Fritz Lang's Metropolis is seriously cool.

There was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which seems most obvious to me after the two you mention. Then there are the blockbusters, like Jurassic Park or Independence Day, but I'm not sure if those are really "cool" so much as visually dramatic, like watching car wrecks.

I'm going to go with Aliens. The gritty future, the military swagger and a tough-as-nails heroine seemed to be exactly what 1986 needed.

And then there's Repo Man... (ducks)

Cool for me (in the "detached" 2001 sort of way) was Solaris. Yes, the Soderbergh/Clooney version.
I loved that movie, shut up. : )

(Sarcastro, I *still* listen to my Repo Man soundtrack CD...lol)

You don't think ALIEN was that kind of watershed event for coolness? It's more of a horror movie in structure and tone, but most of the public probably thinks of it as science fiction.

Ditto for TERMINATOR 2.

The reason for me that 2001 defined cool was the tech porn. No movie before it (and few after it) got the look and feel of the technology so right. The Space Clipper wasn't just elegant and futuristic, it was completely and utterly believable. It was the natural next step for jet setters. Boeing would build it, Pan Am would fly it, and Steve McQueen would induct stewardesses into the 100 Mile High Club in it. All of the cool technology in that movie was real, it just hadn't happened yet.

I know I'll get pushback on this because some people REALLY hated it, but I thought The Fifth Element was pretty cool.

And I still think it's cool. Caught it on the TV a few days ago and watched it with my kids. They thought it was pretty cool, too. And my daughter cracked my yesterday when she held up her school ID and said "Lee-loo Dal-las Mool-tee-paas."

oops. "cracked my yesteday" should have been "cracked me up yesterday"

When I was in college Akira was considered pretty cool. Especially the original japanese language version with english subtitles.

Rabid

Planet of the Apes (the first one with all that Charlton Heston goodness) was pretty cool. The twist at the end, the thinly veiled social commentary, the great/nutty soundtrack.

Sure, the masks were awful. But, at least the first time, you could watch it and go, "Huh. That was pretty cool."

Hmm...

When it was new, I'd say that "Akira" was cool. In the "I know about a cultural widget that you don't know about, and I bet, if you watched it, you wouldn't like it, but it's super-good, so I'm not even going to bother trying get YOU to like it." kind of way.

Huh, when I started that paragraph, I wasn't intending to sarcastically indicate that my idea was flawed, but now that I'm finished, I think I have to retract...

Okay, I'm going to try again now.

I'd say, that depending on where you draw your lines around Science Fiction, "Donnie Darko" was pretty darn cool. It wasn't a super-huge international sensation, but... I'd still call it cool.

Back to the Future ... was seriously cool at the time

You hit my favorite movie of all time with Bladerunner. I love movies that deal with how humans will deal with advanced artificial intelligence. Movies like AI and I,Robot aren't particularly cool, but I liked those, too.

Disagree on Star Wars. Luke Skywalker may have had the dweeb factor, but Han Solo more than made up for it in cool! Hell, Harrison Ford could have made 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' cool!

Though I personally found it overrated, "The Crow" seemed to strike a similar "cool" chord as "The Matrix" (also overrated, so maybe there's a trend there).

I can't believe that Arnie and Terminator 1/2 haven't been mentioned. Ok the original is more cult than cool, but I doubt there will be many people in the developed world aged 16-40 who haven't seen it. And T2 is so cool its sub zero (even now).

Doctor Who - pure scifi and a huge mainstream hit that with its relaunch seemed to conquer the UK over night and hasn't stopped growing yet.

The Last Starfighter. Mighty cool for a computer geek.

Which reminds me of Tron, of course.

I think Gattaca, with Ethan Hawke and Uma Therman was seriously cool, especially in the "we dont really care what you think" form.

Mad Max / The Road Warrior -- both PDC, IMHO!

I'll second Alien/Aliens and Terminator/T2 (Nice work Cameron).

Some other ideas: Robocop, The Thing (Carpenter remake), Donnie Darko, Predator, and maybe even Cube?

It's hard because Cool is so indefinable. Indeed, even attempting to define cool is itself pretty damn uncool.

Forbidden Planet was cool. Jung meets Shakespeare under cover of SF? C'mon! How cool can you get?

I think that Doctor Who was cool and so was Star Wars, and Star Trek. I also enjoyed the Chronicles of Riddic, The Fly, and Superman. It was Superman, Star Trek, and Doctor Who that inspired me to be an aspiring writer.

When startrek came out, two of the hottest girls in my school where overhurd by me, debateing who was hotter. Kirk, or Spock. So the answer is that just about anything JJ touches ends up cool. Assumeing that you count Lost as cool. Fringe is without question awsome.

I would have to say that Terminator and Terminator 2 were both pretty cool. Normally, I would leave anime out, but since there have been multiple mentions of Akira, I have to throw "Ghost in the Shell" in as well.

There was a moment in history, just after World War II ended in 1945, when SF started to be taken much more seriously. Suddenly atomic bombs and missiles were in the news; suddenly those stories about spaceflight and wild inventions didn't seem quite so trivial and silly.

