Wanderlust

Hey y’all — I’ve been talking on some of the threads about expanding this group to include watching (or…

Hey y’all — I’ve been talking on some of the threads about expanding this group to include watching (or re-watching) selected classic science fiction films. We could post threads for new films on alternate Fridays, and call it Friday Flix, or something else shatteringly clever. The movies on the top of my list are Forbidden Planet (1956) and Metropolis (1927), but there are dozens of greats I haven’t seen, and others I’d like to revisit, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

I even dug up the best “Top X Sci Fi Movie” lists I could find on the Internet and put the 121 movies on those lists into a spreadsheet here, along with some additional ideas:

 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/88034905/Lists%20of%20top%20science%20fiction%20movies.xlsx

I’ve only seen about 52 of the 121 movies appearing on those “best” lists, some of them so long ago that I functionally can’t remember them (Enemy Mine? Fahrenheit 451?).

Here are my questions:

1. Does anyone think this is a good idea? Should we do it? Would you participate?

2. How should we choose the movies? Do you want to be involved in the selection process?

3. What are your other ideas that would make this awesome?

It would be possible to do this in a different community, if splitting focus with the Star Trek episodes would be confusing.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/88034905/Lists%20of%20top%20science%20fiction%20movies.xlsx

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21 responses to “Hey y’all — I’ve been talking on some of the threads about expanding this group to include watching (or…”

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    I do think it’s a good idea.  I think I might participate but in a limited fashion because I don’t get many hours per week to watch TV given my toddler situation.  My preference is to do in a different community, since there is so much star trek we have yet to watch (all the other series, the movies, etc.).

    I say choose movies by popular vote.  I vote Enemy Mine b/c I really like  the movie though the novella is better.

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  2. Jennifer Douwes Avatar
    Jennifer Douwes

    I like the idea. I however have failed in finding time for Star Trek so this would be an on occasion thing for me. Agreed, a different community would work well.

    Reply
  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Sounds like I should start designing a new community. Not sure whether it would be best to dive in with a slate of 4-6 films and then open the discussion about how to select future ones, because it might take a little bit of time to develop enough momentum to have a robust voting process? I could just take nominations initially for movies if people want to offer them.

    sunny jim was pointing out that a lot of good sci fi movies tend to be downers, because they usually present some combination of horror (Alien, The Thing), violence (Terminator 2, Total Recall), apolocalypse (Mad Max, Omega Man), or are just too damn serious (2001, Solaris). There aren’t many science fiction comedies! I think out of the 121 films on my spreadsheet, the only outright comedies are Galaxy Quest and Sleeper, although I’d argue Back to the Future could be classified as a comedy…. Anyway, the point is that designing a good slate of films could be tricky if you don’t want to feel like you’re being forced to eat your vegetables all the time.

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  4. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Agreed!  This is why I like star trek episodes as well as science fiction TV in general better than SF movies generally… not sure why the lack of comedy on the big screen other than parodies…

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  5. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    ….and moreover a lot of the films we KNOW are fun and/or heartwarming, like Star Wars, Back to the Future, E.T., and Avatar, are also films that people are likely to have seen recently or at least plenty of times already.

    I suspect that a lot of the older films I haven’t seen are also quite fun, like, e.g., Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Soylent Green, but you don’t really know until you try. I did fairly recently watch Logan’s Run and Barbarella, and I really enjoyed both of those (in different ways–Logan’s Run is excellent, while Barbarella has a so-bad-it’s-good thing going on).

    Free association: speaking of fun science fiction films, it occurred to me I haven’t seen Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure in a heckuva long time. Needless to say, that isn’t one of the 121 films on the “Top X Sci Fi Movie” lists I found.

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  6. Jennifer Douwes Avatar
    Jennifer Douwes

    It’s true much of the older stuff is sleepy. But I’d rate Star Trek that way, though all of them worth watching. Do you do Neflix on-demand? I looked into the SciFi genre there and there’s quite a few that look good. I’m completely open to suggestion though. 

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  7. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Yes, we have Netflix Instant! Between that and occasionally paying for on demand from Amazon or Hulu or something, I’m sure we would be covered.

