The Top Six Science Fiction Films

[_Coggins7]

Here are my own picks. There's so much to choose from for a variety of different reasons that its always difficult to separate out all the possible nuances and ideosycracies in a film that make it great, or that make aspects of a fair film great. Here they are in any case.

1950s: The Day The Earth Stood Still. This film evokes so many philosophical quandaries and questions that it stands with the best SF ever put on film as a combination of intellectual depth and good entertainment. The effects (especially the initial saucer landing in Washington), still hold their own even by today's standards. A number of close callsl here though, there was so much good stuff done in the Fifties, especially the lat fifties.

1960s: This is a toss up between Planet of The Apes and 2001, and in the end, I think I'll have to go with Planet of The Apes.. I'm tempted, actually, to lay aside theatrical releases for this decade and just go with the original Outer Limits series, even though this was TV and not cinema. The writing, thematic elements, and concepts explored in that series were, without exception, the best the medium of film has been able to generate in my life time, and is, for the most part, now a lost art in cinematic or television SciFi.

1970s: Close Encounters of The Third Kind. The ultimate cinematic statement of the "first contact" story and, for the most part, superbly crafted.

1980s: John Carpenter's remake of The Thing, without question. There are several runners up that are so close as to make this almost impossible, including Dune and Lifeforce, but in the end, there was only one choice.

1990s: Probably The Matrix, but at the end of the day, Event Horizon is so close as to make it a clean toss up.

2000s: The Island.

[_Blixa]

The original Outer Limits series is burned deep upon my psyche. Especially the first episode/pilot: The Galaxy Being.

[_Blixa]

by the way, Coggins, the Bernard Herrmann score for The Day the Earth Stood Still is wonderful to listen to on its own--download it now! The sound of the theremin figures largely in my childhood sountrack...

[_Bond...James Bond]

what's the diff between science fiction and fantasy (is there one?)

The difference is the "handwavium" the use to explain how they break the laws of physics.

Science Fiction uses, well, science, or at least the appearance of science through some sort of ubertechnology. You've got everything from stuff that is actually doable, like Clark's "2001" tech (where the technology is scientifically possible, we just haven't gotten around to having an engineer build some of it yet), to extreme tech along the lines of Starwars hypermater reactors and hyperdrive "handwavium" devices.

Fantasy used the supernatural, be it spirits, magic, or mythological creatures. The Lord of the Rings is a great example of this, where you've got dragons, magic swords, and a few very badass wizards blowing stuff up.

But then, I like how Clark put it... "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Oh. Thanks for defining those things.

And I have to agree that while 2001 is The science fiction movie of the 60's its pacing is so slow that it's rather boring after the first viewing. On the other hand the Planet of the Apes movies (Particularly the original with Chuck Heston and I think the 4th one where they're in a futuristic dystopian society) have great re-watchability potential.

And since Lord of the Rings is disqualified due to it being fantasy rather than science fiction....I really don't know what to pick for my 2000+ movie.

[_silentkid]

1990s: Probably The Matrix, but at the end of the day, Event Horizon is so close as to make it a clean toss up.

I'm surprised about your Event Horizon pick. I love that movie...it is highly underrated. You have to be a fan of sci-fi/horror to enjoy it.

[_moksha]

Here are mine:

50s = The Day The Earth Stood Still Remember "Klaatu barada nikto" ?

60s = 2001: A Space Odyssey

70s = StarWars

80s = Dune (too difficult for the movie critics but I understood it)

90s = Stargate

00s = Lord of the Rings I-III

[_Coggins7]

The original Outer Limits series is burned deep upon my psyche. Especially the first episode/pilot: The Galaxy Being.

Yes, and speaking of the Galaxy Being, someone is using him as an avatar around here!

[_Coggins7]

by the way, Coggins, the Bernard Herrmann score for The Day the Earth Stood Still is wonderful to listen to on its own--download it now! The sound of the theremin figures largely in my childhood sountrack...

So are all of his classic scores. I've got the Seventh voyage of Sinbad theme on disk, and I understand his scores in there entirety are available.

[_Blixa]

The Galaxy Being was me for a short time!

Anyway, thanks for reminding me about the OL...I was able to download that lovely episode and I've been enjoying watching it again.

I also love all the Herrmann classic scores. My other favorite film composers are Georges Delarue and Peer Raben. Raben scored all of Fassbinder's films: an astonishing body of work. Delarue composed one of my most beloved bits of music: the Camille theme from Godard's le Mepris. If I had to pick a favorite film it would be le Mepris.

[_Coggins7]

I'm afraid I have little knowledge of French cinema, or who Fassbinder is (although, this does not mean I don't love foreign films. I'm a life long fan of Hong Kong cinema, especially the period martial arts genres, and the Japanese jidai-geki and Chambara films. I like anything good (by my own definition of course). I loved Das Boot (and, to the consternation of most of my relatives, I like foreign films in their original language--even the old Japanese Kaiju films).

Once of my other favorite film composers, although I don't believe he ever did actual large scale orchestrations, is Ennio Moricone. Some of those Spaghetti Western themes he did for Sergio Leone still send chills down my spine (especially the theme from For A Few Dollars More).


Loran