Comments»

1. Jim Paul - July 30, 2009

Both shows are great and iconic.

2. MH - July 30, 2009

#1

AGREED

Too bad there will not doubt be the odd idiot who tries to bad mouth the merits of either series on this thread. BOTH shows have had an indelible influence on Science Fiction television and should be treated with equal regard, whether one likes them or not.

3. DavidJ - July 30, 2009

Cute girl, but too bad she’s not wearing something sexier. : (

And I think just the fact everyone on the planet pretty much knows what Star Trek is should make it more “successful” than DW. I’m a huge DW fan too, but come ON.

4. NX-2000 - July 30, 2009

#1 and #2 – I second (or, would it be third, now?) your sentiments. I’m a fan of both shows and consider them among the very best that science fiction has ever produced. (The recent “revival” seasons/series of Doctor Who were particularly amazing and what introduced me to Doctor Who.) Please, please, don’t get into fights and foul-tempered yelling spats over them!

5. Another Q - July 30, 2009

I like Andorian women for some reason. . .
Ever since Enterprise you know. . .
The antennae maybe. . .
Ah, it’ll come to me. . .

6. THX-1138 - July 30, 2009

Never really got into Dr. Who. But does that make me a bad person? I just prefer Star Trek is all. I know lot’s of reasonable, intelligent people who don’t like spicy food or Asian fare. It’s called a matter of taste.

But to say that Dr. Who is a more “successful” sci-fi series than Star Trek? Not better, but rather “successful”. No disrespect to DW and it’s many great fans, but get serious. Star Trek series have spawned 11 movies so far. And had to have generated way more money as a result.

Agreed with the sentiment that Guinness Book should stick to what it knows: Huge balls of twine and most chicken wings eaten at a single sitting. High brow stuff of that nature.

7. siphunclekaiju54 - July 30, 2009

Captain Kirk is climbing a mountain.

8. SirMartman - July 30, 2009

This is still the best music clip Ive ever seen,,,

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/821908/shatner_back_spoof_of_justin_timberlakes_sexy_back/

:o)

9. CarlG - July 30, 2009

What do you expect when they go with a category as nebulous as “successful”?

If they had just said “longevity” or “most revenue generated”, there wouldn’t be any ambiguity, but whatever…:P

@1, 2, 3, 4: Fifthed! I loves me some Doctor Who almost as much as Trek. And on a related note, Alexander Siddig is guest starring in one of the upcoming Doctor Who audio plays. I’m hyped! :)

10. Third Remata'Klan - July 30, 2009

I haven’t watched Doctor Who in at least fifteen years, and even then, I only saw it occasionally.

Nonetheless, I completely agree.

Both series are benchmarks of sci-fi, and should be treated with equal respect.

11. S. John Ross - July 30, 2009

I heart the Chonastock girls and you KNOW I heart Andorians, so the combination is always a delight.

I believe the article contains an error when it claims that Doctor Who has “a _total_ [emphasis mine] of 30 seasons and 753 episodes and a TV movie,” since while that’s already a handsome total, it overlooks the feature films and spinoff TV shows set in the same universe. If Deep Space Nine counts toward the Star Trek franchise mass, Sarah Jane Adventures (etc) surely counts toward the Whovian franchise total.

12. Andy Patterson - July 30, 2009

Now, those are the Andorians I like! And the horns are in the right place too.

13. Andy Patterson - July 30, 2009

“”I just wanted to expand on Andorians a bit more – I love the Original Series Andorians (miles cooler than Enterprise Andorians in my mind)”

And I’ve always said that. In my opinion the greatest missed opportunity for exploration of a race in the whole mythos of the show. Crazy but cool Reggie Nalder struggling to wrap his lips around the English language. Brilliant casting. Brilliant performance.

14. utterlee - July 30, 2009

Haha, I like the picture of the Enterprise shooting up the TARDIS.

But could the Enterprise tow the Earth across the galaxy? I THOUGHT NOT!

