1: The Thing From Outer Space on TV was the first SF movie I ever saw.
2: The Black Hole was also the worst. Coming out of the theater with friends, jokes were already being made. "Every copy of the film ought to be shot into the nearest black hole!"
3:The first Star Trek was a huge disappointment.
4: The second was the high point of the series.
5: My association with Star Trek goes back to the beginning. I watched the first run of The Man Trap.
6: Deep Space Nine was the last good ST series
7: Unlike a lot of ST fans, I'm willing to give the reboot a chance.
8: I haven't liked a Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, I can't block out the Ewoks.
9: The bikini scene was the only good thing about Return. What can I say?
10: I have never liked any Godzilla movie after the American version(with Raymond Burr) of the first.
11: I shuddered when I heard about the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. I mean, come on. Keanu Reeves!
12: I also shuddered when I heard about the third attempt at Who Goes There?

I'll stop at twelve.

The first movie I ever saw in a theater was an SF movie: "Metalstorm 3d The Destruction of Jared Sin".

My parents were not into bringing us to movies so I had to wait until my older brother was old enough to take me...(I was 13 at the time)

The second movie I saw in a theater was "Return of the Jedi"

- Even though it may be my all-time favorite book, I'm okay with Startide Rising not being made into a movie
- Ditto for Ender's Game. I think they couldn't properly make it unless they changed Ender's (and all of the other kids) age.
- I like The Lord of the Rings movies better than the books
- First Contact is probably my favorite Star Trek movie
- My wife and I actually had an argument about whether or not Khan could've met Chekov previously. And that's another reason why I love her.
- Children of Men was a great movie, better than the book in my opinion
- I would say that even if it didn't feature King Crimson in the soundtrack
- I haven't watched the Road Warrior or the Running Man in over 15 years. I just know that they haven't aged well.
- I am really glad that a sequel to Total Recall was never made. I love the ending just the way it was
- I hated the remake of War of the Worlds, except for the scenes that Tim Robbins was in.

I was also injured during Jurassic Park! For the exact same reason, and probably in the exact same place.

Upon re-watching, I still feel phantom pain in my upper arm.

1. Star Trek during dinner time. Thanks Mom and Dad
2. Doctor Who after dinner. Thanks again M&D.
3. Taking me out of school to see some little film called Star Wars. Dad knew it was gonna be big and didn't want me missing history.
4. Same for Empire
5. Same for Return
6. Ghostbusters, because it is the first movie I saw that I payed for with my own cash from working my first job.
7. Road Warrior - it was the first time I saw a bare chested lady, although briefly.
8. KAAHHHHHNNNNNN!
9. Escape from New York. The first rated R movie I saw.
10. Scared ****less when Tohts' face melted in Raiders of the Lost Ark. 3 days of nightmares afterwords.

1) I can't really remember the first scifi flick I saw, there used to be a local guy who showed midnight monster movies on Saturday night, and I used to sneak out of my room and watch them with the volume really really low. It was probably Creature from the Black Lagoon or somesuch.

2)The first scifi movie I saw in theaters was Star Wars. I remember we waited in line for what seemed like hours. It was probably more like 45 minutes. But the line DID snake OUT of the theater and around the block. I later convinced my parents that I needed to see it 2 more times in the theaters. Either that or they were pretty enthralled with it too.

3)Obviously the first scifi movie that blew me away was Star Wars. I remember already being excited by it, but I thought it was Earth-based. Up until that point (I think I was 6) all of the sci-fi I had been exposed to (books, comic books, cartoons, movies) all were Earth-centric. The idea that this entire story existed outside of Earth was... earth-shaking to me. A paradigm shift.

4)I actualy LIKED Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I know. And of course it pales in comparison to Khan, but don't they all? I prefer to think of it as a Star-Trek themed art piece.

5)Alien gave me nightmares before I ever saw it. The trailer with the laser cutting open the egg plus some pictures I saw from the movie in StarLog (I think) were enough to fuel my imagination with plenty of horror, thank you very much.

6)I still think that I could have made the Star Wars prequels better than George did, firstly by keeping Darth Maul around, making him the big baddie instead of Count Dookie. I like me some Christopher Lee, but he just didn't cut it as a Sithlord, for me.

7)I used to play Logan's Run with my friends. I had a electronic phaser pistol that looked remarkably like a Sandman pistol and we would all take turns being Sandmen and Runners (aka hide-and-seek with an electronic pistol).

8)I am anxiously awaiting your sequel to Buckaroo Banzai. BigBoo-TAY! /flips the bird

1 - The first scifi movie I saw was "Fantastic Voyage." It was the second movie at a drive-in double feature and I was supposed to be asleep in the back seat. But I wasn't. I was four years old.

2 - I don't remember the first time I saw Star Wars. I really regret that.

3 - I hate ET. It makes me cry because it got made while so many great books and ideas languish in development. I don't like Wall-E, either.

4 - I watched 2001 on my 21st birthday in a proper movie theatre in glorious 70 mm. I got the giggles at an inappropriate time because we were drinking wine from squirt guns.

5 - If I knew then what I know now, I would do it all differently.

