This is old, but I don't see it on here:
Our expert panel votes for the top 10 sci-fi films
No Forbidden Planet!?Blade Runner
2001
Star Wars/ESB
Alien
Solaris
Terminator/T2
The Day the Earth Stood Still
War of the Worlds
The Matrix
Close Encounters
Vulcan Administrator
This is old, but I don't see it on here:
Our expert panel votes for the top 10 sci-fi films
No Forbidden Planet!?Blade Runner
2001
Star Wars/ESB
Alien
Solaris
Terminator/T2
The Day the Earth Stood Still
War of the Worlds
The Matrix
Close Encounters
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Administrator
Not a horrible list, but I would probably drop Solaris - I could live with Forbidden Planet in it's place.
Administrator
There's a lot of relatively good Sci-Fi movies not on the list, and I agree that Solaris seemed oddly placed there.
I kind of liked the low-budget "Dark Star", which I think could easily bump "War of the Worlds". After that, I think "Close Encounters" is the weakest on the list.
Forming opinions as we speak
Established Member
I disagree with the previous comments about Solaris - it would probably be the first film on my list. I'd replace Terminator with 12 Monkeys which I thought was a better treatment of the "travel back in time to save the world" theme. Then I'd substitute Forbidden Planet, Dark Star and Metropolis for War of the Worlds, The Matrix, and Star Wars.
My list (in no particular order, and I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow once I've figured out how to make room for Quatermass and the Pit):
Blade Runner
2001
Forbidden Planet
Alien
Solaris
12 Monkeys
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Dark Star
Metropolis
Close Encounters
Established Member
To me, film sci-fi is all about big explosions and all round entertainment. I prefer my TV series to try to be more thought provoking. Films like Brazil, Dark City, 12 Monkeys and Gattaca are all bubbling under in the top 20.
If Phantom Menace cut out everything except the light sabre battle at the end, it would have been number one on my list.
Aliens
The Thing
Empire Strike Back
Terminator
Serenity
Wrath of Khan
The Matrix
Alien
Star Wars
ID4 -cheesey, I realise. But everyone has a favourite film they are ashamed of, no? Critters IV looks slightly less impressive though
Established Member
The Thing. Got that DVD collector edition and loved it. That movie for some reason sits in my top 10 for sure.
Established Member
If they're referring to the original Solaris, then, yeah it belongs there. Forget the Clooney(?) remake. I'd drop Close Encounters of the Third Kind to make room for Forbidden Planet
Established Member
I'd say the same about Cronenberg's The Fly.Originally Posted by Z28Jerry
Order of Kilopi
Are you my sock puppet, John? Those were my thoughts exactly! The Tarkovsky Solaris is utterly beautiful, best SF movie ever. CE3K is merely... a film that exists.
Thinking on it, I'd prefer to drop War of the Worlds too as it never struck me as more than a jumped-up B movie. Heck, The Time Machine was much better.
I'd also like to see 2010 up there - one of the best sequels (one which actually advances the original storyline instead of just repeating it), and much better than the book.
It's interesting that only first sequels get a mention - and rightly so. In recent years there have been quite a few sequels that have been as good as, if not better than, the original, but the second sequel never seems to manage this. Empire Strikes Back was, IMO, better than A New Hope, but Return of the Jedi was much weaker. Similar things could be said for Terminator and Alien. And Matrix - the second Matrix film had some merit, but as for the third... oh dear!
Established Member
I agree that Forbidden Planet should get in there, for me at the expense of 'The Matrix'. I would also ditch WotW for 'Contact'.
Otherwise, a pretty good list. ('The Thing' and 'Dark Star' would both be in my top 20, but I don't think would dislodge any of these others from the Top 10).
Edited: Ooh, ooh! And WestWorld.
Established Member
Blade Runner
2001
Star Wars/ESB
Alien
Solaris
Terminator/T2
The Day the Earth Stood Still
War of the Worlds
The Matrix
Close Encounters
Agreement on Forbidden Planet AND The Time Machine, both really should be in the top 10, but I can't think of who to dump out though. Probably Terminator and Alien if I HAD to choose.
But might I also suggest a dark horse for the mix, Leprechaun 4, Leprechauns in Space. Mighty fine sci-fi there! :P
Established Member
My top ten would be:
1. 2001
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Terminator 2
4. Alien 2
5. The Time Machine
6. Blade Runner
7. Close Encounters
8. Forbidden Planet
9. Star Wars
10. Contact
It would be better to have a top 25. Too many excellent movies left to list.
Last edited by Trantor; 2006-May-08 at 07:16 PM.
Established Member
Established Member
Nice to see hardly anybody has knocked Blade Runner completely out so far
Too right!
Order of Kilopi
I can't come up with a reasonable list of my 10 favorites, let alone the 10 best. Instead, I'm going to instead make a list of some IMO notables, with the occasional exclusion, and why.
1) Serenity: A nice escape from the typical captain and crew. Also your brilliant, but _atypical_ camera work. They broke _all_ the rules and had ridiculous amounts of backstory to somehow cram in the intro, and they somehow kept it all brilliant.
2) Empire Strikes Back: The good guys survive, barely, and call it a movie.
3) Terminator 2: The good guys survive, barely, and call it a movie.
4) Alien 2: The good... gals... survive, barely, and call it a movie.
5) Contact: I loved the movie right up until the moment they drop the capsule. They lost me when the movie's tone started arguing for blind faith over evidence-gathering.
6) The Black Hole: Nah, just kidding. Made ya look. Psyche.
6) The Matrix: But most emphatically not 2 or 3.
