Top Sci-Fi DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Kevin M]

Perhaps I should have worded my last post like this:


Well RogerH, as you can see from Scott Kimball's response (& like I said) this isn't a film for everyone, Your Milage May Vari. You may wish to rent it first as is seems to be a polarising film....not a lot of middle ground in the opinions it pulls out of people, I personally thought it was an extremely smart & effective film.

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:just wanted to make sure that my words weren't mistaken as being critical of anyone as I thought they might come across that way in the way I phrased them in the previous post.

 

[Harold Wazzu]

Blade Runner
Alien, Aliens
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fire in the Sky
E.T.
Explorers (for the 80s nostalgia)
Fifth Element
I, Robot
ID4
Jurassic Park
MIB
Minority Report
Mission to Mars
Pitch Black
Stargate
Terminator & Terminator 2
Tron
Wargames

 

[Will_B]

Quality of Returner is about the same as another science fiction time travel film called Millennium starring Chery Ladd.

Both worth watching if you like time travel stories and can forgive the rest. Another time travel story with the same kind of low budget is TimeQuest (2002) which puts time travel into the mix of the JFK assasination.

 

[Jack Briggs]

My definitive list of the ten best SF films ever made and their appearance on DVD:

10) Fahrenheit 451

9) "Demon With a Glass Hand" (from ABC-TV's The Outer Limits, scripted by Harlan Ellison)

8) Dark City

7) Metrolopolis

6) Solaris (Tarkovsky, on Criterion)

5) Blade Runner

4) The Day the Earth Stood Still

3) Forbidden Planet

2) Zardoz

1) 2001: A Space Odyssey

The transfer of Forbidden Planet is not in stereo, but it looks decent. Zardoz, a film that you should definitely see, has a good DVD transfer made from a badly damaged print, and is well worth it.

At any rate, these are the great SF films available on DVD — and there is good stuff here.

Honorable mentions:

* War of the Worlds
* The Time Machine
* Box sets of the original ABC-TV series, The Outer Limits
* Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; non-16:9-enconded, but letterboxed widescreen)
* Destination Moon
* Gattaca

 

[JimKr]

Demolition man although its a rough transfer on a flipper with fullscreen on oneside and widescreen on the other.

 

[Marko Berg]

Since proper Science Fiction stuff such as Zardoz and 2001: A Space Odyssey have been recommended many times by certain members with the obsessive-compulsive disorder true Science Fiction fans, I'll add suggestions for titles where science is not necessarily a strong point or in the focus of the events:

Films:
My Science Project
Weird Science
Simone (or Sim0ne as it's sometimes written)
Capricorn One

TV series:
Firefly
Babylon 5

 

[Will_B]

Until the End of the World isn't exactly science fiction either, but it is set in the near future and features a device that records people's dreams and visions, so, perhaps it qualifies. Available in the US in it's "short" version and available in Germany and Italy in a really long director's cut. Starring William Hurt. It is definately in my top 20 films, regardless of what it is.

 

[Neil Joseph]

My personal favourites...

- The Abyss
- Aliens
- Contact
- Dark City
- Deep Impact
- Galaxy Quest
- I-Robot
- Jurassic Park
- MIB
- Minority Report
- Matrix series
- T2

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Somebody's gotta put in a word for THX-1138 -- a great film, hugely influential on the genre, given awesome treatment on DVD.

I second the motions for:
Blade Runner
2001: A Space Odyssey
Solaris (Tarkovsky)
Minority Report
Dune (Lynch version)
Alien
Aliens
The Abyss
Forbidden Planet
not necessarily in that order

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Just to clear up a possible misconception about A.I. (a film I disliked upon first viewing -- but was moved to tears upon the second): Kubrick spent a couple of years developing the story, then sought out Spielberg and proposed that Spielberg direct the film and Kubrick remain as producer. He proposed it as "A Stanley Kubrick Production of A Steven Spielberg Film" as the title card would eventually read.

