Order doesn't really matter.
I'm asking mainly to see the decades that people would select from.

This is what immediately comes to mind.

-Blade Runner
-The Matrix
-Alien
-The Wrath of Khan
-Solaris

Rollerball (org)
Aliens
I Am Legend
Book Of Eli
Edge of Tomorrow

Ah i thought this would be if we wanted to have a dream film made....as for stuff already out-

#1 every time for me is aliens directors cut. a James Cameron classic.
in no order
.star wars the empire strikes back
.star trek is a toss up between The wrath of khan (II) and the undiscovered country (VI) both are written and directed by Nicholas Meyer
.Babylon 5-in the beginning. made for TV movie but still great.

As for a 5th one....that's really hard there are so many classics-blade runner, tron, the last star fighter, pacific rim, predator, terminator 2, the matrix, the 5th element, independence day, equilibrium and that isn't even counting animated films.

Based on the films I think I've re-watched most often, it would be:
Aliens
Return of the Jedi
Rogue One
Total Recall (Arnie version)
5th Element

Close runners up would definitely be Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion

Top 5 is a tricky one, because as you might’ve noticed I watch a lot of movies. And I go through definite moods of what’s tickling my fancy.

But here’s some I hold in high regard.

1. Robocop. Absolute classic. Not just an excellent example of Big Dumb 80’s Action, but a multilayered masterpiece of satire.

2. The Fifth Element. I’d never seen anything quite like it at the time.

3. Dredd. It’s a shame the marketing was botched and scant, because this is an amazing bit of cinema.

4. Transformers the Movie. More than meets the eye, because it absolutely is a feature length toy advert, but there’s real heart and moral to the story. And a crazy cast.

5. Alien Ressurection. No. Really. I adore this film. So much going for it, despite some real bum notes (the hybrid is crap). And in an era noted for CGI? Predominantly practical effects is the important thing. And as I’ll always say? Amazing to see the military just “nope” on out when things go tits up. Had the crew of the Betty not been aboard, that would’ve ended the Xenomorph threat there and then.

I tried to check IMDB's lists of top movies to refresh my memory and it has been completely overrun by spambots.

Anyway my new favorites

Captain Battle: Legacy War
Rise of the Black Bat
Shark Exorcist
Dune World
The Autobots

I have far too much nostalgia to be objective. However, my favorite recent-ish science fiction movies are

Mad Max: Fury Road
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The MCU taken as one entry (otherwise, Loki?)
Upgrade
Godzilla Minus One (if it counts as Sci Fi)

Rogue One and Solo are good Star Wars films, but I don’t feel like they belong on this list.

But there are probably other good, recent Sci Fi films I haven’t seen or can’t remember.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
.1. Robocop.
2. The Fifth Element.
3. Dredd.
4. Transformers the Movie.
5. Alien (correction intentional!)

Now that's a mighty fine list.

One of the problems of sci-fi is what counts as sci-fi. Jurassic Park is sci-fi (at least it is from Crichton's writing) but would not be labeled as such by most.

A list of five from films not yet mentioned:
Jurassic Park
The Thing
Ghost in the Shell
Arrival
Children of Men

I love alien horror films- so I'll add
Pitch Black
Event Horizon
Fifth Element is just phenomenal for it's ability to create a universe from scratch and tell a fun story.
Empire Strikes Back
and Starship Troopers. So much fun!

 lord_blackfang wrote:
I tried to check IMDB's lists of top movies to refresh my memory and it has been completely overrun by spambots.

Anyway my new favorites

Captain Battle: Legacy War
Rise of the Black Bat
Shark Exorcist
Dune World
The Autobots

This only post so far that surprises me.

In no.particular order:
Dune
Pitch Black
The Fifth Element
Twelve Monkeys
Star Wars IV-VI

For TV shows (where the genre really shines IMO):
Stargate
Babylon 5
Farscape
DS9
The Outer Limits

I think there’s an important difference between the one’s I consider “best” and “my favourite” when it comes to top 5; to me the “purpose” of science fiction is to explore the relationship between science, humanity and the universe. At its best, it is almost a philosophical exercise, revealing something about the nature of humanity. But sometimes, that’s just not as fun…

Favourite:
Terminator 2
Aliens (director’s cut)
The Fifth Element
Serenity
Starship Troopers

Best:
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Contact
Arrival
Blade Runner 2049*
The Martian**

* Controversial opinion number 1; I think 2049 is better than the original. Whilst definitely not as groundbreaking, I think it’s a better exploration of what self and sentience are (particularly the nature of Joi) and it’s just better made IMHO. The pacing is better, the plot is more solid (not helped by the multiple versions of the original) and, as a consequence, the message lands better.

** Controversial opinion number 2; The Martian is probably a lot lighter and fluffier than most “serious” sci-fi, but it’s pretty hard in terms of world building and I put it up there because show me a more optimistic, inspiring, “look what science can do for us” film? Seriously, please do, because I like to hope for the future!

