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Johannes Kepler's Somnium was one of the earliest SF books. It imagined going to other worlds and attempted to popularize science, as part of the birth of modern science in the 1600s.
Georges Méliès' short films were among the earliest films to have SF elements. His 1902 classic, Le Voyage Dans La Lune, was impressed with the possibilities of going to the moon.
Since the probable beginnings of SF in these early space fantasies, SF expanded to use many types of exotic and imaginative elements: speculative science, futuristic visions, computers, virtual reality, alien contact, space or time travel, etc.
1920s-30s
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Metropolis, Dir. Frtiz Lang, 1927, 83.8/A. Based on the novel by Thea von Harbou. Envisions a future industrial-city complex in which underground workers rebel (under the direction of a female humanoid and a mad-scientist) against a tyrant tycoon. The mad scientist creates a mechanical robot, but it was imagined prior to digital machines and lacks realistic artificial intelligence.
However, the robot transforms into a sort of human-Frankenstein monster (perhaps with a Frankenstein monster sense of A.I.), so it reflects the desire of humans to master nature and control it as in Shelley's Frankenstein. It also portrays central monitoring and a control desk for invasive workplace supervision.
But Lang didn't believe in its message – he just liked machines (source from DVD commentary). Of course, husbands often have different points of view than their wives (his wife wrote the novel that the movie was based on)!
In a classic review H. G. Wells criticizes Metropolis for its lack of originality and plausibility: H. G. Wells on Metropolis (1927 review). He smartly points out that modernity and a technologically advanced society tends to require intelligent workers, not mindless slaves. He describes the movie as silly and as anti-rationality; the type of rationality, in fact, that is generally required to lead to high scientific progress. And he predicts Metropolis would decrease the demand for SF in the future -- he was correct in one respect; it took until the 50s for SF to grab a share of the broader market. But his surprise at the warm welcome of the movie by film critics of his time lives on in the continued appreciation of it as a classic.
Film critics seem to like it for artistic and emotional reasons. Roger Ebert became ecstatic about Dark City (1998), a movie that reminded him of Metropolis (Ebert's DVD commentary for Dark City). He must be thinking that Dark City has similar emotional and artistic elements to Metropolis because I don't see any similarities in their SF elements at all! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
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 H. G. Wells' Things to Come, Dir. William Menzies, 1936, 68.8/C+. Based on a novel by H. G. Wells: The Shape of Things to Come (Read Online, Download/Print). There is now a colorized version on DVD.
The first 2 parts seek to reduce to absurdity the rise of wasteful wars and rule by nationalist barbarians. The 3rd part speculates that progress and exploration toward the moon and beyond is the key to ensuring a meaningful use of human talents and resources. It has a beautiful Menzies art design, but mediocre special effects (esp. the toy tanks).
 It has speeches that some viewers dismiss as naive or bombastic but that make others tingle with excitement. It depicts a space gun/launcher and a helicopter, along with inventive mass communication devices, elevators, flat screen panels, and wireless intercoms. It's probably incorrect about windowless buildings in the future. But it portrays a child-like vision of boundless scientific/technological investigation.
Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey) suggested this film to Stanley Kubrick as an example of an excellent SF movie (source: Clarke's special millennial introduction to his 2001 novel). Kubrick hated it, but the late Clarke kept suggesting it at the top of his list whenever someone asked him about the best SF movies.
I personally loved it and think it excellently captures the zeitgeist of modernity. To me, it seems like a movie about a group of rational minded thinkers guided by a Einsteinian/Spinozean-like morality in their quest to live ethically through scientific advancement and a unified world government. The pro-progress characters (such as the two Cabals) believe humanity could 'live forever' by preserving our experiments and progress for future generations, always standing on our humanity as if on the shoulders of giants.
It is a bit naive about the plausibility of creating a society without crime for an extended period of time. It also seems implausible about the inevitability of progress. It seems to me we could just as easily go right back to the dark ages or at least become so stagnant in science that we kill ourselves off through overpopulation or through our inability to escape the next major natural disaster. But it nicely portrays the importance of taking risks against public and nanny outrage for potential threats of space accidents and deaths. It challenges us to choose the side of progress over our desires for safety or comfort or happiness:
CABAL: "Too much [rest] and too soon, and we call it death. But for MAN no rest and no ending. He must go on--conquest beyond conquest. This little planet and its winds and ways, and all the laws of mind and matter that restrain him. Then the planets about him, and at last out across immensity to the stars. And when he has conquered all the deeps of space and all the mysteries of time--still he will be beginning" (screenplay).
If this sounds like a rationalization for devoting all of society to progress, then the council members (of the world government) will seem like technocrats. But actually those "technocrats" allow their citizens to become artisans and to pursue other passions freely. Plus the pro-progress council members would have to be suppressed by government bans, laws against science and experiment, and other mandates and restrictive uses of power that would turn their critics into the tyrants.
In fact a huge group of rebels in the plot feel belittled by all the council's developments of science and technology, so they try to put a stop to progress and an end the council's freedom to experiment. The progress oriented council will not suppress the free speech of the rebels though, only preparing its 'peace gas' in times of emergency and merely wanting the freedom and space to pursue its progress.
So it's also a story about the freedom to do science, just as much as it's about the wonders of progress. Many people in our society would actually agree with some of these basic premises, except in cases of social bias (many want to ban cloning, for example) or fear/reason (some believe we aren't ready for advanced science/technology since we might destroy ourselves). But Cabal (the president of the council) has an answer to the problem of danger: "Our [scientific] revolution did not abolish death or danger. It simply made death and danger worth while" (screenplay).
Ref: Technovelgy / Tech News, IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Screenplay, RT Consensus.
Misc: Watch it at the Internet Archive, Things to Come & SF in the 30s, Comparison to The Jetsons, H. G. Wells.
- 20s-30s SF movies of possible interest: Woman in the Moon (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1929), Frankenstein (Dir. James Whale, 1931, 83.5/A), The Invisible Man (Dir. James Whale, 1933, 79.7/A-).
1950s
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 Destination Moon, Dir. Irving Pichel, 1950, 55.3/D. Screenplay by SF guru Robert Heinlein and produced by George Pal. It's sometimes referred to as a 'hard SF' movie for its portrayal of a mission to the moon by plausible scientific theory and by business/engineering know how.
 It also depicts a semi-modern rocket launch and a differential analyzer (an actual mechanical computer from the 50s), along with radar and ship navigation electronics, scientific equipment to investigate the moon (telescope, Geiger counter), and communications between astronauts on the moon and reporters on earth.
It symbolizes its moon landing as a claim on the moon for all mankind, and it has lighthearted moments with a Woody Woodpecker cartoon to demonstrate space flight. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. Misc: Watch it at Internet Archive.
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 The Day the Earth Stood Still, Dir. Robert Wise, 1951, 78.8/B+. B&W. Based on a story by Harry Bates: Farewell to the Master. Includes the traditional flying saucer, a ray gun effect, and a cool guardian robot. A Martian (Klaatu) displays a love for peace by use of robotic force, and (Einstein-like) scientists are sought as ambassadors to unite our warring planet of divided nations.
I was surprised how forceful and noble this movie is since a quick glance at a summary makes the movie seem superficial, but the full idea of the robot (Gort) is fascinating and also the high esteem held for scientists (such as portraying an Einstein-like scientist and having Klaatu discuss science with an excited human child). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
- The Thing From Another World, Produced by Howard Hawks, 1951, 74.8/B. Based on the masterpiece by John W. Campbell: Who Goes There?. A highly complex vegetable is found to be intelligent (by reflex alone) and zombie-like (it lacks consciousness and ethical values). It crash lands, thaws out, and begins to colonize Earth and feast on humans as a secretive scientist experiments with it! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- When Worlds Collide, Dir. Rudolph Maté, 1951, 64/C. Based on the novel by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer, produced by George Pal. A pair of astronomers calculate a massive threat to earth (using telescopes and a differential analyzer), and (with a rich financier) make plans to build an ark with 44 people, microfilms of our knowledge, and many animals. Can they flee to a new world in time against the law of the jungle and general panic? Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- The Man in the White Suit, Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1952, 78.7/B+. B&W. Based on the play by Roger MacDougall. A comedy about a chemist who pushes science to the brink of a new valuable discovery, though, with bad side effects: textile capitalists and their workers might become extinct! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- Invaders From Mars, Dir. William Menzies, 1953, 67.7/C+. This British movie surveys flying saucer mystique, portrays a child-like love for discovery, and portrays an invading brain-in-a-vat creature and its assimilation of locals. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- The War of the Worlds, Dir. Byron Haskin, 1953, 72/B-. Based on the novel by H. G. Wells (Read Online, Download). The ultimate classic alien invasion movie in which the aliens treat us as lower life forms, best left destroyed! The special effects were good at the time, but now look outdated. The George Pal production has some non-Wellsian themes, but overall I think it's currently the best version. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
 This Island Earth, Dir. Joseph M. Newman, 1955, 56.3/D+. Based on the serial by Raymond F. Jones. An excellent concept of alien contact and the gathering of scientists to work on a task. The exotic aliens caught the attention of many back when the film was released. But the story doesn't hold my attention as well today. Mentions the miniaturization of technology and nuclear power. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.-
Forbidden Planet, Dir. Fred Wilcox, 1956, 78.3/B+. Has an advanced robot (Robby!), a machine for improving human intelligence , supercomputers for running an ancient alien civilization (the Krell), a hover craft, and semi-virtually projected creatures (or a dangerous materializing-Freudian-id!).
It is a movie rich in ideas as a Star Trek-like crew investigates a planet (Altair IV) and unknowingly run into a lot of trouble and a tempest (drawing from a Shakespearean theme).
Roddenberry says it influenced his vision of Star Trek; its influence is very obvious in the first aired episode of Star Trek: The Original Series ("The Man Trap", 1966). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Transcript.
- 50s SF movies of possible interest: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (Dir. Eugène Lourié, 1953, 68.3/C+), It Came from Outer Space (Dir. Jack Arnold, 1953, 67.7/C+), Gog (Dir. Herbert L. Strock, 1954), Them! (Dir. Gordon Douglas, 1954, 74.8/B), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (Dir. Fred F. Sears, 1956, 61/C-), Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (Dir. Ishirô Honda/Terry O. Morse, 1956, 70.8/B-), Kronos (Dir. Kurt Neumann, 1957, 54.2/D), I Married a Monster from Outer Space (Dir. Gene Fowler Jr., 1958, 63.5/C).
1960s
- The Time Machine, Dir. George Pal, 1960, 73.3/B. Based on the novel by H. G. Wells (Read Online, Download). This is the classic time machine story, with a fantastic demonstration of an object entering the 4th dimension from the point of view of people in the present. The second half is interesting because it might signify a future in which some humans evolve into a different species (becoming cannibals called the Morlocks) and in which our future human descendants (the Eloi) become like hedonistic cattle (with little interest in science and progress). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Script.
- Village of the Damned, Dir. Wolf Rilla, 1960, 72.5/B. Based on a novel by John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos. These creepy children with blond hair are a group of dangerous mind controllers gifted in self-defense, mind reading, and stoicism. They are psychically linked together in a collective of brainpower, with the potential to help make advances in science and contact with aliens on other worlds. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Dir. Val Guest, 1961, 64.5/C. It is mostly set in a newsroom and follows a team of reporters as they slowly uncover information about an apocalyptic scenario in which nuclear testing changes Earth’s axis for the worse. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- Fahrenheit 451, Dir. François Truffaut, 1966, 73.4/B. Cinematography by Nicolas Roeg; based on the novel by Ray Bradbury. Presents a future in which firemen become responsible for book burnings to prevent people from thinking independently; consequently, most people become insipid while a few begin resistance movements. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
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Fantastic Voyage, Dir. Richard Fleischer, 1966, 70.3/B-. See the novel by the same name by Isaac Asimov. An excellent illustration of a voyage to the small [also look for The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and Innerspace (1987)]. In the plot a scientist invents stable and longer lasting miniaturization technology, but he gets injured before he teaches his discoveries to anyone, locking the secrets to how the improved technology works in his mind. So a doctor and some military personal use a miniature vessel (the Proteus) to help heal the scientist. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Transcript.