:-)

15. ProperTrekkieUK - July 30, 2009

I believe DW is more successful then ST for many reasons, especially in that it reaches, and is enjoyed more by, a wider audience. My girlfriend refuses to watch ST, liked the latest film though, but loves DW, which is a sentiment shared by everyone I knew at University and most of our friends. Whilst I am the biggest ST fan outside of the uniform wearing Trekkies you will ever find, I honestly hand on heart agree with what Guinness say…

…and complaining on here just seems a liiiiittle bitter more then anything

16. ProperTrekkieUK - July 30, 2009

Oh, and Andorian girls are hot…trying to persuade the girlfriend…well to do anything Trek related…no sexy red uniform as of yet, so I assume dressing up as an Andorian is out of the window…

17. wkiryn - July 30, 2009

Last I checked, Swords are banned in the UK (knife crime/no constitution right to self protection) – so batleths must be considered wall art. I’d be embarrassed to have one of those imitation batleths that look nothing like a real one – and I do have one that passes for the real thing.

TOS andorians are better.

Obviously Guinness is going solely off of oldest still functioning continuity.

18. ProperTrekkieUK - July 30, 2009

@ 17 – No not technically….as I have several swords. Possesion of an offensive weapon is illegal…and ambiguous!

And as for the lack of a constitutional right to defend, due to the amazing British legal system, we have a non-constitutional right to do anything we like. As we have no written constitution (with the exception of the Magna Carta), British people are constitutionally free to do whatever they like, and it is our laws that limit that freedom, as opposed to having our freedoms limited by a constitution…its a better, fairer and freer systems, and one that British people really don’t understand or appreciate!

19. The Bear - July 30, 2009

LOL! Oh boy, are we really geeks. We’re arguing more about Trek vs. DW and NOT clamoring about the sexy Andorian chick. I know she’s not an Orion Slave Girl, but come on – She’s HOT !

20. sean - July 30, 2009

HE WANTS TO MAKE LOVE TO THE MOUNTAIN

21. sean - July 30, 2009

Oh and #15, I’d say you’re right as far as the UK goes. In the US the reverse is true. A lot of people here aren’t familiar with Doctor Who at all, especially anything prior to David Tenant. Star Trek has far greater public recognition here.

22. jas_montreal - July 30, 2009

LOVE THE REMIX !!!

23. Some Dude on the Internet - July 30, 2009

She’s even hotter in the Starfleet uniform: http://chonastock.deviantart.com/gallery/#Star-Trek-Series-2

Pike shoulda just shown Kirk a few of those pix – he’d have signed up for the Academy on the spot.

Doctor Who kicks Star Trek’s blue a$$ – Harlan Ellison said so.

24. Brian from OR - July 30, 2009

With a title that has SUCK IT, STAR TREK in it, I remember why I do not read Entertainment Weekly.

25. FredCFO - July 30, 2009

Chonastock was awesome.

26. RD - July 30, 2009

“Dr. Who” vs. “Star Trek”. Ironically it’s the same argument as Star Trek: The Motion Picture vs. Star Trek (09).

27. MORN SPEAKS - July 30, 2009

I’ve never been this much in love with an alien!

28. S. John Ross - July 30, 2009

#15: I agree, absolutely.
#19: I agree, absolutely (although I posted on both).
#21: Sure, but it’s a book of _world_ records, not American records. I personally don’t have all the relevant data in front of me to compare world success of the two TV shows, do you? I do know it recently made news that an African despot may be hoarding lost Doctor Who episodes … :)

And such things fluctuate with the times, even if, objectively, they should be judged from outside the timeline, as it were. Right now, Doctor Who itself is an active TV show (albeit taking the year half-off for the handover) with two active spinoffs and a third spinoff on the way next year (K-9 adventures) … While Trek is still canceled back in the 1960s and all its spinoffs are currently just as canceled.

It’s a ridiculously subjective topic, to be sure … but as measures of “success” for a TV series goes, “nothing new airing, nothing new currently slated to air” versus “show and two spinoffs with third spinoff in production” has to count for something, surely.

29. The TOS Purist aka The Purolator - July 30, 2009

I like that Andorian girl….TOS is ALWAYS better than any of the cheesy spin-offs (even when it comes to alien races, like the Klingons, Vulcans, etc)! :D

30. S. John Ross - July 30, 2009

#29: Amen to that, with a quadruple dose of AMEN on the Klingons. The Klingons were utterly awesome in TOS, and I mourn them :(

31. Bobby - July 30, 2009

Can I respectfully suggest that one reason that Who gets the record and Trek doesn’t is that Who is a *series* and Trek is a *franchise*.

