# Entertainment weekly picks the Best Sci Fi movies and TV from the past 25 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566 "2008-01-07T03:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [January 7, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/1 "2008-01-07T03:12:06Z")
[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20037541,00.html](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20037541,00.html) There is clearly a vast gulf between us. I certainly agree with a lot of their choices: \*\*Terminator 2 Bladerunner Serenity/Firefly Star Trek 2\*\* (Yes!) \*\*Doctor Who The Thing The Matrix\*\* But I gotta draw the line at other stuff. ( **Starship Troopers** , anyone? Therre’s a can o’worms) What about **The Hidden**? For all its faults, I’d put **The abyss** in there. And **RoboCop** And definitely the original **Terminator** , even over its sequel. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/2 "2008-01-07T03:27:00Z")
Do you have to be born after 1980 to see good sci fi. ? The original War of the World belongs near the top. The original The Thing was a scary thill when I was a kid. They Came From Outerspace was great. Body Snatchers was best originally too. How about Outer Limits and The Twi Light Zone ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/3 "2008-01-07T03:29:17Z")
Seems like a good list. 25 years is a long time and sci-fi is a big genre (especially if they count both movies and TV), so leaving some stuff out is inevitable. I woulda dropped Heros, Lost (does anyone still like Lost?) and the animated Star Wars (which was fun, but I can’t help thinking they threw it in there just because they felt the need to have a Star Wars product in there and the latter movies weren’t good enough). I liked that they had **Eternal Sunshine** , both because I really like the movie and because its not what most people think of when they think about the genre. Would’ve added **Akira** , **DS9** and **Cowboy Beebop**. Granted that may have made the list a little Trek heavy. ETA: also they put the wrong Terry Gilliam movie on there, replace **Brazil** with **12 monkeys** ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/4 "2008-01-07T03:34:47Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Do you have to be born after 1980 to see good sci fi. ? [/QUOTE] umm…is this a woosh. Its best from the last 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/5 "2008-01-07T03:40:01Z")
**The Matrix** had no business being on the list. Neither did **Starship Troopers**. **Firefly** should have ranked higher, and **X Files** lower. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/6 "2008-01-07T04:10:30Z")
I can’t take seriously any SF list that includes V, in any of its incarnations. They lost me right there. Aliens looking for water?!?!?! Who fly right by effing Jupiter and it’s moons? ETA: Yes, I know, I’m a terrible snob. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/7 "2008-01-07T04:18:07Z")
Am I missing a summary page? I don’t want to go through 25 links to see their crappy choices one page at a time? We have the technology to do this better. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/8 "2008-01-07T04:37:50Z")
They didn’t include _12 Monkeys_? It’s one of the best SF movies ever made. Plus their list is way too American. They’d have been better off dropping the handful of non-American entries and just calling it the best American SF of the past 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/9 "2008-01-07T04:50:24Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Am I missing a summary page? I don’t want to go through 25 links to see their crappy choices one page at a time? We have the technology to do this better. [/QUOTE] Totally agree. Slow-loading bloated pages, 25 times? I have better things to do with my time. ---
**Author:** ![Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othar_the_Tooth_Collector)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/10 "2008-01-07T05:00:14Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I can’t take seriously any SF list that includes V, in any of its incarnations. They lost me right there. Aliens looking for water?!?!?! Who fly right by effing Jupiter and it’s moons? ETA: Yes, I know, I’m a terrible snob. [/QUOTE] The rings of Saturn would be even better than Jupiter’s moons. No need to lift it out of a gravity well. The aliens in V wanted food, too, though. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/11 "2008-01-07T06:51:36Z")
[QUOTE=Othar the Tooth Collector] The rings of Saturn would be even better than Jupiter’s moons. No need to lift it out of a gravity well. The aliens in V wanted food, too, though. [/QUOTE] And sex. Don’t forget the kinky sex. Seriously, by the time those two were revealed, though, the whole concept of V as a serious show was out the window. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/12 "2008-01-07T07:31:29Z")
Apologies for the ALL CAPS, but I just cut and pasted 1. V: THE MINISERIES (1983) 2. GALAXY QUEST (1999) 3. DOCTOR WHO (1963-Present) 4. QUANTUM LEAP (1989-1993) 5. FUTURAMA (1999-2003) 6. STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (2003-2005) 7. STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997) 8. HEROES (2006-Present) 9. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004) 10. TOTAL RECALL (1990) 11. FIREFLY/SERENITY (2002/2005) 12. CHILDREN OF MEN (2006) 13. THE TERMINATOR/ TERMINATOR 2 (1984 /1991) 14. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) 15. LOST (2004-Present) 16. THE THING (1982) 17. ALIENS (1986) 18. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (1987-1994) 19. E.T. (1982) 20. BRAZIL (1985) 21. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982) 22. THE X-FILES (1993-2002) 23. BLADE RUNNER (1982) 24. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003-Present) 25. THE MATRIX (1999) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/13 "2008-01-07T07:33:03Z")
Apart from the obvious stinkers (1, 7 and 25) the list isn’t that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/14 "2008-01-07T07:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] Apart from the obvious stinkers (1, 7 and 25) the list isn’t that bad. [/QUOTE] Except for the actual stinkers: 5, 11, 17. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/15 "2008-01-07T07:40:15Z")
Yes, 17 for sure 😛 ---
**Author:** ![EsotericEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@EsotericEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EsotericEnigma)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/16 "2008-01-07T08:05:32Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] **The Matrix** had no business being on the list. /QUOTE] aaahahahaha. Oh that’s rich, I can’t breathe. aaaaahahahaha ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/17 "2008-01-07T08:06:55Z")
I’d also question placing _Doctor Who_ on a list of best SF of the last 25 years. The show’s big years were prior to 1982. ---
**Author:** ![EsotericEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@EsotericEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EsotericEnigma)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/18 "2008-01-07T08:16:51Z")
Gotta love when a post doesn’t appear until after the edit timer because of the lag. That’s fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/19 "2008-01-07T08:23:36Z")
The list was terrible to put it mildly. There’s two entries that I would rate as completely horrible, a large number that I could see placing low on such a list but were deeply flawed, and some vast oversights. SF fans could dicker over placements forever but that’s a list that should leave any science fiction fan just scratching their head. Their defense of Starship Troopers is completely clueless. Did anyone criticize the movie for being “pro-fascism”? The main complaints were the low quality of the film making, the raping of the original story, and the moralizing that could only have been less subtle if Verhoeven wrote “FASCISM BAD!!” on a brick and beat the audience to death with it. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566/20 "2008-01-07T12:48:02Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I’d also question placing _Doctor Who_ on a list of best SF of the last 25 years. The show’s big years were prior to 1982. [/QUOTE] The three seasons of “New” Who have had some pretty good moments. Although the sets lack that nostalgic “cardboard” look. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainment-weekly-picks-the-best-sci-fi-movies-and-tv-from-the-past-25-years/432566.md?page=2)