In the mood to get weird?

Top three surreal science fiction shows.

For the past couple of decades, I’ve been a huge science fiction fan. As a kid I would watch Doctor Who with my father and as a teen I became a brown coat while watching firefly. After a while though, sometimes I would crave something unique, something someone obviously high on cough syrup wrote. There are many surreal science fiction shows out there, the mind-blowing the nonsensical and the ones that run over the fine line of being clever and being stupid.

These are my top three.

Legion

Legion is almost indescribable. Technically it’s set in the Marvel Universe and technically it’s about mutants. The story however follows the journey of David, a schizophrenic mutant telepath. There have been many Marvel Comics about psychic mutants however apart from some occasional mind reading and flinging objects around they rarely go into the concept that a telepath has power over the human mind. Legion is different. Instead of dramatically putting his fingers to his temple, David causes trippy hallucinations involving monsters and musical numbers. David is both the hero and the ultimate villain using his abilities to create surreal nightmares. Ultimately this is a show about that asks can we use trauma to justify evil?

What do I love about this show?

— I have never seen a program like this! The directors refuse to stick to one kind of film genre. Episodes jump from dreamy electric blue orchestra parts to black and white silent films within seconds. They depict scenes like mid 80s music videos.

- The program spends equal time with supporting characters. All the mutants have off the wall atypical powers. All the players are well-rounded.

What’s not to like?

- The characters' motivations can be a little confusing. They tend to chop and change what they want.

The second show on my list doesn’t spiral to the mind-bending heights of legion but it’s nevertheless a fan fave . Dirk Gently’s holistic detective agency began life as a series of novels written by the absurd humorist Douglas Adams. There have been quite a few Dirk adaptations over the years, although this one tries to create government science fiction conspiracies and has the typical “snarly” cop characters this one is still my favorite. This is mainly because of season two where the program comes into its themes. The ultimate idea behind the show is that everything is connected, something that Dirk witnesses first hand through his adventures in season 2.

What do I love about this show?

- It’s filled with odd ideas like pink haired princes who fight using giant scissors. None of it makes sense until it does.

- Dirk comes across as an adorable sweetie pie you root for.

What’s not to like?

- Despite being based on a British book with a British main character, most of the show is based on America. Seems like a a waste.

- The show has grandiose ideas but visually it looks like many other science fiction shows.

The last one on the list is based on a comic that should be unfilmable During the 80s Grant Morrison was well known in the indie comic scene. One of his most ambitious comics involved taking a long derided DC super hero team and reviving them. Revive them he did! Doom Patrol contained members such as Crazy Jane, a superhero with over fifty personalities, each of which had their own Powers. It contained villains such as Mr nobody the head of the brotherhood of Dadaism.

It made little to no sense, and it was such much fun.

Such an experiment should have been impossible to filmed and yet somehow it was pulled off.

What do I love?

- Certain stories were streamlined, characters from the older comics were added and philosophical concepts are explained by the hilarious narrator Alan Tudyk.

- It embraces the queer community, with characters such as Larry Trainer and Danny the Street.

What’s not to like?

- Alan Tudyk is not in season 2. He will be missed.

Well that’s all from me! There are countless other surreal science fiction shows thanks to the wonder of streaming services.