Best Science Fiction Movie "Concept" Ever...?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best Science Fiction Movie "Concept" Ever...? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:20:34 PM EDT

Lots of great science fiction movies out there.

And usually the more 'plausible' they are the better they are. Sometimes even the idea is brilliant even if the film leaves something to be desired.

So what is the greatest "concept" ever in a Sci Fi film?

4 immediately come to mind for me:

2001: A Space Odyssey - The idea that man's evolutional development (and possibly the source of life on Earth itself) was the result of extra terrestrial influence.

The Terminator / Colossus: The Forbin Project - The idea that man made machines/computers could one day become "self aware" and establish a new order of intelligence which would seek to replace man.

The Matrix - The idea that everything we know and everything we see doesn't really exist but is merely a program operating at our expense.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:22:31 PM EDT

[#1]

Have you read all 4 books in the Space odyssey series

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:25:10 PM EDT

[#2]

Then there is always the struggle of mankind v. extinction, whether by outside force or from mankinds own stupidity.

The Outer Limits (New) did an excellent episode on the interaction of man and an AI when the earth was destryoed by nuclear showdown.

Many video games have some good concepts, Halo, Doom, and Half Life come to mind.

As for your list, many stories can be traced back to the influences of 2001, terminator eminates the struggle of mankind vs. either itself or an outside force, and the matrix was something way out there (and really well thought out).

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:26:32 PM EDT

[#3]

Matrix.

The whole concept took me a while to wrap my mind around, but when I finally started "getting" it, I was amazed and impressed with the story.

The other two are kinda run-of-the-mill or even quite plausible (Terminator series). No surprises there.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:27:04 PM EDT

[#4]

My favorite one is the mental powers used in Asimov's Foundation trilogy (never made into movies AFAIK). Those who have learned the power can read AND CONTROL the emotions of those without the power. There's no need to force people to do things, they could "rewire" their mind and make people WANT to do whatever the controllers wanted. Your most hated enemy becomes your most loyal servant with merely a thought.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:28:37 PM EDT

[#5]

The Matrix, to me, made me think the most.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:37:00 PM EDT

[#6]

Of the three, none were truly 'original' when they were filmed. Clarke wrote the Sentinel, upon which 2001: A Space Odyssey was based some years before that; and it wasn't a new concept then. Terminator is almost a direct rip-off of Fred Saberhagen's Berserkers; and the Matrix has had dozens of SF treatments of what is basically the philosophy of Solipsism.

The problem with SF movies is that they're limited to what can be shown on the screen, which is actually a very limited medium in terms of Science Fiction concepts.

Now, Robert Heinlein's invention of the waterbed, Clarke's invention of the communications satellite, and AE Van Vogt's invention of the 'smart' gun are all worthy of mention; but somehow none of them really made it to the Big Screen, and the general public has no idea of how much they owe to Science Fiction in their daily lives.

Probably the most original SF movie of all time was the 1950 movie Destination Moon, based on Robert Heinlein's novel Rocket Ship Galileo. It was probably the most ambitious SF movie of all time. It was as technically accurate as possible at the time, and foreshadowed the national ambition to reach the moon before the Russians had even put a satellite into orbit.

If only the American public had 'caught the bug' a decade sooner...

Tachyon

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:38:29 PM EDT

[#7]

Dianetics

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:38:40 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Matrix.

The whole concept took me a while to wrap my mind around, but when I finally started "getting" it, I was amazed and impressed with the story.

The other two are kinda run-of-the-mill or even quite plausible (Terminator series). No surprises there.

Yeah it really did come from left field without warning.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:39:19 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Have you read all 4 books in the Space odyssey series

Just the one.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:39:20 PM EDT

[#10]

In response to Tachyon:

I don't know, dude. "The Matrix" was some wierd-ass shit I had never seen or heard of before.

Like I said, I had to watch the movie three times just to start figuring it all out. Haven't seen the sequels, though.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:40:19 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Of the three, none were truly 'original' when they were filmed. Clarke wrote the Sentinel, upon which 2001: A Space Odyssey was based some years before that; and it wasn't a new concept then.

The problem with SF movies is that they're limited to what can be shown on the screen, which is actually a very limited medium in terms of Science Fiction concepts.

Now, Robert Heinlein's invention of the waterbed, Clarke's invention of the communications satellite, and AE Van Vogt's invention of the 'smart' gun are all worthy of mention; but somehow none of them really made it to the Big Screen, and the general public has no idea of how much they owe to Science Fiction in their daily lives.