Most such ideas about the micro world lack explicit scientific credibility, but they allow us to adopt a different perspective and to use similar thought processes that some scientists use in thought experiments. For example, Carl Sagan compares us to little universes (Cosmos #2), Einstein used various thought experiments in his thinking, and, more recently, Brian Greene pretends to travel to the minute quantum level as an analogy to quantum concepts (The Elegant Universe).
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 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968, 83.9/A. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke.
It achieves excellence for its vision of realistic space flight, speculative spacecrafts, HAL 9000, possibly an ancient alien transport and information pathway system (in the Star Gate sequence), a star child (perhaps an intelligent space dwelling being), and alien technology (the Monolith) that is so advanced in science it would look to us like magic (per one of Clarke's maxims of prediction: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic").
And perhaps it flaunts a Nietzschean-like evolution of intelligence from our ape ancestors, to humans, to machines, to a star child. It also has high artistic appeal and is one of the most influential SF movies. It shows that one can fit speculative science into a SF movie without losing artistic value.
It has many little gems of speculation, such as its subtle stance on artificial intelligence. The script never explicitly claims that HAL is intelligent or sentient; it actually notes that some scientists claim it merely mimics sentience. And it doubts whether we could know if HAL has emotion. Though it remarks that HAL seems intelligent and emotional (and could be for all we know). [The novel suggests Turing's imitation game (aka the Turing test) as an intelligence test.] So Kubrick was careful to offer opposing points of view and cite difficult questions.
The scientific value of the movie is in its very fabric. The astronauts work methodically similar to the way I see NASA conduct its missions on the NASA channel. They use computers and communications with earth to guide their troubleshooting and repairs, for example. It also replaces the emphasis on militaristic chains of command of Star Trek or Forbidden Planet with a more modern, scientific, technical way of operating. There are scientific flaws in specific details, but science itself is littered with failed attempts that were crucial to future scientists. Where would we be without the reintroduction of the ancient Greeks into western civilization? (So, yes, Aristotle is wrong about almost everything while also being very important arguably. See James Burke's documentary series, Connections, for this sort of argument.)
Timothy Ferris uses 2001 as an example of the thesis that aliens may already know about us and we might find evidence of them as we continue to explore space (p. 375, Coming of Age in the Milky Way). The movie is also an example of an alien pathway system (with Trumbull's light effects near the end of the movie) and a cosmic intelligence network. The mutual desire of the humans and the aliens to search out intelligent life may be nature's way of evolving an intelligence on a massive scale (much in the same way Carl Sagan imagines in his Cosmos series and in Contact).
Even though the climax has humans combating our flaws and a homicidal computer, it leaves us with a boundless vision of advancement and future possibilities. The movie foreshadows this by (seemingly) beginning from an alien perspective and using repetition of the alien probes/monoliths to get us to feel their technological superiority and presence (or at least feel the same mystery the characters feel from their new discoveries). But it leaves us with a vision of an advanced space civilization, a new space species, and a chance for science and technology to be important to our future perhaps. Believe it or not this is rare in SF!
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Screenplay.
Misc: 2001 Explained, Palantir Archive, Facts/FAQ, Technovelgy / Tech News, Ebert's Great Movies Review, 2001 Principle, Destination Space, 2001 Program, HAL's Legacy, The Kubrick Site, Indelible, Prodigy, Arthur Clarke.
 60s SF movies of possible interest: X - The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (Dir. Roger Corman, 1963, 66.3/C+), First Men in the Moon (Dir. Nathan H. Juran, 1964, 62.7/C), Robinson Crusoe on Mars (Dir. Byron Haskin, 1964, 66/C+), Planet of the Apes (Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968, 74.8/B), Marooned (Dir. John Sturges, 1969, 63.3/C).
1970s
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 Colossus -- the Forbin Project, Dir. Joseph Sargent, 1970, NA. Based on a novel by D. F. Jones: Colossus. Includes two supercomputers and a novel vision of computer led progress. Imagines a situation in which two governments (U.S. & Russia) decide to give super-computers control of their respective nuclear weapons, replacing flawed human decision-making with superior processing and hard cold logic. (By the way, The Terminator movies also portray humans giving weaponry controls to a 'Skynet'.)
The two machines develop a new mathematical language, advance us years in science, and take control of a few things too. Who says the humans always have to win? Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
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 The Andromeda Strain, Dir. Robert Wise, 1971, 67.7/C+. Based on the excellent novel by Michael Crichton. Includes a medical computer, automated decontamination systems, robotic arms, and SF questions about new forms of life. The epitome of SF: A team of elite scientists uses an intricate and secret underground research lab to investigate alien microorganisms (before it is too late).
The novel includes discussions about the most likely alien lifeforms, co-evolution of life, and skepticism over the survival value of human intelligence. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. Misc: Technovelgy / Tech News, Michael Crichton (Official Site), Erickson's Review: Very Good.
- THX 1138, Dir. George Lucas, 1971, 66.9/C+. Restored version. George Lucas utilizes an original and excellent visual style in this vision of an antiseptic, underground totalitarian state. The state is patrolled by police-robots and operates by cost/benefit analysis of state efficiency. It also Imagines a robotic confessional. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: THX-1138.org Forum, Official Site.
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Silent Running, Dir. Douglas Trumbull, 1972, 66.2/C+. This is a movie about a future in which at least one person wants to preserve the last remnants of wilderness. He also gives reasons to love nature: he grows and nurtures it with his own hands, and it has a color, taste, smell (i.e., he loves his qualia!). Directed by a special effects legend who worked on 2001 and Blade Runner.
Trumbull says in the commentary he thinks SF is impossible in film, but he also says he loves technology and feels comfortable around it. He hates when movies anthropomorphize mechanical or android characters as in Star Wars (a project he turned down), so the three worker robots, the robotic arm, and the spacecraft equipment are all treated with respect. It has a beautiful light effect for Saturn's rings, which is inaccurate but well worth seeing. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory. Misc: Valley Forge, Space Review. News: Gardening Robots, Lunar Oasis.
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Solaris, Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972, 79.3/A-. Based on the novella by Stanislaw Lem. Has a possibly sentient planet and replicants in the plot. It explores themes about morality and difficulties communicating with alien life. Possibly it argues that because we desire "mirrors, not other worlds," it's difficult for scientists to objectively attain knowledge and conduct experiments without themselves, qua humans, affecting the results. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
The shorter Soderbergh remake (2002, 61.3/C-) is very good at generalizing communicative difficulties, but it doesn't capture the Tarkovsky argument about scientific knowledge and focuses instead on human disconnects.
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Soylent Green, Dir. Richard Fleischer, 1973, 68.5/C+. Based on the novella by Harry Harrison: Make Room! Make Room!. Full of dark SF ideas about a possible future with corrupt police, corporate cover-ups, food shortages, and overpopulation. I can't say much about the most interesting concept in it without spoiling it. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
It's interesting that Stephen Hawking calculates some disturbing figures concerning future population growth: "By the year 2600 the world's population would be standing shoulder to shoulder, and the electricity consumption would make the Earth glow red-hot" at current growth rates and projected rates of electricity consumption (The Illustrated: The Universe in a Nutshell, pp. 158-159). Obviously such a state of affairs would impact society, government, and our daily life in lots of possibly devious ways. Or, who knows, it could ignite a change so that we might use science and technology to become like Star Trek and change our society into a Roddenberry future.
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 Phase IV, Dir. Saul Bass, 1974, 64.3/C. See the novel by Barry N. Malzberg. Scientists construct a dome to investigate evolved ants, but the ants form a collective intelligence and use it to attack the humans. It has some annoying ant scenes initially, but I found it very thought provoking overall.
We can plausibly imagine a species using collective intelligence to have high evolutionary success (as ants have had on earth), which is what makes the Borg from Star Trek so interesting as cybernetic villains. But mutant ants might have to find novel ways to communicate with each other to develop a high level of intelligence. The movie leaves it ambiguous whether they would exhibit the same moral values as humans -- if not, then they could take advantage of hard core community rules! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
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A Boy and His Dog, Dir. L. Q. Jones, 1975, 63.7/C. See the novella by Harlan Ellison. Includes an intelligent telepathic dog (named Blood), a post-apocalyptic wasteland, an underground totalitarian cult, security robots dressed as farmers, and one of the funniest final lines of any movie! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
Other examples of post-apocalyptic stories that are set in a future in which most science and technology regressed backwards: Mad Max series (1979, 1981, 1985), Testament (1983), The Day After (1983), Jericho (2006-2008, TV), etc.
- Rollerball, Dir. Norman Jewison, 1975, 62.2/C-. In the story a corporation tries to teach its population the futility of individualism. (Are governments the ones going in this direction today instead of corporations?) It also portrays a central computer as an unreliable library: it misplaces data on the whole thirteenth century. It won a Saturn award for best SF movie, but I felt like I had to wait a bit too long for its good ideas. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
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 Logan's Run, Dir. Michael Anderson, 1976, 64.3/C. Based on the novel by William F. Nolan and George C. Johnson. Showcases a civilization policed by sandmen (privileged police officers) and governed by strict age limits and religious-conditioning (involving beliefs about 'afterlife renewal').
The best part is its portrayal of a hedonist lifestyle that encourages sandmen to summon beautiful people from some sort of teleportation system! Includes an authoritarian computer, imaginative technology, cosmetic surgery, and quite a weak ending. Ref: Tech News, IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: The World of Logan's Run, Unofficial FAQ, Logan's Run.Com.
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Star Wars, George Lucas, 1977-1983, 1999-2005. Inspires scientists to create gadgets that mimic things in the movies, and sends fans into a frenzy of imagination about SF possibilities such as strange new aliens and new civilizations. It follows that it must be made by a nerdy director who likes to put cool characters in alien worlds and have them play around with gadgets! And then totally refashion his first three movies with the newest of computer technology!
Although Star Wars is on the opposite spectrum of current work in science and movies like 2001, so are computer programmers and a bunch of other nerds who love technology, popular science, and progress. Star Wars inspires SF viewers more than Lucas ever intended. One excellent example of its influence is portrayed in Michio Kaku's TV series Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible and in the movie SpaceCamp (Dir. Harry Winer, 1986, 55.3/D). Ref: Technovelgy / Tech news, IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory. Misc: Star Wars.com.
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dir. Philip Kaufman, 1978, 76/B+. Based on a Collier's magazine serial by Jack Finney. People start acting odd as they lose their humanity through assimilation by evil, automaton plants and pod people. Counter to many reviews, I like the 1978 remake better than the 1956 version since it emphasizes the SF elements (more plants, pods, genetic experiments) and it isn't as preachy about the characters' fear of losing their emotions.
The director's commentary has a couple interesting comments about parallels between the movie and our own society; he takes the pod idea as symbolic to our own de-humanization to mindless TV watching and assimilation to dominant social views. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
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 Alien, Dir. Ridley Scott, 1979, 84.5/A. Aliens, Dir. James Cameron, 1986, 86/A+. Contains many SF themes such as a central computer and an alien race, along with a heavy dose of spaceships, androids, cryogenic freezers, and controlling corporations. In the first film, I especially like the patient opening space sequence, the investigation of the alien-infested spaceship, and the creative H. R. Giger designs.
In the second film, Aliens, a group of marines enlist Ripley as an adviser to help investigate a terraforming colony (on LV-426). The marines have all sorts of weapons technology and an android (Bishop), but they bring along a watchful corporate official who secretly wants to preserve aliens for their immense biological warfare potential.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
Misc: Alien Legend, Giger's Alien, The Story in Pictures, Ebert's Great Movies Review, Aliens NL, Planet Alien, The Alien Experience, The Voyage of the Beagle.
