The best space themed science fiction movie ever?

Stony · Post by **Stony** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:53 am

All these people like firefly. I thought I was the only one. Why did it get canceled? Stupid TV bosses

ruckage · Post by **ruckage** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:40 pm

A few of my favourites in no particular order:

Star Trek the motion picture: Absolutely loved the storyline to this film, evokes a real sense of wonder.

2010: Personally I preferred this to 2001.

Event Horizon: You don't get many gothic/space/horror movies and although some of the effects look dated now the story is great.

Starship Troopers: How can you not love a film with this much gore.

Titan AE: It's a real shame this film didn't succeed. Despite good reviews it flopped at the cinema. Don't be put off by the fact this is an animated feature, this isn't really aimed at kids. Great story, great soundtrack and fantastic animation. Oh and for all you Firefly fans, its written by Joss Whedon.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:18 am

Originally posted by Le Sauvage
"The Day The Earth Stood Still" had a huge impact on me as a young teenager. Quite possibly the first anti Cold War/A Bomb movie ever made.

yeah 1951, though its worth noting that godzilla (imho the anti-bomb movie ) came out in 1954, while its seen as a bit fun now, its worth remembering that it was produced in japan less than 10 years after the bombs....

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:48 am

I remember going to the movies to see the then highly hyped "Forbidden Planet".
I was just a kid then and I remember getting the ticket from "...specially marked cereal boxes..." What a rush!:D

BraveHart · Post by **BraveHart** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:28 pm

I thought I saw you there

That was a Rush.....I was up in the balcony

"The Gods of Evochron Love Forbidden Planet"

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:41 pm

Don't tell me you were the one who was throwing popcorn off the balcony...!:D

BraveHart · Post by **BraveHart** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:54 pm

Guilty as charged......

"Incoming" hehe

"The Gods of Evochron Love Popcorn"

Lore Piper · Post by **Lore Piper** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:30 pm

I'd have to agree with Bjornson. Serenity was pretty darned good. Maybe not as 'big' as 2001, Star Wars, or Battlestar Galactica, but the whole Firefly series followed by Serenity was so very good in it's own way.
Character development, plot, acting, universe, threats, special effects. It just had a whole lot of HEART, ok? Star Wars was awesome but because it had the whole world of financial support behind it. Little Serenity was done on a shoestring and the movie was almost not done because it didn't promise 49 billion gazillion dollars return. It was just a whole lot of HEART. That's all I can say.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:50 am

Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, dificult question, I get a headache just thinking about it, and I just can not answer it, can not compute, system overload, 1 min to autodestruct, eject! eject! eject!LOL:P:P:P

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:38 am

FORBIDDEN PLANET
runner up
Day the Earth Stood Still, the original

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:14 am

did anybody say Silent Running? One of the best sci fi movies ever.

spelk · Post by **spelk** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:44 am

Even though everyone in the world hated it, I have to say I really enjoyed Battlefield Earth: 3000AD. It did have some terrible costuming, and some special effects were a bit made-for-tv, but I seemed to be able to look past the superficial stuff, and see quite an epic Sci Fi tale, with some excellent characters, and Terl (played by John Travolta) was hammed up quite a bit, but that made him all the more interesting and likeable to me.

I prefer my Sci Fi to be more "believable" and gritty if possible.

I love military situations in space, so Battlestar Galactica the new series is really good (although I somehow think they copped out using the "cylons are humans" concept). I know it added a certain level of mistrust and "whodunnit" to the show, but I think it stands on its own when the humans led by the surviving military are facing the cylons as they were originally concieved - as sentient and warmongering articifical AI.

Enjoyed the first Starship Troopers film, and I got down and dirty with the CGI animated 'Roughnecks' episodes, perfect marines vs bugs action. Aliens is another classic example of this. And although more cheesy in places, I enjoyed the series Space: Above and Beyond, for the same reason, soldiers vs aliens (the Chigs).

I love the Firefly TV series and Serenity the Movie. Even though the effects aren't top notch, the characterisations are just brilliant.

I like Star Wars, even the early episodes (again flying against popular opinion). If you can shield yourself from Lucas' merchandising aliens, I think the story itself pans out over the six films, and I eat up any animation based in the SW universe also.

Star Trek wise, I'm very nostalgic about the original series (mainly because its what I watched as a kid), but most other Trek series leave me cold. Apart from Enterprise, which seems to play up to the original formulae and has a cast of characters and situations that are what I consider "believable". Some of the aliens have to be overlooked - the Andorians for example - but you know space exploration and problem solving in space is what they do best.

Films to watch:

Sunshine
Supernova
Red Planet
Mission to Mars
Solaris
Pitch Black
Chronicles of Riddick
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Dune

If you have the time to put into the game Mass Effect, theres a whole lot of excellent Space Opera on offer, with the game and the two novels, one a prequel to the game, and the later one being a bridging novel between the original Mass Effect and the next game Mass Effect 2. Playing the game is like an interactive movie, and so I'm including it here

I'm sure I've missed out a load of my favourites, and I try to sample most Sci Fi in whatever form it takes.

wolis · Post by **wolis** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:55 am

I enjoyed Sunshine tha_rami.. visually impressive..

Star Wars (new hope) was amazing as far as space flight goes..

But Alien, for its atmosphere and sheer terror gets my first vote.

Hmm.. Blade Runner should get a mention but is was all talk of distant planets no visuals.. ah what a movie..

And Silent Running was so sad.. very well done.

