The Ultimate List of Classic Sci Fi Must Watch
This is my canon of classic (!) science fiction movies.
Please note that I only include the most outstanding titles in series of movies. That title recommends the series as a hole (except The Matrix).
The listing does not imply any hierarchy. That is up to you.
Additionally I do not include dystopias like Brazil or Mad Max, and Sci Fi Fantasy like Ghostbusters or Frankenstein, even though they belong to my favorite movies of all time, due to some Sci Fi philosophy dilemma. Plus: post 2K movies (Minority Report, Avatar, District 9, Ex Machina et al.) do not yet belong in a canon.
… But why do you include 12 Monkeys and Westworld … Yes! You are right.
Please note that I only include the most outstanding titles in series of movies. That title recommends the series as a hole (except The Matrix).
The listing does not imply any hierarchy. That is up to you.
Additionally I do not include dystopias like Brazil or Mad Max, and Sci Fi Fantasy like Ghostbusters or Frankenstein, even though they belong to my favorite movies of all time, due to some Sci Fi philosophy dilemma. Plus: post 2K movies (Minority Report, Avatar, District 9, Ex Machina et al.) do not yet belong in a canon.
… But why do you include 12 Monkeys and Westworld … Yes! You are right.
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37 titles
- DirectorNick CastleStarsLance GuestRobert PrestonKay E. KuterHigh schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDan O'BannonDre PahichBrian NarelleIn the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.
- DirectorMike HodgesStarsSam J. JonesMelody AndersonMax von SydowA football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.
- DirectorFred M. WilcoxStarsWalter PidgeonAnne FrancisLeslie NielsenA starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonEdward FurlongA cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
- DirectorNicholas MeyerStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWith the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.Personally I love the Undiscovered Country very much too, just for it's awesome Shakespeare references.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHenry ThomasDrew BarrymorePeter CoyoteA troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
- DirectorSteven LisbergerStarsJeff BridgesBruce BoxleitnerDavid WarnerA computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonMarty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsMark WahlbergHelena Bonham CarterTim RothIn 2029, an Air Force astronaut crash-lands on a mysterious planet where evolved, talking apes dominate a race of primitive humans.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsPeter WellerNancy AllenDan O'HerlihyIn a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
- DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
- DirectorAndrew NiccolStarsEthan HawkeUma ThurmanJude LawA genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHaley Joel OsmentJude LawFrances O'ConnorA highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsJane FondaJohn Phillip LawAnita PallenbergIn the 41st century, an astronaut partakes in sexy misadventures while seeking to stop an evil scientist who threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsRobert DuvallDonald PleasenceDon Pedro ColleyIn the 25th century, a time when people have designations instead of names, a man, THX 1138, and a woman, LUH 3417, rebel against their rigidly controlled society.
- DirectorRoland EmmerichStarsWill SmithBill PullmanJeff GoldblumThe aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind's best weapon is the will to survive.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsNatalya BondarchukDonatas BanionisJüri JärvetA psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
- DirectorGary GoddardStarsDolph LundgrenFrank LangellaMeg FosterThe heroic warrior He-Man battles against the evil lord Skeletor and his armies of darkness for control of Castle Grayskull.
- DirectorMichael CrichtonStarsYul BrynnerRichard BenjaminJames BrolinA robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsJodie FosterMatthew McConaugheyTom SkerrittDr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.
- DirectorAlex ProyasStarsRufus SewellKiefer SutherlandJennifer ConnellyA man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsCharlton HestonEdward G. RobinsonLeigh Taylor-YoungA nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsCasper Van DienDenise RichardsDina MeyerHumans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerSharon StoneMichael IronsideWhen a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsBruce WillisMilla JovovichGary OldmanIn the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsBruce WillisMadeleine StoweBrad PittIn a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeff GoldblumGeena DavisJohn GetzA brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRichard DreyfussFrançois TruffautTeri GarrRoy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.