Probably the most original SF movie of all time was the 1950 movie Destination Moon, based on Robert Heinlein's novel Rocket Ship Galileo. It was probably the most ambitious SF movie of all time. It was as technically accurate as possible at the time, and foreshadowed the national ambition to reach the moon before the Russians had even put a satellite into orbit.

If only the American public had 'caught the bug' a decade sooner...

Tachyon

Was Rocket Ship Galileo the one with Moon Nazis

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:41:32 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Haven't seen the sequels, though.

dont

much more shallow movie

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:41:49 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
In response to Tachyon:

I don't know, dude. "The Matrix" was some wierd-ass shit I had never seen or heard of before.

Like I said, I had to watch the movie three times just to start figuring it all out. Haven't seen the sequels, though.

Skip them. You will probably find them as dissapointing as I did.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:42:35 PM EDT

[#14]

Yep.

Also, I've edited my original post to address the Terminator and the Matrix's SF antecedents.

Tachyon

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:36:35 PM EDT

[#15]

One of the most ambitious and ground-breaking Sci-Fi movies was "Forbidden Planet".
With an unfortunate lapse into a too-cute Robbie the Robot and a comic-relief cook, this was way ahead of it's time in every respect.

The story was the first true adult Sci-fi story, and the special effects were far better than anything ever done up until then, and better than anything for years to come.

Possible the most influential Sci-fi movie ever was "Bladerunner".

This was the first, and still only Sci-fi movie to build a believable, realistic world around the story.

Looking down on the city from the Police flying car, you have the feeling that any one of those doors or windows would take you into real people's lives.

With most Sci-fi movies, the city is nothing but a false-front facade the story is played against.
You are always aware that there isn't anything back there.

The "Bladerunner" city is recognizable and almost familiar. It's sort of like today, turned about 30 degrees.
Dropped in it, most of us would have some trouble with the slang, and the street talk, but we could fit in with little trouble.

Unfortunately, most Sci-fi has degenerated into either the Politically Correct Utopia of Star Trek, the usual drab "Post-collapse" dictator or Corporate-ridden messes that really haven't changed since the first Road Warrior, or the dreary "monster dejour" creature features.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:42:18 PM EDT

[#16]

I found 2001 to be the most interesting from a spirtual standpoint

The Matrix was fantastic, although the following sequels were fairly all a load of existential tripe and long, dull PC speeches.

Sheep

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:42:37 PM EDT

[#17]

Star Wars. The original trilogy.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:45:53 PM EDT

[#18]

SteyrAug, I am surprised you didn't mention Contact, written by your lover and fellow "deep thinker", Carl Sagan

I'm kidding! I'm kidding!

Yeah even today 2001 is an awesome movie, and definately holds its own against The Matrix and others.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:46:47 PM EDT

[#19]

I liked They Live

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:47:15 PM EDT

[#20]

Of your choices, 2001 Space Odyssey.

An excellent union of art, science and spirituality. Far above the others in "awe" appeal.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:49:05 PM EDT

[#21]

The original 1950s War of the Worlds and Forbidden Planet are easily the best big screen scifi films I've seen.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:50:58 PM EDT

[#22]

The Matrix is the only one listed that I have seen

I don't watch many movies.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:51:08 PM EDT

[#23]

I watched 2001 just tonight.

My roommate and I considered suicide near the end.

First 56 minutes and you have three portions with talking, all less than 2 minutes long.

Wanted to die.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:51:37 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
I watched 2001 just tonight.

My roommate and I considered suicide near the end.

First 56 minutes and you have three portions with talking, all less than 2 minutes long.

Wanted to die.

Not enough boobies for you guys?

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:06:31 PM EDT

[#25]

I like the setting in Forbidden Planet, a tremendously advanced species, many hundreds of thousands of years gone leaving all their technology behind.

The original Gamma World role playing game had a real cool setting as did MegaTraveller although I never got play them, I was hooked on the idea.

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:08:23 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Quoted:
I watched 2001 just tonight.

My roommate and I considered suicide near the end.

First 56 minutes and you have three portions with talking, all less than 2 minutes long.

Wanted to die.

Not enough boobies for you guys?

Don't need boobies to enjoy a film. Needs to have more going for it than bad acting in monkey suits and artsy music-studded scenes with no picture, or very long slow-motion scenes.

Good idea, bad movie.

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:09:59 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:

Possible the most influential Sci-fi movie ever was "Bladerunner".

This was the first, and still only Sci-fi movie to build a believable, realistic world around the story.

Looking down on the city from the Police flying car, you have the feeling that any one of those doors or windows would take you into real people's lives.

