Best Sci-Fi...

maestrowork · May 4, 2007

And #1 is....

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_20037541,00.html

Agree? Disagree? What did they leave out? What should be #1?

Deleted member 42 · May 4, 2007

That's a lame list. There's a dead giveaway to the lameness in that they use Sci-Fi. The second indication is that there's almost no carry over between the Hugo winners, and the items on the list.

Melanie Nilles · May 4, 2007

I agree with medievalist. They have some of the worst movies, imho, rated over the best. Who voted on this? Or did someone just say "Here! This is what I think."

Novelust · May 4, 2007

It feels like a list compiled by a committee of five, and of those five, maybe one of them was actually a sci-fi fan.

And, dude, if Starship Troopers (don't get me wrong; Neil Patrick Harris was a bucket of fun in it) and Lost get to be on the list, please, someone put up one of my all-time favorites, Enemy Mine (1985). Not a perfect film by any means, but I can watch it over and over.

maestrowork · May 4, 2007

I know. Starship Troopers? You must be fracking kidding me (although I think the new BSG has its rightful place on the list).

triceretops · May 4, 2007

A good list--not in the proper order and quite a few left out. Well, we don't have Star Wars unless they aren't qualifying it as SF. Matrix as the top film? I don't think so at all.

Just off the top of my head--Logan's Run (sure, maybe a bit campy)

The Time Machine

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (what? didn't even make the list?"

A.I.

2001

Tri

Novelust · May 4, 2007

Oh, yeah, BSG definitely does. If you were going on the miniseries alone, it would.

Babylon 5! Oh, why didn't I think of Babylon 5? Babylon 5 should definitely have edged out at least one of those other shows.

Novelust · May 4, 2007

Little Shop of Horrors - the musical, with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin.

Hey. Talking alien plant. 1986. It counts.

maestrowork · May 4, 2007

triceretops said:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (what? didn't even make the list?"

Yup, was thinking that. Way better than E.T. as far as SF is concerned.

2001

Too cerebral for most people.

Novelust · May 4, 2007

It looks like Close Encounters and 2001 are over the twenty-five-year limit. E.T. barely makes it.

Toothpaste · May 4, 2007

To be honest, Starship Troopers is really oddly critically liked. And since this mag is a film geek mag (I say it with affection as I too am a film geek) I can understand why it got a mention. There is a sort of in-crowd with the sci fi film buffs who like to point out how satircal it actually was and how no one got it. I think it's a badge of honour to honour that film for those people.

And I always have to remind myself that despite the wretched sequels, The Matrix was groundbreaking.

But seriously I can understand leaving out 1 - 3, but wtf happened to Star Wars?

(I appreciate the Galaxy Quest mention though!)

maestrowork · May 4, 2007

I love Galaxy Quest.

I think Star Wars was left out much as CEotTK and 2001 were -- they're over the 25 years limit.

dclary · May 4, 2007

Toothpaste said:
To be honest, Starship Troopers is really oddly critically liked. And since this mag is a film geek mag (I say it with affection as I too am a film geek) I can understand why it got a mention. There is a sort of in-crowd with the sci fi film buffs who like to point out how satircal it actually was and how no one got it. I think it's a badge of honour to honour that film for those people.

And I always have to remind myself that despite the wretched sequels, The Matrix was groundbreaking.

But seriously I can understand leaving out 1 - 3, but wtf happened to Star Wars?

(I appreciate the Galaxy Quest mention though!)

I love starship troopers.

BiggerBoat · May 4, 2007

That's a really odd list.

Some items not on the list: Gattaca, Iron Giant, Abyss, Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Jurassic Park, City of Lost Children, Dark City, Pitch Black, 28 Days Later, Minority Report...

That's off the top of my head, not even thinking about TV shows. I wouldn't put all of those into a top 25 list to be sure, but there sure are many items in this list I'd swap for some of these.

They did right by putting Blade Runner high on the list, but it needs to be #1. It's the most influential SF movie in the past 50 years (and it's actual SF, not fantasy or horror or magic realism).

Anyway, these lists are fun but this one is pretty odd.

It does show how little real SF we have in motion pictures and TV. For that we have to turn to fiction

dpaterso · May 4, 2007

Interesting list and very readable comments without any hint of snottiness. Whatever the reviewers' personal tastes might be, they certainly love the subject.

Sure, it's not what I would have picked... and the order's all wrong... and a few of the inclusions made me chuckle ("No way!") but what the heck, it entertained me for 10 minutes.

-Derek

Serenity · May 5, 2007

triceretops said:
A good list--not in the proper order and quite a few left out. Well, we don't have Star Wars unless they aren't qualifying it as SF. Matrix as the top film? I don't think so at all.

