Top 25 Sci-Fi movies/tv (1982-present)

[TheLe]

Entertainment Weekly released their "Top 25 Scifi shows/movies of the last 25 years". Keep in mind that means 1982-today.
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25. V: the Miniseries (1984)
24. Galaxy Quest (1999)
23. Dr. Who (1963-Present)
22. Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
21. Futurama (1999-2003)
20. Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)
19. Starship Troopers (1997)
18. Heroes (2006-Present)
17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
16. Total Recall (1990)
15. Firefly / Serenity (2002/2005)
14. Children of Men (2006)
13. The Terminator / Terminator 2 (1984 /1991)
12. Back to the Future (1985)
11. Lost (2004-Present)
10. The Thing (1982)
09. Aliens (1986)
08. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
07. E.T. (1982)
06. Brazil (1985)
05. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
04. X-Files (1993-2002)
03. Blade Runner (1982)
02. Battlestar Galactica (2003-Present)
01. The Matrix (1999)
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I am pretty offended at the list. I have seen most, but not all of them.

-Battlestar Galactica should not be anywhere in the top 10, when compared to the others. It's good in some aspects, but it ain't that good.

-I despise Heroes and would like it off the list, especially considering the last season, but I can see why it is there. Still, I certainly don't think it should be higher than #25. Those other shows on the list are far better.

-I saw Star Wars Clone Wars, but I'd hardly consider it worthy of the top 25. That's just pure fanboyism creeping in. It's as if they realized that Star Wars isn't on the list and wanted to somehow sneak it in there.

-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Really?

-Dr. Who should be much higher. It is consistently written far better than a number of those listed.

-Where's Babylon 5? Where's Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Where's Gattica? Since they insist on putting Futurama in the list (which wasn't very good), then where's Robotech? Where's The Iron Giant? Where's Akira?

Oh please.

`Le

 

[Crothian]

Horrible list.

 

[Darkwolf71]

14. Children of Men (2006)

Gaaahhh... This is a joke, right? That movie was utter crap. Really, I can't think of one singe redeeming quality of the entire film.

Galaxy Quest, really? I like Tim Allen as much as anyone but, uh... no.

V should be further up the list.

Firefly should be top ten, at least.

I think Brazil and Sunshine are the only ones I havn't seen. Should I?

 

[Mallus]

That movie was utter crap. Really, I can't think of one singe redeeming quality of the entire film.

You mean aside from being the most beautifully shot film that year, the harrowing action sequences in the forest and the refugee camp, and the spot-on direction? Other than those?

I think Brazil and Sunshine are the only ones I havn't seen. Should I?

Yes. Brazil is the comedy version of 1984 and Eternal Sunshine is the best bittersweet romance that Philip K. Dick didn't actually write but probably should have. Wait, what kind of films do you like? If you didn't like Children of Men it's possible that my advice ain't gonna work for you.

re: the list. No Babylon 5 is just wrong. Best small (or big, for that matter) screen space opera every filmed.

 

[Jeysie]

-Where's Babylon 5? Where's Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Where's Gattica?

Hear, hear on all three counts. Especially Babylon 5. Any list of great SF without Babylon 5 in there somewhere is automatically hogwash, IMHO.

Other random thoughts:

* Depending on whether you want to go old school or new school, I'd pick either Star Trek 6: the Undiscovered Country or First Contact to represent the Trek films. (Not that I think STII was bad; I just don't think it's the best Trek film.)

* No Dark City? And I thought The Thirteenth Floor worked better than The Matrix. And as much as I love Back to the Future, I don't think I'd call it science fiction.

* While Next Generation is my sentimental favorite, I think Deep Space Nine turned out better from a literary standpoint.

* So they have Futurama, but not Red Dwarf, the "original" iconic comedic SF series?

Eh. What an utterly weird list. Reads more like a "Best of *popular* scifi" than an actual "Best of scifi" list.

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[Grog]

-Where's Babylon 5? Where's Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Where's Gattica?

Well, Buffy is fantasy, not sci-fi. I can see why it didn't make the list.

But yeah, the omission of Babylon 5 invalidates the entire list, IMO.

 

[horacethegrey]

I have the issue that featured this list in question, so allow me to make some comments on the selections:

- The reason they included Clone Wars was because they didn't want Return of the Jedi anywhere on the list, as they think it was the weakest of the Original Trilogy. And to this I must vehemently disagree, as I thought Jedi, despite it's faults, was still a great film, and much better than those horrible prequels.

- While they acknowledge the scope and ambition of Babylon 5, they admit it's not the easiest series to get into. What with it's overarching story and non episodic structure. Though they do regret not including it on the list.

- Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not scifi.

- Galaxy Quest deserves to be on that list, as it's a flawless satire on Star Trek, fandom and scifi in general.

- Say what you will about The Matrix and it's crappy sequels, it still was the most original and groundbreaking scifi film to come out in years. One that started an incredible phenomenon.

- My only real objection would be Farscape's absence. That was probably the best scifi show I've seen in recent years, and I'm aghast that EW didn't include it (as they gave it rave reviews while it was still airing).

Oh, and one more thing:

then where's Robotech?

:\ Dude, you're kidding me right?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Its Entertainment Weekly.

Really, that just explains it all.

 

[Pyrex]

Well, Buffy is fantasy, not sci-fi. I can see why it didn't make the list.

Neither is Heroes. And arguably Lost. (so far happenings on the island are far more attributable to magic than super-science...) But that doesn't seem to matter much to EW.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Matrix as number one? Sorry, while the concept behind the Matrix and it's special effects deserves mention, that movie sucked. The acting in that movie was on par with the worst scene from SW prequels.