With most Sci-fi movies, the city is nothing but a false-front facade the story is played against.
You are always aware that there isn't anything back there.

The "Bladerunner" city is recognizable and almost familiar. It's sort of like today, turned about 30 degrees.
Dropped in it, most of us would have some trouble with the slang, and the street talk, but we could fit in with little trouble.

bladerunner gets better every time i see it.

anyone read the book it was based on? "do androids dream of electric sheep?", or something to that effect.

if so, how was it?

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:13:20 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
I like the setting in Forbidden Planet, a tremendously advanced species, many hundreds of thousands of years gone leaving all their technology behind.

The original Gamma World role playing game had a real cool setting as did MegaTraveller although I never got play them, I was hooked on the idea.

I think Forbidden Planet was the one that got me into Sci-Fi.

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:15:15 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
Lots of great science fiction movies out there.

And usually the more 'plausible' they are the better they are. Sometimes even the idea is brilliant even if the film leaves something to be desired.

So what is the greatest "concept" ever in a Sci Fi film?

4 immediately come to mind for me:

2001: A Space Odyssey - The idea that man's evolutional development (and possibly the source of life on Earth itself) was the result of extra terrestrial influence.

The Terminator / Colossus: The Forbin Project - The idea that man made machines/computers could one day become "self aware" and establish a new order of intelligence which would seek to replace man.

The Matrix - The idea that everything we know and everything we see doesn't really exist but is merely a program operating at our expense.

Bravo good thread.

1984
Fahrenheit 451

Dune, try as they have no one has really been able to capture the essance of that particularly engaging literary work in film.

I wouldn't mind seeing a re-make of the D.B. Jones Collusus movie.

Blade Runner is a Classic, have you read the book, Do Androids Dream or Electric Sheep? Quite a departure from the movie but still worth a look.

Enemy Mine

Silent Running

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:16:47 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
I watched 2001 just tonight.

My roommate and I considered suicide near the end.

First 56 minutes and you have three portions with talking, all less than 2 minutes long.

Wanted to die.

What stopped you?

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:18:03 PM EDT

[#31]

Always liked The Thing, Bladerunner, some of the Star Trek plotlines were inventive. I guess it's not the idea that's revolutionary, but the execution.

On the surface, alot of Sci-Fi reads incredibly stupid as an idea - but when told with detail and careful thought towards explaining the "hows" and "whys", even a goofy subject can be made to seem very real.

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:21:52 PM EDT

[#32]

Don't forget Demon Seed in the
The Terminator / Colossus: The Forbin Project theme .

A self aware robot that impregnates
a human female to produce a hybrid
offspring .

Posted: 7/31/2005 11:28:24 PM EDT

[#33]

2001 by far.

Tachyon:
Terminator is almost a direct rip-off of Fred Saberhagen's Berserkers

What Tachyon said.

The Matrix was also far from original or well thought out but it's still one of the greatest popcorn movies.
The Wachowski Bros admited that they were heavily infuenced by Jap Anime, for example, the opening credits and the gunfight in the lobby in The Matrix were infuenced from the "Ghost in the Shell". Many other scenes in the matrix were copied from other anime.

Posted: 8/1/2005 12:27:20 AM EDT

[#34]

No brainer. "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells.

CW

Posted: 8/1/2005 5:03:10 AM EDT

[#35]

Bump.

Posted: 8/1/2005 6:52:39 AM EDT

[#36]

On one hand, I'm so glad that folks are mentioning Forbidden Planet, because that was a SciFi movie that was FAR before its time, and is still a great movie today.

However, Forbidden Planet is merely a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, a story about "forbidden knowledge." So, in that respect, it's hardly original. But very little is.

As far as modern movies, The Matrix probably has the best story. It is a warning not to get so comfortable and self-centered in life that you don't pay attention to what is really going on around you.

-Troy

Posted: 8/1/2005 6:57:59 AM EDT

[#37]

Mystery Science Theatre 3000

.....hands down

Posted: 8/1/2005 6:58:34 AM EDT

[#38]

I voted for "Terminator/Colossus:Forbin" but not because of those movies. It was becasue of the second-greatest Sci-Fi movie (after The Day the Earth Stood Still) ever:

PS: How friggin' hot was Anne Francis?!?!?

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:01:23 AM EDT

[#39]

I really loved (still do, I suppose) Stargate. There were certainly some cheesy parts, but they explained some of Earth's historical mysteries in a cool way. That, and MP5's

I like what I've seen of the series as well, but I don't have the time to catch up on 8 seasons worth of it.

