Science Fiction
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and the Amazing……
Somewhere in the 1960’s Science Fiction became a masterful genre that began to gain a widespread audience. Today it has a huge following and integrates regularly into the mainstream. My passion for film was born in Science Fiction, and not surprisingly my favorite films ever stem from the Sci-Fi genre. It’s difficult for me to really loathe a Sci-Fi film, but it’s happened on more than one occasion. Here is a list of some of the more memorable Science Fiction movies in the last fifty years, and where they fall on my list. To voice your own opinion, a new poll has been conceived. Pick your favorite science fiction movie ever, and in thirty days I will post the results.
A penny for your thoughts? I adore the fact that my own top three are sequels, and I am generally allergic to sequels. Go Figure.
The Good
Vanilla Sky
Men In Black II
The Butterfly Effect
I, Robot
The Island
A Scanner Darkly
Slither
Meet The Robinsons
Innerspace
batteries not included
Masters Of The Universe
Transformers
Babylon A.D.
Cloverfield
The Happening
Jumper
The Clone Wars
Outland
The Dead Zone
Runaway
Starman
Cocoon
Weird Science
Howard The Duck
Happy Accidents
The Running Man
Spaceballs
The Blob
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids
The Andromeda Strain
Mad Max
Barbarella
Lost World: Jurassic Park
Signs
Independence Day
Unbreakable
The Stand
Reign Of Fire
Stargate: Continuum
Stargate: The Ark Of Truth
Tin Man
I Am Legend
The Time Machine
The Cell
Frequency
The Stepford Wives (Original)
Flatliners
Spaced Invaders
The Lawnmower Man
Virtuosity
Memoirs Of An Invisible Man
TimeCop
Johnny Mnemonic
Outbreak
Escape From New York
Multiplicity
Contact
The Fifth Element
The Faculty
Godzilla
The X-Files
The Chronicles Of Riddick
Donnie Darko
V For Vendetta
The Thing
Grindhouse
The Iron Giant
Universal Soldier
Short Circuit
Slither
Soylent Green
Doom
A.I.
Gattaca
Lost In Space
Minority Report
The Road Warrior
Being John Malkovich
Watership Down
Underworld
Matrix Reloaded
Matrix Revolution
Demolition Man
Jurassic Park III
Back To The Future II
Back To The Future III
Star Treks (Original Cast)
Star Trek The Next Generation’s Feature Films
Equilibrium
The Truman Show
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
The Stepford Wives (original)
Pi
Starship Troopers
The Bad
Alien vs. Predator
The Invasion
Aeon Flux
Planet Of The Apes (Tim Burton)
Face/Off
Timeline
Lady In The Water
Sunshine
The 6th Day
Mission To Mars
Red Planet
Stepford Wives (Nicole Kidman version)
Mimic
Deep Impact
Sphere
War Of The Worlds
The Thirteenth Floor
Alien 3
Terminator 3
Alien Resurrection
Zathura
Robots
The Day After Tomorrow
Paycheck
Dreamcatcher
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
The Ugly
Stargate
Armageddon
Battlefield Earth
Event Horizon
Waterworld
Rollerball (2000 version)
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem
Perfect Creature
Hollow Man
The Amazing
Alien
The Abyss
Wall-E
Back To The Future
Star Wars (Both Trilogies)
Children Of Men
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (Donald Sutherland)
E.T.
Jurassic Park
Total Recall
ExistenZ
RoboCop
Rollerball (original)
Galaxy Quest
Apollo 13
Dune
Planet Of The Apes (Chuck Heston)
Ghostbusters
Westworld
A Clockwork Orange
Logans Run
The Omega Man
Superman
Predator 2
Close Encounters Of A Third Kind
My Personal Top Ten Science Fiction Favorites
10. Serenity/Pitch Black
9. The Matrix
8. Predator
7. The Terminator
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan
4. Blade Runner
3. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
1. Aliens
Popularity: 8% [?]
tee hee you called him Chuck Heston
AWESOME!
I did like the The Thirteenth Floor however
Can’t be helped George. That’s how my family referred to him growing up. Good ole Chuck!
Soylent Green is THE PEOPLE!!!!!!! Ahhhhh!
I can’t believe that Blade Runner only hit 4 on your list. Sadness wells in my heart now! HAHA!
I agree, Blade Runner would have probably been #2 on my list and Rollerball #1, and it didn’t even make it to the Top Ten.
And 2001: A Space Oddysey was a piece of crap.
Haaaaaaaaal Haaaaaaaaaal. It just got annoying.
Awww C’Mon Hagi! Aliens to me, is what Blade Runner is to you. The source of all cinematic inspiration. The perfect film if there ever was one. T2 is a close second. Empire Strikes Back may have had it’s faults, but Star Wars must be embraced despite it’s faults. It’s part of loving Star Wars. Blade Runner as #4 is a HUGE acknowledgement considering I’m the Sci-Fi junkie I am. I adore it. ha!
C.J., I totally agree Rollerball is one of the best Science Fiction films made, it’s just not my personal favorite, though it’s up there. 2001 is very much so a film of particular taste, and I adore Kubrick, so that’s why it’s on my list, also being one of the first films to really change the face of Science Fiction, I have the utmost respect for it.
