SCI-FI Movies :Ποια ειναι η δικια σας Λιστα?

[Andrew]

SCI-FI LISTS

Μετα απο μια συζητηση που ειχα με ενα εξεχον μελος του AVSite για τις Sci Fi Movies στο msn ,
μετα απο καποιες google-λιστες που επεσαν ,
μετα απο καποιες προσωπικες λιστες που επεσαν ,
μετα απο καποιες διαφωνιες που επεσαν
για το ΑΝ ειναι η ΔΕΝ ειναι Sci Fi η ταινια,
για το Τι ειναι και Τι δεν ειναι Sci Fi Movie,
σκεφτηκα να βαλω καποιες Sci Fi ΛΙΣΤΕΣ ταινιων που "κυκλοφορουν αναμεσα μας ".
Λιστες απο διαφορους δικτυακους τοπους με θεματολογια τι αλλο?
Sci Fi Movies.


Μετα ας βαλει και ο καθενας απο μας,
την δικη του προσωπικη λιστα .
Nα συμφωνησουμε,
να διαφωνησουμε.,
να γινει διαλογος τελος παντων.:cool_4:

ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ ,ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ!!!!
Ο Ξυπολυτος Τζο ( Field of Dreams)
ΔΕΝ ειναι Sci-Fi Μovie. :happy_8:

 

[Andrew]

Rotten Tomatoes' Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies List

20 Mad Max (1979)
19 Frankenstein (1931)
18 2001: A Space Odyssey ( 1968 )
17 Solaris (1972)
16 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
15 The Terminator (1984)
14 Brazil (1985)
13 Galaxy Quest (1999)
12 The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
11 The Road Warrior (1981)
10 Aliens (1986)
9 Star Wars (1977)
8 The Host (2007)
7 Children of Men (2006)
6 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
5 Minority Report (2002)
4 Alien (1979)
3 Metropolis (1926)
2 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
1 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Πηγη: http://digg.com/movies/Rotten_Tomatoes_Top_100_Sci_Fi_Movies_List

 

[Andrew]

The Top 10 Sci Fi Films

10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Dir: Steven Spielberg
"We are not alone", declared the poster and this tale of Richard Dreyfus' escalating obsession with alien visitors against a

backdrop of a secretive, omniscient government agency has provided the core of science fiction ever since.

"While it is highly unlikely that 'they' will rock up in a vehicle that looks like a giant, inverted Christmas tree or make their

presence known by doing Jean Michel Jarre impressions on a cosmic synthesiser, Close Encounters is for me still the

classiest alien visitation story in celluloid history," says UCL's Kevin Fong.

9. The Matrix (1999) Dir: Andy & Larry Wachowski
Cod philosophy, fetish clothing and incredibly cool special effects combined in 1999 for a fresh take on man-made artificial

intelligence enslaving the planet.

The science behind the fiction is conspicuously absent, being replaced with the permanently befuddled Keanu Reeves

stumbling around being confused by nonsense about spoons, and jumping off buildings. Tak Mak, a cell biologist at University

of Toronto, doesn't think this matters: "It's good old-fashioned entertainment value ... Future bad guys fighting future good

guys."

8. War of the Worlds (1953) Dir: Byron Haskin
Famously adapted for radio by Orson Welles, HG Wells' tale of a Martian invasion of Earth became another cold war movie.

"The idea that there could be life that's developed in completely other circumstances in a completely different world which you

would never recognise. That's a very appealing idea," says Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial

Intelligence, California.

7. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Dir: Robert Wise
Set amid the cold war paranoia of postwar America, a flying saucer lands in Washington DC and a humanoid alien, Klaatu

emerges, accompanied by his robot, Gort.

Klaatu (who pronounces: "I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it") tries to convince the world's

leaders - and when they won't listen, scientists - to stop the rush toward mutual destruction.

It is cited by Beagle 2 project leader Colin Pillinger as one of his favourite sci-fi films. "During the showing, the cinema

manager pulled a classic Orson Welles stunt and stopped the film to announce that a spaceship had landed."

6. Terminator (1984)/T2: Judgment day (1991) Dir: James Cameron
Robots from 2029 send a relentless cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back to 1980s Los Angeles to assassinate the mother of

a future human rebel. One of a few films to deal with problems of time travel, such as the grandfather paradox: if you travel

back in time and kill your grandfather, you wouldn't exist so wouldn't be able to travel back in time to...

The sequel featured another cyborg made of shapeshifting metal. "Despite the incoherent fictional science, it is a perfect piece

of film-making in its genre, which I would call 'action movie' rather than 'sci-fi movie' if it were not for the fact that there are very

few, if any, movies that genuinely deserve to be called sci-fi," says David Deutsch, quantum physicist at Oxford.

5. Solaris (1972) Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
Remade by Steven Soderbergh in 2002, but the original still holds a fascination for fans of the novel by Stanislaw Lem. A

psychologist travels to a base on a remote planet to replace a mysteriously deceased scientist. There he encounters the

secretive survivors - and his dead wife. Reality is supplanted by the increasingly attractive alternative of the planet's alien

intelligence.

"The 1972 Solaris is perhaps the only film to address the limits of science set by our constrained human perceptions,

categories and tendency to anthropomorphise," says Gregory Benford, professor of physics at University of California, Irvine

and author of Timescape. "That it is also a compelling, tragic drama, not a mere illustrated lecture, makes it even more

important."

4. Alien (1979) Dir: Ridley Scott
Remembered for the iconic scene of an infant creature bursting bloodily through John Hurt's chest, but Alien was about much

more. An interstellar mining vessel takes onboard a lifeform with concentrated acid for blood and two sets of jaws, which then

messily dispatches the crew.

Praised for the gothic set design and Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of reluctant hero Ellen Ripley, it is notable for its underlying

themes of motherhood, penetration and birth. But for UCL space physiologist Kevin Fong it's the mundanity of the crew's

lifestyle that makes it stand out.

"For the first time we got the idea that, in the far-flung future, people who live and work in space might be a bunch of Average

Joe slobs sitting around with leftover pizza, smoking and playing cards to pass the time," he says. "It captures much of what

long duration space flight is about now: dirty, sweaty and claustrophobic with long periods of boredom followed by moments of

sheer terror."

3. Star Wars (1977)/Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The first two films of the original Star Wars trilogy make it onto the list probably for reasons of nostalgia rather than science.

Essentially westerns set in space, they both cover the universal themes of good versus evil while making lead actors Harrison

Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher spit out mind-boggling technospeak on a regular basis. There is also an element of

mysticism (which some say sets them apart from the rest of science fiction), with the idea of an all-pervading "force" that can

be harnessed by certain people for good or evil.

The epic saga revolves around the battle between the all-enslaving Empire (led by the Emperor, a force-wielding maniac and

his part-human part-machine henchman Darth Vader) and a small band of rebels.

Its use of science is sketchy at best - light-speed travel is dealt with by the use of a "hyperspace" where the normal laws of

physics don't seem to apply and force-wielding Jedi fight with theoretically impossible lightsabers - but the emphasis here is

certainly not on answering the problems of the human condition. Two of the first blockbusters, they also started the franchises

for toys, games and replicas that no science fiction film can do without nowadays.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 ) Dir: Stanley Kubrick
A very close second, this mystifying story came out of a collaboration between Kubrick and science fiction writer Arthur C

Clarke. It achieved enormous fame for its then revolutionary special effects.

Spacecraft consultants Frederick Ordway and Harry Lange, who had worked for Nasa, persuaded companies such as Boeing

and IBM to supply prototypes and technical documents for use in the film. Astronauts visiting the set at Borehamwood referred

to it as "Nasa East".

Aubrey Manning, emeritus professor of natural history at Edinburgh, praises 2001 for "the brilliance of the simulations - still

never done better despite all the modern computer graphics. The brilliance of using Brazilian tapirs as 'prehistoric animals'. The

brilliance of the cut from the stick as club, to the space shuttle. Kubrick declaring that once tool use begins - the rest is

inevitable. Hal: the first of the super computers with its honeyed East-Coast-Establishment voice."

1. Blade Runner (1982) Dir: Ridley Scott
Whether you prefer the original theatrical version (with a bored-sounding narration and without the famed unicorn scenes) or

the director's cut of a few years later (sans narration and unicorn duly re-inserted), Blade Runner was the runaway favourite in

our poll.

The story revolves around Harrison Ford's policeman, Rick Deckard, and his hunt for four cloned humanoids, known as

replicants, in a dystopian version of Los Angeles. Replicants have been deemed illegal and Deckard is a blade runner, a

specialist in exterminating them.

The film is loosely based on Philip K Dick's short story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? "Blade Runner is the best

movie ever made," says Stephen Minger, stem cell biologist at King's College London. "It was so far ahead of its time and the

whole premise of the story - what is it to be human and who are we, where we come from? It's the age-old questions."

