The Best Science Fiction Films, 1970 to ...

[Kyuuketsuki]

Ev,

Yes "i-Robot" should be on there despite the fact that I wouldn't watch it (I'm an Asimov/Three Laws purist).

I don't think "Ghostbusters" (class film) should qualify because although there are (as you say) science fiction elements it's inherently about the supernatural.

Leo,

"Jason X"? A slasher movie in a space ship? Not supernatural? If so yes.

Padriac,

"Mars Attacks" yes (I hated it but that's my problem) and I do believe you've made your case for "Threads".

Kyu

[Tiberius]

How is V for Vendetta science fiction? Surely it is a political piece that contains vague references to science fiction? (V's ability to heal is the only solid example I can think of).

I would say it's science fiction because it is clearly an alternate history ... I've always thought that one of the beauties of SF is the idea that you can take a very ordinary story and by changing simple things (like history or setting it becomes science fiction. Alien is a classic example ... it's obviously science fiction yet at its core it's a horror movie (specifically a haunted house only the house is a space ship).

Kyu

Yeah, but surely every movie other than historical films have an alternate history?

I was always under the impression that science fiction meant a story that is very technology/science based in the plot, but contains science that is currently either in progress or not even possible yet. Star Wars is a science fiction film in one aspect, because it contains large powerful spaceships, hyperspace, lightsabres, etc.

I would say V for Vendetta is possibly the most non-science fiction film you can get. I mean, the only thing that sets V apart from the other characters is his ability to num pain. That's the only science fiction element I can see in it. The rest could all happen from a science perspective, but it isn't focused on science, it's focused on the politics.

[Kyuuketsuki]

Yeah, but surely every movie other than historical films have an alternate history?

Not really ... most films are just stories set within more-or-less known times, a slightly distorted version of now or a slight rewrite for whatever end (like U571 rewrote the Enigma story so that the Yanks got it first) but "V is for Vendetta" is clearly a fully alternate history IMO. Without trying to claim Wiki as an authority it says there, "V for Vendetta is a ten-issue comic-book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s about the 1990s. A mysterious anarchist named 'V' works to destroy the totalitarian government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters." Also if you look to the bottom of the page it lists it amongst a number of categories including "Science Fiction" so clearly I'm not alone in the view that that is what it is.

Interestingly it only becomes an alternate history because it was filmed in the 20000 and set in (relatively) an alternate late 1900's ... I don't know when the comic book series written.

Obviously we are not going to agree on this but wouldn't it be a boring world if we all did?

Kyu