The Most Underrated Sci-Fi TV Shows Of The 2010s

Seasons & Episodes: 5 / 64

Details: Warehouse 13 is about a group of Secret Service agents working for the titular facility, where they go on missions to recover dangerous artifacts of historical significance. These could include Lewis Carroll's mirror (which has the spirit of Alice trapped inside) and other interesting items. They carry an electric gun called a "Tesla," named after the man who invented it, and each agent also has a small television communicator, which was invented by Farnsworth, the man who invented the TV.

The series was almost prematurely canceled, but SyFy renewed it for a fifth and final season, which was cut down to only six episodes. The show had to rush its ending, but it found a way to come to a satisfying conclusion. Technically, this series premiered in 2009, but 85% of the show hit our television sets between 2010 and 2014.

Seasons & Episodes: 4 / 42

Details: In the year 2077, a group of extremists find a way to time travel to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in the year 2012. Despite being a few decades early, they decide to continue carrying out their ideological strikes in the past. Their goal is to stop corporations from growing into replacements for world governments, but a police officer who unintentionally accompanies them to the past is working to thwart their plan while keeping the fact that they are from the future secret from the world.

The series was canceled in the middle of the story at the conclusion of the third season, but the network allowed for a truncated fourth season consisting of six episodes, which gave fans a conclusion.

Seasons & Episodes: 3 / 38

Details: Defiance takes place on Earth, but it's a planet very different than the one we know. After aliens come to colonize Earth, their terraforming tech results in changes to the landscape, the extinction of many plant and animal species, and the emergence of entirely new species. The show takes place in 2046, and humans live among several different alien races, all vying to make their way in life. The strange setting is transposed over old-world St. Louis.

The series was canceled by SyFy for financial reasons, and while the television story did come to an end, Defiance lives on in a companion video game of the same name. The game was made by Trion Worlds, which continues to update it, and has announced no plans for a sequel; rather, it will continue to update the game with new content, serving as a fourth season of the show.

Seasons & Episodes: 3 / 34

Details: Travelers is a Canadian-American sci-fi show with an unusual premise: After the world comes to an end via a stellar object, which sends it into a new ice age, people from the future have their minds sent into the bodies of people in the past, only moments before their recorded demise. Each "Traveler," as they're called, has a specific mission to try and stop the events that send the planet into an apocalypse. They face challenges related to their own memories, their relationships with loved ones whom they've never met before, and the implications of their actions on the future/their past.

Travelers was just getting a hold on itself when the series got the axe from the network. It only aired for three seasons, and while it could have gone on for several more, it concluded in a way that managed to tie up the story without leaving fans too distressed about its cancellation.

Seasons & Episodes: 3 / 26

Details: Dark is a German sci-fi/thriller set in the fictional town of Winden, Germany. The series follows the aftermath of a child's disappearance and the four estranged families that are strangely connected. They slowly unravel a conspiracy involving time travel, which spans three generations. The series explores the existential implications of human nature, and how it is potentially impacted by time travel.

Dark aired 26 episodes over three seasons seasons, with its third final season dropping on Netflix in 2020.

Seasons & Episodes: 3 / 36

Details: In Colony, the world exists under the militaristic rule of an alien race known only as the Hosts. Little is known about them, outside of their incursion on a day simply known as the "Arrival" sometime in the relatively recent past. They descended via giant rectangular vessels, which acted to wall off large urban areas. Many of the "walls" are hundreds of meters thick and up to 30 stories in height. Cities are blocked off with smaller blocks, all of which make up a Colony. Resistance fighters exist under the foot of the totalitarian society as collaborators are targeted and humanity attempts to restore its sovereignty on Earth.

The series was highly praised by fans and critics alike, but it was canceled at the conclusion of its third season. Stephen King was an outspoken fan, saying, "In a year of remarkable TV, Colony is really something special: smart, suspenseful, subversive... thought-provoking."