Call it a hunch, but I’m betting that a few of you aren’t in fanboy heaven after flipping through today’s "Sci-Fi 25" photo gallery, counting down EW’s picks for the best science-fiction movies and TV shows of the past quarter century. (I imagine fans of Babylon 5, Farscape, and Dark City are especially miffed. Also, anyone who prefers Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop to his Total Recall and Starship Troopers. But I digress…) Anyway, if there’s anything you feel was criminally overlooked, let us know below, and if we get enough interesting responses, we’ll create a gallery of our readers’ own Sci-Fi 25.
I’ll get you started: My sci-fi tastes often run to the culty/spoofy corner of the universe. So I’m glad Galaxy Quest made the list, but I’d have loved to see The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension ("No matter where you go… there you are."), Repo Man (not just the best movie ever made about a guy driving around with decomposing radioactive alien corpses in his trunk, but also the best movie Emilio Estevez ever made, including Breakfast Club), and especially The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Yeah, the movie (pictured) was only OK, but the TV and radio versions were terrific, and the pop-cultural impact of the Douglas Adams novels is enormous (Where would Radiohead have been without them?).
Now you, Popwatchers…
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How in the world could you make any list of any sci-fi anything and not have BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER??? It makes no sense. A couple of the shows on the list are compared to Buffy, and yet the show itself, the greatest show EVER, is not on it. For shame EW… for shame.
Definitely HG2G. Also:
Independence Day and Armageddon – Both highly sucessful and well made, and redefined the summer blockbuster experience.
Men in Black – self explanatory
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith … The entire prequel trilogy should be included. I don’t care that people thought they were no good, they were a phenominon and the completion of the greatest sci-fi saga ever told.
Farscape definitely is missing from the Top 25 SciFi. Show benefited from tightly woven story plots with well placed metaphors and hints of things to come. Wonderful mixture of bizarre, comedy, and drama with great character development. Culture wise : Long story arcs and hidden layers predating the 2nd Battlestar/Lost/Heroes crowd, fan base reaction to cancellation leading to the miniseries also set the precendent for Firefly/Serenity.
Alien Nation had more influence than “eterntal sunshine of the worthless mind” or whatever it was called.
“Escape From NY” over “the Thing” is my John Carpenter/Kurt Russell choice. Escape from NY influenced the cyberpunk genre, the Thing didn’t create any major changes in horror film making. But that’s between me and Nashawaty.
Andromeda fans may feel slighted too, but I’d say that series is more “honorable mention” than anything else. Had Keith Hamilton Cobb stayed for the entire run, I’d be singing a diff. tune.
And what’s up with Veerhoven getting two spots? He’s not THAT GOOD.
Finally, while I accept Mel’s not as popular as back in the day, what’s up with the Road Warrior movies getting snubbed? They inspired countless parody (Futurama’s was one of my favorites) and practically created the concept of machine gun toting cars.
Otherwise, I agree a lot with the list. Khan and TNG got major props, but ONLY the original Blade Runner is good.
BUFFY!
I didn’t have much of a problem with the content of the list, but I do take offense to this comment referring to “ET”: “The movie is basically A New Hope crossed with Casablanca, a mixture as perfect as the chocolate and peanut butter in Reese’s Pieces.”
THERE IS NO CHOCOLATE IN REESE’S PIECES!!!
This common misconception is a pet peeve of mine.
Nevermind. Mad Max was in 1981 (26 years ago) and Beyond Thunderdome was no where near as good as the first two.
Also, The 4400, though maybe it would come in at #26.
Again, I say, how could you ignore Buffy?!
I was just happy that “V” was included (even if it was #25). It probably had more of an impact on my adult life than anything else. Why? At 29, I vividly remember the scene where the human gives birth to the alien child and also the “humans” ripping their faces off to reveal they are aliens. Well, the birthing part scared the crap out of me and could very possibly be the reason I still have no children. (Sad but true)
Gotta add Farscape to this list.
