10 Best Sci-Fi TV Shows You Can Watch Online For FREE

2. Mystery Science Theater 3000

The Prisoner
Netflix

This comedy series initially aired in Minnesota in 1988, before moving over to Comedy Central for the majority of its original eight-year run. Frankly, it's one of the most bizarre things you'll ever see, even by today's standards, and it is the only entry on this list that is still being produced today.

The premise of the show focuses on a number of human test subjects - starting with Joel Robinson, a janitor - who is imprisoned aboard a spaceship by mad scientists, and forced to watch a series of bad movies in order to find one that will drive the test subject insane. In order to keep himself sane, Joel builds himself a number of robot companions who offer wisecrack commentaries during the showing of the movies.

Following its original run, the show was picked up by the Sci-Fi channel for three seasons, before a second cancellation in 1999. It seemed though there was no stopping it at this point - in 2015 creator Joel Hodgson successfully managed to crowdfund a revival released on Netflix. There's now been over 200 episodes of the hit show, along with a feature film.

It's probably not a major surprise that the show is considered one of the greatest cult shows ever made, and it also made Time magazine's 100 greatest TV shows ever list in 2007.

Contributor

Jamie is a freelance broadcast journalist and writer, with a particular obsession for sci-fi, theatre and politics. In his spare time he enjoys amateur dramatics and making homemade curries.