Science Fiction Movies

[Kakashi2020]

Science Fiction or Sci-fi is a branch of fiction which deals into the speculation of the unknown.  Time Travel, Alien Beings and Futuristic Technology are some of its subjects.

This movie genre is my favorite ever since my first screening of a Star Trek movie decades ago.  I memorized a part of the Star Trek's Starship Enterprise mission monologue, I think it best describes Science Fiction and I quote.

"To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations.  To boldly go where no man has gone before!"

There something about sci-fi films that attracts me, it may be the futuristic technology or the ships travelling through space and sometimes even time or the characters who are a mixture of humans, aliens and sentient robots.  All of these and other factors combine to create a great entertaining science fiction film.  

[ReadyRattle]

I too love Sci-fi! I think you're right about it being a genre which actually focuses on the unknown, on asking questions and creating scenarios and worlds! Also, I found it really funny to apply the Star Trek mission to its' genre.  That does fit a lot of popular sci-fi!

[HoneyBadger92]

I just recently learned that Sci-fi was always intended to be based in actual science the same way Historical Fiction is based in history. That is why so many things that happen in Sci-Fi seem to come true before too long and even older Sci-Fi novels are often still incredibly relevant. Maybe this is something that is obvious to others, but it went over my head for the first 25 years of my life. I had always just assumed that Sci-Fi was more like fantasy, a blanket term used for common elements in those stories. As in, Fantasy brings to mind Fae, dragons, castles and epic quests etc. Sci-Fi makes you think of aliens, space, technology, and so on. 

[RHC]

I have been in love with science fiction all the way back to black and white TV. One of the best movies, and one that was way ahead of it's time, was '"Day the Earth Stood Still." Which I believe came out in 1951 or 1952. It starred Michael Rennie and was ahead of it's time in that it was more intellectual about how people of the earth would react to an extraterrestrial visit rather than the typical "we overcome severe technology limitations and beat the invaders anyway" story line. I always liked these types of SciFy movies best. Another example would be "Forbidden Plant" from the late 50's. Does anyone else have a favorite SciFy movie of this style?

[Sprocket]

My father introduced me to science fiction at the age of five. I remember joining him in the TV room where he was watching Star Trek (The Original Voyage) and peppering him with questions about the show. I was hooked.

It was not long after that he gave me Isaac Asimov's book Caves of Steel. Today, Asimov is one of my top three favorite authors. I cried when he died. (The other two, in case you're curious, are Ray Bradbury and Ursula Le Guin.)

I pretty much am an SF geek all around. I love science fiction short stories, novels, television, and film. I even geek out on the history of SF and have a website dedicated to the topic.

The reason I'm posting to this thread is that I want to clarify the definition of science fiction given in the first post.

Science fiction is one type of speculative fiction, which also includes fantasy, horror, magic realism and others. Speculative fiction is fiction that asks, "What if [something that doesn't exist] was real?" In the case of science fiction, the "something that doesn't exist" is scientific or technological in some way, such as time travel, robots, space exploration, etc.

I love that the first Star Trek movie brought you into the SF fold. Thank you for sharing.

[Aidels]

I'm a huge Trekkie and overall science fiction fan. I'm drawn to fantasy because it fuels my imagination while I'm drawn to science fiction because it draws me to exploration. I agree that the Star Trek: TOS opening perfectly describes science fiction in its entirety. And when we talk about exploration in science fiction, we're not just talking about discovering worlds and coming up with new technology, we're also talking about exploring humanity's vast potential.

Live long and prosper.

[stansburylane]

Science fiction, well really all things speculative fiction is one of my fav genres. It's something magical about existing in a space where the impossible becomes possible. One thing that bothers me though is in the area of representation. The books and movies that I have been consuming since I was a child tend to trend towards imagining a possible future where people that look like me don't exist. There are a few writers that are starting to break this divide like the late great Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin and Nalo Hopkinson, but I struggle to find the same treatment on the screen save for the Black Panther.

Here's hoping for a future world that more inclusive!