Rivero

Which do you think is the most influential film?

Giantrobo

Blade Runner.

If for no other reason than the way it made the concept "Cyberpunk" and "Dark Future" the future in many movies since.

Even the Matrix has Blade Runner to thank.

Supermallet

I say Metropolis. It was the first big science fiction film, and its images are still imbedded in the popular consciousness. The look of Blade Runner owes much to Metropolis, as do newer films such as Dark City.

I would agree that after Metropolis, Blade Runner is the most influential. For a long time, 2001 was at number 2, but then Star Wars came along and nobody wanted to make films where the ships took a long time to move (and the relative failure of Star Trek: The Motion Picture essentially put the final nail in the coffin of that style).

But I definitely say Metropolis, and to the one (at my time of typing this) person who voted for The Matrix, are you kidding me? It's not even five years old. How could it possibly be the most influential sci-fi film of all time?

I would say the most influence Alien has had was in spawning countless imitation movies.

Also, why isn't Star Wars on this list?

eedoon

For me personally, it would be 2001: A Space Odyssey. But for the movie industry, I think we all have to agree with Suprmallet (although Star Wars comes to a close second)

Giantrobo

Yeah but after Metropolis there was no hurry to look like it either. But after Blade Runner many sci fi movies started showing the bleak future.

Shannon Nutt

Umm...where's STAR WARS?! That was easily the most influential science fiction movie of the past 50 years. Maybe the question you want to ask is what is the BEST science fiction movie. STAR WARS changed almost every sci-fi movie that was made after it...and also changed the pacing and the way most mainstream movies were made...

Trigger

Influential to what and/or who and in what way?

Gyno Rhino

Star Wars is not a sci-fi series. It's a fantasy series.

Jaymole

Star Wars, was very influential but in almost entirely for negative reasons, one of the worst being it's creation of Star Wars geeks.

As far as having a positive impact on film, I would call it a tie between 2001 & Metropolis.

AOD

You said it before I got a chance to. Like it or not people, the original Star Wars changed to way Sci Fi movies were made and set the pace of those to come. And Gyno Rhino, doesn't EVERY Sci Fi movie, for the most part, have a fantasy element? You would be hard pressed to find an entire one that doesn't. Besides, what do you call spaceships, laser guns, and Darth Vader?--Don't see those elements in The Princess Bride. Now that was a Fantasy movie. So you are 100% wrong in saying it is not a Sci Fi movie.

marty888

Agreed - both were innovative in their storytelling and in their use of the medium, and both have created images and ideas that are basically part of our culture, recognized even by people who may not have even seen them.

MrN

I'm with the 2001 - Metropolis crowd. I voted for the latter.

And BTW, Rivero was right in leaving Star Wars off the list - its not sci-fi.

MISS PEACH

Thank you GR. Geez it drives me nuts when people lump Fantasy and Sci-Fi together. They are two distinct genres, not only in film but in literature. I ought to know because I'm writing a Fantasy novel right now.

MISS PEACH

MISS PEACH

Before I forget, I've never seen Metropolis but it's included in the 50-MOVIE MONSTER PACK I just bought. Is this the one you're talking about: METROPOLIS . . . Gustav Frolich? I wonder why it's in a monster set . . .

PEACHOPOLIS

Nuff

How can you possibly not include Star Wars here? It is, IMO, one of the most influential films of all time regardless of genre.

MrN

Because the poll says what's the most influential sci-fi movie.

Hokeyboy

2001 -- a monstrous achievement in scope, in narrative, in its attention to detail and realism. The best "hard science-fiction" movie ever.

Pants

The Matrix

More like "Most Influenced by every other Sci-fi film on the list...and more"

Pants

The answer of course is Metropolis. It influenced in one way or another nearly every other film on that list...and more.

Rypro 525

I also liked on how realistic 2001 was. I mean, there is no sound in space, and Kubrick made the right choice by making the Hal attacks without sound.

Iron_Giant

2001 was ahead of it's time, but Star Wars changed SF movies/entainment forever.

If you had another poll with Star Wars in it, I would bet that it would end up being #1.

Kal-El

I agree, but this is DVDTalk we're posting at, where luca$ raped half of the posters' childhoods.

Jaymole

Yes, a poll such as "what have you given up sex for"

ckolchak

as far as contemporary film (which i would date around late 60's/early 70's -present)
2001 had an influence on Spfx, but SW (fantasy or not) matured it in that the vehicles and enviornment looked 'lived in' which was a radical concept at the time (just look at Logans Run from a year earlier).
but the most major influential film in retrospect looks to be Blade Runner, since it merged an mutation of the present (the social structure, the role of media and advertising, industrial design) with sci fi concepts.
and of course it was fairly bleak, which all the kids groove on

however, i don't think Alien gets enough credit.
apart from the horror film aspect, the film was taking the baton from SW and showing a future that looked and felt 'lived in',
where the technology & set design was not concieved to be asthetically pleasing or impressive but rather fully functional (which rtranslates in to cramped, claustrophobic, dirty, etc) and where current issues like corporate malfeasance were still going on, and it was also somewhat bleak, as the main characters are not highly advanced socially or intellectually but rather just common laborers- the equivilent of truck drivers.
this a significant point, as a lot of sci fi up until then had for main characters people who were extraordinary in some fashion, intellectually, etc
(although, actually The Day The Earth Caught Fire, an early 60s UK sci-fi movie used as its main character and its POV, a newpaperman and the situation and films events unfold thru his eyes)

Scotts Alien defintely paved the way for Blade Runner.

Tandem

When I read the title, my first thought was Them! It was one of the first films to effectively utilize the science aspect of science-fiction.