# Best Science Fiction Movie Ever **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384 "2000-09-16T04:38:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/21 "2000-09-16T15:29:46Z")
Cold Lazarus. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/22 "2000-09-16T15:35:19Z")
Another vote for Dark Star - it’s a very long time since I saw it, but I seem to remember loving the philosophical bomb. Plus, it had a very good beer named after it, although I admit that this may not be the reasoning of a true cineaste. ---
**Author:** ![Sea\_Sloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Sea\_Sloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sea_Sloth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/23 "2000-09-16T16:36:24Z")
I have to go with Terminator and Alien for pure enjoyment. Space Odyssey for artistic integrity. ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/24 "2000-09-16T16:46:04Z")
A BOY AND HIS DOG. How can you go wrong with Don Joh…ok scratch that. ---
**Author:** ![Kupek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@Kupek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kupek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/25 "2000-09-16T17:35:00Z")
Most of the ones I would have picked have been mentioned (Star Wars trilogy, Contact, The Matrix), but I haven’t seen **Gattaca** mentioned yet. Kinda surprising since it was just a Mailbag. Dear lord, someone liked **Mission to Mars**? Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/26 "2000-09-16T18:14:07Z")
Many good movies already named but I would add to the list Forbidden Planet The day the Earth stood still Them (but any movie with Edmund Gwenn in it I like) ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/27 "2000-09-16T18:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > But the Star Wars movies aren’t science fiction! if you want to go with that definition, then neither are many others in this thread. i vote for **fantastic planet.** ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/28 "2000-09-16T19:11:14Z")
**Bladerunner** is number one for me, but just for the sake of completeness, allow me to give some props to a few movies that haven’t yet been mentioned:[ul][li] **Invasion of the Body Snatchers** - The original B&W version. This movie really stands the test of time. Still a creepy and entertaining flick today.[/li][li] **The Thing** - John Carpenter’s version. Beautiful adaptation of perhaps the best SF short story of all time. The B&W 1950’s version is very entertaining as well.[/li][li] **Silent Running** - Gave us some quirky, funny robots that were the forerunners of R2D2 and C3PO.[/li][/ul] And please! Let’s not get all nerdy about what is and isn’t science fiction. If it’s got alien critters, it’s SF in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/29 "2000-09-16T19:41:04Z")
Oh yeah, and with all due respect to the OP, **2001: A Space Odyssey** is a deadly boring movie. Unless you’re on acid. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Magnox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Magnox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magnox)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/30 "2000-09-16T20:03:05Z")
Has anyone seen any of the live action Manga that came out of Japan in the mid-90s ? Strange, dubbed films, with half of the actors speaking in English, half of them dubbed into English for US/European releases. ‘GunHed’ springs to mind - effects are pretty appalling by today’s standards, but it has the _atmosphere_ of cult science fiction, the way Blade Runner does. Well worth a few minute’s hunt down your local video store. ‘Sphere’ has a neat twist on the usual sci-fi nonsense, ‘The Abyss’ could have been good (although Mary whassername in wet outfits raises its score in the watchable stakes), but for me, nothing touches the film noir appeal of Blade Runner. I’m still waiting for some of Greg Bear’s books to be turned into the celluloid stuff, but as Sagan’s Contact was dumbed down and curtailed for the cinema, the same would happen here. SF fans know where to go for their fix… and that’s to the bookshop, not to the cinema. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingOstrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/35a633/32.png) [@FlyingOstrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingOstrich)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/31 "2000-09-16T20:08:45Z")
…will allways be the best. But, coming in with the closest second in a long time is defiantly The Matrix, the first sci-fi for a while with a more than decent plot and ulto-special effects. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/32 "2000-09-16T21:04:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CWN \* > \*\*Many good movies already named but I would add to the list > > Forbidden Planet > > The day the Earth stood still > > \\*\* **How could I have forgotten these two masterpieces, _"DOH!_** For all of you who find **2001** to be boring, please read the book. It was a devilishly difficult ending to portray. A few years back, I found a book that showed all of the different endings _(with some stock scenes)_ that Clarke and Kubrick had considered. It remains **the** technical masterpiece. I especially liked **Aliens** because it was the first science fiction movie where all of the equipment was beat up and looked as though it had been there a while. This “everyday” approach to space travel was a real breakthrough for its time. Didn’t hurt to have a terrifying critter running around munching everyone either. **Starship Troopers** was written for thirteen year old boys, and sadly, the movie was too. I busted up the theater audience when, just as the humongous hoarde of aliens comes pouring over the hill, I bellowed out, **“Raaaiiid!”**. The newscasting schtick got to me after a while and the last ten minutes of the movie had **SEQUEL** plastered all over it like a billboard. In the riotous category; anyone ever see **Dagora, The Space Monster** , a really rotten Japanese flick? Let’s post some of the all time losers too. I’ll get **Plan Nine From Outer Space** out of the way right now! Keep 'em coming folks. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/33 "2000-09-16T21:06:44Z")
Make that **Alien** , and not **Aliens**. **DOH!** ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/34 "2000-09-16T21:10:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Forbidden Planet > > The day the Earth stood still > > Them (but any movie with Edmund Gwenn in it I like) Great choices. Ditto on Edmund Gwenn (even Mr. 880). There was more good SF in the 50s that most people recall and there was a lot of meat to it (not like pseudo-philosophical claptrap like _Gattaca_). Another great one from the period was _It Came From Outer Space_. No one’s mentioned _Metropolis_ yet, either. The most influential early SF film was _Just Imagine_ in 1930 – influential because it lost so much money that Hollywood avoided the genre. The most influential of all time is _Star Wars_. ---
