If you are a regular reader of blogs, you might have encountered the Scalzi SF films list at places like Ethel the Frog, Byzantium’s Shores, or Pharyngula (or at Scalzi’s own site, of course).
The meme as it is online now is to bold the ones you’ve seen. So here goes:
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
- Akira
- Alien
- Aliens
- Alphaville
- Back to the Future
- Blade Runner
- Brazil
- Bride of Frankenstein
- Brother From Another Planet
- A Clockwork Orange
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Contact
- The Damned
- Destination Moon
- The Day The Earth Stood Still
- Delicatessen
- Escape From New York
- ET: The Extraterrestrial
- Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
- The Fly (1985 version)
- Forbidden Planet
- Ghost in the Shell
- Gojira/Godzilla
- The Incredibles
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
- Jurassic Park
- Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
- The Matrix
- Metropolis
- On the Beach
- Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
- Robocop
- Sleeper
- Solaris (1972 version)
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- The Stepford Wives
- Superman
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day
- The Thing From Another World
- Things to Come
- Tron
- 12 Monkeys
- 28 Days Later
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- La Voyage Dans la Lune
- War of the Worlds (1953 version)
Alright, given that Scalzi says
I hope that people use The Canon list as a springboard for starting a wide-ranging debate about what science fiction films truly matter. So if you think my list is crap, bully for you. Do better. Be aware I’m willing to fight to the death for this list; otherwise, bring it on…
… I’m going to take this opportunity to reflect on his list. I think there are some real duds here on the list, and some worthwhile SF movies that were left out. For example, Back to the Future is, in my opinion, trash. Unlike Metropolis, it will not be watched in 100 years. Then again, I rather enjoyed 28 Days Later and I feel it too will be soon forgotten. Jurassic Park? Ugh. Where is Pitch Black? Or Dune (especially the recent miniseries)?
It makes me think of this experience I had when, after months of searching, I finally found the SF geeks club of Montreal. They were scary. There was an older guy, pretty cerebral, who sat around mocking most of the women and younger guys because, in his opinion, they were that lower sort of person who got into TV SF but never read SF books. And I have to say, the readers did seem a more interesting bunch, more likely to talk about the stuff or try write it than to sit around sewing costumes for the next convention and sharing tips about techniques for achieving Klingon face-makeup effects.
I guess what I am saying, really, is that instead of the list in total showing that one is indeed a real dedicated SF fan, I think the particular points marked off probably say something about the particular SF fan, and what kind of SF they would like in general, and also probably something about age and area of scientific/fantastical interest.
Which I guess isn’t a big criticism, but I’m surprised Scalzi’s list differs so widely from the one I’d write. Then again, I think I’d be hard put to cme up with 50 I think are so important they must be watched during an SF fan’s life.
Maybe sometime later I’ll try do up a list of my own, though, just to see what I come up with.