best sci-fi films ranked

[mrhnau]

Ranking of the best Sci-Fi films ever

Here is the short of it

1. Serenity
2. Star Wars
3. Blade Runner
4. Planet of the Apes
5. The Matrix
6. Alien
7. Forbidden Planet
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey
9. The Terminator
10. Back to the Future

What you guys think? Missed anything major? Aside from sequels, I'll mostly agree here. I must admit, I've not seen Serenity, so I can't really judge that one I'd definately place Close Encounters and ET -WAY- in front of Back to the Future. I also thought Event Horizon and Dark City were great movies. Neither one got much notoriety though...

 

[exile]

I think This Island Earth and The Day the Earth Stood Still both merit a place in the list...

 

[Andrew Green]

Serenity was good, but that list is skewed.

Empire Strikes back is usually considered the best of the Star Wars movies, and it is not there. Terminator? I would have thought T2 would be the one from that series.

Dune? Stargate? Not one Star Trek? (some where bad, but a couple where good) 12 Monkies? King Kong (the original)

But back to the future is there?

So no, I don't think the list represents much.

And with Serenity, it does stand alone ok, but without seeing the series first its not the same. And even with that its no Empire Strikes Back. The prequel Star Wars series on the other hand, Serenity definately beats it

 

[mrhnau]

Serenity was good, but that list is skewed.

Empire Strikes back is usually considered the best of the Star Wars movies, and it is not there. Terminator? I would have thought T2 would be the one from that series.

Dune? Stargate? Not one Star Trek? (some where bad, but a couple where good) 12 Monkies? King Kong (the original)

And with Serenity, it does stand alone ok, but without seeing the series first its not the same. And even with that its no Empire Strikes Back. The prequel Star Wars series on the other hand, Serenity definately beats it

well, I hope they are assuming sequels in this... I thought the second Planet of the Apes was great too The rest were poo-poo.

Dune, Star Trek, Stargate were great too, but with so few slots, its hard to place them! I'd have Close Encounters near the top 5...

 

[mrhnau]

My list

1. Star Wars (the series)
2. Alien (the series)
3. 2010 (I don't like 2001 nearly as much)
4. Close Encounters
5. Stargate
6. Star Trek (the series, TNG included)
7. Blade Runner
8. Dark City
9. The Matrix (series)
10. Event Horizon

 

[CoryKS]

I would have had Alien 2 up there as well.

 

[Andrew Green]

Assuming the series is taken into account, then the star wars prequels might bump Star Wars below Firefly / Serenity.

And the 2nd / 3rd Matrix bumps it down a little... Planet of the Apes was good, but the tv show based on it...

Bringing the tv series related to movies definately brings Stargate up, and probable X-Files would be getting in there as well.

And, with all stuff in the franchise, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy has to make the list. No arguments, it just does.

 

[CoryKS]

My list:

Alien
Alien 2
Star Wars
2001
The Matrix
Planet of the Apes
Westworld
Blade Runner
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Stargate

 

[Touch Of Death]

The English version of "Dune" needs to be in there somewhere.
Sean

 

[CoryKS]

Wish I had room for When Worlds Collide.

 

[exile]

I would have had Alien 2 up there as well.

There seems to be a strong current of opinion that Alien 2 was definitely the best of the series, although it seems to me that the first film in the series had a slightly greater shock value (less of what was coming was telegraphed, and the very restricted views you actually got of the Alien increased the horror quality of the confrontations that did occur, especially the final scene in the escape vehicle), and the claustrophic scene shooting was very effective. Both of them were outstanding.

 

[crushing]

I'd put Spaceballs in there before Back to the Future.

I've heard about Serenity from others, but have seen it yet. I think I'll check it out sometime. After reading Destination Moon recently, I think I'll look for it too.

 

[MA-Caver]

I saw Serenity after hearing word of mouth praises for it. What I thought of it... :idunno: I could've lived the rest of my life and died a happy man had I not seen it.
Obviously I'd have to see the series first and THEN be a FAN of the series to go ga-ga over it like everyone else did.

The Day The Earth Stood Still definitely merits being on that list.

There are far too many GREAT Sci-Fi movies to limit the list to the top 10. Problem with it is that one person's great Sci-fi is another's "ehh, so-so" movie. So the list should be expanded to at least include 25 films

Another very good one was K-PAX (2001) starring Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacy.