It also discusses consciousness with an attempt to formulate a way to tell a human from a machine. The Voight-Kampff

empathy test is used by the police in the film to identify the replicants - who have memories implanted and are programmed

with artificial emotions. "The Voight-Kampff empathy test is not far away from the sort of thing that cognitive neuroscientists

are actually doing today," says Chris Frith of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London.

Debates rage on whether Deckard himself is a replicant. Ridley Scott says that he is artificial, but Harrison Ford argues that

during filming Scott told him Deckard was human. Whatever the answer, it is a worthy winner also because of the quality of

the film-making: Vangelis' brooding score, Rutger Hauer's replicant's seminal "I've seen things..." speech and that shot of the

future LA cityscape, which kicks off the story.



Πηγη: http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,,1290764,00.html

 

[Andrew]

100 Greatest Sci Fi Movies


1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - (1968 ) (Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood)
2. Star Wars: Ep.V - The Empire Strikes Back - (1980) (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford)
3. Star Wars: Ep.IV - A New Hope - (1977) (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford)
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - (1977) (Richard Dreyfus, Teri Garr)
5. The War of the Worlds - (1953) (Gene Barry, Ann Robinson)
6. Silent Running - (1971) (Bruce Dern, Steve Brown)
7. Alien - (1979) (Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt)
8. Star Wars: Ep.VI - Return Of the Jedi - (1983) (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford)
9. The Day The Earth Stood Still - (1951) (Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal)
10. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - (2005) (Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor)
11. Aliens - (1986) (Sigourney Weaver, Paul Riser)
12. Total Recall - (1990) (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone)
13. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - (1982) (Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore)
14. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - (1982) (William Shatner, Ricardo Montalban)
15. The Thing - (1982) (Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David)
16. Marooned - (1969) (Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman)
17. Alien 3 - (1992) (Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton)
18. Contact - (1997) (Jodi Foster, Matthew McConaughey)
19. Stargate - (1994) (Kurt Russell, James Spader)
20. Enemy Mine - (1985) (Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett)


Πηγη: http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_sci-fi.html

 

[Andrew]

THE WIRED Sci Fi Top 20


1. Blade Runner (1982 original release, 1992 director's cut)
Friedrich Nietzsche meets film noir in this tale of renegade replicants who want to meet their maker. Ridley Scott's direction,

P. K. Dick's story, and Syd Mead's visuals capture the dark heart of modernity. Whether or not genetic engineering and

megacorporate profiteering cause an android rebellion, we have seen the polyglot future of LA, and it is more human than

human.

2. Gattaca (1997)
Informed by Ray Bradbury on the one hand and BusinessWeek on the other, Gattaca is a tone poem in futurism, and it could

happen here. Indeed, little stands between us and a society stratified by chromosomal perfection. We have begun screening

embryos for serious disease. We will start to fix more subtle defects. Biology is destiny - get used to it.

3. The Matrix (1999)
It's a visually perfect movie, a finely conceived world - from the CopperTop pod caverns to the socket in Keanu Reeves' neck.

And the thought that everyday existence is a computer-generated illusion is tantalizing. Unfortunately, no one can be told what

the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 )
Stanley Kubrick created the modern sci-fi movie in a single blow with this artful masterpiece, nailing not one but three

touchstones: interplanetary travel, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrials. Only here, space is vast, lonely, and silent. HAL

9000 is up to no good. And the aliens are emotionally distant metaphysicians - they're definitely not gobbling Reese's Pieces.

5. Brazil (1985)
Reality is just graffiti in Terry Gilliam's absurdist dystopia, and the never-never present is a mishmash of all the horrors of the

20th century, from the terror of hidden bombs to the banality of advertising. The film offers only one implicit forecast, yet it's

fundamental: The real will grow more elusive - but bureaucracy will endure.

6. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Perhaps the most plausible sci-fi hell on earth in the near term. Bad parenting, lax law enforcement, and imaginative

pharmacology already fill the streets with droogs primed for a bit of the ultraviolence. The fear-fueled solution: a surveillance

society, with a copcam on every lapel. Not much of a choice.

7. Alien (1979)
This haunted-house version of 2001 crawls down your throat and grips your viscera with the ruthless efficiency of its

ever-mutating monster. Spacefarers are more like longshoremen than cosmonauts, their ship is a grimy, steam-filled industrial

machine, and everything about the alien drips with a biomechanical sexual terror. Surpassed in many ways by its sequel, but

scary as hell.

8. The Boys From Brazil (1978 )
While clones attack the big screen on a regular basis, Boys may be the only film that takes the science seriously. The movie

got it half right: Human cloning is possible. Reproducing an individual's character - as in Gregory Peck's flock of young Hitlers -

will remain difficult. Thankfully

9. Jurassic Park (1993)
Spielberg and Crichton knit the threads of legitimate science into a thunderous blockbuster. There's just enough background to

make us believe, maybe, that great, extinct beasts could soon be munching lawyers and character actors. A Pleistocene Park

with more-recently departed saber-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths is more likely. But they can't eat SUVs.

10. Star Wars (1977)
A visionary named George makes the space opera safe for Joseph Campbell, and a franchise is born. Feel the power of the

Force, but don't look too closely for a psychosocial blueprint: After all, if Luke et al. are light-years in the distant past, then

why did they fall victim to 1970s fashions, too?

11. The Road Warrior (1981)
Societal collapse by internal combustion may now be a familiar formula. But car-mageddon is never more entertaining than in

the deserts of outback Australia. It's not altogether unlikely: 1990s Somalia and Bosnia proved that disintegrating societies are

weirdly cinematic. Alas, a real post-apocalypse would probably be more like watching Waterworld - no fun at all.

12. Tron (1982)
Hacker Jeff Bridges is sucked into cyberspace, where he gets a firsthand lesson in being digital. The bitstream is a

metaphorical domain where software is emotional, hardware is deadly, and everything can be made into Disney-branded

games. Visually groundbreaking ride doesn't quite cohere as a solid story, but wins points as an early, vivid representation of a

virtual world.

13. The Terminator (1984)
Behind the sex appeal of a robot hit man from the future lies a premise now aloft in the Central Asian skies:machines waging

war on humanity. Take that and add the introduction of sci-fi's biggest action hero - Arnold's long-awaited return in T3 is slated

for release in 2003 - and Terminator powers its way onto the list through pure entertainment muscle.

14. Sleeper (1973)
Woody Allen takes the future and runs. Not 30 years later, Sleeper has already started to come true. Engineered foods: yep

(though still no megachickens). And AI confessionals and clandestine cloning may be closer than you think. We can only

hope Sony's working on the Orgasmatron.

15. Soylent Green (1973)
Charlton Heston won't eat what's on his plate - as it turns out, for good reason. Soylent Green exploits the end-times paranoia

of the early 1970s, when it was widely feared that cupboards would go bare as population outpaced agricultural capacity.

Nowadays food riots are more likely to be triggered by golden arches than green crackers.

16. RoboCop (1987)
The righteous lawman of the future is a cyborg. Director Paul Verhoeven's corporatized police state seems remarkably

reasonable - right down to the film's other enforcement machine, the ED-209. But an all-too-plausible glitch - a hapless

executive is gunned down in a demo - suggests why copbots won't be packing heat anytime soon.

17. Planet Of The Apes (1968 )
Nuclear destruction turns Darwinism on its head and apes trump humans on the food chain. The warheads could fly, though

our fellow primates' evolution couldn't, at least not on this movie's 2,000-year timetable. But who would have thought loincloths

would figure prominently in a lesson about medical research ethics?

18. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

Though it boasts all the tics of 1950s B movies - flying saucers, robots, ray guns - this milestone marks sci-fi's shift from pulp

entertainment to big-idea provocation. For 50 years, the themes offered here have stood as filmmaking hallmarks, from wise

aliens to spaceships dropping into Washington to a government hellbent on missing the visitor's message of peace.

19. Akira (1988 )
The first great anime movie gets lots of things right. Telling the tale of a biker gang that runs afoul of (check them off)

antigovernment plotters, corrupt politicians, and crackpot scientists, Akira leaves no genre convention untapped. Could it

happen here? No. Maybe in Japan.

20. Barbarella (1968 )
Thirty-eight millennia have gone by, and hormones are still raging - especially inside Jane Fonda, who as Queen of the Galaxy

puts both pharmaceuticals and biomechanics to work in her service. It may not be high art, but it's a safe bet: People will

always want new ways to get it on.



