# What's the most underated Sci-Fi movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782 "2016-03-03T02:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/41 "2016-03-03T16:13:17Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > 1982 The Thing is my absolute favorite movie. There are a bunch of us fanatics out there about it, but I feel it generally gets overlooked by the mainstream. Yeah, maybe. There was a big vote and ranking of SF movies several years ago on the Rotten Tomatoes forums and John Carpenter’s The Thing came in at #1. I was thrilled to see that; love that movie! I would say that the 2011 The Thing is WAY underrated. I thought that was great too, and loved the way it almost perfectly dovetails into the 1982 one. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/42 "2016-03-03T16:38:30Z")
Enemy Mine isn’t the most underrated, but I thought it was fun. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/43 "2016-03-03T16:38:45Z")
Some underrated films I would recommend: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (original) - like THE MARTIAN, real “science” science fiction - the research team has to solve a problem, using real science and scientific methods, or the world dies. THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (original) - Completely bizarre and oblique but amazing. Probably a good vision if what would actually happen if a hypertechnical alien came to our planet. Plays with a lot of genre conventions. THE BED-SITTING ROOM -Not many have seen this. Members of Britain’s premiere comedy teams (The Goon Show, Cook & Moore) in a comedic post-apocalypse Britain where the government bombs any remaining structures to deny them to the enemy and people spontaneously mutate into bed-sitting rooms. LOS ANGELES AD 2017 - a made-for-TV movie that was part of the early 1970s TV series THE NAME OF THE GAME but was essentially a stand-alone movie, one of the first projects directed by Spielberg. A publishing magnate falls asleep at a roadside rest stop and wakes up in an L.A. that was devastated by ecological collapse. WESTWORLD - Just rewatched this yesterday. Tight, lean film well directed and written by Michael Crichton. Yul Brynner was able to make a robot interesting as a character, First use of computer graphics in a major movie, very influential on films like THE TERMINATOR, every stalker film with an unkillable enemy, and THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. What did Crichton have against amusement parks? THREADS - a very realistic depiction of a nuclear attack on Britain. Amazingly depressing ending. See also THE WAR GAME by Peter Watkins for a documentary-style look at what a nuclear strike on Britain would be like. 1984 - The version with John Hurt, actually released in 1984. The best, most accurate adaptation of Orwell’s novel. FANTASTIC PLANET - an animated French production, with a bizarre alien ecology well depicted. PRIVILEGE - Another Peter Watkins film about media manipulation of pop culture. A young pop star is used by a near-future British government to influence the young. VIDEODROME - Cronenberg’s view of how we let media input influence and ultimately control us. SECONDS - John Frankenheimer’s very disturbing look at a man in a mid-life crisis who contracts with a shadowy corporation to fake his death and give him (after surgery) a new hedonistic life. The best performance Rock Hudson ever did. Will Geer is memorably creepy as the corporation head. THE LATHE OF HEAVEN (original) A PBS adaptation of Ursula K. Leguin’s novel, low budget but an excellent cast and very memorable. Z.P.G. - Oliver Reed in a future dystopia which restricts the birth of children as a population control measure. See also THE LAST CHILD, a made for TV movie with a young couple in a similar, China-like future who has to flee to Canada to protect their child with an implacable Ed Asner in hot pursuit. PUNISHMENT PARK - Peter Watkins, yet again, as a documentary crew follows a group of SoCal radicals who are given the chance to flee across the Mojave desert to reach a flag while pursued by police and National Guardsmen, in order to receive parole for their crimes. I don’t share Watkins’ political stance but its still a damn impressive movie. ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS - A classic from my youth. The science is passe but the sense of wonder is still there. ROLLERBALL (1975 original) James Caan and John Houseman are excellent in a view of how sports can be used to control and divert the population, in a world where the nation states have vanished and corporations have taken their place. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/44 "2016-03-03T16:39:53Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > Yeah, maybe. There was a big vote and ranking of SF movies several years ago on the Rotten Tomatoes forums and John Carpenter’s The Thing came in at #1. I was thrilled to see that; love that movie! > > I would say that the 2011 The Thing is WAY underrated. I thought that was great too, and loved the way it almost perfectly dovetails into the 1982 one. Between Hawks’ film and Carpenter’s film, there was a 1970s adaptation HORROR EXPRESS with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing that is worth seeing. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/45 "2016-03-03T17:07:57Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > ROLLERBALL (1975 original) James Caan and John Houseman are excellent in a view of how sports can be used to control and divert the population, in a world where the nation states have vanished and corporations have taken their place. Great movie and an incredible ending. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/46 "2016-03-03T18:56:50Z")
