Favorite Sci-Fi movies

[Great Rumbler]

Alright, boys, it's time to get down to some serious discussion here. The topic: Science Fiction movies. Make your chioce and defend it! To the DEATH!!

[A Black Falcon]

Star Wars, of course. :) RotJ being my favorite.

[Great Rumbler]

As much as I like Star Wars, and I do very much, I have to go with 2001: A Space Odyssey on this one. The music, the visuals, Hal-9000, everything about this movie is simply perfect, or very near it. I've certainly seen it a lot less than any of the Star Wars, but this is just a great, great movie and there's none quite like it.

[A Black Falcon]

There are a lot of good sci-fi movies... that does make saying which is best hard. I just have to vote for Star Wars as a fan of the series...

[Great Rumbler]

Obviously, the same goes for the best games thread. I felt, though, that I just had to do with 2001. I guess it had a bigger impact on me than any of the others, excellent though they all are.

[Darunia]

Jeeze that was hard---I mean I like Star Wars above all, but is any SINGLE Star Wars movie better than the original Matrix---? Not much beats The Matrix. So, with a lot of internal strife and conflict, I had to choose The Matrix.

[OB1]

Must... resist... urge... to bash... those crappy Matrix movies....


Star Wars isn't really scifi, btw. It's fantasy and chambara dressed up in scifi drag.

[Great Rumbler]

Fantasy elements or not, it's still falls under the banner of scifi and so it shall remain!

Must... resist... urge... to bash... those crappy Matrix movies....

The second and third movies might not have been that great, but the first one was really good.

[OB1]

Whoever made that banner is an idiot though, so it doesn't matter. Star Trek is science fiction. Star Wars is only science fiction on the surface. The outermost, thin surface.

And The Matrix was good as far as extremely derivative, completely unoriginal popcorn flicks go.

[Weltall]

I don't really think Star Wars is sci-fi either, since there is very little emphasis on science. I think it's more accurate to call it a space fantasy, since with a change in setting and technology, the story would fit perfectly in a medieval fantasy setting.

That said, I guess my favorite sci-fi is Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. I actually don't care very much for sci-fi though.

[Great Rumbler]

science fiction
n.

A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background.

:p

[OB1]

Pfft, even Ryan agrees with me. Science Fiction simply isn't an accurate descriptor for Star Wars. Space fantasy is perfect.

That having been said, I just realized that I engage is ten times the number of ultra-nerdy conversations than I need to on a daily basis.

[Weltall]

Science fiction is usually a blanket term for anything with robots or space, but I think it's innaccurate (like, Stephen King's "Bag of Bones" is called a horror novel merely because it features a ghost, but it's much more a book about a broken family). Science fiction by its very name focuses on science, and develops fictional scenarios based on scientific ideas. Star Wars is not based on a scientific idea, and the science of the series is rarely explained. The focus is much more on the characters and the story, whereas Star Trek is often based around a technological, scientific, or medical base, with a few character profiles here and there.

[Darunia]

I've heard Star Wars referred to as a "space opera". I think that's pretty accurate; only without fat German women and singing. And Matrixs II & III sucked horribly, HORRIBLY, but Matrix I was simply one of the best movies I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of movies. Wrath of Khan ties with The Voyage Home as the best Star Trek movie.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, those two Star Trek movies, along with First Contact, are the best ones.

I've heard Star Wars referred to as a "space opera". I think that's pretty accurate

Yeah, that would probably be more correct than calling it a "science-fiction" movie, since it focuses more on human drama than technology. Star Trek on the other hand has a lot more emphasis on speculative technology.

[A Black Falcon]

The Star Wars books are more sci-fi-ish, I'd definitely say. The movies? "Space opera" is probably the best label, but of course 'sci-fi' works because that's a generic term used for anything set in space/the future/etc... should it be? Perhaps not. But it is.

[Great Rumbler]

For all intents and purposes, it works.

[Darunia]

Agreed.

[OB1]

If you've listened to the ANH commentary you'll notice that Lucas made a very conscious effort not to explain all of the strange technologies in the SW universe because he wanted the movies to be more fantasy than scifi.

[A Black Falcon]

You also might look at things like how people are armed with axes and swords (lightsabers = really cool swords. :))...

[OB1]

Actually the Jedi are based off of Samurai, and the lightsabers are basically katanas. :)

[A Black Falcon]

Lightsabers are straight. Katanas aren't. So no. :D

[Great Rumbler]

Same difference.