Okay, I'll bite. In my list, I'm only allowing one entry from any big franchise (so only one Star Trek, MCU, Star Wars, etc.). I'll also point out that these are my favorites, but not necessarily the best (if that could even be objectively determined) and are in no particular order.

Aliens (director's cut only, I want the whole movie or nothing)
Avatar (same thing, I want all the scenes)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Battle: Los Angeles
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (also director's cut please)

Perhaps a couple of real left-field picks in there. Avatar I like in spite of having a very cliche story, as the visuals are amazing and the CGI holds up well in spite of the movie being 15(!) years old now. Battle: Los Angeles I enjoy because it is shown from the perspective of the grunts on the ground, unlike a lot of other alien invasion stories where we get the big picture fairly early on. Honorable mentions might go to Pacific Rim, Silent Running, The Avengers (12 years later still my favorite MCU entry), The Fifth Element, and Planet of the Apes (the original).

Bonus round: My favorite Fantasy movies, also in no particular order:

The Lord of the Rings (entire trilogy, they are IMO one movie in three parts)
Conan the Destroyer
Red Sonja
Krull
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

Bonus bonus round: Sci-fi TV shows

Stargate SG1
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Battlestar Galactica (the classic series)
Loki
The Mandalorian

I would have listed TESB, but Star Wars isn't science fiction.

Bran you went and included TV shows. once again i will not include animated shows because that list is to long between anime and western animated stuff like titan AE or starship troopers roughnecks chronicles.

#1.Babylon 5
#2.the expanse
everything else in no order
.altered carbon
.foundation
.the orville
.star trek strange new worlds

 aphyon wrote:
Bran you went and included TV shows. once again i will not include animated shows because that list is to long between anime and western animated stuff like titan AE or starship troopers roughnecks chronicles.

#1.Babylon 5
#2.the expanse
everything else in no order
.altered carbon
.foundation
.the orville
.star trek strange new worlds

Altered Carbon was almost amazing but then the incestuous sister showed up.

A few of you have specified Aliens (Director’s Cut). Why? What am I missing that makes the film better in the Director’s Cut?

I’ve seen the original version countless times and the Director’s Cut maybe twice, and all I remember being added was the Sentry Gun scene and some of the pacing feeling off.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
A few of you have specified Aliens (Director’s Cut). Why? What am I missing that makes the film better in the Director’s Cut?

I’ve seen the original version countless times and the Director’s Cut maybe twice, and all I remember being added was the Sentry Gun scene and some of the pacing feeling off.

The main reason is actually Cameron’s; he explicitly says in the introductory interview for the director’s cut that he wanted that longer, drawn out, experience, to amp up the tension. The additional down time, plus some more stuff with the aliens being smart, turn it more into survival horror than just action.

Second, and this one is YMMV, is the scene with Burke and Ripley when he tells her about her daughter. It’s not a good scene from a technical point of view (not well shot, the effects are kind of wonky, etc.), but Ripley having lost her actual daughter lends a much deeper emotional resonance to her relationship with Newt.

1 - Starship Troopers
2 - District 9
3 - Starwars - Original trilogy
4 - Avengers: Endgame
5 - Judge Dredd - both (1995 and 2012)

Favorites:
Blade Runner
Alien
Empire Strikes Back
2012 Dredd
Ex Machina

Honorable mentions: both new Dune films are proper modern sci fi, Gattaca, A Clockwork Orange, Aniara,

BR2049 is great but it's whole plot depends on the first one. It's a bit cold, clean, minimalist and digital whereas the first movie feels rugged and lived in. I actually like the difference, BR2049 stands out for it's brutalist inspiration and cinematography. But the original has this cozy rainy warmth to it and better music.

I'll list the five movies I think may have had the most influence on me. Five sci-fi movies is far too short a list for all my favorites.

1. Pitch Black
2. Aliens
3. Moontrap
4. Lifeforce
5. Total Recall

Even that isn't an easy pick. No more room for Ghost in the Shell, Predator, The Thing and the Wrath of Khan, though they totally should be on the list.

I'm probably forgetting even more, and that's without adding movies that are just fun to watch like Doom, Battle Los Angeles and a ton of 80s and 90s B-movies. Plus all the famous sci-fi movies you'll see pop up a lot.

 aphyon wrote:
Bran you went and included TV shows. once again i will not include animated shows because that list is to long between anime and western animated stuff like titan AE or starship troopers roughnecks chronicles.

#1.Babylon 5
#2.the expanse
everything else in no order
.altered carbon
.foundation
.the orville
.star trek strange new worlds

Yeah, I felt shows deserved a separate mention because I realised almost all my favourite sc-fi is shows, not movies.
I didn't like Foundation though. While passable as a generic sci-fi show, as an adaptation of Asimov and the Foundation it was utterly atrocious.

This is tough and "top" is never something I'm happy with as a ranking. So I'm going to break rules and instead of top go with most influential to me.

This is is no particular order

1) Starwars 4-6 - yes I know that's 3 films...its not cheating!

2) Ghost in the Shell - whilst this wasn't the first Anime I saw it was certainly one that really cemented my love of the genre and style. I also love its depiction of the future; with all its green computer screens; keyboards; cyberbrains and all!

