Recommendations of the Editorial team
The best science fiction films of all time (145): “The Last Starfighter”
Somewhere, in a far away galaxy, Georges Méliès never sends a group of people on a trip to the moon. The adventures of space researchers and time travelers, androids and extraterrestrial breeds are not delighted by children who munch in the Saturday matinee popcorn.
The name Luke Skywalker does not say anything. Just as little as Marty McFly, “Mad” Max Rockatansky or Godzilla. Huge prehistoric monsters don’t wake up from their centuries -long slumber and don’t destroy a single metropolis. ET never arrives on earth. So he never has to go home. Thomas “Neo” Anderson is just another computer programmer. HAL 9000 is just a calculator.
May the power be with them
How boring would the films be. And how deprived we would be spectators. If there were no science fiction. Or you would never have gotten over the development stage “This is only for academics”. Since the spherical rocket in 1902 gave the moon a blue eye and added a very young art form to an element of imagination, these speculative and imaginative stories that play in the vastness of space and/or on our own burned earth have been an integral part of a balanced cinema. These films gave us visions of utopias and dystopias. Deep questions about human experience and the pros and cons of artificial intelligence. We were enthusiastic and made to think. Science fiction was once only considered a niche for nerds. Today the genre is wide enough to include everything from “ad astra” to “Zardoz”.
When it was time to set up a ranking of the best sci-fi films ever, we could not stop at 100. Instead, we increased the list with 50 additional entries. In order to issue a good certificate to the pulpy, trendy and perverse contributions -not to mention some of our personal favorites, which are normally not mentioned in such lists. There were more than just a few discussions when it came to the selection. It was also decided early on that superhero films as a whole usually do not fall into the area of science fiction, so that the MCU and other films do not occur in this list. With a very remarkable exception. Here are our favorites for the best that the genre has to offer. Lives long and in peace. May the power be with them.
Further reports from: AA Dowd, David Fear, Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Andy Greene, Tim Grierson, Kory Grow, Brian Hatt, Joseph Hudak, CT Jones, Noel Murray, Jason Newman, Keith PHIPPS, ROB Sheffield, Mosi Reeves, Katie Rife, Scott Teckerman.
The best science fiction films of all time (145): “The Last Starfighter”
The youthful video game ace Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is recruited by a peaceful extraterrestrial civilization to help her win an intergalactic war.
The best science fiction films of all time (145): “The Last Starfighter”
Robert Preston is a real brill in the role of ET leader Centauri, and the early computer-controlled special effects put the viewer in the middle of the battles in space.
But it is the underdog spirit of the plot -a child in a caravan settlement that desperately tries to make something out of his life -who turns out to be more irresistible than a tractor beam. In the end, Alex even got the girl … to join him in space.