Your Top 10: Sci-Fi Films

[Pirate]

We got some mileage out of the last Top 10 thread, so I thought we’d have another.

I’ll be interested to see the lists. There seem to be varying opinions on what film do and do not fall under Science Fiction.

[tomdkat]

Does Memoirs of a Geisha count? Oh no, it can't.... that's a "chick flick".

Peace...

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Does Memoirs of a Geisha count? Oh no, it can't.... that's a "chick flick".

Welcome back, Tom.

[Taxi]

So tough to limit it to just 10...

Anyway, a strict and obvious [ten]: ( to you old timers out there who get the reference.)

• Star Wars OT (I think of them all as one movie. I would order them 5-4-6.)
• Blade Runner
• Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
• Alien
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Brainstorm
• Contact
• The Abyss
• The Matrix
• The Day the Earth Stood Still

[SilentBob]

Man a top 10 Sci-Fi movies list. Having problems picking out movies that could be classified as a Sci-Fi film to me, but i guess anything that seems out of the realm of possibility now/ever would fall into this. I thought about adding Unbreakable to the list but i consider it a Superhero movie. Its has Sci-Fi like elements but not in the nature of like Space/Time Travel, Human like Robots and Aliens. So here are my top 10 movies but in no specific order


Children of Men
The Matrix
Terminator 2
Serenity
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Donnie Darko
Frequency
The Iron Giant
Back to the Future Trilogy (its just one big story anyways)
Alien/Aliens

[raptors661]

In no order:
12 Monkeys
Alien
Starship Troopers
X-Files: Fight the Future
The Thing (Carpenter's)
The Fly (Cronenberg's)
Donnie Darko( I am not sure this counts, so i will add it anyway. )
The Chronicles of Riddick
War of the Worlds(Spielberg)
and Mars Attacks! for good measure.

The-Not-Sure-if-its-completely-Sci-Fi List:
Jurassic Park Trilogy
Children of men
Terminator Trilogy ( i see them as action films)
Predator
Ghostbusters

As you can tell, i am not a big Sci fi fan, it took me about 5 min to think of this list. I am not a big fan of Star Wars (but if it is on, i will watch it) and i cant stand Star Trek, so making this list wasnt so easy. I know there are plenty of Sci fi films out there, i just haven't seen any of them (but i am getting to that...)

[Enron]

In no particular order:

Alien
Aliens
Star Wars
Empire Strikes Back
The Thing (Carpenter)
Planet of the Apes (original)
Terminator 2
The Abyss
ET
Close Encounters

[MrE26]

No particular order, although if pushed i'd probably have Robocop at #1...
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Robocop
Starship Troopers
Alien
Aliens
Blade Runner
The Matrix
The Terminator
Terminator 2

[SeanL]

1. Star Wars
2. Terminator 2
3. Aliens
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still
5. The Matrix
6. Forbidden Planet
7. War of the Worlds (1953)
8. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
9. Robocop
10.The Abyss

[Keith]

The Fine 15..I love sci-fi:

15. War of the Worlds (2005)
14. Serenity
13. Star Trek: First Contact
12. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
11. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
10. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
09. A.I.
08. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
07. Star Wars: A New Hope
06. The Terminator
05. The Matrix
04. Minority Report
03. Blade Runner
02. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
01. Alien

Children of Men and Mad Max would have made my list, but for whatever reason they don't "feel" sci-fi to me. More like a genre unto themselves.

[Wirehed]

Alien
Blade Runner
Brazil
Primer
2001
Avalon
The Navigater: A Journey Across Time
A.I.
A Clockwork Orange
Altered States

[tazer floyd]

1. Alien
2. The Matrix
3. The Terminator
4. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
5. Blade Runner
6. Forbidden Planet
7. Aliens
8. Contact
9. THX 1138
10. The Fifth Element

Of course, this list is constantly changing. SF is probably my favorite genre, and it's really tough to pick just 10. Others that just missed the list, or could rotate in...

The Fountain
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
12 Monkeys
The Thing (though I think of this more as horror)
The Abyss
Robocop
Serenity
Star Wars: ANH
T2
Gattaca
Tron

[artood2]

a new hope (SWEP4)
Logan's Run
Empire strikes back (swep5)
Alien
Alien 2
Terminator
Heavy Metal
planet of the apes (original one)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The thing

[sub780lime]

Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Serentiy
Star Trek First Contact
Star Trek Generations
The Fifth Element
The Chronicles of Riddick
Flash Gordon
Mars Attacks!

If I was only to pick ten to be on an island with, these are them

[Riddick]

Its been a while since I posted , did one of these a few years ago myself

anyways . . . . . . .

