List of science fiction films
This list of science fiction films provides an overview of the history of the genre. The films are listed chronologically. This sequence is summarized in development strands and epochs.
A thematic review can be found in the articles Science Fiction Film and Science Fiction . The latter deals with film and literature and historical and thematic focuses.
Thematic approaches
Diagram according to Hahn / Jansen
A generally accepted definition of the science fiction film does not exist because the genre has absorbed over the last decades, a variety of themes and subgenres that even experts such as Norman Spinrad to statements such as "Science fiction is anything published as science fiction. " get carried away. The following diagram also only represents one possible definition.
theme | description | gradation | Type of threat, object or circumstances | Examples |
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1. Negative invasions | The threat to humanity from extraterrestrial visitors. Monstrous intruders endanger the earthly order and cause cruel havoc. | Terrifying monsters |
Battle of the Worlds Independence Day War of the Worlds Mars Attacks! Signs - signs |
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Insidious biological and mineralogical beings |
Flowers of Terror Blob - Unnamed Terror Andromeda - Deadly Dust from Space Phantoms Evolution |
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Parasitic evil intelligences (in human form) |
The Demonic The Body Eaters come The thing from another world The Faculty Dreamcatcher Moon 44 |
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2. Disasters | The threat to humanity from accidents; SF disasters differ from conventional ones mainly in terms of their extent or cause. | Revolt of nature | Earth water fire air plants animals |
Earthquake The Last Flood The Day After Tomorrow 2012 Armageddon - The Last Judgment Deep Impact Panic in the Sierra Nova The Happening The Birds Phase IV |
Revolt of technology | Pollution from waste or radioactivity (usually leading to natural disaster) |
In the sign of the cross The cloud |
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Revolt of mutated beings (as a result of radioactivity from nuclear tests) |
Formicula Tarantula Godzilla |
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The bomb (accidental detonation) |
Target Moscow Dr. Strange or: How I Learned to Love the Bomb Atlantic incident |
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The bomb - afterwards (individual fates of survivors in a nuclear contaminated world) |
The Day After The Last Testament When the wind blows The last bank |
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3. (World) domination | The threat to humanity from rulers and powers. |
What's To Come (Chief Boss) Seven Days in May The Manchurian Candidate |
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4. Negative technology | The threat to mankind from technical development, but also progress from technical development. | The Mad Scientist : The scientific genius, whose abilities are too great for anyone to control, pursues a utopia in his misdeeds, no matter how untenable, but basically wants to render humanity a service. The Mad Scientist experiments on: | to yourself |
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The Invisible Man The X-Ray Eye Project Brainstorm |
on corpses |
Frankenstein Frankenstein's bride |
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to people |
Charly The lawnmower man Lucy |
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on animals |
DNA - the island of Dr. Moreau Planet of the Apes: Prevolution |
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His experiments fail, with unexpected consequences: | Making amends through self-sacrifice |
The fly Spider-Man 2 |
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Intervention in complex systems (e.g. through genetic engineering) |
Jurassic Park Splice - The Gene Experiment |
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Living dead (based on scientific experiments) |
The Last Man on Earth Resident Evil 28 Days Later |
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Robots / androids / cyborgs | Robot : the thinking machine that doesn't necessarily have to resemble humans |
Metropolis Star Wars (R2D2 / C3P-O) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Marvin) I, Robot WALL · E - The last one clears the earth on Ex Machina |
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Androids : Artificial humans, consisting mainly of biological and / or electronic / mechanical parts |
The Android The Women of Stepford Westworld Futureworld - The Land of Tomorrow Alien (Ash / Bishop / Call / David) Blade Runner A.I. - Artificial Intelligence Spaceship Enterprise - The Next Century (Data) |
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Cyborgs : Short for cybernetic organism. A hybrid of man and machine. People with mechanical / electronic spare parts that can replace their biological body down to the brain. |
RoboCop Star Trek: First Contact (Borg) Star Wars (Darth Vader) Ghost in the Shell |
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Machines / computers / weapons: The world of technical adventures and visions belongs to SF. The topic cannot therefore be what is currently feasible, but only what is feasible in the future. | machinery |
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Alert in Space |
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computer |
Colossus Tron Virtuosity Her |
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weapons |
Pacific Rim Ender's Game - The big game |
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Total mechanization: The mechanized future world par excellence, which or its components can run amok, so that it comes to a catastrophe, but which can also become a trauma to humanity. Total mechanization has the following effects: | in working life |
Metropolis Modern Times Brazil |
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in leisure time |
Zardoz escape into the 23rd century |
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5. Anti-utopia (dystopia) | As an expression of real fears for the future, anti-utopias depict negative (future) worlds. | Post-Doomsday: The depiction of humanity that has mostly fallen back to an archaic level after a nuclear war (or other global catastrophe) |
