Monday, May 21, 2007

Top 25 sci-Fi 1957-1981

Entertainment Weekly's recently published a Sci-Fi 25 list online. That is, the top 25 sci-fi movies and shows of the last 25 years, 1982-2006.

Since my personal fandom prefers older movies, I thought I'd see what I coould come up with from the preceding 25 years, 1957-1981. Even though I allowed some related titles to share a number, I think that the older films hold up pretty well.

Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back
Why: Because it made sci-fi escapism the dominant big movie entertainment. There's a thousand other reasons, but no need to list them here.

Star Trek
Why: It took a positive, relatively adult view of the future and mad it real enough to become a cult, then a subculture. It's vines my have withered recently, but it has decades of strong roots with which to recover.

Twilight Zone
Why: Still the model for all noir sci-fi. It's the O. Henry of science fiction, preserving the notion of throwing one wrench into the gears of the world as we know it and seeing what happens.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Why: Because it was a big, profound (messes with your head) spectacle. It made space cool. And it made orchestral music synonymous with space fantasy, to the disgust of Theramin lovers everywhere.

Night of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead
Why: Updated the classic horror monster icon to the serial killer age of modern horror. The monsters were dead, numerous, and based firmly in science, not magic.

Doctor Who
Why: Because the Brits still do some things better. Even if it wasn't the educational series it started out as, it's still a smart show. Oh, and it shows that serials aren't dead.

Planet of the Apes
Why: Combined the coming Dystopian '70s angst with gee-whiz action, fun and humor. The last big sci-fi franchise to precede "Star Wars."

Alien
Why: Brought "Heavy Metal" illustrated horror to life. That one alien was scarier than the whole army of them in the sequel.

Mad Max/The Road Warrior
Why: Combined the '70s grindhouse action genre with the art house flick...and it worked! Created great opportunities for Australian directors and crazy Pope-hating Catholics.

Thunderbirds
Why: Really just the peak of a '60s-spanning winning streak by Gerry Anderson. They realized that really good space opera is all about the toys.

Irwin Allen TV Shows
Why: Spearheaded by "Lost in Space," these shows proved that when you can't do better, you can always do bigger. And when you can't do bigger, you can always bluff.

The Outer Limits
Why: The eternal runner-up to "Twilight Zone" was actually much more sci-fi oriented. Its tone mixes post-war optimism with post-JFK stoicism.

Ultraman
Why: The natural combination of Japanese giant monsters and Japanese superheroes in a perfectly trippy series. Its sequels continue to this day.

The James Bond series
No movie series has ever been so successful, and none did more to bring science fiction elements into mainstream entertainment. "Spy Who Loved Me" may be the peak (as sci-fi.)

King Kong Vs. Godzilla
Why: It not only revived the careers of the two greatest giant monsters, but it fully established the formula of colorful battles that would make the Godzilla series endure forever.

The Prisoner
Why: Of the many secret agent titles to follow Bond, this was the trippiest, most existential, and most political. And it had something new for a TV series: a planned finale.


The Incredible Shrinking Man

Why: One of the last hurrahs of '50s sci-fi and probably the best of Jack Arnold's superior sci-fi films for Universal. "Incredible Shrinking..." has entered the national lexicon.

Jetsons/Jonny Quest
Why: These two Hannah-Barbara attempts to replicate the success of "The Flintstones" may not have lasted long, but they brought an optimistic vision of sci-fi into network prime time.

Curse of Frankenstein
Why: Showed that retro setting worked not only for science fiction (20,000 Leagues) and horror (Wax Museum) but sci-fi horror as well. The Hammer formula would thrive for years.

Superman/Superman II
Why: Was the first picture to realize that superheroes could graduate from the serial to the main feature without jiggering the basic formula.

Young Frankenstein/Sleeper
Why: Allen took the far-off future and proved people don't really change much. Brooks took the Universal monster formula and resolved its Freudian conflict. Also, they're funny.

Dark Star
Why: Proved that good sci-fi doesn't need a good budget, just before budgets went through the roof. And you know it's true; Space can be boring.

Clockwork Orange
Why: A mostly dead-on look at our punked up, sensory saturated, inhumane future. The only mistake was thinking that mass media would make us more sensitive.

Charly
Why: Got its star an Academy Award, and he deserved one. Too bad it inspired more "magical mentally challenged people" movies than good sci-fi.

Eraserhead
Why: Apocalyptic as hell. Scary and hard to watch, even harder not to watch. Way better than "Twin Peaks" or any of his other shaggy dog movies.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

I'm a Marvel...And I'm a DC

Great parody of Apple's "I'm a Mac...and I'm a PC" ad campaign, though you have to be a comic geek to really get it. The filmmaker obviously favors Marvel, though not absolutely. (See the Batman One.)