Posted on 08/27/2004 8:37:15 AM PDT by dennisw
London -- A British newspaper survey of scientists has chosen Blade Runner as the world's best science-fiction film.
The 1982 movie was the favourite when 60 scientists were questioned by The Guardian, including evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, the newspaper said Wednesday.
In the film, a retired cop played by Harrison Ford hunts down renegade human replicates in a dark futuristic vision of Los Angeles.
Stephen Minger, a stem-cell biologist at King's College, London, said the movie was the best he had ever seen.
"It was so far ahead of its time and the whole premise of the story -- what is it to be human and who are we, where we come from. It's the age-old questions," he said.
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey came second, followed by the first two films of George Lucas's Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.
The others chosen, in descending order, were Alien, Solaris (1972 version), Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, The Matrix and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Asked to pick their favourite authors, the scientists chose: Isaac Asimov (I, Robot), John Wyndham (Day of the Triffids) and Fred Hoyle (The Black Cloud.) AP
Yoyodyne was also the manufacturer of either the android or the ship in the first Alien movie.
"Nonono! Don't tug on that, you never know what it might be attached to."
I saw Forbidden Planet in it's original theatrical release. Little bit of trivia: free tickets were included in some kind of cereal box; as I recall it was Quaker Oats. That's how I got my ticket.
I also saw "Them" in the theater. Not the greatest sci-fi flick, but definitely the greatest giant bug flick of all time.
Heck, with only two movies from the fifties, and only one non-American film, that list is meaningless. The Terminator and Matrix films maybe entertaining but are hardly great art. When you compare any of the films in those two series to The Thing From Another World, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Things to Come, Stalker, Seconds, City of Lost Children and The Andromeda Strain, you realize that they fall short of the greatness that filmed science fiction is capable of.
In fact, given his body of work, I would vote for Ridley Scott as top Sci-Fi director of all time and will automatically buy a ticket to any film he puts out.
Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Dark Star is a true classic. A 'smart' bomb bump!
Science fiction bump!
While I hate to take that particular Title away from a true classic...I must say that "Starship Troopers" kicks maximum ass in the giant bug flick genre. "Them" cannot compare.
A lot of contemporary viewers seem to hate it because it has a politically conservative subtext; directors Hawks and Christian Nyby, as well as screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, were some of Hollywood's staunchest conservatives. Although it was made with the Cold War in mind, try to think of the War on Terror and the debate over it in this country the next time you watch it.
Special effects do not make a movie in my book. Them had a literate script and some decent acting. Not as many naked women, though.
Yes, I particularly love the dialogue between the Captain (Kenneth Tobey) and his crew and the female lead. And the egg-heads who want to study and learn form the killer alien. As for the Cold War subtext and such, bah! It's a great thriller!
"The Terminator and Matrix films maybe entertaining but are hardly great art."
Oh, I beg to differ. Terminator had a very good take on the pitfalls of AI and convenience married together, and served up well by James Cameron with great mass-audience appeal. Except for the time-travel literary device, it shows a chilling near-future world. Being science fiction, it takes the ideas to a point one-step-beyond expected reality, but only that ONE step.
The Matrix was revolutionary in a similar way, though in the virtual world. The story took on the concept of "systems of control" quite well, and once again for a very wide audience. The next two movies were nowhere near the giant of the first one, though I still enjoy them.
I agree with you wholeheartedly about The Andromeda Strain, though. As bioterror sci-fi goes, and the cautions that go with it, I can't imagine a better flick.
"...I would vote for Ridley Scott as top Sci-Fi director of all time..."
A little OT, but I'd always thought it would be neat to photoshop a blending of the "Alien" and a Ridley Sea Turtle.
The Ridley Scott Sea Turtle!
Blade Runner?? Not.... Try the first Star Wars or the Matrix. I tend to like Start Trek too.
As someone who is DEEP into SF (I run RocketShip Video), I cringe when such lists come up. Though Blade Runner, 2001, and Solaris I can agree with, I often shudder at the 'commercial' choices.I thought The Matrix was boring, and merely a comic-book version of the same issues being pondered in Solaris.
Star Wars is really more fantasy, IMHO, and Terminator film are really just action, despite the scientific trappings. Even Blade Runner, technically, is Frankenstein with a noir detective thrown in.
Other films that are more obscure but you should still make an effort to check out are Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a really great film, Planet of the Vampires, terrific Mario Bava Italian horror/SF, It, the Terror From Beyond Space!, the original Alien, The First Men in the Moon, the best Welles adaptation ever, and The Andromeda Strain, one of the few 'hard' SF movies.
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