1. I don't recall a SF movie before Star Wars, at least not in theaters.
2. I saw Empire for my 9th birthday with my younger sister and a couple of friends. I recall laughing at her for closing her eyes during the lightsaber fight.
3. I should probably confess that I LIKED The Black Hole, and always have. I saw it in the theater and I actually own a copy on DVD. It's creepier and less conventional than other scifi movies and I think, remains unique. Plus, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Perkins, and Slim Pickens in one film, and in roles that fit them perfectly.
4. I've always had some gaping holes in my SF dance card - it was years before I saw such "classics" as Alien or Logan's Run. Still haven't read Ender's Game.
5. Oddly enough, I first saw 2001 in a music class, and loved it instantly. 2010 not as good but easier to watch - that's Roy Scheider for you. You keep expecting him to shout "Get out of the water!"

1. I was only a toddler when Star Wars hit the big screen, so I feel comfortable saying that the first sci fi movie I ever saw was Star Wars. I'm not certain about this, but I watched SW a million times as a kid, even before we had a VCR, so it makes sense that my dad and brother would have had Star Wars on at some point when I was very little.

2. I can't stand kaiju films.

3. I was about 9 when I went to a drive in double feature with a friend and her family. The double feature? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, followed by Tron. Guess which one I actually wanted to see? My friend fell asleep right after Snow White.

4. As a kid I went to the drive in with my dad and older brother and watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I remember being freaked out by Barry running away, but the rest of it was totally awesome. I also remember the giant green tupperware bowl of popcorn we brought with us. We ate it all.

5. I too was suckered in by Phantom Menace. I saw it 5 times in the theater, but I've only seen it once on DVD, so I kinda feel okay about it.

6. I actually really liked (parts of) Revenge of the Sith, but my husband does not, so I haven't seen it in probably 18 months.

7. I really like Matrix 2, but mostly (98%) because the music really gets my blood pumping. I scratched the hell out of the soundtrack CD and had to buy a second copy of it. The other 2% is from the motorcycle chase scene with Trinity. Awesome. (But I'd be okay if you went back in time and killed it, so long as you waited until the soundtrack was published.)

8. I also agree that "brilliant" and "watchable" aren't always the same thing. Right now, I am failing to come up with an example of a brilliant but unwatchable film. I fail.

9. Independence Day has one of the BEST inspiring speeches of any movie ever made. And Bill Pullman did a great job delivering it. That made the movie for me, and allowed me to ignore the "I'm going to upload a virus into the aliens' computer network with my Mac. See how awesome Macs are? Even aliens use them!" bullshit ending.

10. I don't want them to make Ender's game into a film. There is just too much depth in the book to make it into a good movie. Much like Dune.

1. My favorite character in Star Wars—if you have to ask "Which episode?" I don't believe it will be possible for us to have a dialogue—is Darth Vader. No big surprises there. However, Grand Moff Tarkin comes in a very close second.

2. When I realized that Sam "George" Francisco in Alien Nation and Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride were portrayed by the same guy, my mind was blown.

3. Batman (1989) was the first movie I can remember ever standing in a real line to see. It was worth the wait and I'm still disappointed that Billy Dee Williams didn't get to play Two-Face. I'm hoping I won't get in trouble, because I'm not sure Batman technically qualifies as sci-fi.

4. I have a hard time taking Khan Noonien Singh seriously since the first Naked Gun movie was released. I know Khan is saying, "This is Ceti Alpha V!" but in my mind he's saying, "You bet you do! Orange groves! Acres and acres of orange groves!" (In case you're curious, Sam Francisco never says "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" in my mind when I watch Alien Nation.)

5. I don't think I ever really learned how to hate science-fiction movies until I saw The 5th Element. Now it comes easy.

1) Nerd. The proper noise to make after being totally overcome by the initial viewing of Star Wars awesomeness is "zzzcchwuaaaaa" or however you spell "light saber noise" . . . .

2) I know I saw other Science Fiction movies before Star Wars. I'm 99% sure I saw 2001 in the theatre . . . Drive-In Theatre to be exact . . . . oh, but for a digression . . . . kids, they used to show nekkid women on 50' screens you could see from the highway . . . . . When you're 12 and male . . . this . . . is . . . . like a snow day . . .

3) I couldn't speak after watching Star Wars. My mom asked if I liked it and I nodded . . . (I was abou12). She let me stay for a second showing. They kicked me out. I sat outside the theatre for an hour and a half waiting for my mom to come back.

1) Nerd. The proper noise to make after being totally overcome by the initial viewing of Star Wars awesomeness is "zzzcchwuaaaaa" or however you spell "light saber noise" . . . .

2) I know I saw other Science Fiction movies before Star Wars. I'm 99% sure I saw 2001 in the theatre . . . Drive-In Theatre to be exact . . . . oh, but for a digression . . . . kids, they used to show nekkid women on 50' screens you could see from the highway . . . . . When you're 12 and male . . . this . . . is . . . . like a snow day . . .

3) I couldn't speak after watching Star Wars. My mom asked if I liked it and I nodded . . . (I was abou12). She let me stay for a second showing. They kicked me out. I sat outside the theatre for an hour and a half waiting for my mom to come back.

1) If one bases "most favorite" on number of times watched, then I think 1982's TRON is my most-favorite science fiction film of all time. The 2004 video game TRON 2.0 was an excellent video gamization of the film -- a shame Disney didn't do subsequent support and add-on packs -- and even though I know TRON is a "terrible" film by most standards of writing, acting, etc. I still adore it and will defend its virtues.

