What is your favorite Sci-Fi movie?

[rkolinski]

I found the films selected for the poll to be a disappointment. No Mad Max, no Day the Earth Stood Still, no Back to the Future, no War of the Worlds (original, not any of the remakes), not a single Frankenstein movie, no Solaris (original, not the remake), no Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original), no Terminator or T2, no Brazil, no Minority Report and no Thing (remake). Of course I'm also thinking of 2 Star Wars movies which I believe are in the top 20.


My modest system:

Belkin AP30800fc10 Battery Backup to protect lamp in Projection TV; Definitive Technology: C-1, Powerfield 1500 Subwoofer x 2 ea., BP-10 x 2 ea., BP-2 x 2 ea & BP-2x x 2 ea.; Dish VIP 622 DVR; Anchor Bay/DVDO iScan VP50PRO Video Processor; Emotiva XPA-5 5-Channel Amplifier; Ethereal EM-HDMI2 cable throughout; JVC HRS-S5901U S-VHS Recorders x 2 ea.; Monster Power HTS3500; MSB: ADD-1; Digital Director & DAC; Onkyo TX-SR705 Receiver; Oppo DV-980H Upscaling DVD Player; Panamax Max1000+; Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-Ray Player; Pioneer CLD-D707 & CLD-D606 Laser Disc Players; Radient Select-4ce HDMI Switcher; Rega P5 Turntable w/PSU Power; Sony: KDS60A3000 60" Projection HDTV , DTC-A6DAT DecK, SL-HF2000 Super Beta Recorders x 2 ea. & PS3; and, Zektor MAS-3 x 2 ea.

[tacoreed]

From the list either Metropolis or Blade Runner. Otherwise, Flash Gordon, RoboCop, Mad Max, The Road Warrior, and of course the original Star Wars trilogy.

[STARKILLER--1138]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Great AFI List:

1 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
2 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope 1977
3 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982
4 A Clockwork Orange 1971
5 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951
6 Blade Runner 1982
7 Alien 1979
8 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991
9 Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956
10 Back to the Future 1985

Yup! SW = SciFi plain and simple.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Lil' Louie

Yup! SW = SciFi plain and simple.

there are so many movies with AFIs Top 10 of 10, that could be in multiple genres and are arguably in the wrong genre, its not even funny.

Field of Dreams isn't Sports according to the List, its fantasy
Caddyshack isn't Comedy, its Sports

Star Wars can easily be perceived as Fantasy over Sci-Fi if the above can be perceived in their respected genres.

and Animation is considered a genre...which its not.

No doubt Star Wars has Sci fi elements in it, but more fantasy than sci fi when it all boils down to it.

[Nameless Evil]

My List:

The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Blade Runner (1982)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Contact (1997)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Dune (2000) Special Edition Director's Cut
Event Horizon (1997)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Logan's Run (1976)
Outland (1981)
Silent Running (1972)
Soylent Green (1973)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
They Live (1988)
The Time Machine (1960)
Tron (1982)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Zardoz (1974)

[STARKILLER--1138]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

there are so many movies with AFIs Top 10 of 10, that could be in multiple genres and are arguably in the wrong genre, its not even funny.

Field of Dreams isn't Sports according to the List, its fantasy
Caddyshack isn't Comedy, its Sports

Star Wars can easily be perceived as Fantasy over Sci-Fi if the above can be perceived in their respected genres.

and Animation is considered a genre...which its not.

No doubt Star Wars has Sci fi elements in it, but more fantasy than sci fi when it all boils down to it.

Originally Posted by Lil' Louie

Yup! SW = SciFi plain and simple.

[Uuah]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

It would have to be the Star Wars...and, Sci Fi is my favorite genre. A write in vote!

Technofantasy walks a thin, gray line . . . but it's still fantasy. Just as Steampunk Sci-Fi can walk the thin gray line between science fiction and historical fiction, Technofantasy can never quite qualify as Sci-Fi.
If science fiction is your favorite genre, you should understand what it entails. It's like saying a certain band is your favorite band but only knowing the name of the lead singer.

I would like to challenge anybody here to jump down my throat for getting too into the details and being too nerdy or critical.
I'd also like to challenge them to consider the fact that they're on a sci-fi thread, too. So, maybe, they're just being argumentative.
To quote Yoda, "There is no Nerdy. Only right and wrong."

[Uuah]

5 - Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451.
It's, at times, less of an adaptation of the original material and more of an expounding on the original book. Faithful more than you'd expect at other times. Almost always darkly humorous, it's not just hard s-f, it's satire. Satire, like sci-fi should be. If you like equilibrium, watch this. It's much different from reading the book. Watching Fahrenheit 451 helps you realize that Equilibrium is pretty much just Fahrenheit with a whole lot more gun play. This is timeless and a can't-miss for anybody who loves Sci-Fi.


