What's your favorite?

[Oxygen]

What is, in your opinion, the best sci-fi movie ever made? Use whatever aspect you like, whether it be box-office sales, special effects, or if it just blew you away at the theater.

I really enjoyed Independence Day. It had plenty of action and we got to blow up a bunch of really nasty bugs. Star Wars was great, but Independence Day had the whole theater laughing and cheering.

[dexter]

ya, independence day was rad, but star wars is pretty damn kool.... imean, you jsut cant beat it. the one thing i didnt liek about independence day, was how they never got to the whole ground invasion, though the piloting was pretyty kick ass, i wouldve liked to see some humans get there heads blown off by the et's..... and i wouldve also lieksd someone info on the whole alien thing, liek more of there past.....

hmmm.... but i also liked star ship troopers, indeed, a very kick ass movie once again..... and titan ae was pretty kool.....

and then...... BACK TO THE FUTURE!!!!!! such a bad ass trilogy!

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THANK GOD FOR ATHEISM!

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[xtra]

Have to give credit where credit is due and Star Wars certainly was something for its time...not only from an effects standpoint but also the influence it had on a generation.
However, gotta admit I enjoy the Alien (Sig.Weaver) movies. Especially the last one---the underwater alien scene was great, very creative.

Back to the Future Trilogy????????

[Tiassa]

Probably Star Wars or Empire, but since there's a few votes for those down already, I wanted to violate the purity of the sci-fi notion and throw in Dark Crystal, simply because there will never, ever, be another film quite like it, even if Farscape goes silver-screen.

Honorable mentions include:

* ST2: Wrath of Khan
* Battlestar Galactica (original series premiere)
* This Island Earth (subject film of the MST 3K cinematic venture; Star Wars borrowed some of its sense of scale from TIE).
* Rocky Horror Picture Show (I might remind all that it is this film which holds the record for theatre-time. In 23 years, there has never been a day in which "the Rock" hasn't played in a movie theatre.

Good anime ... my own list is short:

* Ghost in the Shell
* Star Blazers (all of it)
* Battle Angel

thanx,
Tiassa :cool:



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Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.--Denis Diderot

[Tiassa]

I stand utterly, completely, and thoroughly corrected.

The greatest science-fiction movie ever made, is:

* 2001: A Space Odyssey :D

How could I possibly have let that slip?

Oh, yeah, greedy about Dark Crystal.

thanx,
Tiassa :cool:

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Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.--Denis Diderot

[Rambler]

I second the vote for dark crystal, and Battle Star Galactica. Wow its been a mighty long time since I've thought about those 2.

As my number 1 vote: Star Wars (trilogy)...hands down best Sci-Fi Trilogy no question. The story, the effects, the characters...it had it all.

2nd: The Matrix--AWESOME MOVIE
3rd: Fifth Element-- ALSO AWESOME MOVIE
4th: Back to the future (trilogy, don't have this one)
5th: Terminator 1 & 2 (also don't have)
nth (tie, don't know what to rate them but I do like 'em): ID4 and MIB

NOT sci fi but worth a mention: Indiana Jones (trilogy, vey very cool)

I got most of my list on DVD and watch them religously....I'll never get sick of those movies.

Anime: my favorite sci fi would be The whole Macros seriee.

My favorite anime movie though is Ninja Scroll.


Long list but how can you choose???? so many cool movies.

[kmguru]

I will go with

* 2001: A Space Odyssey

In Sci-Fi series, most favorites

BABYLON 5

Strong dialog and story. beats EFC, StarTrek and anything else out there hand down. Too bad, only one guy conceived it in this multi-billion dollar industry.

[Oxygen]

If I wanted to pull an older sci-fi flick, I'd have to say I really liked Damnation Alley, with George Peppard. It was a typical post-holocaust story, but the truck was totally cool.

If you ever want to see what it's like to be on the set of Mystery Science Theater 3000, though, get The Omega Man and just try to avoid making cracks.