2) "The Roadwarrior", or MAD MAX 2 might come in as my second-most-watched. And I do think it holds up well, if you stop viewing it as a, "Cold War this could really happen" movie and see it now as a, "Cold War alternative history" movie. I still have a B/W autographed photo of Vernon Wells with Mell Gibson that a friend got for me at a Con back in the 90's. He played the best of all the Max antagonists. I could spend pages lauding this film, but I won't.

3) I agree. 2001 is the superior art film. But 2010 is way more watchable. I own both. Guess which one sees more play time in my DVD machine? I have always thought 2010 got short shrift, if only because how can you top 2001? You can't. Which is not 2010's fault IMHO.

4) Robocop might be my 3rd or 4th most-watched science fiction movie of all time. It really is a good story underneath Verhoven's deliberate gore and violence. They should have never, ever, ever, ever made the sequels. They were horrible.

5) All Aliens sequels past ALIENS were also bad. ALIEN3 was a good stand-alone story, if it had featured someone besides Ripley. Alas, ALIEN3 is awful because it ruins everything done in ALIENS, such that I now refuse to accept ALIEN3 and all that came afterward as canon. To include AVP movies. Which are hideously terrible.

6) ALIENS is like Star Trek II: that rare sequel that outdoes its original. Forever watchable, and absolutely one of my favorites. A horror movie that is really an action movie? Great! LET'S GO, MARINES!

7) Ditto for PREDATOR. The sequel was OK, but the original still stands as one of the top SF movies of the 80's. It's a shame they had to trash this series and the ALIENS series at the same time, with the AVP movies. Dark Horse Comics' AVP comics were totally superior to the AVP movies, and I deny that the AVP movies even exist.

8) I do so miss the Tom Baker and John Pertwee DR. WHO years. They were teh awsum. Yah, bad SFX and cheap props and aliens... But these episodes really sucked you in and held your attention, whether you wanted them to or not. And the 1980-1985 Dr. Who Theme rendition is still the best of the bunch.

9) I am glad I am not the only one who can admit to getting pulled into INDEPENDENCE DAY every time it's on TV. I saw it in the theater when it came out, knew it was silly the whole time I watched it, and couldn't help cheering as the jet fighters start scoring hits in the final, climactic battle. Just because it's camp doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable.

10) Which brings me to BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. The king of the camp-but-good films from the 80's. Might be my 5th most-watched movie of all time. Never get tired of it. Carter's unsung masterpiece. Fun, fun, fun, and fun. "Shaddup Mistuh Burton, you were not brought upon this world to 'get it!'"

11) Star Trek... I could write a book about my love/hate affair with Star Trek. Suffice to say, for me anyway, Star Trek begins with TOS and ends with DS9. STII and STVI were the high-point films. All of the TNG films were middling to abysmal. ST:ENT failed because it could have been like BSG 2.0 and wasn't. I have hope for the new Abrams movie, and want to see it succeed. But I am afraid. ST:VOY? Could have been cool, but instead became about showing Jeri Ryan in spandex. Not a bad thing. Not a good thing, either.

12) Star Wars... Give me Eps. IV thru VI and s--tcan the rest. Prequels? Puke. Lucas, how could you?? 'Nuff said.

13) As a pre-teen I absolutely LOVED all of the Japanese monster movies. Loved them. They were my Saturday afternoon date. Along with original BSG and the Gil Gerard BUCK ROGERS. Giant lizards crush Tokyo! Dirk Benedict in a Colonial Viper! Erin Gray in blue spandex! YOW! Where is my soda and popcorn? I'm good!

14) The LOTR movies are superior to the LOTR books. Heresy, I know. But it's true. I mean, Tom Bombadil? WTF was that character for?? Also also, TWO TOWERS is the best of the three LOTR movies, much as EMPIRE is the best of the three SW movies, and KHAN is the best of the first three ST movies, just as ALIENS is the best of the first three... Hmm, I am noticing a pattern here!

15) More when I think of it. Great topic for a thursday morning, JS. You've made me late for work, you magnificent bastich.

I love 2010, too. I'm always a bit ashamed to admit it, but it's likely to end up in my DVD player on a regular basis.

And how have none of us mentioned Blade Runner? Blade Runner is always the first movie I watch when I get a new piece of video-related equipment. The soundtrack is always the first thing I listen to on new audio equipment.

I'll admit to being in denial about TPM as well, but more so about the Matrix sequels. I said at the time if the third movie went in a certain direction the second on would make so much more sense and the trilogy would become timeless. It didn't and the trilogy became a bad joke...

The first SF movie I remember seeing was The Incredible Shrinking Man in which the title character uses a sewing needle as a sword to fend off a spider. Or at least I presume he did since I was too busy hiding behind my grandmother's chair to know the outcome.

Having been burned by George Lucas on the Star Wars prequels, I'm not sure how to feel about the upcoming reboot of the Star Trek franchise. But I must admit the trailer looks f'ing awesome!

1. Gamera is really neat. He is filled with turtle meat. We're all eating GAMERA!

2. I lost my virginity after seeing Aliens with the young lady who performed the honors. God I love that film.

3. Princess Leia is still the hottest with cinnamon buns attached to her head. Carrie Fisher defined feminine hotness for my teenage self.