Πηγη: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/scifi.html?pg=2

 

[Andrew]

imdb.com Top 50 Sci-Fi movies by average vote

1.Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 8.8/10 (169199 votes)
2.Star Wars (1977) 8.8/10 (207587 votes)
3.Matrix, The (1999) 8.5/10 (227588 votes)
4.Metropolis (1927) 8.4/10 (21551 votes)
5.Alien (1979) 8.4/10 (102743 votes)
6.Aliens (1986) 8.3/10 (100571 votes)
7.2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 ) 8.3/10 (98401 votes)
8.Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 8.3/10 (127179 votes)
9.Grindhouse (2007) 8.3/10 (35929 votes)
10.Blade Runner (1982) 8.2/10 (112100 votes)
11.Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) 8.2/10 (133410 votes)
12.Donnie Darko (2001) 8.2/10 (112708 votes)
13.Back to the Future (1985) 8.2/10 (113249 votes)
14.Incredibles, The (2004) 8.1/10 (78595 votes)
15.Children of Men (2006) 8.1/10 (65133 votes)
16.Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 8.1/10 (8900 votes)
17.V for Vendetta (2005) 8.1/10 (105405 votes)
18.Stalker (1979) 8.1/10 (8928 votes)
19.Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951) 8.1/10 (16774 votes)
20.Frankenstein (1931) 8.1/10 (12317 votes)

Πηγη: http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Genres/Sci-Fi/average-vote

 

[Andrew]

Sci-Fi's Top 100:1-10

1 Star Wars

We didn't know how desperately we needed it till it showed up. But from the moment the original Star Wars switched on its

paradigm-shifting tractor beam in May 1977, audiences were hopelessly in thrall to the power of George Lucas' sunny sci-fi

fable. Folks lined up for hours at the mere 32 theaters initially showing the film, some emerging, giddy and grinning, only to get

right back in line.

And why not? Full of adventure, romance, self-sacrifice, and hissable, unambiguous villainy, Wars was an Rx for a cynical

audience numbed by everything from Vietnam to Watergate to drugs. Outside, the world was going to hell. Up on the screen,

Luke Skywalker was going to Alderaan, to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like his father. And everybody on

our planet wanted to go with him.

For science-fiction buffs, the rush was especially intense. Hollywood, at that point, had all but abandoned the genre. But with

Wars, Lucas took some of fandom's favorite tropes (talking robots, evil-potentate fathers, rocket jockeys) and transmuted them

from corny to cool -- thereby turning a backwater into the very definition of moneymaking mainstream entertainment.

The sequels -- The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) -- brought increasingly sophisticated visual

splendors to progressively pulpier plots. But they spawned a whole constellation of spin-off merchandise whose totemic lure

has held so strong that, two decades later, Lucas is set to launch the first of three prequels. What he anticipated was a

modestly popular series that would let him create toys for kids who'd grown up without heroes. Instead, Lucas engineered a

universe so thoroughly imagined, so appealingly mythic, that people don't want simply to visit it. They want to live there.

2 Star Trek

''A Wagon Train to the stars.'' That's how Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to TV execs in 1964. But though his hero, Capt.

James T. Kirk (William Shatner), was a classic space cowboy -- Buck Rogers for baby boomers -- it was clear right away that

Roddenberry had more on his mind than laser shoot-outs.

Set in the 23rd century, Trek dared to imagine a future in which the human race had evolved in perfect harmony. Such

optimism had obvious appeal in an era of anxiety and unrest. But Trek wasn't just about escapism -- it gave viewers a fresh

perspective on their own world, with morality plays that were thinly veiled versions of 20th-century Earth problems. Of course,

Trek found plenty of action as well. There were Klingons and Romulans, phasers and photon torpedoes, Mr. Spock (Leonard

Nimoy) and his Vulcan nerve pinch. And, of course, the two-fisted Kirk kicking alien butt.

Yet Trek failed to succeed in its own time, getting canceled after three seasons. Only in syndication did its impact mature. In

hindsight, the growth of the franchise -- eight feature films (with a ninth on the way), three prime-time spin-off series (including

the wonderfully complex Next Generation), countless books and paraphernalia -- seems inevitable. Echoes of Trek can be

found in every corner of our culture: Witness the Trek-themed attraction in Las Vegas, or NASA naming a space shuttle

Enterprise. Trek didn't just show us the future -- it fashioned our future in its image.

But Trek's mythology still achieves its greatest resonance in Roddenberry's original vision of an enlightened humankind, boldly

going where no one has gone before, fulfilling its destiny in an expanding universe. As Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) once

put it, "Let's see what's out there." Idealistic? Sure. But also damned inspiring

3.The Twilight Zone 1959-64

Its very title has entered our lexicon as a metaphor for eerie ambiguity. Which is only fitting, given that its creator, Rod Serling,

embodied myriad contradictions. Optimist, naysayer, folksy storyteller, urbane futurist--all got play during the series' five-year

run. Serling camouflaged his secular moralism in fantasy, all the better to hide its bite from nervous CBS execs. But whether

dealing with racism, Armageddon, or loneliness, Serling's message got through--sometimes with a nudge, sometimes with a

sledgehammer. The show's most memorable episodes captured lightning in a bottle in a literate way other programs could

only dream of. To television's flickering shadows, Zone added substance.

4.Frankenstein 1818

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was 18 years old when she first came up with a richer, more disruptive pop-culture creation than

Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson combined. Inspired by a dream, she wrote Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus,

about a doctor obsessed with creating life. The gothic tale was one of the first works to explore science's destructive side and,

as such, marked the birth of sci-fi as we know it. Though the most famous and stylish of numerous adaptations is the 1931

version starring Boris Karloff, everyone from Mel Brooks to The X-Files' Chris Carter has contributed variations on this fable.

5.2001: A Space Odyssey 1968

Yes, director Stanley Kubrick can be as chilly a critter as God put on this green earth, but never has his icy perfectionism

been better utilized than in this technically precocious and philosophically ambitious adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's 1951

short story, "The Sentinel." A voyage to Jupiter is simply the framework for a brain-teasing and trippy meditation on our

evolving relationship with technology, from the dawn of mankind to the computerized twilight of scientific achievement ("Open

the pod-bay doors, HAL..."). Three decades after the fact, we're still astounded by the scope and vision of Kubrick's

accomplishment. In this master's hands we're all just giddy apes breaking bones before the Monolith, thrashing to the strains

of Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra.

6.Metropolis 1926

Ditching logic in favor of grandeur, German director Fritz Lang created a new myth for a new age. In this, the first mature vision

of a city of the future, aristocrats frolic in their skyscraper roof gardens while proles toil below. After an industrialist's son falls

in love with the workers' heroine, his father commissions her robot clone to be built. The best moments--architectonic crowd

shots, the robot's test run--are sublimely rich and terribly strange. (Stranger still is the 1984 reissue that sets the silent film

against songs by Adam Ant, Loverboy, and the like.) A triumph of Bauhaus design, and the acme of German Expressionist

cinema, it's also the first great sci-fi film. And all that aside, it rocks.

7.War of the Worlds 1938

H.G. Wells' 1898 novel The War of the Worlds, about Earth's battle with Mars, was ultimately less important to sci-fi history

than the artifacts it inspired. One of them, producer George Pal's 1953 film, featured lovely, spindly spaceships equipped with

exterminating rays, an image so resonant that it would be copied countless times. But most famous of all is Orson Welles'

1938 radio production, so realistically dramatized by his Mercury Theatre troupe that the broadcast sparked a nationwide

panic: Listeners really thought Earth had been invaded. As mass-hysteria public hoax, this has never been topped. And there's

never been a more chilling demonstration of science fiction's latent ability to stimulate and provoke.

8.Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956, 1978

Everyone's had the nightmare: Your friends and family have been replaced by exact duplicates who are just a little

bit...different. This archetypal fear is brought into chilling focus in two equally effective but distinct films. The taut 1956 version,

directed by Don Siegel, works as a metaphor for Communist witch-hunts as alien pods replace the sleeping populace with

glassy-eyed, politically obedient automatons. In Philip Kaufman's bold '78 remake, it's New Age drones that are obliterating

the nonbelievers. Both heroes try (in vain) to convince the masses of doom. Kevin McCarthy's fate, in the midst of the

conformist '50s, is left up in the air, but Donald Sutherland isn't so lucky--as the '70s wind to a close, the only voice he has left

is a scream.

9.Alien / Aliens 1979, 1986

Before director Ridley Scott got hold of the concept, Hollywood's conception of extraterrestrial life was pretty much limited to

either whimsical little green men or clumsy bug-eyed monsters. In a gritty future, Scott brought to life Swiss surrealist H.R.

Giger's terrifying biomechanical beastie: an acid-bleeding, razor-toothed, overgrown cockroach with an ugly practice of

gestating its offspring in human hosts. James Cameron (Aliens) later extended the concept, introducing a voracious queen and

a hive mentality, and also put the monsters up against a truly worthy opponent: Sigourney Weaver, a kick-ass mother with an

attitude. Suddenly, space was a pretty scary place to be.

10.Superman 1938

He was invented by two teenagers from Cleveland, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and introduced in the premier

issue of Action Comics in June 1938. Supe would become one of the most recognizable characters--comic book or

otherwise--in the world. The heart of his appeal: He personified the best of humankind--ironic since, technically, he was an

alien. The Man soon found his way into other media, including a 1940 radio show and a series of beautiful cartoon shorts.

Although future TV and film incarnations would vary widely in quality, his stature in the national mythos never wavered. He was, after all, Superman.



