[darthrsg]

Pick a decade, pick 5 flicks you feel are essential. Easy peasy. Here's a sample:

50s - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Godzilla, the Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth, War of the Worlds
60s - 2001, Planet of the Apes, Alphaville, Dr. Strangelove, the Birds
70s - Alien, Rollerball, Star Wars, a Clockwork Orange, Soylent Green
80s - Blade Runner, the Fly, the Thing, Robocop, They Live
90s - the Matrix, Terminator 2, Strange Days, Men in Black, the Truman Show,
00s - 28 Days Later, District 9, Moon, Donnie Darko, Pitch Black
10s - Interstellar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the Cabin in the Woods, Under the Skin, Her


This isn't my list as Cabin in the Woods doesn't belong on any list of praise. FYI

 

[oink]

Pick a decade, pick 5 flicks you feel are essential. Easy peasy. Here's a sample:

50s - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Godzilla, the Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth, War of the Worlds
60s - 2001, Planet of the Apes, Alphaville, Dr. Strangelove, the Birds
70s - Alien, Rollerball, Star Wars, a Clockwork Orange, Soylent Green
80s - Blade Runner, the Fly, the Thing, Robocop, They Live
90s - the Matrix, Terminator 2, Strange Days, Men in Black, the Truman Show,
00s - 28 Days Later, District 9, Moon, Donnie Darko, Pitch Black
10s - Interstellar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the Cabin in the Woods, Under the Skin, Her


This isn't my list as Cabin in the Woods doesn't belong on any list of praise. FYI

Oh crap, I have to think about this for awhile.....

 

[darthrsg]

50's: Forbidden Planet, This Island Earth, The Blob, Godzilla, Them
60's: Day of the Triffids, 2001, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Fantastic Voyage, The Time Machine
70's: Close Encounters, The Andromeda Strain, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Black Hole, Logan's Run
80's: The Last Starfighter, Enemy Mine, Dune, Escape From New York, Explorers
90's: The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic, Waterworld, Soldier, The Faculty
00's: Pitch Black, Equilibrium, War of the Worlds, Children of Men, District 9


I could go on in the 60's and 80's.

 

[thedeskE]

Alien, Blade Runner & Matrix hit well for me.

Sorry, 35 is too many to like. It's like a must fill in list

 

[darthrsg]

Alien, Blade Runner & Matrix hit well for me.

Sorry, 35 is too many to like. It's like a must fill in list

Just do one decade or only pick three. The only rules I have are to be excellent to each other and not disagree with my opinions by posting your stupid ones.

 

[Waboman]

You're really taxing my medulla oblongata.

In no particular order...

80's: Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, The Thing, Tron, Escape From NY/Blade Runner (tie)

I could keep going. Great decade for Scifi

 

[Kilgore]

50's - Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Incredible Shrinking Man
60's - 2001: a Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Fantastic Voyage, Day of the Triffids, Village of the Damned
70's - Star Wars, Solaris, Westworld, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien
80's - E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Brazil, Robocop
90's - Dark City, Twelve Monkeys, The Matrix, Gattaca, Contact
00's - Children of Men, Minority Report, District 9, Moon, Wall-E (and I'm not kidding).


Just whipped this up so, it's subject to change : )

 

[jillbrazil]

The Seven - Tease !!! The Omega Man Phase IV Silent Running Conquest of the POTA and of course ZARDOZ ! (available on Blu this April from Twilight Time . )

 

[wmcclain]

Just to supplement the above lists, without reference to ranking or essentiality:

1920s:

• Metropolis (1927):

1950s:

• 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
• It Came From Outer Space (1953)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
• World, the Flesh and the Devil, The (1959)
• Thing from Another World, The (1951)

1960s:

• Day the Earth Caught Fire, The (1961)
• Mysterious Island (1961)
• Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

1970s:

• Silent Running (1972)

1980s:

• Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis (1984)
• Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai (1984)
• Altered States (1980)

1990s:

• Fifth Element, The (1997)

2000s:

• Fountain, The (2006):

-Bill

 

[8mile13]

A few i like that were not meantioned:
Frankenstein (1931)
THX 1138 (1971)
Tron (1982)
Repoman (1984)
Back to the future (1985)
Total recall (1990)
The arrival (1996)
Independence day (1996)
Event horizon (1997)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
I, robot (2004)

 

[oink]

I'll start with maybe the best Sci-fi decade: the 80s.


I'll try to keep to Scott's challenge of only "5 essential" movies per decade.