For the Titles-You've-Never-Heard-Of category, the worst movies IMHO were Lawless Land (cookie cutter one-guy-against-the-system) and World Gone Wild (bad Mad Max rip-off).

[Doc Brown]

Back to the Future is my favorite. Then, in no particular order, Contact, Planet of the Apes, Terminator (both of them), the Matrix, Galaxy Quest (I don't know if that counts), Star Trek 4, Star Trek: Generations, and Star Trek: First Contact.

[harmsen]

I just remembered that the best SciFi movie i have ever seen probably is "The Andromeda Strain" i don't remember what year it was released but it was somewhere in the sixties or seventies i think.
I read the book and was impressed, then i saw the movie and to my surprise it was as if i was reading the book all over again.

It is not an action packed adventure but more like a biohazard thriller.

The only film i know that can match this, would be 2001 a space odyssey.

I also like the Manga types of movies like AKIRA and in Anime, Ninja Scroll is awesome

Rene

[Eisen95]

I can't really give my favourite scifi movie becuase I can't give a definate one but I can categorise them.

Most gungho film : Starship Troopers

Best film seen at the cinema : Independence Day

Best classic sci-fi : Planet of the Apes

Most film watched : Star Wars Trilogy

Most overhyped film : Star Wars: Phatom menace

Best martial arts scifi : Matrix

Best film that has sent me to sleep : Timecop

Best scifi : Babylon 5

Best film that didn't live up to my expectations : Wild Wild West

Most original film : Matrix

Biggest video disapointment : Star Wars : Phantom menace

Biggest replay value : T1&T2

Most Disturbing film : The Day After

Best Star Trek film : ST4: Voyage home

Best B5 film : In the begining

[WildBlueYonder]

I thought 'Back to the Future' was a biology( bi-ology), just kidding!! You guys are sharp, don't miss a thing.
Anyway, how about the best eleven, no perticullar order? :
1) Independance Day ---wish they had shown more aliens, loved their ships, quote, 'I gotta have one of these!!'
2) Men in Black---Tabloids as the real news, people missing flyballs while watching UFO's, refugee aliens
3) Fifth Element--- effects, future world, battle between good & evil
4) Star Wars series (oops thats 4!) effects, story
5) Starship Troopers---future Vietnam, they never learn the lesson of the Gulf War( bomb the hell out of them first, burn everything, find their weaknesses, then invade, (seems like an idealistic, youghtfull world) for these kids, then the reality of war sets in, gave me the idea that after a certain rank, all officers should be part of a 'unified command'
6) Galaxy Quest---too funny!!!!!!!
7) Contact--- what would we do???
8) Star Trek: First Contact-- just the idea that Vulcans would be our 'first contact' & the drunk they meet there
9) Star Trek: Insurrection--ideas, how do we treat those that are helpless to defend themselves?
10) Matrix----effects, story, way cool
11) Blade Runner--- dreary future LA, mystery, murder & an android vision quest?

[Grahf]

Frank Herbert's Dune was the best scifi movie of all time. Partially due to the directing genious of David Lynch but also due to the superb material being worked with. Most arguments against this movie are that it denies much of the "book's experience" but it would be impossible to encapulate such a novel into a film any less than 5 hours long. In condensing such a master piece alone Lynch must be given credit!

[Lexx]

Off the top of my head....
Best movie: 2001
Runners up: Silent Running; The Terminator; The Blob

Best Sci-Fi series: The invaders; UFO; Lexx (of course I'm biased!)

[Malaclypse]

[rich68]

bladerunner,is tops,not only was the special effects good,but the music sound track is what made it ,and what a cast of actors,a film made before its time,who knows the story could become a reality one day.

[Corp.Hudson]

Night Of The Living Dead ('68) has got to be the best one...although it may not technically be a sci-fi film, I think it should be included.

As far as strictly sci-fi movies go, Aliens wins hands down.

