THE SF MOVIE CANON

Steve, of Modulator fame, isn’t content to bring us Links to Beasties every Friday – he is also (apparently) a connoisseur of Science Fiction movies. Those who know me know that Science Fiction is near and dear to my heart, with me having learned to appreciate the genre at my mother’s knee, back in my Snot-Nose Days.

Steve passes on this meme, which he in turn snarfed up from Jaquandor at Byzantium’s Shores. It’s based on a list John Scalzi (Whatever) compiled in his recently-published sheaf of dead trees book, The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies: the 50 Science Fiction Films You Have To See Before You Die, AKA The Canon.

John Scalzi offers the following caveat with respect to his list, which is of the films he deems to be the most significant in the history of SF film:

Note that “most significant” does not mean “best” or “most popular” or even “most influential.” Some of the films may be all three of these, but not all of them are - indeed, some films in The Canon aren’t objectively very good, weren’t blockbusters and may not have influenced other filmmakers to any significant degree. Be that as it may, I think they matter - in one way or another, they are uniquely representative of some aspect of the science fiction film experience.

As with all of these “list’m and mark’m memes” (as Steve calls ’em), simply take the list and bold the ones you’ve seen. Commentary is optional.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!

Akira

Alien

Aliens

Alphaville

Back to the Future

Blade Runner

Brazil

Bride of Frankenstein

Brother From Another Planet

A Clockwork Orange

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Contact

The Damned

Destination Moon

The Day The Earth Stood Still

Delicatessen

Escape From New York

ET: The Extraterrestrial

Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)

The Fly (1985 version)

Forbidden Planet

Ghost in the Shell

Gojira/Godzilla

The Incredibles

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)

Jurassic Park

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The Matrix

Metropolis

On the Beach

Planet of the Apes (1968 version)

Robocop

Sleeper

Solaris (1972 version)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

The Stepford Wives

Superman

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The Thing From Another World

Things to Come

Tron

12 Monkeys

28 Days Later

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

2001: A Space Odyssey

La Voyage Dans la Lune

War of the Worlds (1953 version)

What? No The Time Machine (1960 version)? No King Kong (1933 version)? I guess I could make my own list instead of carping about a few egregious omissions...but that’s what lists like this are all about, anyway: carping about the egregious omissions. As it is, I’m 36 for 50 - 72%, which qualifies me for...what? Nerd-Boy?

I’m not going to tag anyone with this one, but if the subject matter appeals to you, have at it.