The best sci-fi movies you can watch on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Blu-ray today. The top 5. 0 sci- fi movie protagonists On the face of it, compiling a list of truly great sci- fi protagonists should be easy. Pick a load of familiar names from a hat, write some breathlessly adoring drivel beneath them, and head off to the pub to reward a job well done. Except it was never going to be as simple as that – and compiling lists seldom is. For every character making an appearance in the list below, there were at least two other possible candidates who didn't quite make the cut. Some sci- fi heroes were removed, then quickly reinstated. The order was jiggled around, then reordered again. At one point, your humble writer realised there were more than 5. There are some names I’ll probably wish I’d included when I look back over it tomorrow, or in a year’s time, and there’ll be several more, no doubt, listed in the comments which I’ll also wish I’d included. What follows, then, is a nervous attempt at compiling the 5. God list. There are characters in here which hail from the earliest years of the genre in cinema, and one or two who’ve arrived on the big screen only a week or two ago. There are heroes from hurriedly- made B- movies, and heroines from multi- million dollar franchises. Some have been on epic adventures that span a galaxy, while others have fought more personal battles in a single location. Whatever they get up to, they’re the glue that hold some classic genre movies together. Jack Deth. The Trancers series. Less charitable readers might consider Jack Deth to be a poor cousin to Blade Runner’s Rick Deckard, but what Charles Band’s Trancers movies lacked in budget and artistry, the early ones more than made up for charm, novel ideas and humour. Deth, played by Tim Thomerson, is a 2. Trancers. In a plot device straight out of a Philip K Dick novel, it’s a drug rather than a machine that propels characters through time, and in the first film, Deth travels back to 1. Whether they’re male or female, old or young, they’ve illuminated some classic movies. The most excited I've ever been about a movie was the moment I saw the first Alien 3 "teaser" trailer in 1991. Even movie monsters need to take a break, as this look behind the scenes of classic and contemporary horror. Los Angeles to catch a criminal by the name of Martin Whistler. Deth was the proud owner of a particularly cool sci- fi gadget – something called a . With his big shoulder pads, slicked back hair (“Dry hair’s for squids”) and his wonderfully terse way with words (“I'm from another time, another world. I don't even know what you people eat for lunch”) he's a true B- movie hero. The Trancers sequels didn’t exactly improve as they were rolled out – 2.
Trancers 6 used stock footage of Thomerson from earlier films – but Deth was a great character, a hard- boiled detective with a delectable range of high- tech gizmos. He’s also one of the few sci- fi heroes to narrate his own trailers. Riddick. Pitch Black, The Chronicles Of Riddick. More than any other genre, we’d argue, the protagonists in science fiction cinema are divided along two lines: those of intellect and those of action. Riddick, first introduced in 2. Pitch Black, is firmly in the second camp, but there’s something about Vin Diesel’s almost wordless charisma that makes him far more interesting than he could have been. A convict from an early age, an encounter with an eye surgeon left Riddick with an acute sensitivity to light – an affliction that isn’t without its upside, since he gets to wear a cool pair of goggles all day, and can see quite clearly at night. This stands Riddick in good stead when he crashes, along with an entire ship full of passengers and criminals, on a planet populated by giant killer bats in Pitch Black. If 2. 00. 4’s The Chronicles Of Riddick was a less than brilliant follow- up to the breezy B- picture fun ofthe film mentioned above, the anti- hero’s found refuge in some thoroughly decent videogames, and a not- bad- at- all animated short (Dark Fury). Here’s hoping next year’s Riddick, which sees Vin Diesel again teamed with David Twohy, will prove to be a return to big- screen form. Robert Neville. I Am Legend. Francis Lawrence’s 2. ![]() Richard Matheson novel which inspired it, but for the first half, I Am Legend almost comes close. In a future Manhattan left almost deserted following a viral outbreak, military scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith) trudges the streets alone with his dog, and locks himself away in his fortress- like apartment by night. Will Smith’s performance - lonely, wracked with guilt - is among his best, and I Am Legend is a world away from the largely interchangeable heroes he played in sci- fi fare such as Independence Day and I, Robot. The incursion of some unconvincing CGI monsters in the film’s second half derail much of what was good about I Am Legend’s opening, but while the atmosphere lingers, there’s always Smith’s superb portrayal to enjoy. James Cole. Twelve Monkeys. Quite possibly the toughest hero to travel through time (except for maybe Jean Claude Van Damme’s character in Timecop), James Cole was brought