[DeRez]

Movies---

Action: Matrix, Pitch Black, Starship troopers
Cyber: Tron
Space: 2001, Red Planet
Childrens: Dark Crystal, the Black Hole
Classic: War of the worlds, The day the earth stood still
Horror: Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Hardware

TV---

SeaQuest, Battlestar Galactica, Viper, Mantis, Super Force, Knight Rider

[%BlueSoulRobot%]

In my opinion, I really liked the book "The Abyss", which was based on a movie directed by James Cameron. Anyways, the book was a blast, so I figure the movie should be pretty good too. Although I think my choice will change by next year or so, cause according to my sources, there is going to be a new movie based on the book "Ender's Game", written by Orson Scott Card, who is one of my favourite writers of all time, up there with Isaac Asimov and Guy Gavriel Kay. :D

As for fans of Star Wars, rock on, I totally feel what you feel. :cool: (except for Phantom Menace, which I feel wasn't totally all that it was advertised to be...Jar Jar Binks? Puh-lease..)

I hear there's going to be a movie on one of J.R.R. Tolkien's books, so I was just wondering whether that counts as strait-up sci-fi or fantasy?

Final Fantasy (the movie) is going to be awesome! :)

[thecurly1]

The plot to a new sci-fi movie AI has to do with humans on the brink of being overthrown by computers. A microcosmic of this was displayed between HAL 9000 and Dave. It went farther than being an action movie with a sci-fi theme. This lacked unnecessary violence, got its point across and was fairly realistic, though sadly the time table for space exploration was way off. The mysterious black monoliths on Earth, the Moon, and Jupiter were great signs for the advances in human evolution. There was no dialogue for the first 15 minutes, and last 15 minutes of the movie which made the images so much more powerful. This movie was intriguing, especially the end where Dave Borman is reborn. If you've never seen this movie rent it. For any sci-fi fan this movie will fulfill you, its with stood 33 years of time and new advances in technology. THIS IS THE BEST SCI-FI MOVIE EVER.

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think any conscious entity can ever hope to do." -- HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

[WildBlueYonder]

Just saw AI, it's a mix of 'Blade Runner' and 'Bicentennial Man'. Very interesting narration, from the point of view of a fairy tale for future AI beings. Just see it!

[Pollux V]

My favorite sci fi movies:

1. Star Trek: Generations
Why: The movie was based on everything that Star Trek stands for, exploring the unknown mixed in with some action and comedy. It's better than the other movies because it isn't based on action and probably wasnt meant to be a blockbuster. It had some of the best acting in any scifi movie I've ever seen, from an average joe's standpoint or from that bastard critic Gene Shalot. Soran, Pickard, Kirk, La Forge, and Data provide a wonderful movie experience. I love this movie and have watched it many times.
Plus the music was good.
2. Sci Fi Channel miniseries: Frank Herbert's Dune
Why: Couldn't stay awake during the original movie, excellent effects, excellent acting, four hours long, covers the entire book and leaves nothing out, excellent directing, excellent writing, overall a great movie. Plus I hear they're making Children of Dune, they're skipping Messiah because that book was nothing but boring talk.
3.Contact
Why: Just perfect all around, academy award quality movie. Carl Sagan's a sheer genius.
4. The Empire Strikes Back (special edition)
Why: Not directed by George Lucas, supreme effects, excellent acting especially by Solo (can't remember his real name for some reason), rock-solid plot, contains everything required to make a good movie.
5. Princess Mononoke
Why: In my opinion most anime sucks, it all has bad writing, bad voice acting, and horrible animation. Monoke is the exact opposite.
Favorite Sci-Fi series:
1. Farscape
Why: It's pure science Fiction with excellent acting (especially by Claudia Black), top-notch effects and a very original idea with a solid plot. Very well excecuted.

[generalhurrss]

Has no one ever seen or heard of the Alien saga. This has got to be one of the best drawn out movies ever. When you think it can not go on another movie appears. Alien had all the tension you could ask for. Aliens had all the action you could ask. Alien III had a mixture of tenion and action and then we get the dreaded what nutty scientist dream of with all the action. The Alien saga needs a mention so watch the movies.
Sreamers was a good movie too.
And we all know that the Star Wars saga will always remain at the top of the list.
The best series has got to be Farscape, there are too many Star Trek spin offs and rip offs.

