10 Awesome Sci-Fi Series That Were Cancelled Too Soon

1. The Prisoner

The Prisoner was a darkly surreal series about a man identified only as Number Six trapped in a mysterious British village. Everyone in the village in identified by a number, with Number Two running the whole operation. Anyone who tries to leave is immediately captured by a sinister balloon named Rover. Number Six spent most of the series trying to escape the village and find out exactly what was going on while enduring everything from drugging to dream manipulation at the hands of his captors. It quickly became clear that Number Six was a former secret agent, and that Number Two has been tasked with finding out why he abruptly resigned from his job at the start of the series. As the show progresses, it gradually became clear that the village was a sort of prison for individuals deemed too dangerous to operate on their own, and where the residents were subjected to physical, emotional, and psychological torture. The Prisoner is best known for breaking just about every established rule of television storytelling. The plots were layered with the kind of mystery, symbolism, and enigma that, despite its comparatively short run of seventeen episodes, identify it as the original forerunner of countless surreal shows such as Twin Peaks and Lost. An American reboot of the show, created as a six-episode miniseries, aired in 2009. Predictably, it received a mixed response, to say the least. Who did we forget? There are so many great sci-fi shows out there that ended well before their time. Would you have rather seen Terra Nova on this list? V? Alphas? Let us know in the comment section below.