ROUGH GUIDE to SCI-FI MOVIES: INTRODUCTION Introduction
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THE ROUGH GUIDE TO Sci-Fi Movies www.roughguides.com Credits The Rough Guide to Science Fiction Movies Rough Guides Reference Editor: Peter Buckley Series editor: Mark Ellingham Layout: Peter Buckley Editors: Peter Buckley, Duncan Clark, Picture research: Michèle Faram Daniel Crewe, Matthew Milton, Proofreading: Diane Margolis Joe Staines Production: Julia Bovis & Katherine Owers Director: Andrew Lockett Publishing Information This first edition published September 2005 by The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the Rough Guides Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL accuracy and currency of all information in The Rough Guide to 345 Hudson St, 4th Floor, New York 10014, USA Sci-Fi Movies; however, they can accept no responsibility for Email: [email protected] any loss or inconvenience sustained by any reader as a result of its information or advice. Distributed by the Penguin Group: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without Penguin Putnam, Inc., 375 Hudson Street, NY 10014, USA permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, passages in reviews. Victoria 3124, Australia © Rough Guides Ltd Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, 336 pages; includes index Canada M4V1E4 Penguin Group (New Zealand), Cnr Rosedale and Airborne A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand Library Printed in Italy by LegoPrint S.p.A ISBN 13:978-1-84353-520-1 ISBN 10:1-84353-520-3 Typeset in Bembo and Helvetica Neue to an original design by Henry lies 135798642 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO Sci-Fi Movies by John Scalzi Contents Introduction vi The Origins: science fiction literature 1 The History: a warp-speed tour of sci-fi film 25 The Canon: 50 sci-fi classics 49 A Clockwork Orange 51 Close Encounters Of The Third Kind 73 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Contact 75 Banzai Across The 8th Dimension! 53 The Damned 76 Akira 55 The Day The Earth Stood Still 78 Alien 56 Delicatessen 80 Aliens 58 Destination Moon 81 Alphaville 60 Escape From New York 82 Back To The Future 62 E.T.: The Extraterrestrial 84 Blade Runner 64 Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial) 85 Brazil 67 The Fly 87 Bride Of Frankenstein 69 Forbidden Planet 88 Brother From Another Planet 71 Ghost In The Shelll 90 Gojira 92 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 120 The Incredibles 94 The Stepford Wives 124 Invasion Of The Body Snatchers 95 Superman 126 Jurassic Park 97 Terminator 2: Judgement Day 127 Mad Max 2 100 The Thing From Another World 130 The Matrix 102 Things To Come 132 Metropolis 104 Tron 135 On The Beach 105 12 Monkeys 136 Planet Of The Apes 107 28 Days Later... 137 Robocop 109 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea 139 Sleeper 111 2001: A Space Odyssey 140 Solaris 112 La voyage dans la lune 143 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan 115 War Of The Worlds 145 Star Wars: A New Hope 118 The Icons: faces of sci-fi film 147 Crossovers: blurring sci-fi 177 The Science: theories that fuel sci-fi 203 The Locations: star tours 219 Global: sci-fi film around the world 247 Information: the wider picture 277 picture credits 299 index 301 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SCI-FI MOVIES: INTRODUCTION Introduction Like most people of a certain age, I became 1138, a dystopian tale whose 1971 release coin enraptured with science fiction film one summer cided with a run of dystopic science fiction films day in 1977 when, as an eight year old boy, I like A Clockwork Orange and The Omega Man. flopped myself down at the local movie theatre, Star Wars, in short, was state-of-the-art science saw the words "A long time ago in a galaxy far, fiction film history - and through its immense far away..." fade onto the screen, and felt the success an entire new chapter in science fiction blast of John Williams' Wagnerian score to Star film would be written. Wars blow me back into my seat. Then I saw This is the grand secret of science fiction the space ship - which I would soon learn was a film: the films of the genre almost always take Corellian blockade runner - followed by another place in the future, but the films themselves are space ship. A much larger space ship. A space in constant conversation with each other, looking ship which just wouldn't stop scrolling across the to the past for inspiration and laying the ground screen. An Imperial cruiser. work for the science fiction films to come. Few Just imagine how I felt about the Death Star. film genres have sustained their own narrative as Dazzled, I was, at Star Wars, and the new sort of well as science fiction has, from the first silent movie it introduced my eight-year-old self to: moon-traveling fantasies of Georges Méliès in the The Science Fiction Film. Little did I know that early 1900s to the lushly designed and computer- what seemed so new, fresh and amazing to me animated space operas of George Lucas, which was actually a summation of decades of previous finally came to a close with The Revenge of the Sith work in the genre. Star Wars was built like a Flash in 2005, more than 100 years on. It's a narrative Gordon movie serial from the 1930s, which in that's still going on - and given the financial clout its time borrowed from the science fiction films of science fiction at the global box office, it's a of its own era (literally, in the case of some of narrative that shows no sign of stopping. its sets, borrowed liberally from more expensive The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies is designed films). It stole design notes from Fritz Lang's 1927 to help you get a grip on the century-long, classic Metropolis, whose look and feel would be world-wide narrative of science fiction film. It'll mined by other science fiction films as well: Blade also take you back to Ancient Greece to find the Runner, Dark City and The Matrix, each of which fantastic roots of science fiction literature, rocket would be cannibalized by other science fiction you forward through time to see how science fic films. Its sound and visual design was influenced tion blossomed in the mind of men (and women) by director George Lucas's own earlier THX- through to the early 20th century, when it found THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SCI-FI MOVIES: INTRODUCTION its first expression in film. You'll go decade by source of controversy among devotees of science decade through the history of science fiction cin fiction film, many of whom may look at this list ema, and you'll see film trends and fads rise and of 50 and be incredulous that their favourite fall and rise again.You'll see how every decade of science fiction film — whatever it may be - was science fiction film feeds into the ones that fol somehow left out of our list, in favour of some low, and how each decade adds something new, film they find utterly ridiculous. This is fine with from mad scientists to "bullet-time". us. The Canon is not the end of the discussion This book will take you around the world, for science film: we hope it is just the begin to discover how science fiction films are made ning. And to that end, we've packed in a couple not only in Hollywood and the UK, but in hundred shorter reviews of other science fiction France, Spain, Japan, Italy, even Bollywood and films from the last century. See them all, and mix South Korea.You'll explore favourite science fic and match until you find the formula that suits tion film locations here on Earth and on other you the best. planets. You'll come face to face with the icons Indeed, the goal of this book is to give you of science fiction film — both moviemakers and enough grounding in science fiction film that their creations — and meet some of the people when you're done with it, you'll realize just how who could very well shape science fiction film much there is to see in the genre, and that you into the 21st century. And, to round it all off, this will - to borrow from a certain successful science book presented the best of science fiction culture fiction film series - boldly go and explore the beyond the movies: TV, video games, literature strange new worlds that are briefly touched upon and fandom. in this book. There is much to discover. We're And at the heart of this book, you'll discover happy to be your travel guide for this journey. the Canon — 50 science fiction films you have to see, that is, if you want to understand the full John Scalzi scope of the science fiction film genre over the 2005 last century. We fully expect The Canon to be a THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SCI-FI MOVIES: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements I've made a tradition of starting my acknowledgements Meisner, Scott Westerfeld, Kate Nepveu and Matthew with a mention of my agent Robert Shepard, and see no Combs. Writer and friend Nick Sagan offered telling com reason to change that; Robert is a great agent and an mentary on certain films. Thanks also to Diane Webster, excellent human being, and that's always a fine combina Tom Becker, Joe Rybicki, Ron Rollins and Ken Canfield, tion.