[Badfish]

Whew, tough choices. As a child, Creature from the Black Lagoon. I was so scared for her I ran around the living room. The Exorcist One, of course, and who could leave out The Shining with Jack. Silence of the Lambs was great, too. Too hard to pick just one.

[Pollux V]

Silence of the Lambs wasn't scifi? Was it?

[Teg]

Matrix, Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back, and Star Trek First Contact. I just can't choose one. They each have their strengths.

A close one would also be the brilliant movie that Shrike mentioned before: Contact. It was a true representation of this genre. Unlike my other choices it wasn't about action or wierd alien special effects. In the purest sense it was a Science Fiction movie. The greatest part was that it wasbelievable. It's too bad Sagan wasn't around to see it happen.

[Deadwood]

No. 1: Star Wars
High Commendation in no particular order: Star Trek(Movies and series'), Fifth Element, Sixth Day, Star Ship Troopers(pure entertainment), Terminator 1 & 2, Total Recall, Predator and a lot I seriously can not think of or forget the name of.

would like to see: Space Odysey 2001, Aldous Huxleys Brave New World made into a movie but it may ruin what the book set out even though it doesn't really have a story line that I could pick out per se. But it is a recommended read.

[kmguru]

Deadwood, go rent the movie Space Odysey 2001. You will enjoy the classic movie. Even the special effects can stand the time and advancement in technology.

[CounslerCoffee]

I can't believe no one has said Ghost Busters yet!?!? What an original concept! But if we were going on good action then it would be StarTrek First Contact, if we were going on plot it would be Starwars, if we were going on sex then it would be buffy the vampire slayer the movie. If we were going on stupidity it would be Episode 1.

[Magenta]

Id definitely agree with

2001: A Space Odyssey and the Empire Strikes Back :p

[Pollux V]

Contact may be the best scifi movie of all time, it was the only one everyone, not just scifi fanatics, liked or loved. A very cool movie and I think it was nominated for some emmies or oscars or something. Solid plot, solid acting, solid writing, perfection.

[Patman]

Here it goes (No particular order)

Star Wars, Alien I,II, ST The Wrath of Khan, 2001, Logan's run, Blade runner, Mad Max, Road Warrior, All classics.

Starship Troopers, ID4, Galaxy Quest, Apollo 13, Pitch Black, Red Planet, Highlander. cool flicks!

Vampire hunter D, Outland, Ghost in the shell. cartoons at there best.

Space above and beyond, Battlestar Galactica, Dark Skies, X files. Good series

The Exorcist, Evil Dead series, Pumpkinhead, Dawn of the dead, Nightbreed, The Prophecy, Warlock. Someone touched on horror:rolleyes:

[Stryder]

What about the Predator film? People forget about the entire nasty notion of some alien hunting humans in the jungle :p

SuperNova is another film that I've watched and vaguely remember. The ones that made impact....

Wargames.... this film is not just a classic but it has everything a film should have in it (well a few :D);
An AI hell bent on annihilation of the enemy that sleeps.
A hacker that "Wardials" number after number on his phreaked phone looking for a games developer.
A bunch of federal agents chasing the hacker, and the hacker being dragged into NORAD.

Okay you could then move to such films as;
Hackers okay it's not a realistic depiction of the covert world of the Social and sleep deprived, but it's the film that started off the whole I-Worm genre. It's still worth a watch, but rememeber it's a bit like one of those cheesy Disney movies for kids.

Johnny Mnemonic This film was recreated from William Gibsons short story that can be found in the compilation of Burning Chrome. The original story was far different.
Some actually complain about the film.. I just think that the one quote that made it worth while was "ALL I WANT IS ROOM SERVICE!".

I noticed Patman put Ghost in the Shell I liked that Manga film enough to think that it should be mentioned again. The whole world has stepped up it's technological evolutionary chain, People have filled the blackmarket with technological gizmo's that can do alsorts of wonderous and illegal things.

