Chicks dig the gills...
Creature From the Black Lagoon
As with the horror, and everything else in my collection, I began buying sci-fi movies back in the mid-to-late 1990's. There are a lot of DVDs on my shelves, and I've been doing my best to add important films in Blu-ray format in recent years, even upgrading some from DVD to Blu. While I feel like I've watched and re-watched the majority of my horrors almost to exhaustion, I think there's still life in my sci-fi home video library. I find myself revisiting both oldies and modern flicks on a somewhat regular basis. Plus I have snapped up super cheap multi-packs (double bills, triple bills, and larger sets) on Amazon now and then. Most of those are old B-movies and cult classics, some good, some not so good (but still entertaining in a way). Others are weird and obscure movies (often bad) that hardly anyone has ever heard of. But they are a nice diversion since I haven't seen most of these weird ones more than once.
In my experience, I've found that low-budget horror flicks can be just as effective, even more effective, than slick big-studio productions. The rough, raw look of cheap-o B-movies can heighten the atmosphere in dark and creepy cinema. Science-fiction, on the other hand, doesn't often work well on a shoestring budget. There is, however, a humorous charm to many of the oldies that are cobbled together with scotch tape and wires. Definitely not high art, but the campiness or unintentional clunkiness can raise such fare to cult status. I grew up on the better sci-fi, both missing and purposefully avoiding the schlock, but in recent years, I've learned to appreciate the silly junk out there. There's something fun and even slightly educational seeing wobbly sets and shadows of the film crew in those flicks from days of yore. A sense of history, as imperfect as it was.
I'll skim through my shelves now, highlighting the odd title to give you a sense of what I have, what I like and value, and what I think is important to the sci-fi genre:
First up are the numerals, which appear before the A's (going alphabetically)... and I see 2001: A Space Odyssey. I could stop there, couldn't I? A timeless classic, exemplary of film-making - period, regardless of genre. 2001 tops most all-time sci-fi movie lists out there. Though it's not my absolute favourite, I recognize its importance and would certainly rank it high. Technically and artistically, it is a masterpiece of cinema, a visual and aural experience that also tampers with yer brain a bit, too.
Companion to 2001 is of course 2010: The Year We Make Contact, a surprisingly good, thematically linked follow-up (released sixteen years later, mind you). Solid actors and an intelligent and thoughtful story enable 2010 to hold up to the scrutiny. It could never top 2001, but it's a fine picture in its own right.
Sexy sci-fi in a dangerous time... Logan's Run
Next up is the Alien saga. What more can be said about Alien and its successors (including prequels) that hasn't already been said? The greatest extraterrestrial creature in all of film, in my opinion. No, cutesy E.T. is not my choice... the little bugger is cool and funny, but that's it. The xenomorph of the Alien series is the most unique, fascinating, freaky and frightening outer space monster ever. I love the very first two alien movies, each its own special way - the otherworldly horror of the original versus the insane action of Aliens, and would rate them among the best sci-fi of all time. The rest of the films are up and down on the scale. I include Prometheus in this grouping, even though it was not marketed as part of the Alien series. Prometheus is, to me, a magnificent achievement... flawed, perhaps, but on every viewing, I am awed all over again by its scope and concepts. Though the final scene's big reveal is the kicker, the Alien elements throughout the film captivate me... such a rich and fantastic mythology to the xenomorph life-form. Imagination to the max.
Notable titles on the shelf, without further chit-chat, are The Andromeda Strain, Arrival, and Bladerunner.
Skipping along to Back to the Future now... well, what a fun ride, huh? A Dolorean time machine. Can't beat that. I don't love all three of the movies, but the original is among my fave flicks of all time. Doc and Marty rock!
Then there's A Clockwork Orange (a long-time favourite, again by 2001 genius director Stanley Kubrick), Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Creature From the Black Lagoon (an even longer-time fave sci-fi/horror gem... plus its two sequels).