3) The Black Hole - I might be the only person who developed a love of pewpew lasers; huge massive gothic style ships and robots from this film. Also the musical score with this film gets terribly overlooked - its a masterwork!

4) Star Trek the Motion Picture - I love the mix of almost fantasy and mysterious elements that this film has. It's something that I feel a lot of modern Sci-fi has wound up lacking as they tend to go for simpler war-stories and the like. Which often makes aliens feel less alien and more human (often just extreme political/emotional elements of humanity). Also who doesn't love a slow motion pan around the Enterprise in dock!

5) Alien. I could put Alien 4 here for similar reasons to Doc above; but I'm going to put the first film as without that I'd have no love of those that follow.



So yep for me these are the films that made me want to watch and engage with more sci-fi. That made me love the genre itself and seek out more films in their franchises and in the genre.


Also big honourable mentions for both
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
Lensman film - the UK audio version (there's a USA that's distinctly different and, IMO, not as good)

Not in any particular order -

Starship Troopers
Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country
War of the Worlds
Back to the Future (all of them, no I don't care it's technically three)
Independence Day

 Overread wrote:
This is tough and "top" is never something I'm happy with as a ranking. So I'm going to break rules and instead of top go with most influential to me.

Copycat!

I had no idea there was a Lensman film. Reading it on wikipedia it is not what I expected.

Special mention for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Like Robocop absolutely works as Just A Dumb Action Film, Bill & Ted works as a stoner comedy type movie.

But underneath it is a really brilliant tale. Not least because whilst the Time Machine helps them complete their essay? Not even Rufus is writing it for them.

Bill and Ted decided what the report would contain, and how to present it. Bill and Ted earn their grade.

How wholesome is that? What a positive, heartwarming message. The moral of the story to me is not everyone learns well in a purely academic setting. And when given an alternative route to learning? Even “dumb” kids can excel. Because they were never actually dumb, just failed by a “one size fits some” approach to education.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

How wholesome is that? What a positive, heartwarming message. The moral of the story to me is not everyone learns well in a purely academic setting. And when given an alternative route to learning? Even “dumb” kids can excel. Because they were never actually dumb, just failed by a “one size fits some” approach to education.

I really like that takeaway.

My most watched are probably

Alien
Blade Runner
12 Monkeys
The Fifth Element
Starship Troopers

Others that I really like, but haven't seen as much

Big fan of all the Alien movies
2001 A Space Oddyssey
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Scanners
Snowpiercer
The new Dune movies

Going to have to be:

Aliens.
Bladerunner (I'm partial to the one with the voiceover, myself)
2001
Transformers: The Movie
Demolition Man.

Really surprised that I haven't seen Demolition Man mentioned, hilariously kooky when it came out 30 years ago, disturbingly prescient when seen through a modern lens.

I have seen ghost in the shell mentioned. while the movie was well animated as a fan of the comics i found it atrociously bad. the stand alone complex and successive TV series more accurately captured the feel of the setting. it is the difference between having Oshi's super phycological drama take on everything he does, compared to Shiro's direct involvement in his own universe (stand alone complex).

Difficult one to choose I think. I'm going to stay away from Superhero stuff because I feel like it's really a separate genre. And I'm tempted to put some Studio Ghibli animated films in there, like Laputa and Valley of the Wind, but I'll leave them off.

And these aren't in any order in particular.
1. Alien
2. Moon
3. Empire Strikes Back
4. Jurassic Park
5. Starship Troopers

Are we talking 'top 5' as in 'these are my personal five favorites', or 'top 5' as in 'I think these were the best and/or most influential sci-fi movies ever'?

For the former (and in no particular order)
Star Wars
The Wrath of Khan
Godzilla (the original)
Spaceballs
and (of all things...) Lilo and Stitch

But there is a LONG list of stuff only slightly behind those five.


For the latter (in chronological order)...
1) The Day The Earth Stood Still (the original)
2) 2001
3) Star Wars
4) The Matrix
5) Iron Man

All five of these were masterpieces of their time, and had a major impact on movies in general, and sci-fi in particular, moving forward. If I had one more spot, it would got to Akira, for bringing sci-fi Anime to America - as well as being a masterpiece in it's own right.

And again, a long list of stuff very nearly as good.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Special mention for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Like Robocop absolutely works as Just A Dumb Action Film, Bill & Ted works as a stoner comedy type movie.

But underneath it is a really brilliant tale. Not least because whilst the Time Machine helps them complete their essay? Not even Rufus is writing it for them.

Not only that, the time travel plot itself is one of the cleanest time-loops ever committed to film.

I considered putting the film on my list or at least an honorable mention just for that.

The general love for Aliens blows my mind.
Alien is great.
Aliens is completely reliant on everyone other than Ripley being an incompetent idiot that enjoys passing the idiot ball around. Make no mistake, it looks good, the acting is fine, and it is extremely quotable, but the plot is absurd.