Πηγη: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_285332,00.html

 

[Andrew]

Top 100 Sci-Fi Films

1.Blade Runner (Ridley Scott-1982 )
2.Star Wars Trilogy IV-VI (1977-83) (George Lucas )
3.The Matrix (L & A Wachowski-1999 )
4.2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick-1968 )
5.Alien (Ridley Scott-1979 )
6.Aliens (James Cameron-1986 )
7.The Terminator (James Cameron-1984 )
8.The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise-1951 )
9.Terminator 2 - Judgement Day (James Cameron-1991 )
10.Forbidden Planet (Fred M Wilcox-1956 )
11.Planet of the Apes (Franklin J Schaffner-1968 )
12.The Fifth Element (Luc Besson-1997 )
13.Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam-1995 )
14.Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg-1977 )
15.Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (Nicholas Meyer-1982 )
16.Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis-1985 )
17.A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick-1971 )
18.Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg-1993 )
19.Star Wars I-III (1999-2005) (George Lucas )
20.Brazil (Terry Gilliam-1985 )


Πηγη: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_film.html

 

[Andrew]

Sci-fi's top 25 movies and TV of the past 25 years



20. STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (2003-2005 )
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky

The most painful thing about confining this list to the last 25 years was that we couldn't include either Star Wars or The

Empire Strikes Back, both of which were too old. And that left Return of the Jedi and the prequel trilogy — which no one in our

Brain Trust could work up any enthusiasm for. But then we remembered Star Wars: Clone Wars, the series of animated shorts

that aired on Cartoon Network. The creation of animator Genndy Tartakovsky (The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack), Clone Wars

fills in the story gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and fleshes out how Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin

Skywalker battled against the separatist forces of evil.

POP CULTURE LEGACY There's an abundance of style and storytelling economy here that was, sadly, absent from the

George Lucas-directed prequels. Sometimes, if you let the talented kids into the sandbox without telling them exactly how to

play, the results can be surprising.

THE BEST BIT Volume 2. Even though volume 1 is almost wall-to-wall action, the five shorts in volume 2 cover a lot more

ground, and lead directly into Episode III. (Better yet, just get both. They're pretty cheap.)

19. STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997 )
Directed by Paul Verhoeven

Easily the most love-it-or-hate-it film on this list, Starship Troopers is like one of those inkblots in a shrink's office. Do you see

a dangerous slab of fascist propaganda? Or a deliciously campy parody of mindless jingoism? Plenty of critics thought it was

the former — and they need to lighten up. Verhoeven turns Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 novel into a cheeky episode of Beverly

Hills, 90210-in-space, as beefcake hero Casper Van Dien pitches woo to cheesecake heroine Denise Richards while

intergalactic doughboys (and girls) reduce a race of giant alien insects to Day-Glo guts.

POP CULTURE LEGACY Like the anti-Communist sci-fi allegories of the '50s, Starship Troopers had more on its mind than

squashing alien bugs. As he did in RoboCop, Verhoeven uses hammy TV clips and recruitment videos — ''Would you like to

know more?'' — to show just how plausible this right-wing future is. But rather than endorsing it, he's satirizing it.

THE BEST BIT Doogie Howser (a.k.a. Neil Patrick Harris) in an SS trench coat reading the mind of the captured Brain Bug:

''It's afraid...it's afraid!''

18. HEROES (2006-Present )
Created by Tim Kring

A living, breathing comic book about a collection of people whose genetic evolution has led to extraordinary powers, Heroes

takes the supernatural and both rationalizes and humanizes it. Thus does the office drudge (Masi Oka) bend time and space,

the politician (Adrian Pasdar) learn to fly, and the cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) become indestructible. As their stories

intersect and an apocalypse looms, the blurry line between good and evil comes down to a battle for self-control. Can't say

you don't identify with that.

POP CULTURE LEGACY If the hallmark of serial sci-fi on TV is its frequent inability to finish what it starts, Heroes is

groundbreaking for asking and answering compelling questions. And while it has yet to be determined whether saving the

cheerleader will, in fact, save the world, it's certainly taken steps toward saving NBC.

THE BEST BIT The still-in-progress first season rolled out flashy effects, gory dismemberments, and doomsday visions, but

Oka's gleeful cheer when he managed to teleport to Times Square trumps them all. It was the cry of a normal dude who just

realized his entire world was forever changed...and it's that transformation that keeps us riveted.

17. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004 )
Directed by Michel Gondry

Sure, you could write this off as a postmodern love story, but anything that involves thought-control experiments administered

via a giant silver brain scanner is most definitely science fiction. As Joel (Jim Carrey) struggles against his hasty decision to

erase his memories of ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet), we're plunged into a fluid, shape-shifting universe that only

enhances writer Charlie Kaufman's reputation as the King of the Mind-fraks.

POP CULTURE LEGACY After two similarly experimental movies — Adaptation and Being John Malkovich —

Sunshinecemented ''Kaufman-esque'' as the new ''Tarantino-esque.'' More importantly, it carried on the best

this-world-is-not-what- you-think-it-is sci-fi traditions while making them palatable to fanboys and their tissue-wielding

girlfriends.

THE BEST BIT All credit to Gondry for using dazzling theatrical effects and the simplest of settings — like a frozen lake — to

make Joel's memory erasure so powerful and poignant. The image that packs the most punch? Joel standing in the living room

of an abandoned beach house, remembering the day he and Clem first met, as walls crumble and the ocean swirls around his

feet.

16. TOTAL RECALL (1990 )
Directed by Paul Verhoeven

''If I'm not me, whodahell am I?'' Excellent question, Mr. Schwarzenegger. Science fiction has always been a genre steeped in

pretzel-logic story lines, but this adaptation of Philip K. Dick's ''We Can Remember It for You Wholesale'' is so Escher-like in

its twistiness, you'll have to watch it more than once for all the pieces to snap into place. Arnold plays a futuristic regular Joe

who gets a memory implant to simulate a Mars vacation. But messing with his noggin triggers an unknown cloak-and-dagger

past involving bullet-riddled double crosses, a three-breasted Martian prostitute, and a rebel leader named Kuato — a Yoda-ish

homunculus growing out of some dude's chest. It makes sense...honest.

POP CULTURE LEGACY The mating of big-action heroics and heady philosophical musings in a movie that went on to make

a fortune paved the way for other Thinking Man blockbusters like The Matrix.

THE BEST BIT It's tough to top Schwarzenegger mind-melding with the shriveled Kuato...but Arnold pulling a tracking device

out of his skull — through his nose — comes close.

15. FIREFLY/SERENITY (2002/2005 )
Created by Joss Whedon

In 2002, Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon attempted to reinvent the space opera with a rough-and- tumble vision

of the future set in an Earth-colonized galaxy. Part Western, part sci-fi, wholly unique, Fireflystarred Nathan Fillion as the

captain of Serenity, one of those dumpy old ships that don't look like much but get the job done. The TV series tracked the

misadventures of his morally ambiguous crew as they tried to make an occasionally honest living by hauling cargo, stealing

stuff, and accidentally helping their fellow man. The show was smart, funny, and wonderfully human, and because this is Joss

Whedon we're talking about, it also had a highkicking, superpowered wonder woman. Firefly was strange. Firefly shouldn't

have worked. And it didn't. Firefly was canceled after 11 episodes...

POP CULTURE LEGACY...only to be revived in 2005 as the feature film Serenity , thanks to the tenacity of Whedon, the

surprise success of Firefly on DVD, and a small army of Internet-based supporters.

THE BEST BIT Saddle up for the show, to see how it all started, and the movie, to see the ending. Then pray that someday,

some studio exec will have the guts to make more.

14. CHILDREN OF MEN (2006 )
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

It probably wasn't Universal's best decision, releasing Children of Menon Christmas Day 2006. How many people want to

spend their holiday watching a dystopian nightmare, even if it is a work of art? That's sort of like showing A Clockwork

Orangeto your grandma on her birthday. Set in 2027, Men is a dark, ripping road movie that follows Clive Owen as he tries to

lead the world's first pregnant woman in 18 years to safety. Some naysayers called it too bleak, but — more than any movie in

recent memory — we believe this sci-fi thriller will be rediscovered as a true classic down the line.

POP CULTURE LEGACY What stands out is the way Y Tu Mamá También director Cuarón uses his futuristic setting to evoke

today's world, with scary allusions sprinkled throughout to the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, the Holocaust, and more.

THE BEST BIT Aided by a little CG trickery, Cuarón and his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, deliver some of the coolest

tracking shots in the history of cinema — the best being a jaw-dropping, four-minute action sequence built around a carjacking

attempt on a remote forest road.

13. THE TERMINATOR/ TERMINATOR 2 (1984 /1991 )
Directed by James Cameron

Oh, if only all sci-fi action movies could be as kick-ass as the first two Terminators. There's something so hardcore about the

original, the merciless chase picture that expertly cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as the scariest killing machine ever seen.

Terminator 2, meanwhile, is warmer and more accessible — if just as bloody. At first it seemed wrong that Arnold was now

playing the hero, until you settled in and realized that this time Cameron was out to deliver a richer and more layered

experience, while still blowing you to the back of the theater with awesome action set pieces.

