The top twenty science fiction movies of all time are...

TallDave · Post by **TallDave** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:51 pm

I always liked "Independence Day" because it seemed plausible that the sort of militarized, genocidal society that would do what they were doing would probably also not be very good at IT security, even if their other tech was superior. Only free societies have to worry much about hackers...

Skipjack wrote:
Why am I not seeing "The Fifth Element" in these lists?
It just never really connected with me. It was OKish, but not among the best sci fi movies.

I give them extra points for Milla Jovovich in the strap things. Also, "Multipass!" and the Tawdry Girl. Still, hard to call it "great." But very entertaining.

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:38 pm

TallDave wrote:I always liked "Independence Day" because it seemed plausible that the sort of militarized, genocidal society that would do what they were doing would probably also not be very good at IT security, even if their other tech was superior. Only free societies have to worry much about hackers...

A well done - meaning in-depth, richly rendered - "Mote in God's eye" would be great for that kind of culture clash.

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:24 pm

I met Jerry Pournelle a couple of years back, and he regaled us of a "Mote" story. He and Larry Niven did get some interest for a "Mote" movie, but were told that the special effects necessary to do watchmakers did not exist.

A few years back he and Larry attended another movie in which they had a CGI effect that would handle watchmakers just fine. I forget which movie it was, but the CGI spiders in one of the Harry Potter films would certainly qualify. Jerry said Larry jumped up in the middle of the theater and shouted "They can do watchmakers now!"

So maybe ... maybe.

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:52 pm

Independence day was a great movie, indeed. I would rank it way higher than 5th element. I was considering putting it into my top 10, but I have developed a big dislike for Roland Emmerich since ID4. All his movies afterwards were somewhat lame attempts at destroying the world even more

That is maybe not quite fair towards ID4 though.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:53 pm

That would be a good one.

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:15 pm

Tom Ligon wrote:I met Jerry Pournelle a couple of years back, and he regaled us of a "Mote" story. He and Larry Niven did get some interest for a "Mote" movie, but were told that the special effects necessary to do watchmakers did not exist.

A few years back he and Larry attended another movie in which they had a CGI effect that would handle watchmakers just fine. I forget which movie it was, but the CGI spiders in one of the Harry Potter films would certainly qualify. Jerry said Larry jumped up in the middle of the theater and shouted "They can do watchmakers now!"

So maybe ... maybe.

Loved their joint collaborations; Mote in God's eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Foot Fall, and Inferno. Also liked their books separately. They are both excellent writers.

seedload · Post by **seedload** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:40 pm

Diogenes wrote:
Tom Ligon wrote:I met Jerry Pournelle a couple of years back, and he regaled us of a "Mote" story. He and Larry Niven did get some interest for a "Mote" movie, but were told that the special effects necessary to do watchmakers did not exist.

A few years back he and Larry attended another movie in which they had a CGI effect that would handle watchmakers just fine. I forget which movie it was, but the CGI spiders in one of the Harry Potter films would certainly qualify. Jerry said Larry jumped up in the middle of the theater and shouted "They can do watchmakers now!"

So maybe ... maybe.
Loved their joint collaborations; Mote in God's eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Foot Fall, and Inferno. Also liked their books separately. They are both excellent writers.

Foot Fall is the movie I would like to see, although baby elephants might not be the best generally accepted cinematic enemy.

Pournelle's Janissaries would make a fun movie.

The one I see that is in development, unrelated and more fantasy than science fiction, is Dragonriders of Pern. I know it might be a little <non-masculine> of me, but this would be really cool if it gets off the ground.

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:58 pm

I think some of the early Bolo stories would make excellent movies.

Aloise Hammer would also make for an interesting movie run.

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:45 pm

ladajo wrote:Serenity was good, but more so if you watched the series.

Indeed. Serenity was one of the most refreshing Sci-fi series that was made i the last years.
I will never understand why they axed it. With some better marketing it could have had a huge potential.

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:50 pm

Tom Ligon wrote:One of the worst SF movies ever made was the first one I ever saw, and it changed my life. It was an Italian space opera called "Assignment: Outer Space" in its English-dubbed release.

If you think the English dubbed one is bad you should watch the Italian dubbed one....

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 3:55 pm

I'd like to see a modified version of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" (one of his better works, before he went insane).

In this variant the People's Liberation Army builds and runs the lunar mass driver.

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:03 pm

seedload wrote:
Diogenes wrote:
Tom Ligon wrote:I met Jerry Pournelle a couple of years back, and he regaled us of a "Mote" story. He and Larry Niven did get some interest for a "Mote" movie, but were told that the special effects necessary to do watchmakers did not exist.

A few years back he and Larry attended another movie in which they had a CGI effect that would handle watchmakers just fine. I forget which movie it was, but the CGI spiders in one of the Harry Potter films would certainly qualify. Jerry said Larry jumped up in the middle of the theater and shouted "They can do watchmakers now!"

So maybe ... maybe.
Loved their joint collaborations; Mote in God's eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Foot Fall, and Inferno. Also liked their books separately. They are both excellent writers.
Foot Fall is the movie I would like to see, although baby elephants might not be the best generally accepted cinematic enemy.

Pournelle's Janissaries would make a fun movie.

The one I see that is in development, unrelated and more fantasy than science fiction, is Dragonriders of Pern. I know it might be a little <non-masculine> of me, but this would be really cool if it gets off the ground.

That was done by Ann McCaffery, wasn't it? Never could get into her books. Andrea Norton, on the other hand, was usually awesome!

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:08 pm

DeltaV wrote:I'd like to see a modified version of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" (one of his better works, before he went insane).

In this variant the People's Liberation Army builds and runs the lunar mass driver.

You noticed that too? I have read few of Heinlein's later books, but one I did read was "Mark of the Beast." It started out excellent, then went completely wacko about half way through the book. The ending is straight out of crazytown.

I believe a similar thing may have happened to Piers Anthony. I have completely stopped reading his books. The Tarot series, the Incarnations of Immortality series, "FireFly" and later Xanth books have convinced me that the guy has developed one or more pyschosis'.

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:33 pm

Diogenes wrote:You noticed that too? I have read few of Heinlein's later books, but one I did read was "Mark of the Beast." It started out excellent, then went completely wacko about half way through the book. The ending is straight out of crazytown.

Yeah, that one clinched it for me too. "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" was more of the same.
Still fond of his earlier works.

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 7:24 pm

Yes, Cat was a pretty good tale until it suddenly time-warped and got mangled into an extension of Time Enough for Love, and then ended rather badly.

The saving grace of Time Enough is the intermissions, a collection of quotes from which I got my life guidance: "Specialization is for insects."

The remarkable thing about Cat from the perspective here is that the guy on this cover ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_C ... amazon.jpg

... looks so much like R. W. Bussard, right down to the eye patch he wore for a while after eye surgury, that I had to ask if Heinlein had used his picture. RWB denied it.