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What do you mean by "becoming" more mainstream? To me, it feels like scifi has been mainstream for a good 10~15 years.

cough 40.

Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Battlestar Galactica, Space 1999, Buck Rogers in 25th Century, ET, Back to the Future...

And I'm going to get massively downvoted if I don't mention Dr. Who....

Hardcore sci-fi fans like to draw a distinction between the fantasy and science fiction genres. They would probably decompose your list like so -- Fantasy: "Star Wars", "Buck Rogers", "Back to the Future"; Science Fiction: "ET", "Close Encounters", "Battlestar Galactica". I've never seen/read "Space: 1999" so I wouldn't know where it belongs.

Starwars and close encounteres might have been mainstream for adults, but until a bit more recently it was not considered a normal genre for mainstream audiences.

I Agree. (and I updated my passive wording)

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