7) Yoda's Memorable Journey: aka, the Yoda action scenes of Prequels 2 and 3. The least woodenly written character of the bunch (although I grant Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid did fine jobs as well.)
Order of Kilopi
Hmm, aren't there 12 films on that list?
My newly revised top ten list is:
1. 2001
2. Forbidden Planet
3. Blade Runner
4. Aliens
5. Dark City
6. The Thing (John Carpenter's version)
7. The Empire Strikes Back
8. Terminator 2
9. STII: The Wrath of Khan (guilty pleasure)
10.Serenity
Dave MItsky
Honored Member
Sorry to the poster above somewhere, but for me there's a lot more to scifi films than explosions.
I guess as a product of reading the scifi literature of the 1950s I expect my grey matter (what's left of it) to be tweaked by a scifi film.
Therefore my list, by an ancient derelict, is:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. The Day the Earth Stood Still
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
4. Metropolis (1927)
5. Forbidden Planet
6. Fahrenheit 451
7. The Time Machine (1960)
8. This Island Earth (a Mitsky-ish guilty pleasure)
9. Dark Star (my sense of the absurd comes into play)
10. Contact (despite its religious rewrites (Carl would have puked) it still has those "approximately eighteen hours" as the clincher)
Honorable mention to The Birds. It tells you something about the validity of the Academy Awards that Hitchcock never won one.
For the omissions,
Alien series: just more monsters in the dark: didn't have to be on a spaceship, would have worked in a factory or an old house.
Terminator series: shoot-em-up with an eschatological time travel twist.
Star Wars: space opera with lots of sounds in vacuums, fun, but you're hungry an hour later.
Star Trek: this was hard to leave out, but the movies are more like extended TV shows, I still love them, but as extensions of TOS. Ditto TNG.
CEOTTK: Wonderful during the 1970s, arthritic now.
Blade Runner, Fifth Element, Total Recall et al: I really don't enjoy dystopian epics, especially when the music (e.g., Fifth Element) seems to be not synchronised with the movie.
Any anime: anemia. Want me to reveal vital government secrets? Just show me anime for more than a minute.
Bruce Willis: One minute of looking at his one expression is more than enough.
Wars of the Worlds: Opus 1: too many wires. Opus 2: too much Tom Cruise and non-credible effects.
The new #1 will be the ultimate Hitchhiker movie, but that's already in my head: I read the books.
Established Member
Mak,
What is "CEOTTK?"
Order of Kilopi
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Mak, just out of curiosity, why leave off Serenity? Same TV connection as Star Trek?
Honored Member
Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Established Member
Ah, thanks. I've seen that enough times, you would think I would have made the connection.
Established Member
I think that one of the great sci-fi movies that still has not made any of the above lists is the original "Planet of the Apes". I'm glad "This Island Earth" was also mentioned as it was a classic. John Carpenter's "The Thing" was also excellent.
I woundn't consider it in the class of great movies, but I liked "They Live". It was a fun sci-fi movie. I thought the mind control and reality seeing sunglasses were cool ideas. "Predator" was also very good and fun.
Order of Kilopi
I had forgotten "Alien Nation"... Kick me, please.
Order of Kilopi
And the first "King Kong", Ray Bradbury's all-time fave. He hated the second re-make, but loved the Peter Jackson version so much that he wants him to direct "Martian Chronicles" next year. Bradbury also named "Singing In The Rain" as his favorite sci-fi musical here.
Established Member
2001: A Space Odyssey: Great movie, great sci-fi, great period.
Star Wars: Not the sequels, not the enhanced-digitally-remastered-directors-cut versions, just the incredibly fun movie my girlfriend and I saw at the multiplex in May 1977.
King Kong (1933): Because it was the first to do so may things, and because Fay Wray was amazingly sexy.
A Clockwork Orange: Kubrick again. If you think the movie was strange, try reading the book.
Metropolis (1927): Amazing visuals. I wish I could see it on a really good print.
The Birds: Hitchcock made a grade A film from grade B sci-fi material. Shyamalan did the same with Signs but not nearly as well.
Soylent Green: Itīs made from...!!
Planet of the Apes (1968): More sequels than any other sci-fi movie.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954): The second best movie the Disney studios ever made (the first being Mary Poppins).
Apollo 13: Okay, itīs more science fact than science fiction, but itīs still the best man-in-space movie ever.
Member
not in any particular order..
1.Serenity
2.Star Wars (original one)
3.Alien
4.Aliens
5.Close Encounters
6.Terminator 2
7.Contact
8.King Kong (the new one)
9.Fifth Element (and i'm not ashamed of it!)
10. Matrix (cos ive run out of ideas)
Order of Kilopi
Any list without Gattacca or Minority report is incomplete.
In no particular order....
Gattacca
Minority Report
2001
Alien (first only)
Solaris (original)
Matrix (first only)
Contact (for those who object to the religious themes, to book is far more religious)
No way can I make it 10. There are lots of honourable mentions, but none others that would be worth preserving for 1000 years.
Jon
Established Member
What happened to Dune? Herbert's novel was a supreme challenge to bring to the big screen, but it has been done, and pretty admirably, given the scope of the novel. I liked Serenity OK, but the dialogue was horribly strained (in a number of creative ways), like it was written by a son of an Amish sheep-farmer living in west Texas. It was really lame!
Established Member
I would reply to this, but I have to help Dad drive the lambs away from the oil wells in my buggy.
Honored Member
You got it. I'd rather watch Rufus T. do his thing.
Established Member
You mean to say...as, sex? Hell with this! I'm gonna live!
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