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My all time top three list of sci fi films is:
1. Aliens. Best film ever!
2. Pitch Black. I know, I know, I just love it ok?
3. The Matrix
I also like Avatar and Alien, also all the Star Wars films except the CGI horrors of the clone wars et al, but find most sci fi films a bit rubbish. Stuff like Star Trek doesn't do it for me.
Books: I once read one about old folk getting drafted into the space corps with the promise of a new body after five years service. They got the new, young body for the service. It was a fun story.
I tried an Ian M Banks novel about massive space ships talking to each other. Damn it was tedious.
So knowing how refined and diverse my tastes are (😂), what would you recommend?
I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube (there seem to be a plethora of sci fi shorts on there) and the ability to read books.
The Expanse on Amazon 😉
Films: The Martian; Dark Star.
Books: Anything by M. A. Foster, if you can find them!
Robert Heinlein, too.
That book sounds like John Scalzi - old man's war. There's a whole series of them, and he's done some other Sci fi too (locked in)
I'd suggest neal asher as an alternative for fast moving but relatively light fiction. Also just finished The Lazarus War by Jamie Sawyerwhich is in a similar vein to the Old Man's war
Live die repeat (edge of Tomorrow) and the other one with cruise, oblivion I think, sounds up your street.
Nightflyers on Netflix.
Altered carbon was alright on netflix
just signed up to Disney plus for the mandalorian.
I started a post about sci fi and fantasy books a while back. It's choc-a-block with great suggestions I'll try to link it
The Expanse on Amazon 😉
This. Into Season 2 right now and really liking it.
And Mandalorian, obviously.
PS Pitch Black is great. No need for the shame.
right - for the umpteenth time its SF not sci fi - unless you are a spotty American dweeb
Iain M Banks - the algebraist is my fave
John Scalzi - old mans war series, fuzzzy nation and redshirts
Elizabeth Moon - trading in danger series
golden Era stuff - lensman for a very dated but ripping yarn - its a 7 book series. Heinlan - moon is a harsh mistress, the cat that walks thru walls etc
Bradbury for whimsical stories on the edge of SF
I tried an Ian M Banks novel about massive space ships talking to each other. Damn it was tedious.
*Adds rollingdoughnut to "the list"*
Edge of Tomorrow
Boss Level
Beyond Skyline
The Vast of Night
Upgrade
Monsters of Man
Last and First Men. For a very different pace.
BSG?
*Adds rollingdoughnut to “the list”*
+1
Noticed already mentioned but I really enjoyed the two series of Altered Carbon.
Oh, the new Doctor Who is very good.
Writers - Roger Zelazney, Larry Niven, Arthur C Clarke, William Gibson, Greg Bear, Fritz Leiber, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Stirling...
“Iain M Banks – the algebraist is my fave” reading that one at the moment, having worked my way through the Culture books, just got Feersum Enjin to go.
Books wise some of the Warhammer Black Library books series are great. Try Gaunts Ghosts, Horus Heresy or Inquisitor series. Dan Abnett books are the ones to look for.
I thought "Raised by Wolves" was fab
Altered Carbon and Broken Angels are good, Woken Furies was a disappointing conclusion to the trilogy. Not read Black Man but Thin Air was good.
The Corporation Wars trilogy by Ken MacLeod is good, in fact I've not read a duff one of his yet.
Pitch Black is ok, no shame. The spaceship from it is in a car park in Coober Pedy, saw it a couple of years back. It didn't look anything out of the ordinary there!
Firefly - best series ever!
tjagain
Full Member
right – for the umpteenth time its SF not sci fi – unless you are a spotty American dweeb
well, spotty american dweebs and 99% of the rest of the planet.
