Five Science Fiction Movies that get the Science Right

May 11th, 2008

I tried for ten physical science-based science fiction movies a few months back. Five is less ambitious and easier, letting them pick better movies on average, although I have quibbles.

This is the list from New Scientist:

2001: A Space Odyssey. I agree. Tops my list, too.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s a good movie, but it doesn’t “get the science right.” We know very little about how to manipulate memories this specifically, and with it being set in the present, it was very implausible. I think the best that could be said for the science is that it’s so vague in this film that it isn’t obviously impossible.

Alien. Another good movie, and one on my original list. I removed it on my revised list, however. It wasn’t at all clear that they’d avoided FTL travel, even though travel times were long and suspended animation was used. Also, doesn’t the alien explode in space? That’s unlikely, among some other biological issues.

Gattaca. Another fine film. I like it very much. The physical science was absent or stupid (that was astronaut training?!), however, so it didn’t make my list. The biological science was much better, although I was skeptical about some details.

Solaris. I’ve heard good things about both versions, and the original Lem story, but I confess I’ve never watched or read any of them. I want to, at some point. I do object to New Scientist pulling a fast one here. “This Russian classic makes the list not so much for the specific science it portrays, as for its portrayal of the limits of science and of human understanding.” What??? That’s getting the science right? This movie represents 20% of the entries.

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