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Dir. Robert Wise, 1979, 65.2/C. An ultra logical and advanced machine attacks Starfleet, replicates a human to use as a probe, and strives to meet its maker. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Script. Misc: Official Franchise Site.
- 70s SF movies of possible interest: The Omega Man (Dir. Boris Sagal, 1971, 61.8/C-), Sleeper (Dir. Woody Allen, 1973, 74.9/B), Westworld (Dir. Michael Crichton, 1973, 70/B-), Dark Star (Dir. John Carpenter, 1974, 64.1/C), Zardoz (Dir. John Boorman, 1974, 54.8/D), The Questor Tapes (Dir. Richard A. Colla, 1974), Demon Seed (Dir. Donald Cammell, 1977, 60/C-), The Boys from Brazil (Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978, 66.8/C+).
1980s
- The Lathe of Heaven, Dir. Barzyk & Loxton, 1980, Made for TV. Based on the novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. George Orr comes out of a nuclear blast zone with the power to create new realities by dreaming. It becomes a story of hubris when his dream doctor, Dr. Haber, attempts to use Orr to create a utopia. It gets very interesting as Orr interprets the doctor's hypnotic suggestions in novel ways. Aliens suddenly populate the Moon, Orr wins a lottery house near the ocean, Dr. Haber gets an institute, humans get the same color skin to help end racism, and more! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
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 Blade Runner, Dir. Ridley Scott, 1982, 84.4/A. Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick (P.K.D.): Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
Includes replicants, an intricate empathy test, an Esper picture analyzer, genetic engineering (eyes, tiny logos), massive advertising (airships, moving images), and hover crafts/flying cars. It asks whether we ought to extend ethical consideration to replicants when we know they are machines and when Deckard must use a complicated Voight-Kampf empathy test to try to detect them, i.e. when Tyrell designs them to be "more human than human."
Blade Runner is dense with SF gems and it has a strong sense of realism. None of the technology is anthropomorphized, which would horrify Disney or viewers who demand an emotional center to help them make a connection to the characters (some critics make the same argument against the Matrix trilogy and the whole of SF).
Its repeated eye imagery represents the "Orwellian eye" of powerful industrial giants, according to Ridley Scott. He aptly argues that corporations could be just as controlling as governments (DVD commentary). But it seems more likely to me that it should symbolize Orwellian governments, at least in the current climate.
But Blade Runner succeeds in imagining a world resourceful enough to engineer advanced androids. We see the specialization of scientists and all sorts of moral, political, and philosophical problems associated with human-android relations. Some of its philosophical questions have been influential for movies concerned with arguing that the defining features of our humanity are murky (especially the Ghost in the Shell movies).
Ridley Scott achieves an excellent portrayal of a futuristic cityscape with a unique and compelling vision of the future on Earth. It influenced many SF authors, such as William Gibson, who says he had to run off to rewrite his book, Neuromancer, after seeing the film since it looked so much better than anything in his book (Interview for The Sci-Fi Files).
Ref: Technovelgy / Tech News, IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Screenplay.
Misc: The Replicant Site, Blade Zone, Ebert's Great Movies Review, BR Mag, Philip K. Dick.
- Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Dir. Nicholas Meyer, 1982, 78.7/B+. Based on Star Trek (TOS) Episode 24: "Space Seed", 1967. Kirk battles the genetically advanced Khan and learns about the genesis project. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Script. Misc: Official Site.
- The Thing, Dir. John Carpenter, 1982, 78/B+. Paranoia is let loose when aliens are found to be genetic mimickers and body invaders of any species. In some ways it is closer to John W. Campbell's Who Goes There? than the original movie. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Script.
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 TRON, Dir. Steven Lisberger, 1982, 68.8/C+. Includes the legendary SF creation -- the Master Control Program (or, perhaps, just my personal vote for most power hungry computer program), which was created by no one single person -- and the security Tron program and a far-fetched digitizing machine. A game designer is digitized and downloaded into a video game world. It portrays programs that are skeptical of intelligent design and place faith in 'users' while battling an MCP (master control program) that is intent on total domination.
Like Blade Runner, some, at first, might think that it is slow and tiresome, but after you give it a chance to draw you in, you are likely to appreciate its visual and intelligent aspects. End of line. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Tron Sector, Ebert's Review: 4/4, History of Production.
- 2010, Dir. Peter Hyams, 1984, 65.8/C+. Sequel to 2001. Portrays U.S.-Russian tensions during a space mission to investigate HAL 9000 and a lost astronaut (Dave Bowman). Includes the rise of new alien and computer lifeforms. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- The Terminator & Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Dir. James Cameron, 1984 (81.9/A-) / 1991 (82.1/A-). Portrays a war between men and machines (as in The Matrix), and people/cyborgs use time travel with the intention of altering or preserving future events (contra The Time Machine where the future/past can't be changed), though, we discover that the future ultimately depends on these efforts! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Scripts (T1, T2). Misc: Terminator Files.
- Back to the Future, Dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1985, 84.6/A. A kid uses a futuristic looking car to travel through time and meet his parents back in 1955. In the excellent ending we briefly learn that Christopher Lloyd's character, Dr. Emmett Brown, also traveled to the future and found a way to run his time traveling car on trash! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Official Site.
- Brazil, Dir. Terry Gilliam, 1985, 79.8/A-. It creates an impressive and one of a kind futuristic world, with memorable scenes of cosmetic surgery, oppressive bureaucracy (mistakes, red-tape, invasion of privacy), dream fantasies, TV addicted workers, presumed terrorist attacks, torture, and alienation. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Terry Gilliam Files.
- Aliens (1986). See Alien entry (1979).
- The Fly, Dir. David Cronenberg, 1986, 76.6/B+. Includes teleportation (or travel by computer digitization), gene splicing (it's implausible as depicted, see Kaku's Visions on p. 234), and the process of scientific discovery. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- Robocop, Dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1987, 73.3/B. Robocop finds echoes remaining from his human memories (the director has a mystical interpretation of this, but I didn't follow it), a corporation takes control of city security, and the DVD extras noted that the extreme violence possibly reflects social commentary on the Reagan era. I admit I root for Robocop when he takes the streets! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Official Site, Robocop Archive.
 80s SF movies of possible interest: Android (Dir. Aaron Lipstadt, 1982), Brainstorm (Dir. Douglas Trumbull, 1983, 61.7/C-), WarGames (Dir. John Badham, 1983, 74.8/B), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Dir. W. D. Richter, 1984, 63.9/C), Electric Dreams (Dir. Steve Barron, 1984), Runaway (Dir. Michael Crichton, 1984, 54.8/D), The Quiet Earth (Dir. Geoff Murphy, 1985, 64/C), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Dir. Leonard Nimoy, 1986, 71.8/B-).
1990s
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Total Recall, Dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1990, 72.5/B. Based on a short story by P.K.D.: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale. Douglas Quaid/Hauser gets a memory implant of a Mars vacation at Total Recall. I like the scene in which a man tries to convince Quaid/Hauser that he is dreaming (while Quaid/Hauser feels wide awake). But Quaid/Hauser doesn't believe him after the man sweats (as if that would be a good reality test...I don't think so!).
Also has a tennis coach program/hologram, a robo taxi service, a vision of a populated Mars, terraforming, and behaviorism.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
Misc: Short Story Tech / Tech News, Ebert's Review: 3.5/4.
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). See Terminator entry (1984).
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 Jurassic Park, Dir. Stephen Spielberg, 1993, 76.4/B+. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton. Portrays gene sequence manipulation and an automated park. It discredits underground, undisciplined, and business driven attempts to manipulate the near infinite complexities of nature (Crichton pushes this theme in many of his novels, such as in The Andromeda Strain and Next, but he loves the traditional practice of science by academics like Einstein who had a conscience for any negative side effects of our scientific power).
 I love the computer hacker scenes, the chaos theory wisecracks (but they are better in the book), all the sciency stuff whether in digging for bones or talking about plants, and the dinosaurs are cool.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Script.
Misc: Complete Jurassic Park Encyclopedia, JP Database, JP Files, FAQ: JP Science.
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 Ghost in the Shell (Kôkaku kidôtai) & Innocence (aka Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence), Dir. Mamoru Oshii, 1995 (76.4/B+) & 2004 (69.1/B-), Anime. Based on the manga of Masamune Shirow. Includes highly advanced androids, invisibility tech, mental implants for expanded access to the world's information, and sentient programs/ghosts. Both are serious anime movies with extraordinary visual and imaginative elements. They are influenced by Blade Runner in their tendency to question the line between humans and machines.
But Oshii's Ghost in the Shell (GITS) movies have flashy contemporary-looking technology and eastern influences. Interestingly, his ghost/body dualism seems to extend to computer information or programs in a network. Oshii's visions often take place in what he calls 'borderline realms' (such as an Internet). In GITS-2 lookout for the memory hacking, loop traps, and humans as the birth of A.I.! It does have some long artsy sequences for songs and parades, witty speeches, and literary quotes in GITS-2.
Oshii enhanced and reissued his 1995 movie as Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008, 74.5/B). He kept the same story, but tinkered with the original by adding new CGI. Some reviews mention that the new CGI doesn't seamlessly blend with the old artwork.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Transcripts (GITS / Innocence).
Misc: In the Shell, O'Ehley (Gives GITS 4/4, Innocence 3.5/4), Clips from GITS.
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 Star Trek: First Contact, Dir. Jonathan Frakes, 1996, 74.5/B. Includes nanotechnology, borgized people, various types of Borg implants, warp engines, and an android. It explores the importance of discovering intelligent alien life and the birth of Roddenberry's vision of the future. The Borg, a network of zombie-like drones with a collective-consciousness, use time travel to try to assimilate humans into their collective. Jonathan Frakes says he was influenced by 2001 in scenes like the zero gravity mission outside the ship (DVD commentary).
Now it's time for an introduction to one of the best Star Trek inventions ... watch this video documentary on the Borg!
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Script, Ebert's Review: 3.5/4.
Misc: Official Franchise Site, Top Trek Tech. News: Cellborg, Self Healing Tech.
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 Contact, Dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1997, 72.3/B. Based on the novel by Carl Sagan. Smartly portrays themes concerning SETI, scientific inquiry, and science vs. religion. Includes computer aided radio astronomy equipment and a speculative alien space transporter. Computers are absolutely essential in this kind of radio astronomy and it usually takes supercomputers or cloud computing (see the SETI project at Berkeley for example) to make SETI projects possible.
It seems to mimic and improve the method of alien contact in This Island Earth and exudes a love for science. Would we cooperate enough on so large a scale to advance science and promote discovery? The book was Carl Sagan's first and only novel (and a huge bestseller at the time), coming after his very successful Cosmos series, and it contains much more scientific fascination and detail than the movie of course.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Script.
Misc: Official Site, Fansite, Ebert's Review: 3.5/4, SETI.org's Comments, The Carl Sagan Portal, Space Hotel.
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Gattaca, Dir. Andrew Niccol, 1997, 74.2/B. Presents a future in which we bestow reverence and rank (in the workplace and society) on those with a genetic predisposition and statistical likelihood to be the best. Quick samples of DNA (from blood, urine, or other bodily source) serve as primary identification, which further ties one's identity to genetics.
But the system turns into harsh discrimination (as the moralizing voice over will not let the viewer forget). Parents in this world get to choose desirable genes for their children to promote good health or artistic talent, which is important since everyone has personalized gene analysis reports that guide their social worth and options. One must have the right genes to become an astronaut, for example.
Ethan Hawke's character strives to qualify for space missions despite his genetic limits. His struggle and character growth (through hard work and flexibility) demonstrates our unique human ability to adapt and overcome genetic predispositions and social obstacles. Humans really are clever sometimes! But perhaps we are clever enough to consider more variables than just genes, making parts of the scenario implausible.
Ref : Technovelgy News, IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
Misc: Ebert's Review: 3.5/4, Study Guide, Human Genome Project, Genetics.