Dredd (the 2012 movie with Karl Urban, _not_ the Sylvester Stallone version) , was a really underrated film. Probably one of the best sci-fi/action movies in quite some time. Written by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, 28 days later, Sunshine, The Beach). Karl Urban pretty much nails the character. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/47 "2016-03-03T19:37:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One? Damn – there are lots of them most people haven’t heard of. > > **It! The Terror from Beyond Space** – 1950s epic by Jerome Bixby\*. They absolutely stole the plot of _Alien_ from this film\*\*. Made on a low budget. Some of the things are hilariously outdated (The women in the crew are the ones who serve the food and coffee – but at least there _are_ female crewmembers. The ship also carries guns and grenades. And they smoke cigarettes on board), but overall it’s till a good piece of work. \ Well, I’ll be durned, I was going to post this and take my lumps, figuring it was so cheap looking that no one would think it was worthy, despite the constant tension and excellent pacing. Good for you, **CalMeacham**. Here’s where I take my lumps: **[Millenium](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097883/?ref_=nv_sr_4)** – Despite the title (what was wrong with “Air Raid?”) and the cornball last few minutes, I enjoyed this. A movie where you don’t hate Cheryl Ladd is an accomplishment. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/48 "2016-03-03T19:52:28Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > THE BED-SITTING ROOM -Not many have seen this. Members of Britain’s premiere comedy teams (The Goon Show, Cook & Moore) in a comedic post-apocalypse Britain where the government bombs any remaining structures to deny them to the enemy and people spontaneously mutate into bed-sitting rooms. This is a great and funny movie (God bless Mrs. Ethel Stoat) but I’m not sure I’d call it science fiction, not really. But well worth seeing. > [@](#): > > FANTASTIC PLANET - an animated French production, with a bizarre alien ecology well depicted. But this definitely - I was just trying to remember the name. it is real science fiction in the sense that you get plopped down into a world without lots of explanations - something very rare in movie sf. I’ll also second Wonderful World of Jules Verne and A Boy and His Dog, which told the Ellison story unflinchingly. But I have a soft spot in my heart for that one since I was the invited sf expert when the makers (including Mr. Kimble from Green Acres, Alvy Moore.) ---
**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:** [March 3, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/49 "2016-03-03T20:02:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > This is a great and funny movie (God bless Mrs. Ethel Stoat) but I’m not sure I’d call it science fiction, not really. But well worth seeing. > > But this definitely - I was just trying to remember the name. it is real science fiction in the sense that you get plopped down into a world without lots of explanations - something very rare in movie sf. > > I’ll also second Wonderful World of Jules Verne and A Boy and His Dog, which told the Ellison story unflinchingly. But I have a soft spot in my heart for that one since I was the invited sf expert when the makers (including Mr. Kimble from Green Acres, Alvy Moore.) There was a sequel to **Fantastic Planet** , which is somehow even less well-known than its predecessor, despite the fact that a.) It was much more recent b.) Christopher Plummer was one of the voice actors for the American version\* and c.) Isaac Asimov (!) wrote the script for the American version. The film’s name was **Light Years**. \*Christopher Plummer has had a hugely broad range in films. He was, of course, Captain von Trapp in _The Sound of Music_ (a movie he made fun of) and the Incan emperor Atahuallpa in _The Royal Hunt of the Sun_, but he appeared in a lot of sf and fantasy, too. He was Klingon General Chang in _Star Trek 6_ (and some videogames), he was in _Twelve Monkeys_, the time travel fantasy _Somewhere in Time_, the pre-Inception _Dreamscape_ and was Muntz in Pixar’s _Up_, besides doing the voice in _Light Years_. Of course, he was also The Emperor in the abysmal movie _Starcrash_, so we have to deduct points for that. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/50 "2016-03-03T20:16:20Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > **Dark Star** was underappreciated, IMHO. We have a winner, folks! \*\* Dark Star\*\* was John Carpenter’s first project. I thought it was wonderful, although I was only 11 at the time. Not a great movie; frankly, a camp classic, should have attained cult status IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/51 "2016-03-03T20:27:55Z")
Star Trek: The Motion Picture –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/52 "2016-03-03T20:29:22Z")
No mention of “The Postman”. If a movie is great and everybody only says it’s good, then it is underrated. But if a movie is OK and everybody says it stinks then I’d have to say it’s _more_ underrated. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/53 "2016-03-03T21:15:19Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > We have a winner, folks! > \*\* > Dark Star\*\* was John Carpenter’s first project. I thought it was wonderful, although I was only 11 at the time. Not a great movie; frankly, a camp classic, should have attained cult status IMHO. It did achieve cult status - but I think it has lost it somewhere along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/54 "2016-03-03T22:33:15Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > This is a great and funny movie (God bless Mrs. Ethel Stoat) but I’m not sure I’d call it science fiction, not really. But well worth seeing. > > But this definitely - I was just trying to remember the name. it is real science fiction in the sense that you get plopped down into a world without lots of explanations - something