Ten Deep 10.22.09: Top 50 Science Fiction Movies - Part 3/5

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 10.22.2009

It's week three of the epic countdown, so come inside to check out numbers 30 through 21!





Welcome to week 52 of 'Ten Deep'! We're crossing the halfway point this week with our top fifty countdown and showing no signs of flagging, but let's take a moment to consider some:

Reactions and interactions

Mr. C. wonders if anyone ever reads my list of notable omissions. I think someone did once, long ago. For all those people hoping that District 9 is going to make the list, I direct you to the fact that I have explicitly stated each week that I haven't seen it and therefore it's ineligible. As S. Masters wisely suggests, why not read the whole column before making ill-informed comments? It might be a stretch, but give it a go, I think you'll find it rewarding.

Also, for all the people expecting to see Sunshine in the coming weeks, you'll be disappointed. While a good movie, it's just too full of holes to crack into an all-time top fifty.

Good to see all the love for Return of the Jedi, too, that warms my heart. Ugh, there's always one though... Joe tells us that Star Wars is fantasy, not science fiction. Now, call it "science fantasy", or "space opera", or whatever figurative sub-genre label you like, but it most definitely is science fiction. SF as a piece of terminology has an incredibly broad spectrum, and the thing you need to remember while making the desperate attempt to define it is that terms like these aren't mutually exclusive. Star Wars has all the hallmarks of classic sci-fi, and as M:-X suggests, being a purist about these things is indeed pretty limiting.

I didn't suggest that A Scanner Darkly was bad, YepYep; I just meant to imply that to take Dick's work quite as literally as that can be quite inhibiting when it comes to making a movie adaptation, since a lot of what he wrote was pretty unfilmable.

tony and Guest#9905 both think that WALL-E doesn't merit inclusion due to its lack of durability. Well, since I'm not friends with Nostradamus, we'll have to agree to disagree on that. I don't think it's the sort of film that will date very quickly, and as Toy Story continues to prove, Pixar's stories have a habit of not being damaged by the passing of time.

And lastly but not leastly:

"WAAHHH!! My movie isn't on the list and is better than all of the ones on it!!! Make your own damn list then and bugger off..."

Posted By: Mario (Guest) on October 15, 2009 at 03:25 AM"

Quoted for truth.

Moving on! Let's tackle numbers 30 down to 21 in our top fifty countdown.


As always, there's one golden rule: if I haven't seen it, it's not allowed on the list.

This week's golden rule notable omissions: District 9, Fantastic Voyage, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Moon, Tetsuo





The Story So Far...

Honorable mentions: The Man From Earth La Jetée La Voyage dans la Lune Logan's Run The Quiet Earth Serenity

50. Casshern 49. Pi 48. Independence Day 47. The Time Machine 46. Things to Come 45. Solaris 44. Primer 43. Robocop 42. Superman II 41. Westworld

40. Minority Report 39. Pitch Black 38. Brazil 37. The Iron Giant 36. Total Recall 35. Silent Running 34. Predator 33. WALL-E 32. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 31. Return of the Jedi

30. Akira (1988)

Arguably the biggest mindfuck of a movie to appear in this entire top fifty, Akira shows that when the Japs set their mind to the SF genre they can turn out a motion picture as inventive and mindblowing as anyone else, if not more so. Adapted from director Katsuhiro Otomo's own gargantuan manga, which would have been an impossibility to cram into a normal feature-length movie but at least its distillation was handled by the same creative brain, Akira is one of the most important anime films of all time. Unlike anything western audiences were used to at the time of its release, the film has gone on to be one of the foundations of contemporary eastern SF/fantasy filmmaking. The story fuses cyberpunk with more fantastical elements, as a young member of a motorbike gang discovers latent psychic powers that gradually consume him and threaten the safety of Tokyo itself. Combining all the thematic elements present in the source material into one cohesive film was clearly a mammoth task, and while at times it threatens to make the content a little overwhelming, in many ways that's a key part of Akira's success; there are more ideas in ten minutes of this film than in the entirety of a single Hollywood generic-o-sci-fi flick. Given several viewings to absorb what's going on, Akira proves its redoubtable lasting appeal, as each time round something new seems to be uncovered about the narrative. At its heart, science fiction really is all about the ideas, and Akira's unflinching desire to present its abundance of themes is a great example of that. It's certainly not a film with the same mass appeal as some others we've been talking about these past few weeks, but there's no harm at all in that, and its reputation as a genre classic is fully deserved.