That is, Doctor Who is (taken as a whole) one continuous, ongoing series about the adventures of a single character (albeit with a fairly large hiatus between 1989 and 2005). Conversely, the Trek franchise is made up of several different series that are often only connected by the fact that they are set in the same fictional universe. After all, how much connection is there between TOS and Voyager, for example. The latest movie’s not even set in the same universe either!

If the record was for most succesful sci-fi franchise, I think Trek would beat who hands down. But if we’re talking about the success of a single, ongoing sci-fi series, it has to be Who.

32. Andy Patterson - July 30, 2009

19

Hey man I noticed her. I’m doubly in love for her because she likes the original Andorians too.

33. Eldon - July 30, 2009

The Tardis could fly circles around the Enterprise. Doctor Who wins hands down.

34. Daoud - July 30, 2009

#31 Moreover, consider the population viewing the respective series.

How many eyeballs watched Star Trek?

How many on Doctor Who?

The ratio would probably be relative to the ratio of populations of the United States to that of the United Kingdom, hence about 5:1.

If everyone in Whoville watched Doctor Seuss Trek, and it ran for umpty-umpteen years, wouldn’t it be more successful? I mean, umpty-umpteen years with umpteenty-umpty-umpt episodes is much more than Doctor Who or Star Trek.

Even though there are but umpty-five people in Whoville….

Oh, Cindy Lou, what will we do?

I think we should count hours of content. Weren’t the original Who episodes about 25 minutes long until 1989? Just to add more apples and oranges to the discussion….

I expect someone to calculate the total hours of product of DW and ST by tomorrow… get out your calculators!

35. CarlG - July 30, 2009

@29, 30: I don’t know, the Andorians on Enterprise were absolutely fantastic — especially with the mobile antennae.

36. S. John Ross - July 30, 2009

#31: “If the record was for most succesful sci-fi franchise, I think Trek would beat who hands down.”

It’d definitely be a different slant on things, that’s for sure, although full-on franchise-comparison also opens the door to other heavy contenders, like the big comic-book universes (which are every bit as sci-fi … and every bit as fantasy … as both Star Trek and Doctor Who).

In terms of endurance and breadth, the D.C. universe has had success in every imaginable medium since the days when most of the imaginable media were brand new, still working out the kinks in sound and not even thinking about adding color or stereo :) Feature films, matinee serials, TV shows, radio shows, comic magazines, newspaper comics, novels, short fiction, scads of computer games, toys, figurines, lunchboxes, cartoon series … all for decades before Doctor Who or Star Trek ever existed, and right up to the present day (and that’s _just_ considering Batman and Superman, let alone the cumulative additions made by Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, the Justice League, etc).

37. S. John Ross - July 30, 2009

(okay, not ALL for decades before Trek and Who … the computer games are a bit later to the party) :)

38. Spockish - July 30, 2009

Nice collection of fan performance art. The andorian girl is cute but I like the brunette earth girl better. And the Barbarella art was nice and the first besides the movie and movie promo pictures I’ve seen.

I still think the 200+ Klingon nude girl collection I got back in 2002 is the best, it’s not just the bare curves that makes it good, the women look more natural in the pictures. As the 2 girls here look almost staged photo subjects. But so do some of the photos from the filming of TOS in the 60’s.

It must all be in the talent of the photographer/director that counts.

39. Spockish - July 30, 2009

As for computer games the first game was spacewar in 1965, the first star trek game was in 1971-2 (programming started in the winter of1971 and finished in the summer of 1972).

I tought my self how to program in BASIC from a program code listing from a HP timesharing Main frame in the summer of 1976.

Herd of a Dr. Who game cartridge in 2006.

The British never really made TV as anything big or popular in the 60’s like Hollywood did. I recall Dr. Who use to be called a Teleplay as all British TV was called in the 60’s. They did not label them TV shows until 1974. I think it was The Avengers that got the name to go from play to show.

Then I think the movie count answers who wins, Trek 11 Who 1.

And then the final factor, how many fan shows to copy the televised show,
Trek 8 (that I’ve collected) Who ZERO that I’ve herd of, but never looked for.

