# Worst... Sci-fi...Ever... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049 "2004-12-15T22:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/61 "2004-12-16T14:11:09Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > This show had a lot of potential. And then they hired Kari Wuhrer. > > I believe Sabrina Lloyd is the cute girl you are thinking of. She went on to the ill-fated _Sports Night_. I’m sorry dude, Sabrina Lloyd may be cute, but Kari Wuhrer is [red hot!](http://www.jemcorp.com/celebs/images/acceptable_risk/risk2_290-kari_wuhrer.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/62 "2004-12-16T14:17:39Z")
I present to you, [The Last Starfighter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087597/). May God have mercy on your souls. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/63 "2004-12-16T14:21:38Z")
Sorry, **Nava** : _Starship Troopers_ ties with _The Stars Like Dust_ for the title of godawfulest SF I’ve ever read. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/64 "2004-12-16T14:36:54Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > refuse to watch the filthy so-called-movie “starring” Ben Affleck which has been reported to me as having as its best moment the co-ed showers with displays of tits (I’m more into Affleck myself, although I still haven’t forgiven him for that so-called-movie) Casper Van Dien. And Doogie Houser. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/65 "2004-12-16T14:50:35Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Pikers, all of you. > Flash Gordon, the movie. > > Smart old-gut scientist, woman reporter without a clue, and a professional football quarterback get into a rocket. Hilarity ensues. The entire Universe is saved. > > But the worse part of this was how they were able to travel from planet to planet in Ming’s system without life support on open air cruise ships and jet sleds. > > And, of course, Queen performing “The Wedding March.” Paf! Flash Gordon is one of my favourite films. They’re not travelling from planet to planet - the big floating rocks like Arboria and Fridgida are still inside Mongos atmosphere. Man I shouldn’t know that, whether I like the film or not. I quite like a lot of the stuff mentioned here actually. Make of that what you will. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/66 "2004-12-16T15:01:31Z")
I’ll have to second the robot dog on Battlestar Galactica and Twikky from Buck Rogers. I’m pretty sure it’s because I was still holding out hope against hope that these two series would have something going for them, but Twikky and that robot dog were so goddam awful that I just knew that the series they were in would be unrelenting crapfests once I’d seen thme in action. And I stopped watching both because of them. In the literary division, I’d have to go with Ursula K. LeGuin. She doesn’t write like someone who really LIKES science fiction, just finds it a convenient platform for her political and social rants. I guess the worst would be “The Disposessed.” Yech. Ich. Feh. Imagine if there were a mirror-image John Norman and he wrote novels which were almost all rant. That would be Ursula. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/67 "2004-12-16T15:16:31Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > In the literary division, I’d have to go with Ursula K. LeGuin. She doesn’t write like someone who really LIKES science fiction, just finds it a convenient platform for her political and social rants. Isaac Asmov once described attending a pre-release showing of “The Lathe of Heaven”. As he sat down, he remarked to the studio person it had been a while since he had seen a good science fiction picture. The studio person replied, somewhat huffily, that they prefered to call it SPECULATIVE fiction. Asimov settled into his seat, somewhat depressed, because he knew at that point exactly what he would NOT see any of in the picture… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/68 "2004-12-16T15:17:18Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > There was a cheesy live-action Saturday morning sci-fi show (not Land of the Lost, so don’t go there) that made other cheesy Sat. morning shows look like gold by comparison. It was done in a ‘Flash Gordon’ style serial except that nothing ever happened. Speaking of 70’s cheesy live-action Saturday morning science fiction shows, does anyone else remember that show that could best be described as “An RV in a post-apocalyptic world”? It was a white vehicle with tinted black windows, the main male character had brown hair… and that’s all I remember. Here’s another choice that’s going to get me shouted down as a heretic: Theodore Sturgeon’s _More than Human_. Not necessarily the _worst_, but definitely the most overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/69 "2004-12-16T15:19:24Z")
> [@](#): > > No, no, no. If we’re including books, there is one and only one clear choice: The “Mission Earth” series, by L. Ron Hubbard. I don’t have time now, but do a search and you’ll find many of my fine rants about this pile of dung that I’ve posted in the past. > > I cannot see threads like this go past without putting in a plug for how awful these books are. You do have to give L. Ron credit for having an incredible post-mortem work ethic. He even beats out Tupac as the most prolific dead guy. ---