It is pretty easy-pacing, world building, acting, setting. Cameron basically said he was making a Vietnam movie in space. the point was that nobody believes Ripley. they were full or arrogance, confidence and reliance on their superior tech, how could a bunch of dumb "bugs" possible beat them.

He is also a master of action and drama in confined spaces.

trexmeyer wrote:
I would have listed TESB, but Star Wars isn't science fiction.

You're calling out Star Wars alone as not being Sci-Fi, but not... *checks posts prior to the one being quoted* ...any of the following:
- I Am Legend
- Book of Eli
- Anything Star Trek or Babylon 5
- Dredd
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The MCU as a whole
- Children of Men

I'd love to hear your justification here, though it does link in to what Henry said about it being tricky to define "sci-fi" - I'd lean towards "dystopian action" and "comic-book movie" as being their own thing, for example, and that none of the ones for the former category listed above (IAL, BoE, MM:FR, CoM) are really sci-fi in my opinion. Dredd manages to fall into both of my exception categories, for instance.

Aliens
Terminator 2
Blade Runner
Fury Road
Avatar

 aphyon wrote:
It is pretty easy-pacing, world building, acting, setting. Cameron basically said he was making a Vietnam movie in space. the point was that nobody believes Ripley. they were full or arrogance, confidence and reliance on their superior tech, how could a bunch of dumb "bugs" possible beat them.

He is also a master of action and drama in confined spaces.

Lets face it the only person who does believe her wants to keep it a secret so much that he does daft things to protect that secret.

Everyone else is going in assuming its going to be a run of the mill issue with some disgruntled and disorganised terraformers who want a raise or something; or a group of "space pirates" who likely raided and already left. Basically they aren't expecting any real threat and chances are whilst the unit might be highly trained and experienced, they most likely haven't had a real challenge in a very long time.

So they have some crazy woman who is talking about monster with acid blood (lol how stupid is that!) being humoured by some company executive; who if I recall right downplays Ripley's info as well (because he's trying to keep it secret). The Marines are along for the ride and will shoot some holes in things and take home another easy victory. Don't forget even the company wasn't willing to send a ship until the base stopped sending regular messages.

They also very quickly lose effective command and machine support so their superiority advantage is quickly lost and with no other settlements and the planets atmosphere they are very restricted on where they can or can't go.

The dialogue also strongly suggests the Marines have fought alien life forms before. Hence “just another bug hunt”.

Which is akin to naively thinking that just because you were able to take out a bunch of squirrels, you’re therefore completely prepared and fully experienced in taking on say, a Pride of Lions.

Burke also had cause to carefully select A Not Very Good squad. Perhaps one with disciplinary issues, history of insubordination. Because he needed plausible deniability that they all got horribly murdered/implanted with Aliens.

We must also keep in mind Ripley was the closest thing to an expert. She’d fought one. She and they had no reason to believe they might display hive mentality and tactics. In Alien, it was all strike and fade, an ambush hunter. That requires a very different approach and tactical considerations.

Add in that during their initial visit to the Hive they couldn’t risk using their Pulse Rifles (later proven highly effective at popping bugs), and is it really incompetence, or just everything going FUBAR well outside their immediate control?

Had the drop ship crew remained seated, and kept the ship sealed? They’d have dusted off with likely minimal problems, nuked it from orbit and role credits. But no. Bloke had to go take a wee.

We never really, in the films, get a confirmation of what a "Bug hunt" really means

It could mean hunting actual alien creatures that are enough of a threat that marines are needed, but not actually highly intelligent and most likely something akin to a real world "bear gets into populated area" type situation. A threat, but fairly easily resolved.

It could mean a "bug hunt" as in some miner on some world reports aliens and they go and it turns out to be a Scooby Doo situation. Someone pretending to scare people away to do things (eg smugglers or the like) or people being daft and jumping at nothing. Ergo you turn up; look all big and tough; maybe resolve a local smuggling ring and head on home.


Both are also potentially true at the same time and it could be the latter that's far more common than the former.


You also make a good point about the shift from single to hive mentality and threat. Also don't forget not only couldn't they use their rifles against the Aliens, but two of the troopers DO use their guns and that results in even more chaos and complications.

The Fifth Element
Terminator 2
Aliens
The Road Warrior
Oblivion

Also: Complete Top 5 Garbage
Star Wars The Last Jedi
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker
Marvel Eternals
Marvel The Marvels

 Dysartes wrote:

trexmeyer wrote:
I would have listed TESB, but Star Wars isn't science fiction.

You're calling out Star Wars alone as not being Sci-Fi, but not... *checks posts prior to the one being quoted* ...any of the following:
- I Am Legend
- Book of Eli
- Anything Star Trek or Babylon 5
- Dredd
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The MCU as a whole
- Children of Men

Are you trolling right now? I genuinely can't tell.

While I agree some of them straddle or outright cross the line (IAL, MCU) most of those do qualify as SF.

Alien vs Aliens - both great movies, but I think I just prefer the horror of Alien to the action of Aliens, and I didn't want to put both movies in my top five list!

trexmeyer wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:

trexmeyer wrote:
I would have listed TESB, but Star Wars isn't science fiction.

