THE 25 BEST SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES

Hollywood movies which have been produced since at least 1900 can be divided up into many categories, i.e. drama, romance, comedy, adventure, tragedy, war, anti-war, experimental, fantasy, and my favorite genre - science fiction. Although there have been a thousand books and more about Hollwyood movies and scores of lists about what movies are the best, the worst, the craziest and the most boring, I though I'd present a list of my 25 favorite science fiction movies of all time. Each movie listed will display its title, its director, the principal actors, a quick synopsis of the plot, my own modest critique of the movie and a memorable line from the movie. For purposes of clarity I hereby define science fiction as movies dealing about the present, near future or distant future involving science and technology, rocket ships, travel in outer space, aliens and creatures and monsters from other planets, time travel, and societies of the future or on other planets. Wonderful movies like Jason and The Argonauts, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Mysterious Island are not included in this list because they more correctly belong in the genre of fantasy rather than science fiction. Monster movies, i.e. Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla, etc. also properly belong in another category. Monster from Space movies, that emphasize the monsters to the exclusion of most everything else, I categorize as "Space Monster" movies, i.e. Men In Black and Critters and place them in a separate category. Sword & Sorcery movies, i.e. Lord of the Rings and Conan the Barbarian also have their own classification. Political movies about the future,i.e. 1984, Fahrenheit 451 Logan's Run, The Running Man, The Twelve Monkeys also are on a seprate group and not on this list. Although Superman is an alien and the Fantasic Four were mutated from a trip into space- superhero movies are not on this list. The list of my 25 favorite sci-fi motion pictures will run backwards from 25 to number 1 as follows:

25) DESTINATION MOON (1951) Director Irving Pichel. Starring- Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson and Erin O'Brien-Moore. The first "modern" science-fiction movie Destination Moon preceeded the actual first landing on the moon by only 18 years. The first rocket to the moon finds its crew marooned on the lunar surface for lack of fuel. The movie is a balanced presentation of technical science, humor and genuine suspense. The lunar surface scenes utilize the impressive artwork of famed artist Chesley Bonstell. The orchestral music of Leith Stevens underscores the tension and majesty of the lunar voyage. Best line - "Remember me to the gals...any gal!" - Marooned astronaut (Wesson) radioing his captain (Anderson) to take off for Earth. Note- Rocketship-XM was released at the same time as Destination Moon and was downebeat (i.e. the crew all dies after discovering a nuclear war-ravaged Martian civilization) compared to Destination Moon's upbeat ending.

24) STARMAN (1984) Director John Carpenter. Starring Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith and Richard Jaeckel. An alien (Bridges) arrives in a Wisconsin town as a twin-double for Allen's dead husband. The pair are chased by authorities as she tries to get him to his spaceship in Arizona. Bridges and Allen have good chemistry togther and the tension is broken up by humor. Bridges steals the movie with his "Fish-Out-Of- Water" problems. Best line- "When the light turns yellow - you go really fast!" - Allen teaching the Starman (Bridges) on the finers technqiues of automobile traffic.

23) TOTAL RECALL (1990) Director Paul Verhoeven. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside and Ronny Cox. It's the year 2084 A.D. and construction worker Douglas Quaid discovers his memories were artificially implanted triggering a murderous posse out to chase him, all the way to Mars. The graphic violence of the movie almost passes for "camp" but the storyline forces the viewer to ponder about the issues of memory and identity. From the Philip Dick book "We Can Remeber It For You Wholesale." Best line: "Consider that a divorce!" - Quaid (Schwarzenneger) after shooting dead his treacherous wife (Stone).

22) ROBO-COP (1987) Director Paul Verhoeven. Starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Ray Wise, Miguel Ferrer and Dan O'Herlihy. A Detroit police-officer, riddled with bullets, has his head wired to a robotic body in a plutocratic future. The director's first American film - it's actually a better movie than Verhoeven's Total Recall - Robocop seamlessly mixes action, graphic violence, drama, pathos, humor and ferocious political and social satire together. Best line- "Dick...you're fired!" - Corporate boss (O'Herlihy) to his renegade manager (Cox) so that Robo-Cop is free to blast him.