1. ALIEN (the one and only)
2. 2001 A Space Odyssey ( the one all others are compared against)
3. The Matrix (yup she was ground breaker)
4. BladeRunner
5. The Abyss
6. Planet of the Apes '68
7. The Terminator
8. Star Trek llX First Contact
9. Dark City
10. Pitch Black


Honorable mentions

Aliens
Cube
T2


Riddick

[Astrakan]

Alien
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
The Matrix
Planet of the Apes
Serenity
Starship Troopers
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
The Terminator
12 Monkeys

It should be known I have not seen Brazil.

KM

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

It should be known I have not seen Brazil.

Dude... get on that!

[esc]

Why must I be limited to 10?

If I could have a list of 13, I'd have to include The Abyss: Director's Cut, Donnie Darko and Disney's The Black Hole... the non-wuss edit one where everyone dies at the end.

10. The Fountain
9. Gattacca
8. A Boy And His Dog
7. Dark City
6. Metropolis (1927, B&W, Silent)
5. Blade Runner
4. A L I E N
3. Contact
2. Empire Strikes Back
1. 2001 A Space Odyssey (also the best film ever made)

[JakeLipson]

Because I really don't like the difficulty of putting things I consider great in a best-to-worst order, I'm just going to put these in release date order. But here goes. (Can King Kong be sci-fi?)

1) King Kong (1933)
2) Planet of the Apes (1968)
3) THX-1138
4) Star Wars
5) The Empire Strikes Back
6) E.T.
7) The Terminator
8) Back to the Future
9) T2: Judgment Day
10) Jurassic Park
11) The Matrix
12) Treasure Planet
13) King Kong (2005)
14) Children of Men

[Nighty]

No particular order:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (No kidding)
2010
Contact
The Black Hole (Still Fun)
Star Wars
Empire Strikes Back
Aliens
Terminator II
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (That movie takes me back to my youth)
Total Recall

[EM3]

In no particular order

Alien
Aliens
T 2
Fantastic Voyage
Star Wars
Matrix
Flash Gordon
Terminator
Mars Attacks
Spaced Invaders

[Pirate]

01. Star Wars Saga
02. Blade Runner
03. 2001
04. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
05. Solaris (Soderbergh)
06. Back to the Future Trilogy
07. The Matrix
08. Children of Men
09. Aliens
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


Honorable Mentions:
Serenity (as much as I adore Serenity, it doesn't work as well without the show)
Gattaca
E.T.
Jurassic Park
Forbidden Planet
A.I.

[sub780lime]

Originally Posted by Riddick

Honorable mentions

Aliens
Cube
T2


Riddick

Dude, I forgot about Cube. Thats my #11

[Enron]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

01. Star Wars Saga
02. Blade Runner
03. 2001
04. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
05. Solaris (Soderbergh)
06. Back to the Future Trilogy
07. The Matrix
08. Children of Men
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


Honorable Mentions:
Serenity (as much as I adore Serenity, it doesn't work as well without the show)
Gattaca
E.T.
Jurassic Park
Forbidden Planet
A.I.
Aliens

What about your No. 9?

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Enron

What about your No. 9?

It must have gotten sucked into a wormhole!

[dugpa]

The Star Wars films are fantasy and the Alien films are horror, not sci-fi, so everyone revise your lists accordingly.

Mine (in no real order):

Metropolis (the Lang film, not that god awful anime crap)
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2001 A Space Odyssey
Seconds
Forbidden Planet
Blade Runner
Brazil
Dune
A Clockwork Orange
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by dugpa

The Star Wars films are fantasy and the Alien films are horror, not sci-fi, so everyone revise your lists accordingly.

I wondered who was going to be the first troublemaker.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I wondered who was going to be the first troublemaker.

I know what you mean.

Peace...

[Pirate]

Hmmm. That's interesting that they have Grindhouse listed. I guess, technically, you could also list something like Night of the Living Dead as a Sci-Fi film.

[tomdkat]

Considering it's IMDB, I figured it would be respected as a legit source, if not an authority, but I guess they could also be mistaken.

I dunno.... I just dunno anymore....

Peace..

[Pirate]

I guess it depends on whether or not you blame zombie activity on Hell for actually illuminating their "No Vacancy" sign or natural, scientific events.

[Wirehed]

Originally Posted by dugpa

The Star Wars films are fantasy and the Alien films are horror, not sci-fi, so everyone revise your lists accordingly.