[Edited on 25-4-2009 by wolis]

wolis · Post by **wolis** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:20 pm

Oh.. the Clangers.. the episode when that wonderful cloud that rained musical notes arrived.

PS does anyone remember Bleep and Booster?

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:08 pm

Originally posted by Marvin
FORBIDDEN PLANET
runner up
Day the Earth Stood Still, the original

Absolutely right on, Marvin!
I don't care how many times Hollywood tries to redo, "Day the Earth Stood Still", nothing will ever match the tension created by Klatu! "Barada Nichto" forever!

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:29 pm

Originally posted by MMaggio:
I don't care how many times Hollywood tries to redo, "Day the Earth Stood Still", nothing will ever match the tension created by Klatu! "Barada Nichto" forever!

And the real hero was the robot, Gort. As was the case in the short story.

cheops · Post by **cheops** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 4:58 am

Unfortunately I am old enough remember Bleep and Booster, Wolis.

If you are talking about flims and TV progremmes that influenced me into getting interested in space travel and Sci-Fi in general. Then I'd have to do them in chronoligical order of viewing.

Fireball XL5. TV show. (episode 1) I loved the take off sequence because the ships didn't take off vertically. The hover bikes were a great idea too - I often wonder if they were the inspiration for the speeder bikes in Star Wars.

Forbbiden Planet - for the frightening invisible creature and the sound effects and music. Pity we never got to see a Krel.
Robbys arms were far too short to be useful.

2001 - For showing what space travel could be really like. Kubric and Clarke had endless arugemets about the space flight sequences because Clarke insisted that they should be as realistic as possible. Kubric won out by dropping the talk over that would have accompanied the hominid sequence at the beginning. That section of the film scared my best friend to death.

UFO TV - last episode. For showing that the Earth might be vulnerable from aliens and the need for a defence organisation to combat them. It also had the cover up theme running in the background as the organisation was secret and the population in general was never to know what was going on. I personally hated the space Interceptors with their single shot weapons but you cant have everything.

Star Wars A New Hope. This had everything I could have dreamed and hoped for. By keeping it away from anything to do with Earth Lucas was onto a winner. The fight to destroy the Death Star was the best thing I had ever seen (next to the Battle of Britian, which it resembles very closely).

If you were to add books and comic books, then it would have to Dan Dare pilot of the future serialised in the Eagle comic and War of the Worlds which had me so capivated I read it in one night - mostly under the covers with a torch (flashlight). Considering it was written in 1899 it is truely frightening in its descriptions.

I've left out a lot of other fine films and TV shows because they didn't have the same impact on me personally because I was already hooked.

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 11:16 am

Am I the only one who remembers, "Flash Gordon" the Saturday morning TV series?

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 4:47 pm

Originally posted by MMaggio
Am I the only one who remembers, "Flash Gordon" the Saturday morning TV series?

No. Jean Rogers was the love of my life ... until she cut her hair for the second serial.

Ali Fish · Post by **Ali Fish** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:10 pm

ok my favourite ever epsiode of a space orientated scif series (TV) was some episode from star trek next generation. i havnt a clue what series number it was from. however...

it involved that dude from the A-team, "Murdoch" as some science officer abourd the enterprise.. the situation involved him being beamed by some light which in turn gave him information on creating technology to travel a very very far distance.

A-Team dude created this technology within the HOLO deck of the enterprise. and that was the amazing thing about this episode, Fantasy technology created in a holodeck linked the the physical ship through A-team dude. !!!! . a quick fold of space time and they were there. center of the universe ,so to speak to meet the people that beamed him with info light.

it was great because it was one episode that really stood out compared to the majority of STTNG..

another of my favourites was also from STTNG, The dyson sphere episode where they met scottie from old star trek. amazing aspect of this was again the use of crazy technology. A dyson sphere being an actuall theory involving self sustained planetary systems. unlimited energies. inverted planets build around stars. top class stories.

[Edited on 26-4-2009 by Ali Fish]

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:45 pm

You see, I told you it is hard for me to choose any particular one, I'm a big Sci-Fi fan and so far I have not seen any Sci-fi movie or Sci-fi TV series posted on here that I have not seen! To many good ones to choose from!LOL:P:P:P

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:32 pm

Originally posted by Maarschalk
You see, I told you it is hard for me to choose any particular one, I'm a big Sci-Fi fan and so far I have not seen any Sci-fi movie or Sci-fi TV series posted on here that I have not seen! To many good ones to choose from!LOL:P:P:P

Me too, but I couldn't find a sim game about BSG!
Why?

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:37 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar ... .282007.29

LINK TO THE DEMO HERE:
http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/battle ... index.html

From what I've read it got poor reviews, something to do with it being really sucky

[Edited on 4-27-2009 by verbosity]

Wasp89 · Post by **Wasp89** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:21 pm

It is just an arcade game; I saw some video of it on youtube and was relatively unimpressed. All of the action takes place on a thin but wide plane. In another thread, Spelk kindly posted a link to an indy BSG game that is being devoloped:

http://www.diaspora-game.com/

[Edited on 4-27-2009 by Wasp89]

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:47 pm

Originally posted by Wasp89:
In another thread, Spelk kindly posted a link to an indy BSG game that is being devoloped: http://www.diaspora-game.com/

The head honcho for Diaspora is also helping with a very complicated Trek game based on ST Bridge Commander and a heavily modded version of Python. Between the two games, he should be busy for a very, very long time.