**Author:** ![GKittridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e274bd/32.png) [@GKittridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKittridge)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/35 "2000-09-16T21:19:02Z")
Just to add a few more to the discussion, let’s not leave out **The Andromeda Strain** , directed by Robert Wise who also gave us **The Day the Earth Stood Still** and one of the Star Trek movies, and another Stanley Kubrick gem, **A Clockwork Orange**. I would also include **Dr. Strangelove** , but that might get a debate going about whether or not it is science fiction. As far as the losers go, it would be hard to do better (or is it worse) than _Logan’s Run_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/36 "2000-09-16T21:28:36Z")
My choice for best science fiction film varies between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Forbidden Planet. People have already given their reasons fr choosing 2001 – to my min it’s tyhe bes translation onto the creen of 1950s WRITTEN science fiction. Frbiden Planet is the best celluloid expression of good 1940s written science fiction. From this we can conclude that the movies are , a best, a decade behind literary forms. I don’t think most eople appreciate how good and how evolutionary Forbidden Planet was. It is emphatically NOT just Shakespeare’s The Tempest tanslated into space. It is exceedingly well thought-out. The logic of it hangs together beautifully. When you dig deeper into it, you find that there is a wel thought-out and consistent background. It is not a superficial gloss, like (shudder) Battlestar Galactica. Even after almost 50 years the specal effects still look good. It is full f firsts – the first major movie with an electronic score. The first science fiction flm in which earth people ride a starship that doesn’t look like a cigar. The first to feature FTL travel and deceleration pods. The first with a robot that obeyed Asimov’s Laws of Robotics (And Robby really is a robot – not a metal person like R2-D2 and C-3PO. A lot of the humor is derived from the contrast between Robby’s robot nature nd his apparently human reactions.) Star Trek borrowed heavily from FP. Just take a close look at it – military starship, comunicators, blasters = phasers, the captain goes around with the doctor and his second-in-command. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/37 "2000-09-16T22:07:11Z")
Everybody is forgetting to make mention of a classic: **This Island Earth**. Okay, I know that was just the best spoof done on MST3K but in a comical capacity, it was definitely one of the most hilarious. Of course, **Starship Troopers** had that propaganda and senseless violence that were so reminscint (sp?) in **Robocop** and **The Running Man**. Anyway, I found **The Fifth Element** to be one of the best sci-fi movies out there. It struck a nerve because it was not solely focusing on all the advanced technology. It actually showed an exotic and elaborate society that had its oddballs and commoners. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/38 "2000-09-16T22:39:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > [ > I especially liked **Aliens** because it was the first science fiction movie where all of the equipment was beat up and looked as though it had been there a while. This “everyday” approach to space travel was a real breakthrough for its time. > \*\* —\>excuse me? Star Wars? Part of what makes star wars so visually arresting is the contrast between the gleaming white and black of the death star and storm troopers and so forth, and the beat up, held-together-by-gum, Millenium Falcon. (Unless, of course, Alien came out _before_ Star Wars. But that can’t be right…) Anyhow, am I the only person who had some reasonably serious reservations about _The Matrix_? Or at least one, namely that the whole “use humans as batteries” idea was so incomprehensibly stupid as to nearly ruin an otherwise fantastic movie? In a movie that is in many other ways solid and hard science fiction (although I could have done without the whole old-black-woman oracle thing), to have an idea which was so stupid that it either (a) makes the whole movie seem dumb, or (b) takes the whole movie out of more-or-less-hard-sci-fi into big-metaphor-land, well, it just really pisses me off. (Also, there are various parts of _The Matrix_ that seem to me like they want to be a lot more profound, deep and original than they really are… for instance, the conversation about the vase that Neo breaks, and would he have broken it if she hadn’t said anything… I guess that’s kinda neat and thought-provoking, and it might strike someone as fantastically original, _if_ they’d never read a decent sci-fi book about the paradoxes of time travel ever in their whole lives.) (ok, end of rant) ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/39 "2000-09-16T23:42:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kasuo \* > \*\*Everybody is forgetting to make mention of a classic: **This Island Earth**. \*\* I prefer the Mystery Science Theatre 2000 take off of the above. Hilarious. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted bySealemon88 \*\*\* > Starship Troopers: Viewed on its own merits (Not comparring it to the book, which it really has nothing to do with), the movie rocks. It provides plenty of action, as well as a great parody of US WW2 style propoganda. \*\* Unfortunately, it was billed as being based on Heinlein’s work. I don’t know how they could have claimed that as the screen writer had obviously only ever read the back cover of the book. I am always amazed that the makers of a film change the film so far from what made the book popular in the first place. Just look at the abortion ‘BattleField Earth’. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384/40 "2000-09-17T00:46:26Z")
\*_Starship Troopers_ only “merit” was that it allowed horny 12-year-olds without Internet access the chance to see naked women. Otherwise, the movie stunk, with a bunch of morons running around and pretending to be heroic. As far as the ridiculous claim that it was “satire,” Verhoeven wouldn’t know the term if it came up and bit him in the ass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-movie-ever/33384.md?page=3)