What are your favourite Sci-fi movies?

[trubludru]

"By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!"

[EarlJibbs]

New Battlestar Galactica == way overrated in my book, too much soap opera. I'm not saying it is bad although it is too risque in parts. But I felt like the way characters acted was usually unrealistic and mainly too create "drama".

What's funny is if you look at the genre of the New Battlestar Galactica it is "Space Opera"

So with that description, it makes sense.

[trubludru]

What's funny is if you look at the genre of the New Battlestar Galactica it is "Space Opera"

So with that description, it makes sense.

Yeah I suppose so - I always hear it being referenced as the best modern sci-fi series and I find mainly a soap opera that happens to be in a sci-fi setting. But I did honestly enjoy parts of it, I thought the pilot/whatever beginning 4 hour movie was quite good, and there are certain epsodes that were quite well done.

But my other beef with it (spoiler alert) is the number of main characters who end up being cylons. Too many in my opionion, it was like who are we going to find out is a cylon next? And will we be surprised?

[annewandering]

The development of the cylon stuff is a big part of my disinterest in the show, Battlestar Galactic. Every time you turned around people turned out to be cylons.

An old rule of sf was you had to have one basic 'scientific' idea that had to be accepted as true that wasnt. Everything else had to be believable from that perspective. When ever I did watch the show too much had changed for it to be connected and believable. Now many in my family loved it but .... I just never could.

[Guest]

I can't get over Starbuck as a woman.

[talisyn]

What are your favourite Sci-fi movies? low budget or blockbuster, classic or modern, popular or just plain terrible

I like about anything they've made by Philip K. ****. <3 Star Wars (the old 1-3, not the new ones. Did you see what they did at the end of Return of the Jedi? Quelle horreur!!!!). Sheesh put a starship or a ray gun in it and I'll give a movie a lot more leeway than other genres. A lot of good books need to be made into movies, like Friday by Robert A. Heinlein. They're coming out a with a Starship Troopers that's more true to the book (which I loved). The one out now is like 'cotton candy' science fiction if you've read the book first. The Asimov Foundation series practically screams 'movie!'.

I just read my post and saw that Mr. Philip K. ****'s last name was censored. While I can understand the reasoning behind keeping a clean site, and believe me I appreciate it, how about some leeway with ppls names...like **** Cheney? **** Clark? President Nixon? lol

Edited September 8, 2012 by talisyn
censoring?

[Vort]

I can't get over Starbuck as a woman.

Uh, hello? Does this look like a man to you?

[Windseeker]

Starbuck and Starbuck in Starbucks drinking Starbucks

[morumon]

<rant on> In my opinion the new BSG series and spinoffs are nothing more than a soap opera in a space setting with a lot of racy sexual material to draw in the biggest market segment who is easily distracted by a flash of skin, jerky handheld shots, and gritty atmosphere. <rant off>

Since the topic is SF movies, here is my favorites list in no particluar order:

2001: A Space Odyssey

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

GalaxyQuest (best Trek parody ever)

Star Wars the Original Trilogy

Forbidden Planet

Back to the Future trilogy

War of the Worlds (classic version)

Independence Day

E.T.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (the original theatrical release)

Blade Runner

Tron & Tron Legacy

Stargate

When Worlds Collide

Star Trek II, III, IV, & VI

[annewandering]

How could I have forgotten Independence Day? One of my all time favorites.

[NeuroTypical]

Forgot blade runner. Best cyberpunk show out there, until they make a movie of Neuromancer.

[skalenfehl]

Who has read Ender's Game? Who is looking forward to the movie next winter!?

[Gramajane]

I'm excited as I wait for "Enders Game", by Orson Scott Card, who received MEGA awards for the book, and has written several more to go with it! I think I have about 10!

Now with our new technology, we can make the Battle Room (game/sport strategy training with no gravity) come alive-- I just hope that they be true to the book and don't mess it up changing it!

Other than that, Star Wars, Star Treck (I'm an original fan from the 60s ;0 )

--- I like Fantasy more though- like "Princess Bride", "Willow", "the Dark Crystal" are classic cool too!

[Blackmarch]

I can't get over Starbuck as a woman.

I've heard the new BG series isnt a redo, but more of a prequel.

[Blackmarch]

I remember watching Logun's Run as a kid and being amazed at the beautiful world. Watched it recently and laughed at myself. Likewise was the original Star Trek series.