very rare in movie sf. > > I’ll also second Wonderful World of Jules Verne and A Boy and His Dog, which told the Ellison story unflinchingly. But I have a soft spot in my heart for that one since I was the invited sf expert when the makers (including Mr. Kimble from Green Acres, Alvy Moore.) Did the last sentence get cut off? It sounds like what you were about to say was interesting… I remember the actress in A BOY AND HIS DOG being really gorgeous. I don’t think she did much else, though. I know the dog was also one of the dogs who played the family pet in \*The Brady Bunch \*series. Alvy Moore and L.Q. Jones also made an underrated horror movie, THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/55 "2016-03-03T22:35:36Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > We have a winner, folks! > \*\* > Dark Star\*\* was John Carpenter’s first project. I thought it was wonderful, although I was only 11 at the time. Not a great movie; frankly, a camp classic, should have attained cult status IMHO. I really enjoyed it. The optical effects were quite good, considering the minuscule budget. They had guys who later made it big like Greg Jein working on it. Having spent some time in Benson, Arizona, the theme song has always been a favorite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/56 "2016-03-03T22:40:37Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > Did the last sentence get cut off? It sounds like what you were about to say was interesting… > > I remember the actress in A BOY AND HIS DOG being really gorgeous. I don’t think she did much else, though. > > I know the dog was also one of the dogs who played the family pet in \*The Brady Bunch \*series. > > Alvy Moore and L.Q. Jones also made an underrated horror movie, THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN. I was so busy looking up Alvy’s name that I forgot to finish the sentence! This was on a radio program on the University of Illinois commercial college station. I co-founded an sf club one of whose members worked at the station, which was why I got on. The producers were quite serious about doing well by the work. Yes, she was gorgeous (and I suppose delicious). Jason Robards was also in the film. I must admit that talking seriously to such a great comic actor was tough. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/57 "2016-03-03T23:13:25Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I was so busy looking up Alvy’s name that I forgot to finish the sentence! > This was on a radio program on the University of Illinois commercial college station. I co-founded an sf club one of whose members worked at the station, which was why I got on. The producers were quite serious about doing well by the work. Yes, she was gorgeous (and I suppose delicious). Jason Robards was also in the film. > I must admit that talking seriously to such a great comic actor was tough. Very cool. I know that L.Q. Jones adopted that stage name because it was the name of a character he played in a Peckinpah film (Can’t remember which one). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/58 "2016-03-03T23:47:06Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > _Gojira_. > > Americans didn’t get to see this film the way the Japanese saw it until about 15 years ago. Finally, a subtitled version of exactly what was released in Japan was released on DVD here in the US, and it’s brilliant. > > _Godzilla_ has cheesy over-dubbing, and the gratuitous addition of Raymond Burr to add a Western character for Americans to relate to, but he’s wholly unnecessary, and just means that to make space for him, other stuff gets cut. > > _Gojira_ was made for an audience who had actually lived through the bombs falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so an American watching it in the 21st century almost feels like a voyeur, and you have to keep reminding yourself that it’s a movie, meant for people to see. Not enough Americans have seen _Gojira_, because they don’t know the difference between it, and _Godzilla_. Agreed. I saw _Gojira_ at a festival a few years ago. Still had some campy elements, and Gojira was obviously a guy in a rubber suit beating hell out of cardboard buildings and model airplanes on wires; but watching scenes of Japanese people being treated for radiation sickness, in a film that was made in 1950 (IIRC), had an impact. I’m sure it resonated even more when in came out. It was much better than I had expected. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/59 "2016-03-04T00:54:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Creator** – a favorite of mine. Peter O’Toole plays a Nobel Laureate at a University Medical College (which seems to be in California somewhere) who is trying to clone his deceased wife. Utterly unlike any other movie about clones you’ve ever seen. It’s witty and fascinating. With Mariel Hemingway, Vincent Spano, Virginia Madsen, and David Ogden Stiers. Science Fiction with no special effects. But it’s the only movie I’ve seen where the Grad School looks and _feels_ like grad school, right down to the Pauline Barnes Tolkien poster on the lab wall. The professors battling over [strikeout]slaves[/strikeout] grad students was excellent. \*\* Boris:\*\* That’s it? One course in “The Big Picture”. 12 credits. **Dr Harry Wolper:** It’s very big. 12 credits probably isn’t enough, it’s _so_ big. > [@DCnDC](#): > > If _Dark City_ counts as a sci-fi movie, I’ll add that. It counts. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782/60 "2016-03-04T02:12:21Z")
Last week I watched the re-edited 1956 version of “Godzilla” that had Raymond Burr to explain the movie in English. It was a lot better than I remembered. Probably lots of lousy sequels. Makes me wonder about the original all Japanese version. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-underated-sci-fi-movie/747782.md?page=4)