4 - Soylent Green
You've known the end, since you were little. Many people haven't seen it and still know what it's about. Regardless, it remains powerful. I knew the ending years before I saw it. The world the movie presents, however, is so believable that one still gets caught-up in it. One of Charelton Heston's very few well-acted, relatable and sympathetic roles.

3 - 12 Monkeys
Not just a twist on the old time travel story, but probably the most accurate picture of what time travel is. This movie does a great job addressing the obstacles a time-traveler would encounter and the futility of time travel itself.

2 - A Scanner Darkly
I don't want to have this on my list, but it has to be. As much as I generally don't like Richard Linklater, I don't think anybody has done a better job of adapting Phillip K Dick's work than he has. And, well, Phillip K Dick was probably the most accurate storyteller, when it came to examining social, political and technological phenomena and merging them into a generally accurate prediction or a very believable world.

1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
I'm not a big fan of the "Directed Pan5permia" theory. I don't even invest a grain of my suspension of disbelief in considering the possibility of extraterrestrial life. But this movie is so well done and so beautifully presented that I don't care if I believe or not. That's when a film has really done its job; if it can take a concept you find ridiculous and fascinate you with it. 2001 takes the cake and throws it in my smug face, making me smile at my own expense.

[Uuah]

I should be fair and include Children of Men as #6
Really beautiful movie, in spite of what religious fans of Vertigo Comics have to say about it.

[bigpapy]

The Matrix

[Uuah]

Originally Posted by statikcat

Fifth Element

The Fifth Element is even more Technofantasy, at times, than Star Wars.
Please:

Star Wars is a technofantasy story which is told through space opera vignettes. "The continuing boom in sf and fantasy movies began with Star Wars, which brought sensational special effects together with elements of fairytale to produce a spectacular space opera . . . For Star Wars, despite the hardware, is less sf than fantasy. Kenobi and Vader (the Dark Lord) are duelling sorcerers: God versus Evil. Luke is Kenobi's apprentice, and takes up the master's mantle when Vader kills that master's body (but not his soul, which becomes more powerful after physical death)." - The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1996)

The technology in the 5th Element, on the surface, appears to be even more sci-fi than in Star Wars. But, when you get down to it, nothing has a scientific approach aside from the explanation of how they grow Lilu's skin. Lilu is a mythic creature. She is a titan. She is a god. She was not engineered as a weapon. She simply always was. "Mr. Shadow" is her polar opposite. Which, in and of itself, serves as a scientific conundrum. Lilu is every bit as good as "Mr. Shadow". So, if they should meet, they would stay, locked in an eternally inert battle/stalemate for all of eternity. If not, they would repel each-other in equal and opposite directions. Lilu, however

[Show spoiler]defeats "Mr. Shadow"

which implies that good is still somehow more powerful than an equally opposite evil. This has no scientific background but it is the same kind of Deus Ex Machina used in many "love conquers all" fantasy yarns and fairy tales.

[MATTYBLU2]

Originally Posted by Uuah

The Fifth Element is even more Technofantasy, at times, than Star Wars.
Please:

Star Wars is a technofantasy story which is told through space opera vignettes. "The continuing boom in sf and fantasy movies began with Star Wars, which brought sensational special effects together with elements of fairytale to produce a spectacular space opera . . . For Star Wars, despite the hardware, is less sf than fantasy. Kenobi and Vader (the Dark Lord) are duelling sorcerers: God versus Evil. Luke is Kenobi's apprentice, and takes up the master's mantle when Vader kills that master's body (but not his soul, which becomes more powerful after physical death)." - The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1996)

The technology in the 5th Element, on the surface, appears to be even more sci-fi than in Star Wars. But, when you get down to it, nothing has a scientific approach aside from the explanation of how they grow Lilu's skin. Lilu is a mythic creature. She is a titan. She is a god. She was not engineered as a weapon. She simply always was. "Mr. Shadow" is her polar opposite. Which, in and of itself, serves as a scientific conundrum. Lilu is every bit as good as "Mr. Shadow". So, if they should meet, they would stay, locked in an eternally inert battle/stalemate for all of eternity. If not, they would repel each-other in equal and opposite directions. Lilu, however

[Show spoiler]defeats "Mr. Shadow"

which implies that good is still somehow more powerful than an equally opposite evil. This has no scientific background but it is the same kind of Deus Ex Machina used in many "love conquers all" fantasy yarns and fairy tales.

sorry but i still consider it sci-fi as it has science in it and it is fiction, there you go. and thats my opinion!!

wow that was not hard at all

thank you come again....

[Uuah]

Originally Posted by MATTYBLU2

sorry but i still consider it sci-fi as it has science in it and it is fiction, there you go. and thats my opinion!!

wow that was not hard at all

thank you come again....