I liked the latest Battlestar Galatica series...but it was pushing the R-rating with some scenes.

It is much harder to do a good sci fi movie than to write a book. The best ones, like Heroes, show a story, and have the sci fi elements as the frosting on the cake.

For groaners, how about Battlefield Earth? Waterworld and The Postman were funny, though I doubt they were meant to be.

on the flipside every time i go back to the first star trek motion picture (ST1 TMP), it impresses me more and more and to date i find it to be a lot more religious in its own very star trekky way.

[bcguy]

I agree, when I was young, forbidden planet scared the bijibers out of me. I think it was way a head of its time for a sci-fiction.

War of the worlds original version also, another amazin sci-fi movie.

I-robot was really really good. I wished I had read the book.

3 good sc-fi movies will be watching tommorrow :

Forbidden Planet

War of the Worlds

I, Robot

some others

Land of the Lost

Red Planet

Star Trek

Star Wars

[morumon]

"I, Robot" was just okay, but don't expect it to be anything like the book. The book is actually a collection of short stories and novellas tied together by a common robotics theme. I recommend it highly though.

[Windseeker]

The first movie Sci-Fi movie I saw as a kid in the theatres was Silent Running. I really liked that film and remember it making a pretty big emotional impact on me.

I also enjoyed Ray Bradburys Martian Chronicles series on TV at the time. I thought it was really well done. The original Planet of the Apes deserves a mention too.

[Blackmarch]

I like about anything they've made by Philip K. ****. <3 Star Wars (the old 1-3, not the new ones. Did you see what they did at the end of Return of the Jedi? Quelle horreur!!!!). Sheesh put a starship or a ray gun in it and I'll give a movie a lot more leeway than other genres. A lot of good books need to be made into movies, like Friday by Robert A. Heinlein. They're coming out a with a Starship Troopers that's more true to the book (which I loved). The one out now is like 'cotton candy' science fiction if you've read the book first. The Asimov Foundation series practically screams 'movie!'.

I just read my post and saw that Mr. Philip K. ****'s last name was censored. While I can understand the reasoning behind keeping a clean site, and believe me I appreciate it, how about some leeway with ppls names...like **** Cheney? **** Clark? President Nixon? lol

ummm Friday would not be my first choice for a movie.......

I'd love to see a good adaptation of Starship troopers, the book that introduced us to powered armor concept^.^

other books/games i'd love to see turned into a movie-

Uplift series (big brin fan, and the guy as far as i know that introduced the word "meme")

Foundation series... hmmm think i should add some hari seldon quotes to my sig.

Cherryh's chanur and foreigner series

A good rendition of dinotopia (couldnt stand the show that was made)

The Dig.

About every Timothy Zahn story, especially the Conqueror trilogy, dragonback series, cobra series, and Icharus.

I'd love to see a good rendition of many of the Known Universe stories, primarily those dealing with the Man-Kzin wars.

Rama

Shannara series (granted this is more fantasy than sci-fi, it still occurs in the future)

Magic Kingdom of landover series. (fantasy)

Deathgate series.

Battle angel Alita.

Marathon.

Edited September 10, 2012 by Blackmarch

[skalenfehl]

I've heard the new BG series isnt a redo, but more of a prequel.

It's not a prequel. It's a remake. They did a darned awesome job, too. Was too risque for me, but man, the story was excellent. I hated Starbuck being a girl at first, but after a few episodes, the characters grow on you and they don't let go.

As for Ender's Game, should be out next November. A couple big name actors in it are Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. That kid that starred in Hugo will play Ender Wiggin. I've only read the first book, once about twenty years ago and again earlier this year. Are the other books just as good?

[Blackmarch]

It's not a prequel. It's a remake. They did a darned awesome job, too. Was too risque for me, but man, the story was excellent. I hated Starbuck being a girl at first, but after a few episodes, the characters grow on you and they don't let go.

As for Ender's Game, should be out next November. A couple big name actors in it are Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. That kid that starred in Hugo will play Ender Wiggin. I've only read the first book, once about twenty years ago and again earlier this year. Are the other books just as good?

I don't think any of the rest make quite as much of an impact as the first one did, but they are very good.

[classylady]

Some of my favorites:

Close Encounters

ET

Star Wars

Battlestar Galactica (Series)

Star Trek (Series) and all of its spin offs

Lost in Space (Series) What can I say? I had a major crush on Bill Mumy (Will Robinson) at the time.

