Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
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Top 10 SF Movie Lists and the Top SF Movie of All Time (Can You Guess It?)
June 18th, 2008
First, I am providing my own personal list in response to yesterday’s American Film Institute list. I’m going to overlook some questionable science in a few movies, and not overweight the science. I am going to leave out fantasy, including superhero movies and Star Wars — mitochlorians or whatever they were called does not make Star Wars science fiction. Unless I specify otherwise, I’m talking about director’s cuts, which makes a substantial difference for a couple of movies on my list.
1. Blade Runner
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Contact
4. Aliens
5. Alien
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
8. Terminator
9. The Abyss
10. Gattaca
Guess I like films by quality directors, with four of these by James Cameron, two by Ridley Scott, and two by Stanley Kubrick. I think the sequels are worthy, too, as both Aliens and T2 moved beyond the originals and broke new ground.
Other top science fiction movie lists
AFI:
1. 2001
2. Star Wars
3. E. T.
4. A Clockwork Orange
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still
6. Blade Runner
7. Alien
8. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
10. Back to the Future
1. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Metropolis
4. Alien
5. Minority Report
6. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Children of Men
8. The Host
9. Star Wars
10. Aliens
IMBD:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. The Matrix
4. Alien
5. Ivan Vasilevich menyaet professiyu (1973)
6. Metropolis
7. Aliens
8. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey
10. The Prestige
The Online Film Critics Society:
1 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2 Blade Runner (1982)
3 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
4 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
5 E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
6 Metropolis (1927)
7 Brazil (1985)
8 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
9 Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
10 Alien (1979)
The Guardian, cheating a little bit by combining some originals and sequels:
1. Blade Runner
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back
4. Alien
5. Solaris (1972)
6. Terminator/Terminator 2
7. The Day the Earth Stood Still
8. War of the Worlds (1953)
9. The Matrix
10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
An online internet-voting based list: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_film.html
1. Blade Runner
2. Star Wars Trilogy (IV-VI)
3. The Matrix
4. Alien
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
6. Aliens
7. Terminator
8. The Fifth Element
9. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
10. The Day the Earth Stood Still
1. Blade Runner
2. Gattaca
3. The Matrix
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Brazil
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. Alien
8. The Boys from Brazil
9. Jurassic Park
10. Star Wars
The Best?
Blade Runner tops four of the lists, but doesn’t appear on two of them. 2001 tops two of the lists, but doesn’t make the top 10 at all on one. I think that the strengths of these movies also make them turn off some audiences, unfortunately, as they also top my list.
It’s interesting to note that the only movie that makes all the lists, the highest, including mine, is Alien. By some form of meta-analysis, that would make this the top science fiction movie of all time. I’m the only one who left off Star Wars (the internet voting list technically lumps together the first trilogy and the Guardian combines it with Empire, leaving out the Ewoks), but come on, it isn’t science fiction, it’s a fantasy getting too much credit for having robots, spaceships, and rayguns. It’s my blog and Star Wars doesn’t get to be the top science fiction film here.
So, in space no one can hear you scream, but on Earth we all did and loved Alien.
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[…] I read it, watch it, and write it, too. My favorite on TV right now is Battlestar Galactica, although it has its flaws, and I watch Heroes, although the “science” is laughable. Waiting to see if Life on Mars fully hooks me. I haven’t seen what I would consider a really good science fiction film released in many years — Gattaca and Contact are two that come to mind. I have my top ten list of my own favorite sf movies. […]
[…] National Public Radio’s On Point program will be about science fiction movies tomorrow morning (11AM Eastern). The guests will include Annalee Newitz from io9.com and myself, along with a film critic whose name I didn’t recognize. Here are some ways you can listen, and I imagine there will be an archived version and I’ll link to that when it exists. They’ll bring me in on the second half of the hour to talk about the science part a bit more. As I understand it, the show will begin with a historical discussion, science fiction movies over the past century, with lots of sound clips and a discussion of favorite movies. Here is my compilation of top science fiction movies lists. […]
What a great list. I am always on the look for top lists, and your list is great starting point. Lists are very great.
Well, this is my first visit to your blog! But I admire the precious time and effort you put into it, especially into interesting article you share here!
I love reading other’s lists, so I thought I’d share my own.
I’m a Sci-Fi purist, so Star Wars, in my mind, is not Sci-Fi (even though I like The Empire Strikes Back quite a lot) and the silly (to me) “monsters of the id” in Forbidden Planet drop it off my list of good Sci Fi movies. Also, I don’t give movies brownie points for being iconic or groundbreaking. Kudos to the movie makers who innovate and influence later movies. That’s great, but it doesn’t make a movie enjoyable. For my list of best movies, I only care about what is the best movie to watch.
So, here’s my list:
1) Contact
2) The Matrix (maybe influenced somewhat by Dark City – at least the soundtrack is)
3) 2010
4) Blade Runner
5) GATTACA
6) District 9
7) The Prestige
8) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
9) Starship Troopers (1997 – a more complex movie than given credit for)
10) Moon
Honorable Mentions: Terminator, Aliens, Alien, The Thing (1982), Enemy Mine, Twelve Monkeys, Total Recall, Dark Star, Predator, Robocop, Minority Report, Primer, Children of Men, Alphaville.
Top Cult Favorites: A Boy and His Dog , Escape from New York, Logan’s Run, Dune
That’s a pretty good list, Riley, with some of the best more recent movies.