Science Fiction that Stands the Test of Time - or someday will ...
Submitted by billh on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:11
Tags:
- In chronological order:
- Metropolis (1926)
- Things to Come (1936)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- The Thing (from Another World) (1951)
- The War of the Worlds (1953)
- This Island Earth (1955)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- Forbidden Planet (1956)
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
- Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
- The Time Machine (1960)
- Village of the Damned (1960)
- Mysterious Island (1961)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
- Planet of the Apes (1968)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- The Andromeda Strain (1971)
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
- Star Wars (1977)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- Alien (1979)
- Time After Time (1979)
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Return of the Jedi (1983)
- The Terminator (1984)
- Aliens (1986)
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
- The Abyss (1989)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Contact (1997)
- Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Great list! I will definitely have to check some of these out. Have you seen Gattaca? While I'm not sure it has enough of a following to become a classic, I do think it's worthy.
I don't know about Gattaca, but I should have put The Matrix on the list. I have a feeling that's going to be remembered for many years to come, especially if the proposed next two episodes are as good as the first one.
--Bill
Very nice list. Lots of movies I haven't seen, especially the earlier ones.
I wouldn't personally have put either E.T. or the latest Star Wars movie on the list. Can't say that I've ever seen whatever it is people see in E.T ... it just seems incredibly simple and almost entirely an exercise in emotional manipulation of the audience. And to me, the latest Star Wars movie is easily the worst of the bunch ... totally overrun by special effects, cliches, and stereotypes. The first Star Wars movies were good because the stories and characters were engrossing. Not so this time.
Excellent list! - but it has some important omissions: Frankenstein [31], The Invisible Man [33], King Kong [33], Dr Cyclops [40], Destination Moon [50], The Damned [61], The Birds [63], Dr Strangelove [64], Alphaville [65], Westworld [73], Invasion of the Body Snatchers [78], Superman [78], The Road Warrior [81], Blade Runner [82], Predator [87], Robocop [87]. I'm prepared to defend the importance of any of these.
One movie that should not be on your list is The Thing (From Another World). It's a travesty of the story it was based on, turning it into just another 'monster from outer space' story - than which it was so much more. John Carpenter's 1982 The Thing is better, but is spoiled by a ludicrous opening sequence in which a helicopter pilot forgets that helicopters can hover and instead swoops his machine back and forth like a
strafing jet-fighter.