Favorite Sci-Fi

[TRF]

Star Wars introduced me to Sci-Fi about the age of 9. I remember watching Space: 1999 on tv as a kid, But Star Wars was my first lasting impression. But as good as it was, Serenity, based on the Firefly tv series is hands down my favorite. Fantastic story, excellent action, and Joss Whedon wasn't afraid to kill off favorite characters from the series.

I watched Close Encounters a few weeks ago. Never gets old.

AI was good, but emotionally draining.

I liked Pitch Black in a low budget sort of way, and The Chronicles of Riddick in a high budget with a low budget feel sort of way.

Just saw Avatar. Visually stunning, but I saw that ending about 5 minutes in. Hated that the pilot died, as she was the coolest character IMO.

I'm sure there is more, but for now, its a good start.

[RedsBaron]

I was 21 when Star Wars came out. It blew me away, and I enjoyed The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as well. The three more recent Star Wars films did little for me, and the original trio, while good, no longer are as magical for me, either.
I agree: Serenity was great, but I liked it even better after I finally bought and watched Firefly on DVD.
Bladerunner is a terrific film.
I grew up watching Star Trek, and for a while every other Star Trek film was good, including The Wrath of Kahn, The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country. I also liked the TV series Star Trek The Next Generation, but I didn't find the ST:TNG films to be as good as those with characters from the original series.
The original The Day The Earth Stood Still was good.
I really liked Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The two Terminator movies made after those two, sans James Cameron, were not nearly as good, and inferior to the TV series The Sarah Connor Chronicles IMO.
Westworld was good.

[Johnny Footstool]

1. Serenity (after I watched the Firefly series)
2. Serenity (prior to watching Firefly)
3. Firefly
4. Battlestar Galactica (new series)
5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
6. Aliens
7. The Terminator
8. Star Trek: TNG

[jimbo]

Not sure I can if I can come to a conclusion of ranking them, but here are a few of my favorites that come to mind:

- I'm pretty much a Trekkie, loved all of the series except for DS9. Of the movies, The Wrath of Khan, The Undiscovered Country, First Contact, and the new Star Trek are my favorites.

- Serenity and Firefly. It's sad to think what the franchise could have become. Some of the best and most entertaining sci-fi writing ever.

- 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact. The first one was groundbreaking and my favorite of the two.

- Alien and Aliens. First great mix of horror and space sci-fi, IMO.

- Planet of the Apes

- The Fly. Not sure if some would categorize this one as "Sci-Fi," or not, but it's one of the only movies that I still specifically remember watching at the drive-in theatre.

[Caveat Emperor]

I was born a few years after the Star Wars craze hit, but got to experience it thanks to the miracle of HBO and VHS. I had all the toys as a kid and loved the movies to pieces. Like RB said, though, the new movies didn't do a ton for me. I still really enjoy the originals, though, and watch them whenever I get an odd urge.

Other sci-fi I'm a big fan of:

- Star Trek: I've watched all the TV shows (except for Voyager, which I gave up on about halfway through) and seen all the movies. Deep Space 9 is the pinnacle of the series for me, though. Once that show hit it's stride midway through it's second season, it blew away anything done in the Trek universe before or after.

- Terminator / Terminator 2: I still prefer the rough-around-the-edges first movie to the much sleeker second one. There's a depressing mood around it that just works.

- The Fifth Element: One of my favorite "popcorn" sci-fi movies of the last 20 years. The plot is about as paper-thin as people accuse "Avater" of having, but it's a fun ride.

- Avatar: Borrows liberally from a bunch of other sources, but everything about the movie just works for me. Unlike TRF, though, I had the ending pegged incorrectly (I thought for certain one of the two leads was going to die). Favorite sci-fi in the past few years.

- Dune (Sci-Fi Miniseries): I've got a soft-spot for Lynch's "take" (read: butchering, I suppose) on the material, but the Sci-Fi production comes surprisingly close to putting Hebert's work on screen.

- Doctor Who: I grew up watching the cheesy original show on PBS as a kid and saw just about every episode they still have. Didn't think much about it until they rebooted the show on the BBC about 4-5 years ago. The new show has been occasionally amazing, occasionally daft, and normally pretty damn good. Really excited that they've handed the EP reins over to the show's best writer (Stephen Moffat) and really looking forward to the upcoming season.

[TRF]

If you haven't seen the series Space: Above and Beyond, you really missed out.

Also, I was really enjoying the new Stargate series.

[MWM]

I can't sit and watch 5 minutes of anything remotely sci-fi, but my wife watched anything and everything sci-fi. Her favorite of all time has to be a show that was on the Scifi channel called Farscape. She LOVES that show. She's owns every season of each iteration of Stargate and the new BSG. But I think Farscape is her favorite.

[Roy Tucker]

The biggest impact I had was sci-fi from the 50's and 60's. Many Saturday afternoon sci-fi matinees that scared the pee out of me and watched Ghoulardi on Friday nights up in Cleveland.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
It Came From Outer Space (1953)
Them! (1954)
Invaders From Mars (1953)
The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms (1953)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Panic In Year Zero (1963)
I Married a Monster from Space (1958)

[westofyou]

I can't sit and watch 5 minutes of anything remotely sci-fi, but my wife watched anything and everything sci-fi. Her favorite of all time has to be a show that was on the Scifi channel called Farscape. She LOVES that show. She's owns every season of each iteration of Stargate and the new BSG. But I think Farscape is her favorite.

Me either, just not into the genre, but I did see the moon landings and have a Major Matt Mason, this film is not Sci Fi in appearance, but in theory it is


The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (1988)

A young boy in 14th century Cumbria (north of England) keeps getting visions he cannot explain. His village has so far been spared from the black death, but the villagers fear its imminent arrival. With the boy as their guide, a group set out to dig a hole to the other side of the world, so as to fulfil the visions and save the village. At the 'other side' is 20th century New Zealand


http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0095709/

[Redhook]

E.T.

[oneupper]

Gattaca
The Matrix
Terminator
Star Trek (the latest one, I liked it a lot)
Planet of the Apes (the first one)

Honorable mention to Starship Troopers...just for the fun of it.
Serenity and the Firefly series also worth mentioning.
I liked "Total Recall" although the critics weren't very nice to it.

I never really liked Star Wars, I was a young adult when it came out. The thought of Ewoks makes me nauseous.

[WMR]

Sunshine

[marcshoe]

Good lists. Has anyone mentioned "Dark City"?

And, of course, I'd add "Lost" and "X-Files".

I also liked the first season or so of Sliders, before they started mostly referencing movies, then changed the cast.

[MWM]

Lost isn't Sci-Fi, IMO. It's mythology.

[Redsfan320]

I first saw Star Wars about 6 years ago, at the age of 7, and for ~3 years I was the definition of Star Wars Obsession.

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