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:11:16 AM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
I watched 2001 just tonight.

My roommate and I considered suicide near the end.

First 56 minutes and you have three portions with talking, all less than 2 minutes long.

Wanted to die.

I agree that the movie sucked. The book was absolutely wonderful though! Talk about a disappointment! When I saw the movie, after reading the book a few times, I wanted to commit suicide too. The only thing that stayed the blade, was my curiousity to see how they handled Bowman's transformation.

READ THE BOOK(S)!

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:12:58 AM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
Matrix.

The whole concept took me a while to wrap my mind around, but when I finally started "getting" it, I was amazed and impressed with the story.

The other two are kinda run-of-the-mill or even quite plausible (Terminator series). No surprises there.

I voted for the Matrix but I really liked Dark City better. Dark City had a better plot, better actors (Jack Bauer was a doctor that spoke with a speech impediment, Jennifer Connelly) but overall it was the same premise.

But the Matrix expands on that by allowing more room in the storyline - it takes place on Earth. Dark City involves a bunch of humans living on a planet/moon/satellite.

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:24:04 AM EDT

[#42]

Planet of the Apes

(Great concept IMHO - the ultimate in twist-ending, delayed-gratification sci-fi.

)

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:25:35 AM EDT

[#43]

Honestly? IMO? "Vanilla Sky"

A terribly crippled and disfigured former playboy has to come to terms with the consequences of his reckless actions and liasons in the midst of a Lucid Dream created by the cryogenics company that has him frozen in suspended animation until his body and brain can be repaired. Dream becomes nightmare after nightmare in the midst of a world of his own creation.

Phenomenal, Hardcore Sci Fi. Hated by the same kind of folks who can't understand true Sci Fi like "2001: A Space Odyssey" which is, arguably the finest Sci Fi film made, to date.

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:30:11 AM EDT

[#44]

"Plan 9 from outer space"

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:33:46 AM EDT

[#45]

How-a-bout Brazil. The Terry Gilliam (Pythons) film, taking 1984 and making a movie, only with, well it is 1984, same ending, kind of. Just watch it. (Note the film is Terry Gilliam's, not the Pythons)

Also The Moon is A Harsh Mistress would have made a great movie. There is also Dune, the books not the TV series, I havn't seen that yet. There are an insane ammount of good Sci-fi books that never made it to a movie. A short list

Ender and Bean Quartets
Foundation
Dune Series
His Dark Materials (Trilogy)
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Childhoods End
Snow Crash
The Dimond Age
The Fall of Reach (Halo)
and More

And I voted for 2001 because I only say half of it when my dad made me and loved it, then I read all the books and liked it even more, then heard the David Bowie song, "Space Oddity" I and decided I really like Aurthur C. Clarke.

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:36:02 AM EDT

[#46]

The Ice Pirates

IMDB

Posted: 8/1/2005 7:41:48 AM EDT

[#47]

I would love to see Guns of the South made into a movie. RE Lee get presented with 100,000 AK-47s and then proceeds to whup up on those yankee boys. It would be a great movie.

Posted: 8/1/2005 8:02:13 AM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:
I would love to see Guns of the South made into a movie. RE Lee get presented with 100,000 AK-47s and then proceeds to whup up on those yankee boys. It would be a great movie.

I think a lot of the alternate history books would make great movies.

Does anyone know if the the Wachowski Bros (Matrix) copied the story? I remember a few years back that some one tried to sue them for copying the story for the Matrix and that was a possible reason the last two kinda blew.

Anyone Know?

96Ag

Posted: 8/1/2005 8:07:08 AM EDT

[#49]

The original Star Wars movie.

IMH there are only two kinds of people in this world start trek fans,
and star wars fans.

Star trek = socialist, utopian ideal civilization

Star wars = That the future will probably be pretty much like now. Gritty, and Harsh.

(And I'm not calling star trek fans commies, just a reflection of the societies represented.)

Posted: 8/1/2005 8:10:55 AM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:
SteyrAug, I am surprised you didn't mention Contact, written by your lover and fellow "deep thinker", Carl Sagan I'm kidding! I'm kidding!

Yeah even today 2001 is an awesome movie, and definately holds its own against The Matrix and others.

I liked Contact. I just didn't find it any more profound than say "Destination Moon."

Both were movies about things that were extremely likely that simply hadn't happened yet.

2001 would fall into the same category if not for the notion that it was all the result of alien involvement.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best Science Fiction Movie "Concept" Ever...? (Page 1 of 2)

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