POP CULTURE LEGACY By spending a then-record $90 million-plus to make T2, Cameron and his liquid-metal T-1000

revolutionized the use of CG technology.

THE BEST BIT So many killer sequences to choose from! For the way it presages the coming effects revolution, we're tempted

to highlight the scene in the original when the Terminator tends to his wounds in front of the bathroom mirror. The true winner,

though, is the first big chase in T2, featuring a semi tractor-trailer careening off an overpass into a river basin below. You can't

beat that.

12. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985 )
Directed by Robert Zemeckis

The space-time continuum is a delicate concept, especially when Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels back to 1955 and

saves his Peeping Tom father (Crispin Glover) from getting hit by a car. As a result, Marty's randy mother-to-be (Lea

Thompson) develops the hots for him, threatening his entire future existence. Twenty-two years later, this timeless sci-fi

comedy offers twice the nostalgia: 1985 is nearly as foreign as 1955. (DeLoreans? Jokes about Tab?) Sci-fi has never been as

user-friendly as it is here, but not once does the clever script betray the rigid cause/effect tenets of time-travel fiction. (Yes, by

''inventing'' rock & roll, Marty ensures that his parents fall in love.)

POP CULTURE LEGACY With Future, Fox became more than just Family Ties' cute Republican — he was a legitimate movie

star. Plus, the movie enshrined the phrases ''flux capacitor'' and ''1.21 jigawatts'' in the zeitgeist.

THE BEST BIT Glover steals every scene as the bullied dweeb, and sci-fi fans everywhere can relate to his sincere horror at

the prospect of having ''Darth Vader'' (of the planet Vulcan) melt his brain.

11. LOST (2004-Present )
Created by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof

A mysterious island that's home to a shape-shifting smoke monster, a weird science project tasked with saving the world, and

a secret society of sinister ''Others'' who can't make babies — yes, Lost certainly has its fair share of sci-fi stuff. And yet, like

the best examples of the genre, this unfolding saga about plane-crash survivors trapped in a tropical twilight zone doesn't

wallow in its genre elements, but uses them to embellish an exploration of identity, community, and reality itself. Coyly

sublimating everything from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to Star Trek and Star Wars, Lost aspires to be an important

entertainment for a pop-soaked, soul-searching age. Now, at the risk of missing the point, how about some damn answers?!

POP CULTURE LEGACYBuilding on pioneers The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost helped to usher in a new era of

serialized storytelling and showed Hollywood how cult-pop TV can be leveraged into cashcow franchises. Heroes, say hello to

Daddy.

THE BEST BIT The Emmy-winning first season, with its perfect pilot and getting- to-know-you character flashbacks, is an

object lesson in capturing the imagination.

 

[Andrew]

10. THE THING (1982 )
Directed by John Carpenter

Recently, there's been talk in Hollywood of remaking The Thing. Please don't. For the love of God, we're begging you. After all,

this streamlined exercise in subzero paranoia cannot be improved upon. A badass and bearded Kurt Russell stars as R.J.

MacReady, the unofficial leader of a team of scientists in the Antarctic whose camp is infiltrated by an alien who kills, then

inhabits the bodies of its victims. As the crew is offed one by one, Carpenter's movie becomes a war of attrition — and a gory

war at that. When one of the eggheads (Charles Hallahan) is body-snatched, his severed head sprouts spider legs and

scurries across the room, while one of the scientists looks on in disbelief: ''You gotta be f---in' kidding!'' A flop when it was

released, The Thing has, with time, been reappraised as a masterpiece. A masterpiece that Tinseltown shouldn't even think of

messing with.

POP CULTURE LEGACY Rob Bottin's trailblazing gross-out effects work is still the holy grail for monster-makeup geeks

everywhere.

THE BEST BIT Wilford Brimley's crotchety Blair going loco when he's quarantined. You'll never look at a bowl of Quaker Oats

the same way again.

9. ALIENS (1986 )
Directed by James Cameron

Seven years after Ridley Scott's creepy, chest-thumping space thriller Alien, James Cameron instilled war-movie testosterone

in the sequel, as Sigourney Weaver's Ripley leads a pack of gung-ho Marines to an inhospitable planet now swarming with

vicious, acid-bleeding critters. Ripley was the first of a new breed of female action hero, one who can lead a team of frightened

men and get the job done on her own terms. And for her efforts, Weaver not only became the first action heroine to strike box

office gold, she landed a Best Actress Oscar nomination as well.

POP CULTURE LEGACY In the wake of Star Wars, outer-space folk were routinely depicted as quirky, fuzzy creatures. Look

no further than Tatooine's infamous cantina. But Cameron — building on Scott's lead — set the cinematic standard for

grotesque intergalactic creatures that could (and would) tear your lungs out.

THE BEST BIT While the first film took a less-is-more approach to revealing the gnarly beast, the sequel's queen alien gets

her close-up, most memorably in the mano a mano climax. When the queen corners a young orphan, Ripley announces her

arrival with Schwarzeneggerian brio: ''Get away from her, you bitch!''

8. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (1987-1994 )
Created by Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman

It probably shouldn't have worked, resurrecting Star Trekas a TV series. Lightning is hard enough to bottle once, but twice?

Just the same, Trek godfather Gene Roddenberry gave it a go, and in doing so allowed us to take TV sci-fi seriously again.

And the masterstroke was casting Patrick Stewart. By signing on as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, the Royal Shakespeare

Company veteran gave The Next Generation a gravitas-laden foundation to build on. (Having Brent Spiner as Data and

Jonathan Frakes as Commander Riker definitely helped.) As time went on, the writers and producers erected a sci-fi gold

standard, tackling subjects as varied as homosexuality, euthanasia, and slavery — all while flitting around the cosmos doing

battle with Romulans, Klingons, and the Borg.

POP CULTURE LEGACY The Next Generation resuscitated the dormant Star Trek television franchise, spawning Deep Space

Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.

THE BEST BIT Season 3 brought landmark episodes like the time-travel gem ''Yesterday's Enterprise,'' the classic Trek

touchstone ''Sarek,'' and one of the best season-ending cliff-hangers in TV history: the Borg-centric ''The Best of Both Worlds,

Part I.

7. E.T. (1982 )
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Twenty-five years ago, E.T. invented the sci-fi weepie. And consider this: Have we seen another one since? Until Star Wars

was rereleased in 1997, E.T. was the highest-grossing film of all time, and it's easy to see why. The movie is basically A New

Hope crossed with Casablanca, a mixture as perfect as the chocolate and peanut butter in Reese's Pieces. The bond between

Elliott and E.T., one of the most touching film friendships ever, showed that sci-fi was capable of real, glowing heart

underneath its fantastical, otherworldly trappings.

POP CULTURE LEGACY The movie's other major accomplishment? Revealing Steven Spielberg as an auteur who was

capable of much more than whiz-bang thrills. If not for E.T., there would likely be no Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List.

THE BEST BIT A boy, a bicycle, an alien, a full moon, and John Williams' swelling score: Elliott's bike ride through the night

sky, with E.T. stuffed in the front basket, will keep giving audiences goose bumps until much nastier extraterrestrials come

along and destroy the earth.

6. BRAZIL (1985 )
Directed by Terry Gilliam

A slapstick version of 1984 sounds like a bizarre hybrid, but the frantic tale of ambition-free drone Sam Lowry (Jonathan

Pryce), who takes on the totalitarian government for the sake of his fantasy woman (Kim Greist), is a perversely devastating

mix of hilarity and shock. Gilliam creates a depressing, shoddy futurescape of tubes and wires, where the creativity that was

supposed to give us robots and jet packs has been channeled into expanding an oppressive bureaucracy that charges

suspected dissidents for their own torture.

POP CULTURE LEGACY Echoing the film's David-and-Goliath plot, Gilliam won the fight to release his original version of the

movie only after an epic struggle with Universal, the unhappy studio that had repossessed Brazil, cut over 40 minutes from it,

and added a happy ending. (Both versions are now available on Criterion's superb three-DVD set.) Like Lowry, who dreams of

being a brave knight battling evil, the iconoclastic director would repeat this underdog clash against his backers on many of his

later pictures, although never to such thrilling results.

THE BEST BIT In a quintessentially dark comic moment, Lowry visits the office of his genial chum Jack (Michael Palin), who,

in a blood-smeared smock, babysits his cherubic daughter while putting the screws to some rebels.

5. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982 )
Directed by Nicholas Meyer

Klingons. Romulans. The Borg. Over the better part of four decades, the crew of the Starship Enterprise has tangled with many

a pesky intergalactic foe. But none had as much genetically bred wit, wiliness, and... well, wrath as Ricardo Montalban's

Khan. Abandoned years earlier by Captain Kirk (William Shatner) on a barren planet (for trying to shipjack the Enterprise),

Khan survived, sustained by his hunger for vengeance. The parallels between Montalban's leathery-pec'd Khan (Corinthian

leather, of course) and Moby Dick's maniacal Ahab elevate what could've been just a bloated Trek episode. If revenge is a dish

best served cold, then this movie is one chilling feast.