Hackers are plentiful and Artificial intelligences are dawning like a new sun. Within a future cityscape, New government sections have been created to deal with the new state of cybernetic terrorism or "Ghost hacking".

The poor populous is wreaked with people being turned into mindless slaves of someone that calls himself the "puppet master". These people have all their memories wiped and their identity replaced with a pseudo-one, to which they do tasks set by the puppet master.

this results in Section 9 sending one of their Cyborg operatives and cybernetically enhanced companions into dealing with this situation. Perhaps this film could teach you a whole new respect for the Manga genre if you never watched a manga film previously.

Akira... Well it's another Manga epic, one that will confound people for eons.

Screamers A war one a different planet continues over the radioactives that the planet provides, within the continued war, one side builds a purely automated factory to create robots that hunt and destroy the enemy.
As you can tell by the setting... those robots, start to go wrong, as through their automation at the factory, the system starts to modify how and WHO they fight.

Braindead, An Australian movie that is pretty weird... worth watching though.. (classed as spoof/comedy/horror)

Frequency I liked the film and it fits in my favourite genre.

There are other timedisplacement and Cyberpunk genre films that I can't remember the names of, But I think the list could be endless (And I don't get mpaid to be a movie critic :D)

[Yang´s_Matrix]

Contact was EXCELLENT.

It was so deep.

I´m a man (been for 26 days :p ) and I usually try not to feel anything towards the movies since they are fake after all... but in the end of Contact... I held my tears :o .

Blade Runner was also great, it had that... something. It took it all so slowly, didn´t hurry up... it was like anti-demolition man :) . The atmosphere in Blade Runner was something, in which the great majority of movies don´t reach.

Starship Troopers was just EXCELLENT as well, because it also had something which majority of movies lakc: credibility
Perhaps it was the raw violence or the propaganda shows :p but it seemed something that could be coming :) , altough the fact that how did they end up in such dictatorship society was wery shortly told, only that veterans took control, but that´s all... no other comments on how the humanity was united etc.
Also what impressed me, was that, even though they were in future, they still used wery samekind of clothes that we use today, someone might have thought that that looked stupid, I just think that it showed counrage for not making them wearing some unrealistic rags (ofcourse the clothes didn´t show wery much, since theyr were in uniforms most of the time).

Also Starship Troopers was one of those rare movies in which there was specism. The humanity ofcourse kept itself as a supreme race of the galaxy. Also as Rico kept the burrial service he talked how "citizens have the courage to take the surivival of human race to theyr own personal responsibility". The Federation clearly tried to brainswash the youth, since they were the most vulnerable.

Also what impressed me, as I already said, in Starship Troopers (which shows in most of Paul Verhoeven´s movies) was the raw violence which made the movie feel atleast a bit realistic (was it? I don´t know, but it did make the illusion of realism atleast). It really looked like as if humanity was really struggling, as people were really dying, a lot!
It was also kinda fascinating thing, that in the end, did the "bugs" try to wipe us out or only protect themselves? The Federation brainwashed ruthlessly the population to join the army or if brainwashing is too strong word... atleast pressured them to join the army. I think that every civilians self-respect had a blow when watching the "I´m doing my part, are you?" propaganda commercials. And ofcourse the Citizenship was a big carrot to tempt people to join in to the "Fereral Service" (aka cannon fodder). Clearly the Federation was quite an agressive government.

Neither one of the sides was a saint, but which one had uglier motives?

[Bebelina]

I think the younger you were when you first saw them, then the larger the impact. "The thing" scared me stiff at age 12, so I will never forget that one. A more beautiful film that has left traces is "The Abyss".
And of course, I fell in love with Luke when Star Wars came, I can´t deny that. But I don´t think I can name one in particular as the BEST because they are all so different and good in their own ways.

Btw, I once caught my grandfather watching the Blob, and enjoying it. He recommended it to me even...:p

[Reign_of_Error]

hehe, I love the movie Hackers :) great soundtrack..

How about Sneakers? that was a good film.