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  8. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Constraints are important, and may be the key to making this less intimidating, and manageable for me. I’m thinking of limiting the initial “review” to about 200 words (my average word count for the Star Trek posts is more like 500). Also thinking of doing an optional double feature some weeks, offering a complementary or contrasting film choice (also creating an alternative for people turned off by the main feature), which I would limit to a 50-word review. If I find myself bursting with more words I can save it for the comments!

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  9. Jennifer Douwes Avatar
    Jennifer Douwes

    That works – I’m always cognizant of my word count too. Scott Douwes is interested in a SF movie club too. 

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  10. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I woke up feeling a little afraid for my personal time with busy season at work starting in January… but I’m also excited. Just have to work on a graphic for the community.

    Reply
  11. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    Just a few comments:

    1. We’re in

    2. That spreadsheet needs to be a google doc!  😉

    3. That MSN 50 list is totally whack.  The 2005 “War of the Worlds” is the 39th best SF film?  What-evar!

    4. The Popular Mechanics list seems like it was actually put together by people who like SF.

    5. We’re in, but I have a relatively low tolerance for “gross” and horror, and unfortunately it’s a little hit-or-miss: Alien is OK, the Jeff Goldblum The Fly is not.  We may skip some movies.

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  12. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I like the MSN list because it’s different from Popular Mechanics–you don’t just get the big consensus choices. Neither is particularly well developed relating to selections before, say, 1960.  Last night I found a top 101 list of “Sci Fi Movies you must see before you Die” that’s good: http://www.imdb.com/list/lEpXyn8AIcE/

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  13. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I’m all for using some kind of voting process to select films, but as I alluded to earlier, 1) It might need to be curated to some degree with an eye towards balance and other intangibles; and 2) If I’m going to be reviewing every film, I need to be able to veto some things. I’m pretty broad-minded, but I’m just not up for spending a lot of time writing about Jurassic Park, and I need to be able at least to space out my Arnold Schwartzeneggar.

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  14. Jennifer Douwes Avatar
    Jennifer Douwes

    If things get too busy for you, It wouldn’t kill us in the interest of time, to do it bi-weekly or even gasp once a month. As for SF sub genre: I’m all for going outside of my comfort zone. I can cover my eyes. Of course if it’s for most of the movie… Variety is good though to include everyone.

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  15. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    I’m all for bi-weekly to start; am running behind on the Trek episodes as it is.

    Reply
  16. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I’m definitely thinking every other Friday (is that day all right?), not every week. Of course, if we do double features on alternate Fridays, that’s still kind of like doing a movie a week.

    Reply
  17. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    A double feature is probably too much video for one evening for us.  Trek is perfect because we can usually fit an hour in, and if we need to catch up, it’s sometimes possible to do a second episode.  Anything much longer than 2 hours we’d probably split up into Friday and Saturday nights.

    Yes, I’m married with children.  😉

    At any rate, do what works best for the majority of the group, and we’ll catch up as we can.  The great part about having these discussions on communities is that we can always go back to old discussion threads.

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  18. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    The point of doing “double features” would be to have something optional, extra, or alternative. And maybe make room for some sillier, less highbrow fare. Forbidden Planet could be paired with the Lost in Space remake–which is probably terrible, but I’ve always felt a little bad about not seeing it. Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day the Earth Stood Still could be paired with their 1978 and 2008 remakes. It would also be easier to make room for schlocky films like Earth Girls Are Easy, Death Race 2000, or Moonraker. I could sneak in The Cat From Outer Space, which was my favorite movie when I was six, without feeling guilty because I would pair it up with something that sucks less.

    Perhaps this could be done sparingly, or only when there is a direct sequel or remake–it does turn into a time crunch, with all the Star Trek to boot.

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  19. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    Sounds good.  The Lost in Space movie actually flashed a little potential, but didn’t deliver.  I’m terrified of seeing The Cat From Outer Space again, because I know it won’t live up to my fond memories of it — I even had the novelization!  🙂  

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  20. Allen Knutson Avatar
    Allen Knutson

    I read that!

    Reply
  21. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Welp, it went live this morning.

    Reply

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