Top Ten Sci-Fi Films

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1 Blade Runner (1982) Dir: Ridley Scott
2 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Dir: Stanley Kubrick
3 Star Wars (1977)/Empire Strikes Back (1980)
4 Alien (1979) Dir: Ridley Scott
5 Solaris (1972) Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
6 Terminator (1984)/T2: Judgment day (1991) Dir: James Cameron
7 The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Dir: Robert Wise
8 War of the Worlds (1953) Dir: Byron Haskin
9 The Matrix (1999) Dir: Andy & Larry Wachowski
10 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Dir: Steven Spielberg

choosed by scientist.
In general I can agree with the list.

more here :-)

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Films that perhaps would not feature so high on the list, but which I liked anyway:
Soylent Green; no scifi, but gripping tale of dystopic future.
Silent Running; another dystopic 70s film with very nice drones
Star Trek First Contact, the best in the series
The 5th element; just for fun
Spaceballs and Galaxy quest; for making fun of the genre

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I'd like to add a few which were less than sucessful at the box office, but still deserve watching:

Dark City - fairly unknown Kiefer Sutherland film from early 90's. V good, IMO
Dune - I know, I know, but if you've read the books...
Phase IV - 70's film about super-clever ants in the desert.
The Andromeda Strain - Based on a Michael Crichton book. Killer virus escapes in secret underground research lab. Another 70's film.

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Good list, but I'd also include "Minority Report" and the film that basically started it all, "Metropolis."

Notice Ridley Scott on the list twice and I wish he'd now tackle Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man." Has a lot in common with "Minority Report" (police detectives who can read minds at various levels).

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that's correct, I agree. "Minority report" should be also on this list.

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I especially agree with Grand Duke on yet another futuristic film noir, "Dark City." It was Ebert's best film of the year and for me, a sci-fi masterpiece. The murder mystery is challenging, the special effects are used to propel the story forward rather than just thrown in without good context and the acting is all first rate. The script is even exceptional reading without the visuals.

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I wonder what the requirements were and is that list in order of best to worst?

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might start a Ridley Scott collection of movies

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"Soylent Green" is in the classification of sci-fi even if it is more sociological or future history storytelling. The old Galaxy Magazine specialized in more human stories of the future. Asimov's "Caves of Steel" originally was published there as well as "Gravy Planet" which became "The Space Merchants" in book form and written by the unmatchable Frederick Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth.

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littlek wrote:

I wonder what the requirements were and is that list in order of best to worst?

That's unfortunaly not clear in the list, however you can read in the description a little bit why the choosed.

Yes, in order best to worst. But actually represent the list the top 10 :-)

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Lightwizard wrote:

I especially agree with Grand Duke on yet another futuristic film noir, "Dark City." It was Ebert's best film of the year and for me, a sci-fi masterpiece. The murder mystery is challenging, the special effects are used to propel the story forward rather than just thrown in without good context and the acting is all first rate. The script is even exceptional reading without the visuals.

I didn't even know it existed until only about 3 years ago when my housemate made me watch his DVD, and I was instantly hooked. I never understood why it wasn't more commercially successful. It seems in Britain that if a sci-fi film is to do well, it either needs to be a big name licence like Star Wars or the Star Trek films, or be a blockbuster popcorn film like Independance Day or Stargate.

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I wonder if 'Rocky Horror' would be considered sci-fi.

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Cav - You are obviously psychic in some way, as Richard O'Brien is in fact a chief-baddy in Dark City!

As for Rocky Horror... I can't say if it could be included, as I've only seen about 10 minutes of it. I hate musicals!

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I hate musicals as well, GD, but I enjoyed Rocky Horror, but I couldn't get into the cult scene that revolved around it.

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A case of a good idea taken way too far? Dressing up to watch a film seems a bit weird to me, whether it's Rocky Horror or Star Trek or whatever. There are some truely strange people in this crazy world of ours...

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True indeed. Shatner did a great bit on SNL, (I think) where he hosted a Trek convention and criticized them all for having no lives.

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I like Star Trek. I plan on buying the DVD box-sets sometime when I'm rich. But I would never ever go to a convention, or wear a home-made Star Fleet uniform to go watch the film. For once, Shatner is right!

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PS. Hopefully you're cool with me using your reading of my future as a signature? They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

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I would have made room on the list for Forbidden Planet and When Worlds Collide.

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I've not seen either of those films, Edgar. Can you tell me off the top of your head when they were released and who's in them?

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