This list is from imdb.com also has the bottom ten... My selection is in bold Though some I still haven't seen.

1 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 8.8/10 (153705 votes)
2 Star Wars (1977) 8.7/10 (191096 votes)
3 Matrix, The (1999) 8.5/10 (207735 votes)
4 Metropolis (1927) 8.4/10 (19361 votes)
5 Alien (1979) 8.4/10 (93044 votes)
6 Aliens (1986) 8.3/10 (91496 votes)
7 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 8.3/10 (91042 votes)
8 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 8.2/10 (113889 votes)
9 Blade Runner (1982) 8.2/10 (103311 votes)
10 Donnie Darko (2001) 8.2/10 (99426 votes)
11 Incredibles, The (2004) 8.2/10 (66829 votes)
12 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) 8.2/10 (121340 votes)
13 Back to the Future (1985) 8.1/10 (102247 votes)
14 V for Vendetta (2005) 8.1/10 (87201 votes)
15 Stalker (1979) 8.1/10 (7444 votes)
16 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 8.1/10 (7955 votes)
17 Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951) 8.1/10 (15353 votes)
18 Children of Men (2006) 8.0/10 (42247 votes)
19 Solyaris (1972) 8.0/10 (8740 votes)
20 King Kong (1933) 8.0/10 (19379 votes)
21 Frankenstein (1931) 8.0/10 (10982 votes)
22 Kin-Dza-Dza (1986) 8.0/10 (1890 votes)
23 Fail-Safe (1964) 7.9/10 (4488 votes)
24 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) 7.9/10 (7789 votes)
25 Twelve Monkeys (1995) 7.9/10 (90149 votes)
26 Thing, The (1982) 7.9/10 (31496 votes)
27 Terminator, The (1984) 7.9/10 (87220 votes)
28 Young Frankenstein (1974) 7.9/10 (32884 votes)
29 Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004) 7.9/10 (15123 votes)
30 Invisible Man, The (1933) 7.9/10 (4074 votes)
31 Planet of the Apes (1968) 7.9/10 (30786 votes)
32 Brazil (1985) 7.9/10 (45582 votes)
33 Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984) 7.9/10 (7762 votes)
34 Delicatessen (1991) 7.8/10 (16632 votes)
35 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) 7.8/10 (105845 votes)
36 Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986) 7.8/10 (9541 votes)
37 Night of the Living Dead (1968) 7.8/10 (19372 votes)
38 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 7.8/10 (61546 votes)
39 X2 (2003) 7.8/10 (62293 votes)
40 Serenity (2005) 7.8/10 (56446 votes)
41 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 7.7/10 (35785 votes)
42 Truman Show, The (1998) 7.7/10 (86641 votes)
43 Spider-Man 2 (2004) 7.7/10 (71290 votes)
44 Siworae (2000) 7.7/10 (1609 votes)
45 Abre los ojos (1997) 7.7/10 (12448 votes)
46 Iron Giant, The (1999) 7.7/10 (21567 votes)
47 Holy Mountain, The (1973) 7.7/10 (1314 votes)
48 Forbidden Planet (1956) 7.7/10 (9510 votes)
49 Seksmisja (1984) 7.7/10 (1262 votes)
50 Cité des enfants perdus, La (1995) 7.7/10 (15564 votes)

Bottom 10 Sci-Fi movies
Rank Title
10 King Dinosaur (1955) 1.5/10 (342 votes)
9 Moonchild (1974) 1.5/10 (90 votes)
8 Dunyayi kurtaran adamin oglu (2006) 1.5/10 (622 votes)
7 Evil Behind You (2006) 1.5/10 (73 votes)
6 Brain of Blood (1972) 1.4/10 (244 votes)
5 Capture of Bigfoot, The (1979) 1.4/10 (222 votes)
4 Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970) 1.4/10 (285 votes)
3 Death Dimension (1978) 1.3/10 (173 votes)
2 Flesh Feast (1970) 1.3/10 (261 votes)
1 Ultra Warrior (1990) 1.1/10 (181 votes)

 

[CoryKS]

There seems to be a strong current of opinion that Alien 2 was definitely the best of the series, although it seems to me that the first film in the series had a slightly greater shock value (less of what was coming was telegraphed, and the very restricted views you actually got of the Alien increased the horror quality of the confrontations that did occur, especially the final scene in the escape vehicle), and the claustrophic scene shooting was very effective. Both of them were outstanding.

