Where are the great science fiction movies?

[tuftears]

Having seen Super 8, X-Men First Class, and just today, Green Lantern, I found myself marveling most at the alien spacesuits in the opening of Green Lantern and thinking 'dang, where have all the great science fiction movies gone?'

I would so dearly love to see Chess with a Dragon done as a science fiction movie.

Admittedly filming with 'real' settings is cheap, but this is the age of CGI. We're now in much more of a position than ever to be able to film complete movies in nonhuman settings - the failing is one of imagination on the part of human directors. People seem to enjoy waxing nostalgic over the past - Cowboys vs Aliens, for instance.

Of course there have been some good science fiction shows and movies, I'm just wishing for more - movies and shows where we're invited to imagine a rich and detailed future universe.

What about y'all, what's satisfying your science fiction cravings lately?

Comments

[anher.livejournal.com]

I don't know that Sanctuary really qualifies for Science Fiction but they do a decent job with the CGI environments for a television series. They've done a fair number of episodes with mostly CGI 'sets'.

I've look at Falling Skies, but not closely yet so I can't say there.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Sounds a bit steampunk-ish except brought into the modern day! Might be worth checking out sometimes.

[anher.livejournal.com]

You may also want to check out Warehouse 13. It's also modern day, but it's just... awesome.

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Doctor Who, and Game of Thrones for the fantasy side. I need to get some episodes of Torchwood and start watching that.

Then there's my constant favorite, Futurama, which I watch over and over.

[rowyn]

Torchwood is actually in the horror genre, surprisingly enough.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any of Dr. Who, either the old series or the current, I blush to admit! -_-

The occasional bits of Futurama I've seen look fun.

[kagetsume.livejournal.com]

Oh ... I could loan you a ton of Dr. Who DVDs if you want em! :D

[ben-mouse.livejournal.com]

It really depends on my mood! I watch Futurama when I'm just flipping channels.

Old SF is rerun on some of the movie channels quite a bit. If I am in the mood for both escape and humor, then I watch one of those great old SF films from the 50's. Such a range, from the classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (Bernard Hermann's music!) all the way to "The Giant Claw" which is "classic" for other reasons.

Of course there are the REAL classics like Forbidden Planet, The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Disney's version of 20,000 Leagues (james Mason!), Journey to the Center of the Earth (James Mason! Pat Boone!).

The Late 60's had the SF that made you think. Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Silent Running,fahrenheit 451...

Anyway, that's where I've been getting my visual SF fix. The rerun channels!

[ben-mouse.livejournal.com]

And ok yes. I do watch "Sharktopus" when it runs on the Scify Channel. >.>

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

What scares me is that they're running preview trailers of... 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes.' I commented to boingdragon, "This can't possibly end well."

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

I enjoy fantasy, science fiction and period pieces when they offer to transport me to somewhere I'll never be able to visit in person, not even if I blow the money to go on a vacation to the far corners of the Earth. Most of the time when I get a video game, it's because it features some location that I would like to explore.

I'm not quite so enamored with modern-day sci-fi, particularly when they don't even bother pushing it into a bit of "near future." I know it's to save on the budget, but I like to have at least a step or two out of the mundane - even if the best they can do is recycle some back-lot leftover Western set. I figure Cowboys vs. Aliens is a step up from that, so I'm fine with it. ;) I mean, even "Max Headroom" managed to create an interesting environment on a low budget. Is it really that hard?

I've been watching Falling Skies, and I wouldn't necessarily automatically be disappointed just because it's in the mundane modern day (except, of course, aliens have invaded), but for whatever reason the writers seem compelled to have the main characters repeatedly fail to take their situation seriously. I'd have to go through point-by-point to try to make my case, I suppose, but, seriously, would real people behave this CASUALLY about their predicament? The alien invaders are not just bugs with guns; THEY HAVE SPACESHIPS. There's far too much camping in the open, strolling around casually in the streets back in "base camp," for me to buy it as a world transformed by alien invasion.

Anyway, I do wish I could see sci-fi use a little more of the technology we've got for CGI sets. I've had a lot of fun watching people do stuff with "machinema" ("films" made with video games); I can tolerate a bit of less-than-cutting-edge CGI if it means that we can have a little bit less of people just running around concrete-walled basement corridors and pretending that it's a space station (seriously - from modern Dr. Who, not the old stuff).

