Just looking for some recommendations because I’m in a sci fi mood. And btw, my favorite sci fi film is Planet of the Apes (original).
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Out of all movies, over all periods and genres? 2001: A Space Odyssey
Feels like it takes less time to read the book.
I actually prefer 2010, which puts me in a very small minority but 2010 is one of my favorite sci fi films
It’s a good movie, too. I remember seeing 2001 and 2010 in the years 2001 and 2010 as a double-feature in cinema.
I’d love to see them both in theater
Totally worth it! Especially 2001 looks spectacularly awesome. Not only awesome for it’s age, but on par with modern productions - even surpassing them thanks to practical effects, models, and high quality filming equipment and media.
Yeah I love the pre-cgi age because special effects actually age well when they’re not computer generated, at least if done well.
Alien. It was well made and it aged well. I’m a sucker for scary, atmospheric films.
Watching the original Alien in a theatre with a group of friends, almost none of whom had any idea what was coming, is one of those indelible experiences of my youth.
So is lining up to see the original Star Wars (The Last Hope) after having been impressed by the trailer that was shown before ‘Robin and Marion’ the previous November. I never would have imagined after seeing it that the franchise would eventually evolve to be dystopian.
One great 70s science fiction movie that I only got to see later on television was Silent Running. It deserves more attention.
I sometimes wish I was older (I was born in 1989, after a lot of my favorite movies came out).
Star Wars (The Last Hope)
A New Hope :P Though it was just called “Star Wars” originally
😹😹. Our kids correct me constantly, and is annoyed when I say that it wasn’t called that when I first saw it.
I can see why it would be jarring to call the original “Episode IV”
This is my pick. I wish the rest of the movies had the same feel. The set design was the best and told it’s own story. Aliens was a disappointment for me. I wanted them to explore the lore more.
For me it was the opposite. Alien disappointed me and Aliens lived up to the expectation (actually saw Aliens first though)
It’s the perfect life form
12 Monkeys?
Haven’t seen that yet, obviously should though as I liked the TV series
I don’t have a favorite, but many favorite science fiction films. Here are a few of them:
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Dark City (1998)
Thing From Another World (1951)
Never seen the original The Thing, should one day because its remake is like my favorite sci fi/horror film.
Gotta see the other two too. Thanks for reminding me
The Thing (1982) is another favorite film of mine. It’s a lot more faithful to John W. Campbell’s novella, “Who Goes There?” than the 1951 film, but I enjoy both takes.
I’m not much of a horror guy generally but The Thing I love.
Tv show:
red dwarf
Serial Experiments of Lain
Movies:
Ghost In the Shell
Short Video:
Please Hold
Serial Experiment Lain is my favorite anime series which is saying something as I’m not a huge anime fan
Don’t forget Farscape and Babylon 5. Those two series are my favorite non-Star Trek sci-fi series.
B5, Farscape and SG-1 are my three favorite non Trek sci fi shows
Never could get into SG, and I really gave it a try.
Farscape didn’t manage to captivate me in its first half season in the 90s which was too bad. I binged it with one of our household a few years back and love it now. It definitely suffered a post-TOS-like roughish Star Trek start to find its own voice and style.
B5’s first season was made awful by the declining health of its lead that led to an interminable performance. I gave the second season a try, despite my concerns that Boxleitner would give too much of an All-American hero performance. He was great in the role and I became a solid B5 fan to the end.
Two 1970s shows that are worthy of a watch, even if mostly only available on physical media, are Space 1999 and The Starlost. Both were significantly serialized in an era of episodic television, and both suffered bumpy starts and early cancellation. They still are far ahead of their time and the norms of 70s television.
I can see not getting into B5 or Farscape, as they’re kinda cheesy, but SG1 was basically just Star Trek without ships, it was the other major sci fi franchise I grew up with
As someone who watched TOS as a kid, SG didn’t feel like Star Trek without ships, but other friends and family feel otherwise. I was predisposed to like it as a MacGyver fan, but it never took.
The cheesiness and pure lunacy of Farscape was actually a plus once I got past the early episodes. Bab5 started with a very austere pilot that was the opposite of cheesy, and that I liked. The first season was all over the place, but like 90s Trek show it did better once it found its groove.
B5 is aesthetically very cheesy, like the Centauri make me laugh whenever I see them. It’s why I ignored B5 totally as a kid in the 90s, I only watched it recently on Blu-Ray.
SG-1 feels like TNG/DS9/VOY to me, which isn’t a surprise to me because the creators were directly inspired by TNG. Not as good as TNG, but close enough.
Only a complete and utter smeghead would put Red Dwarf on a favourite scifi list. What are you, some kind of soup dispenser machine technician, second class?
SIR! I drink my Gazpacho soup piping hot and I like it!
does ridiculous, flourishing salute
Use the force, Harry
–Gandalf
It sounds like you like outer-space… I also like sci fi that’s earthbound. 12 Monkeys, Donnie Darko - these are psychologically oriented.
Donnie Darko was surprisingly bad
in what way? the music lyrics didn’t connect?
It was too weird
Oh fuck. Hard question. I’m gonna answer with a couple because I can’t really rank them. That being said, they’re all in my top 10. Special shoutout to the last one.