Spielberg agreed, althought the whole time he insisted that Kubrick himself was more suited to direct that material. The two of them spent the '80s and '90s sending memos and storyboards to each other via a secret fax machine in Spielberg's closet that he maintained for nearly twenty years. There are masses of material left over from these meetings that point to a very close collaboration and a final product very close to Kubrick's intentions.

After Kubrick died, Spielberg collected all of the current storyboards, assembled them into a screenplay (which he wrote himself) and stuck to the Kubrick outline as closely as possible. The final film was almost shot-for-shot as Kubrick invisioned.

As for the "schizophrenic" tone of the picture, I think it's best not to look for "Spielberg touches" and "Kubrick touches" and seperate them; this film is a hybrid with a tone all of it's own. To isolate the elements (as in economics, politics or sports) is a death knell. Consider the whole, which is hard to do, because by combining two filmmakers, you don't have a give-and-take, but a third personality emerging somewhere in between the two sensibilities. And nobody was familiar with this new person, so it was a bit weird at first.

Anyway, that's my waaay, waaaaay overlong explanation. I still think the film is flawed and overlong, but I've come to appreciate it for what it is. Personally, it's the kind of massively-ambitious, yet flawed film that is still more fascinating than milder, more "perfect" films.

Cheers.

 

[MikeEckman]

Another movie I didnt see mentioned in here is the original H.G. Wells The Time Machine. NOT the horrendous 2000 remake.

The original DVD has an exceptional picture quality and although the sound is nothing special, its very clear and represents the film well (especially considering this film is 45 years old).

There is a good documentary about the film on the disc that is narrated by Rod Taylor and even gives some trivia about the actual time machine prop used in the movie.

 

[Rich Malloy]

2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange (except the non anamorphic part!)
Solaris: Criterion
A.I.
The Fly (but wait until the transfer is liberated from the lame sequel and put onto that special edition due out in the Fall)
Ghost in the Shell II (but must trade-in for proper subtitles... damn, most of these recommendatons have caveats!)

 

[Aaron Silverman]

A few that (unless I missed 'em) haven't been mentioned. . .

The Quiet Earth
Miracle Mile (semi-SF)
Metropolis (The Anime film -- one of the best ever)
Neon Genesis: Evangelion (One of the best Anime TV series)
Silent Running
Planet of the Apes
The Day The Earth Stood Still
The Sixth Day
Babylon 5 (TV Series)
Videodrome
Resident Evil I & II (much action, small SF)
28 Days Later
Escape From New York (also much action, small SF)

I actually thought that Pluto Nash had some very good SF elements in it, and was much better than its reputation would suggest, but YMMV of course.

 

[RogerH]

I couldn't get AI... it was gone :frowning: Oh well I'll keep an eye out for it. Is the SE of 6th day worth getting or just get the original release?

I actually liked Pluto Nash for what it was, since I can get it for cheap I might pick that one up.

 

[Andy Kim]

I vote for Gattaca. It's a movie I can watch over and over and still enjoy.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I knew there had to be someone else! I just knew it!!!

 

[RogerH]

We gotta stick together there are so few of us

 

[Joe Szott]

I'll second THX-1138, the director's cut is a really top-shelf effort. How could Lucas get this one so right and yet Han still doesn't shoot first?

 

[Kevin M]

I have to admit that I was truly surprised at how "unbothered" I was by the tinkering done to THX-1138...well...the new car chase sequence in all of the traffic stuck out like a sore thumb but all in all the rest of it wasn't bad. I was shocked at how crisp the transfer was, Lowry can work miracles sometimes.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Brazil - The Criterion Collection

Regards,

 

[Nigel McN]

Some great stuff mentioned in this thread, I actually only saw The Day The Earth Stood Still recently and was quite taken with what a great film it was.

For a bit of a change of pace try some Mystery Science Theater. There are some absolute classic eps available between episodes like Space Mutiny and Pod People, you have quite a few facets of Sci-Fi covered.