I'll agree with you on Star Wars, but argue that "horror" isn't a genre at all, it's an emotion, thusly Alien is appropriately labled as Science Fiction.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Considering it's IMDB, I figured it would be respected as a legit source, if not an authority, but I guess they could also be mistaken.

The IMDB is often mistaken. All the info on it is contributed by users and the oversight isn't always what it should be. I remember the many years they had David Lynch listed as having worked on Disney's Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers.

Originally Posted by Seamonkey

I'll agree with you on Star Wars, but argue that "horror" isn't a genre at all, it's an emotion, thusly Alien is appropriately labled as Science Fiction.

Horror is genre as the word means not only to the emotion but also something that is disagreeable or unpleasant. Look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me.

[Wirehed]

Originally Posted by dugpa

Horror is genre as the word means not only to the emotion but also something that is disagreeable or unpleasant. Look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me.

Oh, so Pretty Woman, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and so forth are Horror films...ok.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Seamonkey

Oh, so Pretty Woman, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and so forth are Horror films...ok.

[Mr. Furious]

I've seen a lot of sci-fi, but I keep gravitating back to just a few series:

Star Trek (The franchise). Really, I enjoyed just about everything but Voyager. I even have a little I.S.S Enterprise model sitting on my monitor right now.

Babylon 5. Seriously, if you haven't seen this series, you're missing out. Aside from the movies, B5 was just fantastic. The writing is really solid. Even though the early part of the series suffers from some bad special effects and some really green actors, by the 5th season you've got no heart if you're not deeply invested in the B5 universe and characters.

Firefly. I can't believe it was cancelled so early. It was one of the most innovative sci-fi series I've seen in a long, long time. It was a shame it never made it out of the first season.

X-Files. Really, this was a great piece of sci-fi history. Too bad that they didn't know when to quit and the quality started slipping in the later seasons. Though, from the start they really hit the ground running. It's one of the first shows that really seemed to know where it was heading from Season 1 episode 1.

There are other sci-fi series/movies I enjoyed, but those are my primary vehicles of enjoyment. I do think two movies stand out in my mind as just excellent, excellent films:

Star Trek II: TWOK
Star Trek III: TSFS

They're pretty much tied together, but it really goes to incredible lengths to show the bond between the crew of the Enterprise. What made these films so great was that they played off of timeless themes like friendship, loyalty, revenge, and sacrifice. I still get choked up by Spock's death scene. Kirk's shock when David Marcus is killed is another poignant moment.

Final note: Enterprise - Season 3 - Episode: Similitude
Star Trek has always had a habit of commenting on social issues. This one was an incredible spin on the subject of cloning, harvesting, etc. Cmdr. Tucker is injured and they make a clone to harvest his tissue to save Tucker. In the process, they realize what they've done. Really - it's a great piece of acting from Connor Trinneer. Many people disagreed with their point - but it was just so well done. Considering how important I consider the issue of life to be, it shows some of the difficulties in being ethically bound to that principle.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Seamonkey

Oh, so Pretty Woman, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and so forth are Horror films...ok.

Well, to some they actually would be.

Since we're talking about definitions, here is the first definition of horror from dictionary.com:

Originally Posted by Dictionary.com

an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.

There were 9 definitions total on that page.

Peace...

[Taxi]

I don't think that horror and/or Sci-Fi need to be exclusive definitions. You can have sci-fi horror (Alien) or sci-fi comedy (Spaceballs) or sci-fi action (Terminator) etc. just like you can have animated sci-fi (Titan A.E.) or animated comedy (Shrek) etc.

Strictly speaking, Star Wars is more a fantasy adventure, but since it's set in a "futuristic" technologically advanced universe, it's science fiction.

[Wirehed]

Originally Posted by Taxi

I don't think that horror and/or Sci-Fi need to be exclusive definitions. You can have sci-fi horror (Alien) or sci-fi comedy (Spaceballs) or sci-fi action (Terminator) etc. just like you can have animated sci-fi (Titan A.E.) or animated comedy (Shrek) etc.

That's the thing about horror, it's a feeling, so it can be (and of course IS) attatched to any genre of film. What makes a film like Chinatown a drama, while Silence of the Lambs horror? Both are "drama" or "fiction."

Alien is certainly a film meant to scare, but it's really a film that takes place in the future about an unknown lifeform with the sole purpose of killijng. The rich background points us in the direction that the alien was a killing machine developed by another alien civilization as part of a war machine long before, a bioligical weapon, one that perhaps not only won that war, but possibly wiped out the very civilization that created it. --which is certainly science fiction, good science fiction at that.

[Pirate]

Now I can't wait to start the Top 10 Horror Films thread. Hilarity will most definitely ensue!