The only good point for Dr, Who is with the Star Trek fan shows and the 5 series, Dr. Who may have a a couple of hand fills more (thats around 10). But by next years end Star Trek may pass or equall the Doctors record. That depends on either the British season show count of 12-14 or the American show count of 23-26. (those counts based on show count averages over the last 2 years on shows I’ve watched.)

40. Spacehamster - July 30, 2009

Since people are indulging in another flamewar on Who vs Trek, let’s not forget that Stargate is another long-running franchise as well. As for me – these two series were the cornerstones of my childhood. Star Trek was the first series to show me that people with diverse backgrounds can work together for the betterment of humanity. Doctor Who had one of the first heroes I ever saw who used his intelligence rather than his fists to beat the bad guy.

It’s great to see both of my childhood favourites updated succesfully for a modern audience. As I recall, there were plenty of people that were sceptical that Russell T Davies and JJ Abrams could pull it off. But they did, and for that I’m very grateful.

41. Spockish - July 30, 2009

I use to watch StarGate every time it came on Showtime, and every now and then when The Sci-Fi channel bought it. It seems that Sci-Fi bought the name of the show and the preformers but they failed to buy the creative writing crew also with the show. But that all could be a paycheck factor. Showtime had big pockets and Sci-Fi has to spend its money paying unions, distributors and the Feds (payroll and taxes(health, welfare, retirement, unemployment))

42. S. John Ross - July 30, 2009

#39 says: ” Then I think the movie count answers who wins, Trek 11 Who 1.”

Doctor Who has had two feature films. Both starred Peter Cushing as the Doctor, one in 1965 and one in 1966. Doctor Who also had a made-for-TV movie starring Paul McGann as the Doctor.

That side, are you seriously suggesting that the defining criteria for the success of a television series is the amount of _non-TV_ tie-in merchandise it spawns? That’s what I’m reading from your phrase “the movie count answers who wins.” Why on earth would the movie count answer who wins?

“And then the final factor, how many fan shows to copy the televised show, Trek 8 (that I’ve collected) Who ZERO that I’ve herd of, but never looked for.”

You’d have “herd” of many if you’d bothered looking; Who fans have been making fan-made films, video programs and audio dramas for decades, and have (like Star Trek fan-producers and others) a history of loaning their homegrown props to professional productions in a pinch, too.

What made you conclude that your inability to “her” of Doctor Who fan shows (when you admit you made no attempt to) is the “final factor” in the success of the TV shows?

43. DJT - July 31, 2009

I admit, I heart the Chonastock girls, too.

Keep it up, ladies. You are awesome.

44. Jim Smith - July 31, 2009

Doctor Who is a single series, Star Trek is a grouping of related series under a single IP/Franchise. No individual Star Trek series could claim Doctor Who’s longevity – with or without gaps. Star Trek (IP) has inevitably made much, much more than Doctor Who because of its cinematic success and greater amounts of merchandise over a longer time. In terms of screen hours, they’re about equal. Doctor Who is older.

In terms of ratings, the US audience is bigger but more splintered. Plenty of recent episodes of Doctor Who have touched the 10 million viewers mark (in the UK). That’s a lot more than sci-fi programming (BSG or whatever) can manage in the US, these days. TNG’s highest TV ratings (c26 million) ever are higher than Doctor Who’s, (16million) but they’re a much smaller proportion of the population of the series’ primary market.

In the UK Doctor Who has a cultural penetration roughly equivalent to Star Trek’s in the US. And vice versa. Neither show is anything like as well known in the other’s country, although Star Trek, having been properly networked on major channels, is better known in the UK than Who is in the US.

Which is to say that you could argue it both ways if you took the whole franchise up against Doctor Who, but not really both ways if you took an individual Trek show up against Doctor Who.

Me? I like both series a lot. I do see the need for a smackdown.

45. Jim Smith - July 31, 2009

@39

> The British never really made TV as anything big or popular in the 60’s like > Hollywood did. I recall Dr. Who use to be called a Teleplay as all British TV > was called in the 60’s. They did not label them TV shows until 1974. I think >it was The Avengers that got the name to go from play to show.