Have any of you seen the movie Takedown? sometimes called hackers2? great movie based on the book Takedown. I thought that was cool..

Antitrust was a good movie too, makes you think about how microsoft does business :)

[Yang´s_Matrix]

Forgot The Thing, it was truly a scary movie indeed.

[Bebelina]

Saw it yesterday! I am stunned! Must digest it for a week or two....:cool:

Could be a "best" !

[Rick]

1:the matrix "MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING MOVIE"
2:contact:"two things great:Jodie and storyline"

[MuliBoy]

Bladerunner is just a solid masterpiece. Such a celebration of life.
A.I. was great too. Didn´t expect much when seeing it, but damn, it works on many levels.

The best scifi movies and novels use the technofiction as a venue for visualizing abstract ideas in comprehensible form :)

[Holy]

1st prize: The Abyss (special edition, the looooong one).
Runner up: Dune.

[BLASTOFF]

Ithought that pitch black was great, also starship troopers, soldier was good as well good story. i watched an old film a couple of weeks ago, called titan find same plot alien against human,human won as usual aliens yes great saga dont know how lng they can carry on making them but we can only wait and see.;)

[CounslerCoffee]

It's as simple as this:

1st The Matrix
2nd Starwars
3rd The Abyss (the long version)

[blaker]

There have been a lot of great movies listed here and they all deserve the praise that they have recieved. But there is one that has not been mentioned and it was George Lucas' first film.

What was it? THX 1138

It was a great film for its day, 1970.

[Yo_girlfriend_still_love_me]

I'd have to say yes 2001: a space Odyssey was one of the best Sci-Fi films, Dune, Star Wars, A clockwork orange(only if you read the book would you understand), and you can't forget Blade Runner.

How the hell can a movie with Will Smith be good?
MIB and Independence Day sucked major ass. How the hell can they be ranked up there with Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey?

[Crabbles]

2001: A Space Odyssey
2./ (but miles behind) Alien
3.Star Trek the wrath of Khan
4./Contact
5 Terminator 2(speial effects breathtaking)

Hate Star Wars overly hyped kiddies sci-fi, you may as well watch thunderbirds. Lucas uses them as a vehicle to sell merchandise to the gullible.
Just my views

[varkas]

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

"...and I resolved, as man had dominated the world of the sun, so I would dominate my world."

[ismu]

1) MATRIX, make us think a lot about future and present reality.
2) THE 13th FLOOR, same reason as above.
3) SOUTH PARK cartoon. ...oops it's not Sci-Fi, but i love it a lot :D :D

[Dracula's Guest]

This one isn't a sci-fi film, but I watched 'Seven Samurai' a couple months back and I really enjoyed it. 'Hidden Fortress' was credited with helping inspire George Lucas with Star Wars, but it stands as a decent movie without being constantly reminded of the parallels.

[oedipus]

Star Trek 4:The Voyage Home
Star Wars Episode 6:The Return of the Jedi
(Hopefully Episode 2)

Tron
Dune
Star Trek: First Contact

and others.....

[Dracula's Guest]

Has anyone mentioned 'Twelve Monkeys' yet? How about 'Brazil'? Terry Gilliams surreal version of 1984

[Stryder]

I have to mention that I don't think anyone mentioned 12 Monkeys which is now situated in my DVD collection.

I also recently purchased Apocalypse now: Redux DVD with an extra 50 minutes on the original.

Let me just run my genre list: (yes the genre that I find appealing)

Matrix
Frequency
The 13th Floor
Anti-trust
Swordfish
Enigma
Wargames
*Tron
A.I. (which most will 'itch about it)
*Johnny Neumonic
*Hackers

(* = ones I don't actually have in one form or another.)

That's my genre, although some are Lame, they are still worth watching just for the sci-fi value, notibly hackers)

Oh nearly forgot..... Scarface and Last man standing

Edit:
Not to forget Bladerunner (Do andriods drealm of electric sheep) and Screamers(Second Variety) both adaptions of P.K. Dick Stories.