Though journeys to the stars and the center of the earth had been written about for centuries prior, it was not until 1902 when audiences first delighted in seeing that special blend of foresight and fantasy come alive when Georges Melies took us on a trip to the moon. Since then, we’ve gone forwards and backwards in time; to the furthest reaches of space and the smallest fragments of the human body; we’ve cowered in fear of creatures both unknown and of our own creation; and we’ve marveled at the flights of fancy which predicted the triumphs of human achievement. Sci-Fi cinema has grown in a way few other film genres have, but it’s goal has remained the same: to engage, to inform and to inspire.
To select a Top Ten was both daunting and simple. Panic first set in with the idea of only acknowledging ten films in such a massive and diverse genre, and the temptation was there to expand the article to 20, 50, even 100 films so that great unknown films like Primer or cult classics like Akira could be recognized. But then, that said, the actual crafting of the Top Ten was perhaps the easiest task of all. When one critically sets aside the posing and posturing one undoubtedly does when crafting a list like this in fear of looking unprofessional to their peers (#10, for example, was almost Tarkovsky’s Stalker, which is a brilliant film that easily comes in at #11, but added in this list so as not look “populist” or whatever other derisive term could be brandished at the author), and sets aside the equally strong fear of comments ridiculing them for neglecting a beloved film, the ten films rise to the surface very quickly as remarkable within their sub-genre, important to the history of film, and true to the core tenants of science fiction. Of course, decisions had to be made as to what is excluded.
The list deals exclusively with feature length films (though we’re covering sci-fi shorts all month over at The Buzz, from La Jetee to Abe), and certain films with sci-fi elements were excluded if they felt more in a different genre (John Carpenter’s The Thing, for example). The reader is absolutely encouraged to weigh in in the comments section with their comments and critiques of the selections, though this author implores them to seek these films out before suggesting they “stole a spot” from another, possibly equally worthy film. Almost every one of these films is currently available in their original form, in the highest possible quality Blu-Rays. So read on, then hit up your local library, brick and mortar store or friend’s Netflix subscription. Maybe even settle in for a science fiction double feature. Without further ado, here is our list:
10.) Back to the Future (1985)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
What it’s about: Marty McFly is the typical 80’s teen, save his friendship with Doc Brown, a scientist who recently discovered the key to time travel. After a terrorist attack leads to Marty taking a spin in the time-traveling Delorian, he finds himself 30 years in the past and face to face with his own parents. The butterfly effect has never been more Freudian as Marty has to reunite his parent’s who have yet to even meet while finding a way back to 1985 (and maybe inventing Star Wars and rock and roll along the way).
Why it made the list: Likely the most watched time-travel film ever made, Robert Zemeckis’ 80’s comedy was an instant classic that somehow, through it’s premise, became timeless in its datedness (which cannot be said for the sequel which is now laughable in its visions of the future). The film is chock full of humor, mostly cross-generational and cross-cultural, and manages to still retain a sincerity and an internal logic about it’s science that even “serious” time travel films like Looper couldn’t be bothered with. Back to the Future made the Delorean look cool, made science look even cooler, and for many was the first toe dipped into the vast pool of sci-fi.
9.) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe
What it’s about: A strange vessel lands on Earth revealing a human looking alien named Klaatu and his intimidating metal companion Gort. He comes baring a message for all mankind, but when he’s deemed as a threat and attacked, he flees into hiding amongst an average American family.
Why it made the list: If sci-fi is meant to be cautionary, then there is no better or more blunt example than Robert Wise’s 1951 classic. The destructive Gort and his human master don’t come to destroy, but to warn. People of Earth, control yourselves. Control your destructive urges. It answers the question of why we’ve never found life in space, and sadly its because we don’t deserve it. It’s a warning about nuclear war which translates into any global crisis, the idea that we aren’t alone, but that if we don’t change our ways, we deserve to be. Full of infinitely influential moments (the famous alien speak “Klaatu Barata Nikto” has found its way into everything from Star Wars to Army of Darkness), The Day the Earth Stood Still paved the way for the classics to come, and still holds up today alongside them.
8.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson
What its about: The Lacuna company offers to erase memories from your mind, and Joel Barish takes them up on it after learning his ex Clementine has had the procedure done to erase all memory of her relationship with him. During the procedure itself, however, Joel realizes he’d rather live with the pain than forget the joy.