Sounds like you’re more into monsters/aliens/horror end of the scifi spectrum? I’ll drop a few in (and star* them*). I love all kinds of science fiction films from lowbrow highjinks to highbrow lowjinks and everything between. Have enjoyed the following:
The Host (2007)*
Interstellar
Super 8*
Robot And Frank
Okja
Inception
District 9
John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’*
Black Mirror Season 1
War Of The Worlds* (Spielberg, 2005)
Cloverfield*
Kong: Skull Island*
The Terminator
Signs*
The Fly (1987)*
Dark Skies*
Trollhunter*
Fire In The Sky*
The Descent*
Pan’s Labyrinth
Don’t let the talking spaceships get you, the Culture books by Banks are more than that. I’d suggest trying again, but with The Player of Games or Use if Weapons.
To be honest, you are spoiled for decent SciFi/SF* authors. A lot of people do good work. If you head to Baen.com you can browse the free library for things that tickle your fancy and then get more from whatever you like. David Drake is decent for more military styles (Hammers Slammers), or someone like John Ringo or Elizabeth Moon.
Also, no shame in Pitch Black or the other two films in the Riddick series.
Player of games, by Eck that was a tedious drawl too. I did 3 of Banks books and set them on fire after so nobody would have to suffer them again. I may even go back to my son's Tom Baker Dr Who books.
Cheers guys. I'll find a couple of those book suggestions to start. I think the one I was talking about was called old mans war.
P7eaven, I watched and enjoyed most of the films on your list, especially District 9.
Interstellar though? I loved how it started but got cross with the tidal wave scene. It just looked all wrong. I need to totally invest in the scenario.
The expanse books are great and the Altered Carbon trilogy isn’t bad. I’ve read most of the Culture books and I’ll need adding to ‘the list’ I think. The ideas in them are fantastic I just found his writing style a bit boring. Even the action packed bits seemed tedious. Give them a go though as you may love them. Consider Phlebas is probably the most accessible. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time, Children of Ruin and Dogs of War are all great sci-fi. Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill is a top read too
Interstellar though? I loved how it started but got cross with the tidal wave scene.
Problematic but possible, according to people who have a lot more time to think about it than me. Possibly those stuck in orbit while people go surfing for a bit down on the planet.
Try the I-Robot series of short stories by Isaac Asimov it's only one skinny book.
I do like Philip K Dick stuff, inspiration behind Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) and Total Recall (We can remember it for you wholesale). There's a couple of anthologies of his short stories. It's quite hard going at first because he writes like you already understand the terminology without explaining it but you tune in to that after a while. Needs a little effort.
In the scary category no one has mentioned Event Horizon (in the acquired taste category) or Sphere.
If you like the Matrix then Equilibrium might be up your street.
Anyone mentioned Moon or Ex Machina?
Pandorum and Cargo could be worth a watch too. I enjoyed them more than the reviews suggest they deserved.
If you've got Amazon The 100 was good for a couple of series, as was the serialised version of Twelve Monkeys (the Bruce Willis/Brad Pitt film is good too).
Player of games, by Eck that was a tedious drawl too. I did 3 of Banks books and set them on fire after so nobody would have to suffer them again.
I’m most of the way through ’The Algebraist’, with only ‘Feersum Enjin’ to go, having read all of the Culture books in order, for the umpteenth time. With the exception of ‘Player Of Games’, which I just don’t like.
You want tedious, try the Cronicles of Thomas Covenant books, by Stephen R Donaldson. There’s ten books, but reading one feels like you’ve read all ten. Actually I never got beyond chapter 1; I felt a part of me dying inside with every page I turned.
I think there’s another epic fantasy series that ran to fifty or sixty books; honestly, I don’t think there’s enough time left before the heat death of the universe to devote to a seemingly endless series of tedious fantasy books.
You want tedious, try the Cronicles of Thomas Covenant books, by Stephen R Donaldson. There’s ten books, but reading one feels like you’ve read all ten. Actually I never got beyond chapter 1; I felt a part of me dying inside with every page I turned.
I concur. I loved those books as an early teen and found them way more entertaining than Tolkien. Though I expect there were fewer than 10 published at the time. I tried re-reading them as a grown up and realised there is only so much time left.
I found the Iain M Banks ‘player of games’ on a friend’s bookshelf. They said ‘take it’. I did. Meh. Then when I’d read all his Iain Banks books and there were no more I picked up the Iain M Banks ones. They vary in quality but aside from Feersum Enjin (or whatever) they’re good fun.