That’s just, er, gibberish, dude. Seriously. I write about the history of British TV for a living and that’s, like, more mistakes than words.

46. locutus - July 31, 2009

Am I being an idiot but I only count 29 star trek series? 3 TOS + 1 TAS + 7 TNG + 7 DS9 + 7 VGR + 4 ENT = 29.

47. locutus - July 31, 2009

I personaly love Star Trek and Dr Who. Im from the UK which makes Dr Who that much cooler that a low budget UK show (well the early stuff, especially the third doctor episodes) can compete with a huge Ameican show.

Also Dr Who has had three movies, however two of them are non canon remakes of episodes. But they are still pritty good.

48. William Kirk - July 31, 2009

Beautiful Andorian :-) Wow…I like this original looking more than the new one. TOS Andorian – looking women are more sexy in my opinion :-)

49. Jim Smith - July 31, 2009

@ 46 Two TAS.

50. Stu - July 31, 2009

Just wanted to note that I think in terms of creating and perpetuating a mythology, Doctor Who trumps Star Trek; he’s the modern equivalent of Robin Hood or the Camelot myths with no single creator and many different interpretations across a vast range of media, a chorus of writers adding to, reinterpreting and recreating the story over and over, truly a shared story and universe.

For some fans there was an unbroken run of stories from 1963 through until now as the Virgin New Adventures covered the period between the late 80s to 1996 to the TV movie then the BBC Book Eighth Doctor stories between then and 2005, along with (in parallel) the comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine and from 1999 the audio adventures from Big Finish.

51. CaptainDonovin - July 31, 2009

The Andorian girls are hot but I prefer the Enterprise version of them.

52. The Last Maquis - July 31, 2009

Man That Andorian gal Is Hard Core, straight up Classic version, Kewl.

53. Nuallain - July 31, 2009

On Trek v Who, I think it’s fair to say that Trek is the most successful *franchise* but that’s not the same thing as most successful *show*.

I mean, I think it’s fair to say that if you count Star Trek as individual shows and exclude the movies (because, again, they’re not “shows”) then no *single* incarnation of Trek approaches Who’s reach (and as a side point, the article above compares all Trek spin-offs to Who sans spin-offs — the whole Whoniverse consists of 36 seasons and 820 episodes thus far, with a further 4 seasons and 60 episodes already in production, though personally I wouldn’t have counted the cartoons from either side)

Similarly, *globally* I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Who got higher ratings than Trek despite never really taking off in the states. While TOS was always well known but fringe programming in the States and in Europe, Who was a mainstream show in the UK pulling in audiences of 10m frequently throughout its run. Certainly if you added together all the ratings for every episode of Who it would outpace the ratings for any single Trek series by a considerable margin.

The DVD thing is, perhaps, a little unfair, since 2|Entertain’s canny release practices mean sales are much higher than they might have been with just DVD season boxsets.

But, anyway, it’s all just numbers. Doesn’t mean anything at all about the quality of the respective shows, anymore than, I dunno, *any* show getting higher ratings proves a damn thing about it other than its popular.

I’m sure people can petition Guinness to create a “Most Successful SF *FRANCHISE*” category that Trek will probably walk away with.

54. earthclanbootstrap - July 31, 2009

Bless you, Chonastock, Bless you. Howzabout some Blue vs. Green… :-)

55. Kirk, James T. - July 31, 2009

I don’t think anything can match Star Trek in it’s success – it’s the father of all that we know and love about Science Fiction today and whilst Doctor Who was begun before Star Trek – it’s tone has not really changed – rather than being intelligent and deep television, Doctor Who is very much cut out of the before Star Trek Sci-Fi cloth, very very cheesy, dubious science and cheesy effects that appeals to Children first and foremost (this doesn’t suggest however, by any means, only kids can love it).

Star Trek has remained intelligent and whilst the science in the new movie might be a little ropey, it’s still got a depth Doctor Who could never ever have.

56. CmdrR - July 31, 2009

Blue has always been my favorite color.

57. Peek Hard - July 31, 2009

Why is he climbing the mountain?????

Love it!

58. dion1701 - July 31, 2009

Finally! PROOF SHATNER CAN SING!

59. AJ - July 31, 2009

That Shatner Rap has me in stitches. I’d go out and buy it.