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Event Horizon: Just a good ol’ science fiction horror movie. I buy into the fan theory that it actually takes place in the early years of Warhammer 40k Universe.
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Galaxy Quest: This is almost cheating. It’s not Star Trek but it has been called ‘The Best Star Trek movie’ so take that as you will.
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Rocky Horror Picture Show: Could technically be classified as a science fiction movie. Just saying.
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Moon: Sam Rockwell is a fantastic actor. Kevin Spacey is in it as a voice only role so that does ding the movie but it’s well worth it. I didn’t even recognize it was Kevin first time watching it. Performance from Sam Rockwell is incredible.
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Hitchhikers Guide (2005): It gets a bad wrap because it’s not the greatest adaptation but it’s still a fun movie nonetheless.
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Sunshine: Highly recommend not watching any trailers going into the movie and just enjoying the ride. If you don’t consider anything else on this list, consider this movie. Exceptionally well done. Stars Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy and even got good ol’ Michelle Yeoh in a considerably less evil role than Mirror Georgiou. The only thing you need to know about the movie is that its set not that far in the future. The Sun is dying and there’s a plan to restart the sun by flying a nuke into it the size of manhattan. Not a word of a lie, that is literally the plan. Don’t look up anything about the movie, just enjoy it. Trust me.
Event Horizon is legit one of the coolest movies I’ve ever seen. Galaxy Quest is one of the best Trek films ever ;)
Haven’t seen the rest, and didn’t know Rocky Horror was sci fi, now i really gotta see it to see what all the fuss is about.
Don’t sleep on Sunshine!
Also yeah Rocky Horror has a strange storyline so it could technically be classified as a sci-fi. It’s… odd. I love it. Best seen with strangers in a theater during Halloween though. There might be a showing near you. There’s usually at least one going on for it. Encouraged to throw shit at the screen and yell at the cast. It’s fantastic. Also tell me this song isn’t a fucking banger. Imagine the whole theater singing along to that. It’s a trip and I highly recommend trying to see it that way for your first time. If you tell anyone at one of those viewings you’re a RHPS Virgin you’ll get treated really well and they’ll be gung ho to get you in on the fun.
I’ll find a group here in PHX that watches it and ask to join them :) Can’t wait to see it
If you don’t enjoy it then I will be truly and genuinely surprised. Especially in that fashion. It’s not a ‘good’ movie by any means but it’s a great movie. It’s a disaster and I wouldn’t change a thing.
It sounds like my kind of experience :D
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“The Man from Earth” - this was a really good film that has a small cast and almost entirely filmed within a single room. It was written by Drexel Bixby who was also a writer for Star Trek. He wrote “Mirror, Mirror”. This was the story he wrote from his death bed and got turned into a movie in 2007. Has a few star trek actors in its small cast too. Trying to be vague for the story of the movie because I felt going into it blind was such a good way to experience it.
“Fantastic Planet” - this animated film was an experience to say the least. I loved watching it as a kid and bought the Criterion collection edition a few years ago. It’s on HBO Max and worth a watch for how weird it is.
Happy to be reminded of Fanastic Planet.
The name also reminded me of MGM’s incredibly influential mid 1950s groundbreaking high-end feature Forbidden Planet.
Any fan of Star Trek, Star Wars or other 60s and 70s science fiction who hasn’t seen Forbidden Planet should make the effort to hunt down a copy just to know where a lot of the tropes and design came from.
Forbidden Planet is really good to this day. Thankfully never been remade.
I’ve heard The Man From Earth is really good, I gotta try that. Will add Fantastic Planet too since I’ve seen good reviews of it. I’ve seen bits and pieces way back in the day on premium cable and I remember liking it.
Under the Skin - with Scarlett Johansson. There’s almost no dialogue. No exposition about anything, or names - just the short lifespan of an alien. Disguised as a woman, they’re part of what seems to be a hidden alien colony living amongst humans.
The soundtrack is haunting, hypnotizing and beautiful.
It’s also slow and sad.
Will certainly check it out :)
It’s on Max! I watched it for the first time there a month ago. Try and watch it where you can hear the audio. The music is so well done in that film and adds to experience if it’s heard well.
I’ll try to do it tonight or this weekend :D
Some obscure ones.
‘Altered States.’ Scientist tries mixing LSD and sensory deprivation. Not a great mix.
‘Battle Beyond the Stars’ Gloriously cheesy re-make of ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ Which was a remake of ‘The Seven Samurai.’
‘Rollerball’ James Caan original, not the remake.
Dune (1984) is a glorious mess and I love it.
Back to the Future (the whole trilogy)
Alien (the first two, anyway)
Ghostbusters I & II (I know it’s a comedy with horror elements, but the proton packs are definitely sci-fi, and so is the whole city of NY coming together in harmony during the 2nd movie)
The Matrix (just the first one)
Oh that’s definitely a hard question. My answer might vary a lot depending on whether I’m in a spooky atmospheric mood, an adventurous mood, or a deep thoughtful mood. Right now, I think my answer is going to be Arrival (2016). It touches on the fun topic of intelligent life landing on earth and trying to communicate with us.
I gotta see that film, heard very good things about it
2001- A Space Odyssey.
I do love the fifth element. Absolite classic, with what seems like ageless cinematography