I agree! Alien was not only my favorite sci-fi movie, it also tops my horror list. Very scary movie. Alien 2 is more sci-fi or action/adventure than horror, and I like that they were able to go off in that direction after the first one because horror sequels are rarely scary. Since you've already seen the monster, what's left? James Cameron's best movie, IMO. Plus it had Marines! Space Marines! With kewl weapons!

The one thing they messed up with Alien 2 was the alien blood. One little drip of it burned through three steel floors of a space ship in Alien, but when a character gets sprayed with the stuff in A2 he receives third degree burns? WTF?

 

[Andrew Green]

I saw Serenity after hearing word of mouth praises for it. What I thought of it... :idunno: I could've lived the rest of my life and died a happy man had I not seen it.
Obviously I'd have to see the series first and THEN be a FAN of the series to go ga-ga over it like everyone else did.

That was what I did, saw the film first. The series before hand gives it a better feel, a lot of the things in the movie won't make as much sense without the series first.

That's ok in my mind. Empire Strikes Back was awesome, but it would have lost something if you hadn't seen Star Wars first. Not known who the characters where or what the force was.

But still, I think the series was stronger then the movie at times

 

[bushidomartialarts]

the list is full of good movies, but lacks some context. there are a number of older sci fi flicks that should have been on there The Day the Earth Stood Still has been mentioned, and I'd definitely throw Forbidden Planet on near the bottom.

and much as i loved Serenity it relied on fans' love of the characters for much of its quality. without already loving mal and his crew, the movie fails to grab.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I Robot
Men In Black (the first movie)

 

[mrhnau]

I Robot
Men In Black (the first movie)

How could I forget MIB? That movie rocked

Wish I had room for When Worlds Collide.

you know, I absolutely love that movie, but I don't know if it makes my top 10. I've seen it SO many times

 

[Sukerkin]

The one thing they messed up with Alien 2 was the alien blood. One little drip of it burned through three steel floors of a space ship in Alien, but when a character gets sprayed with the stuff in A2 he receives third degree burns?

Something that'd never occurred to me in all the times I've watched those films :tup:.

I was thinking that maybe it was a different host physiology but both circumstances arose from the same egg brood via human hosts so that can't be it.

Are you talking about Hicks in the scenario you describe? After all it did have to get through his armour and that wouldn't be simple steel ... would it?

 

[Sukerkin]

Favourite sci-fi film lists are always going to be hard to compile and even harder to agree on as there's the pesky "What's a sci-fi film anyway?" judgement to make.

For example, I love "The Omega Man" but is it sci-fi really? I think so but others may not.

"Soylent Green" is another one - is it future history or social commentary? I still consider it sci-fi even tho' there's very little hard-SF techno stuff in it.

How about all those classic monster/phenomenon movies from the 50's & 60's e.g. "Them!", "The Incredible Shrinking Man", "On the Beach" or "Fantastic Voyage"? Are they sci-fi or a sub-genre of their very own.

You can tell from the example's I'm citing that one of the things I find jarring with the 'list' mind-set is that they seldom delve back very far into the history of the genre (or am I just old?) .

Sometimes I feel that the list compilers get too hung up on visual quality and lose the fact that the story or the idea can sometimes be more important.

Another favourite of mine is "Silent Running" (nature reserve in space destined to be blown up because of budget cuts ... pretty releveant to now in some ways). The effects are very poor by modern standards but the core idea is very engaging.

On the subject of "Serenity", it is a much better film if you know the characters and the events they've been through in the series. For example, avoiding spoilers as best I can, the deaths of characters you've grown to love is really shocking. However, I relish the 'Traveller'-like background to the Serenity universe and I just hope that we get some more of Mr. Whedon's SF.

One final comment on the Alien series of films. The first was a marvellous shocker, the second a brilliant action-adventure with some memorable lines, the third ... erm ... the fourth, good right up to the end (plus, that should've been the entry for Earthwar and what a romp that would've been !).

Oh and Alien vs Predator was an enjoyable watch as a stand alone but it would've been nice if they'd made it have some semblance to the book that spawned it (Little Fang reminds me of some lady martial artists I know ).