Guilty Pleasures of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Genre

POSTED BY: BlueSunWorshipper
UPDATED: Thursday, September 16, 2004 10:52
VIEWED: 19701
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BLUESUNWORSHIPPER

Thursday, July 8, 2004 5:57 AM

Greetings, Fellow Browncoats:

Since we're on the thread of Worst SciFi Ever, I thought it would be nice to celebrate the OTHER side of bad SciFi movies and TV shows...movies that are BAD, but have something about them that you like, but wouldn't tell anybody else about. For example, one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies is the 1980 "Flash Gordon" flick with Sam J. Jones as Flash (AH-ahhhhhhh). Okay, it's bad. But there's something about it that I can't help but watch when it's on.

So, the definition of a "Guilty Pleasure" is a movie or TV show that is generally considered bad or "B" grade, that you like or are a fan of, but wouldn't necessarily tell anybody you are a fan of. Here is my list of Guilty Pleasure Movies and TV Shows:

Flash Gordon
Real Genius
Buck Rogers Season 1 (Except for Vegas in Space and Olympiad...echhh)
Creature (Klaus Kinski is very mockable in this flick)
Masters of the Universe (Frank Langella as Skeletor...come ON!!!)
Alien 3
Ice Pirates (Space Herpes...LOOK OUT!!)
The Bionic Woman - The Fembot Episodes (Smash the Fembot controls! ARRGH!!)
Battle Beyond the Stars (There's this Valkyrie chick that I *swear* is full frontal for half the movie. How can you NOT just stare at this train wreck of a movie?)

Also included in this list could be movies that are generally forgotten in the SciFi fandom universe, but are really good and deserve a wider fandom. For example, I *love* The Last Starfighter, Explorers, Enemy Mine, Outland, Time Bandits...etcetera.

Anybody else wanna take a stab at this? What are YOUR Guilty Pleasure Movie and TV Shows, or Forgotten SciFi Classics?

- T

THRAWN

Thursday, July 8, 2004 6:11 AM

I agree - Real Genius is awesome.

I also like Independence Day, believe it or not.

EST120

Thursday, July 8, 2004 12:41 PM

i assume since this is almost like a "therapy" post, no one will laugh at our choices.

wing commander

"i can't comprehend the ways that i miss you, they come to light in my mistakes."
-neko case

ARAWAEN

Thursday, July 8, 2004 1:38 PM

Brazil is my favorite movie, I am partial to most Terry Gilliam projects, but I wouldn't consider any of them B-movies. I also love Erik the Viking, not sure if it qualifies for B-status.

Outland definitely qualifies as a guilty pleasure.
Conan the Barbarian (original) was intended to be a B-movie but I think the director faked out the producers and made an awesome flick. The sequel was definitely b-grade but not good.

Arawaen

Um, I'm lost. Uh, I'm Angry. And I'm Armed.

JCKNIFE

Thursday, July 8, 2004 1:59 PM

I wish they would release "The Greatest American Hero" on DVD. It probably would not live up to my memory of how great that series was.

EGGBERT315

Thursday, July 8, 2004 5:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by JCKnife:
I wish they would release "The Greatest American Hero" on DVD. It probably would not live up to my memory of how great that series was.

Holy crap, "The Greatest American Hero" was the shiznit! The day I found the MP3 of the theme song was a happy day for me. Hooray. I would definitely buy the DVDs. And down the line my kids would laugh at me for being such a nerd...

Doctor Who is a slightly less guilty pleasure, because I think as low budget as it was, a lot of people like it enough to reduce my "guilt" at being pleasured by this series. Did that sound sexual to any of you? Tom Baker rules!

Hmm, what else? I'm sure I'll think of something.

KARENKAY99

Thursday, July 8, 2004 10:10 PM

night of the comet (girls just got have fun)
and
tremors (yep all of it, got all the dvd's. even liked the series and the very bad tv movie.)

quit laughing at me!! i'm so embarrased.

"They say the snow on the roof is too heavy. They say the ceiling will cave in. His brains are in terrible danger."

ANNIK

Thursday, July 8, 2004 10:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueSunWorshipper:
Greetings, Fellow Browncoats:

So, the definition of a "Guilty Pleasure" is a movie or TV show that is generally considered bad or "B" grade, that you like or are a fan of, but wouldn't necessarily tell anybody you are a fan of. Here is my list of Guilty Pleasure Movies and TV Shows:

Modified from suggestions here:

- Flash Gordon - great music!
- Battle Beyond the Stars - for the same reason ... her costumes are so damn funny I still snicker at the memory ... especially the "hands" bra getup. LOL!
- (name unknown) - took place on Mars and included a robot (played by a midget who'd been in Doctor Who a couple of times as an evil Chinese puppet) ... lots of scenes filmed around gigantic mining machinery from Australia that looked pretty cool.

Good ones that are not well remembered/known include
- The Last Starfighter
- Enemy Mine (the original short story is way beyond excellent -- the movie is a so-so adaptation)
- Greatest American Hero
- MacGyver (not really SF but all that kitchen chemistry was just too fun for words)
- Kung Fu the Legend Continues - great music and oddball storylines

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

SPIKEANDJEZEBEL

Friday, July 9, 2004 12:26 AM

I am a huge fan of Godzilla, many of whose films are definitely guilty pleasures. I would say this does not include the original 1954 "Godzilla", which is actually one of the best anti-war movies I have ever seen (check out the non-Americanized re-release if it is playing in your area - it is awe-inspiring!), or the Roland Emmerich "Godzilla" which is just plain bad and offers no pleasure, guilty or otherwise.

"I like smackin' 'em!" - Jayne Cobb

DARKJESTER

Friday, July 9, 2004 12:39 AM

OK, here we go...

Ice Pirates - "It's so stiff! The belt, I mean"

Tremors - all of them (partially because my son loves them)

Erik the Viking - Falling for the woman he saves from a fate worse than death... CLASSIC!!

Conan the Barbarian -

Quote:
Conan the Barbarian (original) was intended to be a B-movie but I think the director faked out the producers and made an awesome flick. The sequel was definitely b-grade but not good.

I agree - they knew they weren't going to make an epic, but wanted to make the best movie they could with limited actors and a decent script. The second one lacked the decent script, and the actors (especially Arnold) were too sure of themselves, and didn't try hard enough.

Planet of the Apes - I don't mean just the good movies. I'll watch the gorram 'made for TV' movies too!

Star Trek: The Animated Series - memories of childhood......

.... Last and probably least ....

Birds of Prey - pretty girls kicking butt - that's all the reason I can think of!

MAL "You only gotta scare him."
JAYNE "Pain is scary..."

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