Why it made the list: A film that proved not only to be the best sci-fi of it’s year, but of it’s decade (and honestly the best film of its decade period, save perhaps a few hobbits and a dark knight), Eternal Sunshinewas even recognized with an Oscar for its innovative script that put real people in the most surreal situation that manages to be at once absurd and prophetic. Sci-fi tends to be either cautionary or inspiring, but Eternal Sunshine does both to astounding effect, carrying the kind of message no film before it had, but one that needed to be said. Yes, its exclusionary in that those who’ve never experienced heartache deride it as indie crap, but to those who have (or one day will) it’s an important reminder that the pain is worth it, it’s a consequence of something so worthwhile, and as is typical of Charlie Kaufman scripts, the end is both a message and a meditation on a theme.
7.) Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Director: Irvin Kershner
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
What its about: The continuation of the famous space opera finds the rebels still battling the evil Empire, from the icy planet of Hoth to the elevated cloud city Bespin, and brings about some dark revelations.
Why it made the list: It’s an impressive feat for a sequel to be consistently and tensely argued as better than the original (an honor it seemingly shares only with The Godfather). While we won’t go that far, this dark middle chapter in the story of the rise of Luke Skywalker also reveals the film to be a different arc, that of Anakin Skywalker, whose redemption the entire series is building towards. Empire not only introduces countless beloved elements of the franchise from the Wampa to Yoda, it gives the audience the single most shocking cinematic revelation post-Rosebud, referenced and parodied in every medium since: Anakin Skywalker was not some heroic Jedi slain by the vile machine Darth Vader, but rather the two are one in the same.
6.) Metropolis (1927)
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Frohlich
What its about: A class system which keeps the wealthy in high-rises and the poor underground tears apart a industrialist’s son and the working class Maria. Enthralled, Freder seeks her out, and stumbles upon the mad scientist Rotwang, determined to resurrect his lost love Hel as a Maschinenmensch (machine-man).
Why it made the list: In the almost 90 years since the film’s creation, even with the advent of CGI, few films are as visually striking as the gorgeous, impressionistic sets crafted for Lang’s sci-fi epic (the entirety of which has never been properly assembled after scenes were extracted for the American release and subsequently lost). The story is a simple one of love overcoming all, but fused into it are stinging observations of a oppressive class system (forcing people to stare into a future crafted from their own greed and divisiveness) and watching innovation turn evil in the hands of obsessive men. Hel is one of the most iconic figures in early cinema (and heavily influenced the look of C-3PO), and the film continues to delight those willing to accept a film without sound and color and enter a world unlike any other they’ve seen in sci-fi that also helped shape all the other worlds they’ve seen. The Giorgio Moroder cut, which replaces the film’s title cards with subtitles (while retaining the original structure) cuts the run time in half and utilizes 80’s music, is a great way for those not fully initiated into the world of silent film to experience this timeless classic.
5.) Blade Runner (1982)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
What its about: Los Angeles. 2019. Rick Deckard, a Blade Runner whose mission is to hunt down replicants created by the Tyrell Corporation, has taken on one last assignment to track down a batch of the newly escaped machines indistinguishable from human beings and eliminate them, but things are more complicated than they appear.
Why it made the list: Despite what some may say, neo-noir almost never works out well. It substitutes innovation for cliche and characters for archetypes. Of course, the fact that Blade Runner came from the pen of one of sci-fi’s greatest authors, Phillip K. Dick, likely had a lot to do with it avoiding the pitfalls of the genre, but it also owes a great deal to its director, who recognized the potential in the story of robots who not only look human, but feel human as well. The film is a visual delight, and it’s acting superb (though best to seek out the director’s cut which leaves the ending ambiguous, and lacks a painfully delivered monologue from a clearly bored Harrison Ford), and unlike some other media that has tackled the “are they or aren’t they a robot” story (we’re looking at you, Battlestar Gallactica), Blade Runner packs a serious emotional punch by exploring what it feels like to be a replicant, what it means to be mortal but not a man. Let’s face it, the entire rest of the film could be awful, but it would still earn it’s place on this list for containing the single greatest monologue in the history of science fiction, the beautiful Roy Batty Soliloquy.
4.) Solaris (1972)
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Baniois, Juri Jarvet
What its about: Aboard a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, famous for its vast, mysterious ocean, three crewman have failed to complete their mission and have been unresponsive to communication. The recently widowed Kris Kelvin endeavors to find an answer aboard the station, only to find himself transfixed by the power of the planet’s ocean.
