With Guardians of the Galaxy out in theaters, it's a perfect time to talk about OUTER SPACE MOVIES, a genre with some super high highs and some lowly low lows. Favorites are probably pretty easy to pick -- it's all Star Wars this and 2001 that and Alien who? Least favorites might be more challenging. Have at it.
You're right, picking a favorite is easy: STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. Least favorite is tougher. I never saw all of LEPRECHAUN IN SPACE but I imagine space-set movies don't get much worse. Unfortunately ALIEN VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM takes place almost entirely on earth, otherwise that would be a shoo-in. I'm gonna go with one that's only partially set in space, but I think it's enough to count: HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE, a confusing mess that caused a once-promising franchise to shift from theatrical Grand Guignol to straight-to-DVD garbage movies.
ReplyDeleteFavorite is easily 2001: A Space Odyssey. Least favorite, hmmm? Mom and Dad Save The World
ReplyDeleteMoonraker because of Roger Moore's smugness although there are several others that are technically worse. As for the best, may the Schwartz be with you!
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ReplyDeleteYou're right Patrick, the favorites are obvious. But I'll still throw out a lot of love for Gravity. That movie is still endlessly watchable to me. Galaxy Quest is also terrific. I don't know that I've seen all that many space movies that I absolutely hate, but screw Attack of the Clones! That movie is the worst.
ReplyDeleteFavorite: Outland. Sean Connery actual turns in a real performance and it is really good (I love Connery, but most of the time he's juts being Connery).
ReplyDeleteLeast Favorite: Star Trek: Insurrection. The worst of the Star Trek movies. Hell, it's worse than most episodes.
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DeleteNice choices.
DeleteI too am a big fan of Outland and Insurrection was pretty bad. But Star Trek: Nemesis was a dagger to the franchise.
Best: MST3K's Space Mutiny.
ReplyDeleteWorst: Space Mutiny.
Nice! :-)
DeleteFavorites would be the Star Wars trilogy, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I also really loved Guardians of the Galaxy, but I need to let that movie simmer for a bit.
ReplyDeleteWorst? Um... Mars Needs Moms? I never keep track of movies I really really dislike, I usually just try to forget them.
As for best...
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, my vote for the best film set in space would be cast for "Alien" 1979. The atmosphere, sets, cinematography, and cast just hit all the beats for me. Ridley Scott in his prime is on my top five favorite directors list.
For worst, I am not sure. All those Star Wars exploitation films and various "B reelers" that came out in the 70s and 80s don't count for me. I would have to select a higher budget concerted effort of a film. Up above Matt chose "Star Trek: Insurrection" for worst and that is a solid choice. "Zardoz" was pretty ridiculous, "Wing Commander" was really bad. Maybe Wing Commander for my worst.
Jesus, I forgot Wing Commander even happened. You're right, that was horrid.
DeleteI always hated Supernova and Event Horizon. I really wanted to like Event Horizon, since I saw it twice on my 16th birthday, but that movie is a mess. Supernova on the other hand is a 100 million dollar Cinemax level quality movie, that sucked in James Spader during his down time. I also see it was edited by Francis Ford Coppola for some reason? What the heck did he have to do with that piece of trash?
ReplyDeleteAs for my favorite, that's a lot tougher to say, I actually think Gravity does deserve a mention, since while the movie itself isn't great the visuals were stunning, and I think Cuarón gave us a realistic glimpse into space. It's the type of movie that almost should play at space science centers. The same could probably be said for Apollo 13, which was a great interpretation of that event.
Close Encounters (or maybe Planet of the Apes) might be my actual favorite, but since neither is set in outer space, that makes matters even trickier. Otherwise I hate just giving a stock answer, but Empire Strikes Back would probably be my favorite, with Alien being a runner-up.
".. I think Cuarón gave us a realistic glimpse into space."
DeleteNeil deGrasse Tyson says, "Nooooooooooooooo!"
Ghosts of Mars is pretty terrible.
ReplyDelete2001 is a given. Also would mention Silent Running.
ReplyDeleteWorse movie I can think of is a half-assed attempt to expose some film called "The Shape of Things ťo Come". Only person I remember from the cast was the guy who played the detective in The Fugitive TV show.