29. Dark Star (1974)

Without risking a double check, Dark Star surely holds the lowliest of low budgets of any of our top fifty, crafted by John Carpenter for a mere $60k and, gloriously, looking even cheaper than that, as if it were in fact financed through the spare change in Dan O'Bannon's left pocket. Nevertheless, the film's appeal is only enhanced by its Amiga-standard special effects and ridiculous alien nemesis, a bouncing beachball with sellotaped-on claws that leads Pinback in a memorable chase through the bowels of the spaceship. The plot is also simple enough to feel as though it too has been afflicted by budgetary constraints: five astronauts have been flying around the galaxy destroying unstable planets, and are getting pretty bored. There are a few complications here and there, but looking back on it the film is surprisingly uneventful - and yet, it manages to worm its way into your imagination and leaves a pleasing aftertaste. Carpenter plays the low-budget approach to perfection, never taking things too seriously and allowing the comic and tragic elements the perfect balance - the scene in which Doolittle attempts to converse with a sentient bomb about the philosophical merits of its existence and purpose is hilarious and painful at the same time. There's also the ending, which for my money is one of the most unsung denouements in cinema history and would probably make a top ten.... hmm, maybe there's an idea for a future column... Considering its student film origins, Carpenter's marshalling of the limited resources at his disposal is an impressive watch for any film buff, and that the result is one of the best low-budget SF films in history just makes it all the more remarkable. Carpenter himself would go on to greater heights, but his debut remains a pleasantly enjoyable experience all the same.

28. The Andromeda Strain (1971)

One of approximately eleventy billion adaptations of Michael Crichton's work, The Andromeda Strain is one of the most subdued and protracted SF films you're likely to see. Taking place for the majority of its running time on a single set, representing an underground research facility, the plot is deceptively straightforward, as a team of scientists races to uncover the mechanism behind an alien organism that causes fatal blood powderization in humans. Considering said investigation takes the form of little more than a series of research tests and the like, the fact that the film manages to generate such a level of suspense is utterly remarkable, and a testament to the skills of director Robert Wise. Not all of the film is set indoors, thankfully, and the opening scenes depicting a research team's ingress into a seeming ghost town, and the discovery of the townsfolk's bizarre cause of death, provide a fascinating setup. The discovery of a curious dichotomy of survivors of the extra-terrestrial plague is what fuels much of the scientific side of things, and if you never thought you'd be on the edge of your seat watching a middle-aged woman staring into a microscope or examining a baby, well, you could well be in for a surprise. The potential for monotony is thankfully passed by, even if the gimmick of repainting the sole set to depict different "levels" of the underground research facility is a little staid, and in fact reminds me to some extent of 12 Angry Men due to the confined setting and masterful arc of suspense. Certainly one of the finest adaptations of Crichton's work for the big screen, The Andromeda Strain defies the odds to present a suspenseful science-thriller. Although I suggest you avoid the recent TV remake, which does everything wrong that this film does right.

27. The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)

Despite the somewhat salacious title, by genre standards at least, no actual catching fire of earth takes place in this film, which may disappoint some viewers. Instead, what we have is a curiously pessimistic and British view of the dangers of global conflict, as nuclear detonations by the US and the Soviets (gotta love your Cold War setting for a bit of classic SF) have knocked the planet out of its orbital alignment and closer to the Sun, resulting, needless to say, in a rapid increase in global warming that would no doubt have Al Gore swooning. With global panic rising and London coming under increasing strain from the escalating heatwave, the film centers around a journalist reporting on the potential disaster and the means by which he attempts to uncover the sorry details of what has occurred. The use of orange tinting on the black-and-white film to highlight the heat of the Sun in what could be man's final days is a simple device but employed in a genius fashion. What's more surprising though is that film takes a pretty downbeat perspective on things, with the ambiguous ending (excepting the American release, which of course had to have a happy ending tacked on because apparently American audiences can't handle even the slightest hint of a sad film - how on earth did you guys cope with Bambi?) offering no catharsis or indication as to whether the crisis can be resolved. Although the film is a bit of an unsung classic, its influence on later doomsday-type films is notable, and is interesting viewing for the pacing alone, which doesn't particularly go hand-in-hand with the setup. While you'll be disappointed if you expect Roland Emmerich -style destruction of the planet as the Sun comes ever closer, if you're interested in a well-made and subversive sci-fi apocalypse, you can do no wrong here.