‘the forever war’ by Joe Haldeman is a good story.
I think there’s another epic fantasy series that ran to fifty or sixty books
The Wheel of Time ran to 14 books or so, and suffered from an author that ended up with too much power over his editor. Fortunately for the series (if not for him) he died, and a different writer took over to finish them off.
You want tedious, try the Cronicles of Thomas Covenant books, by Stephen R Donaldson. There’s ten books,
They're also about a foot thick. I had a then-girlfriend who loved them and kept pressuring me to read them, I gave the first one a go mostly to appease her but didn't get more than a few chapters in before losing the will to live.
Forgot about Moon. Loved that film.
Old school I liked Lexx, Farscape and Space Above and Beyond though probably looks very dated now.
Netflix love death robots is excellent, like a 60's scifi short stories book
A fair few years back I enjoyed the film Contact with Jodie thingy.
Recently I thought Ex Machina was good and quite thought provoking.
Can't recommend any books I'm afraid, my genre is historical fiction.
Did I read somewhere that Star Trek is science fiction whereas Star Wars is science fantasy? Not sure why.
Isn’t Star Wars classes as Space Opera, whatever that is? Other than the space wizards it’s not that much different from Star Trek. Star Wars just has more imagination when it comes to alien design. Roughly 90% million f species in Star Trek are human with some sort of pastry attached to their face.
Has Upgrade been mentioned yet? Quite a neat little sci-fi action/thriller with some cool camera work.
+1 for love death robots on netflix
Minority report
Blade runner 2049 ( you need to be familiar with the first blade runner to follow the plot)
Book - Larry niven ringworld
Alot of the S.F Masterworks series of books is brilliant
So many! I'll try and go a little niche. Sort of.
Snowpiercer, the film and the series.
Dredd
Blood and Chrome, a good, stand alone BSG spinoff.
Ghost in the Shell, the anime version (the Hollywood version is "ok")
Blame, anime.
The Chronicles of Riddick, an amazingly coherent universe created in that film. Love it.
I'd probably watched just abbot every English language SF movie there is with an imdb of over, say, 4.3.lol Can't remember most of them. I dabble in anime but I prefer dubbed. I'm a "monster."
Bladerunner, Interstellar, Sunshine, Inception are "must watches" amongst others.... But you've watched them no doubt.
Silent running
Rollerball
Alien
Aliens
Blade runner
Gattaca
Mars attacks
Dark city
12 Monkeys
Moon
Looper
Dredd
Not many think of pre star wars sci fi (other than the massively overrated 2001 space oddity) but silent running and rollerball are classics with social commentary that is startlingly relevant now.
^^ Silent Running, great film. Way ahead of its time.
Personally I don't consider Rollerball or Dredd to be SF.
Dredd is for sure. I mean, it’s distopian, but sci-if. The same thing with Equilibrium. Nothing in it is really futuristic, but it contains a scientific premise and it is fiction, ergo...
Silent Running is a great film and I think Dark Star has already been mentioned. I’d add Forbidden Planet to the list and then go through the old B-movie styles to see how things have changed since the 50’s
If you've got Netflix id point any SF fan towards Annihilation (very, very good and it has a "Dark Link" scene that anyone who has played Zelda, Ocarina of Time, will be cheering through), also Maniac (very odd for the first few, well, most, episodes but stick with it)
Two great Anime series: Cowboy Bebop (not on Netflix anymore, boo...) and Knights of Sydonia (big bonkers space war)
Books, I always like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, I started reading Liu Cixin's "Three Body Problem" series last year...really good
Finally got to see Tenet a few days ago as I got it on BlueRay for Xmas, flipping awesome.
Googd call on Annilation. The visuals really blew me away and the whole story has an unsettling, insidiousness about it.
Forbidden Planet. Another great one, first time I got drunk I was watching that! Excellent story and fx, way ahead of what most think of as 50's SF.
