Dead American

Okay, so we’ve had romantic comedies and horror.  Here we go with sci-fi.

Science fiction is another difficult category.  I decided to create a different list for fantasy, just for fun, but I still had a major issue nailing it all down to just ten.

But suffice it to say I included movies with more futuristic and technologically advanced elements.  Again, we could have included some of these movies as fantasy or action/adventure, so some decisions had to be made.

10.  Aliens. This movie was sci-fi, but it had elements of action/adventure and slasher flicks.  James Cameron took a classic sci-fi horror movie centered around ONE alien and asked the basic question: “What would a movie look like with hundreds of them?”  Well, he got to make that movie.

9.  Logan’s Run. Originally, sci-fi was either something cheesy for kids or a vehicle to comment on and question the human condition in general.  This movie fit into the latter.  It can be slow in parts, but remember … this movie was meant to make a statement, not keep you on the edge of your seat.

8.  Serenity. The best of both worlds.  Deep themes of character, the evils of big government, belief, commitment, and truth run throughout this film full of action and space zombies.  Probably the best thing Joss Whedon has done and one of the best shows ever canceled in mid-season.

7.  Matrix. The blue pill or the red pill?  Well, we all took the pill and were introduced to a world of virtual and post-apocalyptic reality where machines and computers have enslaved mankind and use them as batteries.  Unfortunately, the latter movies in the “trilogy” didn’t come close to the overall quality of the first.  Keanu Reeves proves again that he has the best agent in Hollywood.

6.  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The first Star Trek was cool, but more like a glorified episode idea rejected in the 60’s.  They would’ve rejected those baby blue uniforms, too.  But the Roddenberry crew came up with a truly epic story worthy of the big screen.  They balance this movie perfectly between characters, story, morality and action.  And the cast pulled this off like old pros … without looking so old.

5.  20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. One of two Disney films on this list, they took a classic sci fi book, one of the first of its kind, actually, and knocked it out of the park.  Kirk Douglas is epically heroic.

4.  Tron. The 2nd Disney film on the list, Tron took the video game craze of the 80’s and combined it with a Wizard of Oz motif (”and you were there, and you were there, and YOU were there!”).  Computer animation began here.

3.  Planet of the Apes. The rest of the series never achieved the same quality, but the idea and the statement were top notch for the 60’s.  TV shows, comics, cartoons, and more have tried to build on this one, but to no avail.  Viewed as a single movie reveals its genius.  One of the best last scenes ever in a movie.  Was also nominated for an academy award for costume design … if it were for creature effects, it would have won.

2.  ET. Close Encounters of the Third Kind slipped off this list because ET made it.  Unfortunately, Spielberg almost ruined this movie by remastering it and replacing the guns in the hands of government agents with walkie talkies.  Still, this is science fiction and 80’s Spielberg at its best.

1.  Star Wars. Empire Strikes Back was a better movie (Lucas didn’t direct Empire), but Empire would never have been possible without this one.  With Star Wars, sci fi became a true money making genre instead of philosophy or children’s lit.  The strides in special effects weren’t improved upon in a decade or more.  Star Wars became the standard of sci fi and revived interest in the classics, like Star Trek.  Combining Nazi-like bad guys with Greek tragedy, eastern mysticism, Asian warrior codes, lasers, light sabers, and coming of age fantasy — how could you go wrong?  Well, Lucas tried to prove how with Episodes 1-3, but that’s a different discussion.

Some great ones also considered:  Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Terminator, Soylent Green, Star Trek: First Contact, Equilibrium, War of the Worlds (1953), Road Warrior and Blade Runner.

Peace.