4. Freejack is the only movie I have ever walked out of before the end.

5. I think Conan The Barbarian is still the best fantasy movie ever made.

6. Since fantasy isn't scifi I'll add: My Buckaroo Banzai sequel would be a sort of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comprised of 80s scifi/fantasy camp heroes. Buckaroo, Jack Burton, George Nada, Herbert West, Ash Williams, Thomas Beck, Kim Obrest... I could go on.

1. I find Shatner screaming "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" into his Blackberry...er...communicator to be extremely silly. The rest of the film is great.

2. I can't block out the ewoks. God knows I've tried. Oh, how I've tried. They were the most annoying thing in the Star Wars universe until Jar-Jar Binks showed up.

3. I saw 2001 in Cinerama. It was sweet.

4. Hey, rights holders! Call Scalzi. Now. We need more Buckaroo. (And don't touch that. You never know what it's connected to.)

5. Bill Pullman as the POTUS in Independence Day. Gotta take the zero on this one. Couldn't stop thinking he was still doing his character from Ruthless People. The fact that the film was complete idiocy likely contributed to this belief.

6. Jack Burton is my hero. "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

John, when you get the rights for BB, please don't succumb and do a straight-up sequel. I don't need more Whorfin or Bigboote. I want Hanoi Xan, the World Crime League, and all the other adventures referenced in the book.

1) Saw 2001 at age 10. Had to explain it to my mom and the other adults sitting around me in the theater. Don't know why folks rave about it. Hate the light show at the end. Yawn, yawn, yawn.

2) Same for most of the tie-fighter scenes in the various Star Wars movies and all the Quidditch in Harry Potter.

3) Like the Trek movie with the whales the best, but understand it's pretty goofy.

4) The biggest bit of fiction in Jurassic Park is the complete articulated Dinosaur skeleton that could be prepped out with a whisk broom. It was so cold in the theater when I saw the movie that I was sitting with my legs tucked up on the seat. At one point in the kitchen scene I jumed and kicked my sister, who was seated in front of me, in the head. I was rooting for the Raptors.

5) Starman is a home-sick-on-the-couch-because-of-a-cold guilty pleasure.

Oh for got to add

6) I've seen Return of the Jedi over 300 times, and at one point could do all the dialog and sounds from the first fifteen minuets of the movie off the top of my head.

A few more bullets...

o) As mentioned earlier, ROBOCOP 2 is one of those uniquely awful sequels that still makes me hurt to this day. There was potential from the first film to build an interesting franchise, but ROBOCOP 2 so thoroughly and absolutely wasted that potential that I still get angry every time I think about it.

o) HIGHLANDER 2 was amazing, because it was a sequel to an excellent 80's film that actually proved to be a WORSE sequel to its original, than ROBOCOP 2. Just hideous! I hate that this movie was ever made! What were they thinking? Embarrassing for all involved! Gagh! Thankfully John C. McGinnley survived and eventually entertained us greatly in the TV series, "Scrubs." Can't necessarily say the same for Christopher Lambert.

o) My emotional anger is similar when I think of the STAR WARS prequels, each of which was painful and a waste of SFX and acting talent -- Liam and Sam and Ewan deserved far better scripts than the trash they were given -- and I am not sure that I can, as a true fan of the originals, forgive Lucas for producing these mockeries.

o) I actually like STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. Though this affinity was a developed taste, to be sure. I had to watch the film several times before I started to see the value in it, just as I had to watch BLADERUNNER a few times to begin appreciating its dark, noir qualities. I suppose with both ST:TMP and BR it comes down to expectation. I saw ST:TWOK before I saw ST:TMP, so of course ST:TMP was a let-down compared to TWOK. And when I saw BR I was expecting far more action and was probably too young to 'get' the layered, greasy excellence that I came to appreciate during later viewings as an older teen.

o) STAR TREK as a franchise started to struggle once it became conscious of itself. Which really began in the fourth film, became horrid in the fifth film, abated in the sixth film, and went off the chart in the TNG films. The edge was gone, as was the true sense of adventure. Everything became stale and cookie-cutter, and especially with talent like Stewart and Spiner, the scripts became insultingly poor. I do hope very much that Abrams can resurrect the franchise with the reboot. But if not, I hope they finally lay this enterprise (pun intended) to rest, permanently.

o) Does anyone else wish that Ron Moore would re-boot the 1980's BUCK ROGERS in the same way he's re-booted BSG? For the last six years I've been running over with ideas for a re-booted Buck, in the gritty mold of BSG, and wish I had the Hollywood connections and clout to make it happen. The foundational elements and characters -- connected to the original source fiction, Armageddon 2419 -- are ripe for a modern refresher. Moore seems to have the talent and vision to pull it off. Anyone got his e-mail addy? (grin)

o) I too thought THE FIFTH ELEMENT was terrible: one of many 90's SF movies that really stank. Such as LOST IN SPACE, ARMAGEDDON, the previously mentioned STAR TREK TNG movies, EVENT HORIZON, ESCAPE FROM L.A., MISSION TO MARS, RED PLANET -- yes I know these two came out in 2000, bear with me -- The campy BATMAN sequels, BATTLEFIELD EARTH, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, GODZILLA, etc, etc. Is it just me, or is Hollywood getting better and better at making fantastically expensive, fantastically bad SF films with great SFX?

o) Another "bad" Carpenter film that needs to be mentioned is DARK STAR. I was too young to get it when I first saw it in the early 80's, but it's packed with some seriously good humour upon later viewings. Everyone loved RED DWARF when it was around, but I always wondered if RED DWARF didn't take a few pointers from DARK STAR.

