SF Signal: What 5 Sci-Fi Movies Do You Watch Over and Over?

What 5 Sci-Fi Movies Do You Watch Over and Over?

I was going to title this post as "You, a Deserted Island and 5 Sc-Fi Movies...GO!", but I wanted to bypass the "Is there a DVD player and electricity on the island?" snarkiness.

You know what to do here. Name the five sci-fi movies you would most want to have with you if you could only choose 5. These are not necessarily the ones you think of as "the best", but rather the ones you can (or would like to) watch over and over again....

Here are mine:

Aliens
Independence Day
Star Wars (Episode 4)
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Matrix

There were so many others to choose from that I had to leave off this list because I have only seen them once (Serenity) or they were just overflow (Terminator 2, Back to The Future).

Now let's hear from you!

Star Wars (episode 4)
2001 A Space Odissey
Blade Runner
Forbidden Planet
Starship Troopers (Yes, I think is a very good SF movie)

Posted by Carles Tixé on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 1:19 PM

In no particular order:

1. Star Trek (TOS) The Doomsday Machine (not a movie, per se, but I have it on DVD, so...
2. Heavy Metal
3. The Matrix
4. Ghost in the Shell
5. Aliens

-Jim

Posted by Jim Strickland on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 1:26 PM

Oh man...how could I forget The Fifth Element. I think that would bump The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Posted by John on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 1:42 PM

Forbidden Planet
Dark City
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Serenity
Dr. Who: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

Posted by Tycho on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 1:53 PM

Can a series count as 1? :-)

All the Star Wars movies
The Matrix
All Star Trek movies
I Robot
Mission Impossible movies

Posted by Jim Shannon on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 2:57 PM

Alien
Star Wars (Ep 4)
Forbidden Planet
Blade Runner
2001

Ouch. It hurts to leave off the Terminator, Day the Earth Stood Still, Aliens, both versions of the The Thing, Star Treks II, IV & First Contact, It! The Terror From Beyond Space (the movie that made me an SF/horror fan when I was five), and Bava's still fascinating, if somewhat obscure, Planet of the Vampires. (And Brazil, and Heavy Metal, and The 5th Element, and 12 Monkeys, and The Matrix, and the extended version of The Abyss, and Gojiro, and Time Bandits and... and... arrrgghhhh!)

Posted by Kyle Jelle on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 3:13 PM

My 5 that I have to watch again and again.

Blade Runner
Pitch Black
Star Wars
Hulk (I don't know if I hate it or like it.)
The Thing

Posted by Jim Hall on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 5:28 PM

War of the Worlds (non-Cruise)
Mysterious Island
Time Machine
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Star Wars: A New Hope

Runners Up: Khan, Jurassic Park, Aliens.

(Not counting fantasy, or LOTR would be on there.)

Posted by Greg L. on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 6:15 PM

The first Lexx movie I Worship his Shadow
Forbidden Planet
The documentary Alien Planet
Fantastic Planet
Light Years, if only to actually have a DVD of it!

Posted by Jeff P on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 6:46 PM

Off the top of my head (but there are so many others)...

Blade Runner
The Man Who Fell to Earth
A Boy and His Dog
Matrix
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Posted by Wally Conger on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 9:46 PM

(In no particular order)

Blade Runner
Serenity
Galaxy Quest
Enemy Mine
Independence Day

These are all just movies I enjoy a lot. And could watch over and over again. If I could add in a 6th it would be The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. And were I to add a 7th, it would be Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Okay. I'll stop now.

Posted by Tara on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at 10:48 PM

Only five? Well, here goes:

The Andromeda Strain
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
War of the Worlds (George Pal version)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Things to Come (the 1936 movie, not the awful 1979 z-grade flick of the same name)

Runners-up, in no particular order: E.T., Forbidden Planet, Silent Running, Gattaca, A.I., Colossus: The Forbin Project, Alien, Star Wars: A New Hope & Empire Strikes Back, Day the Earth Stood Still, THX 1138, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, and Starship Troopers (yeah, I think it's good SF, too)

Posted by cjp on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 12:52 AM

In no particular order:

Star Wars (episodes IV, V, VI)
2001
Blade Runner
Serenity
The Day the Earth Stood Still

Although... If I could add a few more, they'd probably be Akira, Escape from New York, The Thing (original), Forbidden Planet, Tron, Spaceballs, Close Encounters and The Wrath of Khan. If some fantasy could be thrown into the mix, definitely LOTR, Time Bandits, King Kong and Big Trouble in Little China.