60. S. John Ross - July 31, 2009

#55: “… the science in the new movie might be a little ropey …”

Pishtosh; the new film cleaves to only the latest, most respected scientific consensus on the properties of Red Matter, and maintains Star Trek’s sterling tradition of only including the most scientifically-plausible green-blooded aliens with psychic superpowers.

61. Irishtrekkie - July 31, 2009

…………did the Dr Who Movie just make $380 million dollars ? …….no ? oh well STAR TREK FOR THE WIN !

62. Dawn Hewitt - July 31, 2009

#39 “And then the final factor, how many fan shows to copy the televised show,
Trek 8 (that I’ve collected) Who ZERO that I’ve herd of, but never looked for.” They exist. The Children in Need special done while the series was off the air, Curse of Fatal Death, used sets and props FROM a fan made TV series of Doctor Who.

There is one detail about this missing from this article and the EW article, though maybe this detail is a red herring. The presenter also mentioned illegal downloads. Maybe he just did so for a laugh. Anyway, I got the impression that they meant ‘most widely watched’ as the measure of success. I am assuming full details will be in the new book. Since those stats are the product they sell, I don’t blame them for not getting into it before the book comes out. They did this as a teaser to raise interest in the new book.

Also, keep in mind that there is more to the world than the US and the UK. If either show has a following in China, Japan or India, that would swing the numbers HUGELY. India and Japan tend to have a strong interest in UK culture. It’s easy to assume that the US is the only country making a global impact with our culture, but it’s not the case. While every schoolkid in Japan is taught English, it’s not always American English. Some districts teach American, some British and some Australian.

Anyway, Guiness wanted to stir contraversy to drive book sales, and they did so :)

63. RD - July 31, 2009

#62 Dawn Hewitt wrote: Also, keep in mind that there is more to the world than the US and the UK.

Heresy – we are only concerned about US domestic box office on this site.

Haven’t you noticed most of Trek’s cast of characters is dominated by white male Americans (including Spock)?

64. Troubled Tribble - July 31, 2009

BOTH shows pale in comparison with the mighty Lost in Space.

The Doctor is no substitute for Dr Smith and Data is a very poor Robot!

65. Kathryn Janeway - July 31, 2009

I second what Sean said about Dr. Who being a lot less popular outside the UK. I’m in Canada and here Dr. Who is not nearly as popular as Star Trek. It’s to the point where you can’t even compare the two because the difference is so great. I grew up watching Star Trek on TV whereas I heard about Dr. Who for the first time maybe 10 years ago and even then I had never watched even one episode because it had never been on TV until maybe 5 years ago.

Now with the success of Torchwood we are getting more of Dr. Who but even then, it’s only being shown on the Space channel, whereas Star Trek used to be broadcast on regular channels, which means much more exposure.

I say Guiness’s numbers are rigged… :D

66. Balok - July 31, 2009

What’s the name of the doctor?
No, Who’s the doctor.
Who’s the Doctor?
That’s right, Who….
…First base.

Hey, Orci, please tell JJ to put the Andorian babe in the next movie, you can call her “Carol Marcus” to really mess with us old timers…

67. Troubled Tribble - July 31, 2009

I like both shows.

But I guess it depends how you define success. The article above equates success with lucrative, but obviously that cannot be the test used by Guinness. Clearly the Star Trek franchise has made more money.

Perhaps Guinness restricted the comparison to TOS only, excluding the movies.
This would be a clearer comparison as TNG DS9 VOY and ENT are spin offs. Doctor Who has been one long, albeit not continuous, series.

Doctor Who has only been made by one company; the BBC.
Though Star Trek was produced by Desilu, the Star Trek franchise has been owned/produced by Desilu & Paramount.

You have to compare like for like. It says most succesful sci-fi *series*
Not more successful sci-fi franchise.

If that were the case we would have to start including Star Wars, Terminator, Alien etc.

68. Lt. Bailey - July 31, 2009

I saw those Klingons at the Vegas Convention, they were a riot and had a lots of fun back then. Having spent many a time in Quarks at STTE, I have come to the conclusion that Klingons know how to have a good time….must be the Bloodwine.

