Watch your back! Cupid will be on the prowl this Valentine’s Day weekend, hunting down potential targets to unleash a volley of amorous arrows onto unsuspecting mortals. Our modern candy and roses-centric celebration of Valentine’s Day has deep roots that date back to the ancient pagan fertility festival of Lupercalia. These days it’s a much tamer affair with red-and-pink greeting cards and over-priced flowers instead of ritual sacrifices providing the celebration’s dominant crimson-hued colors.
In honor of this chocolate-dipped occasion, we’ve gathered a sentimental collection of science fiction television series to binge on Saturday that include UFOs, time-travelers, sentient spaceships, caped superheroes, mental telepathy, alien love, and futuristic matchmaking.
“Roswell” (1999-2002)
This engaging show ran for three seasons, the first two on the The WB and the final outing on UPN. It centered around the young lives and romantic entanglements of Tabasco sauce-loving aliens Max, Isabel, and Michael who are survivors of the infamous 1947 Roswell UFO Incident. They’re intermingling in plain sight with local humans Liz, Maria, and Alex all living in Roswell, New Mexico.
Tess, a fourth alien from the planet Antar, is revealed to be part of the Royal Four which are alien-human hybrids who’ve fled their planet years ago and hope to return again someday. Lots of time-travel, mind-melding, skin-shedding, clones, and dream invasion episodes to blend in with the cross-species relationships and typical high school melodrama.
“Sense8” (2015-2018)
Lana and Lilly Wachowski of “The Matrix” fame with “Babylon 5’s” J. Michael Straczynski created this compelling paranormal sci-fi show for Neflix that ran 24 episodes. It revolves around eight strangers from different regions of the globe who shockingly discover that they’re all psychically-linked humans known as sensates. These special beings unite to try and discover their true evolutionary purpose while being watched and hunted by a dark group called the Whispers.
The edgy series lasted two seasons and took on some hot topics like identity, gender, sexuality, conformity and the notion of empathy as an evolving construct of humanity. Plus plenty of love couplings between the characters of Kala and Wolfgang, Nomi and Amanita, and Lito and Hernando!
“Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” (1993-1997)
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This was the refreshing TV show that breathed new life into the Superman franchise and is still fondly remembered by an entire generation that grew up watching the Man of Steel and Lois Lane’s blossoming love relationship in Metropolis. Dean Cain and Terry Hatcher as the titular couple have a wonderful palpable chemistry in this charming series that ran on ABC for four seasons covering a total of 88 episodes.
It’s got all the classic Superman mythology beginning with the Last Son of Krypton arriving to work at the Daily Planet as mild-mannered Clark Kent plus a deliciously sinister John Shea as Lex Luthor in the premiere season. Its later high-flying years were sprinkled with more canonical rogue’s gallery villains like Metallo, Toyman, and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
“Outlander” (2014-2026)
Talk about staying power! “Outlander” is the very definition of loyal fanbase as this sci-fi fantasy based on the best-selling historical romance series by author Diana Gabaldon and developed by “Battlestar Galactica’s” Ronald D. Moore has lasted seven seasons with a final eighth offering coming in March.
This romantic time-hopping saga tells the century-shifting tales of soulmates Claire and Jaime who bounce across the space-time continuum from continent to continent in a series of increasingly complex genealogical encounters as their love intensifies. The show has devoted followers reveling in its Scottish clans, magic stones, pirates, loves, deaths, battles, rivalries, and steamy sex!
“Soulmates” (2020)
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Here’s a fascinating premise to ponder! What would you do if science created a way for you to be matched up with your perfect romantic partner? The anthology format of the series depicts the promises and perils of such soulmate technology using a sort of “Black Mirror”-light approach.
Actually, the series was co-created by one of “Black Mirror’s” main writers, William Bridges, who won an Emmy Award for penning that killer “USS Callister” episode! “Soulmates” explores the notion of true love and its hidden consequences, both good and bad. AMC audiences weren’t too smitten with the dark show despite its provocative themes and it was ultimately given the heave-ho after only one six-episode season, but still deserves a rewatch!
“Farscape” (1999-2003)
Acolytes of “Farscape” can attest to the series’ innumerable merits and it’s an ideal way for Valentine’s Day revelers to spend a rousing evening bingeing episodes. Astronaut John Crichton falls into a wormhole and emerges in a remote galaxy where he’s rescued by a sentient spaceship named Moya and its colorful convict crew.
Created by Rockne S. O’Bannon, it has a particular quirky vibe that’s enhanced by creatures from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. On the romance side, the complicated, simmering love story between John Crichton and the long-living Sebacean, Officer Aeryn Sun, was a sweet star-crossed tale that seemed remarkably organic despite their troubles. Might they eclipse “Star Wars”‘ Han and Leia as sci-fi’s greatest galactic couple?
“Star-Crossed” (2014)
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Here’s another “humans and aliens trying to co-exist” project similar to the earlier “Roswell” show. The core of this CW series is a romance between a human girl, Emery, and an alien boy called Roman who met a decade earlier when the extraterrestrial visitors first crash-landed on Earth and were rounded up and placed in an internment camp.
Ten years later, the teenage Atrians are being integrated into a suburban high school for a controversial experiment to see if two species can live together peacefully. Emery and Roman engage in forbidden love with an added Romeo and Juliet-like element of conflict as it was Emery’s dad that accidentally killed Roman’s dad during the arrival battle. Mostly typical teen angst and romantic triangles but the show had its heart in the right place.
Poor ratings got ‘Star-Crossed” the axe after one season.