I’ll give you Aliens and Star Wars. Both great films. Of course I grew up on Star Wars and I vividly remember watching it every time that I went to my grandparents house because my aunt had them on VHS. But T2, while a good film, I can’t say it tops Blade Runner.
I’ll take into account that you do still love Blade Runner. That calms my soul! HAHA! I can never manage to narrow my favorite films down to a list, I’d only end up changing it or it would wind up a top 100 list.
Oh, I feel your pain there. Aliens has stayed my favorite ever, but my top ten list is a constant changing thing. Different times incite different reasons for loving a movie.
I mostly agree with your top 10, but I don’t consider Star Wars science fiction. It is a fantasy with sci-fi elements, it’s a great movie but should be on some other list. I would also drop Predator, good but not top ten material. I would add some classics, Forbidden Planet and maybe the original The Day the Earth Stood Still or Soylent Green
Star Wars…not sci-fi? are you serious….you shouldn’t drink and write
I have to agree with George to a large degree here. Maybe not that you’re drunk Trekkerbud, but Star Wars not being Science Fiction? That’s an incredibly bold statement to make.
“Science fiction film is a film genre that uses speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that aren’t necessarily accepted by mainstream science. such as extra-terrestrial life forms, alien worlds, and time travel, often along with technological elements such as futuristic spacecraft, robots, or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to provide social commentary on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues, such as the human condition. In many cases, tropes derived from written science fiction may be used by filmmakers ignorant of or at best indifferent to the standards of scientific plausibility and plot logic to which written science fiction is traditionally held.”
Star Wars implements all those qualities while only mildly touching on the fantasy genre.
I could see maybe Predator not be included in Science Fiction, but my top ten was not a list of the best(Soylent Green would still not be in that top ten either), it was a list of my personal favorites, but thank you for including your thoughts.
I think the greatest thingbaout Science Fiction is the fact that it can be so ambiguous.
~Heather
First, I wasn’t drinking anything harder than chocolate milk, second I know it is an arguable point, but I think I’m right. To boil down Heather’s definition science fiction is science based and fantasy is magic based. By magic I mean there is no attempt at explaining things it is just “magic”. In science fiction there is at least an attempt to explain things scientifically, even if that science is just pseudoscience(bull). Now we tend to think of fantasy in quasi-medieval terms, because most of modern fantasy is just variations on Tolkien’s work, but it can have other settings. Star Wars is a fantasy with a space setting. There are wizards (jedi), heroes with swords, damsels in distress, evil kings, monsters and magic (the Force). There is no explanation for the “science”, it is just a setting and is chosen for what looks good. However, you don’t have to take my word for it, George Lucas has said the same thing. I know have heard it multiple times but a quick web search lead me to a 1977 Time magazine article were he states “Star Wars is not science fiction but space fantasy”. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914964-6,00.html
Now this does not mean that they are not great movies, they are amongst my favorites, but I would put them on another list.
On another point, Doom with “the rock” on ANY good list? And you think I was drinking?!
Okay, that’s a fair argument, and I can respect that point of view when. Initially it felt like you were claiming the Earth was flat.
But from that perspective and those terms I see why you would include it in the fantasy genre, and I agree, but the way I view Sci-Fi I would predominantly deem it Science Fiction while inspired by Fantasy. It’s a great combination of both, but most science fiction usually is.
Hahahahahaha……….Doom is so love or hate amongst the Sci-Fi crowd, but it won me over by The Rock turning into the bad guy, and the ten-fifteen minute period where it’s shot from the perspective of a video game. I’m a huge gamer and that was ridiculously cool. It was a one dimensional action/sci-fi, just fun.
trekker….you don’t take this seriously or anything do you?
George, as I said there is room for argument and I’m not going to hunt anyone down who thinks differently, but yes I’m serious. Too often someone sees a spaceship or an alien and bam, it’s science fiction. It isn’t that simple. Science Fiction is often dismissed as not a serious genre, If we want to change that, we need to be serious in our criticism of it. I put the original Star Wars trilogy at maybe number 2 on my top 10 fantasy films, with Wizard of Oz at number 1 and the Lord of the Rings at 3. That said, someone could argue that Wizard of Oz belongs on the musicals list.
Of course, we can still just have fun and enjoy these films. Heather likes “Doom”, I like “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” are these great films? Probably not, but hey we like them.
Thanks Trekkerbud….anyone who likes the Wizard of Oz is fine in my book and next time I see a flying saucer I’ll think twice.
How can you talk sci-fi without mentionning The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!? Unbelievable! May the great Douglas Adams forgive you for this unforgivable mistake. For most of the classification I disagree, Stargate in ugly to put Jumper in good!? Seriously, Jumper, good xD. And I don’t think I saw Doomsday mentionned either, what a loss…
Hitchhiker missing was more than likely just a typo. I just checked and it IS on my original list, so that is a mere error. Doomsday is a film I hadn’t heard about until recently. I believe I just posted my review of it and was highly impressed.
Stargate, the motion picture, is probably one of the worst films ever made PERIOD end of discussion. I don’t know how anyone could like movies, let alone science fiction in particular, and really like Stargate. The concept was amazing, hence the successful series, but the film itself was a disaster.