Best Sci-Fi Film?

[Combwork]

"Best" is dificult to define, peoples opinions differ but I'd go for "The Forbidden Planet". Yes I know, people claim it's based on The Tempest, but that's no different than claiming that "The Lord of the Rings" was based on "The Ring Cycle" which in turn was based on Nordic Legends which possibly owed their roots to people getting blind drunk for much of a very long night.

"The Forbidden Planet" has a great plot and sense of scale and like Alien, doesn't have a monster that's misunderstood, and really just wants to be loved.......

[old_tv_nut]

Forbidden Planet is certainly one of my favorites, although I think the dialog is often stilted.

How about the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers? More towards the horror side, but I think the top of that genre.

[Ampico-kid]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Forbidden Planet is certainly one of my favorites, although I think the dialog is often stilted.

I'm a HUGE "Forbidden Planet" fan for sure. It still looks great 56 years after it's release. I'd also suggest considering the 1951 film "The Thing from another World" as a candidate. The very effective use of the theremin really cranked up the tension and scare factor in the film. It still send chills down my spine to watch it today.

[Eric H]

If we're talking 1950's here I'd go with War of the Worlds or The day the Earth Stood Still, for more modern films I'd go with The Terminator or T-2 or Alien/s, also Blade Runner.

[David Roper]

Day the Earth Stood Still gets my vote despite none of the Zenith TVs seen in the film being portholes.

[snelson903]

i own a copy of forbidden planet , i wish they would bring back the late late shows like they had on in the 60'-70' if you lived around chicago area they used to have on creature feature, theyed show the classic sci-fi and moster movies till the wee hour's of the morning.

[DaveWM]

lets make it easy, best BW the day the earth stood still, best color the forbidden planet (with the lovely Anne Francis). Agreed the dialogue is a bit "50's in forbidden planet, but with Anne in there I can live with it.

Michael Rene as Klatu set the standard for class other worlders.

As long as we are on movies how about best in other category

Suspense
North by Northwest (never been a leading man like Cary Grant)

Love stories
Casablanca

Drama
The Fountain Head

War
Sargent York

Religion
this was tough
10 Commandment
Ben Hur
(yes I am a fan of Chuck)

Horror
I dont know why but
An American werewolf in London, it just is creepy and makes me LOL.
a couple that had me wide awake for days
The Exocist (I saw it when I was a teen, yikes)
Alliens (calling this Horror vs Sci Fi)

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by Eric H

[COLOR="black"]If we're talking 1950's here I'd go with War of the Worlds or The day the Earth Stood Still, for more modern films I'd go with The Terminator or T-2 or Alien/s, also Blade Runner.

[COLOR="black"]

"If we're talking 1950's here I'd go with War of the Worlds"

If you can get round Tom Cruise and his tombstone teeth the second version had its good bits. The first version with the USAF 'flying wing' (I believe this was a real aircraft) was OK, but neither owed much to the book.

That's a shame but understandable. If US studios fund something this expensive to make it has to be aimed at the largest market available.

[Eric H]

How could I forget, "Back to the Future" which is Sci-Fi despite it's comic undertones (or are they overtones?)

I saw it about 13 times in the Theater and several times since on Video.

[hi_volt]

I'm a big John Carpenter fan, so I vote for 1980's "The Thing" with Kurt Russell. Another of my favorites is another Carpenter film "They Live". One of my favorite lines in that movie is "I'm here to kick a$$ and chew bubble gum....and I'm aaaall out of bubble gum."

[Sandy G]

"This Island Earth" w/the dudes w/the white bouffant hairdos, dying world, & the funky TV-like Gizmotron...

[Ed in Tx]

Here's an oldie for ya. "The Twonky" with Hans Conried. About an alien robot in the form of a TV set. Really spooked me as a kid when I saw it on the "Dialing For Dollars" movie, especially at night when the old Zenith would get turned off and that dot would appear.

[Sandy G]

Oh, I remember RACING up to the screen & crammin' me eye as close to the dot to see if I could see what was still goin' on in the program that had just been turned off...

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Oh, I remember RACING up to the screen & crammin' me eye as close to the dot to see if I could see what was still goin' on in the program that had just been turned off...

Didn't ya know? That light goes away and hides in the refrigerator.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Didn't ya know? That light goes away and hides in the refrigerator.

Yeah, THAT one bugged me when I was a kid, too...