Re:Important/Influential SF Films & Shows
Those are great, great films. I consider them to be essential viewing.
I don’t know how influential, or even inspirational to filmmakers, the Fahrenheit 451 film was (I absolutely adore it), but I think the book was. There has been much talk of a new film version, btw. Not a remake of the movie I wouldn’t think, but based on the novel. I can’t express how much I like that movie. Sorry namedropping, but Julie Christie was my mothers roommate in London when they were both struggling actresses.
Tarkovksy’s Solaris is brilliant (and a very good book) that is indebted to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I feel that it’s visual, lyrical, mystical qualities often surpass Kubrick’s film.
2001 is a technically and visually influential film. It was financially successful, and was a critical success. It brought prestige to sci-fi film in a big way. I think that the fascist computer in Aphaville may have had some influence on the development of HAL in 2001.
Sidhecafe, Corvina mentioned Stalker already, it’s wonderful. If you enjoyed Tarkovsky’s Solaris and haven’t seen Stalker, then you should enjoy it.
Blade Runner has become something of a template for many films… Visually it’s directly influenced so many films, and it in turn was influenced visually by Metropolis.
I definitely think Forbidden Planet should be there. Thematically, and also because of Robbie the Robot. Excellent points, btw. Totally great post.
It’s interesting with the 50’s Cold War movies, many of them played into the paranoia/ McCarthyism of the time, like for instance, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but several were very clever in the way they made a statement about the craziness of Cold War politics and being afraid of that which is different, like in The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Akira was very influential for sure, and later on Ghost in the Shell, in anime.
Then there are the influential films that started off the B-movie monster sub-genre cycle, or the ones that really popularised VR in films like The Lawnmower Man.
Of course it’s very common to try to duplicate the success of a really popular sci-fi film with a formulaic work. Whilst many ‘populist’ filmmakers don’t so obviously emulate some of the more, dare I say it, artistic works, I imagine that many still look to those movies for some kind of inspiration. Just less direct… More inspiration than emulation…