@Sub-Odeon: I think a Buck Rogers reboot a la BSG would be awesome. Just as long as he doesn't try to reintroduce disco to the 25th century. And they have to figure out some way to make Twiki a little more badass and a lot less Mel-Blanc-as-a-robot goofy.

The first sci-fi I saw on the silver screen was a Buck Rogers serial sometime around 1950 (it was produced in 1939) outdoors at free showings in the village of 250 where I lived. I remember watching sparks dribbling out of the tail of a "rocket ship" taking off from the moon and thinking "NO WAY THAT CAN GET OFF THE GROUND!"

The first feature length sci-fi movie I saw was Destination Moon when it first came out in 1950. It kindled my desire to be in the space program some day. I ultimately worked for several years in the late 1960s on the Apollo Command module control system. Some dreams do come true. :)

Cool!

1. The first scifi movie I saw in theaters was 2001. I was 9 or 10 at the time and had a bit of an epiphany when the the bone club morphed into a military satellite. The ending didn't make sense to me, but I came to expect that from Kubrick films.

2a. I loved Star Wars, but I regret the loss of the 60s and 70s scifi film that was oriented more towards story telling. No more Soylent Greens or Andromeda Strains.
2b. I think Rollerball doesn't get the credit it deserves.

3a. Return of the Jedi was fine, but I take a view similar to David Brin's. The ordinary folk fought and dies and won the day while the ubermensch were preoccupied with their narcissistic squabbles.
3b. I'm real tired of the Campbellian Myth. If I ever make a movie I'll put the hero's journey in the first ten minutes. After the credits I'll kill him off with a single bullet and then replace him with the real hero, an average joe who's been living up to his responsibilities since day one.

4a. Robocop was awesome.
4b. Total Recall was okay.
4c. Starship Troopers made me realize Verhoeven was an idiot that somehow manage to make a good film once.

5a. My wife and I saw Alien while she was pregnant. I manged to convince her to see it a second time with me. We also went to such films as It's Alive!. She still reminds me of it to this day.
5b. I love Ripley.
5c. That said, if I were to somehow get the chance to make an Aliens film Ripley would only show up in flashbacks at best.
5d. It would be called Aliens 2.5. After killing off some whiney chosen one in the opening credits, it would proceed to tell a story involving Lieutenant Newt defending a colony where Gunnery Sgt. (Retired) Hicks happens to live.
5e. It would have power armor, tactical nukes, and be unapologetically militaristic. The bad guy would be some weaselly dude in a nazi uniform named Verhoeven.

6. Say what you will, but I liked Blade Runner with the voiceover (except for the ending of course). I preferred the tone and pacing of the film. I thought Deckard as an ordinary human willfully murdering other humans because the weren't officially human made a more gripping story.

7. C'mon, "Leeloo Dallas mul-ti-pass" was excellent. How could you not like that? :)

1. My mother yelled at my father for wasting money when he bought the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS. Star Wars was my first exposure to scifi movies. I wanted to be Leia when I grew up. (Mother didn't approve of that either!)

2. Return of the Jedi is my favorite as well!

3. Jurassic Park was one of very few exceptions to my "book-before-movie" rule. I saw the movie, was impressed, and then read the book and was even more so. So I guess I owe Spielberg for my love of everything Crichton wrote, because without him, I never would have read any of it!

4. I didn't understand E.T. the first three times I saw it. It was too long for my young mind to handle. (We watched and recorded it when it aired on TV once... I wasn't born yet when it first premiered in theaters.)

5. I totally believed time travel was possible after watching Back to the Future.

6. I didn't like the miniseries remake of Andromeda Strain, and I wrote to the screenwriter, Robert Schenkkan, and told him so. He wrote back: "Just so you understand a little bit more about my role and my powers as the writer, while I create the initial blueprint for a work, it is always the director, and ultimately the producer/studio who has final say. They can, and do, change things and over these changes, even if I disagree, I have no control. I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating that might be at times." I was amazed that he would actually value my opinion so highly as to actually respond to it!

1) First SF movie seen at home - 1953's Invaders from Mars. Mom kept asking me if I was scared. After the 3rd interruption, I told her to leave me ALONE. I was six years old, and hooked. Never saw the zippers on the Martians' backs until years later.

2) First SF movie seen at a theater (drive-in) - it was either Fantastic Voyage or 2001 or Planet of the Apes. Hey it was the 60's. I can't remember.

3) First SF that really blew me away - Star Trek The Motion Picture. Sorry all. I was just SO HAPPY Star Trek was back!

1. The first sf film I saw in the theater was probably 2001: A Space Odyssey, at Manlius Theater, second run. I was about 11 years old.

2. The thing in 2001 that blew my mind as much as the monolith thing and HAL and the Starchild thing? Seeing real corporate names on things. It made the future much more real than anything I'd seen to that point in sf tv or film.

3. I agree with you about The Day the Earth Stood Still.

4. I still remember that in 1976 a Florida news/satire show called Metronews, Metronews (which aired right after Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) Bill Tush claimed that if an alien says "Klautu barada nicto," the correct translation is, "The policeman will hand you a cigarette."