You're calling out Star Wars alone as not being Sci-Fi, but not... *checks posts prior to the one being quoted* ...any of the following:
- I Am Legend
- Book of Eli
- Anything Star Trek or Babylon 5
- Dredd
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The MCU as a whole
- Children of Men

Are you trolling right now? I genuinely can't tell.

Trolling? No, not at all. Heck, I even gave you an additional paragraph - unquoted above - as to why I would question six of the seven.

The only one I didn't qualify in that post was Star Trek and/or Babylon 5. Given Star Wars is generally seen as "space opera" - a sub-genre of science fiction - it's in the same broad group as Babylon 5 (though B5 gets bonus points for it's space fighters actually paying attention to physics - the StarFurys, at least). Star Trek is generally seen less as space opera and more as science fiction, but I generally don't think there's as much difference between Star Trek and Star Wars in that regard as the Trekkies want people to believe - Star Wars just avoids most of the techno-babble justifications.

I don’t think it’s so much about the amount of hand-wavium (although that is a factor), but what are you trying to do with it. Star Wars is just trying to tell a cool adventure story, it just happens to be set in a space setting. Star Trek, on the other hand, is often trying to explore real world issues through the lens of a possible future.

B5 and BSG sit somewhere in between; they’re driven by their overarching story, but they have individual episodes or arcs that dig into ideas. (Interestingly B5 did that much more in the early seasons, and tailed off as the plot developed, whereas BSG is the other way around, starting heavily plot driven, but then exploring “what would it be like trying to build a new society in this post-apocalyptic setting” more as the show developed.)

Sorry, I have to disagree with you there. The difference between Trek and Wars goes deeper than technobabble vs "the Force did it" (aka magic).
It's themes, tropes, character archetypes and other narrative structures that puts one squarely in science fiction and the other blurring the lines.

I want to point out Q
And the Original series which has several Q like characters, though most are restricted to a single world/region. Even TNG has a few crop up such as the creature that destroyed an entire race because they killed his wife on another world.

Q is basically "The Force" of Startrek right down to the hand waving magical thingies. Heck the first time we see Q we even get hand-wavium from Guinan, though I note that its not something that's ever fully explored and even her race is largely left alone barring one timetravel episode. She gets the most ground covered in the Picard series which in a way raises more questions than answers.



Yes Star Trek sometimes leans into its own technobabble to explain things, but in the end both Star Trek and Star Wars are set in futuristic science fiction settings. They are both sci-fi they are just different flavours of sci-fi. Plus neither actually aims for realistic science - ships in both always meet each other on the same flat plane (Starwas gets a little more creative on this front, but Star Trek is almost to a fault a flat plane like playing Homeworld).

Both have pewpew lasers; no display of real newtonian physics in space and a bunch of other things.

In fact if we are going to restrict our sci-fi to realistic then we are down to Firefly, The Expanse and a slew of Apollo films.

I see sci-fi as predicting, extrapolating, guessing what can happen in the future based on our understanding of science right now. Any science, really - for example dystopian sci-fi extrapolates our knowledge of sociology and politics.

It can have ideas like technologies that may or may not exist in the future. But as soon as it breaks laws of science that exist already it becomes just fantasy in space.

Charaters disrespecting said science or logic behind it is a red flag as well, like, for example Star Trek ships going into combat without pumping out oxygen and crew wearing space suits, as if they wanted to announce "just kill everybody on board with fires and decompression".

I can agree that the line between fantasy and sci-fi can sometimes be incredibly blurry, but I think there's more than enough room for lots of sci-fi that doesn't obey our laws of physics and isn't specifically set in the future of humanity on Earth.

You have loads of sci-fi that's based on alternate histories for a start.

Plus a lot of the time there's some new science or alien or resource that allows crazy things to happen that wouldn't be possible in reality. Heck far as we know today FTL travel is impossible and yet its a staple of a great amount of sci-fi.

In fact if we restrict ourselves to just real world physics and science than the amount of sci-fi become very very tiny compared to what it currently is.

As I said, hypothetical is perfectly ok for sci-fi, it is supposed to be half-fiction after all!

Nonsensical is not - that's where I draw the line. There's a difference between a hypothesis and a fairy tale.

But FTL is basically a fairy tale right now. You are very much in the realm of the scientifically nonsensical. Sure everyone WANTS it to happen so we keep researching it, but its very much in the realm of fantasy right now.


Same as shrink rays


Now cryogenics that's potentially possible, you're within the realm of possibility there as we at least know it does happen in the animal kingdom. Though not hundreds and hundreds to thousands of years that we'd need for space travel.

Hard sci-fi is a sub genre of science fiction, but i don’t think you can use it’s rules to define the whole spectrum.

I defiantly prefer mine to be internally consistent. It’s OK to change the laws of physics to have fun toys or enable the setting to tell you story. FTL, hyperspace, anti-grav, laser swords, the Force, etc. But once you establish the rules, stick with them. If you go all fuzzy and wibbly-wobbly with the rules, then you are firmly into space fantasy.