- eXistenZ, Dir. David Cronenberg, 1999, 66/C+. See the novel by Christopher Priest. This smart movie deals with the human side effects of using bio-machine video games. It lampoons video game antics (e.g., timeouts until predefined keywords are given), and has its characters slowly get desensitized and confused between rules in virtual reality and moral rules in reality. It's best for fans of Cronenberg. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
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 The Matrix Trilogy, Dir. The Wachowski Brothers, 1999-2003. Just for starters it includes a computer simulated reality program, training and educational programs zapped straight to human memory, hover crafts, EMPs (Electro-Magnetic Pulses), and many designs of machines. Or it's simply the green coded world, with lots of martial arts & gunfights!
The first movie is a likely SF classic, and the second tells us more about the matrix world. Watch for all the philosophical questions (such as skepticism, freewill, self-knowledge, dualism, Neo as ubermensch), the idea that the human mind can be hacked into just like a computer, causation themes, machine superiority against human resistance, and human reliance on machines.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia, Google Directory, Scripts.
Misc: Whatisthematrix Official Site / Philosophy, Ebert Gives Reloaded 3.5/4, Last Free City, Matrix Explained, Nmap, Strange New World, Metaphilm, Matrix Philosophy.
- The Thirteenth Floor, Dir. Josef Rusnak, 1999, 57.8/D+. Based on a novel by Daniel F. Galouye: Simulacron 3. Includes sentient programs/humans. Explores questions regarding the nature of intelligence and identity of digital-machines and humans, limits to our knowledge of ultimate Reality, and possible multiple levels of reality: could we discover our 'reality' to be a virtual reality? Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- 90s SF-Tech movies of possible interest: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Dir. Nicholas Meyer, 1991, 71.2/B-), The Lawnmower Man (Dir. Brett Leonard, 1992, 53.5/D), Stargate (Dir. Roland Emmerich, 1994, 65.7/C+), Hackers (Dir. Iain Softley, 1995, 55.2/D), Johnny Mnemonic (Dir. Robert Longo, 1995, 47.3/E), Strange Days (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow, 1995, 66.7/C+), Virtuosity (Dir. Brett Leonard, 1995, 53.7/D), Starship Troopers (Dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1997, 67.2/C+), Bicentennial Man (Dir. Chris Columbus, 1999, 59.1/C-).
2000s
- Artificial Intelligence: AI, Dir. Stephen Spielberg, 2001, 67.2/C+. Based on a Stanley Kubrick idea and a short story by Brian Aldiss: Super Toys Last All Summer Long. Some parts are very re-watchable and visually stunning. Includes machine chauvinism, child robots, a sage computer, and a post-apocalypse setting. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Script, Google Directory.
- Avalon, Dir. Mamoru Oshii, 2001, NA. Has matrix style simulation of video games. Ash, an expert at a virtual game called Avalon, discovers that there are blurry lines between game and reality (her dog goes missing and shows up in the game). More properly, it argues that reality is constructed by her individual perspective and possibly by her choices (she sees the same statue once with its head and once headless). It also makes us ask whether virtual reality is better or worse than reality. I like its gamer ambiance but I don't like the disgusting eating scene. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. Misc: Nine Sisters.
- Equilibrium, Dir. Kurt Wimmer, 2002, 65.7/C+. Police "clerics" enforce a ban on books and other art forms to prevent excessive emotion, and everyone must take emotion suppressing drugs regularly. Ironically it's a flashy and exciting movie in parts, until I was annoyed by its message. It seems silly to single out emotion when our whole humanity -- reason, freewill, emotion, and will to discover -- is compromised in such scenarios. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Fansite, Google Directory.
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 Minority Report, Dir. Stephen Spielberg, 2002, 76.8/B+. Based on a short story by P.K.D.: Minority Report. I initially hated the idea of the pre-cog seers, but I can't help appreciating the thought provoking consequences that result from this scenario. The pre-cogs were apparently part of genetic experimentation, so we also get a few glimpses of futuristic, genetically altered plants. In any case, it portrays a detailed futuristic city and excellent technology.
Includes cool spider-robots, an ultra futuristic public transport system, computer chips so cheap that they come with many common products (like musical cereal boxes), awesome computer graphics, gesture interfaces, e-papers, personalized advertisements, and automatic eye identification sensors in common public places (raising major issues of privacy).
Ref: Technovelgy / Tech News, IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Transcript / Script Draft.
Misc: Short Story Tech, Ebert Gives 4/4, Virtual Precrime Game.
- The Matrix Reloaded (2003). See Matrix Trilogy entry (1999).
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Appleseed (Appurushîdo), Dir. Shinji Aramaki, 2004, 61.4/C-, Anime. Based on the manga of Masamune Shirow. Many battles and much warfare ensue in a beautiful and technologically advanced future utopia (Olympus). A governing council uses a supercomputer (Gaia) to stabilize and integrate its population with nearly emotionless replicants/Bioroids. But a group of rebels aren't satisfied with all the experimental genetic tampering, cloning, and use of Bioroids.
This is actually a unique idea, however, in that the emotionless Bioroids help to save humans from the negative side effects of their extremes of emotion. But it didn't seem to suggest how the Bioroids achieve this. Overall the story barely holds my interest, but the artwork is amazing. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- The Final Cut, Dir. Omar Naim, 2004, 57.6/D+. Posits a world in which most people have Zoe-memory implants that record everything they do. Covers themes like privacy and technology, memory, and reality vs. fantasy. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. Misc: Tech news.
- Innocence (aka Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, 2004). See Ghost in the Shell entry (1995).
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 Primer, Dir. Shane Carruth, 2004, 65.3/C. Includes an extremely cheap looking quantum time machine, but it's the ideas that make this low budget movie so high on the list. Two independent experimenters accidentally invent a time machine. This is one of the great visions of technological advancement in that science and technology does not always progress intentionally and colorfully, it could just be a couple guys out in their garage making an unexpected discovery.
In his search through the history of science Shane Carruth found that "whether it involved the history of the number zero or the invention of the transistor, two things stood out. First, the discovery that turns out to be the most valuable is usually dismissed as a side-effect. Second, prototypes almost never include neon lights and chrome. I wanted to see a story that was more in line with the way real innovation takes place" (official site).
Primer goes on to speculate about the possibility of time travel by use of quantum theory, so this kind of time travel produces an interesting replication side effect. The story is told in a jigsaw puzzle and the script has some witty comments about scientific discovery and causation.
Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Transcript.
Misc: Official Site, The Primer Universe (fun blog book), Timeline, Ebert's Review: 3.5/4, Director Interview.
- The Island, Dir. Michael Bay, 2005, 62.1/C-. Cloners use Orwellian tactics and conditioning to keep clones under control, and they use them for a grotesque commerce. Includes a table top computer (with a gesture interface), an Xbox virtual fight game, and massive invasive monitoring (synaptic nanobots, dream monitoring, and automatic urine analysis). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Official Site.
- Serenity, Dir. Joss Whedon, 2005, 76.7/B+. Based on the Firefly TV series. This is a witty western-style space adventure in which a loyal government bounty hunter tracks River, a mentally unstable woman possessing paranormal abilities and training in the martial arts, as she travels with outlaw-like mercenaries. Includes state control vs. freedom and a science experiment gone bad (enter the Reavers). I find the opening sequences especially beautiful. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Official Site.
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The Man from Earth, Dir. Richard Schenkman, 2007, NA. Based on a story by Jerome Bixby. A conversational and thoughtful film on knowledge, morality, religion, myth, and humanity. It's not hard SF but it covers questions important to anthropology, history, and the difficulty of gaining knowledge of distant historical events. It begins with a group of professors discussing the inexplicable departure of John Oldman.
John explains his departure by giving away his 14,000 year secret (as a hypothetical) -- what if a genetic quirk allowed a Cro-Magnon man to survive to today? It becomes an interesting discussion of such a person's perspective on humanity, his limited knowledge of certain things, and his first hand knowledge of controversial topics such as the death/resurrection of Jesus. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- Sunshine, Dir. Danny Boyle, 2007, 68.7/C+. In the excellent commentary, Dr. Brian Cox speculates about ways the premise of this movie could be possible. Cox maps some interesting interpretations of the movie such as nature's immensity and science's power to create a broad sense of perspective of our place in the universe, but then he notes the way humans perceive the meaninglessness of nature. The problem with this movie is that Cox's commentary is better than the movie! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
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WALL·E, Dir. Andrew Stanton, 2008, 84.5/A. It's no surprise that Disney backed this type of film; it has all the signs of anthropomorphized robots, for WALL-E sighs, scares, dances, and flirts. The director attempts to use as few anthropomorphisms as possible as if the robot had advanced over many years, but the film definitely fails in this respect (or fails to explain any new advances in programming).
The good thing is that the movie has many other graces -- an extremely imaginative EVE-flying bot, a high tech automated ship, and a hopeful perspective on enriching our humanity (where humans do exotic things like question and learn). It doesn't force any agenda on the viewer and it has funny influences from 2001 and other SF. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. News: Compactor, Garbage Bots, Environmental Tech Review.
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Avatar, Dir. James Cameron, 2009, 80.8/A-. It begins heavy in SF with virtual control of aliens from a distance (but not in a virtual world like The Matrix; it's in a real alien world, which reminded me of a classic Daniel Dennett article, "Where am I?"), genetic engineering of human-Na’vi life (the blue aliens are called Na’vi), robotic walkers, and high tech computer consoles. Then the movie transitions into an imaginative version of Alien Planet in which a scientist (played by Sigourney Weaver) investigates a plethora of alien life (and a collective intelligence between most of the life forms, including trees!), but it's also mixed with conflicts between alien-human cultures.
To some extent it reminded me of highly plausible fears that an alien life would be more interested in a world's resources than respect for its life forms, especially if such indigenous life forms are at a lower level of intelligence or cultural/technological advancement. This would be true if an advanced alien race came to Earth too!
It certainly stands in the tradition of pro-ecology SF movies (Silent Running, Soylent Green, etc.). The movie also portrays militant-arrogant types as bad guys, but it may or may not be anti-science (it doesn't seem to take a stance to me). In any case, the mystical-religious parts actually make sense to me in a completely naturalistic and non-mystical interpretation, but you have to give some imaginative flexibility to its vision of alien life (and perhaps notice all the incredible things life is capable of here on earth, such as producing the human mind). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. Misc: Where Am I?.
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 Moon, Dir. Duncan Jones, 2009, 75.9/B+. Sam Bell works alone on the Moon, repairing Helium 3 harvesters and sending the collected energy back to Earth. The plot makes sense of this loner situation later and further cuts off Sam in many psychologically interesting ways. Sam is joined by a GERTY computer/robot. We discover that Sam Bell may receive some programming too, but I can't say much more without spoiling the psychological aspects of it.
The best part is that it seems like a composite of SF influences: the harvesters reminded me of Dune, the screen text of Alien, the plant obsession of Silent Running, and the space mining of Outland. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, SciFi Cool Resources.
- Star Trek, Dir. J. J. Abrams, 2009, 82.6/A. It has so many close-ups I had difficulty getting any sense of the ambiance of the movie, but it did take my breath away when it finally pulled back some and gave me a chance to see the bridge of Enterprise. It includes the use of black holes as weapons, talk of red matter, time travel, cool Vulcan educational machines, flashy modern computer consoles, and distant tracking of human vitals. But it's best for people who don't like the ethos of classic Star Trek. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Wikia. Misc: Official Site.
- 2000s SF movies of possible interest: Natural City (Dir. Byung-chun Min, 2003, 58.5/D+), I, Robot (Dir. Alex Proyas, 2004, 67.3/C+), Children of Men (Dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2006, 77.3/B+), Iron Man (Dir. Jon Favreau, 2008, 79.6/A-), District 9 (Dir. Neill Blomkamp, 2009, 76.2/B+), Gamer (Dir. Taylor & Neveldine, 2009, 50.2/D-), Terminator Salvation (Dir. McG, 2009, 61.5/C-).