5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was an amazing, wonderful event for a Trekker like me - in theory. In execution it was derivative and empty.

6. The awful uniforms in ST:TMP were almost as annoying as the retread of the plot of "The Changeling" episode of the original show.

7. The original Star Wars film was great in many ways. It had a huge emotional impact and raised the standards for FX without forgetting story.

8. The single most memorable moment for me in watching a film with friends in college, was our reading aloud a line at the end of the credits: "Next year: Superman II!"

9. We saw Jedi three times in the theater. Or was that Empire? Whichever it was, we loved it.

10. My husband John's close friend from college, CGI animator John Berton, once told a Marcon audience that it will always be more cost effective to hire an actor than to recreate him digitally. So far he seems to be right about this.

11. I liked The Phantom Menace, mostly for cute little Anakin.

12. I actively dislike the last two Star Wars films, not so much because the stories are lame and nonsensical, but because I don't believe in the transformation of Anakin's character.

13. I didn't believe that the Star Wars Holiday Special could be as bad as people said it was.

14. I was wrong about #13. It was worse than I could possibly imagine.

15. I didn't like Buckaroo Banzai much at all when John dragged me to see it in the theater.

16. I have since watched Buckaroo Banzai many, many times, and have memorized much of the dialogue.

17. After Buckaroo Banzai came out on VHS, John once watched it every day for a week.

18. In 1986, when John and I took a year to travel and try to write for a living, one of John's projects was to try to secure the comic book rights to Buckaroo Banzai so he could write and publish the comic himself. (This was during the black and white independent comics boom.)

19. Finding out who actually held the rights to Buckaroo Banzai was difficult, because at the time nobody seemed to quite know the answer. It had been part of a package of rights to different properties, sold to somebody or other.

20. The somebody or other didn't like Buckaroo Banzai and didn't want to license it to other media. At all. That was a long time ago, and the property has changed hands at least once since then.

21. John says to tell anyone who is still wondering that the answer to the watermelon question isn't hard to find.

22. I once met some industry guy or other in a Buckaroo Banzai jacket at a Star Trek convention. He claimed that the film lost money, and that's why there would never be a sequel.

23. Given the tv reruns, video sales and continuing interest in Buckaroo Banzai, I didn't believe the industry flack's numbers were accurate.

24. I loved the first of the recent Spiderman films, mildly disliked the second, and refuse to watch the third.

25. I await the next Star Trek film with a mixture of hope and nervous apprehension. And I remember that this is the same premise Paramount was pushing for about 35 years ago: a relaunch with younger, sexier actors.

Well I must say I'm pleased though slightly perplexed that it took so long for Blade Runner to get mentioned! Anyway let me get started. I won't waste space on what I think sucked:

1) Loved Blade Runner! I was rather young when I first saw it so the voice-over was absolutely wonderful for me and to this day that is still my favorite version, even though I have the super-duper version they released in late 2007. I remember watching it with my Mom and her explaining certain things to me so I fully understood the movie. I love that I can watch all kinds of movies, esp. SF, with my Mom. She ROCKS!

2) One of my absolute favorite sci-fi movies is Enemy Mine. Louis Gosset Jr.'s portrayal of the alien was damn near perfect! I LOVE this movie. And the story was tight too. And I love the product placement of Pepsi. I was so looking forward to those cans coming out!

3) Flight of the Navigator was the shit when it came out. I still love this movie.

4) Alien Nation is another of my absolute favorite sci-fi films. And the TV spin-offs were actually pretty good as well.

5) Though I understand peoples utter dislike for the original Dune, I love that damn film. LOVE it! And I had a serious crush on Sean Young back then.

6) Brother From Another Planet is also another favorite. I'm Black and a New Yorker, the story was good, and Joe Morton is an excellent actor. Take it how you want.

7) I actually like the Ewoks. Don't care if you don't like it. And yeah, I'm with Scalzi, Leia in the metal bikini didn't really do anything for me. Loved RotJ!

8) The Adventures of Pluto Nash was actually a really good sci-fi film and I like it A LOT!

9) Waterworld is one of the best sci-fi films ever.

10) I love the 5th Element. Absolutely love it. When I left the theater I was thinking, "That's how sci-fi should be done on the big screen!"

11) I also love Stargate. Wonderful film. The TV spin-offs PALE in comparison!

12) I did get to see Aliens in the theater and was absolutely MINDBLOWN!! Still one of the best movie going experiences of my life. Another perfect example of how sci-fi should be done on the big screen!

13) Terminator scared the shit out of me when I first saw it.

14) They Live! is the shit! John Carpenter ROCKS!!!!!!! "I have come here to chew bubblegum, and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." LOVE this movie. Still Relevant!

15) To further my love of John Carpenter, The Thing was well done as well.

16) And for more J.C. love, though this is an SF departure, Big Trouble in Little China is still to this day one of my favorite movies. For all sorts of reasons.

17) I still love Weird Science. A very near perfect blend of SF and fantasy. Wonderful. And Kelly LeBrock was FOINE!!!!!!

18) Vanilla Sky was actually a good film/movie. I don't see what peoples problem with it was/is.

19) I like Event Horizon. It went in a direction I didn't expect but I still really liked it. Laurence Fishburne was and still is one of my favorite actors so I was cool.

