100 "Fake" SF Films

[AndyC]

This is a great term I picked up from John Brosnan's book, The Primal Screen: A History of Science Fiction Film. A fake SF film is basically sci-fi that isn't sci-fi at all. None of the SF elements are essential to the story, which could just as easily be filmed as a straight drama, action, comedy or whatever with no major changes to the plot.

I'll start the list of with:

1. Outland - It's High Noon in space.

[Jack]

2)  Night Skies - some kids in a camper are terrorized by aliens.  However, it could just as easily be cult members, demons, Bigfoot, whatever.  It's not like the fact that they're aliens really plays any real part in the film.

[WingedSerpent]

3. Star Wars.  It's really more of a fantasy film then a sci-fi film. 

[AndyC]

3. Star Wars.  It's really more of a fantasy film then a sci-fi film. 

The line between SF and fantasy can be fuzzy at times. Still, Star Wars, stripped down into its essential plot, doesn't need to be in space. Make it about seagoing ships and fighter planes, swap planets for foreign countries and droids for a human servant class, and make the Jedi into plain old martial artists, and you could tell the same story. So, yeah, it's totally fake SF.

[Trevor]

Andy, would Silent Running fit into this? 

It's really IMO a film about preserving nature, rather than a sci-fi film.

[Doggett]

Contact

It's got nothing to do with sci-fi it only pretends it is. It's a faith film.
Grrr.....

[Doc Daneeka]

Andy, would Silent Running fit into this? 

It's really IMO a film about preserving nature, rather than a sci-fi film.

I don't think so, although it is about preserving nature the only scenario it really works in is in a imperiled ship containing the world's last forests.

[Jack]

4)  Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity - it's just The Most Dangerous Game, with a bit of sci-fi tossed in for decoration.  And some boobies for decoration too 

[AndyC]

Andy, would Silent Running fit into this? 

It's really IMO a film about preserving nature, rather than a sci-fi film.

That's an interesting one. I'm inclined to think that it is real SF, because the premise does centre around speculation of the future, regardless of how silly some of it is. In the future, we've killed off all the forests, and what are the consequences of that? I think the SF elements are more than window dressing. I suppose the hallmark might be whether the same story could be set in a real time and place without major modification. I think somebody saving the last forest after we've killed off all the others would require more than a little tinkering to change the setting.

Here's a perfect example:

5. Robinson Crusoe on Mars. The title pretty much says it all. Same story, but thrown into an SF setting.

[Kester Pelagius]

Seldom do I speak up and point out the absurdity of something but I think I will today.  Because if we're really going to be so hypercritical as to put STAR WARS- as iconic a work of mainstream science-fantasy space opera as you're likely to find- onto a list of "fake SF"* then why not just save us all the time and effort and just say NOTHING is real SF*.  Or, better yet, why not start a list of what's REAL SF* so we have a benchmark?

(*) And just WHAT do you mean by "SF" anyway?  SF = Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fantasy.  Which are we lambasting?

Because if STAR WARS doesn't count I can fill this list up in about a second.  Let's start with the Italian spaghetti space opera's, most of which were STAR WARS knock-offs anyhow. .

THE HUMANOID
STAR CRASH
WAR OF THE ROBOTS
STAR ODYSSEY
BEAST IN SPACE
&TC

Then let's move on to ALIEN and the Alien knock-offs, because those are just horror movies using sci-fi trappings, just like OUTLAND isn't sci-fi. . 

ALIENS
STAR CRYSTAL
INSEMINOID
BREEDERS
GALAXY OF TERROR
FORBIDDEN WORLD
&tc

For that matter it's also been proven that FORBIDDEN PLANET is just a work of Shakespeare using sci-fi trappings as well so let's add that to the list too, why don't we!  Oh, yeah, and since that's on the list we might as well include STAR TREK. It's a well known "fact" amongst those who hate the sci-fi genre that Roddenberry was a carnie huckster who ripped off his entire idea for the series from the aforementioned movie and the western genre.  The man himself even likened it to being WAGON TRAIN TO THE STARS; thus not science-fiction at al. BTW we might as well put BATTLESTAR GALACTICA on the list as that was Mormon/Bible propaganda and BABYLON 5 was a blantant Tolkien rip-off.

Oh, yeah, and all those "alien invasion" and "UFO" movies of the 50s weren't about sci-fi either.  They were "red menace" allegories so let's put them on the list too!

My point: Sometimes you just have to enjoy a genre and not over think.