Science fiction gained a (small) bit of respectability, and quite a few new readers, as pundits debated its significance.

I think it failed to get all the way to cool at this time. But it was a step up.

I would say, the latest Battle Star Galactica counts as cool. Great looking women, gritty future, up to date social commentary and not campy at all.
Blade Runner absolutely cool, along with Aliens. Sigourney Weaver made tough, hard women a cultural standard.

For example, there's "cool," as in "the studied indifference to cultural judgment regarding what you like," which means that you like what you like and you don't care if other people like it.

Scalzi, I think you miss with this definition here. If studied indifference to what society thinks and feels regarding likes and dislikes is the factor of what is "cool", than every single person who calls themselves geeks, nerds or dorks have "cool" in spades. So what if the rest of the planet thinks going to the local Ren Faire isn't fun? We do it anyways with total indifference and have fun doing so. So what if society looks down its' collective noses at RPGs, whether pen-and-paper or MMO format? We still break out the character sheets or form our raids, and let no one tell us otherwise. And fandom conventions of all shapes, topics, sizes, and strains are not there to please society's definition of cool, but instead they exist to please our sense of cool.

Those are simply three areas for example out there out of the vast multitude to choose from.

The studied indifference to cultural judgment regarding what you like? Sounds like a geek thing to me.

Regardless of the merit of all the suggestions presented here, the number and variety seems to support Mr Scalzi's first point ("SciFi fans care to share") very strongly.

If only we could tell how many people were dressed as their favorite SciFi character when they posted, then we'd know how well his second point was supported.

How about The Road Warrior? Mad Max may have been "cooler" because no one knew about it, but TRW exploded on the scene with enough impact that it could never be cool again. Part of what made it cool was the unexpectedness of it. When a movie hits that cultural sweet spot of being fresh, but the culture is primed enough that a majority of viewers finds it "cool" instead of weird or off-putting, then it rapidly becomes ubiquitous, and can never be cool again. Like TRW or The Matrix.

Don't really understand how caring enough about others to share what you love is viewed as a negative, but since reality is subjective, the people of my universe ALL think Science Fiction is cool, just as the denizens of other universes think football is cool.

Not a film or TV show, but from print SF; From about the time when "Neuromancer" came out to about when "Snow Crash" came out, "cyberpunk" was deemed cool. Even the lit critics and punk rockers knew about it.

Back in '82 there was this little sci-fi flick that made a little money, and sort of took over the popular culture for the next year. It was cool until the little ET figures hit Toys 'R Us that Christmas, and then went 180 degrees to being the ultimate in uncool.

I'd also throw out the first Indiana Jones movie as being uber-cool and popular across the cultural spectrum, but I'm not sure it's sinus friction.

No wonder you sci-fi geeks never get laid, you don't even know the definition of "cool".

Being "cool" is doing something that gets you laid. Why? Because guys that get laid all the time are cool. It's a chicken-egg thing and each reinforces the other.

i.e., I became a rock musician because I thought it would make me cool (get me laid).

Being a Star Wars fanboy is not going to get you laid, therefore it is not cool. Nothing about sci-fi will ever get you laid, so it will never be cool.

And spare me the stories about the hot chicks who show up at fan conventions. These chicks are paid to be there and are off fucking cool guys when they aren't working: i.e. none of the guys attending the convention.

The only other thing that can make you "cool" is to be incredibly rich, because then no matter how un-cool you are you will still get laid, which will make you cool.

Do you get it now?

Oh, man, docweasel. I certainly hope you were trying for "parody of the most hopelessly uncool person in the room trying to convince others he is actually cool." Because otherwise, wow. Just wow.

Village of the Damned. 1960. Nobody cooler than George Sanders, that man had ice water in his veins.

It's hard to claim that something is cool if it didn't create some catch phrase or lasting image in the public mind. But two 1950s movies did so, for me at least. Namely, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and the original "The Thing."

Who can forget, even today that saucer and the robot? I mean, "Klaatu barada nikto."

And the original "The Thing" had that snappy, post-war, we-can-deal-with-anything confidence of the American military going for it. The dialogue evinced so many cultural images it seemed very realistic, even at it's cheesiest. Who knew there was a time when the military and the press got along well with each other? The image of the searchers standing in a circle above the saucer frozen in the ice sticks with me still.

"Being "cool" is doing something that gets you laid."
____________

What do you want to bet this guy has trouble getting laid?

Tssk. I was enjoying the commentary up to the weasel's snark. I wish I hadn't responded.

Has anyone done a study on the phenomenon of thread-killing? Sometimes they end because someone has nailed the essence of the issue. Other times because off-topic interjections kill the fun. I wonder at the unhappiness that drives someone to spoil things just for the sake of doing it.

For a few weeks this summer, Star Trek was kind of "marketing" cool. BSG (the new series) is approaching coolness and Lost is there already. Some of the other movies/shows mentioned here are cool in a science fiction geek sort of way.

