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Author Topic: 25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?  (Read 2009 times)

jeff37923

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #30 on: May 06, 2007, 09:08:33 AM »
Quote from: J Arcane
It's a parody.  Verhoeven hated Heinlein's politics, and the movie is more of a piss take than an adaptation.


I never really considered it as a parody, but I can understand it as that. It doesn't make me like the movie any more and actually makes me like Verhoeven less now. It was easier to be kinder in thought when I believed he was just inept.

(Yes, I'm a Heinlein fan, Have Space Suit Will Travel was the first Science Fiction book I ever read.)
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Koltar

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #31 on: May 06, 2007, 02:43:00 PM »
Quote from: Sosthenes
Well, if you call the movie "Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers" but then deviate from the book so much that almost nothing remains, people have the right to be disappointed.

I wasn't actually expecting a true adaption after hearing who directed it. I _was_ surprised that there's no rape scene in it.



My copy of the DVD just says "STARSHIP TROOPERS" on the cover , NOT "Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers".  I'm one of the odd ones that like BOTH the book and the movie.
Voerhoven has said in interviews and behind-the-scenes commentary that the reason everyone looks like a "supermodel" in the movie is because they made it to resemble a recruiting film that the Federation might make.  That government wouldn't put unattractive people in there to represent their troopers.

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fonkaygarry

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #32 on: May 06, 2007, 04:49:39 PM »
Quote from: Koltar
I'm one of the odd ones that like BOTH the book and the movie.

BROTHER!

I love the movie.  The book is quality reading.

Reading down the list, it's hard to form an opinion about it.  I don't like Firefly, but I like Starship Troopers.  Quantum Leap was something I watched as a kid, and I never liked it or disliked it.  The only jumpsuits-in-space show I can take seriously is the new BSG, which knocks out most anything where characters say "Captain!"

I could complain about Predator's absence or that they completely ignored the gifts that anime has given SF over the years (Gainax's Royal Space Force and Gunbuster Over the Top, Makoto Shinkai's Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in our Early Years, to name a handful.)

In fact, Voices of Distant Star is a damn marvel of modern creativity.  It's a CG anime  made entirely by one man on his Macintosh, with voice acting by himself and his girlfriend.  It has some pretty naked swipes from things like Ender's Game (child soldiers, alien invasion), but the center of the plot is beautifully original: the characters, separated when the space war begins, communicate entirely by text message.  

Shinkai's central talent is the ability to raise a sense of longing in the audience.  When you see one of his movies, the melancholy becomes almost physical.
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Ronin

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #33 on: May 07, 2007, 11:25:08 AM »
Quote from: Sosthenes
I bet it doesn't have the only true sci-fi shows that creatively used pencil sharpeneners and iron handles (the household appliance, not the metal itself). I really can't stand those ad-whore lists, who insist on putting every single item on a page. Someone care to post the total list?

25 V
24 Galaxy Quest
23 Dr Who
22 Quantum Leap
21 Futurama
20 Star Wars Clone Wars (Cartoon)
19 Starship Troopers
18 Heros
17 Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind
16 Total Recall
15 Firefly/Serenity
14 Children of Men
13 Terminator (1 and 2)
12 Back to the Future
11 Lost
10 The Thing
9 Aliens
8 Star Trek the next generation
7 ET
6 Brazil
5 Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan
4 X-Files
3 Blade Runner
2 Battlestar Galactica (The new one)
1 Matrix
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UmaSama

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #34 on: May 15, 2007, 02:21:23 PM »
My brother appeared on Children of men, some scenes were filmed here in Montevideo.

Balbinus

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #35 on: May 15, 2007, 03:13:51 PM »
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!
I dunno. 10 seasons long, very few bad episodes.

More'n I can say about your X-Files.


Quite.

Star Trek original Series
Stargate
Bablyon 5
Saphire and Steel
Space 1999 season one, but not thereafter
Blake's Seven

I'm running low now.

