EW's Top 25 Film/Television Contributions to Science Fiction

[McMurphy]

EW.com, the online faction of the magazine Entertainment Weekly, has put together their picks for the top twenty-five "Greatest Moments" of television and film in the last twenty-five years for the Science Fiction genre. See the list, with details, begin HERE.

A at-a-glance version of the list is posted below:

25.) V
24.) The Galaxy Quest
23.) Doctor Who
22.) Quantum Leap
21.) Futurama
20.) Star Wars: Clone Wars
19.) Starship Troopers
18.) Hereos
17.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
16.) Total Recall
15.) Firefly/Serenity
14.) Children of Men
13.) The Terminator/Terminator 2
12.) Back to the Future
11.) Lost
10.) The Thing
9.) Aliens
8.) Star Trek: The Next Generation
7.) E.T.
6.) Brazil
5.) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
4.) The X-Files
3.) Blade Runner
2.) Battlestar Galactica
1.) The Matrix

 

[ravenus]

V? As in V for Vendetta? Where is the frelling SF in that? You can call it alternative history or speculative fiction, but science? Anyway it sucked for me. I think they pretty much missed the point of Alan Moore's book and just brandished a few superficial elements.

No mention of the Cube films.

ET has better SF moments than Contact?

:S

 

[iansales]

No, it's V as in the lizard aliens who invaded Earth, starring that bloke from Nightmare on Elm Street.

 

[iansales]

I'd also say Alien was a more influential film than Aliens. It was the start of the franchise, for one thing. In fact, overall that's a pretty safe list - all the films and tv series that are publicly perceived as "good" sf. For example, it's now become a cliché that The Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek film, but have you actually watched it recently? It's an over-inflated television episode. The Search for Spock is better - a nicely-drawn character study with some real sfnal moments.

 

[ravenus]

Even Aliens is a film about invading lizard aliens
It's a crap list really, telling people only about the films they've already seen several times over.

 

[iansales]

I'd agree with that. Except for... Clone Wars?! Who saw that, besides kids?

 

[Connavar]

11.) Lost


That made the list stupid and fake.......

Battlestar Galactica if they voted the old crap before the best show on tv in the remake, nostalgia is way too powerful.....

I rather listen Time saying BSG is Nr.1 than this list

 

[Dave]

It is certainly a strange list - it has all my favourites there - but the order is all wrong!

I certainly rate V myself, and there was talk of a next generation-like sequel.

Star Wars: Clones Wars - I have actually seen this as my son has the DVD. I don't rate it above the films, and The Empire Strikes Back was the best of those. <ducks to avoid flying objects>

Personally, I think I would replace Brazil with Twelve Monkeys, The Thing with Escape from New York and Wrath of Khan with The Voyage Home.

I would also lose E.T.! <ducks to avoid more flying objects>

Maybe I would add The Fifth Element instead, or Vanilla Sky, or Minority Report.

There are other things I would want to add, but 25 years means it has to be post-1982, and they are just too old! Or else I am!

And I think that is why Alien doesn't make the list (it was 1979).

 

[Connavar]

Tell me you have seen the spanish movie Vanilla Sky was a remake of? That was a great SF movie....

VS was a letdown in comparison.


V was my first SF tv show and i still love it. I would watch a sequal anytime !!



Isnt it funny Starship Troopers, a really bad movie survives and makes many list just cause of how different it is from the novel. Just cuase its dumb hollywood version ,action feast....

 

[iansales]

Vanilla Sky was a poor remake of Abre los Ojos. Starship Troopers is an excellent pastiche of military sf. Sadly, Dave, I've found The Voyage Home has not aged well at all. I remembered it with fondness, but watching it recently it made me cringe. Definitely, yes, ET should go home. Spielberg, ugh - never made a good film in his career.

 

[j d worthington]

Vanilla Sky was a poor remake of Abre los Ojos. Starship Troopers is an excellent pastiche of military sf. Sadly, Dave, I've found The Voyage Home has not aged well at all. I remembered it with fondness, but watching it recently it made me cringe. Definitely, yes, ET should go home. Spielberg, ugh - never made a good film in his career.

Not never, but damned seldom, for my money. I ended up darned near being ostracized because of my reaction to ET when it first came out. Felt a bit (to use one of Ellison's favorite phrases) like a cobra at a mongoose rally....

Abre los Ojos is a very nice film. Haven't even bothered with Vanilla Sky, I'm afraid. I've not been overly impressed with Hollywood's remakes of foreign films for a very long time (if ever)....