Not the most polished show around, but some of most raw creativity I have ever seen on TV.
Best sci-fi love story I’ve seen.
It turned a lot of conventional sci fi elements sideways and upside down, really jazzed up a lot of the dull elements of Trek by having faster pacing, better dialgue, and minimizing techno-babble.
And, let’s not forget:
4 Seasons, 4 incredible cliffhangers, all with really memorable sci fi visuals and powerful character moments.
How could you have left off Stargate SG-1!? A great movie and a fantasic tv series that has been on for more than 200 episodes.
You definately missed farscape and stargate sg-1. Stargate should of made the list for the simple fact that it is the longest running sci-fi series ever. Farscape was pure eye candy and its story. It was a great story that died before its time. Stargate sg1 was also great in the story and character development plus all of the wonderfull special effects. I am very suprised that neither of them made the list.
Not only does this list include a few movies not even woth being in the top 25, it is also the most disorganized listing I have ever seen. Eternal Sunshine? Really?
S’pose that means that neither X-men (only the first!) nor The Incredibles count as sci-fi? Nor the wonderful Delikatessen. (But hey, that one’s european stuff, why bother? Look what that frog director did to Alien4…) But honestly, you guys included Starship Troopers??? Wrath of Khan?? Really.
(All of a sudden certain prequels start to look pretty darn good. Come to think of it, so does AVP….) Guess that means I should be thankful for the stuff that didn’t make your list….
And Millennium! Where’s Millennium?????
You didn’t mention V for Vendetta, but especially Stargate SG-1. Stargate is the longest running scifi show besides Dr. Who, and has one of the biggest convention franchises outside of the Trekkie ‘verse.
Buckaroo Banzai American cinema at it’s peak Great cast “No matter where you go there you are”
How about …
- Tron (I think this makes the cut-off)
- The Fifth Element
- The Abyss
- Dark Angel
Well, you already mentioned my two–Robocop and Farscape. I mean, COME ON! Total Recall? You kiddin’ me?! Galaxy Quest? For real?! I’d also put Aliens on the top here…Matrix was entertaining but not great (could have been if the sequels fulfilled the promise of the original).
Definitely Farscape. Each season brought something new, new characters, new conflicts, new places to see…all while keeping the core story and players. And COME ON…who couldn’t admire Rygel even a little?
FARSCAPE!!!
Fifth Element
Men In Black
I was disappointed not to see 12 Monkeys on the list (the most intellectually executed time-travel movie ever)…
but then how could you possibly miss Lord of the Rings!?! I went through the entire list expecting it to be #1 (11 Oscars, extended edition totals 11 hrs of brilliance) only to find it not on the list at all. If Lost and Eternal Sunshine are counted as sci-fi, LOTR is the most glaring omission imaginable.
How can you compare some of the shows on your list to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then leave it off the list? Also, I don’t know if it’s strictly scifi, but what about Mystery Science Theater 3000?
Farscape, Dune, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Babylon 5, Predator. What should I expect though from an “Entertainment Magazine”.
First Contact was the superior Star Trek film to Khan, Ronald D. Moore rules. Also, Babylon 5 should have been on the list, probably the greatest serialized sci-fi on TV until BSG.
No Donnie Darko? It has it’s flaws, but I LOVE that movie…
Definitely:
Independence Day
Close Encounters
…and Matrix II did not suck. I’ll give you the third one.
Predator and Babylon 5 are no brainers that get left off. Hello, McFly!
Woa, you put in ST:TNG, and forgot all about Babylon 5?!?!?!?!?! Hello, not only did it really set the stage for CGI in TV, but it had an amazing story?
And what about Enemy Mine? (If it’s earlier that ‘82, I’ll back down, but damn, it was an excellent movie!)
I’ll also put in a plug for Alien Nation (this includes movie, sadly short run series and TV movies), Buffy, Andromeda…hell, there’s a lot of ‘em….
…and Chet,
Lord Of The Rings is not Sci-Fi. It’s Fantasy.