What is the single best science fiction or fantasy franchise?

[Willie the Duck]

Greek mythology as a public domain "media franchise" does make a lot of sense.

The only gripe I'd have with this is that if you are doing impact and influence comparisons, this gives mythologies an overwhelming benefit (i.e. not 'fair'). Of course the sum collective storytelling/folklore tradition of an entire civilization (or civilizations) is going to have more powerful and influential pieces than something bound to one or a few set authors. If this were the other thread and the good/bad ratio was the central focus, then it might be a fairer comparison (actually kinda weighted against myths holding a tops spot, as massively multiple authors will cause regression to the mean). In this thread, however, it's kind of like asking (random analogy), 'who is the greatest Skateboarder* of all time, Tony Hawk or everyone who skateboarded in Greece since the hobby was invented?'

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Little known fact: Roman roads were created so that they would have good surfaces for skateboarding.

 

[GreyLord]

The only gripe I'd have with this is that if you are doing impact and influence comparisons, this gives mythologies an overwhelming benefit (i.e. not 'fair'). Of course the sum collective storytelling/folklore tradition of an entire civilization (or civilizations) is going to have more powerful and influential pieces than something bound to one or a few set authors. If this were the other thread and the good/bad ratio was the central focus, then it might be a fairer comparison (actually kinda weighted against myths holding a tops spot, as massively multiple authors will cause regression to the mean). In this thread, however, it's kind of like asking (random analogy), 'who is the greatest Skateboarder* of all time, Tony Hawk or everyone who skateboarded in Greece since the hobby was invented?'

That's not even a contest...it would be Tony Hawk...unless you count Shaun White in among the Greeks...

 

[Steel_Wind]

It's one of these:

Lord of the Rings/ Middle-Earth
A Song of Ice and Fire
The Wheel of Time
Harry Potter
Star Wars
Star Trek
Dune

You can pitch camp on any one of those hills to die upon and do so in good company. The rest is details.

HOWEVER, if your pick isn't one of those seven? You are wrong.

 

[Staffan]

If I must vote in an election for the greatest Star[thing] franchise, I'm going to back the dark horse.

Despite changing mediums and passing through multiple producers' and companies' hands, the Stargate franchise managed to not produce anything genuinely crappy for fifteen years (when the craptastic Stargate Universe premiered). And then, the powers that be had the good sense to let franchise to drift into a peaceful sleep, for the most part.

You make a fair point, though I'd argue that the last two seasons of SG-1 lost most of what made the series work in rebooting it. But other than those, Stargate is generally solid stuff. Rarely brilliant, but almost never bad.

That said, if I had to choose a franchise, it would be Discworld and it wouldn't be close.

 

[Mannahnin]

It's one of these:

Lord of the Rings/ Middle-Earth
A Song of Ice and Fire
The Wheel of Time
Harry Potter
Star Wars
Star Trek
Dune

You can pitch camp on any one of those hills to die upon and do so in good company. The rest is details.

HOWEVER, if your pick isn't one of those seven? You are wrong.

Potter over Discworld? Not in a million years.

 

[Dioltach]

Potter over anything is a huge question mark. From Earthsea to Free Lance to Rivers of London to Artemis Fowl, pretty much everything is better than Potter.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Potter over anything is a huge question mark. From Earthsea to Free Lance to Rivers of London to Artemis Fowl, pretty much everything is better than Potter.

The Potterverse art tends to be nice.

 

[Arakhor]

Two fantasy writers pretty much defined my childhood - David Eddings, who did the Belgariad/Malloreon and the Elenium/Tamuli, and Joe Dever, who wrote the Lone Wolf gamebooks. Dever only wrote one franchise and I even met him once, as opposed to Eddings, who wrote multiple franchises and turned out to be a convicted child abuser, so I'll have to give the crown to Dever.

For sci-fi, it has to be Star Trek by a country mile, though I'm quite fond of the Old Republic era of Star Wars. Of course, Star Wars isn't sci-fi, and Trek is very soft sci-fi, but still.

 

[GreyLord]

Two fantasy writers pretty much defined my childhood - David Eddings, who did the Belgariad/Malloreon and the Elenium/Tamuli, and Joe Dever, who wrote the Lone Wolf gamebooks. Dever only wrote one franchise and I even met him once, as opposed to Eddings, who wrote multiple franchises and turned out to be a convicted child abuser, so I'll have to give the crown to Dever.

For sci-fi, it has to be Star Trek by a country mile, though I'm quite fond of the Old Republic era of Star Wars. Of course, Star Wars isn't sci-fi, and Trek is very soft sci-fi, but still.

Lone Wolf is a GREAT series.

Dever wrote more than Lone Wolf though.

Some that come to mind are Combat Heroes (the first which is Black Baron, White Warlord, second Combat Heroes would be Scarlet Sorcerer and Emerald Enchanter), and the Freeway Warrior Series (like Mad Max, but written with UK sensibility with the setting as a nuclear Wasteland in the US).

For series that I love the best the crown for me would probably also go to Lone Wolf, but I don't think it probably would qualify as the best or greatest series for most people today.