Sci-Fi Favs

I'm sure this subject has been covered on this forum. But this genre of films impacted me greatly as a child and right up to today. My first memories included two of my all time favorites:

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" Very realistic.
"The War of the Worlds" Great effects, almost shot in 3D, but money got tight.

And others might include from my early years and from major studios:

"The Thing" (1951) To real for a six year old.
"Them" Great background music.
"Destination Moon" Super "weightless" effects
"When Worlds Collide" Portends "Day After Tomorrow effects.
"The Time Machine" (1960) Some terrible minatures
"Forbidden Planet" Big budget, and it showed
"This Island Earth" Last of the 3 strip Technicolor.

And I was a sucker for the less stellar films:

"Beast from 20000 Fathoms" Ray Harryhausen effects
"Tarantula" John Agar saves the day, again.
"It Came from Beneath the Sea" More Ray Harryhausen

Lot of others. But these stayed with me.

 

How about "Earth vs flying saucers"

 

Thanks guys,
Those were good ones. I also should have listed:

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) "You're Next"
!!!

And Steve, The Original "Invaders From Mars" airs on AMC Fri. July 9, 12:30am

 

Giant Behemoth...
The Amazing Colossal Man...
War Of The Colossal Beast...
Beginning Of the End
The Lost Continent...Michael Rennie

 

Hmmm, Giant, Behemoth, Colossal, Amazing...I see the connection! ..

 

"Them". My first favorite.

 

The original ALIEN is my pick.

Sigourney Weaver - you go girl!

 

What about those wacky Japanese films like "Mothra"! The local station used to run these after school. Too funny.

As for classic US SF, one I vaguely remember that I can't remember the title of was about these astronauts that land on Neptune or something. All I remember is that something created a livable environment for them, and one of the guys stuck his hand through the barrier and when he pulled it back it was frozen!

 

"Colonel Fielding! Colonel Fielding!"



"What are they doing up above? You will tell us in a moment."

 

Does "Journey to the Center of the Earth" count? Love that movie!

 

Oh yea, and...I was thrilled to get it on DVD! If you don't already have it, pick it up!

 

Great thread! Lots of good choices so far. I'll add:

The Blob - (1958 version featuring that 30-year old teenager, Steve McQueen!)
The Fly/Return of the Fly - (Vincent Price rocks, "Help me! Help me!")
The Incredible Shrinking Man - (will this EVER come out on DVD??)
Quatermass & The Pit/Quatermass 2 - (Hammer pulls out all the stops on these!)
Robinson Crusoe On Mars - (the Criterion laserdisc is splendid, but it is still MIA on DVD.)
It Came From Outer Space - (quite a thrill to see in its original 3D form!)

As for Invaders From Mars, I have to say that when I was growing up, more kids were freaked out by this film than any other! It is nice to know that there is finally a decent version available on DVD (Image Entertainment) - not perfect, mind you, since some of the original camera negative was cut along the way and the excised footage is lost forever. But, this is as good as it will probably ever get. Oh, yeah. Here's a piece of trivia for you. Invaders From Mars was originally designed for three-dimensional photography! Since the flick was shot on a shoestring, and the few available cameras were being used by other studios, they lost out at the last moment. Looking at it, with all of the "forced perspective" camera work, it's easy to see this would have made a killer 3D flick!

Gotta mention This Island Earth, too. I LOVE that movie!!

Gary

 

I'll add First Men In The Moon and Mysterious Island.

 

Plan 9 from Outer Space

 

Great choices! and they are both available on DVD!

 

I happen to love First Men in the Moon. Great pick!

Another 60s one that holds up very well is Fantastic Voyage. The effects are still pretty convincing all these years later.

 

Do have both of those on DVD? I don't have the Fantastic Voyage DVD...They paired the Fantastic Voyage with Voyage To the Bottom Of The Sea. I wonder if it's still in print?

 

I picked it up as a Walmart $5.88 special about a year ago. It wouldn't surprise me if you can still find a copy buried in one of their browser bins. I also obtained The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and the 1966 Batman (Adam West) movies the same way. My guess is that eventually the Irwin Allen flicks will be remastered, but for under six bucks each, all are decent widescreen transfers, so you really can't go wrong.

Gary

 

WOW! I've checked those WM bins since they started that crappy process! I must have missed it! (...love Fantastic Voyage!), that DVD retailed for $29.99! I'll double and triple check now for sure!
Thanks for the tip.

 

Any of y'all remember that great low-budget goofball stoner classic "Dark Star", starring a young Dan O'Bannon (who later went on to write the screenplay for the first Alien movie)? I always loved the talking thermonuclear planet-busting bombs, especially the one at the movie's climax that went on an existential kick and ended up blowing itself (and everyone else) up while spouting verses from the Book of Genesis.

"Let There Be Light!"

James

P.S. BTW, whatever happened to Dan O'Bannon?

 

Blade Runner & a great soundtrack as well.

 

What was the name of the movie that starred Forrest Tucker (of FTroop fame) that featured some eyeballs underneath a bed? Scared me for many years!

Murph