The title says “My favorite,” not “Top Sci-Fi according to The Movie Whore.”

There is a damn good reason for that too. Even I the whore of all things film realize that there are films that could be considered better and probably are better but I just liked these more. How I came up with this order is through over 25,000 rankings of over 2700 films and 374 of those films fell into the Sci-fi category according to Flickchart.

This also means this list can and probably will change as time goes on.

The list is below and after that I will talk about a few of these and why they are my favorite films. Before we get to that I wanted to talk about what I love about Sci-fi. For me the best science fiction writing and films revolve around one thing, the continuing evolution of man. I don’t need spaceships or aliens or even time travel, I need characters and stories that pull me in and never let go. I need a film that I can sit and watch 50 times and never think of it as a labor to sit down and watch. For example: The Lord of the Rings trilogy is 3 very excellently crafted films that were an absolute cinematic pleasure. However after watching them a few times I now consider it an endurance challenge to sit down and watch one. Just too damn long. It is in the ability to rewatch a movie and be able to enjoy it every time that makes it one of my favorite films.

Here is the list.

Dune

This film is a hit and miss with people generally speaking. It is a long film, but I can still sit down and watch it because it is a complete story. Sure there were follow up books to the original but this film stands alone. Don’t even mention that garbage Scifi channel put out. That sucked balls and that’s me being nice.

What drew me into this film was what made fall in love with Sci-Fi to begin with, it is a story about man evolving and becoming something more than what he is. Throughout the course of the film you watch Paul transform from a young man that is still very much a child in a lot of ways into a man that becomes the universes super being. I am also a huge fan of the inner voice dialog that you get from the characters in this movie. For me it adds to the experience and let’s get deeper involved with the characters. While it worked for this film, I don’t need to see it in every film. It is all about story and characters. There was a tremendous amount devoted to both. For it’s time the special effects were top of the line. Compared to today they may not hold up, but it is the superior story carries the film not the effects.

Let’s skip down a few.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Even a lot of Trekkers  and Trekkies are gasping over seeing this film over the much more popular top pick of Kahn. Again, it is about story and characters. It is also one of the few times we ever got the feeling of just how huge the Enterprise is.

The story of a the Voyager probe traveling so far out into the galaxy that it came in contact with a race of living machines that gave this probe a conscious mind that wants nothing more than to contact what it thinks is God is what gave this story such outstanding Science Fiction. Add in Spock, a half human, half Vulcan that is dedicated to a never ending search to purge his emotions being drawn by this being as if it held some answers for him just added to the story and gave us a more in depth look into an already loved character. Story and characters.

The Empire Strikes Back

So now I am pissing off more than a few Star Wars fans. Again it comes down to story and character. There was more character growth in Luke than any other character in the other 5 movies combined. The story was better as well. It was more dramatic and more realistic. Not to mention it was the biggest surprise ending of all time. If you follow the “story and character” criteria, then you should be able to see why this rates much higher than the rest of the films in the franchise.

Bicentennial Man

If you love Sci-fi than there is no reason you should not love this movie. It is one of the greatest stories of evolution and from machine to man. Yes, the novella is better, moving on. Robin Williams is a great actor and in this film he did not disappoint. Isaac Asimov is seen as the man that gave us robots and robotic law and while it may not be completely accurate to the original novella, it was accurate to the spirit of Asimov and his vision of what could be.

Equilibrium

A truly character driven film if I ever saw one. From beginning to end the entire film is a journey of change for one man who wakes up from a fog and for the first time in life starts to experience emotion. Through this experience he begins to see just how bad things really are and for first time feels guilt and remorse for being the best at destroying anything that may cause an emotional response. He takes his second to none abilities and becomes the most effective weapon against totalitarian regime that keeps man in a slave state.

I mentioned earlier that I have ranked 2703 titles at the time I wrote this. I bring it up again to make a point. If you ever pop over t my profile on Flickchart and see my top 20, that is less than 1% of the films I have seen. It also means that the first 270 titles is still only 10% of the films I have seen at the time I wrote this. To put even more perspective on it, at number 500 which is around 18%, 19 if you round up, The Golden Child is still a movie I liked. Me and about 5 other people are the only ones that enjoy watching this movie more than once.

Well kids I am off to do something with someone somewhere off in a place that has things and together we will find the one thing and bring it back and turn it into something completely different. Yes I know I need help. Later