General / Off-Topic Best & Worst Sci Fi Movie Ever

[Steve O B Have]

.....with you on Bladerunner. Again, it's interesting that it came out before CGI may special effects so easy, so maybe a concentration on plot, atmosphere and character is what makes it so great (as !st Star Wars trilogy vs 2nd). Ridley Scott is a great director. Has Sci-fi dipped in popularity and been replaced by Fantasy to some extent, in the way that it took over from westerns previously?

And as an aside, I read that both Asimov's Foundation and the original Star Wars are both based on the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, maybe why they both work so well as epic dramas.

For an environment and characterisation Bladerunner was epic and the storytelling was also very cool - a little cryptic at times (when I first watched it anyway - back then I needed things to be a little more literal in their delivery) and I would definitely rate it up there among the best ever.

 

[Sir.Tj]

As for worst film. "Battlefield Earth" is #1. What they did to my most favourite book was criminal.

As for best sci-fi film, I could not choose because I have a lot of favourites. Some movies that I'll mention are:

"Bicentennial Man" based on Asimov's short story. Which I think Robin Williams did a good job in. I think many people were expecting his stand up comedy, they did not take him for a serious actor and thus the movie was pannned.

"Blade Runner" without the voice over and the happy ending!

"Soylent Green" hits real close to home. (Re: Avian flu, mad-cow disease, and other food borne plagues coming to a grocery store near you )

If you are thinking of making a book into a movie, I'd like to see "Enders Game" would be great. Hmmm.... looking around I see via Wikipedia, that it might be happening.

Totally agree on all 3 of those.

The books are well worth the read also.

I'm sure you all know them but...

Bicentennial Man. Brilliant short story by Asimov.

Blade Runner. Do android's dream of electric sheep. even more darker than the film.

Soylent Green. another short story by one of my favourite authors Harry Harrison titled Make room Make room. (don't get me started on the stainless steel rat series.

Worst film has to be Battlefield earth though. perfect cure for insomnia!

I smell a poll in the offing here!

 

[Steve O B Have]

Totally agree on all 3 of those.

The books are well worth the read also.

I'm sure you all know them but...

Bicentennial Man. Brilliant short story by Asimov.

Blade Runner. Do android's dream of electric sheep. even more darker than the film.

Soylent Green. another short story by one of my favourite authors Harry Harrison titled Make room Make room. (don't get me started on the stainless steel rat series.

Worst film has to be Battlefield earth though. perfect cure for insomnia!

I smell a poll in the offing here!

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the Stainless Steel Rat series altho I have re-read them recently and I think they were more impressive to a teenager than they are now. I actually prefer his West of Eden series now.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the Stainless Steel Rat series altho I have re-read them recently and I think they were more impressive to a teenager than they are now. I actually prefer his West of Eden series now.

An I thought I was the only one!

Do love the sense of humour of the books. Never read the West of Eden series, will have to get to them one day, have a few of his short stories which I really enjoyed.

 

[Alien]

I'd like to suggest for worst film ever, Total Recall.

Mediocre to bad Arnie acting, a confusing plot (the first time anyway) I still can't work out what was real and what was virtual ? and it was soooo 80's cliche. The only good bit was Micheal Ironside (anyone remember him in V ?).

I've not read the short story it's based on - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, but it's probably better than the film.

 

[Sir.Tj]

I'd like to suggest for worst film ever, Total Recall.

Mediocre to bad Arnie acting, a confusing plot (the first time anyway) I still can't work out what was real and what was virtual ? and it was soooo 80's cliche. The only good bit was Micheal Ironside (anyone remember him in V ?).

I've not read the short story it's based on - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, but it's probably better than the film.

Micheal Ironside...The Budget bad guy! for when you can't afford a big star baddie. Still like him though.

As for good SCIFI films, I do like Forbidden Planet, with Leslie Nielsen when he was a serious actor.

 

[zmurf]

Worst ever: "Plan 9 from outer space"

Totally without competition!

 

[Sir.Tj]

Worst ever: "Plan 9 from outer space"

Totally without competition!

Yeah but, it's so bad it's good. I love the fact that Bela Lugosi's character changes height/face/size halfway through, and had to keep his cape over his face.