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and another thing: I know that it's popular to go on about just how hideously AWFUL the prequel Star Wars movies were, but whatever it is with the annoying alien sidekicks, wooden dialogue, and clunky attempt at romance, I still enjoy the Lucasfilm team's ability to dream up and present fascinating locales. I enjoyed Coruscant. =) It was far cooler than I had envisioned from the "Expanded Universe" novels.

[zrath.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at least they're pretty to look at and they're alien-y.
And there's ships!! :D
And Ben Burtt is there to make sure everything sounds cool.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Earth being invaded by aliens, however realistic it gets, does not exactly qualify as optimistic science fiction. };)

I do agree that Star Wars is up there when it comes to real, believable scenery!

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Earth being invaded by aliens, however realistic it gets, does not exactly qualify as optimistic science fiction.

Well, it might if we survive. ;) Trouble is, stories like that usually cut off at some "Yay, we blew 'em up good!" point, and rarely move forward to the potentially more interesting stuff when Earth people incorporate alien technology, so THEY can go planet-hopping with cool spaceships for a change. ;)

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis for sci-fi. The locales were a mixed-bag as far as "exotic" is concerned, but they did a decent enough job with plywood and styrofoam making alien ship interiors, alien temples, caves filled with alien equipment, and so forth. Bonus points for making Simon Fraser University an alien homeworld (lots of nifty architecture around if you look for it).

A truly exotic location - one that humans have no experience working in - would actually be pretty poor as a sci-fi setting. We'd have trouble identifying with the protagonists, and the writers would have a lot of difficulty working through the consequences of the setting ahead of time (leading to gaping plot holes and "fridge logic" situations later when fans notice obvious items that were missed). Even nominally-exotic locations ("inside a computer", from Tron, ReBoot, Matrix, etc) are usually made to look like our mundane world with a nifty paint job, to sidestep this problem.

What makes sci-fi interesting is taking the handful of setting elements that _aren't_ normal, and watching how they affect the rest of the society or setting that they're a part of. Even the woods of British Columbia can be excitingly alien if you know there's a Kull Warrior super-soldier lurking in them.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is admittedly true. I guess something like the life of a merchant freighter in Star Wars would make for the kind of thing I'd enjoy watching! (Firefly, but with aliens?)

I did not know that, re: Simon Fraser University. Neat. }:D

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

It was used for "Tollana", the second homeworld of the Tollans. Ever since learning that I've wanted to put a giant Nerf gun dressed up as one of the Tollan Ion Cannons on campus };>.

Another location that gets a fair bit of use is Toronto City Hall (low saucer-shaped building with two semi-cylindrical skyscrapers wrapped around it). The first time I saw it being used was as one of the destinations shown through an alien portal. The most recent one I've heard about was as Umbrella Corporation headquarters in Resident Evil (people in the theatre reportedly cheered when it was blown up).

I'm sure there are many more locations that show up repeatedly that I'm not recognizing.

[rjbartrop.livejournal.com]

Another Vancouver area locale is the geodesic dome of the Bleodel Floral Conservatory. Whenever you see a dome in a recent TV show, that's probably it.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

That does look suitably futuristic! ^_^

[zrath.livejournal.com]

I'm annoyed at the very limited spaceship-content of various modern sci-fi shows. I'm in this sci-fi jazz for the ships, man! Give me fighters! Give me shuttles, freighters, destroyers, corvettes, frigates, carriers, dreadnaughts, battleships, motherships, fatherships, space stations!
Less talking, more whooshing!
Also, a sense of humor doesn't hurt. "Battlescar Angstactica" certainly could have used one.
But hey, at least, there was decent shippage in there, plus newtonian physics goodness.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Preach it, brother! ^_^

[eric-hinkle.livejournal.com]

I'm rather pulling a blank on good modern SF myself; the best films I can recommend are (beyond Star Wars and its sequels) almost all from the 50's like Forbidden Planet.

If you can find it, the Tremors TV series was surprisingly well-written, even downright clever at times, though some might disagree with calling it SF.

[rjbartrop.livejournal.com]

As far as new stuff goes, I've been following Sanctuary, Outcasts, and the new Dr. Who series. Aside from that, I've been watching 50's creature features on the classic movie channel, and the dumb but pretty Star Wars prequels. The last science fiction-y movie I saw in the theatres was Tron Legacy, and enjoyed it mostly for the visuals.
Even so, I'm wishing more hard SF like Defying Gravity would make it to the large, or small screen.