Phobos' 50 Best Science Fiction Movies

Phobos Entertainment, a company "dedicated to creating high quality science fiction entertainment" created this list of "science fiction films you have to see."

1		Star Wars [2] A young Luke Skywalker begins to discover his destiny when, searching for a lost droid, he is saved by reclusive Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. As civil war rages in the galaxy, and Rebel forces struggle against the evil Galactic Empire, Luke and Obi-Wan enlist the aid of hotshot pilot Han Solo. Directed by George Lucas. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, & Carrie Fisher. PG
2		Metropolis [3] The story of a 21st century city run by a "super trustee" and his collaborators who live in a paradise-like garden. Workers are totally enslaved by machines and condemned to live underground. In the midst of this misery, a young woman, Maria, arises and attempts to inspire the workers to throw off their oppressors. Directed by Fritz Lang. NR
3		Forbidden Planet [4] The far-off star Altair-IV, occupied by two lone inhabitants and Robby the Robot, is visited by a search party from Earth. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox. Starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, & Leslie Nielsen. G
4		Invasion Of The Body Snatchers [5] Plant-like extraterrestrials have invaded Santa Mira, a small town in California, replicating the villagers in giant seed "pods" and taking possession of their souls while they sleep. In a terrifying race, for his life, Dr. Bennell escapes to warn the world of the deadly invasion of the pod people. Directed by Don Siegel. Starring Kevin McCarthy & Dana Wynter. NR
5		The Fly [6] An over-ambitious scientist accidentally merges with a housefly while conducting a bizarre teleporting experiment. A journalist suddenly finds herself caring for a horrifying creature whose insect half gradually begins to take over. Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Jeff Goldblum & Geena Davis. R
6		The Thing [7] A team of scientists, investigating a magnetic disturbance near the North Pole, discovers a disc-shaped object and some sort of man-like creature frozen beneath the ice. Directed by Howard Hawkes & Christian Nyby. Starring James Arness. Based on the book Who goes there? [8] by John W. Campbell, Jr. NR
7		The Thing [9] New version of the 1951 horror film set at an Antarctica research station in Winter of 1982, where a scientific team of twelve men discover an alien being which has been buried in the ice for 100,000 years. As it defrosts, the " Thing " replicates dogs and men and becomes one of the research team. Directed by John Carpenter. Starring Kurt Russell & Wilford Brimley. Based on the book Who goes there? [8] by John W. Campbell, Jr. R
8		The Empire Strikes Back [10] The battle to save the galaxy from the evil Empire rages on. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millenium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi Master's help will Luke survive when the dark side of the Force beckons him into an ultimate duel with Darth Vader. Directed by George Lucas. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, & Carrie Fisher. PG
9		The Matrix [11] Perception: Our day-in, day-out world is real. Reality: That world is a hoax, an elaborate deception spun by all-powerful machines of artificial intelligence that control us. A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against the controllers of it. Directed by Andy & Larry Wachowski. Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, & Carrie-Anne Moss. R
10		Godzilla [12] Godzilla rises from the sea, his slumber disturbed by atomic tests. With its haunting scenes of a devastated Tokyo eerily echoing the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this film gave the world the perfect monster, and metaphor, for the Atomic Age. Directed by Ishirô Honda. NR
11		The Time Machine [13] In 1899, a young scientist invents a time machine that takes him into the future of the 20th century and beyond. Directed by George Pal. Starring Rod Taylor & Alan Young. Based on the book The Time Machine [14] by H.G. Wells. G
12		War of the Worlds [15] Disguised as meteors, Martian spacecraft invade the Earth and conduct the systematic destruction of all major population centers. Not even nuclear bombs can stop them. Soon panic and looting set in as the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away. Directed by Byron Haskin. Starring Gene Barry & Anne Robinson. Based on the book The War of the Worlds [16] by H.G. Wells. G
13		Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan [17] The Federation Starship U.S.S. Enterprise is on routine training maneuvers, and Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned to the fact that this may be his last space mission. But Khan --a brilliant renegade of 20th Century Earth--is back with his exiled band of genetic supermen and setting a deadly trap for his old enemy Kirk...with the threat of a universal Armageddon! Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, & DeForest Kelley. PG
14		Planet Of The Apes [18] An astronaut crew lands on a planet where intelligent apes are the dominant species. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Starring Charlton Heston & Roddy McDowall. G
15		The Andromeda Strain [19] A remote village in New Mexico is contaminated by a crashed satellite. Scientists fight the clock trying to analyze the lethal organism and discover a solution. Directed by Robert Wise. Based on the book The Andromeda Strain [20] by Michael Crichton. G
