD box set years ago, and somehow found myself buying it again in February 2026.

Make of that what you will.

V – The Series

Then there was V, which felt completely different again.

This one unsettled me. The aliens weren’t out in deep space, they were here, smiling on television, presenting themselves as saviours. The idea that something could look human and still be deeply dangerous was genuinely disturbing, especially at a young age.

I didn’t always sit down to watch every episode from start to finish, but certain images stuck. Long after the television was turned off. The slow reveal of who the Visitors really were, the sense of infiltration, and the creeping loss of trust made it far darker and more cynical than most sci-fi of the time.

In many ways, V felt like the moment sci-fi television grew up a bit.

My 2 Cents

V was a huge event when it first aired. School the next day was full of talk about it, replaying scenes and shocking moments in forensic detail. That kind of shared viewing experience was rare, and V absolutely had it.

The original story began as a two-part miniseries in 1983, which remains the strongest part of the entire franchise. This is where the tension is at its peak, with a slow, deliberate build-up before the big reveal of the Visitors’ true nature. That sense of dread is handled brilliantly, and it’s no surprise those early episodes are the most memorable.

This was followed by a second miniseries, V: The Final Battle, which expanded the story and escalated the conflict. While still effective, it leaned more heavily into action and spectacle. After that came the short-lived weekly series, V: The Series, which struggled to maintain the same level of tension and coherence.

Watching it later on DVD, it becomes clear why the franchise can feel disjointed. There’s a noticeable jump in tone and storytelling between releases, and not everything is explained as cleanly as it should be. Much of the confusion around V comes from that doomed weekly series, which disrupted the natural flow established by the two original miniseries.

Despite those issues, V remains an important piece of 1980s sci-fi television. It tackled themes of propaganda, resistance, collaboration, and fear in a way that felt surprisingly bold for its time.

A reboot eventually arrived years later with V. While it only lasted two seasons, it showed real promise. The effects were far superior, the tone more modern, and the underlying ideas still felt relevant. Unfortunately, it never got the chance to fully find its footing before it was cancelled.

Even with its flaws, V left a lasting mark. It may not be as rewatchable as some of its contemporaries, but few sci-fi shows of the era linger in the memory quite like it.

Coming Soon

While writing this post, I realised just how many 1970s and 1980s TV shows are still sitting somewhere in my memory. One title led to another, and before I knew it, I had half a dozen new drafts started.

As those posts are finished and published, I’ll link to them here. If you grew up watching television around this time, you might enjoy revisiting some of these shows too, and seeing whether my memories line up with your own. This is the first post in that series, so the links will follow naturally over time.

Looking Back

I didn’t watch these shows religiously or in order (except for V, I think). They were just there, appearing on television at the right moments. But that’s how a lot of childhood viewing worked back then. You absorbed ideas without realising it.

Between them, these three shows shaped how I imagined space, the future, and even authority and power. They made sci-fi feel important, not just entertaining. And decades later, they’re still the reason I’m drawn to physical media, box sets, and revisiting the things that quietly shaped who I am.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoy this kind of nostalgia-driven look back at TV and physical media, you’ll find more posts like this across the site. David

Affiliate Links – Own These Sci-Fi TV Classics on Disc

Battlestar Galactica (Original Series) – Blu-ray / DVD
Amazon UK | Amazon Ireland

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century – Complete Series
Amazon UK | Amazon Ireland

V – The Original Miniseries & TV Series
Amazon UK | Amazon Ireland

Affiliate links – I may earn a small commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you.

💬 Have a thought on this? Please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your take.

About the Author

I’m David Condon, a movie enthusiast from Tralee, Co. Kerry. I’ve been collecting DVDs and Blu-rays for years, and along the way my shelves have become a mix of favourites, hidden gems, and titles I occasionally decide to resell.

I’m not a professional critic, just someone who enjoys good films, well-made discs, and the odd rant about the quirks of collecting. This blog is where I share my thoughts, opinions, reviews, and experiences as a fan.

💬 Note from the Author
This blog is a hobby project where I write about DVDs, Blu-rays, and the ups and downs of being a collector. If you enjoyed this post, you might also like my other writing:

David Condon Finds – my lifestyle and review blog
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