by J L Petriesan

Created on: November 12, 2008

Before any ranking of Science Fiction movies can make any sense, one must first define just what in or out of the world Sci-Fi is.

Was Mary Shelly's Frankenstein the first Sci-Fi (1818), or was it done by Jules Verne (many later 1800's)? Does Vampire mythology fit into Sci-Fi? Do Hobbits?

Harlan Ellison, one of my favorite writers uses the phrase "Speculative Fiction" to describe a lot of his work. This seems to make some sense as a general guideline for Sci-Fi, because Sci-Fi is a rather broad category under which many sub-groupings seem to occur. There is a definite cross-over between horror and Sci-Fi (the Alien and Predator series come to mind), but not all horror cross over to Sci-Fi (the Exorcist, without a doubt one of the best movies of all times, I think is definitely solely in the horror category, unless you believe that the concepts of God and/or Satan are pure fiction, then perhaps). Then there are things I cannot decide on, like Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead".

With this prelude of uncertainty, I will tentatively group Sci-Fi into five very broad groupings:

1. Movies about or with Aliens and Outer Space, or both.

2. Speculations about the future of the Earth and/or time travel

3. Science gone really really bad

4. Comedies and Parodies.

5. Oddities and melodies

After discussing a few movies in each of these "sub-genres", I will provide my must-see, stay-up-all-night-with-a-tub-of-popcorn Sci-Fi movies

1. Movies about or with Aliens and Outer Space, or both.(7 nominations)

2001:A Space Odysey (1968), Stanley Kubrick directing, starring the HAL 9000, based on Arthur C. Clark's short story "The Sentinel."

Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), George Lucas directing,starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hammel.

Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, starring Sigourney Weaver.

These three have one general thing in common: a villain so powerful and engrossing that they each are probably one of the top ten villains of all time (with perhaps Hannibal Lector at the top of the heap?)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Stephen Spielberg directing, starring Richard Dreyfus and Terri Garr.

Silent Running (1971), directed by Douglass Trumbull, starring Brice Dern.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal.

Total Recall (1990), directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone, based on the Phillip K. Dick short story, "We

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