Oh, and that silly fellah I mentioned earlier, E.T. The Extra-terrestrial, something more serious in Ex Machina (a modern fave), The Fly (the 60's classic trilogy and the 80's re-make... though not its sequel), Forbidden Planet, and a handful of the Godzilla movies (the monumental '54 original, some sequels and spin-offs, too numerous to rhyme off here).
The thought-provoking modern SF film Interstellar is followed by Invaders From Mars (both the 50's and 80's versions), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 1956 original, its '78 re-make, and the '93 further twisted version), more fun 50's B-movie fare It Came From Outer Space, the box set of the original three Jurassic Park movies (I enjoy all the sequels to some degree, but the very first remains a hallmark in SF history), and The Last Starfighter (a super fun 80's teen sci-fi flick).
I have always been a fan of the 1976 dystopian future world of Logan's Run - so that adorns my shelf, along with just the first Matrix film (someday I really should get the pretty good sequels), the very freaky Sam Rockwell vehicle, Moon, all the Mad Max movies, all of the original Planet of the Apes films of the 60's and 70's, and all but the recent Predator flicks.
Eerie, understated Brit sci-fi in The Quatermass Experiment
And how about the original three Quatermass movies out of the UK? Pure SF gold done with intelligence and restraint.
Now on to the two biggest conflicting franchises in the genre, Star Trek and Star Wars. I've long been a fan of both universes, and though I focused on Star Wars ever since it first appeared in '77, I hold Star Trek a bit dearer, I think, because it was my introduction to the whole SF (science fiction) genre as a young lad. My history there is deeper and much more nostalgic, and given the choice, I'd much rather have drinks and chat with Spock than any old Jedi master (mind tricks notwithstanding). In fact, I've lately experienced a bit of a Star Trek renaissance... thanks firstly to the new Star Trek: Discovery TV series, then to The Next Generation after a Netflix marathon.
So I've got all the original 60's Trek TV shows... they're not movies, I know, but I do own all of the original cast movies that came after. Not all great, but they are fun sort of family reunion stuff... quite cool seeing the older Spock, Kirk, McCoy and crew adventuring away through time and space.
Then there's Star Wars, which made a huge impression when it first came along. I was totally onboard, buying not just the T-shirt, but books and magazines and posters... and later, the movies themselves on VHS, and so on. Empire and Jedi, the sequels, were just as exciting and are still today among my all-time favourites. But even with the somewhat successful rejuvenation of the original vibe in the newest sequels and prequels, I feel the joy of Star Wars kind of slipping. The fun, vibrant part of the early films is not quite there in these new offerings, which are trying hard... but maybe too hard, and it can look disingenuous and forced. And this doesn't give me much hope for the future of the franchise. Oh, it'll go on forever and make scads of money, thanks to Disney's acquisition of the whole shebang. But that just might be the death of it. For me. Anyway, all that just to say that I've got all the Star Wars motion pictures on my shelves minus Rogue One (don't want it... totally sucked) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (which I enjoyed, but will wait for the price to drop). In fact, besides the motion pictures, I've also got the Clone Wars TV series of shorts by animator Genndy Tartakovsky, plus the somewhat notorious Clone Wars "pilot" for the TV show to follow that was re-packaged as a 2008 theatrical release. Not great, but I enjoyed it. Not sure what I'd think now.
There's also that little old Terminator film series... got 'em all except the last one, then The Thing From Another World (plus its brilliant 80's remake, and the okay modern prequel), and why not try out the little-known but highly entertaining retro-80's-action of Turbo Kid out of Quebec, Canada? I love it and hope for a sequel before too long.
Wrapping up the alphabet, there's the modern SF gem Under the Skin and the original 1973 Westworld movie (which I far prefer over the new series).
Out of alphabetical order because they're in multi-disc collections, but still worth a mention, are seminal oldies The Deadly Mantis, Tarantula, Them, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and Not of This Earth. There are so, so many more great and not-so-great titles in my sci-fi collection, but I will leave it at that today. This is a pretty fair representation of the breadth of my assembly of far-out flicks, old and new. I hope you enjoyed my little run-down!
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