That’s where I’d draw the line.

 Nevelon wrote:
Hard sci-fi is a sub genre of science fiction, but i don’t think you can use it’s rules to define the whole spectrum.

Exactly. In the end sci-fi and fantasy are very broad terms that have a decent amount of stories and media that overlap each other. They are generalist terms and that's where they work best. Trying to make those terms fit a very carefully and specifically defined niche is never going to work. That's where you bring out other terms and sub classifications. Hard Scifi is a niche of sci-fi and there you can get much more specific on the nature of the sci-fi. Heck I suspect true hard-sci-fi fans will have further subclassifications of their own. From predictive future to alternate history and more.

Classification is like an onion and is built of many layers. The more specific you want the more layers you add too it.



And that's before you get to stories that openly mess with the readers. Dragonriders of Pern is a fantastic example of a story that is, at its core, a sci-fi story. However a large amount of its actual story that the reader engages with (esp in early books) is very distinctly what we'd consider fantasy.

It's not just the rules of the setting; Star Wars has all the tropes of a fantasy story; prophecy, wizards, princesses, magic swords, and Evil Wizard King and his Evil Empire. That's why people sometimes classify it as fantasy in space.

And yes, sci-fi can get away with breaking the laws of physics as we understand them and still count as sci-fi. Sure it doesn't work according our understanding of physics, but for starters, our understanding of physics is imperfect.

For another, exploring the consequences of a given new discovery, whether technological or scientific is pretty much what the genre is intended to do. That includes things previously (or currently) thought to be impossible, like FTL.

 Overread wrote:
But FTL is basically a fairy tale right now. You are very much in the realm of the scientifically nonsensical. Sure everyone WANTS it to happen so we keep researching it, but its very much in the realm of fantasy right now.


Same as shrink rays


Now cryogenics that's potentially possible, you're within the realm of possibility there as we at least know it does happen in the animal kingdom. Though not hundreds and hundreds to thousands of years that we'd need for space travel.

Let me explain how I see it. So, we have 2 components of a sci-fi story: a fictional hypothesis and its logical (scientific?) extrapolation and development.

For example our totally fictional hypothesis is that humanity invented/discovered FTL. Are there consequences of that, for example characters need to deal with relativity- related time-space issues? Or at least an explanation how they are worked around? Or are these things waved off, because they are inconvenient for the author and problematic for the plot so characters just magically drive from star system to star system like we do between cities?

If our hypothesis is that medicine finally allowed some people to be immortal, do we have social, political, economical, religious consequences of that or is it just so that the author can write longer sagas?

Obviously, hardly any authors are actual scientists, so expectations need to be rational, but I definitely also draw another line between them making an effort here and not even trying (like with SW/ST "aliens" that are hardly alien - culturally or biologically - at all).

 Dysartes wrote:

trexmeyer wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:

trexmeyer wrote:
I would have listed TESB, but Star Wars isn't science fiction.

You're calling out Star Wars alone as not being Sci-Fi, but not... *checks posts prior to the one being quoted* ...any of the following:
- I Am Legend
- Book of Eli
- Anything Star Trek or Babylon 5
- Dredd
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The MCU as a whole
- Children of Men

Are you trolling right now? I genuinely can't tell.

Trolling? No, not at all. Heck, I even gave you an additional paragraph - unquoted above - as to why I would question six of the seven.

I know you're old enough to know that this debate has been done to death and you've already read it elsewhere.
I'm not here for your entertainment.

It’s kinda hard to take you seriously when the rest of those films get labeled as sci-fi, but you don’t give Star Wars that label.
There is a perfectly cogent definition of sci-fi that excludes Star Wars, but it’d also exclude a lot of the other films too.

Other not-quite-top-five? This time movies with a special meaning to me due to circumstance.

Flight of the Navigator. Pretty rad film in its own right. But on a purely personal level, the first movie I remember seeing at my own request. Must’ve been given a slot on Wide Awake Club or Wacaday, during school holidays. Enthused, I asked Mum if we could go see it, and so my love of cinema properly began at the Odeon on Lothian Road, Edinburgh.

The Last Starfighter. Probably an early VHS rental experience. Either at a birthday party, or when over at Granny and Grandad’s of school holiday.

Cube. Definitely a rental. Saw it reviewed on a Channel 4 show called “Vids”. Was the summer I spent living with a friend in his Dad’s flat on the Pantiles. Terrific bit of cinema.

Dune Another I first saw for sure at a birthday party, but I wouldn’t come to appreciate for a few years. One could say it took a while for the sleeper to awaken. But boy, did it have a tangible impact on everything sci-fi I’d come to love.

Short Circuit 2 The first VHS I ever bought myself. Still not a bad film. Just a shame about the brown face.

 JNAProductions wrote:
It’s kinda hard to take you seriously when the rest of those films get labeled as sci-fi, but you don’t give Star Wars that label.
There is a perfectly cogent definition of sci-fi that excludes Star Wars, but it’d also exclude a lot of the other films too.

