To be honest breh, the entire first season I would put against any show at any time...its that great. I don't have my episodes with me so I'm going off the dome here with a description and the themes/how I interpreted the episode (no spoilers though), that's how much I cherish this show; I watched it growing up and it is one of the reasons I became a social scientist and community activist:
1.A Feasibility Study-A neighborhood of humans are abducted in the middle of the night by a race of immobile, lazy, and rich aliens to serve as slave labor; If they do well, then the aliens will take the entire human race and bring them as slaves; Damning criticism on labor exploitation, black slavery, and capitalism. My favorite episode and is absolutely heartbreaking and inspiring the entire time. When I was a kid and saw this, it seriously changed how I look at alot of things.
2.Fun and Games-An ex boxer/crook and a woman are abducted by an alien to perform in a life or death murder game against another race of primitive, savage aliens...the winner of the match gets their lives and the lives of their respective planet. Powerful criticism on American war mongering during Cold War and our obsession as humans with violence. Also, there is a poignant theme of redemption: Can a person truly achieve redemption or does it have to be on some alien world to happen? Is western society prohibitive against redemption in marriage failure, career, childhood, etc. and resurrection?
3.The Duplicate Man-Character examination about a man who is charged with hunting the most deadly alien ever brought to earth, but he is such a coward that he creates a duplicate of himself to hunt it down instead. The problem is that the duplicate is of his younger self when he wasn't so much a coward and it starts to become self-aware that it is not a person...very sad story about life, death, and love. Most people are cowards; some of us are cowards about relationships, some of us are cowards about careers, some of us are cowards about how just approach everyday life...but we all are afraid of something. How do we deal with cowardice? How does it affect the ones we love? This episode is so multilayered its ridiculous. A real gem that is waaaaay ahead of its time.
4.O.B.I.T.-A machine exists that spies on people 24-7-365 at a research facility and the machine captures a monster killing a man one night...Powerful, powerful, POWERFUL criticism of America and other empires as police states and surveillance of people; nuff said here. Watch and be wowed.
5.The Architects of Fear-A CIA-type group creates a fake alien invasion to unite the warring countries around the world...this is the scenario that many people believe may happen one day with a fake alien attack used to create a one world government...I don't believe in that illuminati bullshyt, but I could see it happening in regards to building a new economic system with neoliberal global capitalism.
6.The Chameleon-An alien spaceship lands on earth and the military has no idea what their intention is to be here...so they hire the best secret agent ever to infiltrate the aliens and HOW he infiltrates the aliens is something you won't believe...its a criticism on American war mongering and the failure of American society and their obsession with individualism that causes many people to lose sense of themselves and their community...POWERFUL ENDING.
7.Second Chance-An alien abducts a few people from a carnival to repopulate his dying planet, but its against their will. A powerful story about how we waste our lives everyday chasing materialism, lust, and other trivial things and how many of us would want a second chance to start over if we could...this episode really stays with you for days after...
8.The Zanti Misfits-Earth is forced/coerced into using our planet as a penal system for an alien race, the Zantis, to send their criminals and "misfits" to live and die because the Zantis are incapable of executing their own species while humans are practice executioners...a powerful criticism on the death penalty and how westerners trivialize life and take it for granted. Bruce Dern in an early powerful role.
9.The Invisibles-A group of strangers are recruited by an alien race to act as "invisibles" in society: this means they blend in with various societies to plant alien host to takeover major govt. figures for invasion. The story is a criticism again on how individualism and capitalism alienates people from society, themselves, and community building. Many people everyday feel like the Invisibles in these episodes...
10.Don't Open til Doomsday-On his wedding night, a groom is trapped in a spaceship with an alien that is disguised as a gift; 35 years later, he is still trapped in the box, waiting for someone to come along and replace him...but his wife, who has since gone insane, has something to say about it... Another powerful episode about how we cannot trivialize the life and people in our lives; life is short and human connection is key to happiness.
11.The Guests-A Man enters a house and finds he cannot leave. There are 5 people in the house with him. Also, there is a giant alien force upstairs that has been holding the people captive in the house for over 300 years to study human emotion and now that man is apart of the experiment...or is he? This episode is about fear. Why do humans fear change and the future? Its also about how we view death and how we do everything to fight it.
12.The Mice-A convicted murderer is given one chance to be paroled...take part in a dangerous experiment that will send him to another planet where alien scientists await his arrival...This is a criticism on how we abuse people and animals in experiments and we take away their humanity...very powerful episode.
13.Tourist Attraction-A revolutionary takes over a country while an American fisherman captures a giant prehistoric monster that happens to still be alive...A very scarring criticism of fake revolutionaries that turn their countries into exploitative areas like the Soviet Union...love this episode for the political imagery and the dictator figure is an amazing character.
I can give you more recommendations, but these are the 13 best episodes imo.
Damn the one I mentioned was definitely Cold War related now I gotta go back and revisit