brilliantly to life by Bruce Willis. Terry Gilliam trained all his demented creativity on this apocalyptic sci- fi film, but all the visuals and batty performances (not least Brad Pitt’s) would have been for nothing without a great leading turn to tie it all together, and this film counts among Willis’ finest yet, and it’s certainly the best in his genre canon. Like all the best sci- fi protagonists, Cole’s journey through the film is intellectual as well as physical, and in the final scene, he makes an astonishing, quite moving discovery which brings the apparently non- linear story full circle. A truly great film, and an equally great performance. Donnie Darko. Donnie Darko. A deceptively complex character, Donnie Darko was played by a young Jake Gyllenhaal in a sublime early performance. Although he’s ostensibly just another troubled, middle- class teenager growing up in 8. America, Donnie is also a time traveller, capable of superhuman feats of strength (which includes leaving an axe buried in the hideous bulldog statue squatting outside his school), and has a supernatural best friend – a six- foot- tall rabbit with a dire warnings of a coming apocalypse. Richard Kelly’s debut is a stormy, murky stew of music, incongruous images and sometimes impenetrable pseudo science – but like a teen- centric David Lynch movie, Donnie Darko’s weirdness actually counts in its favour. The key to the film’s success, though, is Donnie himself – a neurotic hero who retains his humour, creativity and puckish sense of mischief in the face of impending oblivion. John Carter. John Carter. It’s remarkable to think that a hero as influential as Carter has taken so long to make it to the big screen - although there was the straight- to- DVD Princess Of Mars (2. John Carter is a veteran of the American Civil War who finds himself transported to Mars, where he discovers that the planet’s lesser gravity has given him enormous strength and the ability to leap huge distances. Reluctantly drawn into another civil war, this time between rival Martian tribes, Carter eventually becomes the protector of princess Dejah Thoris. An (almost) unwavering force for good, Carter may seem rather one- dimensionally heroic by modern standards, but his influence on other writers and filmmakers can’t be underestimated - Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Superman, and Avatar’s Sully all owe a debt to the brawny hero, and it’s good to see him finally take centre stage in his own movie. What a pity, then, that his big- screen debut wasn’t more readily embraced by critics and some moviegoers. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. The X- Files. Although either character could have easily been given their own entry on this list, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are so memorable as a sci- fi double act that it made sense to keep them together – still bickering and flirting, no doubt, even after all these years. The simple conceit of a sceptical FBI agent (that’s Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully) teamed with a paranormal investigator agent (David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder) provided the jumping- off point for almost a decade’s worth of TV, as well as two spin- off movies. Whether the episodes or movies involved investigating strange monsters in sewers or alien conspiracies, Mulder and Scully’s smouldering, sometimes uneasy friendship provided the lynchpin. It's unfortunate, then, that The X- Files: I Want To Believe ended their onscreen partnership on such an odd note in 2. X- Files movie will give the pair a fitting final mystery to solve. Tony Stark. Iron Man. He’s rich, intelligent, he has an entire garage full of cool cars, and he gets to fly around in an armoured suit which turns him into a humanoid fighter jet. These are all perfectly good reasons to hate the arrogant Tony Stark, but the little glint in Robert Downey Jr’s eye, as he plays one of the most spoiled of cinema’s spoiled rich kids, makes us side with him almost immediately. Although other Marvel movies flirt with magic, Stark is perhaps the more scientifically grounded of its heroes, which is why, after much agonising, we awarded Stark a place on this list in place of the Hulk or Captain America. He is, after all, just an ordinary man under all that hi- tech armour, and he only avoids the chill hand of death with his sharp reflexes and equally keen wit. Jean- Luc Picard. Star Trek. The second famous commander of the USS Enterprise, Jean- Luc Picard possessed all of the cunning and leadership qualities of Captain Kirk, but rather less of the preening self- absorption. Patrick Stewart first brought his thespian gravitas to the role in 1. Picard in the TV series and movies until 2. Star Trek: Nemesis. Although Kirk remains the most frequently lampooned ship’s captain in pop culture, Picard has himself become an icon, with his brooding aura and oft- quoted catchphrase, “Make it so” still resonating in the minds of Star Trek fans everywhere, even a decade after his final screen appearance. The Doctor. Dr Who And The Daleks/Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2. ADAlthough primarily based in the alternate