As a followup to yesterday’s “oh-no DVD of the week,” someone’s idea of an “ultimate sci-fi collection” of movies, and at the suggestion of bill in the comments there, here’s a simple question that’s tough to answer:
What 10 or 15 movies belong in the ultimate scifi collection?
Anything that leaves out The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension is bogus, as far as I’m concerned.
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me.)
A few more recent movies to consider:
GATTACA, for asking serious questions about the implications of genetic modification
The Matrix, partially because it’s a great example of an action movie plus a premise so cool it completely makes up for the simple plot, and partially because it was a massive part of my childhood
Anachronox: The Movie, a little more personal bias goes into this one, because it’s made up of the cutscenes from a video game but it has won machinima movie competitions so at least somebody else thinks it’s good!
WALL-E, for teaching children about the dangers of a slothful lifestyle!
PS, IMDB claims The Prestige is a sci-fi movie, and I have no idea if that’s accurate but gosh darnit that would totally make my list if I thought it was. Also, I wouldn’t include Star Wars, as I don’t think they’re as amazing considered individually.
Yes, The Prestige is total sci-fi. Bowie Tesla? Yeah. It’s not on my list though.
I’d like to see Soderbergh’s Solaris remake in there, along with Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. And, lest we forget its badass badassery: Pitch Black.
FORBIDDEN PLANET
The single best sci-fi movie of the 1950’s, and the direct inspiration of “Star Trek.”
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
I shouldn’t need to specify which version, but the other classic 1950’s sci-fi which still holds up beautifully. Gort the robot in this one is a better actor than Keanu Reeves in
the remake.
THE OUTER LIMITS–DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND
The best episode of that classic show, and one that still holds up beautifully today. I recently showed it to some folks who’d heard of, but never seen, any of the original OL, and they absolutely loved it. The character of Trent, caught in the past and fighting aliens who have followed him from the future, with the computer/robot/prosthesis which has been grafted on to his arm, is one of the greatest single characters anyone has ever come up with.
STAR TREK: TOS–CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER
Star Trek, love it or hate it, has been one of the most inspiring works in the medium, and this episode is one that everyone who saw it at the time has remembered forever. And it’s another of those classics that has every bit of its old power, even today.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Yes, cold and inhuman, like an Olaf Stapledon novel. Still, impossible to forget.
BLADE RUNNER
Also cold and inhuman, and also impossible to forget.
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
The best of that series, and the only one you can plausibly say was well directed. It’s a pity Lucas’s ego won’t let him pass on the work to other directors like Irvin Kirshner, who can make his pulp stuff sing in ways he can’t.
THE TERMINATOR
Actually brings the noir-concepted “Outer Limits” to the mass audience (borrowing from the two Harlan Ellison scripts from that series), but in a brilliant action film that made you think.
BUCKAROO BANZAI
Not a great movie, an intriguing almost-great movie that sure got a bunch of folks thinking about how this sort of movie could be made.
STAR TREK: TNG–INNER LIGHT
Great sci-fi has always been about the concepts, something the effects overladen films of the last few years have apparently forgotten. This episode of TNG put you completely into an alien world, and showed a whole other life and civilization. Easily the best of the TNG series, and a brilliant use of Patrick Stewart’s superior acting talent.
LAPUTA
Any list of the best that doesn’t include Miyazaki is too provincial to be taken seriously. My only conflict was whether to include this or NAUSICAA. I went with LAPUTA because steampunk is so in at the moment, and I think if I’d seen this when I was 12, it would have been my favorite movie of all time. Airships, quests, forgotten super-civilization technology, flying robots–how can you not love it?
ALIENS
More sci-fi than the original movie, which was a haunted house movie set in a gloriously designed spaceship. This is the rare sequel that was better than its predecessor, particularly when you put back in the scenes with Ripley discovering that her daughter died several years before of old age. And the plot all stemmed from the biology of the alien itself, and to which all the characters were forced to react.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
AKIRA
BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET
CLOVERFIELD
THE DEAD ZONE
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
FAHRENHEIT 451
FIREFLY (the entire series)
SERENITY
THE FLY (Cronenberg’s)
ICEMAN
THE INCREDIBLES
LILO & STITCH
THE MATRIX
MEET THE ROBINSONS
MIRRORMASK
NEVERWHERE
ROBOCOP
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
TWO
THE MONSTERS HAVE COME TO MAPLE STREET
NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET
TO SERVE MAN
WALL-E
ROYAL SPACE FORCE: THE WINGS OF HONNEAMISE
ZARDOZ
Oops!
And in the honorable mentions:
PLANET OF THE APES
Sorry–just missed it
Oh, and the Japanese series
GANKUTSUOU
Which MaryAnn *so* needs to watch.
In no particular order:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Planet of The Apes (original)
4. 2001: A Space Oddessy
5. Aliens
6. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
7. WALL-E
8. Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
9. Children of Men
10. E.T.
11. Brazil
12. The Matrix
13. Blade Runner
14. Minority Report
15. Gattica
Cough “Eff your Buckaroo Bonzi” Cough
in no particular order…
The Time Machine (1960)
Aliens
The Terminator
Man from Earth
Star Wars Episode V
Blade Runner
Silent Running
The Matrix
Metropolis
2001: A Space Odyssey
Serenity
Forbidden Planet
Dark City
Gattaca
Logan’s Run
of course there are many others that could have been included. coulda made a whole different list. in fact, the only one up there that i am not willing to bend on is “The Time Machine”. that’s gotta be there.
In no particular order, and just off the top of my head.
The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars
2001: A Space Odyssey
Stalker
Solaris
Akira
Forbidden Planet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Minority Report
Alien
Aliens
Terminator 2
Back to the Future
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
No mention of Contact yet? That’s gotta be in the collection
Despite loving some of the films, I am ignoring the Star Trek and Star Wars series. These are in no particular order:
Quatermass & the Pit
Forbidden Planet
When Worlds Collide
The Andromeda Strain
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Blade Runner
Terminator
Alien
Aliens
Serenity
The Fly (Cronenberg)
Planet Of The Apes
Children Of Men
The Andromeda Strain
But I hate leaving out:
Them!, The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, The Abyss, Mysterious Island, Robinson Crusoe On Mars, Altered States, They Live, Slaughterhouse Five, God Told Me To, Seconds, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, Mad Max, The Road Warrior, Starship Troopers, Robocop, Logan’s Run, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, …
No ones said Soylent Green! whats going on here
I’m going to move into a slightly different direction, and list 15 (in my opinion) must-see science-fiction films. In no particular order…
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Solaris (1972 Russian)
Forbidden Planet
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 version)
A Trip to the Moon (Georges Melies, 1902)
Things to Come (1936 version)
When Worlds Collide
Fahrenheit 451
Colossus: The Forbin Project
1984 (1984 version)
Aliens (1986 sequel)
Akira
Serenity
Twelve Monkeys
Most all of what I prefer are movies that make you think, or have a serious storyline to them, as opposed to the sci-fi special-effects laden movies that seem to proliferate in today’s movie environment. Which is why I’m more jazzed about Moon and District 9 than I ever would be about Star Trek or Terminator.
That’s because Soylent Green is people.
This post is only concerned with movies. ;-)
How about the recent series Fringe? Or are we only talking movies here?