SciFiWire Lists 50 SciFi Films of All Time

POSTED BY: Sniper
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 15:21
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SNIPER

Friday, February 15, 2008 5:24 PM

Following article:

Pick SCI FI Wire's Best SF Films

The American Film Institute has come up with a list of 50 SF films that it deems among the best ever; it will pick 10 as the best SF movies of all time for a TV special that will air on CBS in June.

But readers of SCI FI Wire don't have to wait until then to come up with their own list of the best SF movies of all time.

Pick from the list below of your top 10 and send it to SCI FI Wire before March 1 with "Top 10" in the subject line. Editors will post SCI FI Wire's Readers' Choice list of the top 10 that week.

If your favorite movie isn't in the list below, feel free to add it to your choice and SCI FI Wire will run a separate list of the top 10 most underappreciated SF movies of all time.

The AFI defines "science fiction" as a genre that marries a scientific or technological premise with imaginative speculation. It has selected the following 50 movies as contenders for the best, in alphabetical order (in the case of movies that have been made more than once, we've designated by date which version the AFI has selected):

A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Alien, Altered States, The Andromeda Strain, Back to the Future, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Blade Runner, Children of Men, A Clockwork Orange, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cocoon, Contact, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Destination Moon, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Escape From New York, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fantastic Voyage, The Fly (1986), Forbidden Planet, Frankenstein (1931), The Incredible Shrinking Man, Independence Day, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Invisible Man (1933), It Came From Outer Space, Jurassic Park, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Matrix, Men in Black, Minority Report, Planet of the Apes (1968), Repo Man, RoboCop, Rollerball (1975), Silent Running, Soylent Green, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope, Starman, The Stepford Wives (1975), Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Them!, The Thing From Another World, The Time Machine (1960), Total Recall, Tron, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The War of the Worlds (1953), Westworld. --Patrick Lee, News Editor

Notice that Serenity isn't on the list. Perhaps we should get it to the top of the unappreciated list by voting it in.

JONGSSTRAW

Friday, February 15, 2008 7:07 PM

Looks like a pretty respectable list...other than the Serenity omission.

ECGORDON

Friday, February 15, 2008 7:48 PM

I just sent my email to them, and I did include Serenity on my Top 10, along with another that I was surprised was also not there.

Alphabetical order only:
Blade Runner
A Clockwork Orange
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Metropolis
Serenity
The Time Machine (1960)
2001: A Space Odyssey
War of the Worlds (1953)

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

CHRISISALL

Friday, February 15, 2008 7:54 PM

THE LIST IS BULL***T IF SERENITY, STAR TREK TMP AND SUPERMAN TM AIN'T ON IT!!!!

the last angry Chrisisall

HUGHFF

Friday, February 15, 2008 9:13 PM

The inclusion of the following is unjustifiable: Destination Moon, Fantastic Voyage, Independence Day, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Each of these occupies a spot where a better movie should have been: Gattacca, Metropolis, The Quiet Earth, Serenity. Tron is lucky to make the cut too. I'll probably think of a fifth movie later.

Anyone who calls Star Wars Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope should be shot.

The original Terminator is better than Terminator 2: Judgment Day. If we were ranking movies based on special f/x then T2 but on no other criterion is it superior. (OK, Linda Hamilton does look hotter tanked up.)

For what it's worth - none of the Star trek movies are any good but the first one (fume more chrisisall) is preobably the worst. It's just plain boring, the most inexcusable crime for any movie. The only trek movie I liked was the save the whales one - because it was sometimes funny. In fact, it launched William Shatner as a comic actor.

www.cpfc.org - my life
www.nbhs.school.nz - my work

CHRISISALL

Friday, February 15, 2008 9:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by hughff:

For what it's worth - none of the Star trek movies are any good but the first one (fume more chrisisall) is preobably the worst. It's just plain boring, the most inexcusable crime for any movie.

Frakin' carbon-unit biped, you need to see the Director's Cut!!! If you don't like it still, I'll go on a tirade against your pathetic lack of taste the likes of which this board has n'er seen!!!

...or maybe I'll get a pizza and chill, whatever comes first

Chrisisall

ECGORDON

Friday, February 15, 2008 11:07 PM

I've never seen the Director's Cut of ST:TMP, but I still think the theatrical version is the best of the Trek movies yet produced. I know I am in a very small minority with that opinion, and it's one of the few times lately Chris and I agree on something. Yes, it is overlong and boring in places, but it had more scope and sense-of-wonder than any of the other films, which were more like extended tv episodes anyway.

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Friday, February 15, 2008 11:32 PM

I'm just glad they specified that it was the 1970's Rollerball they were nominating. Because if they had included the modern one and left out Serenity I would have lost all faith in AFI, and it's shaky enough to begin with.

Good list overall but yeah, I agree that Serenity, Gattacca and The Quiet Earth could have replaced some dodgy nominations there. And how the hell did they leave out Metropolis??? That's like doing a list of the best movies of all time and leaving out Citizen Kane!!!

I may be killed for this, but I totally would add Dune to that list. Yes I know, fans of the book loathe it, but it's a very good sci-fi movie when taken by itself and it is so very, very pretty to look at.

Banners, Avatars, LJ Icons and other fun stuff at www.desktophippie.com

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Friday, February 15, 2008 11:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I've never seen the Director's Cut of ST:TMP, but I still think the theatrical version is the best of the Trek movies yet produced. I know I am in a very small minority with that opinion...

Very, very small. Minute. So tiny it may not exist in a stable reality.

Banners, Avatars, LJ Icons and other fun stuff at www.desktophippie.com

CHRISISALL

Saturday, February 16, 2008 2:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I've never seen the Director's Cut of ST:TMP

Oh you must- Robert Wise said that it was like time-travel, being able to go back and fine tune what the studio pushed him to spit out so quickly, it really is a must-see!!!!

Quote:
it had more scope and sense-of-wonder than any of the other films, which were more like extended tv episodes anyway.

EXACTLY!!!! It IS one of the best SF films ever made, IMO.
I just feel sad for the fools that need explosions every ten minutes and flash-cutting to hold their attention when character & story can do so very nicely....

V'Gerisall

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