The genre of science fiction has really strict rules.
If you're going to have that broad of a standard you might as well say that Pixar's Cars is science fiction because cars are technology - which is science - and Cars is a work of fiction.

Let me lay it out for you:

Actual Science fiction topic sets include:
Future Cities (this template is employed in stories that revolve around the changes that might happen after our lifetime in relation to politics and technology)
Disasters (this template involves recording the process of a fictional catastrophe, be it geological, astrological, environmental or biological)
Alternate Histories (this template is much like science fiction, only exploring the possibilities of what present days might be like had it been for a minor difference in the past)
Prehistoric Romance (like 10,000 BC, stories that follow this template tell a story based on suppositions formed around ancient and unrecorded discoveries or turning points)
Time Travel (stories involving characters moving through time at will)
Alien Invasion/Intrusion (one of the most simple templates, exploring the world of earth being disrupted by extraterrestrial forces for the good or destruction of humanity.)
Mental Powers (a template based on suppositions that humanities next evolutionary step into "homo superior" would be a mental evolution rather than an evolution of our physical bodies. These stories provide a glimpse at the terror, alienation or utopia that might follow in a world where homo superior are present.)
Alien Life (not limited simply by visitation, these stories more revolve around what might happen if we were to finally make contact with or discover evidence of intelligent, extraterrestrial life)
Artificial Intelligence (these templates tend to explore technologies effect on man, man's prejudices against that which is different, etc. Basically, they all start the same way, however; "what would happen if a difference engine/computer became self aware?")
Cosmic Collisions (these stories explore the possibilities of our universe and tend toward the frightening variables of cosmic randomness.)
Cyberpunk (this genre embraces cutting edge technology, cyborgs, virtual reality, computers, video games and the internet to create new and often confusing frontiers where the physical and metaphysical blend as equal commodities)
Steampunk (the term was created to mock it's innitial analogies with cyberpunk. In these stories, historical and fictional characters engage in adventures that would otherwise be impossible . . . but not fantastical or improbable)
Teleportation (The Dragons of Pern is a good example. It took fantasy and actually EXPLAINED it by saying dragons flew using the power of teleportation.)
There are many other motifs, but here's what classify as
Non S-F Templates:

Space Operas and Planetary Romances and Science-Fantasy/Techno-Fantasy (These are simply literary or film works which use Sci-Fi motifs as a means to tell a different story. These would include Star Wars (a story about corruption, redemption, peace, war and revolution), The 5th Element (a story about love conquering all evil and transcending all other things), Flash Gordon (just an adventure in space with no need to justify anything), The Invisible Man (A man supposedly uses chemistry to make a elixir which cloaks his very image without explaining how), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a man creates a chemical poison with addictive properties that give him temporary strength and multiple personalities, however the personality and strength fade as the elixir is metabolized?), King Kong (a giant ape exists on an island, where he is worshiped as a god. How long has he been there? How was he born? Are there more giant apes? Who cares, everything else is big, too.)

I'M NOT SAYING CERTAIN MOVIES ARE AWFUL OR THAT PEOPLE ARE STUPID FOR LIKING THEM. I'M JUST SAYING THEY AREN'T SCIENCE FICTION! IF YOU LIKE THE MOVIE SO MUCH, POST ABOUT IT IN A DIFFERENT THREAD. I WILL NOT DISPUTE YOU, I PROMISE.

[hardcorefrokid]

1. Star Wars 4-6
2. Blade Runner
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. The Matrix
5. Children Of Men
6. Gattaca
7. Jurassic Park
8. Independence Day
9. E.T.
10. The Abyss
11. Alien
12. I Am Legend

[joebp415]

star wars for me but on the list i'll pick aliens"i don't know if your up on current events but we just got our azz kicked man"bill paxton cracked me up

[Kirsty_Mc]

Alien... The slow classic buildup, the claustrophobic sets, the finale (

[Show spoiler]after the false finale

) and Mr Scott's direction and lighting.

Not of course to mention a class cast... John Hurt, Tom Skerrit et al... and of course Siggy herself.