If we are speaking of coolness on a "defining/reflecting the culture of the time" level, nothing beats The Day The Earth Stood Still. That movie is such a creature of its time and place, no remake could (or did) work. When I think of 1950's science fiction, this movie is among the top 5 that comes to mind.

Chris L
Colorado Springs, CO.

P.S: John, I am inclined to believe that doc was indeed engaging in parody. I refuse to believe that someone actually thinking such drivel could be sentient enough to handle a keyboard.

Perhaps "cool" isn't the word to use. I recall when my son was in his teens, "cool" meant anything that would drive Dad up the wall. I recall him staring at the wall, whilst I told him that "cool" didn't last, but that "class" did. I thought he'd forgotten that until I heard him use it on his 18 year old daughter.

Almost all the originals mentioned here had class, of the lasting sort. Most sequels do not.

Heh. Seriously early cool SF movie was John Carpenter's first directorial mission, Dark Star (1974). If you've never heard Doolittle's existential discussion with Bomb #20, you've missed teh cool.

"Pi".
"Night of the Living Dead".
"Men in Black".

None of the Star Trek movies, though some were good; but seriously uncool.

Blade Runner
12 Monkeys
The original Terminator was like The Matrix, the shock of the overall plot concept was what made the movie cool, the sequels could not replicate the wow factor.

I'll agree with Men in Black being cool, only because Will Smith sneezes coolness with all of his endeavors. Terminator is definitly cool (My definition is how much I hear the film referenced in one day). Doctor Who, the new BSG (Bears, Beets, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), and the latest Star Trek are the epitome of cool. Transformers is not cool, no matter who you talk to (unless you're referring to the campy goodness that was the toy line).

"By Mike S on October 25, 2009 3:05 PM

What do you want to bet this guy has trouble getting laid?"
=======================

"trouble" getting laid. Only an un-cool fanboy would even make a comment like that. You don't have "trouble" getting laid: getting laid is always a pain in the ass, unless you're a rich and/or famous person. Regular guys have to pursue girls, it takes time, a whole lotta precious time, it takes patience and time, and a whole lotta spendin' money, just like the song says. Being in an indy, small-time touring band gave me opportunity, but I still had to work at it. But I didn't have "trouble" getting laid. That's like saying you have "trouble" living day to day. You just do it, it takes work, you take that for granted, the more dedicated you are, the greater the rewards.

And Scalzi and you are wrong: anything you do to be cool you do so that you can get laid: driving a cool car, playing the blues harp, developing a dark and moody persona as a Bohemian artist in Greenwich Village, whatever. Jeez, do you guys _ever_ actually get laid? I would at least think you've seen other guys who did, and how they comported themselves. It wasn't obsessing over Yoda or William Shatner, I'll tell you that.

BTW, I'm married with a 4 year old boy and an 8 week old girl. My days of "getting laid" are long over. If I'm lucky, I get to snatch (no pun) some quality time with my lovely wife a couple times a month. But I'm still willing to give you pathetic fanboys, who can't figure out cool, the benefit of my experience: cool is what gets you laid, which, when you are a young man, is the be all and end all.

If it's not, you're probably a fanboy posting on Usenet about Star Wars, and you don't ever get laid. End of story.

You're wrong and I'm right. Deal with it. Scalzi asked, I'm answering. Don't ask if you can't handle the truth. No sci-fi is "cool". It might be interesting, it might be "neat", it might be kick-ass, but it is never "cool". Charlie Parker never cared about Ray Bradbury.

Shorter docweasel:

"Why yes, I am trolling the comment thread."

Thanks for playing, docweasel. It's not everyone who is willing to show off his obvious social dysfunctions in public, and for that I salute you. Run along, now. You're clearly too cool for the rest of us.

It might not have seemed an SFF movie until the very last frame, but Vanishing Point was pretty cool, I seem to recall.

M

Easy: BladeRunner, Matrix, Serenity

I almost would nominate the movie "Wild, Wild West" as a cool sci-fi movie because of Will Smith and because of the steampunk look and feel the movie had. But I thought the plot was contrived and disappointing.
"The Day The Earth Stood Still" is cool; a woman at work who epitomizes cool said so, so who am I to disagree.

I am going to take a different direction and offer "Contact" as a cool sci-fi movie. It has a "studied indifference to cultural judgment regarding what you like" by directly challenging America's religious right. Most sci-fi ignores religion, this movie pokes its finger in religion. I know that the moral of the movie is that faith and science are not mutually exclusive, but I would argue that faith and religion are not always the same.

Sorry, that should have been "this movie pokes its finger in the eye of religion."

I also should point out that accoring to the tabloids, Matthew McConaughey get laid a lot.

I, like many others, have always assumed that the states of "cool" and "nerdy" were mutually exclusive. My wife, however, seems to feel otherwise. She looks down on most science fiction with typical womanly disdain, but lately she's got the hots for David Tennant, precisely because he is super-cool and intensely nerdy at the same time.

Q: Is this a condition that we can replicate, or is Doc #10 the exception that proves the rule?