69. PunkSpocker - July 31, 2009

Of course Star Wars won the poll, it’s a dumbed-down version of Star Trek. Star Trek makes people think too much and is about peace and greatness. I’ll be around in 20 years and we’ll see what survives as the greatest!

70. S. John Ross - July 31, 2009

#67 sez: “But I guess it depends how you define success.”

Just randomly offhand (and BARELY scratching the surface) it could be any possible combination of:

* Years on air.
* Consecutive years on air.
* Duration of original show.
* Combined durations of spinoffs.
* Profile of talent attracted to working on the show or its spinoffs (in terms of celebrated writers, celebrity guest appearances, etc)
* Worldwide Viewership/ratings of original show.
* Worldwide Viewership/ratings of spinoffs.
* Size of worldwide broadcast market.
* Global name recognition of show, character names, etc.
* Genre/Medium accolades (Emmy, Hugo, Nebulas, BAFTA, etc)
* Number and sales of paperback novelizations
* Number and viewership of matinee serials
* Number and listenership of radio or audio dramas
* Number and sales of comic-book tie-ins
* Number and ticket sales of cinema tie-ins
* Number and sales of videogame tie-ins
* Genre/Medium accolades for any of the tie-ins
* Breadth, depth, and duration of toy tie-ins
* Scale of annual conventions devoted entirely to show or spinoffs
* Number, readership, and duration of magazines devoted entirely to show or spinoff
* Number, readership, and durations of fanzines devoted entirely to show or spinoff
* Sheer volume of deeply crappy fan fiction devoted to show
* Theoretical volume of potentially uncrappy fan fiction devoted to show
* Breadth of appeal (comparison of popularity with different age groups, gender groups, ethnic groups, social classes, education levels, etc)
* Impact on other, unrelated shows.
* Number of simultaneous spinoffs supported by audience (Next week on Doctor Who: The Doctor snogs someone again! Next up it’s Doctor Who Confidential, and then a special devoted to forthcoming seasons of Torchwood, Torchwood DeClassified, Sarah Jane Adventures, K-9 Adventures, and Totally Doctor Who!)
* Number of languages show and spinoffs typically translated into.
* Career profiles of actors attributable to participation in show.
* Academic writings devoted to show.
* Non-fiction fan writings devoted to show (articles, essays, etc)
* Whether or not it’s by Joss Whedon.
* Depth of flamewars devoted to show.
* Number of Internet misspellings and mis-namings commonly attributed to show (Doctor Spock, Darlek, etc).
* Number of people who’ve either knitted a giant scarf or had their ears surgically mangled in honor of the show.
* Theme weddings, number of, and typical years before divorce from.
* Pop-culture references (Jokes by talk-show hosts, appearances in political cartoons, offhand references in daytime soap operas)
* Mainstream acceptability (or “Is there a stigma associated with being a fan of the show?” inversely).

And so on. It would be child’s play to rattle off _hundreds_ more, and then the fun is assigning each criteria a weight (and when it comes to that, it’s 100% subjective …) and metrics.

So, adding it all up: I believe the most successful SF TV series in history is “Salvage One,” everybody’s favorite show about Andy Griffith in space.

71. VulcanNonibird - July 31, 2009

@62 – I agree, whole world success should be counted in.

It’s a two-sided sword – okay in this case Trek leads it, as Doctor Who is mainly a british phenomenon. I come from germany and love Who, but nearly anyone knows it here – but Trek is as known as in the States.

On other cases it’s sad to see that movies that made fortunes – and I really mean tens of millions are said to be flop – but they ONLY flopped in the US. What would Locutus say: “You studio executives have a narrow vision!” (-:

On a personal note: I like the Who DVDs of the classic series more than the new Trek release. First, they have the better and more funny extras and Second, they have the old and new effects on the discs – while Trek makes those exclusive to the Blu-Ray which sucks.

72. MH - August 1, 2009

While we’re at it, why not add Star Wars and Lord of the Rings to this geek masturbatory debate.

73. S. John Ross - August 1, 2009

#72: Because they aren’t TV series (although, in fairness, Star Wars has had a couple as spin-offs).

That said, any opportunity to bash Tolkien is welcome, so bring it on :)

74. sensor ghost - August 4, 2009

I just love deviantART.