Flight of the Navigator

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Lexx (Series)

Dr. Who (Series)

Red Dwarf (Series)

Total Recall

Running Man

Terminator

Independence Day

Men in Black

Wow! I didn't think there were that many sci fi movies/series that I liked that much. I never considered myself a true sci fi fan. But, these movies and series, I absolutely love!

[Vort]

Least favorite, awfulest sci-fi worthlessness:

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- Execrable. Stupid. Pointless. Senseless. Awful beyond description.

• ET -- Juvenile. Eye-rolling. Saccharine. Insipid. Barf.

• Gremlins -- Put it this way: I would rather watch CE3K. I mean, I would MUCH rather watch CE3K. Maybe the worst sci-fi movie of all time. Seriously.

• Total Recall -- A run-of-the-mill stupid, there's-two-hours-of-my-life-I-will-never-get-back waste of time until the last scene of Mars re-acquiring an atmosphere. Then it did not merely cross the line into absolute asininity, it obliterated that line. In fact, it might have been so bad that it was good, except that it was so very bad that it was not good at all.

• War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise remake) -- A fine idea of sci-fi in turn-of-the-20th-century America. A reasonably decent idea for a movie in the 1950s, maybe. Utterly ridiculous in the 21st century (Martians who have been planning for millennia to invade the Earth don't ever stop to consider microbiological factors?! Who could possibly swallow that?) Plus, Tom Cruise's pitiless murder of the guy who saved both him and his daughter was simply unforgivable. Should never have been made.

• Independence Day -- Okay, this is not an all-time horrible sci-fi movie, just incredibly stupid. Like, unfathomably stupid. So convenient that the aliens just happened to have developed the exact same abstraction levels for computer communications!!! And, wonder of wonders, they happen to transmit on exactly the same frequencies we use for our computer modems!!! And these aliens, who build spaceships capable of INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL, have never quite managed to incorporate antivirus software into their infrastructure!!! It's like the writers thought, "Hey, the aliens don't speak English! We're good to go!"

  Then again, Sister Vort likes the movie, so I can't complain about it too much. (At least not in front of her.)

I guess we can stop there for the moment.

[classylady]

Least favorite, awfulest sci-fi worthlessness:

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- Execrable. Stupid. Pointless. Senseless. Awful beyond description.

• ET -- Juvenile. Eye-rolling. Saccharine. Insipid. Barf.

• Gremlins -- Put it this way: I would rather watch CE3K. I mean, I would MUCH rather watch CE3K. Maybe the worst sci-fi movie of all time. Seriously.

• Total Recall -- A run-of-the-mill stupid, there's-two-hours-of-my-life-I-will-never-get-back waste of time until the last scene of Mars re-acquiring an atmosphere. Then it did not merely cross the line into absolute asininity, it obliterated that line. In fact, it might have been so bad that it was good, except that it was so very bad that it was not good at all.

• War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise remake) -- A fine idea of sci-fi in turn-of-the-20th-century America. A reasonably decent idea for a movie in the 1950s, maybe. Utterly ridiculous in the 21st century (Martians who have been planning for millennia to invade the Earth don't ever stop to consider microbiological factors?! Who could possibly swallow that?) Plus, Tom Cruise's pitiless murder of the guy who saved both him and his daughter was simply unforgivable. Should never have been made.

• Independence Day -- Okay, this is not an all-time horrible sci-fi movie, just incredibly stupid. Like, unfathomably stupid. So convenient that the aliens just happened to have developed the exact same abstraction levels for computer communications!!! And, wonder of wonders, they happen to transmit on exactly the same frequencies we use for our computer modems!!! And these aliens, who build spaceships capable of INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL, have never quite managed to incorporate antivirus software into their infrastructure!!! It's like the writers thought, "Hey, the aliens don't speak English! We're good to go!"

  Then again, Sister Vort likes the movie, so I can't complain about it too much. (At least not in front of her.)

I guess we can stop there for the moment.

I have to laugh. I agree, some of these movies were not the best ever made.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was great "eye-candy".

[classylady]

As a kid, I watched an episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "To Serve Man". This has haunted me to this day. I can still vividly see the ending scenes in my mind when it's found out "To Serve Man" is a cookbook.