Overall, I found the list to be, at best, uninspired; very "safe" (an apt description there) indeed....

 

[McMurphy]

The magazine Entertainment Weekly is, to put it pleasantly, uninspired most of the time, and has suffered from the latest trend of magazines attempting to publish new lists in every volume.

I saw the link highlighted on my yahoo front page, so I dropped it here for a discussion.

The only additional point to make, however, is the merit of Starship Trooper. I don't know if it should be included in a top twenty-five list, either, but it was far from not being self aware, much in the same fashion of the original Robocop, and both films, in their satirical sort of way, were making political points.

Robocop. Now, there is a film that should have taken its spot.

 

[Tillane]

Hmm. Yes, it is a bit uninspired, though a few of their entries would make my own list (Blade Runner, The Terminator, Brazil, X-Files & Alien). Have to agree with the majority on ET; I've always found it far too cutesy and saccharine to be taken seriously.

I'd have liked to see a few foreign films in there, too: maybe Akira, Ghost In The Shell and (as others have mentioned) Abre los Ojos. And although I know it often divides opinion, I'd have liked to see Tron on there; it's flawed, but I think it's an important film nonetheless.

 

[Pyan]

Spielberg, ugh - never made a good film in his career.

Schindler's List?

 

[ScottSF]

strange to include movies and TV. Maybe they couldn't come up with enough or had things they wanted to include. It's hard to think back to 1982 but I think they really missed some importan ones.

I think the following belongs on the list
12 Monkeys
Minority Report
AI
Star Trek: First Contact
Contact
2010

and I think these don't belong on the list
V
Galaxy Quest
Futurama
Lost
Heroes
Quantum Leap

 

[clovis-man]

Maybe I would add The Fifth Element instead, or Vanilla Sky, or Minority Report.

Absolutely should include The Fifth Element and Minority Report. I would include Predator (1987) also over much of the dreck on the list.

Frankly, the list demonstrates such a total lack of respect for the genre that it should probably not get much serious consideration. I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over how my faves were or were not treated in it.

Jim

 

[clovis-man]

Schindler's List?

Here's a list of films he's directed since Jaws. There's a decent flick here & there. Including some which could be included in this sage and erudite list.

Jim

1. Munich (2005)
2. War of the Worlds (2005)
3. The Terminal (2004)
4. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
5. Minority Report (2002)
6. Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
   ... aka A.I. Artificial Intelligence (USA: poster title)
7. The Unfinished Journey (1999)
8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
9. Amistad (1997)
10. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
11. Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair (1996) (VG)
12. Schindler's List (1993)
13. Jurassic Park (1993)
    ... aka JP (USA: promotional abbreviation)
14. Amazing Stories: Book One (1992) (V) (segment "The Mission")
15. Hook (1991)
16. The Visionary (1990) (V) (segment "Par for the Course")
17. Always (1989)
18. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
19. Empire of the Sun (1987)
20. The Color Purple (1985)
21. "Amazing Stories" (2 episodes, 1985)
    ... aka Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (USA: complete title)
    - The Mission (1985) TV episode
    - Ghost Train (1985) TV episode
22. "Strokes of Genius" (1984) (mini) TV mini-series (introductory segments) (uncredited)
23. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
24. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (segment 2)
25. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
    ... aka E.T. (USA: short title)
    ... aka E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary (USA: longer version)
26. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
    ... aka Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (USA: video title)
27. 1941 (1979)
28. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
    ... aka CE3K (USA: informal short title)
    ... aka Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Special Edition (USA: reissue title)
29. Jaws (1975)

 

[iansales]

The problem with Spielberg is that he tells the audience how to react in his films, and I would sooner figure out how to react myself. I'll admit I do like AI, but bits of it are pretty naff - the Flesh Fair, for example - and I'm not sure which is Kubrick and which is Spielberg. Munich... tried to play so fair, it ended up neither condemning nor condoning Israel's behaviour. Good films have something to say, and it's up to the viewer to decide whether or not they agree.

 

[Connavar]

Schindler's List?

Exactly a great movie and the only movie of Spielberg i rate highly.

Really it was great mostly thanks to the amazing Ralph Fiennes.

 

[j d worthington]

Anent Spielberg... this may be the unkindest cut of all, but it does reflect my honest opinion. I'd say that two of the best things he ever did were Duel and the episode "Eyes" from the pilot of the t.v. series Night Gallery..... Not that he hasn't done comparable (or better) things since, but that (considering his output) they've been so damned few.....