Honorable Mentions
Excellent movies with pseudo SF elements or related geeky-artsy stuff. Many of them concentrate on the human condition and psychological reactions to strange situations.
- La Jettée, Dir. Chris Marker, 1962, 81.7/A-. Marker's La Jettée is especially excellent when you get in the right state of mind; you have to pretend you found it as some alien artifact and are about to witness strange experiences and time travel experiments! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Script. Misc: Watch on Google Video, Article by Paul Smith.
- Fail-Safe, Dir. Sidney Lumet, 1964, 76.6/B+. Numerous technical errors (and difficult to overcome safety precautions) initiate a nuclear strike on Moscow by six Vindicator supersonic bombers. The US decides to help Russia to destroy the bombers and makes other quite unusual decisions to avoid total nuclear war. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
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A Clockwork Orange, Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1972, 81.6/A-. Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess. It challenges us with the idea that Alex gets mistreated when the state uses conditioning mechanisms to "reform" him and thwart his free will (i.e., when a person “lovely with color and juice” is controlled like a mechanical toy). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Script, Google Directory. Misc: Filmsite (article by Tim Dirks), Tabula Rasa.
By the way, watch Kubrick's 2001 for Dr. Heywood Floyd's great Clockwork Orange-like sentence: "It should not be difficult for all of you to realize the potential for cultural shock and social disorientation contained in the present situation if the facts were prematurely and suddenly made public without adequate preparation and conditioning" (2001 screenplay).
- Slaughterhouse Five, Dir. George Hill, 1972, 71.7/B-. Based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five. Billy Pilgrim leaps (or gets ‘unstuck’) uncontrollably through 3 time periods: from being a prisoner in 1945 Dresden in WWII, to his home in New York after the war, to his life as an immortal on a distant planet (where 4th dimensional visitors observe him & give him a woman!). Goes along well with the final two-part "All Good Things..." episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1994). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- The Man Who Fell to Earth, Dir. Nicolas Roeg, 1976, 71.5/B-. Comes with the novel by Walter Tevis. An alien lands on Earth, makes money in order to save his world, and becomes alienated for many possible reasons: life itself as psychologically alienating (the alien within), life in a paranoid culture, life in a commercial & capitalist society. It doesn't have much technology and I'm not entirely sure about its stance on modernism. Though, it shows how an alien could help speed up the advance of technology. That is, if you don't fall asleep first! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia.
- Cube, Dir. Vincenzo Natali, 1996, 65.7/C+. It follows the horrific quest of 7 strangers to avoid lethal traps in a huge cube. The characters have witty lines at times and they use mathematics and practical caution to try to find a way out. But I'm not sure the clues in the cube are ultimately helpful to any definite end. The commentary notes the influence of Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979), where Cube seems to get its focus on mystery and the ultimate lack of explanation for the strange 'cube activities' (we never find out the cube's purpose, its designer, or its manager). We can't even really call it a horrific lab experiment because that would assume an intelligent experimenter. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
- Twelve Monkeys, Dir. Terry Gilliam, 1996, 76.3/B+. Bruce Willis’s character, Cole, becomes disoriented due to his several time traveling trips (as in Marker's classic short La Jetee), but he has difficulty trusting the truth or falsity of his memories. Portrays interesting psychological aspects of time travel and memory. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
- Open Your Eyes, Alejandro Amenábar, 1997, 74.6/B. A flawed cryogenics program turns into a nightmare. Inspired the remake Vanilla Sky (2001). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia. Misc: Watch it free at IMDB.
- Dark City, Dir. Alex Proyas, 1998, 74.3/B. Strangers perform experiments on unknowing humans to find the basis of individuality. I think it would have been an excellent idea for an alien invader type episode in Star Trek (it wouldn't look so out of place anyways)! Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script.
- Pi, Dir. Darren Aronofsky, 1998, 72.5/B. Aronofsky uses nauseous camera work to emphasize the negative psychological consequences that a mathematician (Maximilian Cohen) experiences (due to the flux and chaos in nature all around him, says the back cover of the DVD) as he searches for law-like patterns in the stock market and in the bible. I think it's closer to mysticism than science, but so were many of the ideas of Kepler (even crazy ideas can accidentally lead to advances in science). Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory. Misc: Official Site.
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dir Michel Gondry, 2004, 80.4/A-. Joel Barish decides he wants to erase some of his painful memories. A couple humorous hacker types leisurely conduct the targeted memory erasure (or procedure to cause intentional mild brain damage). It depicts our fuzzy minds as a network of links, and it captures the influence of subconscious desires and forms a complicated picture of our psyche. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory, Script. Misc: Official Site, Lacuna.
- The Prestige, Dir. Christopher Nolan, 2006, 75.3/B. See the novel by Christopher Priest. An insider look at the tactics of magicians, with an interesting magician-scientist and a quantum machine. Perhaps its message is that the power of science and technology are only 'magical' to those who fail to understand them, so the movie relentlessly lifts the curtains and shows that 'magic' disappears in the devilous technical details. Ref: IMDB, MRQE, Wikipedia, Google Directory.
Related TV Shows
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Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-69), The Next Generation (1987-94). There are many excellent themes in the classic tech episodes like "The Changeling" (TOS, Season 2, Episode 3), "The Ultimate Computer" (TOS, Season 2, Episode 24), "11001001" (TNG, Season 1, Episode 14), "The Measure of a Man" (TNG, Season 2, Episode 35), and "The Best of Both Worlds" (TNG, Season 3/4, Episodes 26/1). 8 episodes in the original series won the Hugo Award for 1967-68 and 3 episodes from The Next Generation series won it.
Ref: IMDB (Watch The Original Series at IMDB, TNG), MRQE (TOS, TNG), Wikipedia (TOS, TNG), Wikia (TOS, TNG). Misc: Official Site (TOS, TNG).
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Battlestar Galactica (RDM), Ex. Prod. David Eick, 2004-2009 TV series. The last humans fight to save humanity against the Cylons, a group of robots and androids/replicants. Sometimes it seems like a post-apocalypse series with dated technology and an emphasis on politics and characters, but sometimes it's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and has innovative SF, with cool ideas like having the Cylons project virtual environments. I found it compulsively watchable if seen in order, but it's equally unwatchable if I try to watch a random episode. Ref: SyFy, Official Site, Tech at Wiki, IMDB, Wikipedia, Wiki.
Stranger than Fiction: Science as the Greatest of Thought Experiments!
- The Ascent of Man, with Jacob Bronowski, 1973 13-part science series. Bronowski goes on a personal meditation on the ideas and events in science and technology that lead to our progress, in contrast to other animals that stay relatively unchanged in their behaviors and level of advancement. I showed one of the early episodes to a group of 9th grade world history students since he goes back to the very beginnings of our humanity, but he takes more patience than most kids have (I found)! Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- Connections, with James Burke, 1978, 1994, 1997 BBC documentary series over 3 seasons. James Burke gives an alternative view of the history of technology, focusing on its trigger effects (the way one new piece of technology can lead to many other unexpected technologies in the future) and our ultimate inability to predict future technologies. Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- Cosmos, with Carl Sagan, 1980 science documentary. One of his central ideas is that nature is beautiful itself just as it is; he marvels at evolution, the machinery of life, the huge scope of the universe, the uniformity of physical laws, and so on. He compares our internal machinery to little universes (#2 'One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue'), discusses futuristic spacecrafts (#8 'Travels in Space and Time'), and wonders about alien contact and massive futuristic space-civilizations (#12 'Encyclopedia Galactica'). Ref: Watch it at IMDB, Wikipedia.
- Day One, Dir. Joseph Sargent, 1989. Scientists come together for the Manhattan Project, but secrecy is high in this military led operation. I loved its emphasis on the difficulties of getting scientists to focus! Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- From the Earth to the Moon, Tom Hanks as Ex. Producer, 1998, HBO 12 part miniseries, 5-DVDs. Based on a book by Andrew Chakin: A Man on the Moon. Titled after the 1865 Jules Verne SF novel. Dramatically reenacts the social and technical details of the NASA moon missions, the building of spacecrafts, the training of astronauts in geology. This series is compulsively watchable and entertaining, a tearjerker in many parts, and altogether uplifting for anyone who loves being a human and loves learning about our greatest hour. Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- The Elegant Universe, Dir. Cort & McMaster, 2003 NOVA documentary. Based on Brian Greene's book by the same name. Brian Greene provides one of the clearest explanations of the breakdown of general relativity at black holes (I finally understood it!), and after discussing enough of Einstein for his needs, he goes on to elaborate current attempts at a Theory of Everything. He pretends to travel to the minute quantum level as an analogy to quantum concepts, he discusses string theory, and hopes for the possibility of finding a super-symmetry at the most fundamental level of physics. Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia. Misc: Watch The Elegant Universe.
- Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, Dir. Joe Ahearne, 2004, TV. This two episode BBC docudrama uses actual science and extrapolative story telling to help the viewer experience our solar system. A fictional NASA crew search for signs of life on Mars and Europa, debate the importance of both human and robotic explorers, and try to combat the negative effects of zero gravity, radiation, space debris, and adverse environments. They voyage on a realistic trajectory, stopping at many logical places and focusing on specific details. The drama was a bit annoying at times (a bit forced, fake, or corny), but it grew on me by the end and had excellent moments. Inspired the TV series Defying Gravity (2009). Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- Alien Planet, Dir. Pierre de Lespinois, 2005 documentary. Uses all known science to speculate about the plausibility of finding life on an imaginary planet (Darwin IV). It depicts imaginative alien designs, advanced robot sensors, and speculative interviews of scientists. Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- How William Shatner Changed the World, Dir. Julian Jones, 2005 documentary. An extremely funny and informational documentary on the science and technical impact of Star Trek. It also features Lawrence M. Krauss in a few interviews and hints at some of his ideas from his excellent and very readable book, The Physics of Star Trek. Ref: IMDB, Wikipedia.
- Visions of the Future, 2007, BBC documentary, aired on the Science Channel. A three hour series by Michio Kaku (Home Page, Wikipedia). Based on his science fiction book, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century. He speculates on the three fields of science he expects to advance the most in the future: the computer revolution, the biomolecular revolution, and the quantum revolution. He discusses the future of scientific research and uses much of known science to make his predictions. But watch out, he goes into places SF rarely goes! He takes a positive spin on genetic progress and he portrays science as a good influence on us! Ref: IMDB. Misc: BBC Page, Book Review of Visions.
- Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, 2009-2010, TV. A 12 episode series by Michio Kaku (Home Page, Wikipedia) airing on the Science Channel. Based on his book, Physics of the Impossible. He speculates on ways to use science to construct intelligent robots, starships, force fields, warp drives, and light sabres. Others are on things like becoming a superhero or traveling to parallel universes. At the end of each episode he delivers his idea to a small SF audience to get feedback. Ref: IMDB. Misc: Science Channel Page.
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Comments
Have you seen K-Pax. One of my favourite fims.
Yeah, it's one of the movies I scouted for the Top 100 list. I remember enjoying all the mystery. It's the sort of movie that I like to see since it keeps the viewer guessing and uses a meditative ambiance to draw in the viewer. I didn't remember the scene, but the plot summaries have some nonsense about talking to dogs -- perhaps that's why I didn't think to add it to my Best of the Decades list. (I have very little patience for such stuff!)
It didn't make the Top 100 in the article because the critics didn't like it (55.5/D), versus fairly high user ratings (69.3/B-).
For example, here was the RottenTomatoes critic "consensus" description of the film: "For those who have seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Starman, K-Pax may not hold anything new. The movie works best as a showcase for Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges."
K-Pax, Dir. Iain Softley, 2001, 62.4/C.
Rizar
I added Avatar (2009) after finally watching it.
Except the first two original Star Wars movies, Avatar was higher than all SF movies in average user ratings (86.7). However, The Matrix was very close behind (86.3).