[ghouck]

I think somebody saving the last forest after we've killed off all the others would require more than a little tinkering to change the setting.

Not really. It's the same story when it's people just trying to save one species of plant or animal. Although I love Silent Running, the core story isn't much of a SciFi story. To me it feels the same as 'Medicine Man' where they're actually in a much more primitive environment and trying to save a vital piece of earth biology. It could have been done the same in present times. As you pointed out earlier, scale alone doesn't make it Sci-Fi, which means pretty much every Star Trek movie is out also.


Personally, I don't find 2001 to have much of a Sci-Fi feel to it. There's so much fluff like the people eating in Zero-G and the guy talking to his daughter long-distance that are made to give it the Sci-Fi feel, but really add nothing to the movie. A guy argues with a computer? BFD.

[Kester Pelagius]

Personally, I don't find 2001 to have much of a Sci-Fi feel to it. There's so much fluff like the people eating in Zero-G and the guy talking to his daughter long-distance that are made to give it the Sci-Fi feel, but really add nothing to the movie. A guy argues with a computer? BFD.

Wow.

And now 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY isn't good enough to qualify as Sci-Fi either.



Granted the VFX are a bit dated but considering our space program has stalled and we don't even have anything approaching the type of craft seen in that movie I would have thought that, alone, would qualify this as speculative fiction.  But if you consider the craft/sets mere trappings and it's just the story you're looking at, yeah, you're right.  It's not sci-fi. Then agian NOTHING IS.

If all you want to do is deconstruct a movie and reduce it to it's core plot then just call it a day because, you're right, there's nothing out there that's Sci-Fi.  It's all just terrestrial drama and horror.

[ghouck]

Uh, I was being Ironic. .. Just taking the theme of the moment and applying it to all that it can be applied to.

[AndyC]

My point: Sometimes you just have to enjoy a genre and not over think.

Geez, how ironic is that piece of advice?

This is not about overthinking or lambasting anything. It's just a mental exercise, a bit of fun, just like all the other "100" lists on here. How many can we come up with, going one at a time and not posting laundry lists, quibbling over definitions or b***hing about other people's contributions to show everybody how smart we are?

This is not about deeming one movie or another unworthy of the genre, or in any way commenting on the quality. I like all the movies mentioned here so far. "Fake" is in quotes for a reason - because it's borrowing someone's term, not declaring that these movies are in any way false.

As with all of these lists, it's really up to the individual posters to explain their own reasons for the choices. Myself, I wouldn't include a lot of movies in this list because they aren't considered primarily science fiction to begin with. I wouldn't include any that were glaringly obvious. I would also, in this instance, use science fiction and fantasy interchangeably. Whether something is accomplished by technology or by magic is not the issue, but whether this unreal element is essential to telling essentially the same story.

I was actually going to put up a list of guidelines, since this is open to so much interpretation, but where would the fun be in that? Individual interpretation is part of the exercise. And discussing the choices (without getting pi$$y) is part of it too. So, I chose not to be a bossy killjoy and let people decide for themselves.

And, if you want to know, I was about 50/50 on whether Star Wars belonged here, but as much as I like it, I have to agree that setting alone does not make a science fiction story by the strictest definition, and this being regarded as a great science fiction/fantasy story makes it more than eligible for this list, in my opinion.

Now, as for Forbidden Planet, that was one I considered putting on, but decided it didn't belong. First of all, The Tempest is a story with elements of fantasy. Second, Forbidden Planet was more based on The Tempest than adapted directly. Right at the centre of the movie is one very strong SF theme - a machine that gives substance to any of man's desires, and the potential consequences of such a machine.

So, feel free to participate by whatever criteria you find satisfying. But take your own advice and lighten up.

[WingedSerpent]

Wow, remind me never to respond to a "100 top___"  thread again.

For straters, I'm not exactly alone in thinking Star Wars is more of a fantasy film then a science fiction film. http://hubpages.com/hub/Star-Wars-is-not-Science-Fiction  Take from that what you will.

From my standing, not only were the "science" elements in Star Wars sort of on the back burner (and more for visual effect), but there is a strong mystical/magical element that is more prominent. 

But I'll recant somewhat.  Are we talking about science fiction or sci-fi?  Science fiction is often considered to be taking a serious look at advancement of technology and the future.  For genteic enginering, a science ficton movie would be Gattica.  Looking at real out comes of the future.  Sci Fi is more entertainment based.  Going back to Genteics, something like Jurassic Park would be sci-fi.

Anyway, AndyC, I think this thread might have gotten away from you.  I apologize.