Greatest Science Fiction Film of all Time

[nobody]

So here I am, at home, all alone, and I'm getting ready to devote my entire Friday night to science fiction. I'm going to watch the "Stargate: Atlantis" special, then the "SG-1" season 8 premiere... and as an extra special bonus, I'll get to watch the "Farscape: Peacekeeper War" teaser trailer (which is scheduled to air during one of the "SG-1" commercial breaks)...

Alright, now that you're done laughing at how much of a geek I am, I wanted to ask this question:

I went to IMDB tonight and looked at their top 50 list of science fiction films. I noticed that Star Wars (the very first movie from 1977) tops the list. Is that really the greatest science fiction movie ever? What do the rest of you think "the best science fiction movie of all time" is?

[Tilebreaker]

Forbidden Planet

[JohnL]

>What do the rest of you think "the best science fiction movie of all time" is?

That depends, there are many different types of science fiction. There are action oriented movies, realistic movies, intellectual movies, etc.

The Star Wars films and the Terminator films are good examples of action oriented movies. 2001: A Space Odyssey could be considered a realistic movie (at least up to the point where he enters the monolith). An example of an intellectual movie might be The Andromeda Strain. All qualify as science fiction, but they're very different movies.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Just as JohnL said, there are numerous subgenres of SF films.

But if I had to pick, I'd narrow it down to two films:

Dark City - I absolutely love this film.  It never gets old no matter how many times I see it.  It's a perfect example of a passive progressive film and it's obvious homages to Metropolis are fantastic.  

Blade Runner - Another film that never gets old.  This film is by far Harrison Ford's best work in the SF genre.  Fantastic music, expertly directed and acted and scripted.   (Well all except for the original ending which I caught recently.)

[trekgeezer]

This would have to be 2001: A Space Odyssey.  For the time it was made(1965-1968) the SFX  compete with most modern  science fiction films.  I know a lot of people find it boring, but when it was made  it was downright awe inspiring and still remains probably the most realistic portrayal of space flight.  

This may be a generational thing, but there have been so many  big SFX movies that I think it has jaded much of the audience and  there isn't much that anyone is awed by  any more.  I remember seeing this film and the original  Planet of the Apes the same year when  I was thirteen and nothing like either of these movies had ever been done.  I was used to seeing  space flight in those old 50's movies, so I have to tell you that this movie just blew me away.  

It can also probably be given credit for the beginning of " the paranoid computer takes over" craze in science fiction.

[peter johnson]

"The Greatest" is such a loaded term.
Trekgeezer can make a great case for 2001, and I'm sort of inclined to agree.  One of the best things about 2001 is NO GODDAMN NOISE IN SPACE, which all the Star Wars films have in abundance.  Nowadays, even "serious" science-fiction films have very noisy spaceships:  Banging and clanging and wooshing and going boom when they explode.  I wish it were all silent, with grand musical scores underlying the portentious moments if we must.
My vote for Greatest of All Time is another film that came out the same year (1966), and dealt with many of the same themes:  The origins of humanity, the meaning of God and alien life, how the past forms the future, etc. etc.:  Hammer Film's "Five Million Years to Earth", aka Quatermass and The Pit.
Ever see it for real?  I know at least one of you has because it's listed in the films that scared us as children thread.
The premise that humanity is the result of genetic engineering experiments carried out 5 million years ago by insect hordes of soul-less Martians, whose lingering spirits may be the origins of fairie legends and Satan himself, is simply priceless.  Everytime I see this thing I find some new bit of detail to marvel at.  
That and the fact they were working with 1/16th the budget of 2001.
peter johnson

[Kory]

Yeah- I have it on DVD & It's awesome!  It is kinda hard, though, to see Leslie Neilson try to do "serious" acting.

[JohnL]

>Nowadays, even "serious" science-fiction films have very noisy spaceships:
>Banging and clanging and wooshing and going boom when they explode. I wish
>it were all silent, with grand musical scores underlying the portentious moments if
>we must.

One more recent film did this, but it wasn't exactly science fiction; Moontrap. It was very disorienting to see biomechanical creatures attacking and Walter Koenig fighting them off with a machine gun with no sound effects at all.

[Ash]

Star Wars Episode 4

Hands down.

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[Susan]

sci-fi has a broad spectrum, i don't know if i could say "the best". I can say my favorites. I have my dvd collection divided by genre, and my sci-fi section is the largest, second to that is horror. I guess that says what I like. If I had to make a list they'd include:

Terminator
The Matrix
Logans Run
Close Encounters of the third kind
Time Machine (original)
Fahrenheit 451

It's hard for me to pick between the Body Snatcher movies. Each had their own spin that made them their own. I also love alot of the old Mystery Island and voyage/journey to the bottom movies but i wouldn't list as favorites. I enjoy "pitch black", but i guess enough time hasn't passed for me to rate it's staying power.





Post Edited (07-11-04 00:01)

[Gus Nukem]

Star Trek : the Motion Picture ( Director's Edition )
d. by Robert Wise
1979, 2001

[AndyC]

Kory wrote:
> Yeah- I have it on DVD & It's awesome!  It is kinda hard,
> though, to see Leslie Neilson try to do "serious" acting.

Actually, serious was all Nielsen played until 1980 or so. The makers of Airplaine cast him, along with guys like Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges, because the disaster spoof needed serious actors. Turned out Neilsen had a gift for comedy.

Anyway, I agree that Forbidden Planet was way ahead of its time, and still holds up pretty well today. It was also quite influential, since it's pretty obvious that Gene Roddenberry borrowed heavily from the movie when he created Star Trek.

[The Burgomaster]

I like STAR WARS, but it probably isn't in my top 10 (or maybe even my top 20) sci-fi films.  Here are a few of the ones that I think are better (in no particular order):

* 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
* FORBIDDEN PLANET
* INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
* THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
* PLANET OF THE APES
* WAR OF THE WORLDS
* THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN

[peter johnson]

Re. Forbidden Planet being borrowed from by Roddenberry --
Forbidden Planet's characters and plot is lifted practically verbatim from William Shakespeare's "The Tempest".  Check it out -- get a Cliff Notes version & run the DVD & flip back and forth -- amazing parralells!!
 . . . and I don't mean this as a negative criticism, either, just an observation.  All the best stories are simply retellings of the ones that went before.  Joseph Campbell suggested that there are really only 4 stories to tell in all of human history, and all the grand myths and legends of our times are variations on these themes.
Many people have pointed out that the reason the Star Wars saga works is that it's just one more retelling of  what Campbell calls "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" story:  Man of lowly stature receives a revelation from Beyond by strange emissaries that he is of Noble Birth and must leave immediately on a Quest to discover his righful heritage, etc. etc.
Hammer Films rule . . .
peter johnson

[Flangepart]

Well, the best SCIENCE fiction in my humble opinion, is ANDROMIDA STRAIN.
Conciter.
No stupid "Love story" interfearing with the plot.
The scientests are all pros, and the way they get facinated with the challange at hand always impressed me.
They act like pros.
The malfunctions involving the mistakes people make are realistic, and believable.
The action elements are logical, and played out well.
All in all, this seems a flick Susan should conciter a model of "How its done"

I often wonder...would StarFleet Medical use this "Ancient History" as a means of tweaking the minds of budding studients, before they begin their class studies on "Alien lifeform interactions and advanced Procedurial orginisation?"

"Now class, this insight into how such proceduries may seem quaint, but even today, the basic principles do remain consistant. The lab design is not too different from the modles used by Starfleet medical. Who can tell me, what methods used in this story, are NOT being used today? Ens. S'Tall?"