The critics were much less impressed with the story of Avatar (average: 75), so it only placed at #18 on the Top 100 list for now.
It also failed to top Cameron's three SF classics (The Terminator, T2, Aliens), but it did beat his The Abyss.
Speaking of Avatar, I believe a techie concept would have helped the story from a highly probable and glaring mistake:
When you remotely control a computer, it doesn't automatically shut off the moment you stop controlling it. It still has software of its own that it can use to run scheduled tasks, etc.
I believe the same would be true for blue aliens!
If you remotely control the mind of a blue alien, it will not faint when you wake up and give up the controls. It still has a brain, which would have its own functioning in tact when the remote controller leaves.
The movie seems to make a hysterical mistake: it imagines that the actual human brain streams through the air to the blue alien! No. Commands stream and utilize the existing brain in the blue alien, which also means the blue alien brain learns and develops on its own and should be able to function in the absence of an outsider.
But such a blue alien may have a heck of a multiple personality problem, or perhaps a paranoia problem as in "The Thirteenth Floor". The blue alien might have to fight with himself if there is any time lag between commands (as was key to the plot of "Gamer"), and he may have to hope the distant controller doesn't get him killed with the time lag. But perhaps the movie has extra advanced technology that would greatly reduce any lag time.
Well, at least the film has pretty landscapes! Even if it doesn't radiate much intelligence the more I think about it.
Here's a couple of movies I'll recommend, although I don't know if they'll fit your criteria:
Punishment Park
Fantastic Planet
Slither--sort of horror/SF
The Mist--sort of horror, but I consider it SF too
Quatermass movies
K-Pax
Steamboy
Screamers--PK Dick inspired film
The 6th Day--feels like a PK Dick film with the paranoia
The Last Starfighter
Charly
Alien Nation
Empire of the Ants
Trancer--low budget, but you might enjoy it
Day of the Triffids--the BBC version, you can stream it from Netflix, personally I really enjoy it, though it's low budget.
The Blob--the 80's remake
Time After Time
Quintet
You have a nice site, I can tell you're a SF fan ;) ~Dave
Thanks Dave!
I'm a huge fan. I'm in the process of re-watching Star Trek: TNG (the awful modern version put me in the mood of seeing some real Star Trek!), and my Netflix is tied up with the old Connections series and the new Battlestar Galactica series in rotation, but afterward I plan to continue watching other SF movies that I've no doubt missed. I think Westworld is highest on my To-See list.
I'm also drawn to ancient history for similar reasons. Ancient civilizations and SF both allow us to consider many imaginative visions of different cultures and different values. But SF goes even further and gives us a few even more imaginative or clever SF/techno/philosophical thought experiments. Only real science is better!
Fantasy just leaves me hollow for some reason. I could read the whole Harry Potter series a billion times and every time I finish the final book, I end up feeling unfulfilled or depressed (or perhaps "lacking" is a better word, or like there should be another 7 books or something more lasting or more meaningful to its world vision!). Plus most of the creative things in fantasy are at the surface level and don't impact any fundamental change in values (I guess the closest fundamental change would be in made up magical "rules", but I don't count them as "fundamental"; they certainly have a little impact in the cultural attitudes of the characters, but not enough to make me love the genre at the end). I did love the feeling of watching the Third movie and book of Harry Potter, but the finale to the series just didn't have the same impact as watching something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is earth shattering for me!
Of course, Dune is a bit of a crossover between fantasy and SF, and I find it very compelling (well, the book anyways; not any of the movies!). It has perhaps the greatest understanding of our humanity of any popular book I've ever read outside of some libertarian essays or the writings of existentialist and Kantian philosophers (in their very different ways). The closest thing to it in SF movie history is some interpretations of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the great SF/spy series "The Prisoner" (but it hasn't aged very well and is difficult for me to watch for enjoyment).
Great series of articles. Naturally, I could quibble with the placement of various films, but that's what doing your own list is for, right?
I also wanted to let your readers know that links to a lot of the films and television shows mentioned can be found on the Classic Science Fiction Channel site - www.rimworlds.com/theclassicsciencefictionchannel
I stopped reading after the first few lines. The Idea that Star Wars is considered science fiction at all is appalling, and to put it at the top of the list is offensive at every level. At least 2001 made the top ten and I didn't see Planet of the Apes, the worst "SF" movie I ever saw.
Note that the Top 100 list is mostly a mechanical list based on a simple calculation of user and critic ratings.
The critic averages are interpreted by the two sites I use (MRQE & Rotten Tomatoes), but the user ratings are just included directly from user voting on IMDB and Netflix. I double the Netflix rating since it draws from many more voters. Then I simply add the critic score and user score together and divide by 2.
I think critic ratings are helpful since it forces them to sit down and write down their thoughts. The user votes are sometimes reflex clicks and in some cases an attempt to influence the overall rating on a movie. For example, someone might give a movie a higher score if they think the score is too low (or vice versa).
But critics must write out their review and rate movies based on their own individual assessment.
I wish there was a site for user ratings solely calculated from actual user reviews, but no sites have such a system where they give a numerical average based on user reviews. If a site does that in the future, then I would include it with the critics.
My own thoughts about the movies are well represented by the aphorisms in the best of SF (by decade) list. I used to have a Top 20 list at the beginning of the article with "2001" at the #1 spot, but I find it too confusing to have a series of three distinct lists! Most of the old Top 20 are in bold, large font size though.
And try this experiment sometime: watch the Star Wars series after watching Disney's Wall-e, the new reboot of Star Trek (2009), the movie version of Aeon Flux, Metropolis, Gattaca, the end of Dark City!
I found that Star Wars is tame by comparison. I sat there thinking, well, this is refreshing! And I love it! Star Wars must be made by a nerdy director who just likes to put cool characters in alien worlds and have them play around with gadgets! And then totally remake his first three movies with the newest of computer technology!
I don't think George Lucas is really capable of turning his great creation, Star Wars, into the sort of emotionalism that pervades the new Star Trek (2009) film. Yes, he anthropomorphizes the robots in the Star Wars world. But not very much in comparison to what is possible. And when he does try to get sentimental, as in the Episode II's love story, he fails miserably!
Of course he would fail at the lovey dovey stuff, he's the guy who thought up Star Wars!
Michio Kaku is presently using Star Wars as inspiration for some of his episodes in his Science Channel series, "Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible".
Although Star Wars is on the opposite spectrum of current work in science and from movies like "2001", so are computer programmers and a bunch of other nerds who love technology, popular science, and progress. Star Wars inspires SF viewers and even more so than I think Lucas ever intended.
Seriously? No really, but seriously? Not science fiction? They have a death star. Two death stars. Lightsabres, droids, clone armies, floating cities, mysterious mental disciplines, starships, hyper-drive, forcefields, blasters, more aliens than you can shake a stick at, spacedocks, midichlorians, trash compacters with malign aliens in them, womp rats, yoda, space pirates, nerf herders, pod racers, Darth Vader, war, adversity, Han Solo, Luke..... oh, and fiction. With respect sir, unless you have evidence of the existence of any these particular items or life forms, you must surely concede they exist only in fiction and, aliens aside, are created using a fictional science we do not posess. Granted, Star Wars does not have monkies dancing round an obelisk, but no story is perfect.
grf:)
Gizmo,
I've been a fan since your Top 46 days and your site is superb. - This new list of S.F is magnificent and I have used it already.
I also think you should add a decent section on Science Fact as it gets " Stranger than Fiction" as Scientists these days are at a total loss to explain the Universe as it does not follow our known laws -
I was not a fan of Carl Sagans Cosmos - ( I feel I was talked down to. )
But am a huge fan of UK programmes - Horizon -
I can thoroughly recommend -
1. BBC Horizon - 2000 Supermassive Black Holes.
2. BBC Horizon 2006 Most of our Universe is missing.
3. BBC Horizon - 2009 Who's afraid of a Big Black Hole.
+ Dr Alex Fillipenko did a Series called "Black holes explained"
+ any advise from others would be appreciated.
Many Thanks Gizmo
Rick
Michio Kaku has a couple good TV series' on the Science Channel (both based on books he wrote):
"Visions of the Future", 2007, BBC documentary.
"Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible", 2009-2010.
(And I also recommend Krauss's "The Physics of Star Trek" for the same sort of approach, but it's a book of course.)
James Burke may be more your style if you don't like Sagan. He did an excellent series called "Connections" in the 70s/90s. It's three seasons long and emphasizes the development of science and technology. He's not quite as fancy as Carl Sagan, but still has the same love for science.
I've seen a couple episodes in classes, and now I'm in the process of ordering 1 DVD at a time through Netflix. It may take awhile!
I really liked the first episode on The Trigger Effect, but his Death in the Morning episode was all over the place; one moment he's up in a balloon for no apparent reason, the next moment he's talking about ancient beer drinking traditions, and then he's discussing the intricacies of weather prediction.
I've written papers in the format of his episode, relating everything to everything, and some professors never seemed to understand any of it for some reason and they always wrote all over with red ink (and then would give me a high grade anyways). I felt he could have gotten rid of the balloon ride or something, but I still enjoyed all his thoughtfulness and ideas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_%28TV_series%29
2001 From Stanley Kubrick is the absolute number one !!!!
second is close encounters of the third kind.
Thank you Gizmo!
I lived through the Great Depression, World War II,
the Free West, Churchill, the Cold War and more.
I am still surprised that people can't look through
the Great Leaders and see the Big Brothers and their
slaves.
I guess I am just a grumpy old men...
Wil
You must have burned the midnight oil on this one, and then some, for such an excellent, complete compliation of flicks by the decade. Maurice Rockett
Thanks! Speaking of which here I am in the middle of the night playing around with my rating calculations a bit, but it didn't change much in the top 100 list except the ordering and one film was replaced.
I decided to eliminate Metacritic critic ratings to rid my spreadsheet of all its NAs for pre-90s films and have a more consistent final score, but I haven't quite gotten to the sophistication of IMDB's true Bayesian estimates (and I won't ever either)!
I've actually learned quite a bit about spreadsheet functions and SF/movie sites around the web.
UFO sighting archives released:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8520486.stm
Science Fiction in action! Though some of them take themselves too seriously and pretend that they have flawless perceptive abilities. Eye witnesses are notoriously invalid information reporters!
Though the problem with UFO media is that if someone actually did get a visit, no one would believe them. They make this point in Contact.
NASA astronauts were so fearful of being laughed at they refused to report such a sighting, even if only to comment on a possible reflective object in space. Sometimes we have these social rules that make free discussion difficult. And such free discussion usually allows UFO information to be refuted by the smart Myth Buster types.
http://ufos.about.com/od/nasaufos/a/apollo11.htm
This is very true. When I was not overseas I used to spend most weekends night fishing at various remote UK locations and between us we saw so much stuff we couldn't recognize or understand that it just became part of the "job". It became a case of "not again" and open another beer!
I was pleasantly surprised by Gamer. I recently watched it and didn't expect much from it due to its low ratings. Perhaps its ratings are further hurt by the low brow directors/writers, who are known for mindless action movies like Crank.
None of the ideas are intricate or thoughtful, of course, and the movie has a definite dedication to action and rollerblade camerawork (literally the camera people followed behind some scenes on rollerblades using the new Red camera).
But they actually have a few creative and imaginative ideas in Gamer. For example, it imagines a virtual game in which players control real people. I didn't even understand what the movie meant until it got back to its story line! Apparently prisoners or volunteers (depending on the game) have neural implants that radically alter the brain and allow external access to the prisoner/volunteer so that a player can literally control another person. Very interesting I thought.
It also has some gamer and tech language and references. It even mentions firewalls, and speculative spyware removal techniques!
Michael C. Hall does an excellent job as a reclusive and nutty software titan, even surpassing Bill Gates in the story.
But listen to some of the awful commentary to understand why the movie gets absurdly low ratings for such a good movie! I admit I had to stop the commentary after about 15 minutes of painful and IQ lowering horror! But I liked the movie.