21) BLADE RUNNER (1982) Director Ridley Scott. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, M. Emmett Walsh, Edward James Olmos and Joanna Cassidy. Detective (Harrison) in 21st Century is ordered to hunt down rebellious androids - known as "replicants" - before they can rebel against the humans. Film originally had mixed reviews but the Director's cut - which restores previously deleted scenes - makes it a better story. The photography makes for an atmospheric future world of the year 2020.

20) FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH (1968) Director Roy Ward Baker. Strarring Andrew Keir, James Donald, Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover and Duncan Lamont. Last and arguably the best of the British Quatermass Science-Fiction / Horror movies. Professor Quatermass investigates an alien spaceship discovered in the the London subway. The movie is a prime example of a low-budget movie with a great script. Best line - "Mars... is dead! Nothing there but a few scraps of lichen." - An incredulous army major who rejects Quartemass' speculations about an alien UFO. Title in Britain is Quatermass And The Pit.

19) THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) Director Byron Haskin. Starring Gene Barry, Ann Robinson and Les Tremayne. Although Steven Spielberg's 2005 remake unleashes absolute terror in the first half of his movie- overall, the 1953 version is a better film. 20th Century California residents are attacked by invading Martians. Views of the solar system are provided by Chesley Bonstall artwork and Leith Steven provides a stirring musical backround. Best line - "Maybe they want to capture us....alive!" - Heroine (Robinson) to the scientist (Barry) as they hide from the skulking Martians. Producer George Pal also funded "Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide" and "The Time Machine."

18) PREDATOR 2 Director Stephen Hopkins. Starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton and Morton Downey Jr. A Los Angeles detective investigates the brutal ray-gun murders of gangsters and cops in the sweltering city. The 2nd and best entry of the 4 Predator movies (the latest 2 have Predator going against the creatures of the Aliens franchise). The movie's principal forte is that the action never lets up and the ending is much more satisfying than the ridiculous ending in the original movie. Paxton and Downey provide comic relief. Best line- "Okay...who's next?" The detective (Glover), after dispatching a Predator, asking which of 10 aliens surrounding him as to who wants to fight him next.

17) THE MATRIX (1999) Directors Andy & Larry Wachowski. Starring Kenau Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Joe Pantoliano, Hugo Weaving, Gloria Foster, Marcus Chong, and Paul Goddard. A computer-savy office worker suspects that the reality of his world is an illusion. First and best of the 3 movies of the Matrix franchise. The actions scenes are balanced by extremely literate dialogue and the sci-fic theme is original. Best line - "Take the red pill and I'll show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." - Morpheus (Fishbourne) offering Neo (Reeves) a pill to wake him up from his dream world.

16) THE TIME MACHINE (1960) Director George Pal. Starring Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Whit Bissell, Sebastion Cabot and Alan Young. An inventor, named in the year 1900 invents a machine that allows him to travel through time. Better than two remakes (1978 and 2002), this movie blends H.G. Wells' intriguing story with clever Hollywood special effects. Best line- "Didn't they teach you anything at school? When I move back and forward- that's one dimension. When I step from side to side - two dimensions. And when I move up and down....three dimensions!" - The doctor (Cabot) to one his less-informed colleagues at the inventor's (Taylor) house on New Year's Eve.

15) FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) Director Fred Wilcox. Starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens and Earl Holliman. Astronauts in the 23rd Century land on a planet to discover a scientist, his daughter, Robby the Robot and a dark mystery about the extermination of a human colony there. The story is based on William Shakesspeare's The Tempest and features exotic "other-worldly" music by Bebe & Louis Barron. Walt Disney provided the special effects - which were state-of-the-art at the time. Best line - "I rarely use it myself, sir. It promotes rust." Robby the Robot explaining to the astronauts why he doesn't breathe oxygen.

14) THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957) Director Jack Arnold. Starring Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent and Paul Langton. From a book written with the same title written by Richard Matheson. A man sails a boat through a radioactive mist and discovers that he is physically shrinking day-by-day. Grant Williams does a tour-de-force in the 2nd half of the movie as he battles a giant cat, a terrifying spider and physical dangers and barriers of all kinds to survive as though he was a modern day Robinsoe Crusoe. The clever special effects are state-of-the art for this film era and the tension- which builds steadily in the first half - becomes almost unbearable in the 2nd half until an almost metaphysical up-beat ending. Best line - "Come on you devil! I'm waiting for you!" The hero (Williams) goads a spider 10 times his size to attack him.

13) THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997) Director Luc Besson. Starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jojovich, Christ Tucker, Ian Holm, Luke Perry and Lee Evans. From a story Besson himself wrote as a 16-year old teenager. It's the 23rd Century and ex-soldier now-New York City taxi driver Korban Dallas (Willis) meets a beautiful interstellar visitor who wants to save the Earth. Gaudy costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier, wild aliens, outstanding visuals and 1997 special effects make the movie "eye candy" for the viewer. Nearly everyone chews scenery and Tucker almost steals the movie. Best line- "Big Badda Boom!" Leelu (Jojovich) forcefully explaining her escape to Dallas (Willis) in his taxi.

12) THE THING (1951) Directors Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks. Starring James Arness (as "The Thing"), Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Dewey Martin, Robert Conthwaite, Douglas Spencer and James L. Young. An artcic research team discovers a UFO crashed into the ice and recovers a space alien encased in a block of ice. When the ice thaws...look out! Not the "Cold War" allegory that Invasion of the Body Snatchers portrays itself as, the movie is more of an attitude towards UFO invasion fears - which were quite real in the 1950's. Best line - "Watch the skies!" - The reporter wiring the story to his office back home.

11) ALIEN (1979) Director Ridley Scott. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skeritt, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, Harfry Dean Stanton, Bolaj Badedjo, Ian Holm and John Hurt. A space freightor investigates a crashed alien spaceship only to pick up a monster from outer space. Utilizing the neophyte computer graphics of the era to good effect along with original animation designs - depicting an eerie alien world - the movie blends science-fiction and horror to create suspense and dread throughout the story. Weaver's fight with the alien at movie's end is a blast. There have been 3 sequels to date - Aliens (the 2nd movie of the franchise) is so good that it is ranked #4 on this list.

10) THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) Director Robert Wise. Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, Hugh Marlowe, Francis Bavier, Lock Martin and Bill Gray. A lone alien arrives in his spaceship in Washington D.C. to warn the world about war. Like 5 Million Years to Earth another perfect example of how to present a fascinating story on a low budget. Best line - "Gort, Klaatu Barrada Nicto," - The Heroine (Neal) trying to coax the robot Gort into not blasting her to atoms. A 2008 remake was regarded by critics as inferior to the original.

9) INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) Director Don Siegel. Starring Kevin McCarthy, Carolyn Jones, Dana Wynter, King Donovan. Larry Gates, Jeran Willes, Whit Bissell and Richard Deacon. From a book by Jack Finney. Pods from outer space land in a California town and start replicating and replacing human beings. With the movie a supposed warning against McCarthyist anti-Communist paranoia in the most jittery years of the Cold War, modern viewers relate it more to actual invasion from outer space or perhaps a world wide biological epidemic. At the end of the movie there arises a dreadful uncertainty as to whether the alien pods can actually be stopped. Best line - "They're here! They're here!" - The hero (McCarthy) running up to cars in the street to warn unwitting motorists about the pods.

8) CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) - Director Steven Spielberg. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, Melinda Dillon, and Francois Truffault. Aliens buzz a small town and then invite some of its inhabitants to meet them. Spielberg's first science fiction hit that features state-of-the-art special effects and Spielberg's talent at presenting a human interest story involving characters that the viewer cares about. In the 1970's there was an increased interest in UFO's after NASA astronauts reported seeing them too. Best line - "What!? What!?" - The exasperated wife (Garr) angrily retorting to her crazy-acting husband's accusation that she was crazy to be threatening to take the kids and leave him.

7) ET: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1981) Director Steve Spielberg. Starring Erika Eleniak, Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace Stone, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton, Peter Coyote and C. Thomas Howell. A cute but extremely powerful alien stumbles into the house of an American family. The movie was the top-grossing movie from 1982 until Spielberg's Jurrasic Park succeeded it in 1994. (By the way Jurrasic Park is not on my list because I consider it to be a "monster movie").