I don't care if you take me seriously.
I have zero control over your thoughts.
The fact I specifically mentioned Star Wars and nothing else is completely meaningless.
That's like saying that because someone only mentioned atrocity X means they don't care about Y and Z. It's a logical fallacy.

trexmeyer wrote:

 JNAProductions wrote:
It’s kinda hard to take you seriously when the rest of those films get labeled as sci-fi, but you don’t give Star Wars that label.
There is a perfectly cogent definition of sci-fi that excludes Star Wars, but it’d also exclude a lot of the other films too.

I don't care if you take me seriously.
I have zero control over your thoughts.
The fact I specifically mentioned Star Wars and nothing else is completely meaningless.
That's like saying that because someone only mentioned atrocity X means they don't care about Y and Z. It's a logical fallacy.

You have had plenty of time to simply say "I don't consider Star Wars sci-fi, nor do I consider [OTHER FILMS] sci-fi."

I don't get why you'd be intentionally unclear.

Aliens
Predator
Wrath of Khan
Dune (84)
Terminator

The "Last Starfighter" is pretty good stuff and an honorable mention to "Soldier" with Kurt Russell.

Stupid Ko Dan armada rassin frassin…

I can't believe we're 3 pages in and nobody has mentioned Akira yet.....

Great lists though, I don't think I can do it in 5.

My list would be:

Akira (BBC version as it has superior subtitles)
The Thing (yes it's sci-fi)
Alien
District 9
Ghost in the Shell (anime version)

Cutesy sci-fi?

Batteries Not Included

Lovely little whimsical film, and not held in high enough regard.

I would have said Bladerunner; it's got great visuals but I just couldn't get into it which is odd because I like the book.

Showing my age somewhat, but I think my list would be:

1. Dune
2. Alien
3. Starship Troopers
4. Judge Dredd
5. The Matrix


I also think Enders Game needs a special mention though I couldn't get it into the top 5.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

StraightSilver wrote:
I can't believe we're 3 pages in and nobody has mentioned Akira yet.....

Is it still sci-fi if it's set in the past? I genuinely don't know.

If so, then I'll need to find a place for Back To The Future, too.

For Super Cheese factor
StarCrash with David Hasselhof and Caroline Monroe
And Flash Gordon (DIVE!!!!!!!!!!!)

Such a terrible pieces of trash, but so awesome!!

I'd watch just about anything with Caroline Munro in it. I've thought she was hot ever since she gave James Bond the dirtiest wink in movie history! Yes I'm aware that that was nearly 50 years ago and she's probably old enough to be my grandmother, but she was a goddess back then.

One movie I'm surprised nobody is talking about in here (unless I somehow missed it) is Forbidden Planet. That movie laid the foundation for a lot of modern sci-fi movies. And it introduced Robbie the Robot, who went on to appear in many other movies and TV shows.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

One movie I'm surprised nobody is talking about in here (unless I somehow missed it) is Forbidden Planet. That movie laid the foundation for a lot of modern sci-fi movies. And it introduced Robbie the Robot, who went on to appear in many other movies and TV shows.

Oh yes that film should be in my list somewhere I'm sure! Robbie is a huge classic character robot and yeah Forbidden Planet is one of the giants from its day!

I'm also really surprised no one's mentioned Back to the Future yet. Or did I miss it in someone's list?

I'm sure its appeared a couple of time s

Cyel wrote:
Let me explain how I see it. So, we have 2 components of a sci-fi story: a fictional hypothesis and its logical (scientific?) extrapolation and development.

Yes exactly. By which metric SW of course isn't sci-fi and ST is. But ST's hypothesis isn't "what if impossible tech," it's "what if impossible tech puts a post-scarcity socialist utopia in contact with things that are at odds with its core principles".

I strolled in here with a bunch of opinions, read everyone else's reply and realized there is no way I could limit it to five.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

Cyel wrote:
Let me explain how I see it. So, we have 2 components of a sci-fi story: a fictional hypothesis and its logical (scientific?) extrapolation and development.

Yes exactly. By which metric SW of course isn't sci-fi and ST is. But ST's hypothesis isn't "what if impossible tech," it's "what if impossible tech puts a post-scarcity socialist utopia in contact with things that are at odds with its core principles".

Yup, that's convincing. ST as a socio-political sci-fi with technobabble being just window dressing makes sense to me.

Pretty much. Just like in SW the robots and spaceships are window-dressing for Farmboy-saves-princess.
Although ST being primarily a series gets to do much more than just explore social issues; the FTL drive also lets it explore different questions, problems, and conflicts.

And as with so much else, don't hold too tightly to a rigid definition. There's a lot of overlap, and if you try to too definitively put a given story squarely in one box or another, you run into the same problem young earth creationists do when they try to classify a given hominid fossil as either human or ape.

Honestly most sci-fi stories can often have "window dressing" removed and you've got either a regular story or a fantasy one.

Even things like space ships can often be swapped for regular wood and sail ships on the high seas if you start stretching things.