Just off the top of my head--Logan's Run (sure, maybe a bit campy)

The Time Machine

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (what? didn't even make the list?"

A.I.

2001

Tri

I would have added those too, they need a top 25 of the past fifty years, though... (God, I can't believe I'm old enough to have movies I remember seeing out of a top 'whatever' out of the past 25 years...)

Novelust said:
Oh, yeah, BSG definitely does. If you were going on the miniseries alone, it would.

Babylon 5! Oh, why didn't I think of Babylon 5? Babylon 5 should definitely have edged out at least one of those other shows.

BABYLON 5. Oh yes, it needs to be on this list! JMS did exactly what he said he was going to do and made a television series that spanned a five year arc and then it was done. Brilliant acting (for the most part) and great people to meet at cons.

BSG definitely belongs up there, but I would have moved Heroes (top 5, at least imho), Quantum Leap, and Firefly up the list. The first Terminator was classic, but the second? Well, maybe for Robert Patrick alone...

ChaosTitan · May 5, 2007

Space: Above and Beyond

While I agree that Star Trek: The Next Generation was influential in that it paved the way for the rest of the new series', in terms of quality and storytelling and overall greatness, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine deserves a spot.

Serenity · May 5, 2007

*hangs head in shame...

How could I forget Space: Above and Beyond??? Did I not just spend last weekend watching the DVD's? I might just have to turn in my "I love James Morrison" Badge. :e2paperba

ChunkyC · May 5, 2007

Toothpaste said:
To be honest, Starship Troopers is really oddly critically liked.

Oddly is right. I think that was one of the worst movies ever made. Maybe they were trying to be satirical, but doing that was an insult to the novel by one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time, Robert A. Heinlein. They completely missed the core of the story and replaced it with video-game bug-shootouts, turning a great story into a cartoon. Bleah.

Total Recall is another lousy movie. It shouldn't be anywhere near a top 1000 list, let alone top 25.

They've got some of it right. The Wrath of Khan is still the best Trek movie ever made and Blade Runner is a superb film.

Too bad Alien missed the 25 year cutoff. Definitely one of the best science fiction movies out there, imho.

jvc · May 5, 2007

Serenity said:
BABYLON 5. Oh yes, it needs to be on this list! JMS did exactly what he said he was going to do and made a television series that spanned a five year arc and then it was done. Brilliant acting (for the most part) and great people to meet at cons.

B5 should have been on the list for sure. JMS was great at writing that series. From what I remember, and this could be wrong, I heard the network cancelled the show at the start of season 4, and JMS had to re-write that season to finish the shadow wars, which wasn't meant to end until the last episode of the fifth season. But as the writing turned out to be the tightest the show had seen and hugely popular, the network picked it back up again and JMS had to write a new fifth season.

Serenity · May 5, 2007

jvc said:
B5 should have been on the list for sure. JMS was great at writing that series. From what I remember, and this could be wrong, I heard the network cancelled the show at the start of season 4, and JMS had to re-write that season to finish the shadow wars, which wasn't meant to end until the last episode of the fifth season. But as the writing turned out to be the tightest the show had seen and hugely popular, the network picked it back up again and JMS had to write a new fifth season.

It was in doubt right up until the end of season 4 whether or not there would be a season 5, so he wrote and they shot the series finale, just in case. Then right at the absolute very last minute, the show got picked up for its last season and they saved that ep (Sleeping in Light) until the end of Season 5. That's why it's the only season 5 ep with Claudia Christian (who declined to reprise her role after season 4, the only cast member to do so). They replaced the season 4 finale with The Deconstruction of Falling Stars.

Any way it was done, it was brilliant sci-fi.

Tachyon · May 5, 2007

I suspect that most of the people who compiled the list haven't seen those movies or series that they chose. -_-

For instance, where is Stargate SG-1?! Ten years, and it gets no mention? I definitely think that Firefly/Serenity deserves a higher spot on the list too--it's a refreshingly original take on the whole idea of the "space cowboy" concept that Star Trek began in the '60s. Doctor Who could go higher too.

And I'm not quite sure who was bribed in order to get Total Recall on that list...

jvc · May 5, 2007

Oh yea, I can't believe I missed Stargate, that should have been on the list without question (Stargate and Babylon 5 are two of my all time favourite sci-fi shows).

SpookyWriter · May 5, 2007

And Stargate Atlantic. I liked Enemy Mine also.

maestrowork · May 5, 2007

I think Stargate is 100 times better than some of the other stuff on the list.

They did the right thing mentioning The THING, though -- and yes, God please, don't let them remake it. Also Bladerunner and Children of Men -- they did dystopia justice.

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