universe of television, we just had to give the Doctor a place on the list for his two cheerfully 6. Dr Who And The Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2. Science fiction film - Wikipedia. Science fiction film (or sci- fi) is a genre that uses speculative, fictional science- based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception and time travel, along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar travel or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition. In many cases, tropes derived from written science fiction may be used by filmmakers ignorant of or at best indifferent to the standards of scientific plausibility and plot logic to which written science fiction is traditionally held. The next major example in the genre was the film Metropolis (1. After Stanley Kubrick's landmark 2. A Space Odyssey (1. In the late 1. 97. Star Wars and paved the way for the blockbuster hits of subsequent decades. Characteristics of the genre. However, there are numerous well- known examples of science fiction horror films, epitomized by such pictures as Frankenstein and Alien. The visual style of science fiction film can be characterized by a clash between alien and familiar images. This clash is implemented when alien images become familiar, as in A Clockwork Orange, when the repetitions of the Korova Milkbar make the alien decor seem more familiar. Strangelove, the, distortion of the humans make the familiar images seem more alien. It was produced at Studio Babelsberg, Germany. They usually had a technological theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1. 90. 2, Georges M. Several early films merged the science fiction and horror genres. Examples of this are Frankenstein (1. Mary Shelley's novel, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1. Robert Louis Stevenson. Taking a more adventurous tack, 2. Leagues Under the Sea (1. Jules Verne’s famous novel of a wondrous submarine and its vengeful captain. In the 1. 92. 0s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis (1. Frau im Mond (1. 92. Other notable science fiction films of the silent era include The Impossible Voyage (1. The Motorist (1. 90. Conquest of the Pole (1. Himmelskibet (1. 91. Caligari (1. 92. 0), The Mechanical Man (1. Paris Qui Dort (1. Aelita (1. 92. 4), Luch Smerti (1. The Lost World (1. Starting in 1. 93. Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, both starring Buster Crabbe. These serials, and the comic strips they were based on, were very popular with the general public. Other notable science fiction films of the 1. Frankenstein (1. 93. Bride of Frankenstein (1. Doctor X (1. 93. 2), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1. F. P. 1 (1. 93. 2), Island of Lost Souls (1. Deluge (1. 93. 3), The Invisible Man (1. Master of the World (1. Mad Love (1. 93. 5), Trans- Atlantic Tunnel (1. The Devil- Doll (1. The Invisible Ray (1. The Man Who Changed His Mind (1. The Walking Dead (1. Non- Stop New York (1. The Return of Doctor X (1. The 1. 94. 0s brought us Before I Hang (1. Black Friday (1. 94. Dr. Cyclops (1. 94. The Devil Commands (1. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1. 94. 1), Man Made Monster (1. It Happened Tomorrow (1. It Happens Every Spring (1. The Perfect Woman (1. The release of Destination Moon (1. Rocketship X- M (1. While many 1. 95. B movies, there were several successful films with larger budgets and impressive special effects. These include The Day the Earth Stood Still (1. The Thing from Another World (1. When Worlds Collide (1. The War of the Worlds (1. Leagues Under the Sea (1. This Island Earth (1. Forbidden Planet (1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1. The Curse of Frankenstein (1. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1. On the Beach (1. 95. There is often a close connection between films in the science fiction genre and the so- called . Examples of this are Them! During the 1. 95. Ray Harryhausen, protege of master King Kong animator Willis O'Brien, used stop- motion animation to create special effects for the following notable science fiction films: It Came from Beneath the Sea (1. Earth vs. Any movie featuring realistic space travel was at risk of being obsolete at its time of release, rather fossil than fiction. There were relatively few science fiction films in the 1. Stanley Kubrick's 2. A Space Odyssey (1. Other 1. 96. 0s films included Planet of the Vampires (1. Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, that is regarded as one of the best movies of the period, Planet of the Apes (1. Fahrenheit 4. 51 (1. Barbarella (1. 96. Jean- Luc Godard's French . Andrei Tarkovsky's slow- paced Solaris (1. Stalker (1. 97. 9) are two widely acclaimed examples of the renewed interest of film auteurs in science fiction. Science fiction films from the early 1. George Lucas's directional debut THX 1. The Andromeda Strain (1. Silent Running (1. Soylent Green (1. Westworld (1. 97. Futureworld (1. 97. Logan's Run (1. 97. The science fiction comedies of the 1. Woody Allen's Sleeper (1. John Carpenter's Dark Star (1. Star Wars (1. 97. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1. In 1. 97. 9, Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the television series to the big screen for the first time. It was also in this period that the Walt Disney Company released many science fiction films for family audiences such as The Island at the Top of the World, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Black Hole, Flight of the Navigator, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The sequels to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back (1. Return of the Jedi (1. Ridley Scott's films, such as Alien (1. Blade Runner (1. 98. James Cameron's The Terminator (1. In contrast, Steven Spielberg's E. T. Clarke's sequel to 2. Disney's Tron (1. The strongest contributors to the genre during the second half of the 1. James Cameron and Paul Verhoeven with The Terminator and Robo. Cop entries. Robert Zemeckis' film Back to the Future (1. James Cameron's sequel to Alien, Aliens (1. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards. The Japanese anime film Akira (1. Japan when released. Other themes included disaster films (e. Armageddon and Deep Impact (both 1. Independence Day (1. Jurassic Park (1. Gattaca (1. 99. 7)). Also, the Star Wars prequel trilogy began with the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which eventually grossed over one billion dollars. As the decade progressed, computers played an increasingly important role in both the addition of special effects (thanks to Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park) and the production of films. As software developed in sophistication it was used to produce more complicated effects. It also enabled filmmakers to enhance the visual quality of animation, resulting in films such as Ghost in the Shell (1. Japan, and The Iron Giant (1. United States. During the first decade of the 2. Matrix trilogy. In 2. Star Wars saga was completed with the darkly themed Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Science- fiction also returned as a tool for political commentary in films such as A. I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Sunshine, District 9, Children of Men, Serenity, Sleep Dealer , and Pandorum. The 2. 00. 0s also saw the release of Transformers (2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2. In 2. 00. 9, James Cameron's Avatar garnered worldwide box office success, and would later become the highest- grossing movie of all time. This movie was also an example of political commentary. It depicted humans destroying the environment on another planet by mining for a special metal called unobtainium. That same year, Terminator Salvation was released and garnered only moderate success. The 2. 01. 0s has seen new entries in several classic science fiction franchises, including Predators (2. Tron: Legacy (2. 01. Star Wars series, and entries into the Planet of the Apes and Godzilla franchises. Several more cross- genre films have also been produced, including comedies such as Hot Tub Time Machine (2. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2. Safety Not Guaranteed (2. Her (2. 01. 3) and Monsters (2. Real Steel (2. 01. Edge of Tomorrow (2. Pacific Rim (2. 01. The superhero film boom has also continued, into films such as Iron Man 2 (2. X- Men film series, and The Avengers (2. New franchises such as Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy have also begun in this decade. Further into the decade, more realistic science fiction epic films have also become prevalent, including Hugo (2. Gravity (2. 01. 3), Interstellar (2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2. The Martian (2. 01. Arrival (2. 01. 6). Many of these films have gained widespread accolades, including several Academy Awards wins and nominations. These films have addressed recent matters of scientific interest, including space travel, climate change, and artificial intelligence. Alongside these original films, many adaptations have been produced, especially within the young adultdystopian fiction subgenre, popular in the early part of the decade. These include the Hunger Games film series, based on the trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series based on Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, and the Maze Runner series, based on James Dashner's The Maze Runner novels. Several adult adaptations have also been produced, including The Martian (2. Andy Weir's 2. 01. Cloud Atlas (2. 01. David Mitchell's 2. World War Z, based on Max Brooks' 2. Independent productions have also increased in the 2. These films include Attack the Block (2. Source Code (2. 01. Looper (2. 01. 2), Upstream Color (2. Ex Machina (2. 01. Academy Award for Visual Effects, in a surprising upset over the much higher- budget Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2. Themes, imagery, and visual elements. However, as often as not the . The definition can also vary depending on the viewpoint of the observer. The movie Forbidden Planet employs many common science fiction elements, but the film carries a profound message - that the evolution of a species toward technological perfection (in this case exemplified by the disappeared alien civilization called the .
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