Gamer (Dir. Taylor & Neveldine, 2009, 48.8/D-)
I recently watched Terminator Salvation (TS). I liked all the imaginative technology even better than the machines in The Matrix, and Skynet in TS is actually similar to the concept of the machines in the Matrix except for virtual reality.
I saw huge robots, transformer type robots attached to larger ones, cool motorcycle bots, and so on.
Except the hubris of the film was chilling. The action stunts treat danger as if actors were safely swinging from strings! And the final line of the movie is pathetic, reminding me of Dark City, Gattaca, and other McCoy emotionalist nonsense! At some points it sounded like the final words of a dead race -- but, but, but we got heart and you don't! The ancient Greeks are back! Our minds are now in our hearts!
I just watched an excellent independent film, Adam (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185836/). It's not quite SF since it's more of a sci-fact/drama kind of film, but it involves a highly unsociable autistic man (Adam) and his problem dealing with his girlfriend.
Adam, an engineer, introduces her to the concept that many objects in the universe travel faster than the speed of light, but, of course, they don't violate Einstein's theories because they don't travel *through* space at that speed, they travel on the expansion of *space itself*. Brian Greene says the same exact thing in his popular science book "The Fabric of the Cosmos"!
She wasn't very interested in the science, but it was nice to see science discussed in such an interesting and correct way for once (if only for a few seconds)! But it usually takes an indy film to bring it about.
We also see Adam watching TV on his laptop computer. Down with the old-fashioned TVs!
"Adam", Dir. Max Mayer, 2009, 66.9/C+. 99 min. The critics were a bit rough on it (60/C-), but user ratings were quite positive 73.8/B.
Here is a quote from a user review:
Thanks Rizar! I've enjoyed reading through the lists on this page again. I also read through your 190+ IMDB Intelligent SF List, on which I found a fairly recent, good SF I'd never heard of -- "The Man from Earth" (2007). I've added it to my list to see. Thanks!
As I read through the lists I thought of two SF movies I liked that aren't mentioned -- "The Sticky Fingers of Time" (1997) and "The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004). Did you not like them or did they not fit the type of SF you're listing?
Jon
Thanks jmaloney,
I hadn't heard of "The Sticky Fingers of Time", but I added to my lengthy Netflix queue. My list of films to see seems to grow more and more!
I probably haven't done enough with time travel on the list. Time travel seems to work best when the film uses it to focus on things like Einstein and the likely results of stopping progress as Wells did ("The Time Machine", and to a lesser extent the beginning of "Planet of the Apes"), or with quantum mechanics as "Primer" does, or with futuristic techno themes as "The Terminator" or "Star Trek IV" or "First Contact" do.
Heck, besides this group of films and the like, Harry Potter 3 is almost as good as much of SF on time travel! Sometimes time travel becomes almost pure drama as in "Slaughterhouse Five" or psychology/memory/apocalypse as in "12 Monkeys".
I forgot about "The Chronicles of Riddick", probably because I wanted it to be so much better than it was and it let me down with the mystical last parts. I really liked the first parts of it and the "cowboy/dark-hero ethics" of Riddick. Finally a film that sought out different values and different cultures, but just to defeat them at the end, like another "other" to defeat in the name of anthropomorphizing the future with our present values (you will not survive long in SF without losing your imagination at some point!).
In any case, it doesn't look like the second Riddick would make the top 100, falling right behind #124/"Demolition Man" on my list of prospective SF films. But I will add it in brackets after "Pitch Black" on the 100 list.
Edit: It also made it under the Users Rebel list!
Great article! Thanks.
Wondering where The Road (opening soon) fits in SF genre?
Thanks. From the description, it seems like it's a post-apocalyptic film, which are always difficult to classify. Mad Max films usually get classified as SF, with its weapons tech and futuristic visions. And I mention a couple of them as honorable mentions, such as A Boy and His Dog. Apocalypse themes abound across SF in films like The Matrix series, The Terminator series, A.I., The Quiet Earth, Will Smith SF movies, etc.
It's such an individualistic thing deciding on your favourite Sci-Fi movies, so congratulations for being brave enough to list yours (can't believe the idiots who complain it's not about free software as this site is always interesting)
In addition to Dark Star I also like Soylent Green, Alien, THX 1138, Silent Running, Total Recall but also Enemy Mine (a corny "Hell in the Pacific" in Space?) and Galaxy Quest (very tongue in cheek)
2001 is unique for me, although not quite in my top ten movies. The light sequence near the end turned me on - I don't think the three scotches I drank beforehand in an Irish pub in Kilburn (I got some strange looks when I ordered them) contributed towards the affect
The Shape Of Things To Come, Forbidden Planet and This Island Earth stand out for me amongst the early films
GeezBlues
Great article, Rizar. Thank you for taking the time and effort to put it together.
Thanks also to those who provided comments, many as interesting as the original article.
Regarding the film "Gog," I am old enough to have seen that one in a theater (with my parents) and I still remember it a half century later! If you can find it, see it.
Thanks. Well, "Gog" isn't on Netflix/Amazon ... too bad. Maybe if enough people request it some site somewhere will provide it!
Most sites that allow you to watch it online have safety problems, but this one looks possible (I can't try it with dialup):
http://motionempire.com/Watch_Gog_-1954-_Movie_Online_for_Free_8162.html...
I tried it. You get a pretty low-res version but I watched anyway.
The lesson is that if you have a pleasant memory, just leave it alone. The film is now hopelessly dated and more than a little cheezy. It hasn't held up like "Forbidden Planet" or even "Destination Moon". *sigh*
I guess there's a good reason why you can't find it on DVD.
If you think 2001 Space Odyssey is the best, then I don't think much of your review. 2001 Space Odyssey may be in competition for the worst, most boring, movie of all time--science fiction or otherwise.
Although '2001' got mixed reviews initially, on average '2001' gets extremely high critic averages (88.3 AVG for Metacritic/RT/MRQE, compared to 88.5 for Metropolis), so it would be second highest for critics of all the movies I sampled for SF (of all time, excluding "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" -- since it only gets a single critic source with its high RottenTomatoes score).
It's also high on SF and non-SF lists when critics are the judges, such as #6 on the highly regarded BFI Sight & Sound list (http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/critics-long.html / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Films_considered_the_greatest_ever). And it tops the OFCS list and is high on the AFI list.
But it also trickles onto populist lists, such as #5 on Peter Sykes' top 100, which is based on user ratings and user suggestions. And it's #11 on my poll of polls list, which includes user ratings as 50% of its final score. It's lowest rating comes from Netflix at 3.7 (*20=74/B), but it has high user ratings on IMDB (A) and RottenTomatoes (A). It gets a B from Yahoo.
In general the more regular people you average, the lower its standing (as on Netflix, and Blockbuster probably: in the B range), but the opposite is true with critics (it goes straight to the top to A+). And on smaller samples of user ratings it gets A to B ratings.
I personally think it's a masterpiece and has a great sense of the possibilities of our humanity. But I feel your pain, but more so for movies like "Gone with the Wind" (also a cherished classic by many) which puts me straight to sleep every time (so far). I had problems with "2001", "Blade Runner", and "Tron" initially, but over time I came to appreciate and enjoy them, and now I can re-watch films like them over and over and always find something else to like in them.
Your comment about "regular people" is very astute. I think the majority of professional movie critics outsmart themselves. They may have particular reasons for liking a movie, but the overall movie-watching experience is what counts in my book. 2001 is painfully boring, regardless of the artistic awe that some ascribe to it. I give it a 3 on a scale of 1 to 100. (I give a root-canal a 5.)
What about five past midnight? Great sci-fi film upstaged by crap spoof Groundhog day.
One of the very best SciFi movies of the pre-Star Trek era is Battle In Outer Space by Toho Studios Japan. Readers who are too young to remeber this era should treat themselves. A very good movie!
Jerry DeN
I think that Space 1999 and the legendary Moonbase Alpha was inexplicably omitted. A British science-fiction television series.
We all remember how it started. Nuclear waste from Earth stored on the moon explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the moon out of its orbit and sending it and the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha hurtling uncontrollably into outer space. The series was the last produced by the partnership of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, famous for the TV series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Fireball XL5, and UFO.
(1975-77)
Wes
Regards
Thanks, Rizar, for an amazing compilation of amazing movies. I have passed it on to my family and friends, even those not known to be sci-fi buffs, just because you did such a geat job.
Thanks again!
Two more you might want to consider in your "Other Science Fiction" films list are:
The Questor Tapes, Dir. Richard A. Colla, 1974, and
Android, Dir. Aaron Lipstadt, 1982.
Both films fit your scientific-progress theme in that in both, scientists advance the state of robotics and artificial intelligence by creating artificial humans.
Jon
How can an article about computers in SF movies fail to include Demon Seed or Zardoz?
As a sci-fi fan from childhood I really liked this movie roundup. Thanks.
Same here - Looking forward to exploring it. Thanks Rizar!
It's nice to see so many personal favorites here, and it is worth making special mention of two of the directors represented by these films, William Cameron Menzies ("Things to Come;" "Invaders From Mars") and Robert Wise ("The Day the Earth Stood Still"). Those interested readers who look them up might be more than a little surprised by what they discover.
To this list I would offer the following additions (by no means complete):
"The Thing (From Another World)" (1951) is a true classic of the genre (no less than author Michael Crichton called this "the best Science Fiction film ever made"). Though departing from John W. Campbell, Jr.'s original 1938 novella "Who Goes There?", this picture still more than holds its own, with fine acting and production value. While the directing credit goes to producer Howard Hawks' long-time film editor Christian Nyby, the picture is covered with Hawks' fingerprints (the rapid-fire dialogue he perfected in "His Girl Friday," the elements of screwball comedy). In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed this film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. **
"When Worlds Collide" (1951), a big-budget Technicolor picture based on the 1932 novel of the same name, was directed by the legendary Rudolph Maté and won the 1951 Academy Award for Special Effects. More than a half-century later, this is still a compelling, well-acted and thought-provoking film.
"The Magnetic Monster" (1953) is a little gem of a film with an unusually well-written and literate script. Produced by Ivan Tors (who also co-produced Science Fiction Theater, which ran two seasons on television, from 1955-57) and directed by Curt Siodmak, it's a truly novel science fiction film in terms of its rather cerebral plot and low-key, quietly intense execution and stands up remarkably well today - more than fifty years after its release. Much of the special effects were lifted (quite effectively) from the remarkable 1934 German film "Gold." **
"GOG" (1954), produced by Ivan Tors and directed by Herbert L. Strock was shot in widescreen, color and 3-D (though it was released at the end of the 3-D craze and therefore shown conventionally in most venues). A typical Tors picture, like "Magnetic Monster" it was based more on the extrapolation of science fact rather than science fantasy, and upon its release garnered generally "good" to "very good" reviews. With an effective cast and production value, this story of computer-driven technology running amok is well worth seeking out.
"This Island Earth" (1955) was one of the last films to be shot in three-strip Technicolor. Based on the novel of the same name by Raymond F. Jones and directed by Joseph M. Newman, the film was hailed at the time by critics and audiences alike for its ground-breaking special effects, dazzling color photography and well-written script.
"X: The Unknown" (1956) is a relatively little-known picture from the British Hammer Studios that is recommended by an above-average script, acting and production value. Released two years before Steve McQueen's debut picture, "The Blob," one can't help but wonder if "X" had had an effect on that film.
"Kronos (Ravager of Planets)" (1957), is a science fiction film directed by Kurt Neumann. In the years since its release, Kronos has been widely praised both for its above-average storyline and its farsighted portrayal of the consequences of the overconsumption of resources, achieving a minor cult status. An above-average script and decent special effects make this eminently watchable. **
"Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964) is a little-known, yet surprisingly well-made, picture that has also stood up quite nicely over the years; indeed, it puts a number of more recent (and much better-known) films to shame. Directed by Byron Haskin (who also directed the 1953 "War of the Worlds"), much of the principal photography was done in Death Valley. It was released for the first time on DVD by The Criterion Collection in 2007. **
"Crack in the World" (1965) has an interesting premise. Alas, as it turned out, the picture was released just a few years before plate tectonic theory became mainstream (and the commonly-accepted fact of today). Nevertheless, with its fine acting, photography and production value, this is still an enjoyable sci-fi film.