 

[DrBaggy]

Yeah but, it's so bad it's good. I love the fact that Bela Lugosi's character changes height/face/size halfway through, and had to keep his cape over his face.

As Wikipedia says:
"As an early version of Leonard Maltin's movie guidebook put it, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows." In one scene, as his character is being riddled with bullets, Mason's Dracula cape unintentionally starts to slip off his shoulders and he quickly pulls it back into place."

And it agrees with you that it's up there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Films_considered_the_worst_ever

...and Battlefield Earth is there too

 

[Sir.Tj]

As Wikipedia says:
"As an early version of Leonard Maltin's movie guidebook put it, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows." In one scene, as his character is being riddled with bullets, Mason's Dracula cape unintentionally starts to slip off his shoulders and he quickly pulls it back into place."

And it agrees with you that it's up there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Films_considered_the_worst_ever

...and Battlefield Earth is there too

I can't believe how many bad films I've actually seen from that list

 

[turwhitt]

As far as more modern awful sci-fis go, i'd have to add AI.

What a pretentious, yawn-inducing pile of excrement that was.

At least some of the others above have the excuse of being low budget.

 

[Spacegamer]

If you are thinking of making a book into a movie, I'd like to see "Enders Game" would be great. Hmmm.... looking around I see via Wikipedia, that it might be happening.

I look that book up,what a great name for an alien race even better then the Khaak.

 

[turwhitt]

Personally i'm hoping some film producer sees sense and decides to make Iain Banks' Culture books into films.

 

[Spacegamer]

I'd like to suggest for worst film ever, Total Recall.

Mediocre to bad Arnie acting, a confusing plot (the first time anyway) I still can't work out what was real and what was virtual ? and it was soooo 80's cliche. The only good bit was Micheal Ironside (anyone remember him in V ?).

I've not read the short story it's based on - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, but it's probably better than the film.

Micheal Ironside...." Starship Trooper" great bug effects,shame they didn't keep the power armor from the book.

 

[Dragonstar]

Foundation as a movie? Well according to google searching, they say that "The Foundation Trilogy" will be coming to the big screen.

Now my question at the moment is... "Trilogy????"

I was able to obtain a list that Asimov put out that says in which order his books should be read to get the full effect of Foundation. The list has over 20 books. I read everything in order as suggested by Asimov and it really makes a lot of sense.

First book on the list is the ORIGINAL "I, Robot" which is a collection of short stories, not the latest one with Mr. Hollywood (aka Wil Smith) on the front cover.

Anyways... I'm hoping for a good Foundation movie. Coming Soon!*


* Coming soon is a trademark of Frontier Forums discussion involving release of information of the upcoming release of Elite IV

 

[Michael Brookes]

Personally i'm hoping some film producer sees sense and decides to make Iain Banks' Culture books into films.

Excession would be great as a film.

Michael

 

[Steve O B Have]

I've never really gotten into either Greg Bear nor Ian Banks, I should really give them another go...

 

[turwhitt]

Excession would be great as a film.

Michael

It's interesting you should say that. I'd always thought of Excession as the least accessible of the Culture novels (even though it's my favourite), seeing as much of it is just AIs talking to each other. When i try to convince people to get into the Culture novels, i always steer them away from Excession as a first read, towards a more accessible one such as Against a Dark Background or The Player of Games. Excession seems to me to be the most "nerdy", but also the bravest precisely because if that. It just throws you in at the deep end of the culture with all its far future technology and politics. For this reason, i would say that either of the other two i mentioned would make more popular films, although i'd be interested to know your reasons for choosing Excession.


Steve, if you like Sci Fi you simply have to read IB's culture novels. They have as deep and intricate a background as Tolkien's Middle Earth, and the politics and technology seem to me to be absolutely spot on for a very developed space culture. They are also very positive. As above, i'd recommend AADB, TPOG or possibly Use of Weapons as a first read, although you could chuck yourself in at the deep end and go straight for Excession.

 

[Steve O B Have]

I loved Pitch Black as well - Chronicles was ok but PB was awesome.

 

[Sir.Tj]

I loved Pitch Black as well - Chronicles was ok but PB was awesome.

Yep me too, 1st film I had with DTS sound Sounded...ooooooohhhhh