In no particular order:
1) Empire Strikes Back
2) Aliens
3) ET
4) Blade Runner
5) The Terminator


There are other excellent sci-fis as well.
But these 5, to me at least, are "essential" to the genre.
These are films we still measure against new releases.

 

[theblackangus]

50's - War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Godzilla
60's - 2001: a Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, The Time Machine,Dr. Strangelove,Mothra vs. Godzilla
70's - Star Wars,Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien,Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Mad Max
80's - Blade Runner, The Last Star Fighter, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Tron, Dune
90's - Total Recall, Stargate, The Fifth Element, Men in Black,Star Trek Generations
00's - I Robot, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Serenity, Iron Man, Star Trek (JJ's)

So many that had to stay off a top 5 list... and some I not even sure I shouldn't have bumped some I listed for others.

 

[Aryn Ravenlocke]

Wow, this is a tough one, especially given that "good" sci-fi seems to come in waves, which clumps titles together. I'll give it my best though.

1900-1930

Metropolis
A Trip to the Moon

1930

The Invisible Man
Bride of Frankenstein
Buck Rogers
Flash Gordon
Frankenstein/Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/King Kong (all three are worthy entries)

I could probably come up with a few others that I think are key sci-fi films from the 30s. This was a good decade

1940s

Going through my collection, this decade bites. I have one entry, though I am sure there are other worthy ones.

Mighty Joe Young

1950s

Another GREAT decade

War of the Worlds
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Godzilla
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Journey to the Center of the Earth

1960s

Planet of the Apes
The Time Machine
2001: A Space Odyssey (a top 10 sci-fi film in my book)
Fantastic Voyage
Fahrenheit 451

1970s

A Clockwork ORange
Omega Man
Soylent Green
Star Wars
Alien

This is another decade with a fair number of very strong entries mixed with a bunch of garbage.


1980s

The Empire Strikes Back
Aliens
Back to the Future
Blade Runner (another top sci-fi film of all-time)
E.T.

I could probably make a list of 15 movies from this decade all worth of being "decade greats"

1990s

Another decade of so-so sequels

Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Matrix
Men in Black
Dark City
The Fifth Element/Independence Day

2000s

Titan AE
Wall-E
Pitch Black
District 9
Spider-Man

2010s

Tron: Legacy
Transcendence
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Her
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

 

[darthrsg]

Tron: Legacy
Transcendence
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Her
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Interesting pick with Harlock. Have you seen the original anime? It's superb.

 

[RobertR]

Pick a decade, pick 5 flicks you feel are essential. Easy peasy. Here's a sample:

50s - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Godzilla, the Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth, War of the Worlds

No Forbidden Planet?

 

[Waboman]

No Forbidden Planet?

Surely you must be joking.

 

[RobertR]

Surely you must be joking.

I'm serious. And don't call me Shirley.

 

[Aryn Ravenlocke]

Interesting pick with Harlock. Have you seen the original anime? It's superb.

Oh yes, yes I have. The original anime series is what brought me to watch the live action. I was honestly expecting very little out of the live action adaptation. Only once in a great while do anime to live action adaptations seem to hold up. I thought this was one of those times. I actually put it in my list of five because of how well it seemed to do and also because it took my list "outside" of the norm while still sticking with what I felt were quality entries.

 

[darthrsg]

Oh yes, yes I have. The original anime series is what brought me to watch the live action. I was honestly expecting very little out of the live action adaptation. Only once in a great while do anime to live action adaptations seem to hold up. I thought this was one of those times. I actually put it in my list of five because of how well it seemed to do and also because it took my list "outside" of the norm while still sticking with what I felt were quality entries.

I like the way you talk.

 

[Doctor]

My own take

I've tried to keep everything as sci-fi-ish as possible. Wikipedia lists a lot of movies that don't really jump out at me as being traditionally sci-fi.

1960s and earlier
Won't insult anyone's intelligence by commenting on that era

1970s (Before my time and I've only seen a few from that era)
Fantastic Planet, Star Wars, Alien

1980s (Too little to have seen anything first run)
Tron, Blade Runner, Back to the Future 1 and 2, Spaceballs

1990s
The Matrix, Stargate, The Fifth Element, Terminator 2, Event Horizon

2000s
District 9, Star Wars Episode 3, Titan AE, The Time Machine, Moon

2010s
Predators, Tron: Legacy, Edge of Tomorrow, Inception, Oblivion