Reviewing Aliens and hearing from folks who remembered it fondly got me thinking about what readers here consider the best sci-fi movies. So, of course, I went to YouTube. And here’s the list.
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
- Aliens (1986)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- The Matrix (1999)
- Children of Men (2006)
- Planet of the Apes (1968)
- The War of the Worlds (1953)
Now, right off the bat, I disagree with several of the picks. Neither “Planet of the Apes” or “The Day the Earth Stood Still” would be on my top ten movies list. Planet of the Apes isn’t my idea of a sci-fi movie. And The Day the Earth Stood Still is commie propaganda. So, there’s that.
Some of the other movies are pretty good ones. Now as for the order and any additional movies to pad out the top ten I’ll have to give it some thought. But I think it’s a good talking paper to inspire discussion of what each of us considers to be good sci-fi movies.
Now here’s another list (see below). This is IMDB’s “TOP 100 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time.” There are a few commonalities between the top ten of this list with the former list. But one interesting thing I noticed is that once you get past the top of the list the sequels start piling up. Between sequels to “Back to the Future,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Predator,” “Jurassic Park,” “Star Trek” “Alien,” “Terminator” and “Star Wars” we’re looking at a lot of retreads.
What it made me think was that there really aren’t that many really good science fiction movies. There are definitely a lot more good science fiction books than there are good movies. Which I guess is kind of hopeful if you’re an optimist. For instance, I saw that they’ve made a movie out of Asimov’s Foundation stories. I saw the coming attractions. Honestly, I couldn’t tell anything about it at all. It could be great. It could be awful. But at least it’s a new movie. It’s not a sequel.
So, I guess being a science fiction movie fan is all about being an optimist. And in the larger world of science fiction/fantasy movies we were rewarded in the early 2000s with the Lord of the Rings movies. So that tells me miracles can happen. Maybe one day a true fan of Heinlein will reboot “Starship Troopers” without the nazi iconography or might even film “Have Spacesuit Will Travel.”
So, this will be an open thread to get some comments. If you’d like to give your top sci-fi movie list or what story you’d like to see filmed in the future put it in the comments. Later on, I’ll add some more of my own thoughts on what is a proper science fiction movie and what isn’t.
A last question for the audience. Is “Escape from New York” really science fiction?
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Terminator
- Planet of the Apes
- Alien
- Blade Runner
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- The Matrix
- Back to the Future
- Aliens
- Interstellar
- Contact
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
- The Road Warrior
- Predator
- The Thing
- The Man from Earth
- Edge of Tomorrow
- District 9
- Dark City
- Blade Runner 2049
- A Clockwork Orange
- Gattaca
- Jurassic Park
- Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
- Mad Max
- Starship Troopers
- Minority Report
- 12 Monkeys
- Inception
- Back to the Future Part II
- Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- The Abyss
- Looper
- T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- Star Trek: First Contact
- Stargate
- Ex Machina
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- The Truman Show
- Children of Men
- The Martian
- Avatar
- Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
- The X Files
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
- Cube
- Star Trek
- RoboCop
- The Time Machine
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- War for the Planet of the Apes
- Prometheus
- Total Recall
- They Live
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Sunshine
- Moon
- Super 8
- I Am Legend
- Signs
- The Fly
- Escape from New York
- Pacific Rim
- Dredd
- Oblivion
- Cloverfield
- Pitch Black
- Godzilla
- Back to the Future Part III
- Limitless
- Deja Vu
- War of the Worlds
- The Matrix Reloaded
- Elysium
- Enemy Mine
- The Butterfly Effect
- Predestination
- I. Artificial Intelligence
- Logan’s Run
- Another Earth
- Independence Day
- The Arrival
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Predators
- Outlander
- John Carter
- Alien³
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Phenomenon
- Predator 2
- Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
- Riddick
- Cloud Atlas
- Armageddon
- The Running Man
- The Fifth Element
- Waterworld
- The Day After Tomorrow
- Mimic