Sci-fi author S. Craig Zahler's favorite sci-fi movies and television shows
This list is of movies and shows that have scientific underpinnings and evoke a sense of wonder or at least speculate on the consequences of certain scientific advances. (Note: Although I really enjoy Aliens, Starship Troopers, and Robocop, to me, these movies feel like action movies in futuristic settings, rather than science fiction.)
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- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterWhen a mysterious artifact is uncovered on the Moon, a spacecraft manned by two humans and one supercomputer is sent to Jupiter to find its origins.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesAlex DeLarge and his droogs barbarize a decaying near-future.
- CreatorJ. Michael StraczynskiStarsMira FurlanRichard BiggsStephen FurstIn the mid 23rd century, the Earth Alliance space station Babylon 5, located in neutral territory, is a major focal point for political intrigue, racial tensions and various wars over the course of five years.
- CreatorGene RoddenberryStarsPatrick StewartBrent SpinerJonathan FrakesSet almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsSam RockwellKevin SpaceyDominique McElligottAstronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
- StarsEddie AllenMichael BertoliniAmy Howard WilsonIn the year 2199, a starship must make a dangerous voyage to the distant planet Iscandar and back to save Earth from an alien invasion.
- CreatorShôji KawamoriKen'ichi MatsuzakiStarsArihiro HaseMari IijimaVic MignognaAn alien spaceship crash lands on Earth and her secrets lead to a desperate war against an alien enemy sent to retrieve the ship.
- CreatorRyôsuke TakahashiHajime YatateStarsHozumi GôdaShigeru ChibaBanjô GingaThe end of the 100 year war between the planets Bavalant and Melkia does not allow Melkian soldier Chirico Cuvie a moment of peace. His accidental involvement in a clandestine mission places him in danger, requiring him to escape and attempt to survive on what is left of his war-torn homeworld.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyWhen an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsEd HarrisMary Elizabeth MastrantonioMichael BiehnA civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiNaoko KusumiMizuho NishikuboStarsAkio ÔtsukaAtsuko TanakaTamio ÔkiIn the year 2032, Batô, a cyborg detective for the anti-terrorist unit Public Security Section 9, investigates the case of a female robot--one created solely for sexual pleasure--who slaughtered her owner.
- CreatorToshio OkadaStarsNoriko HidakaRei SakumaNorio WakamotoA young pilot, daughter of a deceased space captain, is selected to pilot a gigantic robot as a key point of Earth's defense during a space war.
- DirectorMamoru OshiiStarsAtsuko TanakaIemasa KayumiAkio ÔtsukaA cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAfter a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerSharon StoneMichael IronsideWhen a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
- DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsMinami HamabeMunetaka AokiRyunosuke KamikiPost-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
- DirectorRupert WyattStarsJames FrancoAndy SerkisFreida PintoA substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanJack ArnoldStarsJeff MorrowFaith DomergueRex ReasonAliens come to Earth seeking scientists to help them in their war.
- CreatorRick BermanBrannon BragaStarsScott BakulaJohn BillingsleyJolene BlalockA century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.
- CreatorLeslie StevensStarsBob JohnsonBen WrightWilliam Douglas"The Outer Limits" was an anthology series of insightful science fiction tales.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
- CreatorTerry NationStarsMichael KeatingPaul DarrowPeter TuddenhamA group of convicts and outcasts fight a guerrilla war against the totalitarian Terran Federation from a highly advanced alien spaceship.
- DirectorJoseph KosinskiStarsTom CruiseMorgan FreemanAndrea RiseboroughJack Harper, a drone repairman stationed on Earth that has been ravaged by war with extraterrestrials, questions his identity after rescuing the woman who keeps appearing in his dreams.
- DirectorJoseph KosinskiStarsJeff BridgesGarrett HedlundOlivia WildeThe son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father's corrupted creation and a unique ally who was born inside the digital world.
- CreatorAkiva GoldsmanAlex KurtzmanJenny LumetStarsAnson MountEthan PeckChristina ChongA prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.