Posted by bloginhood on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 12:53 AM

The Fifth Element
Starship Troopers
Independence Day
Star Trek First Contact
Rocket Man (yes the Harlan Williams one)

Posted by General X on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 2:07 AM

The movies have to be consistently entertaining, since I only have these five. These are the movies I can always pop in for an SF good time.

eXistenZ
Star Wars (ep 4)
The Fifth Element
The Matrix
Solaris (Soderbergh version)

Too many honorable mentions to, well, mention.

Posted by Paul on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 6:54 AM

Hmmm, have not thought of this in a long time.

Star Wars IV
Back to the Future
Star Trek II
Blade Runner
Terminator 2

Yeah, I know, not imaginative but they are my favs. The Day the Earth Stood Still, which I've only recently rewatched for the first time in decades, rings loudly in my head. But, I stand by these.

Posted by Scott on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 10:30 AM

Everyone has missed the obvious answer for what science fiction movie you should watch over and over again: Groundhog Day.

(Of course , maybe people consider this movie to be a fantasy.)

My other 4:

Serenity
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Brazil
Back to the Future

Posted by Tim Bartik on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 2:00 PM

Tough to narrow down to five. Here goes...

Star Trek II: TWOK (personal fave)
Blade Runner (modern classic, theatrical, v.o. edition)
Aliens (action/sci fi, extended edition)
Dune (political sci fi, extended edition)
Ghostbusters (sci fi comedy)

Posted by L. A. Ramirez on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 2:30 PM

How I love lists! Mind you, since this is a sci-fi list, the Lord of the Rings films are absent, though they get a lot of mileage at my place. Also, as the man says in the question, which do you watch over and over, so that doesn't mean that these are my five all-time favorites. Here we go.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Aliens
Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Armageddon
The Andromeda Strain

Posted by Bill S. on Thursday September 27, 2007 at 4:06 PM

- Star Wars IV
- Back To The Future
- The Matrix
- The Day The Earth Caught Fire (bit depressing if you're on a desert island but I love it's apocalyptic Englishness).
- Wargames (it's SF because the computer can think).

Btw some of the suggestions above make my eyes boggle in a "you're joking, right?" kind of way :-)

Posted by James on Friday September 28, 2007 at 4:26 AM

What great fun! This topic has generated a lot of talk around our house. Here's my list:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Wars (the Star Wars, from when there was only the one)
Serenity
Star Trek 1 (I know, but I was so thrilled to see it after that long dry spell)
and, what... The Chronicles of Riddick, maybe. Or The Matrix.

Nobody in my family agreed with my list, of course, so we'll each need our own desert island.

Posted by Divers and Sundry on Friday September 28, 2007 at 10:58 PM

Ok, 5 sf films i never tire to watch again and again...

2001
Independence Day
Dune
Blade Runner
Immortel

Posted by Artur on Saturday September 29, 2007 at 12:59 AM

The Abyss (director's cut)
Independence Day
The Adromeda Strain
Galaxy Quest
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (my favorite of the ST movies)

Posted by Kristen on Tuesday October 02, 2007 at 4:57 PM

Too many to pick from.... 5 isn't enough!

1. The Fifth Element
2. Dune (thought I was the only one who liked it!)
3. Terminator
4. Predator
5. Aliens

What can I say? I love my sci-fi actioners! And Dune... how come 95% of people just don't get it?! It's brilliant!

Posted by spoonofmilk on Wednesday October 03, 2007 at 5:00 AM

I've just written a list of 10 sci-fi movies with reviews. Actually there is lot of discussion going on for the best sci-fi movies but everybody has his own taste

http://hubpages.com/_directin/hub/10-Science-Fiction-Movies-Every-Sci-Fi-Fan-Should-Watch

Posted by Bloggerdollar on Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 1:25 AM