[Darunia]

I HATE it when people say "same difference." It's 'same thing'! Get it right!

[Great Rumbler]

It's a play on words, you nimrod. By combining two words that have an opposite meaning such as "same" and "difference" you create a phrase that is in itself meaningful and a complete contradiction.

[OB1]

Lightsabers are straight. Katanas aren't. So no. :D

Having a laser sword is crazy enough as it is. Having a curved laser sword would be beyond crazy.


You seriously don't think that the Jedi were based off of Samurai? Have you ever heard Lucas talk about his movies before? Even the name Jedi comes from the term Jidai-geki, which is the period drama (aka Samurai movie). The whole series is a tribute to Samurai movies and old scifi serials. Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo) was even considered for the role of Obi-Wan (which would have kicked ass, btw).

[Great Rumbler]

And Lucas has acknowledged that Hidden Fortress [another samurai-type movie with Toshiro Mifune in it] to be a major influence on Star Wars.

[OB1]

Yeah there's even a video interview with him on the dvd.

[A Black Falcon]

You seriously don't think that the Jedi were based off of Samurai? Have you ever heard Lucas talk about his movies before? Even the name Jedi comes from the term Jidai-geki, which is the period drama (aka Samurai movie). The whole series is a tribute to Samurai movies and old scifi serials. Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo) was even considered for the role of Obi-Wan (which would have kicked ass, btw).

I've watched all the extra material on the Ep.1 and Ep.2 DVDs (don't have the classic DVD set). so of course I've heard that... I was "joking"... as was obvious...

As for Obi-Wan... wasn't he originally supposed to be somewhat crazy until Alec Guiness had them change teh character?

[OB1]

Only obvious to you, ABF.

[A Black Falcon]

The :D should give it away pretty strongly.

[Darunia]

Oh OB1, lol, you and your Samurai obsession! :loopy:

[OB1]

You watch the movies I watch and you'll be the same, I guarantee it.

[A Black Falcon]

Don't, you're more obsessive than most. :)

[Darunia]

*Declares Formal State of War on ABF*

[OB1]

Don't, you're more obsessive than most. :)

[A Black Falcon]

Or at least, you say them in stronger terms? That's probably more accurate.

[OB1]

...

[OB1]

I like their earlier stuff more.

[Great Rumbler]

I got Alien Director's Cut on DVD today.

[OB1]

ok

[Great Rumbler]

[Darunia]

Eh Alien is all right; but AlienS is much, much better. Why watch 5 hapless space truckers get killed when you can watch 20 marines kick fucking ass and kill a million aliens and nuke a small space base? Hmmm??

[Darunia]

Eh Alien is all right; but AlienS is much, much better. Why watch 5 hapless space truckers get killed when you can watch 20 marines kick fucking ass and kill a million aliens and nuke a small space base? Hmmm??

[Great Rumbler]

Maybe because Alien, like The Thing, used elements of claustrophobia and isolation to create a tense mood. Of course they're both great, if completely different, movies. I'm just saying is all.

[Darunia]

*Rolls eyes*

Whatever---screw YOU guys, I'm going home.

[Great Rumbler]

...

[OB1]

What are you guys talking about?

[Great Rumbler]

I don't have a clue.

[Private Hudson]

Eh Alien is all right; but AlienS is much, much better. Why watch 5 hapless space truckers get killed when you can watch 20 marines kick fucking ass and kill a million aliens and nuke a small space base? Hmmm??

Did you even watch Aliens?? You just described like.. the complete opposite of what happened in the movie.

The marines got THEIR asses fucking kicked, by a lot less than a millions aliens, and they had planned on nuking the 'small space base' but did not eventually need to, as it blew up by itself.

The plants reactor, which put them all into a life threatening situation was, ironically, the thing that saved their lives (Rebecca and Ellen's, that is). As before that emergency arose, they were only contemplating staying on the planet before being rescued, which would have resulted in them being killed.

Aliens is my favourite Sci-Fi, btw. But you're being far too harsh on such an amazing movie as Alien. If you prefer the action of #2 (I'm guessing you're the type of person to skip through the first 1.5 hours to get to the aliens..) then it shows you have a severe lack of patience in regards to cinema.

And I don't think the two movies are completely different. The second movie uses all the techniques of the original, but on a much larger scale. It simply expands every component of the original.

Blade Runner and 2001 are close seconds. Though, the book for 2001 is superior.