6) PLANET OF THE APES (1968) Dirtector Franklin Schaffner. Starring Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall and Maurice Evans. Astronauts crash-land onto a planet where intelligent apes have their own civilization and hunt animalistic humans. From the book by Pierre Boulle with the screenplay by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. Best of the 4 feature length Apes movies which also gave rise to a cartoon series and a live action TV series. Serling employs his traditional paradoxical "twist ending" - used in the Twilight Zone TV episodes - at the movie's finish. Best line: "Take you're stinking paws off of me you damn dirty apes!" - Taylor (Heston) growling at a group of city-dwelling apes witnessing his capture in a hunting net. A "re-imagining" by Tim Burton in 2001 had makeup far superior to the earlier movies and an interesting ending faithful to the Boulle book - but most fans preferred the 1968 entry.

5) THE TERMINATOR (1984) - Director James Cameron. Starring - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Lance Hendrickson and A murderous cyborg is sent from the future to kill the mother, Sarah Connor, of the leader of the human resistance against intelligent machines at war with humans 40 years in the future but instead encounters a human soldier, Kyle Reese, who defends her. First and best of the three movies of the Terminator franchise. Schwarzenegger is perfect as the cyborg who positively exudes dread. There is a nice romance between Sarah (Hamilton) and Kyle Reese (Biehn). One of the best "B" movies ever made as it is another example of a relatively-low budget movie with a great story and diligent actors. The movie got embroiled in a plagiarism lawsuit brought against Cameron involving a similar story written by Sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison for a 1963 episode of the TV series The Outer Limits. Best line - "I'll be back." - The cyborg (Schwarzenegger) cooly misleading a police officer before destroying an entire police station.

4) ALIENS (1986) Director James Cameron. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton, Lance Henricksen, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser and Jennifer Goldstein. Ellen Ripley (Weaver) - after blasting the alien out of her space ship in the first movie - drifts in suspended hiberantion for 57 years until rescued by astronauts. Recuperating at a space station orbiting the Earth she is recruited by "Space Marines" as a military advisor for a mission to kill aliens who have infested a human colony on a distant planet. Cameron imposes a "Vietnam War"-military style concept that creates non-stop action which blends seamlessly with monster-style horror. Best line - "You know Burke (Resier) I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them screwing each other for a God-damn percentage!" Ripley chastisting con-artist Burke for his attempts to kill his fellow humans for reward money.

3) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Director Stanley Kubrick. Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Dan Richter and Loenard Rossiter. Fromn the Arthur C. Clarke short story "Sentinel." Astronauts explore the planet Jupiter to determine the source of a radio signal sent to Earth from there. Hailed by some as a masterpiece and ridculed by others as incomprehensible, 2001 is certainly the most controversial sci-fi flick ever. The films special effects and model spaceships paved the way for the Star Wars movies some 10 years later. Best line "I don't think so, Dave." - The spacship's computer HAL refusing to open the door for an astronaut (Keir) marooned in space.

2) STAR WARS (1977) - Director George Lucas. Starring Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamil and James Earl Jones. A young man follows his mentor into space to do battle with an Evil Empire. A spin-off from the old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials of the 1930's, the film pioneered a new-era of special effects utilizing models and the nascent computer graphics of the 1970's. Best line - "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany." Obi-Wan-Konobi (Guinness) warning his charge Luke Skywalker (Hamill) about the dangers found in Mos Eisley Space Port.

1) THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) - Director George Lucas. Starring Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamil, Billy Dee Williams, David Prowse and James Earl Jones.The forces of the Galactic Empire attack a rebel base on a distant planet. The first science-fiction movie to effectively use the new computer graphics of the era. Many of the scenes are exquistely atmospheric. Best line- "No. I am your father." Darth Vader (Prowse-Jones) reveals his true identity to the wounded and beaten Luke Skywalker (Hamil). Second best line - "I know." - Han Solo (Ford) acknowledging Princess Leia (Fisher) when she exclaims to him "I love you" as he (Solo) is about to be put into a gruesome form of hibernation.

HONORABLE MENTION IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER 1950 to date: 1950-Rocketship X-M, 1951-When Worlds Collide, 1953-Invaders From Mars, and, It Came From Outer Space, 1955-This Island Earth, 1957-Kronos, 1958-From The Earth To The Moon, 1959-The Angry Red Planet, 1961-The Day The Earth Caught Fire, 1971-The Andromeda Strain, 1972-Silent Running, 1980-Flash Gordon, 1983-Return of The Jedi, 1986-Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, 1991-Star Trek VI: The Final Frontier, 1993-Fire In The Sky, 1996-Independence Day, 1997-Starship Troopers, and 1998-Soldier.