Science Fiction in Film

Science fiction is a genre that doesn't tend to lend itself easily to being refashioned from the written word into cinema. While there are scores of written works of science fiction that I would categorize as great, there are surprisingly few great movies derived from said works or even composed intentionally for the large screen. One hurdle from my point of view involves winnowing out what I would deem to be science fiction from the related fields of fantasy and horror, which seem to fare far better in the world of film.

Probably few would see works by Tolkien like the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings as being science fiction. They fit firmly in the fantasy genre. What about Star Wars? To me, Star Wars is also a work belonging in the fantasy genre. Why? Several things lend to this opinion. Science fiction generally is grounded in reality, to the best of the author's ability, regarding the universe and the laws of physics. While we don't necessarily expect everything to be correct, such works tend to have an underlying predictable order with respect to how machines and tools function and with respect to the abilities and actions of the characters. Star Wars seems to make little or no attempt to reconcile the abilities of its various space craft and weapons with what is possible in reality. I don't believe that the Millennium Falcon could maneuver the way that it is shown maneuvering in the various pictures.  I don't believe that R2D2 would be able to fly, not in the way that he is shown doing so. I don't believe that telepathic mind control is possible. The mix of technology in Star Wars feels constrained and contrived to me. The technology in Star Wars is generally irrelevant to the stories being told and the stories might work as well or better in a Western context or more obviously as tales involving knights.

But beyond this, the very notion of the Force places Star Wars firmly in the realm of fantasy works. The Jedi do things that other humans cannot do and they do these things in opposition to the laws of physics and the trend has accelerated in the last two Star Wars movies with Jedi flying and communicating and even fighting telepathically. I hold the Empire Strikes Back and all three prequels in high regard but I would never recommend them to someone as science fiction. Taking the nine Star Wars movies out of contention removes most of the blockbuster hits from the list of what might be deemed great science fiction movies.

Another type of movie often placed in the science fiction genre has to do with either invading aliens or robots who have turned on their masters. It might be argued that these types of films are the genre of science fiction. Going back to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Wells' War of the Worlds, these have often been the most successful box office films commonly placed in the sci-fi genre. Among these figure Mars Attacks!, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the Terminator movies, the Alien movies and Independence Day. These generally flunk my test as science fiction because they work just as well as cowboy or army pictures or attacking animal or other horror movies. Is Alien different from Cujo or Jaws or Jurassic Park just because it takes place on another planet and on a spaceship?

These types of films also flunk by rarely, if ever dealing with the conflicts in a high-level way. Why shouldn't robots or computers rebel against their makers? Why should or shouldn't aliens invade Earth? These are interesting topics routinely obfuscated by the necessity of dualism in terms of pitting the bad (always the robots and aliens) against the good, usually the humans. I, Robot is a recent "adaptation" of an Issac Asimov novel which largely disregards the very point of Asimov's work which was to deal with artificial intelligence in a high level non-stereotypical way and instead turns the work into (another) one of bad robots rebelling against humans. It was fun for what it was but it had very little to do with Asimov's work or intentions. These movies often deal with the familiar topic of humans unleashing something whether it be a virus or machine or radiation or environmental destruction that is potentially lethal and then having to reel it back in.  The trope has become a bit tiresome.

So, I am a snob and expect something in the sci-fi genre to deal with interesting topics on a deep level without being either simplistic or heavy-handed in terms of conclusions.The technology or science involved serves a specific purpose in the story and is presented as best as possible in concordance with present or predicted knowledge.

So where does that leave us? An examination of Google results for the query "greatest science fiction movies" provides surprisingly little consensus apart from two pictures, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner.  While I don't have the largest personal collection of films, I do own both of these. What makes these two stand out?

First, they both have artificial intelligence at the center of their story lines.  The idea vel non as to whether it is possible to create artificial intelligence is a fascinating one that intersects with morality and what it is that sets humans apart from not only other life but also from potential life. When the computer HAL is turned off in 2001,  it contends that it is afraid. Is fear something that can be programmed or is it something that arises spontaneously from intelligence? The androids in Blade Runner also express notions of fear of not existing. I find the attempt to deal with these human emotions in a context of computer programming to be thrilling. Compare Star Wars where there has been essentially no thought given to what R2D2 and C3PO are. The two droids apparently have no rights but C3PO does fear both destruction and having his memory wiped. C3PO presents as a bit of a coward. There is a huge opening in the future for Star Wars and LucasFilms to explore this aspect.

Neither Blade Runner nor 2001 deals with time travel which is an aspect that figures prominently in the science fiction genre. Less is more here. Neither work is overburdened with dialogue. The consumer is allowed to derived many of his own conclusions. Ex Machina is a fairly recent entry into this genre of science fiction and deals with many of the same concepts involving self-determination and artificial intelligence in a satisfying manner. Blade Runner 2049, while a disappointment at the box office, is a fairly worthy sequel and constitutes a recent purchase of mine. While information continues to be sketchy, there appears to be a film version of Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in the works which deals with a lunar revolution led by a newly-sentient computer and which could be a worthy addition to science fiction films. The movie AI was a valiant attempt but ended up being bleak to the point of being hard to watch and generally unenjoyable.

It is difficult to know exactly why great science fiction films remain rare compared to great horror, fantasy and comic book adaptations. It may be that they require a more pensive lower key context than the bombs and explosions and huge fights and battles that we have become accustomed to in big budget successes. We do know that many of the very best movies in the genre are adaptations of works and often ideas of the writer Philip K. Dick and that much of what is worthwhile in both the written word and film originates with his oeuvre.

Another issue here is that many of the great themes in science fiction do not require great word length and are therefore found in short stories and novellas perhaps too short to be dealt with in film form. To a large extent, in my estimation, radio dramatization is the ideal forum for science fiction and there are great collections dealing with stories generally in 30 minutes or less. Many works by famous authors like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, and Issac Asimov are featured. The three best radio programs of this type that I have encountered are X Minus 1, Dimension X and Exploring Tomorrow and all are in the public domain and found on Archive.org.
Longer works can be found via the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation's radio arm. Particularly good is a treatment of Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep, the Dick story later adapted into Blade Runner:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhNSR0WaYzc and Fahrenheit 451.

Recommended Science Fiction Films:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Blade Runner
3. Minority Report
4. Total Recall
5. The Adjustment Bureau
6. Blade Runner 2049
7. The Matrix

The first two Terminator and Alien movies are highly recommended by me, just not for their sci-fi aspects, which is true also for Jurassic Park. I continue to hope to see a decent film adaptation of the Foundation by Issac Asimov and several of his Robot novels. HBO has just released an update of Fahrenheit 451 which I have not yet viewed.