The 50 Greatest Science Fiction Films of All-Time

Science Fiction Films are often quasi-scientific, visionary, comic-strip like and imaginative - and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film production design, advanced technology gadgets (i.e., robots and spaceships, futuristic weapons), scientific developments, or by fantastic special effects. They are sometimes an offshoot of the more mystical fantasy films (or superhero films), or they share some similarities with action / adventure films. Science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and easily overlaps with horror films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s. Science-Fiction sub-categories abound: apocalyptic or dystopic, space-opera, futuristic noirs, speculative, etc.

Sci-fi films are complete with heroes, distant planets, impossible quests, aliens or androids (extra-terrestrials), mutants or giant and extraordinary monsters ('things or creatures from space'), improbable settings, fantastic places, dystopic (apocalyptic or post-holocaust) worlds, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology and gizmos, nightmarish and unreal worlds, pandemics, climate disasters or plagues, and unknown or inexplicable forces either created by mad scientists or by nuclear havoc. Many SF films feature interstellar or time travels and fantastic journeys, and are set either on Earth, into outer space, or (most often) into the future time. Quite a few examples of science-fiction cinema owe their origins to writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.