Pierce Inverarity

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #36 on: May 15, 2007, 03:16:49 PM »
Futurama should be way further up.

Blade Runner should be dropped (haircuts).

Also, Gattaca and Riddick.

Oh, and Ghosts of Mars.
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arminius

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #37 on: May 15, 2007, 11:59:12 PM »
For me the list starts strong but goes off the rails:

25 V--didn't watch it, can't judge
24 Galaxy Quest--didn't watch it, can't judge...but I'm suspicious
23 Dr Who--only saw a couple episodes, can't judge (ducks hurled garbage)
22 Quantum Leap--only saw a couple episodes, can't judge (but from roughly that era, Sliders caught more of my attention)
21 Futurama--big fan, good call
20 Star Wars Clone Wars (Cartoon)--never saw it, can't judge
19 Starship Troopers--good call; liked the book, like the movie, I don't take it as a pure repudiation of the book's politics, more as a stark questioning. A very rich film, and presciently timely.
18 Heros--never saw it, can't judge.
17 Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind--great movie, but where's 12 Monkeys?
16 Total Recall--Arnold's best
15 Firefly/Serenity--saw one episode, wasn't crazy about it, but not enough to really judge
14 Children of Men--never saw it, can't judge
13 Terminator (1 and 2)--can't argue with that
12 Back to the Future--borderline classic
11 Lost--haven't seen it, can't judge
10 The Thing--possibly the best other than the unjustly absent 12 Monkeys
9 Aliens--another fine film
8 Star Trek the next generation--the first bad call. Mediocre science fiction, bad writing & plotting, Mary Sues right & left.
7 ET--can't complain. I'm Elliot.
6 Brazil--every Gilliam is golden (well, except for Jabberwocky), and this is SF, so...yes.
5 Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan--I'm one of the few who preferred the first movie, but it didn't make the chronological cutoff.
4 X-Files--barely watched it, had its moments.
3 Blade Runner--good call.
2 Battlestar Galactica (The new one)--saw one episode, felt kind of meh-ish, but not enough to judge.
1 Matrix--the list was flagging, here it collapses in front of the finish line. Somewhat like the movie itself, which promises far more than it ultimately delivers. (Once the big secret is revealed, it's all downhill.)

Other omissions: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Fly (yes, it's both SF & horror), Robocop, Pi, and the TV version of Aeon Flux. Outland just barely misses the chronological cutoff.

And if we go outside of American movies, especially if we include anime, well: Macross, Macross 2, Macross Zero, Ghost in the Shell, Wings of Honneamise, Akira, Delicatessen, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

JongWK

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #38 on: May 18, 2007, 07:00:45 PM »
They published a second list, with the shows and movies people said they'd missed. B5, Farscape, etc...
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Aos

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #39 on: May 18, 2007, 11:14:32 PM »
Quote from: Koltar
My copy of the DVD just says "STARSHIP TROOPERS" on the cover , NOT "Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers".  I'm one of the odd ones that like BOTH the book and the movie.
Voerhoven has said in interviews and behind-the-scenes commentary that the reason everyone looks like a "supermodel" in the movie is because they made it to resemble a recruiting film that the Federation might make.  That government wouldn't put unattractive people in there to represent their troopers.

- Ed C.


I also like both, although, I have some serious issues with the nature of the book's message and the target audiance (teen boys approaching enlistment age).
You are posting in a troll thread.

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Mcrow

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #40 on: May 18, 2007, 11:41:08 PM »
No B5? That automatically discredits this list.

what a crap list.

RockViper

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25 Best SF movies/shows of the last 25 years?
« Reply #41 on: May 21, 2007, 06:52:57 PM »
Quote from: David R
No 1 American/British SF Movie - Bladerunner

No 1 American/ British SF TV Show - Saphire & Steel

Couldn't be bothered to read the list, but I'm sure these two are the number ones.

Regards,
David R

The author of the list has probably never seen Sapphire and Steel, and would probably just get confused most of the episodes and especially the final episode.
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