20) I used to watch Howard the Duck every single time it came on HBO for like three summers straight. Stupid as it was, and I did realize it even then, I still liked watching it.

21) I really liked Steel Dawn. The setting was similar to Road Warrior but no motor vehicles. Patrick Swayze really pulled off the sword fighting really, really well. That's really one of the main reasons I like the movie.

22) I was pleasantly surprised at the 2005 version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. With what they were working with I was impressed. That's kind of some difficult material to put into movie form. And the casting of Mos Def as Ford Prefect was sheer brilliance!

23) They Fly with Jeff Goldblum was the shit! The sequel was so so.

24) A long time ago I saw a movie called Megaforce. All I really remember is the end when the main character is racing to board a plane that is about to take off, he doesn't make the ramp, and then his bike actually has the mechanism to fly and he makes it to the plane in the air. Sounds cheesy as hell, and from memory I know it was, but I remember loving that movie. I wish it was on DVD 'cause I'd get it just for memory's sake.

25) I remember liking Solarbabies. I don't really remember it that well, like #24, but I do remember liking what I saw. Plus I had a crush on Jamie Gertz.

26) I love Predator 1&2!! Predator 1 had one of the best scenes EVER! When Mac is firing at the alien, picks up Blaine's BIG GUN and the rest of the team, WITHOUT QUESTION, line up and back him up and just start firing in the same general direction. One of my favorite movie scenes ever and not just because of the sheer orgasm of gun destruction displayed. And I love Predator 2 because Danny Glover is so NOT Arnold and yet pulls of the prey/hunter just as well. At least to me.

I'm surprised I actually did this many. Shit, I could go on but I think this is more than enough. I know my list is gonna get shredded by ya'll. IDGAF!!!!! I like what I like!

1. Saw 2001 in Cinerama at age 11 1/2 at the Fox theater in center-city Philadelphia, where I also saw Star Trek the Motion(less) Picture in December 1979 (a month before the Fox closed and was replaced by an office tower).

2. Saw Star Wars with a college friend at Loews Astor Plaza in NYC, Memorial Day weekend 1977. We had seen the trailer and knew it would be something special, but this was early enough in the run that no one knew it would play in some theaters for as long as a year.

3. Saw Logan's Run in the theater in 1976; felt horribly cheated from the outset ("...unless reborn in the ritual of carousel" on screen) because I knew the novel. It seemed as if the special effects were created first, then the story was reworked to accommodate them. Gah.

4. I liked 2010 while watching it in the theater, but as soon as it was over it left my mind completely - didn't resonate at all.

5. Can't watch Return of the Jedi (i.e., the reworked version shown on TV these days) without remembering the ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE Ewok song that the original version concluded with. Surely the worst piece of music that will ever be associated with the name of John Williams.

6. Saw Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (as the Maltin book correctly says, "Originally released without the II in its title") on the day it opened, with friends who were living in Hempstead, NY. I recall well the "Now THIS is Star Trek" feeling as soon as the fanfare started. Whether it will always be highly regarded I don't know, but it is the only Trek production I own on DVD (I have The Undiscovered Country on VHS).

7. All during summer and fall 1985 I dragged various friends to showings of Back to the Future, at least four times in all. There was no excuse for not giving Part II the title it had during production: Paradox ( = Pair o'Docs, which refers back to the Allan Sherman song "One Hippopotami," based on "What Kind of Fool Am I" - "And when Ben Casey meets Kildare, they call it a pair o'docs!")

8. Pixar's contributions to SF, The Incredibles and Wall-E, are great in so many respects that I wish I had the skill and/or talent to have been personally involved.

9. I have a bad feeling about Star Trek (2009). They should have let it rest for a lot longer. But I do have faith in Michael Giacchino's ability to do something musically grand in this context.

10. As a fan of P. K. Dick since before his death, I was severely disappointed by Blade Runner, which totally trashed Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Not that it was the best choice among his writings as the basis for a movie. Won't someone do The Man in the High Castle, or Now Wait for Last Year?

1. First cinema scifi: 'Logans Run'. Still get a chill from the Carousel section.

2. Star Wars is still the only film i've seen more than once at a cinema (5 times...)

3. Had an 'Alien' photo novel years before I saw the actual film. Still didn't prepare me for 'that' scene.

4. Loved ST: The Motion Picture at the time (pretentious 11 year old...), thought Khan was dumbing everything down for easy cash (unbearable 14 year old...)

5. Never seen 'Buckaroo Banzai'

1) The first piece of Sci Fi I ever watched in the cinema was Star Wars. I was very young, and it obviously did things to me.

2) I never wanted to be Luke Skywalker, because Han Solo was much cooler.

3) I discovered the thermal properties of long-chain polymers by trying to do a transporter effect with a lightbulb and a Mr. Spock action figure. (His plastic boots melted to the bulb like mozzarella).

4) I quit my physics degree having seen the pilot episode of Babylon 5, because when I was 20 I couldn't think of any job cooler than blowing up spaceships for money.

5) At 34, I still can't.

6) The first time I got paid for SF cover illustration, I didn't want to put the cheque in because it had Jim Baen's (pbuh) signature on it. By "Not want" I mean the other half had to threaten me with violence for me to put the cheque in.

