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The best science fiction movies of all time

kemmler3D said:
I think the list is decent, but I'd remove Star Wars on the grounds that it's not sci fi, it's fantasy in space.
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Star Wars—the first one, the real one that grabbed everybody when it first came out—is one of the purest tributes to early Sci-Fi pulps, a tribute to Science Fiction's roots. Even if it is "The Wizard of Oz" in space.
 
danadam said:
Hm... as there are probably many who didn't read the book and the movie is quite new, maybe you should put the rest in spoiler tag?
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Apologies, I have edited the post and put in spoiler tags.

Vandemann said:
Where's Iron Sky?
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You're joking, right? Nazis in space? That one belongs to the worst sci-fi films of all time, somewhere near Battlefield Earth!

Anyway, I wondered whether Star Wars should be on this list. I think it deserves to be, considering how influential it was.
 
Keith_W said:
Let's kick off this discussion with this video:


It's a straightforward list of the best 20 movies in the author's opinion. These are:

20. Metropolis (1927)
19. ET (1982)
18. Arrival (2016)
17. Alien (1979)
16. The Thing (1982)
15. Back to the Future (1985)
14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
13. Total Recall (1990)
12. Dune Part 1 (2021)
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
10. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
9. The Terminator (1984)
8. Interstellar (2014)
7. Inception (2010)
6. Aliens (1986)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
4. The Matrix (1999)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
1. Blade Runner: 2049 (2017)

I have watched every movie on that list except for The Thing. I think there are some movies that don't belong - Back to the Future was fun, but it wasn't great. And Metropolis hasn't aged as well as the author thinks. And more than a few of those movies have been ruined by their sequels, notably Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Terminator, and Aliens.

I would add two movies: WALL-E and Project: Hail Mary. The genius of WALL-E is that there is hardly any dialog, and the geniuses at Pixar somehow made you care about a trash compacting robot and his cockroach friend. The social commentary was pretty biting, humanity had devolved into a race of fat slobs whose every need was taken care of and all they did was fly around in space wheelchairs eating junk food and watching mindless entertainment.

As for Project: Hail Mary ... mark my words, this movie will one day be considered one of the greats. I was utterly blown away when I saw it, I didn't think such a movie was possible after years of Hollywood slop. I thought that all the talented writers were dead. There IS political messaging in it, but it's subtle and not shoved down your throat. To take one example: Eva Stratt has to make unpleasant decisions, even immoral ones. Like send a man to die against his will, and when he refuses, she has him sedated and sends him anyway. Do you think this was justified? She's not portrayed as a straight out villain, although her actions were certainly villainous. You can understand them, and maybe even justify them. Do extraordinary circumstances mean that we have to change our moral code? It is this kind of ambiguity that I loved about the old Star Trek, and I love about this movie.

What else would you put on this list, and why?
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no Dark Star, no Serenity, no The 13th Floor...... no Blade Runner???

i would not choose: ok- let's do a Top 30
 
Robin L said:
Star Wars—the first one, the real one that grabbed everybody when it first came out—is one of the purest tributes to early Sci-Fi pulps, a tribute to Science Fiction's roots. Even if it is "The Wizard of Oz" in space.
Click to expand...
It's certainly a distillation of the 50s - 70s sci fi aesthetic, but from A New Hope on, there's no more connection to actual science than you would find in Lord of the Rings. Even when they refer to things using familiar science-linked names (lasers, for example) they're changed into something fantastical. There's absolutely nothing in star wars I can think of that's explained using real scientific concepts, but I think at least some loose correspondence with actual science is a requirement to be called sci fi.

I've read a definition of "real" sci fi that argues a story should allow at most one exception to or violation of known science. Project hail Mary pretty much achieves that, Star wars is pretty much the opposite...
 
Keith_W said:
Let's kick off this discussion with this video:


It's a straightforward list of the best 20 movies in the author's opinion. These are:

20. Metropolis (1927)
19. ET (1982)
18. Arrival (2016)
17. Alien (1979)
16. The Thing (1982)
15. Back to the Future (1985)
14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
13. Total Recall (1990)
12. Dune Part 1 (2021)
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
10. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
9. The Terminator (1984)
8. Interstellar (2014)
7. Inception (2010)
6. Aliens (1986)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
4. The Matrix (1999)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
1. Blade Runner: 2049 (2017)

I have watched every movie on that list except for The Thing. I think there are some movies that don't belong - Back to the Future was fun, but it wasn't great. And Metropolis hasn't aged as well as the author thinks. And more than a few of those movies have been ruined by their sequels, notably Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Terminator, and Aliens.