Why it made the list: Tarkovsky felt Western science fiction lacked depth and took to Stanislaw Lem’s novel to correct things. Changing it from a speculative novel about communicating with alien species and turning it into an introspective drama about grief and longing, Tarkovsky crafted a film whose story and cinematography have gone practically unmatched. It’s a deliberately paced drama whose setting is both peripheral and essential to the machinations of the plot as Kelvin confronts visions of his dead wife, a flesh and bone exact replication, that he both knows is untrue and indulges all the same. That it almost won a Palme D’Or is a testament to its quality, but that it explores themes barely touched upon by most dramas more adeptly than those that try is a testament to its inherent humanity.
3.) Alien (1979)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
What its about: The Nostromo is a battered shipping vessel sent to investigate a mysterious signal and discover the eggs of an unknown species, one of which attaches itself to one of the crew, who is rushed aboard ship, letting the creature loose and leaving the crew to fend for themselves against a being they don’t understand.
Why it made the list: Because its a slasher movie in space, and that’s brilliant. Ridley Scott’s film could be an exploration of xenophobia, or of sexual violence, or one of the many other interpretations cast upon it over the years, but one thing is certain: it’s scary as sh*t. The tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream” perfectly sums up the film which dared to terrify, not so much in a Day The Earth Stood Still cautionary fashion but more in a pulse pounding, edge of your seat adventure both eerie and exciting. The film is groundbreaking in so many ways, from its “used universe” which makes the dirty ships of Star Wars look as crisp and clean as the Enterprise to it’s use of a female protagonist whose gender isn’t a factor, and who kicks more ass then all the men on board combined. Let’s not forget the H.R. Geiger inspired look of the haunting alien nor it’s planet, or the infinitely mimicked but never surpassed chest-burster scene which from its release was the “you have to see this” moment of the year. If Star Wars was the fairy tale space adventure every kid dreamed of, Alien was the nightmarish other side of the coin everyone tried to push from their minds when they shut off the lights.
2.) Star Wars (1977)
Director: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
What its about: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, galactic warfare wages on. A young “jedi” named Luke Skywalker is sent on a mission to rescue a princess from the villainous Darth Vader. Along the way he teams up with an old wizard, two bubbling droids and the coolest cowboy to ever make the vessel run in twelve parsecs.
Why it made the list: Because it has to. Star Wars didn’t just redefine a genre, it redefined cinema, for better or worse. It’s characters and story are not only iconic and inescapable, they feel as old as time, as though the tale of Luke and the Rebel forces was told by Homer alongside that of Odysseus and Agamemnon. The first film to try and create a “used universe” with dirty buildings, dirty ships and dirty deals done in dirty dive bars,Star Wars fused myth and magic with Flash Gordon dreamscapes to craft a film which spoke to the child in all of us and struck upon the universal rules for classic stories. From beginning to end, Star Wars captures the attention and the imagination, creating not just a world but a galaxy full of stories and possibilities, and ignited the passions of filmgoers everywhere, making it ok to dream, to feel joy and to look up at the sky in wonder. That its legacy is still as strong today is a testament not just to the infinite stories left to be told in the universe of Jedi and X-Wings but to the timelessness and innovation of this first, untoppable adventure.
1.) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 )
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
What its about: On the surface? The story of a manned space flight whose safety is threatened by an artificial intelligence gone haywire. Yet, 2001 is truly the story of man’s evolution, his struggle for survival, and indeed the central question of what life truly is.
Why it made the list: Because this was the game changer of all game changers. Because this was perhaps cinema’s greatest director tackling a genre that had never before been considered “art”. Because its groundbreaking visuals inspired millions, and it’s mysteries have allured and confounded just as many. Because “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and “Blue Danube Waltz” are forever inextricably linked to a monolith and a space station. Because the match cut of the bone to the ship is perhaps the greatest use of editing in the history of the medium. Because the HAL 9000 is the most horrifying and sympathetic villain in sci-fi history. Because the film is a puzzle that asks so much of its viewer, and when the pieces come together gives so much in return. Because it’s one of the few films that few people are the same after viewing. Because it’s divisive and debated but inarguably influential and important. Because the giant baby infuriated half the audience, and another quarter just pretended to understand it, but is still the most profound (and indeed, straightforward) ending in Kubrick’s career. Because a master auteur didn’t elevate the genre so much as craft a masterwork to shine a light on the infinite potential in the uncharted regions of space and science fiction, demanding critics and other artists take notice. Because it has to be. Because it was always going to be, and it likely always will be.
Well, those are our picks. This is a subject we could talk about for days, so please weigh in in the comments and let us know what you think.
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