7) I'll give the new Trek every chance to suck

8) I will however be wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "Utopia Planitia Is In Space You Morons"

1] The first SF film I recall watching was The Tingler with Vincent Price, on a B&W TV when I was 4 in 1963.

2] The first SF film I remember seeing in the theater was the neglected 1964 classic Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

3] I was sixth in line on 28 May 1977 at the first Saturday matinee when Star Wars debuted. The trailer had run during my Xmas 1976 screening of The Seven Percent Solution

4] I stopped watching the series with The Empire Strikes Back. I knew things were not going to get better than that, based on the Lawrence Kasdan & Leigh Brackett imprimatur. Also I had figured out the whole Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader before I went in. By the finish, I realized that Leia and he had to be siblings; ergo, the series had peaked.

5] On the similar basis, I realized The Matrix was the self-contained summit. I explained to my buddy shortly before the release of the sequel why I refused to see it because of my "Zelazny Principle of Infinite Regression": to wit, if one's work is based on succeeding levels of reality, then one can only play that for one dramatic story arc or what follows becomes disappointing self-parody. Forex, the first Amber series works because the story speaks of a man coming to a final understanding of his father, a resolution to his ambitions [to stand on his own rather than to compete for what he perceived was important in his father's eyes]; inviolable retribution on his secret adversary; and ultimate loss of his youth's one unattainable, sorrowful love.

JJB

Wee fun, a few more:

7. I can't take Independence Day seriously because I can't help but think of Bill Pullman as Lone Star.

8. Speaking of Space Balls, I think George Wyner deserved a best supporting actor nod for his portrayal of Colonel Sanders.

9. For some reason I didn't see The Matrix until like a year after it came out. Same goes for the sequels. Unlike the original, I wish I'd held off a lot longer on the follow ups.

10. I think Terry Gilliam is the only director who can do time-travel without totally wrecking my suspension of disbelief.

11. I dated a girl, long ago, who had an original Blade Runner promo poster. It was really cool.

12. I've found that Star Trek: The Next Generation has aged horribly. There's only a handful of episodes that are even watchable any more. And I adored that show when it was on.

13. I too saw The Black Hole as a kid and bemoaned the science, but there's something else about that film that would make me put it on a list of ten worst Scifi flicks ever, and I've never been quite able to put my finger on it. Probably because I can't quite make myself sit through more than five minutes of it.

14. My dad scored a pirate copy of Star Wars for that new-fangled VCR-amajiggy like two weeks after it premiered in theaters. It was an odd print. There were a few differences but the only one I remember was that Greedo wasn't subbed which made Han wasting him even more morally ambiguous.

15. Pirated copies of SW in 1977 made nerdy young boys surprisingly popular that summer.

16. While I find the third Alien movie to be almost Black Hole bad, I kind of like Alien Resurrection. It's no Citizen Kahn or anything and it does have it's major, gaping flaws, but it's got a kind of camp appeal. There's that tiniest of inklings of Firefly lurking in so-called Whedon's script as well.

17. No matter how goofy the scifi flick or tv ep is, I still enjoy every minute Brad Dourif is on screen. The man is a consummate pro.

18. I detest Paul Verhoeven with every fiber of my very being. That I like Total Recal irritates me to no end. But nothing, nothing I say, will ever make up for the two hours I lost from my life watching Flesh + Blood. Yea, and something else he did too. Can't remember right now...

19. Now that Iron Man has shown it can be done, can we have a live-action Appleseed already? In lieu of a real Starship Troopers. The MI without powered exo armor? I liked it better the first tme I saw it when it was called Aliens.

20. My mom - something of a nerd herself - took me to see Superman the weekend it opened. It was the first time I'd had to stand in line for a movie.

21. Repo Man is too scifi.

22. I can still pop any of the three Mad Max movies in the player and enjoy the all living crap out of them. But I am a car guy.

23. I recently watched The Last Chase for the first time since I was a kid. While finding it utterly appalling upon this viewing, I could definitely see why I thought it was rad when I was a young'n. The Penguin in a jet fighter strafing the Six-Million Dollar Man in a Porsche!? Guh!

24. Dune. Both the film and the min-series were simultaneously tragic and wonderful. In almost opposite ways. If there were just some way to merge the best of the two attempts.

25. Chalk me up as another one who totally digs The Fifth Element.

Screw it, I'm finally gonna say this out loud: I hate Blade Runner. Someone upthread was struggling for an example of "brilliant but unwatchable," and this is mine.

I always figured it was because it traumatized me upon its initial release ("Mommy, why is Han Solo being so mumbly and internal? And how did flying cars and killer robots get so boring?"), but I just caught the Final Cut and I haven't warmed to the damn thing at all. I could spend a good half-hour listing all the things I like about it---the production design, Rutger Hauer's Oscar-worthiness, etc.---but as a viewing experience, it leaves me utterly cold.

Starship Troopers has more to say about the Bush years than Lions for Lambs, Rendition, Redacted, Grace is Gone, War Inc., and Valley of Elah combined.

Star Trek: TNG is authoritarian propaganda for the sort of people they don't usually make authoritarian propaganda for.

The new Battlestar peaked with the Pegasus storyline and hasn't been good since New Caprica. Now it's just the Abitrary Reversal Power Hour.

Oh, and just in case anyone thinks my opinions are even remotely valid, it should be noted that my favorite iteration of King Kong is the one with Charles Grodin.