And interested to hear why others have mentioned ST: Insurrection is worse when ST: Nemesis exists.
Good call on Silent Running! Love that movie.
DeleteThere is a really bad Alien Comedy Rip-Off called The Creature Wasn't Nice (later re-released as Naked Space). It's not horrible, it's just really kind of dull. It's really the worst kind of bad movie because it rolls across your mind and causes almost no comment and no further discussion when you're some beyond a vague "Well. that's 80 minutes of my life gone, but I have no one to blame but myself." I mean, you can at least discuss Plan 9, this is just "meh"
ReplyDeleteYou can watch the whole thin go YouTube if you want but only the "I want to eat your face" bit is worth it, and that goes on way too long.
My favourite depiction of space is in Star Trek (particularly Wrath of Kahn) and in Serenity (but technically not a movie franchise). I really like WALL-E too.
ReplyDeleteI can't really think of the worst, but the biggest missed opportunity for a space setting has to be Green Lantern (and to a lesser extent, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer). Those movies needed more out-there space stuff.
Can you believe Green Lantern cost 200 million dollar? Where did all that money go to? It looked worse than any of the Star Wars prequels, some which were made a decade earlier.
DeleteMoney and effort wasted on computer generated costuming. Talk about a movie having its priorities out of order...
DeleteMy favorite film that feels like it's taking place in space is Stan Brakhage's Black Ice. If that doesn't technically count then I guess I will say 2001, even if I don't think it's nearly as funny as it should be.
ReplyDeleteFor worst I want to say Iria: Zeiram the Animation, but I'm thinking only maybe a quarter of it takes place in space. I guess I'll go with either Abrams' Star Trek reboot or Gravity.
I guess I haven't seen that many space movies I like or hate.
So many of my favourites have been mentioned (2001, Alien, Aliens, The original Star Wars trilogy, Galaxy Quest, Gravity) I will add Starship Troopers for sure! Forbidden Planet, Moon, John Carter, Total recall and Treasure Planet. Does Lifeforce count? If so Lifeforce as well.
ReplyDeleteThe only Star Trek movie I had watched is the 2009 one which I really enjoy. But today I fixed that by finally watching Wrath of Khan. It is a fantastic film, I am sorry it took me this long to get to it. I feel I have quite a few holes to fill in this category including both versions of Solaris and Apollo 13.
For the bad ones, I remember Space Chimps being pretty terrible!
There are some wonderful "bests" out there, including 2001, Star Trek II, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Starship Troopers.
ReplyDeleteAs far as "worst," I must add my vote for Star Trek: Nemesis. Insurrection was merely bad. Nemesis makes you hate the franchise.
On the whole, I would say that the Original Series Trek films are much more successful than the Next Generation films. Really, First Contact is the only Next Gen film I like, while I can find good things even about Final Frontier (it's not a good movie, mind you - but I would watch it over Insurrection or Nemesis any day). Does anyone else agree with this? And if so, why do you think the Next Gen films are so bad (cough - Rick Berman - cough).
I agree, 100%.
DeleteFirst Contact is the only Next Gen film that actually feels like a "movie" to me. (Also the only one that I find myself wanting to re-watch.) Generations, and especially Insurrection feel like television episodes. Heck, some episodes were better than those films. Nemesis I won't even touch here.
DeleteI am biased however as I am a much larger fan of TOS. While I enjoy STNG, I do not have the affinity for those characters that I do for the TOS cast.
I just wanted to mention, after seeing Guardians the other night, I would definitely call it one of my favorites as well. I can't really recall the last time I enjoyed a movie mostly set in space that much. Not saying it was perfect, but I had a blast watching it, and know it's a movie I'll probably go back to quite often.
ReplyDeleteI know people have a soft spot for it, but Dune is an epic mess.If history has taught us anything, it's never give David Lynch a big budget.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are Star Wars: Episodes IV-VI, Wrath of Khan, Star Trek '09, and Alien.
ReplyDeleteAs far as worst, I add "Abbott and Costello go to Mars", a movie that I saw more times than I would like to admit. SPOILER ALERT: They end up on Venus, not Mars.
Original Planet Of The Apes!... Oh wait, I just finished watching it. They're on earth all along dudes.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who remembers what complete and utter ass the Lost In Space movie was?
ReplyDelete