well... off from horror we go. & after the "young frankenstein" episode of the last list, i'm clearly gonna have to pay closer attention in future. a quick acknowledgement to balaspa, who included "the adventures of buckaroo banzai across the 8th dimension" on an earlier xomlist... thereby claiming it (& allowing me to let it slide... 'cause it's a GREAT stoner-sci-fi movie...)

but here... in chronological order... are MY pix for the 10 definitive science fiction movies.

NOTE: i have a long-standing vow never to include remakes... but for this list i have included two. not that they're better... just that they're also excellent.

ready? ready.

1. dr jekyll & mr hyde (1932, dir: rouben mamoulian)
this movie has been made & remade more times than i'd care to count over the course of the past 86 years. & i'll have to confess that i haven't seen the 1920 silent starring john barrymore. but i'll lay a crisp canadian $10 bill that it doesn't measure up to fredric march's oscar-winning performance as the good (?) dr jekyll & the evil (?) mr hyde. nitpickers may question the scientific validity of the story... but my science geek friends will tell you that the science behind most every sci-fi movie is questionable at best. let me just say this... dr j & mr h was remade 9 years later starring spencer tracy & ingrid bergman... & THEY didn't come close to the pre-code bawdery of march & miriam hopkins. classic in every sense of the word.

2. the bride of frankenstein (1935, dir: james whale)
sure, the original is the classic. but nearly every movie writer seems to agree that this follow-up is the superior movie. karloff's monster gets to TALK... elsa lanchester's hair is the stuff of show-biz icon... & this is (near as i can tell) the first movie to depict scientists shrinking human beings. also... the sets eventually were reused for the making of young frankenstein.

3. the creeping unknown (1956, dir: val guest)
also known as the quartermass xperiment, this is the first of a quadrology of british movies involving dr quartermass. the plot is simple: a british rocket returns to earth with only one survivor... & he isn't quite... right. the ending's a little much, but the movie is still creepy. richard wordsworth is excellent (read: scary as hell) as the astronaut & he's supported by two stalwarts of british cinema: brian donleavy as dr quartermass & jack warner, who adds to his long career playing policemen in british movies. trust me, if you've watched a british crime movie of the 1950s-70s... you know jack warner.

4. invasion of the body snatchers (1956, dir: don siegel; 1978, dir: philip kaufman)
NOW... if it were up to me, i probably wouldn't have included the remake (goes against my position on remakes). however... i know that i'd catch holy hell from people if i didn't. so it's there, 'cause it's a good remake. but don siegel (who would go on to reinvent cop movies working w/ clint eastwood on dirty harry) doesn't throw in all the plot twists & such that spoil the remake for me. he just leads you through a simple story of alien invasion with obvious (?) communist overtones. great movie on every level.

5. the fly (1958, dir: kurt neumann; 1986, dir: david cronenberg [good canadian kid!!])
NOW... here we have two NEARLY great sci-fi movies that add up to a great movie somewhere in between them. the original george langelaan story was a quick, tense short story that has never really leant itself to the big screen. the first film version (scripted by james clavell!) didn't have the budget or the technology to make the fly-man realistic, so it opted instead to keep the horrors hidden until the climactic ending. cronenberg, meanwhile, well... he's david cronenberg. his pre-fly career included shivers, rabid, the brood, scanners & videodrome. the nuanced subtleties of 1950s low-budget sci-fi were not his forte. instead, we get to see jeff goldblum transform into the grotesque. i'll probably even take the remake over the original (& i couldn't put together a 10 movie list where that's true...)

6. planet of the apes (1968, dir: franklin schaffner)
NOW... DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR THE REMAKE!!! i can't say the remake is a piece o' shit, but that's only 'cause i haven't seen it. i will tell you this... it can't hold a candle to the first of charlton heston's sci-fi trilogy (w/ soylent green & the omega man...). you know the lines: "get your hands off me, you damn dirty ape!"; "it's a madhouse! A MADHOUSE!!"; "you maniacs! you blew it up! damn you! god damn you all to hell!!" the rest of the pentology isn't necessary (although you can't go too far wrong), but even though you know the ending already, it'll still catch you off-guard. [say... did you know that the original novel, planete des singes, was written by pierre boulle... who's other best-known book is the bridge on the river kwai? well... NOW you do!]

7 2001: a space odyssey (1968, dir: stanley kubrick)
i ALMOST forgot this one... but that's why i made sure before i started writing. based on the novel by arthur c clarke, this is the only case i know of a movie/novel combo where each heightens one's appreciation of the other. reading the book helps you understand the movie even while watching the movie helps you understand the book. WARNING: those of you looking for action or popcorn fodder are advised to look elsewhere. this is the sort of movie that requires your attention. & requires several viewings. & can change the way you look at yourself & your place in the cosmic whole, if you're ready. unplug the phone... turn out the lights... kick that person who won't stop talking during the movie out of the house... get nicely toasted... & prepare for the feeling of your brains leaking out the back of your head. my pick for the greatest sci-fi movie there will ever be. NOTE: don't bother w/ 2010. or so i've heard.

8 star wars (1977, dir: george lucas)
has ANYONE not seen this movie? now, i'm gonna let those of you inclined so to do include empire strikes back & return of the jedi... but i'm gonna have to draw the line there. phantom menace was mediocre at best... & i've yet to waste my time on the others (yes, yes... i've heard i HAVE to see them. i'm just not going to.).

9 blade runner (1982, dir: ridley scott)
now... i've NOT included alien, because it was on one of my horror movie lists (same with island of lost souls... also a great sci-fi movie). but here's blade runner & just like that... you can dispense with the rest of ridley scott's career (c'mon... gladiator? kiss my a%%). i only just recently saw the director's cut revamped version... & holy sh%t is it an improvement! on an already GREAT movie! harrison ford (in between his first indiana jones & his last han solo) leads a cast... rutger hauer, daryl hannah (in HER only good role), sean young, edward james olmos & a host of character actors you've seen in countless movies. it's even got larry from newhart (ok... i've just dated myself, haven't i?) based on a philip dick book, only not shitty like "total recall", "paycheck", or "minority report." ok, ok... two of those movies weren't SHITTY... they just weren't blade runner.

10 the terminator (1984, dir: james cameron [good canadian kid!!])
now... whether or not YOU want to waste your time with the sequels is your own business. i wouldn't recommend it, but you're your own person. the movie that broke both director james cameron (from my home town of kapuskasing, ontario, thank you very much) & star arnold schwarzenegger into the big time, this was made on a budget that wouldn't have paid for one of the explosions in either of the sequels. & as such... it needed to rely on old-style movie-making staples like plot... pacing... tension... i'm not saying there hasn't been a good sci-fi movie since this one... i'm just saying there hasn't been one that knocked one of these ten off the list.