[GORT]

Originally Posted by Uuah

The Fifth Element is even more Technofantasy, at times, than Star Wars.
Please:

Star Wars is a technofantasy story which is told through space opera vignettes. "The continuing boom in sf and fantasy movies began with Star Wars, which brought sensational special effects together with elements of fairytale to produce a spectacular space opera . . . For Star Wars, despite the hardware, is less sf than fantasy. Kenobi and Vader (the Dark Lord) are duelling sorcerers: God versus Evil. Luke is Kenobi's apprentice, and takes up the master's mantle when Vader kills that master's body (but not his soul, which becomes more powerful after physical death)." - The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1996)

The technology in the 5th Element, on the surface, appears to be even more sci-fi than in Star Wars. But, when you get down to it, nothing has a scientific approach aside from the explanation of how they grow Lilu's skin. Lilu is a mythic creature. She is a titan. She is a god. She was not engineered as a weapon. She simply always was. "Mr. Shadow" is her polar opposite. Which, in and of itself, serves as a scientific conundrum. Lilu is every bit as good as "Mr. Shadow". So, if they should meet, they would stay, locked in an eternally inert battle/stalemate for all of eternity. If not, they would repel each-other in equal and opposite directions. Lilu, however

[Show spoiler]defeats "Mr. Shadow"

which implies that good is still somehow more powerful than an equally opposite evil. This has no scientific background but it is the same kind of Deus Ex Machina used in many "love conquers all" fantasy yarns and fairy tales.

194139284_70a1b6bceb.jpg

[cravnsn]

Originally Posted by Uuah

The genre of science fiction has really strict rules.
If you're going to have that broad of a standard you might as well say that Pixar's Cars is science fiction because cars are technology - which is science - and Cars is a work of fiction.

Let me lay it out for you:

Actual Science fiction topic sets include:
Future Cities (this template is employed in stories that revolve around the changes that might happen after our lifetime in relation to politics and technology)
Disasters (this template involves recording the process of a fictional catastrophe, be it geological, astrological, environmental or biological)
Alternate Histories (this template is much like science fiction, only exploring the possibilities of what present days might be like had it been for a minor difference in the past)
Prehistoric Romance (like 10,000 BC, stories that follow this template tell a story based on suppositions formed around ancient and unrecorded discoveries or turning points)
Time Travel (stories involving characters moving through time at will)
Alien Invasion/Intrusion (one of the most simple templates, exploring the world of earth being disrupted by extraterrestrial forces for the good or destruction of humanity.)
Mental Powers (a template based on suppositions that humanities next evolutionary step into "homo superior" would be a mental evolution rather than an evolution of our physical bodies. These stories provide a glimpse at the terror, alienation or utopia that might follow in a world where homo superior are present.)
Alien Life (not limited simply by visitation, these stories more revolve around what might happen if we were to finally make contact with or discover evidence of intelligent, extraterrestrial life)
Artificial Intelligence (these templates tend to explore technologies effect on man, man's prejudices against that which is different, etc. Basically, they all start the same way, however; "what would happen if a difference engine/computer became self aware?")
Cosmic Collisions (these stories explore the possibilities of our universe and tend toward the frightening variables of cosmic randomness.)
Cyberpunk (this genre embraces cutting edge technology, cyborgs, virtual reality, computers, video games and the internet to create new and often confusing frontiers where the physical and metaphysical blend as equal commodities)
Steampunk (the term was created to mock it's innitial analogies with cyberpunk. In these stories, historical and fictional characters engage in adventures that would otherwise be impossible . . . but not fantastical or improbable)
Teleportation (The Dragons of Pern is a good example. It took fantasy and actually EXPLAINED it by saying dragons flew using the power of teleportation.)
There are many other motifs, but here's what classify as
Non S-F Templates:

Space Operas and Planetary Romances and Science-Fantasy/Techno-Fantasy (These are simply literary or film works which use Sci-Fi motifs as a means to tell a different story. These would include Star Wars (a story about corruption, redemption, peace, war and revolution), The 5th Element (a story about love conquering all evil and transcending all other things), Flash Gordon (just an adventure in space with no need to justify anything), The Invisible Man (A man supposedly uses chemistry to make a elixir which cloaks his very image without explaining how), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a man creates a chemical poison with addictive properties that give him temporary strength and multiple personalities, however the personality and strength fade as the elixir is metabolized?), King Kong (a giant ape exists on an island, where he is worshiped as a god. How long has he been there? How was he born? Are there more giant apes? Who cares, everything else is big, too.)

I'M NOT SAYING CERTAIN MOVIES ARE AWFUL OR THAT PEOPLE ARE STUPID FOR LIKING THEM. I'M JUST SAYING THEY AREN'T SCIENCE FICTION! IF YOU LIKE THE MOVIE SO MUCH, POST ABOUT IT IN A DIFFERENT THREAD. I WILL NOT DISPUTE YOU, I PROMISE.

Huh, maybe quexos didn't get banned after all

[Variable]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

i posted something similar in another thread.

star wars is much more fantasy, than it is science fiction. people think because it has space in it, its sci-fi, but there are many more elements of a fantasy movie than a sci-fi movie with Star Wars.

star wars is absolutely 100% sci fi. it's also fantasy. I'd call it - get this - sci fi fantasy.

[Variable]

king kong is the only thing on that list I don't really agree with. it's not like someone created King Kong in a lab or they found him on another planet... there is really nothing sci fi that I can see about King Kong.