Was going to suggest the Wool trilogy, but given what you do like, I don’t know if they would be your thing. All three are good though.I enjoyed the film version of Annihilation, I’d read the trilogy before and couldn’t make up my mind about it at all, as they are in parts; beautifully written prose but exasperating from a plot and clarity perspective.
Reading though this thread though (and like all the others that proceeds it)...there’s an awful lot of shit TV and film sci-fi been made over the years, the CGI might have improved but in many ways we’re no further forward than the Flash Gordon series of the 30’s
Solaris - the original and the remake are worth a watch
other than the massively overrated 2001 space oddity)
I watched it for the first time a few months ago*. It was very odd, very much of its time and generally pretty dreadful. The bit with Reggie Perrin was.....random, to say the least.
*my parents took me to watch it in the cinema in the 70s. We all fell asleep. I was only about 8.
Not many think of pre star wars sci fi (other than the massively overrated 2001 space oddity) but silent running and rollerball are classics with social commentary that is startlingly relevant now.
I think of it but contemporary tastes for sci-fi (understandably) co-evolved with the demand for thrills and CGI. Also a lot of the older films seemed to be either overly-long/meditative/depressing or overly camp/schlocky/ridiculous. The latter can be enjoyed for kitsch value at least. I’d also agree that there are some classics that stand up with the social commentary and don’t require too thick irony-specs to enjoy on their own merit. Spring to mind:
THX1138
A Clockwork Orange
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Also enjoy quite a few of the (usually low-budget) 1950s for the creepy-kitsch thrills and (rarely) thought-provoking subtext (mix and match)
Most of them seemed to be various workings of the same two themes:
1. freedom-loving bed-time story where a square-jawed All-American alpha-male saves the free world from (ugly, foreign, big-brained, lock-step, mass-mind elite*) invaders* so that mom and the kids can get on with the gingham and pie. (*Spoiler - they mean ‘commies’)
2. Atomic monsters = ‘Run, the (invariably giant) mutant/s!’
WW2 has a lot to answer for!
‘Invaders From Mars’ (1953) is my long-term favourite of the 1st theme on account of it’s low-budget eeriness, art-direction/set-pieces. For my 10/11 year old self it was a powerful and unsettling film. Especially as it was told from a young boy’s perspective. Obviously at the time I missed any hidden political subtext, but the story is more about the creepy (and lonely) knowledge that the people you thought that you knew (and trusted) were/are not who you thought they were. Even (especially) your parents/guardians. And what’s worse than that? You guessed it - not being able to escape! For a young kid the theme and delivery of the film was probably too disturbing tbh. I wonder if any/how much of the current paranoia/conspiracy/ affecting the Trumpians and boomers of our times was initially seeded by such films during our/their childhoods? Just a thought...
(other than the massively overrated 2001 space oddity)
You’re thinking of the David Bowie video. 2001 - A Space Odyssey is highly regarded for the outstanding quality of the physical effects used in its making, there was no CGI available for years.
I was a teenager when I saw it on its release, it was pretty mind-blowing!
I watched Annihilation this afternoon. It was ok but won't make it onto my top ten list.
Some not mentioned yet:
Enders game
Oblivion (ok it's got Tom Cruise, but it's a really good film)
Arrival
You’re thinking of the David Bowie video. 2001 – A Space Odyssey is highly regarded
It may be highly regarded, but it's still a gigantic pile of poo after the "star gate". It's clearly designed to impress hippies.
Yeah I really enjoyed Enders Game and Oblivion. I thought Pacific Ring was ok too.
Most have been mentioned already, but Channel 4's Humans is worth a watch.
Most have been mentioned already, but Channel 4’s Humans is worth a watch.
First series was OK, but it seemed to turn pretty rapidly into Eastenders with androids after that. I stopped watching after season 2 because the family were too annoying.
thought Pacific Ring was ok too.
Nah. I thought it was weak. It was to science fiction classics what ‘Inrearendence Day’ was to alien invasions, and ‘Raiders Of The Lost Arse’ was to adventure-romance.
Seymour Butts has a lot to answer for.