16		This Island Earth
17		Them!
18		Five Million Years to Earth
19		2001: A Space Odyssey [21] A science fiction film which moves from the pre-historic birth of intelligence toward the emergence of man as pure thought somewhere in the future. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Based on the book 2001: A Space Odyssey [22] by Arthur C. Clarke. G
20		The Terminator [23] In the year of Darkness, 2029, the rulers of the planets have devised the ultimate plan. They will reshape the future by changing the past. The plan requires something that feels neither pity, pain, nor fear - a Terminator . Part man, part machine, the Terminator is sent back to present-day Earth to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose life will have great significance in the years to come. Sarah has but a single ally - Kyle Reese, a young soldier sent from the future to protect her. The fate of the world lies with two humans who must defeat an unstoppable killing machine - the Terminator. Directed by James Cameron. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger & Linda Hamilton. R
21		Blade Runner [24] Rick Deckard prowls the steel and microchip jungle of 21st century Los Angeles. He's a " blade runner " stalking genetically-made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human. Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, & Sean Young. Based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep [25]by Philip K. Dick. R
22		Altered States [26] In the basement of a university medical school Dr . Jessup floats naked in total darkness. The most terrifying experiment in the history of science is out of control... and the subject is himself. Directed by Ken Russell. Starring William Hurt & Blair Brown. Based on the book by Paddy Chayefsky. R
23		Things to Come [27] Imaginative, intelligent, unusual and full of human interest because of its timely theme, for it concerns the stunning horrors and consequences of the next war. The film is split in two halves, the first dealing with the devastating effect of the war and the second taking place many years later showing how the war changed civilization as we know it. Directed by William Cameron Menzies. Starring Raymond Massey & Edward Chapman. R
24		Alien [28] When commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, heading back to Earth, intercepts an SOS signal from a nearby planet, the crew investigate. After a bad landing on the planet, some crew members leave the ship to explore the area. At the same time they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a call for help. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew do not know the danger they are in until it is too late. Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Sigourney Weaver & Tom Skerritt. R
25		Aliens [29] Ripley is recovering from her encounter with the deadly alien when she is asked to go back with a company of marines. At first the marines refuse to believe her warning but soon they all come face to face with the awesome creatures. Directed by James Cameron. Starring Sigourney Weaver. R
26		The Day The Earth Stood Still [30] A spaceship lands in Washington, D.C., capturing the attention of the world. But the alien emissary it brings refuses to reveal his mission to any single government, leaving the military, the politicians, and millions of ordinary people to wait in fear. Soon their distrust turns to calls for violence. But one young woman and her son befriend him ... and soon realize that they may be all that stands between the human race and total destruction. Directed by Robert Wise. Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, & Hugh Marlowe. G
27		The Incredible Shrinking Man
28		The Day After
29		Barbarella [31] An erotic science fiction fantasy in which a female adventurer travels through space vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters and rewarding the men who assist her. Directed by Roger Vadim. Starring Jane Fonda. Based on the book Barbarella by Jean Claude Forest. PG
30		A Clockwork Orange [32] Depicts a harrowing journey through a near-future world of decaying cities, murderous adolescents and nightmarish technologies of punishment and crime. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Malcolm McDowell. Based on the book A Clockwork Orange [33] by Anthony Burgess. R
31		Sleeper [34] Miles Monroe enters the hospital in 1973 for a minor ulcer operation only to wake up 200 years later after being defrosted. As Miles tries to adjust to his new environment, he is re-programed, de-programmed, chased by Big Brother-like police, and falls for Luna, an underground poet. Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen & Diane Keaton. PG
32		Zardoz [35] A postapocalyptic story of a privileged society separated from the mass of the population who have reverted to savagery living in a world devasted by war and pollution. When a particularly bright savage makes his wway into the world of the Eternals, he discovers the truth of his reality, and change for the world begins. Directed by John Boorman. Starring Sean Connery & Charlotte Rampling. R