Decent, full-length transfers of films market with ** (and many others) can be downloaded for free at http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/publisher:andy249
Wow, thanks!
I added The Thing to the list as it was hidden in the same way as Soylent Green with a mere mention of its literary base.
"This Island Earth" is loaded with interesting sci-fi ideas, even though it failed to hold my attention very well. Maybe I'll take another look at it and also "When Worlds Collide".
I want to see "Gog" but have had trouble finding it. I'll keep a look out for the others as well as I haven't seen them yet.
Yes, those are two excellent directors. Wise also directed the classic Andromeda Strain. I listened to a DVD commentary (for the new release of The Day the Earth Stood Still) in which the director of Star Trek II, Meyer, fired highly scholarly and probing questions to poor Robert Wise. Wise answered the way I usually answer such artsy and complicated questions...shrug shoulders, say very little, answer quickly! Though it's a top-notch commentary just to hear Meyer pose all his well thought-out questions, even if they sounded a bit odd to Wise.
Even better, though, is the raw 1966 radio interview of Stanley Kubrick. One of the very best special features ever! It comes with the new "2001" DVD (released in 2007).
Well, you're most welcome, Rizar - but really, thanks must go to you for creating this page (and, of course, to Gizmo for creating the site)!
Not to go too far afield, but film music is often overlooked and yet can add significantly to the cinematic experience - even with science fiction. John Williams' grand Wagnerian symphonic score for "Star Wars" (1977, and the subsequent films in the franchise) and Michael Nyman's minimalistic score for "Gattaca" (1997) are but two very different examples (and, though the 'small screen', the music from "The Twilight Zone," "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek" are still well-remembered today; some may even recall the classic theme from "Science Fiction Theater" of the late '50s). William Cameron Menzies commissioned British composer Sir Arthur Bliss to score "Things To Come." If you can find a copy of the CD entitled "Bernard Herrmann Conducts Great British Film Music" (Decca/London 448-954-2), you will hear the suite of the film's score in a performance that I doubt will ever be equaled, let alone surpassed (and would certainly be forgiven if the performance of the Epilogue moved you to tears).
With "Invaders From Mars" (a U.S. release; the British version had a somewhat different ending), Menzies' use of a wordless choir to create an other-worldly sound effect was most effective (and a technique later employed by Stanley Kubrick with the music of György Ligeti for "2001: A Space Odyssey").
Though not science fiction per se, "Fail-Safe" (1964), expertly directed by Sidney Lumet from the critically-acclaimed novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, is another riveting cautionary tale about misplaced faith in sophisticated technology and the possible ramifications therefrom (as in "Colossus - The Forbin Project"), perfectly enunciated in this exchange:
KNAPP: "The more complex an electronic system gets,
the more accident-prone it is.
Sooner or later, it breaks down ....
A transistor blows, a condenser burns out.
Sometimes they just get tired, like people...."
GROETESCHELE: "But Mr. Knapp overlooks one thing.
The machines are supervised by humans.
Even if the machine fails, the human being
can always correct the mistake."
KNAPP: "I wish you were right. The fact is
the machines work so fast, they are so intricate,
the mistakes they make are so subtle
that very often a human being can't know
if a machine is lying or telling the truth."
Of course, the obvious comparison will be made to Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964), based on the novel "Red Alert," by Peter George (originally published in the UK as "Two Hours to Doom" under the pseudonym of Peter Bryant). It was not a comedy (nor was it as well-written as the Burdick-Wheeler novel). Kubrick and George turned it into the black comedy classic it became.
With Kubrick having substantially more clout than Lumet at that time, George suing Burdick and Wheeler for plagiarism and Columbia Pictures releasing both films, though "Fail-Safe" was 'in the can' first, it was held back - and the movie-going public got to yuck-it-up over the prospect of nuclear annihilation. After all, the Cold War had recently heated to a boil with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Stanley Kramer's film "On the Beach" (1959) hadn't yet faded from the minds of the public - and President Kennedy had just been assassinated. People needed to laugh, if even at a black comedy.
Niels Bohr's famous quip, "There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them," notwithstanding, an earnest discussion on trying to avert the total destruction of the planet is deadly serious - and on every level, "Fail-Safe" remains a riveting and truly outstanding film.
Wow, this is great! I've watched a couple of technology-related films lately, including older ones. I'll make sure to look at a lot of these.
Thanks, Rizar.
My fall-time favourite sci-fi, other than 2001 ASO, is Soylent Green. I'm ratehr surprised at its non-rating here. It covers the key mega-science issues of today: overpopulation and global warming.
Thanks Rizar. I really enjoyed this post. I've seen all but "Primer" in your top 20, and it was already on my to-see list. From the rest I have added "Avalon" and "The Final Cut" to my to-see list. It's not often I find a science fiction movie list that contains decent movies I'm not aware of.
Here are two movies you might want to consider in your "Other Science Fiction Films" section, if you haven't already considered and rejected them.
La Jettée, Dir. Chris Marker, 1962
Dreamscape, Dir. Joseph Ruben, 1984
Dreamscape may not be science fiction as your article describes science fiction, however, I think the processes of consciousness, thought, and dreaming represent enigmas to the current state of scientific understanding, that must someday be addressed and explained. Hopefully, as in Dreamscape, computers and technology will help us achieve that understanding.
In your remarks on "Things to Come" you might want to change "Clarke still loves it" to "Clarke loved it" since Clarke died in March 2008.
Thanks for the movie lists and interesting article.
Jon
Anybody seen the rough trailer for Tron 2?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104001/
http://tron-2-trailer.blogspot.com/
Too much to digest in one sitting, but something jumped out:
Solaris. By Stanislaw Lem, not Stanislaw Lern.
I think you may have missed a trick with Star Wars. Something it did that might have been genuinely innovative: the technology often looked old, used, grubby -- like it would if it were real -- which most sf films previously had never really done; tech was shiny, clinical and sterile, very often.
You mentioned Harlan Ellison. He once suggested that a better label than sci-fi was "speculative fiction" and I'd agree with it. So anything that says "what if...?" is sf. You might argue that's too broad but I'd say most other definitions are too narrow!
Thanks for the correction.
The Star Wars comment reminded me of the recent Hubble mission. All the work was televised live on the NASA channel.
It was a mixture on this issue. All the technology had to be extremely clean, clinical, and sterile. They didn't even want the astronauts to touch certain pieces of equipment and they made them inspect their gloves before touching anything. Technology often has to be protected by radiation shielding, which is shiny! Sorry to be so contrary this morning!
Though, I have also seen footage of the ISS and it is anything but orderly; though, again, whenever the technology is concerned, it still has to be treated clinically as in "2001."
The one major difference is that it's smaller, so they tend to store supplies all over the place. So the ISS is a bit cluttered at times, but still they have to be very careful with the instruments and technology since they don't want to constantly recalibrate, replace, and correct their data for any experiments they do.
Yes, you are right about my view of sf. Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Groundhog Day, Memento, and The Truman Show are all excellent thought experiments, but definitely not sf in my view. But your sort of definition is very popular and is more fit as a practical classification of the history of sf (I tried to capture my version of it in the 1% third definition). The Sobchack definition I quote in the article is basically the same idea but a little more restrictive.
Um, very nice, but what has this got to do with reviewing free software?
It's interesting that CNET now has a section on "Webware," which basically lists and discusses in a blog many web services. It's amazing the way we can share information over the Internet nowadays.
There are also articles on free books online, Charles Darwin, and the history of computers; none of which discuss free "software" per se.
I'm surprised with Metropolis getting such short shrift with it really being the first 'full length' film with a robot. It really kicked off the genre.
-John
Ah, it's mainly because I agree with H. G. Wells' review of it. He actually wrote the review in 1927 just after he saw the film and even then he thought it had outdated technology and an implausible vision.
H. G. Wells on "Metropolis" (1927):
http://erkelzaar.tsudao.com/reviews/H.G.Wells_on_Metropolis%201927.htm
The robot is more a "mechanical monster" of sorts and is not really based on ones and zeros like we would portray a modern robot, which is evidenced a little when it magically transforms into a female humanoid -- Frankenstein all the way.
But it loses points big time for its lack of sci-fi ambiance. It is more about social harmony than about scientific or technological advance. It's interesting that Roger Ebert compares "Dark City" to "Metropolis" in his commentary for the "Dark City" DVD. But he has great difficulty saying that either is sci-fi. And, in fact, the message and emotional ambiance of "Metropolis" has much more in common with an anti-rationality film like "Dark City" in my view than it has in common with "Things to Come".
As far as personal likes are concerned, I liked the skeleton imagery and their excellent theme song in Lang's "Metropolis." But otherwise I agree with Wells.
You forgot Equilibrium with Christian Bale, a 1984-like future without emotions and feelings. Very nice one !
What happened to this site. I wish the old two pages of info were still up. I gave up a little while ago when I read an article that just ahd a bunch of links and a "find out for yourself" attitude. Now here's one that has absolutely nothing to do with freeware!
Sorry Gizmo, I was a fan up until you went wiki and things went to hell.
The "old two pages list" is still here:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/top-freeware-picks-category-edit...
Plus about 3000 additional pages of information that weren't on the old site including reviews of over 1000 freeware products.
I thank for your kind thoughts about my old site but frankly the new site is much better and a credit to all the volunteers who work on it.
And sure there is some material on this site not related to freeware but there was on my old site and in my old newsletter.
So nothing much has changed other than things have got bigger and better.
Gizmo
You're anonymous (like me) so I'm guessing you weren't a donating fan, nor apparently from your comment an open-minded one either. Should you have considered the typical(?) users of this site to be the techno-files, geeks and nerds that we are, you might have realized that this type of information is right up our alley. If you had shown more forethought and understanding in your reply...a well written argument of why such information shouldn't be posted on this site...and added to the discourse, rather than whining about change(s) you don't personally concur with, or if you contributed positively to the content of the site, I might say you would be missed. However, since you are anonymous and judging by this comment, I can only assume that you've not donated anything but armchair warrior gripes, and have taken a lot of free information without so much as a reach-around, and thus I wave you goodbye with enthusiasm and vigor.
Adieu,
-John
wow that was a very well wriiten and arrogant response you must want health care for everyone. how do you see your shoes looking down your nose at other people like that!! wow you impress the heck outta me!! regards your worst nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We concentrate on providing and exchanging information. Topics like this are provided for those who wish to read them; it's not compulsory.
I second that. The freeware program reviews are still there but evolving in a wiki way. They're also - I trust - easy enough to locate either from the homepage or search box. Their number is growing because of the many categories of useful freeware and thanks to community driven input. This is all virtually a physiological process.
This article on the other hand provides a stimulating and helpful directory for lots of free online material which it would take me eons to chase up through cyberspace.
Thumbs up and kudos to the editor, Rizar.
bob
I 3rd that.
I think the article is a good stimulus for discussion and a helpful listing.
For those who feel as you do about the old Gizmo approach, the Editor's Choice List hopefully will suffice (and probably should be featured more prominently).
Marvellous stuff Rizar.
Did you mention Dark Star? Sorry, I haven't manage to finish this yet, perhaps it's in there :) Can you do a Kindle version?
chris.p
Dark Star is one of my top ten movies (the alien escaping culminating with the scene in the lift had me crying with laughter)
GeezBlues
Thanks chris.p!
Hackers 2 was an enjoyable film I thought. Directly relevant to computing / Internet, but not of course SF - it's real...
Well, maybe there's another category in there, then? Internet / computing tech-oriented films.
Kindle was just a joke, a big article like this needs reading on the train or something :)
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