… Year 2022… who want to survive Mad Max Waterworld Children of Men Idiocracy |
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Alternative reality : a world in which the course of history has at some point deviated from what we know. |
Fatherland Back to the Future II Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Watchmen - The Guardians |
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Dictatorship of total technology: Man as a slave to a technology that has become independent |
Terminator matrix |
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Aggression and entertainment: The perversion of recreational activities by industry and / or the state |
The Millionaire Rollerball The Truman Show The Hunger Games |
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Destruction of cultural heritage: social decline through suppression of freedom of thought |
Fahrenheit 451 movement Orange 1984 Equilibrium |
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The destruction of individuality |
The man who lived twice THX 1138 A Scanner Darkly - The dark screen |
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6. Positive technology | The fulfillment of scientific dreams. | Space Opera : The universe as a playground for upright heroes |
Flash Gordon Star Wars Star Trek: The Motion Dune - Dune Jupiter Ascending |
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Fantastic Journeys: Exploring Other Worlds | Discoveries |
The incredible story of Mister C. The journey to the center of the earth The fantastic journey Tron |
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Space travel |
2001: A Space Odyssey Explorers - A Fantastic Adventure Avatar - Departure to Pandora Interstellar |
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Time travel / time loops |
The time machine Time Bandits Back to the Future Butterfly Effect Source Code Looper Edge of Tomorrow Donnie Darko |
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The subconscious |
The Cell Inception |
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7. Semi-utopia | The lines between reality and fiction are blurring. |
Networked - Johnny Mnemonic Naked Lunch eXistenZ Cypher |
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8. The superman | The savior of mankind (is mostly American) |
Superman Spider-Man Hellboy The Hancock Mask |
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The savior of the system (is basically a super agent) |
Barbarella James Bond 007 - Moonraker - Top Secret The Bourne Ultimatum |
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9. Utopia | Utopias depict positive (future) worlds in which peace and harmony prevail. |
What's To Come In the Shackles of Shangri-La Star Trek (United Federation of Planets) Tomorrowland |
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10. Positive invasions | The strange extraterrestrial visitor with a good disposition, as a savior of the earth or looking for help himself. The hope of humanity for understanding with the aliens. |
The Day the Earth Stood Still Metaluna IV Doesn't Answer Close Encounters of the Third Kind E.T. - The extraterrestrial The flight of the navigator K-PAX - Everything is possible Contact Arrival |
Definition according to Koebner
In his film genre science fiction, Thomas Koebner pursues a more concentrated approach than Hahn / Jansen:
1. Concepts of a model society deviating from historical rule or escalating, which have been designed as utopias since the Renaissance and have darkened the outlook for at least a hundred years as fear prophecies of all-encompassing dictatorship or Stone Age anarchy.
2. The encounter with extraterrestrial life that invades us from space, hostile or benevolent, of incredible shape or assimilated to our bodies.
3. The artificial humans, which can be clearly derived from the Prometheus complex and its modern variant, the Frankenstein complex: unambiguous robots who serve as brave or rebellious servants for the "master men", or duplicates, likenesses, humanoids one can hardly determine how they differ from real people.
4. The fear of the apocalypse brought about by atomic explosions and the meager and miserable life afterwards, especially after the Second World War, spreading - this is where the anti-utopian predictions of terror systems overlap with dramatic end-time visions.
5. Expeditions into space, journeys into immeasurable space as a variant of the adventure journey into the unknown, which leads to distant stars and beings, which sometimes give a rather grotesque and vicious, then again a moderately bizarre impression, sometimes appear so commensurate that one in the sense of a global readiness for reconciliation, which includes the entire space population, can also employ it in one's own spaceships.
6. Travel through time, dream images of life in another era that can turn into nightmare experiences, sometimes rescue operations of future heroes that slide back on the timeline to change the fateful history of the past so that great disasters would be avoided, etc.
Lists after decades
- Science fiction films until 1919
- Science fiction films of the 1920s
- Science fiction films of the 1930s
- Science fiction films of the 1940s
- 1950s science fiction films
- 1960s science fiction films
- Science fiction films of the 1970s
- Science fiction films of the 1980s
- Science fiction films of the 1990s
- Science fiction films of the 2000s
- Science fiction films of the 2010s
- Science fiction films of the 2020s
See also
literature
- Ronald M. Hahn , Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Science Fiction Films . Heyne, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-453-11860-X .
- Thomas Koebner : Film Genres: Science Fiction . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018401-0 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Introduction by Norman Spinrad (ed.): Modern Science Fiction . Anchor Press, 1974.
- ^ Ronald M. Hahn , Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Science Fiction Films. Heyne, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-453-11860-X , pp. 13-20
- ^ Thomas Koebner : Film Genres: Science Fiction . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018401-0 , pp. 9-10.