33		Logan's Run [36] The occupants of the perfect world of the 23rd century experience total pleasure until their 30th birthday, when they face a ritualistic execution. Two of the inhabitants approaching their 30th birthdays decide to attempt a flight to find refuge from their hedonistic, automated world. Directed by Michael Anderson. Starring Michael York & Robert Jordan. PG
34		Close Encounters of the Third Kind [37] A line worker, after an encounter with UFOs, feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen. Directed by Stephen Spielberg. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, & François Truffaut. PG
35		Tron [38] A hacker is transported into a computer where he must fight for his life against the Master Control system. The hacker teams up with a bookkeeping program and his girlfriend to try to replace Master Control with Tron. Directed by Steven Lisberger. Starring Jeff Bridges & Bruce Boxleitner. PG
36		1984 [39] George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love. Directed by Michael Radford. Starring John Hurt & Richard Burton. Based on the book Nineteen Eighty-Four [40] by George Orwell. R
37		Akira [41] A powerful psychic force known only as Akira resurfaces in Neo-Tokyo in the 21st century. Tetsuo, a young, inexperienced motorcycle biker driven beyond the boundaries of sanity by the power of Akira , is forced to conjure up demons laying dormant within his subconscious. Directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo. R
38		Total Recall [42] A worker leaves Earth for the mind-bending nightmarish reality of a Martian mining colony ruled over by a dictator who can alter reality to suit his whims. Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Based on the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale [43]" by Philip K. Dick. R
39		Independence Day [44] It begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of mankind. Directed by Roland Emmerich. Starring Bill Pullman, Mary McDonnell, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, & Will Smith. PG-13
40		Galaxy Quest [45] For four years, the courageous crew of the NSEA Protector set off on thrilling and often dangerous missions in space -- and then their series was canceled. Now, twenty years later, aliens under attack have mistaken the " Galaxy Quest " television transmissions for "historical documents" and beamed up the crew of has-been actors to save the universe. Directed by Dean Parisot. Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, & Alan Rickman. PG
41		Fantastic Planet
42		Earth vs. The Flying Saucers [46] Dr. Russell Marvin heads up Operation Skyhook, which is tasked with sending experimental rockets into the upper atmosphere. Unfortunately, all the rockets are somehow disappearing. During the final rocket launching, a flying saucer lands and the military fires upon the aliens, triggering the destruction of the installation and a cryptic warning from the aliens. In response, Dr. Marvin and his colleagues develop an anti-magnetic beam weapon to disable the flying discs. The weapon and the mettle of the populace of Washington, DC are soon put to the test, when the flying saucers attack. Directed by Fred F. Sears. Starring Hugh Marlowe. NR
43		The Rocky Horror Picture Show [47] A mixture of fantastical rock opera and horror movie spoof. A couple of ordinary kids have car trouble one dark and rainy night and knock on the door of a looming gothic mansion. They are stunned to learn that they have stumbled into an ongoing convention of kinky characters, hosted by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist from the planet Transsexual. Directed by Jim Sharman. Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, & Barry Bostwick. R
44		Bride of Frankenstein [48] Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive, not killed as previously believed. Dr. Frankenstein abandons evil experiments, but when a mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, kidnaps his wife, Dr. Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new creature: a woman to be the companion of the monster. Directed by James Whale. Starring Boris Karloff & Elsa Lanchester. NR
45		Plan Nine from Outer Space [49] Alien invaders use "Plan 9" to re-animate dead earthlings. Directed by Ed Wood. Starring Bella Lugosi, Vampira, & Lyle Talbot. NR
46		The Crawling Eye
47		Dr. Strangelove [50] Fueled by paranoia and a fanatical sense of patriotism, two psychotic generals - U.S. Air Force Commander Jack D. Ripper and Joint Chief of Staff "Buck" Turgidson - trigger an ingenious, irrevocable scheme to attack Russia's strategic targets with nuclear bombs. Funny and frightening, this black comedy about a group of military men who plan a nuclear apocalypse seems as relevant todayas ever. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Peter Sellers & George C. Scott. PG
48		Road Warrior [51] Story is set in the post-nuclear outback of Australia where a battle is raged by a tiny band of civilized survivors and a group of barbarians over a precious cache of gasoline. Directed by George Miller. Starring Mel Gibson. R
49		When Worlds Collide [52] Earth is destroyed by a runaway star, but not before a few privately financed individuals can escape to start anew on another planet. Directed by Rudolph Maté. Based on the book When Worlds Collide [53] by Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer. G
50		Strange Days