What is the single best science fiction or fantasy franchise?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Spinning out of another thread: What's the best science fiction or fantasy franchise? You can only pick one.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Spinning out of another thread: What's the best science fiction or fantasy franchise? You can only pick one.

Just for clarity: does it have to have been presented in multiple formats?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just for clarity: does it have to have been presented in multiple formats?

Nope. If the best franchise ever is something that only exists in airport paperbacks, it still counts.

 

[Reynard]

"Best" here for me is going to mean "most consistently well produced" rather than "personal favorite" or "nostalgiac" or anything. So, with that, I am going to say Star Trek.

Not that Star trek hasn't had its missteps, but across many forms of media there has been a great number of amazing Star Trek material, and even when it hasn't been for me it has been for someone.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Best" here for me is going to mean "most consistently well produced" rather than "personal favorite" or "nostalgiac" or anything. So, with that, I am going to say Star Trek.

Not that Star trek hasn't had its missteps, but across many forms of media there has been a great number of amazing Star Trek material, and even when it hasn't been for me it has been for someone.

Star Trek has certainly done a dramatic reversal from the days when even Trekkies were making up excuses to not see the movies in theaters.

 

[Reynard]

Star Trek has certainly done a dramatic reversal from the days when even Trekkies were making up excuses to not see the movies in theaters.

Just the odd numbered ones.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

That's pretty easy. If you measure it across media and across time, then you have Star Trek edging out Doctor Who. Arguably, modern nerd fandom in the United States as a popular culture began with the Trekkers/Trekkies (I have no bone in that semantic fight).

 

[Corinnguard]

What if it's in a galaxy that is far, far away?

 

[Vael]

Trek offers both a great setting, an optimistic belief in the future and some truly iconic characters ... so it's going to be Star Trek for me.

 

[Tonguez]

For Fantasy I’d have to give it to De Gestis Britonum aka Historia regum Britanniae, in it Geoffrey of Monmouth was able to weave in the fall of Troy, the founding of Briton Kings, the life of King Lear, Caesars invasion and the rise of the wizard Merlin and the Eternal King Arthur, in a world populated with magic, fairies, giants, dragons, demons and the Christian Saviour. That story has lasted a thousand years and is a major influence on the whole fantasy genre.

For sci-fi probably Star Trek, though I’d not discount Barsoomian or Flash Gordons contributions.