Shows That Started Well but Eventually Sucked

Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds is a former galactic war veteran who is the captain of the transport ship "Serenity". Mal and his crew, ensign Zoe Alleyne Washburne; Zoe's husband, pilot Hoban 'Wash' Washburne; muscular mercenary Jayne Cobb; young mechanic Kaylee Frye; former Alliance medical officer Simon Tam; his disturbed teenage sister River (both on the run from the interplanetary government "The Alliance"); the beautiful courtesan Inara Serra; and preacher Shepherd Book do any jobs, legal or illegal, they can find as the Serenity crew travels across the outskirts of outer space.

In 1999, Moonbase Alpha, nestled in the Lunar crater Plato, is a scientific research colony and watchdog over silos of atomic waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side. On September 13, 1999, magnetic energy builds to cause an explosive chain-reaction of the waste, blasting the Moon out of Earth's orbit and off the plane of the ecliptic, out of the Solar System. The inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha are unable to return to Earth and must survive on their wandering Moon as it is displaced further into unknown space by freak space warps. Along the way, they are joined by an alien woman with the ability to change herself into any living creature at will.

The story of the House Targaryen set 200 years before the events of

Set in a high fantasy world where magic exists, but only some can access it, a woman named Moiraine crosses paths with five young men and women. This sparks a dangerous, world-spanning journey. Based on the book series by Robert Jordan.

On the same day in October 1989, forty-three infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a billionaire industrialist, who creates The Umbrella Academy and prepares his "children" to save the world. But not everything went according to plan. In their teenage years, the family fractured and the team disbanded. Now almost thirty years old, the six surviving members reunite upon the news of Hargreeves' passing. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Vanya and Number Five work together to solve a mystery surrounding their father's death. But the estranged family once again begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse.

When the Earth is destroyed a Vogon Demolition Fleet to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, Arthur Dent joins his friend Ford Prefect (who turns out to be a researcher for an electronic reference guide called the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) for a galactic voyage on which they meet Marvin, a depressed paranoid android, Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed ex-President of the Galaxy, and a familiar girl, Trillian. Their journey takes them from the remains of Earth to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

The second war against the Cylons is over, and The Twelve Colonies have been destroyed. Now Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galatica and President Laura Roslin lead a ragtag fleet of refugees in a supposed search for the fabled lost thirteenth colony, Earth. However, the dangers they face are many, which compound an already difficult situation. In addition to the Cylons hunting and attacking the fleet in space and their infiltrator units carrying out sabotage--even as their former unwitting pawn, Gaius Baltar, helps in the hunt for them while hiding both his own guilt and the strange presence that haunts his every thought--the fleet also faces internal political conflict in which the rabble-rousing figure Tom Zarek is merely the loudest dissenting voice, not to mention recurring shortages of food, water, and even oxygen. In the midst of these trials, however, clues begin to appear to suggest that Adama's bluff about finding Earth might hold more truth than anyone could have guessed.

Nathan, Kelly, Simon, Alisha and Curtis were expecting their community service to be boring. However after a freak thunderstorm they discover that it is anything but dull. Bestowed with strange powers, the five very different teens realize they have a lot more to worry about than just picking up litter, especially as they discover that they are not the only ones who have been given strange powers. Secrets will be revealed, feelings brought to the surface and relationships formed and broken. But hey, its only 12 weeks of community service; what's the worst that could happen?

Jen, a young, self-aware woman who lives in a world where everyone has a superpower except her.

How do you adjust to life after you've seen all of time and space? Sarah Jane Smith had every adventure possible until she had the one adventure she never dreamed of: she had a family. With her son Luke and her brave teen companions, Sarah Jane and Co. save the world when the doctor's not around.

Set 400 years in the future, the show follows the adventures of the Orville, a not-so-top-of-the-line exploratory ship in Earth's interstellar Fleet. Facing cosmic challenges from without and within, this motley crew of space explorers will boldly go where no comedic drama has gone before.

General Hammond summons Colonel Jack O'Neill out of retirement to embark on a secret rescue mission. O'Neill confesses that he disobeyed orders to destroy the Stargate on Planet Abydos, and that scientist Daniel Jackson may still be alive. Arriving on Abydos with his team, O'Neill meets up once again with the scientist, who has discovered a giant elaborate cartouche in hieroglyphics. All signs point to the fact that this is a map of many Stargates that exist throughout the galaxy - a development that makes the dream of the SG-1 team to travel throughout the universe in time a reality.

The past, present, and future lives of surviving Oceanic Flight 815 passengers are dramatically intertwined as a fight for survival ensues in a quest for answers after crashlanding on a mysterious island. Each discovery prompts yet more secrets, as the hastily-formed colony search for a way off the island, or is this their home?

In 2151, the mission of Her Majesty's Ship Camden Lock is to convince alien governments to relocate their businesses to Britain. The motley crew is a bunch of good-for-nothings led by the equally useless but well-meaning Commander Henderson.

His Dark Materials is one of the supreme works of imaginative fiction for both children and adults published in the 20th century. Northern Lights introduces Lyra, an orphan, who lives in a parallel universe in which science, theology and magic are entwined. Lyra's search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children, and turns into a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. In The Subtle Knife she is joined on her journey by Will, a boy who possesses a knife that can cut windows between worlds. As Lyra learns the truth about her parents and her prophesied destiny, the two young people are caught up in a war against celestial powers that ranges across many worlds and leads to a thrilling conclusion in The Amber Spyglass.

The series is set 97 years after a devastating nuclear war wiped out almost all life on Earth. The only known survivors are the residents of twelve space stations in Earth's orbit prior to the war. The space stations banded together to form a single massive station named "The Ark", where about 2,400 people live. Resources are scarce and all crimes no matter their nature or severity are punishable by death ("floating") unless the perpetrator is under 18 years of age. After the Ark's life support systems are found to be critically failing, one hundred juvenile prisoners are declared "expendable" and sent to the surface in a last ditch attempt to determine if Earth is habitable again. The teens arrive on a beautiful planet they have only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. However they discover that not all humanity was wiped out. There are people on Earth who survived the war, called "grounders" by the 100. The Ark consists of the space stations previously representing the nations of the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, China, Japan, India, Russia, Venezuela, France, Brazil, and Uganda.

It's been 40 years since the 12 colonies of mankind have heard from their progeny, the Cylons -- robotic creatures who rose up and declared war on their masters, then disappeared. In a sudden, devastating strike, the Cylons return and lay waste to the colonies, aided by human-looking Cylon variants and an unwitting fifth columnist. The attack forces Commander William Adama to call into action his museum-piece warship, the Battlestar Galactica, and soon its company of hotshot fighter pilots is blasting away at the invaders. But their best efforts can't prevent the colonies' obliteration. Fleeing the Cylon genocide, the Galactica leads a rag-tag fleet of survivors on a lonely quest to find humanity's fabled 13th colony -- a planet known as Earth.

With the Ancients' city of Atlantis discovered in the Pegasus Galaxy by Stargate Command, Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Major Sheppard lead a scientific expedition to the ancient abandoned city. Once there, the team not only find themselves unable to contact Earth, but their explorations unexpectedly reawaken the Ancients' deadly enemies, The Wraith, who hunger for this new prey. Now with the help of newfound local allies like Teyla Emmagan, the Atlantis Team sets about to uncover their new home's secrets even as their war of survival against the Wraith begins.