Top Ten Essential Sci-Fis

[The Mad Plumber]

My experiment to find out what this board considered to be the top ten essential comedies really produced results that I didn't expect. A positive note is that it did provide a list of films I should take some time in seeing myself. So, I'd like to see how this experiment operates a second time, this time with the film genre being science fiction.

Please note my own list is based on a limited viewing experience and that I was really struggling to come up with ten titles for this list.

• #10: Short Circuit (1986)
  
• #9: Blade Runner (1982) (Director's Cut)
  
• #8: Ghostbusters (1984)
  
• #7: Jurassic Park (1993)
  
• #6: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
  
• #5: Back to the Future (1985)
  
• #4: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  
• #3: Alien (1979)
  
• #2: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  
• #1: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  

[GProopdog]

Very good list. If I had to nitpick one thing, It would be that Jurassic Park, IMO, is more of an Action/Horror then a sci-fi movie. Otherwise, this list was flawless.

[spacedink]

In no particular order:

The Star Wars original trilogy (I love 'em equally)
Planet of the Apes
Jurassic Park
Alien
Aliens
The Terminator
Predator
Robocop
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

A few that didn't made it on the list: Terminator 2, Alien 3, The Thing from Another World, War of the Worlds (1953), and, of course, MST3K: The Movie.

My list is pretty limited too since I've haven't gotten around seeing the really famous ones like 2001, Blade Runner or Metropolis.

[GProopdog]

1. Star Wars
2. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
3. Plan 9 from Outerspace (no Sci-Fi fan should avoid it, even just to laugh at how bad it is)
4. Aliens
5. Stargate
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. E.T
8. Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956)
9. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
10. Westworld

[The Mad Plumber]

Sept 5, 2009 15:10:32 GMT -5 The Mad Plumber said:

• #10: Short Circuit (1986)
  
• #9: Blade Runner (1982) (Director's Cut)
  
• #8: Ghostbusters (1984)
  
• #7: Jurassic Park (1993)
  
• #6: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
  
• #5: Back to the Future (1985)
  
• #4: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  
• #3: Alien (1979)
  
• #2: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  
• #1: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  

From my original ten that I've listed, I'm going to knock Short Circuit off of it and replace it with WarGames. I was just struggling to come up with an appropriate tenth spot and Short Circuit was all I could think of at the time ... and that's kind of sad. I was also considering Tron as a possibility for my tenth spot, but I think that WarGames is just a tad more essential film.

[ilmatto]

1. Andromeda Strain
2. Blade Runner
3. Dune (Lynch)
4. Forbidden Planet
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still
6. Fahrenheit 451
7. The Omega Man
8. Star Wars
9. 2001 A Space Odyssey
10. Solaris 1972

Well I'm already up to 10. No particular order. These aren't all of my favorites but I couldn't live without any of the above.

[callipygias]

Since they're usually combined I'm going with sci-fi/fantasy.



1) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ~ Not only the greatest sci-fi movie ever, I have it as the 3rd greatest movie ever.

2) Children of Men (2006) ~ Too many people have never heard of this incredible movie. I was one of them until I saw it on a few board members' "greatest movies of the decade" list.

3) A.I. (2001) ~ This movie retains just enough Kubrick to be hypnotic and beautiful throughout.

4) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 02, 03) ~ The only reason I didn't pick just one is that I've only ever seen them together. I didn't watch them till they were all on DVD and whenever I watch them I watch them in a row.

5) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) ~ Let's hear it for the Cold War!

6) Star Wars (1977) ~ Far and away the greatest movie-going experience of my life. 8 years old waiting in line for hours with my grandparents, but when that giant ship flew over my head and went on and on was beyond awesome.

7) The Princess Bride (1987) ~ Any movie with Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin, Fred Savage, and Christopher Guest in the cast automatically makes the list.

8) Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) ~ Non-stop action and fun. If I'm flipping channels this is one of those movies I'll almost always stop for.

9) V for Vendetta (2005) ~ Having only seen Her Wooden Majesty in the Star Wars Prequel I was shocked at how good Natalie Portman was in this.

10) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) ~ The real pod people. Classic.

And #11 would be The Dark Crystal.

[Joseph Javorsky]

Star Wars Trilogy
Planet of the Apes
Robocop
Jurassic Park
Godzilla
Close Encounters
ET
King Kong
T2
District 9

[doctorz]

As I can remember them and in no particular order:

2001-A Space Odyssey
The Day the Earth Stood Still - 1951 version
Forbidden Planet
The Time Machine - George Pal's version
The original Star Wars Trilogy
Planet of the Apes - the original one with Charlton Heston
Blade Runner
War of the Worlds - George Pal's version
Logan's Run
Encounters of the Third Kind

[batmite]

1. Metropolis
2. Gojira
3. The Incredible Shrinking Man
4. The Day The Earth Stood Still
5. Flash Gordon Serials

6. Things to Come
7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
8. The Invisible Man
9. Island of Lost Souls
10. Planet of the Apes

[donmac]

My list goes to 11!


(1) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
(2) Alien (1979)
(3) A Clockwork Orange (1971)
(4) Star Wars Trilogy (original version. 1977-1983)
(5) Blade Runner (1982)
(6) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
(7) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
(8) The Terminator (1984)
(9) Forbidden Planet (1956)
(10) Planet of the Apes (1968)
(11) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

[Bix Dugan]

I would add these unmentioned films.

Fantastic Voyage
(the original, IMDB shows a new version apparently to be released in 2010)

Heavy Metal

[inlovewithcrow]

Terminator, the first one. I loved this for its feminist facet and the ending. The second one had some good moments, but it ended up being totally illogical. When the terminator melts at the end, the little boy should go "poof" out of existence.

The Empire Strikes Back.

The Day the Earth Stood Still. This holds up amazingly well.

Blade Runner. You know, when this was first out, the look of it was radical...and now it's ubiquitous.

Galaxy Quest. you laugh, you cry.

Nineteen Eighty-Four. Not a perfect movie, but adequate adaptation.

Testament. A terrific story about surviving (briefly) an all-out nuclear war. A real tear-jerker.

The Thing, the 1982 one.

28 Days Later.

The Handmaid's Tale.

Also rans: 2001 (beautiful, but painfully sexist), Minority Report, Twelve Monkeys (not that I understood it entirely), Soylent Green, Escape from New York, A Boy and His Dog, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai

[Continuing Legend]

I admittedly haven't seen enough "classic"/ "essential" sci-fi to really make a list of essential sci-fi.

So instead of "essential," here's my list of some "recommended, but not necessarily essential, sci-fi."

1. Star Wars: A New Hope (yes, Empire Strikes Back is a better movie, but as pure space opera fun goes, stick with the original)
2. Dark Star (A good sci-fi comedy. Admittedly I haven't seen it in years and don't remember a lot of it, but I do remember enjoying it)
3. The Time Machine (one of those classics that I've actually seen and enjoyed)

Um.. I read a lot more than I watch movies. I can't think of any more.

So if I may cheat for a moment and mention two TV shows:

4. The Twilight Zone (not always sci-fi, but when it DOES do sci-fi, it does it well, and hell, pretty much all of it is great)
5. Firefly (which I enjoyed as a TV series a LOT more than I enjoyed the movie Serenity, which I know is an unpopular opinion in fandom, but there, I said it.)

That's all I can think of. Sorry.

*bad sci-fi fan*