Personally I feel once you're at that level of stripping out huge chunks of a film or artwork or story to get to the "core" then you're kind of over-simplifying it and if you then base its classification on that then you start to lose what I feel is the whole work.



Sure lots of the story of Starwars could be built around modern times or fantasy times; but to me part of Starwars is having ships in space; pew pew lasers; luke with a machine hand; Vader being "more machine than man" and so forth. I feel that those are as much as part of the story as the component elements of the story itself.
Because Star Wars isn't just "farmboy saves princess" its all the other things too which makes it Starwars and not just "farmboy saves princess".

Farmboy saves princess from space fascists! Yay parliamentary monarchy?

Top 5 for me is canny tricky because I am not very forgiving with movies.

1. The Thing - definitely up there with one of my favourite movies ever, so it takes the top spot here. Phycological horror is the best kind and this is the pinnacle. From the moment the movie begins till its darkly funny finish, it sets the heart racing.

2. Metropolis - come on, is this not one of the most influential sci fi movies of all time? So many other movies in this thread owe so much to Fritz Lang's epic. Plus a futuristic city where the elite live high atop the underclasses is still just as prevalent today as it was when it came out. That is the epitome of science fiction to me.

3. Alien - toss up between this and Aliens but the tension and the cinematography just edge this out. A superb film and of course a trend setter.

4. Starship troopers - it's a fun movie but really it's a satirical bit of genius, that hasn't really been touched since.

5. Children of Men - A whole hell of a lot of movies could have taken this spot for me, but Children of Men is just one of those movies I love. Plus that scene in the car is brutal.

Speaking of Children of Men, I feel I ought to highlight “Never let me go”. It wouldn’t be in my top 5, but it is as a truly excellent piece of sci-fi, if you’re looking at the “interesting exploration of the real-world issues that could arise from a technology” vein of sci-fi.

But good grief, is it a depressing film. I saw it at the cinema and the entire audience sat there for a good 5 minutes while the credits rolled in stunned silence, with a “what’s the point of anything, really?” look on their faces (me included). So, consider that a content warning for basically everyone.

Honestly? All three Guardians of the Galaxy films are really good, the first one especially.

I wish they'd kept them fully separate from the whole Marvel universe thingy they did because yeah they are fun adventure space romps

I read the book of the Children of Men. Hard to stop crying… both book and film are amazing, but they are hard experiences.

The Road is probably the most depressing film I have seen.

Most influential for me were probably....

1. Star Wars OT
2. Lynch's Dune
3. Battle Beyond the Stars
4. Total Recall
5. Star Trek OG

This isn't easy but here is my list

1. Aliens (A classic I think we can all agree)
2. Priest (Scifi Post-Apocalyptic Western Vampires!?}
3. Dredd (Shame it never got a sequel)
4. Starship Troopers (I play IG can you tell )
5. Pandorum (never meet anyone else who has watched this movie}

I base this on how often I find myself rewatching them as I love a lot of other movies such as Demolition Man, RoboCop, and the 5th Element etc etc.

 IronRose wrote:

5. Pandorum (never meet anyone else who has watched this movie}

Hey

Also check out Cargo (2009)

I thought Pandorum was a nice movie the first time I watched it. I saw it again fairly recently, but that left me with a somewhat different impression. Not sure if I wasn't in the mood or if the movie just isn't the same once you know the story developments, but it didn't work for me all that great the second time around.

Definitely a movie you want to see at least once, though.

wulfbrigade wrote:
For Super Cheese factor
StarCrash with David Hasselhof and Caroline Monroe
And Flash Gordon (DIVE!!!!!!!!!!!)

Such a terrible pieces of trash, but so awesome!!

Starcrash for sure. But Flash Gordon? Slander! Slander, I say!

Either one is far more entertaining than Rise of Skywalker, though. And better written.

Hard to narrow this down to 5.

1. Primer.
The best film about time travel that you can possibly see. The director is an engineer apparently, and yeah, it shows.

2. Children of Men.
Species go extinct, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Terrifying concept as in this scenario, there is little we can do. Also, the ending is left open to personal interpretation based upon one's outlook. Fantastic!

3. The Martian.
Simple concept, but wonderful to see how Science is our greatest tool. A few moments of comedy thrown in for good measure.

4. Arrival.
I adore how this film starts as an exploration of language, then shifts gear to explore the idea that how we communicate shapes our perception of reality.

5. Her.
Before people decry this as not being a Sci-Fi, at its core this film is about our relationship with our technology. That is I argue one of the defining concepts of Sci-Fi. This film was prophetic, as we now see the rise of A.I. partners... which given the fate of my second choice (Children of Men), is a bit worrying.

My 5 are gonna be locked into my youth (I'm now over 40) and in no particular order:

Total Recall
Aliens
5th Element
The Last Starfighter
They Live

Special Mention to;
-Soldier
-Universal Soldier
-Looper
-All Starwars
-Pandorum
-Event Horizon
-I am Number 4

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 IronRose wrote:

5. Pandorum (never meet anyone else who has watched this movie}

Hey

Also check out Cargo (2009)

It looks right up my alley thanks for the recommendation!