Science Fiction Films - The Best - Part One

Image from James Clyne

My favourite science fiction films.

I’m going to restrict myself to films that place future technology at their centre even if that’s not what the film is really about. So films with space ships and time machines. Not films that are futuristic or simply have some elements that don’t exist yet like the memory device in Eternal Sunshine. And I am going to tell you how many times I saw the film and how long it was because though we remember a film being good doesn’t mean it necessarily was, and I think usually a film should be seen a few times, over some time, to make it to a best of list.

If you are like me, you’ve had the embarrassing situation of having raved about a film, gotten a hold of a copy, and while sitting down and watching it with them, wonder, why did I like this exactly? This is particularly important in this genre because it can date so badly. Nothing dates like visions of the future.

And one last thing. I thought of also doing a worst films but what’s the point and there are so many. Better to praise the good. But for the record, and to allow me one brickbat at least, I hate Star Wars. Always have and always will. It was hailed as a breakthrough, of George Lucas using Joseph Campbell mythology, of effects. Consider that it came nine years after 2001: A Space Odyssey. Everything that Kubrick got right, Lucas got wrong. Perhaps what annoys me the most is that it set the genre back. It upped the juvenalia quotient, replaced science with gibberish, questions with cliches, and actual awe with gee whiz. If it would have been a little go nowhere film it would not have mattered. But Lucas somehow, and despite his career long ineptitude at making even one strong film (and I include the Indiana Jones here, though those are much better), became a cause celebre and spawned a million product tie ins. Star Trek at least improved over the generations but Star Wars remained in pre-adolescent stasis. (It is quite possible that the improvement in Star Trek is almost entirely due to the casting of Patrick StewartBrent Spiner and and the introduction of The Borg). That’s it for the vitriol, might be a few dribs and drabs still, but mostly plaudits from now on. Chronologically then..

1. (196 2001: A Space Odyssey

I think that the Alien tagline of “in space no one can hear you scream” came from a pivotal scene in this film. Among the many moving scenes in this sterile seeming film is the retrieving of the dead astronaut. The tumbling body is pursued by pod driven by Dave (Kier Dullea) through space, finally caught and brought back to be denied entrance by HAL, the ship computer. What is most impressive about this and all the other in space scenes in this film is the utter lack of sound.

Kubrick was a stickler for detail and probably did this first on the basis of it being true but no doubt realized soon that it was dramatically loaded as well. The loss of sound throws other things into greater definition. And in this case, the lack of sound compounded with death, and grief and betrayal adds.

It’s a beautiful film and the only really dated scene is the one most lauded at the time of its release, the hallucinatory timespace journey near the end. The film is a little incomprehensible as a whole but what transcends all concerns of conventional narrative is the sheer beauty of space, the absolutely perfect match of music to image (the Strauss with the space ship docking and more), and the integrity of character in that the sort of people that would be on such a mission would act like this. To this date, I don’t think any other film has conveyed as well the distance of space, or the experience of moving through it. And it is almost 40 years old. (Saw this film about six times, the last time about two years ago).