POP CULTURE LEGACY The genesis of the ''even-number theory'' (e.g., the only good Trek flicks are the even-numbered

sequels), Khan is the benchmark against which all Trekfilms are measured.

THE BEST BIT The prize goes to an outwitted Shatner, frothing at the mouth and bursting with rage, bellowing ''Khaaaannnnn!''

at the top of his lungs

4. THE X-FILES (1993-2002 )
Created by Chris Carter

Once upon a time, the FBI sent no-nonsense special agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to debunk the crackpot theories of

special agent Fox ''Spooky'' Mulder (David Duchovny). What they got instead was a conspiracy-fighting team so powerful it

threatened to bring down the shady men who'd infiltrated the highest levels of government with their dreams of alien/human

hybrid technology. What did we get? One hell of a TV show — even if we never quite got the truth.

POP CULTURE LEGACY For the first time since The Twilight Zone, viewers could ponder the mysteries of the universe and

get scared silly. From inbred mutants to satanic cults, Mulder and Scully's darting flashlights lit up some seriously freaky

darkness. And like Twin Peaks before it, Files made conspiracy-theorizing an addictive couch-potato pastime.

THE BEST BIT For the perfect balance of mythology and monster-of-the-week, pick up season 3. You'll get plenty of geeky

goodness — the black oil, the Cigarette Smoking Man, the chip in Scully's neck — but you'll also get brilliant stand-alone

episodes like ''Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose.'' When guest star Peter Boyle, playing a winsome psychic, tells Scully she'll

never die, it's hard not to wish the same could have been said for this show's heyday.

3. BLADE RUNNER (1982 )
Directed by Ridley Scott

Blade Runner follows cop Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) — who may or may not be human — as he attempts to terminate four

bioengineered androids, called replicants, on the streets of 2019 Los Angeles. Adapted from a novel by noted writer and

nutcase Philip K. Dick, the film, particularly in its Director's Cut incarnation, asks big questions — namely, ''Are you really

who you think you are?'' And it does so against the backdrop of a stunningly designed near-future worldscape whose many

nods to globalization make it seem more prescient with every passing day.

POP CULTURE LEGACY Scott's rain-lashed, dystopic film offered a hugely influential vision of a future. In subsequent films,

this, more often than not, is what the future looks like.

THE BEST BIT The genuinely heartbreaking pre-death speech by the replicant played by Rutger Hauer (''I've seen things you

people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion...'') is also the most geeked-out, hardcore sci-fi sequence

in the pantheon of all-time great movie moments.

2. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003-Present )
Developed by Ronald D. Moore

You remember the show, right? Lorne Greene in a shiny cape leading a band of well-coiffed thirtysomethings as they flee from

extras in shiny suits? Glen A. Larson's original '70s Battlestar Galactica: not the worst by-product of the Star Wars

juggernaut, but close. So one could view the unmitigated brilliance that is Sci Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica

series two ways: (1) They had no place to go but up or (2) it's amazing they did so much with so little.

The core of the Galactica plot — the last human survivors of a catastrophic genocide are on the run from their attackers, the

Cylons — carried a new resonance in the wake of 9/11. And in keeping with science fiction's grandest tradition, BSG tapped

into the power of allegory to enrich its outer-space dogfights and military pomp with the gravity of issues like abortion,

terrorism, stem-cell research, racism, even the war in Iraq. The dysfunctionally awesome cast gives it all the ring of

authenticity: from Edward James Olmos' crusty warhorse Admiral Adama and Mary McDonnell's tender-as-nails President

Roslin to Katee Sackhoff's bedeviled pilot Kara Thrace and Tricia Helfer's glacially threatening Cylon known only as Number

Six. But the real MVPs of the ensemble are Michael Hogan, who plays Adama's boozy right-hand man Saul Tigh, and James

Callis, who makes you feel for Gaius Baltar, the best, most conflicted villain on TV.

POP CULTURE LEGACYThe damned thing won a Peabody award for its second season. It's proving what sci-fi fans have

known for decades: Science fiction is as legitimate a vehicle for human drama as any other genre.

THE BEST BIT While any given episode of Galacticais better than 90 percent of what's on the air, the thrill of discovery makes

the first season (including the miniseries) the way to go.

1. THE MATRIX (1999 )
Directed by the Wachowski brothers

Heading into 1999, there was one movie that was supposed to be the second coming. The culmination of an extended sci-fi

moment that had helped hardwire the culture for mythic, stargazing escapism. By all rights, it should be sitting atop this list.

But Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace turned out to be a case study in empty pop idolatry. Fortunately, there was

a movie released the same year that was able to play that part, a film as unexpected, groundbreaking, and

capture-the-imagination entertaining as the first Star Wars: The Matrix.

Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski — a pair of hyper-erudite, super-shy comic-book writers-turned-filmmakers

who became overnight cult icons for their trouble — The Matrix was one geeky gumbo of brainy mumbo jumbo; a

multi-megabyte compression of mythological and theological ideas, Hong Kong action-film aesthetics, and videogame special

effects. Somehow, it worked. Brilliantly. Keanu Reeves was Neo, a spiritually numb computer programmer who learns that not

only is his life an illusory sham — the world as he knows it is a virtual-reality prison, created by sentient machines who had

won an apocalyptic war against humanity — but that he is destined to become a hero-messiah. The Matrix crackled with

late-'90s millennial angst and tech-boom delirium — a freaky-fun fable for a ghost-in- the-machine culture. Bottom line: The

Matrix was just...whoa.

POP CULTURE LEGACY With its cutting-edge effects, balletic fight sequences, and leather-dusters-andblack- shades

wardrobe, The Matrixredefined the look of Hollywood action. It sparked a moviegoing crush on Asian wire-fu (see: Crouching

Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and set the stage for our current moment of superhero pop and thoughtful science fiction (see:

Battlestar Galactica, Lost). It also spawned two sequels that sucked. Nonetheless, The Matrix's accomplishment remains

undiminished.

THE BEST BIT The moment that brought bullet time to the movies: Neo's rooftop gunfight with a nefarious Agent. Slow motion has never been so kinetic



Πηγη: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20041669_20041686_20037541,00.html

 

[Andrew]

The OFCS Top100 ScI-Fi List (Online Film Critics Society )

100 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986 )
99 Slaughterhouse Five (1973 )
98 Escape from New York (1981 )
97 Time After Time (1979 )
96 Andromeda Strain, The (1971 )
95 Highlander (1986 )
94 Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975 )
93 Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The (1984 )
92 Men In Black (1997 )
91 Fantastic Planet (Planète sauvage, La) (1973 )
90 Until the End of the World (1991 )
89 Village of the Damned (1960 )
88 Starman (1984 )
87 Seconds (1966 )
86 THX 1138 (1970 )
85 Fahrenheit 451 (1966 )
84 Open Your Eyes (Abre los Ojos) (1997 )
83 Total Recall (1990 )
82 Silent Running (1971 )
81 On the Beach (1959 )
80 Invaders from Mars (1953 )
79 eXistenZ (1999 )
78 Time Bandits (1981 )
77 Akira (1988 )
76 Dawn of the Dead (1978 )
75 Dead Zone, The (1983 )
74 Star Trek: First Contact (1996 )
73 Fantastic Voyage (1966 )
72 Cell, The (2000 )
71 Mad Max (1979 )
70 Sleeper (1973 )
69 Things to Come (1936 )
68 They Live (1988 )
67 Edward Scissorhands (1990 )
66 Quatermass and the Pit (a.k.a. Five Million Years To Earth) (1967 )
65 Strange Days (1995 )
64 Superman: The Movie (1978 )
63 Night of the Living Dead (1968 )
62 Starship Troopers (1997 )
61 Man Who Fell to Earth, The (1976 )
60 Them! (1954 )
59 Tron (1982 )
58 Thing From Another World, The (1951 )
57 Fifth Element, The (1997 )
56 Stalker (1979 )
55 Ghostbusters (1984 )
54 Trip to the Moon, A (Le Voyage dans la Lune) (1902 )
53 Altered States (1980 )
52 Gattaca (1997 )
51 Invisible Man, The (1933 )
50 City of Lost Children, The (Cité des enfants perdus, La) (1995 )
49 Independence Day (1996 )
48 War of The Worlds, The (1953 )
47 Jacob's Ladder (1990 )
46 Time Machine, The (1960 )
45 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983 )
44 Fly, The (1986 )
43 Pi (1998 )
42 Videodrome (1983 )
41 Truman Show, The (1998 )
40 Incredible Shrinking Man, The (1957 )
39 Frankenstein (1931 )
38 Iron Giant, The (1999 )
37 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 )
36 Donnie Darko (2001 )
35 Dr. Strangelove (1964 )
34 Alphaville (1965 )
33 Abyss, The (1989 )
32 Forbidden Planet (1956 )
31 Robocop (1987 )
30 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982 )
29 Jurassic Park (1993 )
28 Thing, The (1982 )
27 Road Warrior, The (1981 )
26 Solaris (1972 )
25 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001 )
24 La Jetee (1962 )
23 Bride of Frankenstein (1935 )
22 King Kong (1933 )
21 12 Monkeys (1995 )
20 Contact (1997 )
19 Dark City (1998 )
18 Planet of the Apes (1968 )
17 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 )
16 Terminator, The (1984 )
15 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991 )
14 Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951 )
13 Back to the Future (1985 )
12 Matrix, The (1999 )
11 Aliens (1986 )
10 Alien (1979 )
9 Clockwork Orange, A (1971 )
8 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977 )
7 Brazil (1985 )
6 Metropolis (1927 )
5 E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982 )
4 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980 )
3 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977 )
2 Blade Runner (1982 )
1 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 )