I would add two movies: WALL-E and Project: Hail Mary. The genius of WALL-E is that there is hardly any dialog, and the geniuses at Pixar somehow made you care about a trash compacting robot and his cockroach friend. The social commentary was pretty biting, humanity had devolved into a race of fat slobs whose every need was taken care of and all they did was fly around in space wheelchairs eating junk food and watching mindless entertainment.

As for Project: Hail Mary ... mark my words, this movie will one day be considered one of the greats. I was utterly blown away when I saw it, I didn't think such a movie was possible after years of Hollywood slop. I thought that all the talented writers were dead. Warning - spoilers ahead: There IS political messaging in it, but it's subtle and not shoved down your throat. To take one example: Eva Stratt has to make unpleasant decisions, even immoral ones. Like send a man to die against his will, and when he refuses, she has him sedated and sends him anyway. Do you think this was justified? She's not portrayed as a straight out villain, although her actions were certainly villainous. You can understand them, and maybe even justify them. Do extraordinary circumstances mean that we have to change our moral code? It is this kind of ambiguity that I loved about the old Star Trek, and I love about this movie.

What else would you put on this list, and why?
Click to expand...
"The Navigator," a 1988 New Zealand made time travel story. It's one of the few SF movies I've ever seen that are not monster movies or space operas. I enjoyed the first 3 Star Wars movies although they're more Saturday morning serial hommage than science fiction. "The Thing" was loosely based on an H. P. Lovecraft story and is a monster movie. James Arness plays the monster. He was the right height for the role. "Blade Runner" is like a Disney version of the book except for the lack of songs and the excessive splatter. It eliminated almost all of the qualities that made the book great. Every Dune movie has managed to be more boring than the books. I guess you could call that an achievement.
 
hex168 said:
Agree with The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, Gattaca, and The Fifth Element. I'd add Idiocracy. No comment on Hail Mary - haven't seen it. Dune 2021 was horrible in so many ways - remove from list with extreme prejudice. I suspect Frank Herbert spun in his grave.
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This is a hot take but I think taken as a whole, the dune movies are better than the books. By Chapterhouse I realized that Herbert was more silly and self-indulgent than brilliant. I think dune also fails the "correspondence with actual science" test. The entire series hinges on spice giving people powers, but the mechanism by which this happens isn't even discussed, is it? I think it's another "fantasy in space" series.
 
I'd also add Demolition Man to that list, it might not be as serious as some other of those movies, but damn its fun with a very tight script and just awesome action!
Robocop is quite close as wellin tone and awesomeness. The same director also did Starship Troopers which definitely also should make the list.
Cloud Atlas is another one that I really like, as well as the recent Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die.
All of these I'd rank much higher than the quite overrated 2001. I've tried it a few times but it just doesn't click, something about that ending that just doesn't work for me.

Though I have to say that Jurassic Park is a bit of a stretch to have on that list. Sure creating dinosaurs is an obvious sci-fi element, but other than that it's set in modern (90s) times and is more like an adventure movie with a bit of horror/suspens in it.
 
Would have to add Dark Star, The Empire Strikes Back and Forbidden Planet

Subtract ET as it's a children's film, Bladerunner 2049 and Terminator 2 as I thought they were very poor sequels, Back To The Future as it's a comedy and Inception and Interstellar because Nolan; although Interstellar isn't that bad it's not top twenty.

I might add 'Silent Running' even though it's the second most depressing film ever made. Also maybe Star Trek 2 'Wrath Of Khan'

I have a soft spot for 'Logan's Run' but I'm not going to take the piss by adding that.
 
Actually, "The Thing" was based on a John Campbell story entitled "Who Goes There", Lovecraft's only story set in Antarctica is entitled "At the Mountains of Madness". As for the list, it's really light on '50's sci fi including the "Thing from Another World" (1951) which is the original movie version of Campbell's story and is every bit as classic as Carpenter's version (though Carpenter sticks more closely to the original narrative). Also missing are "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), and "Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), though I would argue such films as "This Island Earth", "Earth vs the Flying Saucers", "Godzilla", "War of the Worlds", and "The Fly" all deserve at least honorable mentions on the list.
 
Sorry, but Blade Runner 2049 can't possibly be the number 1 sci-fi film of all time above all the others on the list, which doesn't even include The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'll give you Blade Runner as top 5, for sure, but not 2049.
 
It might be observed that very few "hard science" fiction novels have been successfully translated to film. I would love to see someone adapt "Artifact" by Gregory Benford for the screen (also "The Hab Theory" by Allan W. Eckert).

I'm not surprised Forbidden Planet is popular on this forum - power of the Krell, don't you know.
 
Last edited:
I’m a bit shocked that it’s hard to limit the list to 20.

I can’t accept putting them in order. Everything on the list is entertaining and re-watchable.

A missing one that has come true as prophecy is the Forbin Project.
 
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