**Author:** ![iggy\_popov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@iggy\_popov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iggy_popov)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/70 "2004-12-16T15:26:40Z")
I sat threw the movie _Hardware_ . I think that wins both worst sci-fi and worst movie ever. > **[Hardware (1990) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099740/)** > > Hardware: Directed by Richard Stanley. With Carl McCoy, Iggy Pop, Dylan McDermott, John Lynch. The head of a cyborg reactivates, rebuilds itself, and goes on a violent rampage in a space marine's girlfriend's apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/71 "2004-12-16T15:28:00Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I’ll have to second the robot dog on Battlestar Galactica and Twikky from Buck Rogers. I’m pretty sure it’s because I was still holding out hope against hope that these two series would have something going for them, but Twikky and that robot dog were so goddam awful that I just knew that the series they were in would be unrelenting crapfests once I’d seen thme in action. And I stopped watching both because of them. You’ll be happy to hear that in the upcoming remake series of Battlestar Galactica, whatever else happens there won’t be any cute robot pets. One of the premises of the new show is that the humans use the lowest low-tech electronics they can get by with because of the fear of having their equipment taken over by Cylon A.I.s ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/72 "2004-12-16T15:28:09Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Isaac Asmov once described attending a pre-release showing of “The Lathe of Heaven”. As he sat down, he remarked to the studio person it had been a while since he had seen a good science fiction picture. The studio person replied, somewhat huffily, that they prefered to call it SPECULATIVE fiction. > > Asimov settled into his seat, somewhat depressed, because he knew at that point exactly what he would NOT see any of in the picture… Heh. THere’s probably not much overlap between Asimov fans and Le Guin fans. I recall reading a quote by Asimov where he looked forward to the day that the New Wave finally crashed itself against the steady shores of Science Fiction and was spent. Sorry to disappoint, Isaac. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/73 "2004-12-16T15:42:40Z")
> [@Satasha](#): > > It is a toss up between screamers and aliens 4 for worst movie I have ever seen. I’ve said this before… but I \*liked \* Aliens 4. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/74 "2004-12-16T15:44:20Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > You’ll be happy to hear that in the upcoming remake series of Battlestar Galactica, whatever else happens there won’t be any cute robot pets. One of the premises of the new show is that the humans use the lowest low-tech electronics they can get by with because of the fear of having their equipment taken over by Cylon A.I.s Y’know, having Muffet be taken over by a Cylon intelligence and work as a completely unsuspected assassin and spy behind Colonial lines would have been an awesome plot point on the original series… ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/75 "2004-12-16T15:48:38Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Oh my ghod. The Starlost. I liked that show when I was about 9, but only because of the cool spaceship/ark model. > I wonder whether it’s available on DVD? 😃 I used to love this show also. It is available from [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) on VHS. Amazon.ca is sold out. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/76 "2004-12-16T15:59:23Z")
**Battle Beyond the Stars? The Last Starfighter?** I guess this is a new definition of “bad” I haven’t been aware of. I blame the Internet: no one understands the difference between “good but flawed” and “terrible” any more. :rolleyes: Still, there are some worthy choices, including **Battlefield Earth, The Starlost, Lost in Space.** Did anyone mention the recent remake of **The Time Machine** yet? For books, the worst I’ve read was probably [The Ultimatum to Mankind](http://www.tangentonline.com/reviews/magazine.php3?review=178). Luckly, I got to vent about it. 🙂 If you skip vanity press projects, then I’ll go with **Memoirs of an Invisible Man**. What an utter moron! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/77 "2004-12-16T16:11:41Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Speaking of 70’s cheesy live-action Saturday morning science fiction shows, does anyone else remember that show that could best be described as “An RV in a post-apocalyptic world”? It was a white vehicle with tinted black windows, the main male character had brown hair… and that’s all I remember. [Ark II](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0127989/) Why do I remember this stuff? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/78 "2004-12-16T16:29:46Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Isaac Asmov once described attending a pre-release showing of “The Lathe of Heaven”. Was that the version of _Lathe_ they showed on PBS, with aliens wearing white space-armor that made them look like the Sidney Opera House? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/79 "2004-12-16T16:33:52Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > [Ark II](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0127989/) The post-apocalyptic RV in that show always reminds me of [Damnation Alley](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075909/combined). “This whole town is infested with killer cockroaches!” ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/80 "2004-12-16T16:48:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Battle Beyond the Stars? The Last Starfighter?** > > I guess this is a new definition of “bad” I haven’t been aware of. I blame the Internet: no one understands the difference between “good but flawed” and “terrible” any more. :rolleyes: > > Still, there are some worthy choices, including **Battlefield Earth, The Starlost, Lost in Space.** Did anyone mention the recent remake of **The Time Machine** yet? Man, I’d forgotten that _Time Machine_ remake fiasco. So far no one’s mentioned that wretched remake of _Planet of the Apes_ which, while it didn’t quite suck as bad as \*Battlefield Earth \* or _Lost in Space_, nevertheless set new standards for suckitude. This thread seems to re-open an awful lot of old wounds. There really have been an awful lot of bad sci-fi flicks over the last ten years or so. And I’m not talking about low-budget B films that no one expects a great deal from in the first place. These were major productions that, given the money and talent that went into them, should have been a hell of a lot better than they were. Considering that this is the only exposure many people get to science fiction, is it any wonder that so many of them think of science fiction as juvenile trash? I am really not looking forward to the upcoming \*War of the Worlds \* remake starring Tom Cruise. I’ve got a feeling that one’s really gonna hurt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049.md?page=5)