Πηγη: http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/pages/pr/top100scifi

 

[Andrew]

The editor of Sci-Fi Universe magazine's sci-fi/fantasy/horror movies suggestions:

Alien [* * * *]
Back to the Future [ * * *]
A Boy and his Dog [* * * ½]
A Clockwork Orange [* * * * *]
Fahrenheit 451 [* * * *]
Forbidden Planet [* * *]
The Incredible Shrinking Man [* * *]
Invaders from Mars (the 1958 original) [not reviewed]
Island of Lost Souls (1932 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau) [not reviewed]
Jason and the Argonauts [not reviewed]
Mary Poppins [not reviewed]
Nineteen Eighty-Four (the 1984 version) [* * *]
Peggy Sue Got Married [* *]
Planet of the Apes [* * * *]
Raiders of the Lost Ark [not reviewed]
7 Faces of Dr. Lao [not reviewed]
Sleeper [* * * *]
The Terminator [* * * *]
Them! [not reviewed]
The Thing (1951 original, not the 1982 remake by director John Carpenter) [* *]
The Time Machine (1960 original) [* * *]
20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 movie version) [not reviewed]
War of the Worlds [* * *]
X - the Man With X-Ray Eyes [not reviewed]

The Sci-Fi Movie Page's suggestions (in addition to the above):

Brazil [* * * *]
Dark Star [* * * *]
Dr Strangelove (Or How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb) [* * * *]
Metropolis [* * *]
12 Monkeys [* * * *]
Solaris [* * * ½]


Πηγη: http://www.scifimoviepage.com/art_1.html

 

[Andrew]

Eπισης απο την ιδια ιστοσελιδα
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/art_8.html



COOL SCI-FI MOVIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

The Arrival
(Unfairly ignored)
Neat little paranoid thriller starring Charlie Sheen that somehow got lost in the huge hype surrounding Independence Day.

Battle Beyond the Stars
(Can you say hormonal imbalance?)
Pure B-movie material as has-been television stars battle it out with invading aliens with green blood. One of exploitation
producer Roger Corman's most expensive efforts, Battle Beyond the Stars is worth the price of a rental only to see the
incredible outfit worn by busty Sybil Danning . . .

A Boy and his Dog
(Must see - despite the cheap sets.)
It might gathering dust under another title (such as Apocalypse 2011) on your local videostore's shelves, but this
black-humoured movie made on a shoestring and based on a novella by sci-fi great Harlan Ellison is a must-see.

Brazil
(Over-the-top, grotesque, sick, great . . .)
If you're a Monty Python fan then you'll know who Terry Gilliam is. Having made such off-beat films such as The Adventures of

Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys, Gilliam is one of the most original and singular talents haunting the
Hollywood byroads. If you're not a Python fan, then that's no excuse to miss this wildly surreal movie about an Orwellian dystopia.

Dark Star
(Waiting for Godot meets Arthur C. Clarke)
Made by cult director John (Escape from New York, The Thing) Carpenter while still a film school student, Dark Star runs like
a mixture between French absurdist theatre and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The effects are surprisingly good for such a cheaply made movie.

The Day The Earth Stood Still
(An "oldie" but good . . .)
Even if you don't like Black & White movies this one is still worth seeing . . .

Death Race 2000
(One of my favourite bad movies of all time)
Bad outfits, music, acting, hairstyles and a wickedly twisted screenplay makes for an excellent bad movie.

Demolition Man
(Violent and funny actioner)
Fancy lots of explosions? You've got that and a screenplay that slyly makes digs at the type of macho character usually played by Sylvester Stallone . . .

Disaster In Time
(Uneven, yet thoughtful)
Time travel story with an intriguing premise. This movie doesn't always deliver on its promise, but is still worth catching on late-night television if you can. . .

Enemy Mine
(Lame ending, good acting, gripping)
More sci-fi than anything recently thrown in our direction, Enemy Mine ultimately suffers from an extremely unlikely ending.
However, if your literary tastes includes "hard" sci-fi such as Asimov and Clarke, then you'll be, er, hard-pressed to find a better way to spend two hours of your life.

Fahrenheit 451
(French art house movie - but without the subtitles)
See this movie based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury about "firemen" who burns in a future dystopia before
Mel Gibson finishes the Hollywood remake of it he is busy with right now.

The Handmaid's Tale
(Cautionary feminist parable)
This, er, tale set in a future patriarchal dystopia in which women serves as nothing else than breeders may be slow moving,
but is suitably weird and interesting.

The Hidden
(Violent, clever, funny)
This unexpectedly good violent sci-fi action movie reminds one most of the first Terminator movie.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - the Movie
(Funny)
This extremely funny spin-off of the "cult" television show may start off unpromisingly, but soon you'll find yourself rewinding
the tape and watching it again because you couldn't hear all the dialogue because everybody watching it were laughing so loud.

Not Of This Earth
(B-movie - be in the right frame of mind, beer not optional)
Pure Roger Corman exploitation pic starring ex-porn star Traci Lords. Lots of beer and pizza are required while watching . . .

Repo Man
(Weird)
Weird and off-beat are the adjectives that spring to mind when watching this flick that features street punks, mad scientists,
repo men, stolen Chevies, mad scientists and flying saucers.

Retroactive
(Not bad sci-fi action movie)
If you're looking for undemanding action movie stuff then you can do a whole lot worse than this engaging Groundhog Day-style time travel story.

Screamers
(Effective at times)
Based on a Philip K. (Blade Runner, Total Recall) Dick short story called Second Variety, Screamers may play like a downbeat version of Aliens, but it has its moments.

Silent Running
(Thoughtful, understated, melancholy)
Forget the scientific implausibility's and immerse yourself in this 2001-like lament on man's disregard for nature. Directed by special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull, the effects are above-average for its time but doesn't overwhelm the movie.

Slaughterhouse-Five
(The book's better, but this isn't bad)
You'd be better off reading Kurt Vonnegut's off-beat classic of the same title, but this film adaptation will at least make you want to read the book to more clearly understand on-screen events.

Split Second
(Trashy, yet fun)
Rutger (Ladyhawke) Hauer in pursuit of an Alien lookalike monster in future semi-submerged London. Trash - yet enjoyable trash.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
(Often forgotten)
This last movie to feature the original television show cast has lots of Shakespeare quotes being thrown around and is one of the few sci-fi movies that can be described as Agatha Christie in Outer Space . . .

Strange Days
(Underrated)
Violent end-of-the-millennium action movie with unlikely hero Ralph Fiennes. Cyberpunk thriller ultimately worth seeing despite its unlikely ending.

They Live
(Difficult to dislike despite its flaws)
This alien invasion story that gets its shots in at Reaganite 1980s materialism is a welcome return to form for cult director John Carpenter.

THX 1138
(Bleak)
You worship the very ground George Lucas walks on and you've seen Return of the Jedi more times than you can be bothered with to count, but have you ever seen Lucas' directorial debut - a bleak 1984 type of affair?

Time After Time
(Entertaining and light-weight)
"What would H.G. Wells say if he saw how things turned out in the end?" a character in CopLand asks. This time travel story supplies some hints: he spends a lot of time trying to get back to his own time!

Tremors
(Fun)
Dune lookalike worms attack a small desert town. Enjoyable and funny mayhem ensues mostly because of the local survivalist gun nut couple.

12 Monkeys
(Clever, intelligent)
Don't be put off by people who claimed that the plot is too complex: this Terry Gilliam movie is intelligently crafted and beautifully shot and filmed.

The Wings of Honneamise
(Great animation but not really for kids)
Want to check out anime - or rather Japanese animated movies? Then this is the place to start . . . Stark, surreal, at times
violent - Wings of Honneamise isn't quite Disney.

Zardoz
(Bad 1970s movie or great art?)
Love it or hate it - but you probably won't understand what the heck it's all about . . . Stars Sean Connery in a red leather S&M
outfit - if that's your type of thing.

 

[Andrew]

...Και η Λιστα μου:

Star Wars
Matrix
12 Monkeys
Brazil
Gataca
2001,A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner

 

[Maria Pentagiotissa]

Σπουδαία δουλειά Ξandrew!

Τελικά, τι είναι sci-fi?

