As sci-fi is perhaps my favorite genre when it comes to fiction, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that I enjoy reviews and breakdowns of some of my favorite science fiction shows. In particular, I enjoy YouTube channels which analyze the various ideas that certain TV shows and movies contain, and how well (or how not well) those ideas were executed and presented. Over the past year or so, I’ve narrowed down my YouTube viewing to just a few channels, five in particular, when it comes to my favorite for science fiction reviews.
Lorerunner
While Lorerunner is predominantly a Twitch streamer who plays a wide variety of video games, he also posts regular content about sci-fi series, as well. In particular, his Star Trek Ruminations are some of my favorite viewing when I’m unwinding after a long day of writing and search engine optimization. While he takes copious note while viewing each episode, he simply uses them as talking points, and the ruminations themselves are unscripted.
If nothing else, Lorerunner’s videos have given me new perspective about episodes of Star Trek: the Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager, the three Star Trek TV series he’s reviewed in total so far. His ruminations on Pixar movies and other popular films such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe are also quite enjoyable
Lorerunner even maintains his own website, on which you can see his upcoming schedule for both his gaming and rumination videos!
A single father of two, Lore Reloaded not only makes enough to feed his family with his phenomenal sci-fi video essays, but has enough to become involved with Star Trek fan projects, too. His mission is to make his viewers Lore Masters of the Star Trek universe. Lore Reloaded also has covered Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars lore.
Lore Reloaded is best known for his Dominion War Chronicles series, an in-depth breakdown of the War from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s fifth through seventh season, of which Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax on DS9’s seventh season) is a fan!
Rowan’s retrospectives are some of the best movie and television series documentaries I’ve ever watched on YouTube. While his Star Trek Retrospectives are probably his best known, he’s done excellent an excellent series on Babylon 5, as well. His retrospectives also include superhero movies such as Superman. The Scottish YouTuber also dabbles in gaming content that he contributes to his other channel.
SF Debris (Sci-Fi Debris)
Chuck of SF Debris (aka Sci-Fi Debris) is well known for his documentaries on many sci-fi films and franchises. His behind-the-scenes looks at Star Wars among others are some of the best content I’ve viewed on YouTube. Chuck is also well known for his Star Trek episode reviews, in which he drops his serious, documentary style for lots of tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic humor, which is right up my alley. Most of his Star Trek episode reviews reside on Chuck’s other channel, SFDebris Red.
While Steve gets a lot of crap for being an unashamed liberal and atheist (it doesn’t really bother me at all), his Star Trek related content is some of the best I’ve ever seen. He takes questions from actual viewers who subscribe to Patreon and goes in-depth with highly intellectual analysis of Star Trek episodes, characters, and situations.
I also happen to enjoy his videos debunking conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, although I don’t always agree with his findings; I certainly respect his opinions and analysis.
What are your favorite YouTube channels about science fiction?