26. Starship Troopers (1997)

I think this one puts Paul Verhoeven as the director of the most movies to appear in this top fifty thus far, or at least until we get a little further down this week's column. Much in line with his two previous entries, Robocop and Total Recall, Starship Troopers is a violent, subversive and satirical take on the genre, with the bombast of Halo-style alien conflicts mixed with vicious swipes at military fascism. Despite its complete deviation from Robert Heinlein's source novel, a classic of literary SF which many complained was not adapted with sufficient respect, the fact that it's Starship Troopers in name only doesn't detract from the quality of the film itself as a standalone entity. Taken on a superficial, the story of Earth's conflict with a race of giant bug-like thingies and the ensuing pandemonium can be seen as a paean to militarism, and if that's how you interpret it then you may well question its inclusion here. However, for those of us who look a little deeper to read Verhoeven's message that "war makes fascist of us all", the film is a superb melding of styles, accomplishing equally as much on the balls-to-the-wall action movie front as it does on the sly, satirical side of things. Of course, there's also the requisite titillation you'd expect from a Verhoeven flick, provided in this case by some entirely non-gratuitous co-ed shower scenes, which are of course absolutely integral to the plot and not at all an excuse to show some tits. Add in an excellent supporting cast playing things just the right side of tongue-in-cheek (at which Neil Patrick Harris is particularly adept as a telepathic colonel), and Starship Troopers represents the best foray into science fiction from a director who's proved himself already quite adept at bringing out the best elements of the genre.

25. The Road Warrior (1981)

As I wrote when discussing this one in our best sequels column a little while back, The Road Warrior was all the more of a pleasant surprise for me considering I was no fan of the original, but whaddya know, turns out the sequel is one of the best action/SF movies of all time. Of all time! Mad Max 2 takes the post-apocalyptic desert setting of its predecessor and strips the scenario down to basics - in a world where petrol is the most valuable resource, the bad guys try to steal it from the good guys. Add in an utterly insane (in the bad way) chief evildoer - Vernon Wells in the most impressive role in his career as head nutjob Wez, psychotic and truly boo-hiss-able - an utterly insane (in the good way) sidekick Bruce Spence's barmy Gyro Captain, owner of the world's wackiest flying contraption - and a pretty unhinged protagonist to boot, thrown in a smattering of explosions and action set-pieces, and you're good to go. Considering that this comes from director George Miller, the man responsible for such equally high-budget, high-octane actioners as, er, Babe and Happy Feet, it's all the more impressive, particularly the climactic oil tanker chase through the desert highway, which had to have been a bitch to film. As one of the gems of the post-apocalypse subgenre, a favorite of mine and no mistake, The Road Warrior is certainly a noteworthy SF film, and the fact that it happens to rival some of the best action movies of its time is a happy coincidence that helps propel it further up the list. With recurring rumors that Mad Max 4 may or may not be on the way, it couldn't hurt the producers to lock themselves in a room and watch The Road Warrior ten times over so they can see how things should be done.

24. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Evidence that major science fiction franchises were giving stupid titles to their films long before The Phantom Menace caused consternation amongst fanboys, The Wrath of Khan is seemingly rooted in popular culture for Shatner screaming "Khaaaaaaaaan!" and nothing else, but that oft-referenced snippet is but a smidgen of the movie's qualities and kind of threatens to make a joke of the film to younger audiences who might not get the reference. While Star Trek: The Motion Picture (also directed, incidentally, by Robert Wise) was undeniably impressive for anyone who had the fortune to witness it on a big screen, the march of time has somewhat dulled its appeal to the point where new viewers would likely regard it as a decent sci-fi movie and little more. However, the same can't be said for The Wrath of Khan, which is as vital and enjoyable as it ever was even after all these years. All your favorites from the crew of the Enterprise are back, aged just sufficiently to have matured from the TV crew everyone knew and loved without going overboard into senility as later films in the series would have them (seriously, how did anyone take The Final Frontier seriously? Oh, that's right, no one did), and in Ricardo Montalban find themselves a nemesis who proves both deadly and memorable, to the extent that his re-emergence (or lack thereof) is almost the sole talking point of the upcoming sequel-to-the-reboot-of-the-movie-spinoff-of-the-show. As the highlight of one of the genre's largest cinematic franchises, The Wrath of Khan is representative of everything that was good and unforgettable about the TV show, and remains required viewing for any science fiction fan, even if for the younger viewers it might be more about seeing who this Khan chap is and why he might be appearing in the sequel to Star Trek.

23. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

And Senor Spielbergo levels it with Verhoeven at three apiece. While E.T. [what's it short for? Because it has little legs, LOL] is the least overtly SF of Spielberg's three entrants to date, instead focusing on childhood dreams and relationships with the world, but that lack of concentration on the more typical aspects of the genre is what makes this a better film. E.T. has heart to spare, so much in abundance that I can't honestly think there's anyone who has seen this film and doesn't have some sort of affection for it. Well, there's bound to be a misanthropic troll somewhere, but more fool them. If ever a film could truly be described as universal, E.T. is surely it, with the central relationship between young Elliot and his alien buddy who wants to phone home making it abundantly clear that here's a film that can be appreciated by young and old alike (I could probably try and be a bit pretentious and argue that it's actually a love story, but I won't go that far). The central message about friendship would be well received irrespective of the fact that the main character is an alien, but that fact does add an interesting twist to the dynamic and allows for an interesting array of potential nemeses for our heroic young buddies. The "marquee" moments are all present and correct of course - the cycling over the moon shot one of the most indelible of all cinematic moments - but as is typically the case with Spielberg, the craft extends into all the tiniest nooks and crannies, and makes E.T. himself certainly one of the genre's best aliens. For as gloriously bad as the Atari spin-off video game was, the film is as gloriously good, and if you know your gaming history, that's a powerful statement.

22. Forbidden Planet (1956)

Surely the only science fiction film to both have its roots in Shakespeare and to experience the ignominy of a stage musical sequel, Forbidden Planet is one of the very best movies to emerge from SF's "golden era", and while it remains in the popular consciousness largely for famous mechanoid Robbie the Robot and for starring a pre-funnyman Leslie Nielsen, there are many more elements that stack up in its favor in terms of its importance to the genre. Taking a loose variant of The Tempest as its starting point, the film sees a scout party landing on a distant planet where a mysterious incident caused the deaths of a previous crew, with the only survivors being a mad scientist (the best kind, natch), his hot daughter and their robot companion. Things get a whole lot weirder with the introduction of an invisible monster (beating Lost to the punch by a good half-century), a bizarre Freudian twist, an underground lair that's eerily reminiscent of an earlier film featured in our countdown, and the ensuing travails of the crew. Forbidden Planet is often a byword for the genre as a whole, and it's easy to see why, with the production design encompassing any number of genre staples and popularizing a bunch more, particularly Robbie himself who remains one of the most instantly recognizable characters of the decade. As far as "mad scientist" type stories go, this is up there with the best of them, with Morbius harboring a whole bunch of dark secrets, not least about the original inhabitants of his planet, but it's as a landmark of science fiction that the film still stands today, easily comparable with the greats.

21. Aliens (1986)

Was there ever a film that was more aptly titled? While contention rages as to whether or not Aliens is the best film in the franchise - and by this point it should be no surprise that there's another of the series yet to come in our top fifty (here's a hint: it's not Alien: Resurrection), it's more of a solid argument to say that Aliens is the most enjoyable Alien flick. Yes, one of them was a terrifying nemesis, but just imagine how terrifying it would be to encounter an army of them! Thankfully, you don't have to imagine, as Aliens transforms the tone of the original into a straightforward action/horror barnstormer. The cast of protagonists is lively and memorable - let's face it, any time you have Michael Biehn wielding any sort of firearm, you know you're in for an explosive time at the movies - and the addition of little Newt to juxtapose Ripley's ass-kicking tomboy-ism with her protective maternal instincts is a masterstroke of characterization. However, the simple fact that places this up here in the list is that James Cameron is one of the bestest action directors of all time, and letting him loose with a creature as iconic as the Alien was always going to reap the dividends, even if it *shudder* might have inadvertently paved the way towards Alien vs. Predator being such a generic explosion-fest. The mayhem that ensues is truly something special, and much like The Road Warrior the film holds the distinction of being not only a great SF movie but a great action movie, too. While that tandem might not be quite enough to knock it over the edge into the top twenty, make no bones about it, this is a superlative science fiction film and no mistake.

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And finally…

Feeling aggrieved or elated at this week's ten picks? Then let me know! The magic of the interweb allows you to post your comments right here on this very page, and if they're especially insightful (or idiotic), I may even respond in the next column. Be sure to tune in next week for another edition of 'Ten Deep' and numbers 20-11, but until then - keep watching the skies.