(η συζήτηση που αναφέρεις ότι είχες θα πρέπει να ήταν πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα... γιατί δεν μας μεταφέρεις ορισμένα καίρια σημεία ή το συμπέρασμά της, αν υπήρξε?)

Σύμφωνα με τον ορισμό του Ισαάκ Ασίμοφ...

That branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings

Αν δεχθούμε αυτόν τον ορισμό, η αναφορά σε φαινόμενα που δεν έχουν σχέση με τη λογικοφανή ή μη εξέλιξη της επιστήμης μέσα στο χρόνο, δεν εντάσσει την ταινία ή το λογοτεχνικό έργο στη κατηγορία της επιστημονικής φαντασίας.
Με την έννοια αυτή, το (κατά τη γνώμη μου σπουδαίο, εξαιρετικά περίπλοκο και περίτεχνο σε σύλληψη) Donnie Darko νομίζω ότι δεν είναι sci-fi... Αντίθετα, θα έβαζα στις λίστες το Delicatessen, που δεν έχει μεν επιστημονικές αναφορές και υπόβαθρο, αλλά διαδραματίζεται σε ένα μελλοντικό κόσμο τύπου "μετά την καταστροφή", που η μορφή του έχει δοθεί προφανώς από την επιστήμη.

 

[Cinemusic - Ανδρεας]

Απάντηση: SCI-FI Movies :Ποια ειναι η δικια σας Λιστα?

Τη ίδια ερωτηση θα εκανα και εγω.
Τι εννοούμε λοιπον Sci Fi στα ελληνικα;


Μεσα στην λίστα ειδα και το Back to the Future και εχω μπερδευτεί λιγο.
Τι πρέπει να εχει μια ταινία για να αξίζει αυτόν τον τιτλο;

 

[Cine Gear]

Αυτες οι ταινιες ειναι απο τα καλυτερα δειγματα επιστημονικης φαντασιας κατα την γνωμη μου.


Highlander (1986 )
Total Recall (1990 )
Fantastic Voyage (1966 )
Strange Days (1995 )
Starship Troopers (1997 )
Tron (1982 )
Stalker (1979 )
Gattaca (1997 )
City of Lost Children, The (Cité des enfants perdus, La) (1995 )
Independence Day (1996 )
Fly, The (1986 )
Pi (1998 )
Donnie Darko (2001 )
Abyss, The (1989 )
Solaris (1972 )
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001 )
12 Monkeys (1995 )
Contact (1997 )
Dark City (1998 )
Terminator, The (1984 )
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991 )
Matrix, The (1999 )
Aliens (1986 )
Alien (1979 )
Clockwork Orange, A (1971 )
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977 )
Brazil (1985 )
Metropolis (1927 )
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982 )
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977 )
Blade Runner (1982 )
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 )

 

[Aero]

Τελικά είναι πιο δύσκολος ο ορισμός του sci-fi απ' ότι φανταζόμουν. Πιο πολύ μπορώ να πω ποια ταινία είναι και ποια δεν είναι sci-fi (για τα δικά μου κριτήρια πάντα) παρά να δώσω τον ορισμό. Εκτός βέβαια αν υπάρχει κάποιος καθολικά αποδεκτός ορισμός, οπότε απλά ίσως έχω λανθασμένη αντίληψη για τον όρο.

Πολύ πρόχειρα θα έλεγα ότι sci-fi είναι ταινίες που είτε διαδραματίζονται στο μέλλον είτε εμπλέκουν τεχνολογία μη υπάρχουσα (απ' όσο γνωρίζουμε) ή και τα δύο φυσικά (αν και οι ταινίες στο μέλλον απ' όσο ξέρω πάντα εμπλέκουν μη υπάρχουσα τεχνολογία). Είναι πολύ γενικός ο ορισμός σαφώς και... ήδη μπάζει γιατί πχ. δε θα μπορούσα να θεωρήσω το Frankenstein sci-fi ταινία παρόλο που χρησιμοποιεί μη υπάρχουσα τεχνολογία για να φτιάξει τα σχετικά... τερατάκια.

Ωραίο θέμα, θέλει σκέψη.

 

[unforgiven]

Ένας απλός, και περιεκτικός, ορισμός που βρήκα είναι ο εξής:
"Stories whose central struggle is generated from the technology and tools of a scientifically imaginable world"
Επιστημονική φαντασία δεν είναι μόνο τα robots, τα laser και τα ufo. Είναι και η ιστορία του Φράνκενσταϊν, είναι και τα κανόνια που στέλνουν ανθρώπους στη Σελήνη του Ι. Βερν.
Επίσης σημαντικό είναι ότι το "central struggle" που λέει ο ορισμός, πρέπει να προέρχεται από την τεχνολογία και τα εργαλεία ενός επιστημονικά φανταστικού κόσμου. Αν πάρουμε μία οποιαδήποτε ταινία του παρελθόντος ή του παρόντος και τη μεταφέρουμε στο μέλλον δεν γίνεται αυτόματα Sci-Fi. Αν, πχ οι ήρωες του... Brokeback Mountain μεταφερθούν στο 3000 μΧ, αντί για άλογα καβαλάνε φουτουριστικές μηχανές που πετάνε και η ιστορία εκτυλίσεται στο Α Κενταύρου η ταινία ΔΕΝ είναι Sci-Fi.

 

[Cine Gear]

Επιστημονική φαντασία (Ε.Φ.) είναι κατηγορία της ευρύτερης λογοτεχνίας του φανταστικού, στην οποία η εξέλιξη της επιστήμης και οι μελλοντικές τεχνολογίες παίζουν σημαντικό ρόλο.

Πολλές μορφές τέχνης (όπως πχ. ο κινηματογράφος, τα κόμικς κ.ά.) έχουν εμπνευστεί από έργα επιστημονικής φαντασίας.


Ιστορική αναδρομή
Τα πρώτα έργα επιστημονικής φαντασίας στα οποία το είδος διαχωρίζεται ξεκάθαρα από την ευρύτερη φανταστική λογοτεχνία ανιχνεύονται στο 19ο αιώνα:

Στον Φρανκενστάιν 1818 της Μαίρης Σέλεϊ (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1797 - 1851) ένας νεαρός ελβετός επιστήμονας σχηματίζει ένα ανθρώπινο σώμα από απομεινάρια άλλων και του εμφυσεί ζωή με ένα ηλεκτρικό σοκ.

Σε αρκετά μυθιστορήματα του Ιούλιου Βέρν (Jules Verne, 1828 - 1905) μελλοντικές τεχνολογίες διαμορφώνουν τον καμβά της υπόθεσης, όπως π.χ. στο γνωστό "Γύρω από τη Σελήνη", 1873.

Τα βιβλία τoυ Χέρμπερτ Τζορτζ Γουέλς (H. G. Wells, 1866 - 1946), όπως το γνωστό "Ο πόλεμος των κόσμων" 1901 όπου πρώτη φορά εξετάζεται συστηματικά η απειλή εκ μέρους ενός εξωγήινου πολιτισμού, ανέδειξαν τον συγγραφέα τους σε πρωτοπόρο του είδους.

Στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα και ως περίπου την έκρηξη του 2ου παγκοσμίου πολέμου, η επιστημονική φαντασία αναπτύχθηκε ιδιαίτερα στις ΗΠΑ μέσα από "φθηνά" περιοδικά μαζικής παραγωγής, στα οποία κυριαρχούσαν τα θέματα του διαστημικού ταξιδιού και των υπερηρώων.

Μετά τον πόλεμο αναδείχτηκε μια νέα γενιά συγγραφέων με ανεπτυγμένες συγγραφικές δεξιότητες (ανάμεσά τους ο Ισαάκ Ασίμοφ, ο Άρθουρ Κλαρκ, ο Ρέι Μπράντμπερι, ο Ρόμπερτ Χαϊνλάιν, ο Φίλιπ Ντικ, ο Νόρμαν Σπίνραντ, ο Χάρλαν Έλλισον κ.ά,) οι οποίοι οδήγησαν το είδος σε νέες κατευθύνσεις και το βοήθησαν να κατακτήσει ευρύ κοινό.

Έκτοτε αναπτύχθηκαν αρκετά ρεύματα νεότερων συγγραφέων που ανανέωσαν το είδος και σήμερα η επιστημονική φαντασία εξακολουθεί να ανθεί με μεγάλη παραγωγή έργων παγκοσμίως και πλατύ κοινό.


Δημοφιλή θέματα στην Ε.Φ.
Μερικά θέματα είναι ιδιαίτερα δημοφιλή στην επιστημονική φαντασία. Κάποια από αυτά είναι:

Διαστημικά ταξίδια
Ταξίδια στο χρόνο
Επαφή με εξωγήινους πολιτισμούς
Εναλλακτικοί κόσμοι
Ρομπότ και Ανδροειδή
Άλλες τεχνολογίες
Άνθρωποι με υπερφυσικές δυνάμεις
Η εξέλιξη του ανθρώπινου είδους
Το πυρηνικό ολοκαύτωμα