Best Sci-Fi Tournament - Round 2, Group F

[fernandito]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)


Le Voyage dans la Lune


Looper


Solaris


Sphere


Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan


Terminator 2


Wall-E

[fernandito]

Oh, you know...

Looper
Solaris
Sphere

And, what was that last one? Hmm... oh yeah

TERMINATOR MOTHERF****** 2

[mae]

Going with:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Solaris
Terminator 2
Wall-E

[divemaster]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Star Trek II
Terminator 2
Wall-E

[frik]

*Invasion
*Trek
*Terminator

sk

[fernandito]

Looper is falling behind...

[mae]

Need more Solaris love!

[pathoftheturtle]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Solaris
Trek
Terminator

[Mattrick]

T-2
Wall-E

[DoctorDodge]

Looper is falling behind...

Oddly enough, I was only really keen on the first half of Looper, when it really explored the effects of time travel, past and future, as well as some really cool future-noir elements. The second half with the kid storyline just didn't quite gel for me, though. I'll check out a couple of the others in this round, but I've gotta warn ya, it might not get my vote on this one.

[mae]

Can't believe The Wrath of Khan is in third place. How does that happen? Especially with Solaris there... barely...

[fernandito]

I actually thought Khan would be doing a lot better, if only because it seems to be a sci fi darling. I want to watch it but I typically don't like jumping ahead into a sequel if I haven't seen the originals, especially for one as mythology heavy as Star Trek.

[DoctorZaius]

I think that Khan finished right where it should have finished. It's great story telling.

[DoctorDodge]

I actually thought Khan would be doing a lot better, if only because it seems to be a sci fi darling. I want to watch it but I typically don't like jumping ahead into a sequel if I haven't seen the originals, especially for one as mythology heavy as Star Trek.

Mate, don't worry too much about jumping in - you know who Kirk, Spock, McCoy are etc. and you pretty much have a fair idea of who Khan is, too. All backstory is given in the film. The film itself isn't even an actual sequel, at least not to the previous film - the writers and directors actually tried to distance themselves as much as possible from the previous film as much as possible. If you can find the episode Space Seed, what the film is actually a sequel to, then by all means, watch it, but skip Star Trek: The Motion Picture entirely.

I guess what I'm trying to say is JUST SEE IT ALREADY!!!

[fernandito]

OK FINE GOSH

Let me add it to the queue.

[pathoftheturtle]

The original series only ran for 3 seasons. 80 50-minute episodes and hardly a dull moment.

[DoctorDodge]

Balance of Terror is definitely my favourite ep so far. The tenseness of the ship-to-ship scenes made me love it as much as Wrath of Khan.

[pathoftheturtle]

That's a noted episode. Fitting with your interest in gritty confrontation. All different styles were used. It's practically an anthology. For that reason, there's really no single best jumping-on point. It's nice to have the background on various elements of the mythology, like Khan's origin in Earth's past, but that's summed up well enough in the movie. The basic thrust is that Enterprise already survived many dangers. On multiple occasions during their five-year missions, she was present when sister ships were destroyed. Kirk and his crew are renowned by the time the movies take place; that's all you need to know. If you want to see long close-ups of the ship's post-mission upgrades then by all means, go ahead and watch the first film. They hadn't yet gotten the hang of subtly inserting special effects into drama, there's a lot of "Look how much money we spent!" and the whole moral is that Kirk, Spock and McCoy are better off together and in action.

It is fascinating (if you'll pardon the expression) how the key dynamic in Star Trek is reflected in Star Wars. Lucas always was a Trek fan and it's not surprising that as leading examples of SF they are both chiefly concerned with advancing Western civilization. Vader and the Empire are ultimate symbols of opponents to the Federation and the constant need to protect democracy from various faults in personal character from within. The culture of the Vulcan species represets Eastern detachment (primarily Buddhist) which is paralleled by the Jedi teachings of Yoda. Luke's desire to leave the farm he grew up on corresponds to Kirk's dissatisfaction when assigned to a desk job. And McCoy's defense of sensitivity to human personality, so approriate to a doctor, is most clearly epitomized by the Living Force of the maverick Qui-Gon, but actually appeared centrally in subtext much sooner.

[fernandito]

I appreciate the feedback, gentlemen. I'll ponder that.

Come on, one more vote for Looper to at least get a tie breaker!

[mae]

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is much better than Looper. That said, Solaris is much better than either, and it's way behind. No fair.

[Heather19]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Sphere
T2

[Ricky]

Looper and Terminator 2. I saw the re-make of Solaris, thinking that it was the one nominated, and didn't like it enough to go back and watch the original.

[mae]

So here's where Solaris exits. Too bad

[pathoftheturtle]

So here's where Solaris exits. Too bad

Just couldn't stand up to the engrossing dramatic nuance of the Wall-E
cartoon.