Old School Science Fiction Movie List

Want to re-watch some science fiction but are bored by the new stuff? Check out these movies...


1) The Terminator
A cyborg is sent from the future on a deadly mission. He has to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose life will have a great significance in years to come. Sarah has only one protector - Kyle Reese - also sent from the future. The Terminator uses his exceptional intelligence and strength to find Sarah, but is there any way to stop the seemingly indestructible cyborg? 

Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, 1 more credit »
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn | See full cast and crew »
Released: 1984



2) Back to the Future
Marty McFly, a typical American teenager of the Eighties, is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean "time machine" invented by slightly mad scientist. During his often hysterical, always amazing trip back in time, Marty must make certain his teenage parents-to-be meet and fall in love - so he can get back to the future.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1985



3) Back to the Future Part II
Marty McFly has only just gotten back from the past, when he is once again picked up by Dr. Emmett Brown and sent through time to the future. Marty's job in the future is to pose as his own son to prevent him from being thrown in prison. Unfortunately, things get worse when the future changes the present.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis (characters), Bob Gale(characters), 3 more credits »
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1989



4) Back to the Future Part 3
Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly receives written word from his friend, Doctor Emmett Brown, as to where can be found the DeLorean time machine. However, an unfortunate discovery prompts Marty to go to his friend's aid. Using the time machine, Marty travels to the old west where his friend has run afoul of a gang of thugs and has fallen in love with a local schoolteacher. Using the technology from the time, Marty and Emmett devise one last chance to send the two of them back to the future.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis (characters), Bob Gale(characters), 3 more credits »
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen| See full cast and crew »
Released: 1990



5) A Clockwork Orange
Protagonist Alex DeLarge is an "ultraviolent" youth in futuristic Britain. As with all luck, his eventually runs out and he's arrested and convicted of murder and rape. While in prison, Alex learns of an experimental program in which convicts are programed to detest violence. If he goes through the program, his sentence will be reduced and he will be back on the streets sooner than expected. But Alex's ordeals are far from over once he hits the mean streets of Britain that he had a hand in creating.

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Anthony Burgess(novel)
Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1971



6) Gattaca
In the not-too-distant future, a less-than-perfect man wants to travel to the stars. Society has categorized Vincent Freeman as less than suitable given his genetic make-up and he has become one of the underclass of humans that are only useful for menial jobs. To move ahead, he assumes the identity of Jerome Morrow, a perfect genetic specimen who is a paraplegic as a result of a car accident. With professional advice, Vincent learns to deceive DNA and urine sample testing. Just when he is finally scheduled for a space mission, his program director is killed and the police begin an investigation, jeopardizing his secret.

Director: Andrew Niccol
Writer: Andrew Niccol
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1997



7) Dune
In the far future, a duke and his family are sent by the Emperor to a sand world from which comes a spice that is essential for interstellar travel. The move is designed to destroy the duke and his family, but his son escapes and seeks revenge as he uses the world's ecology as one of his weapons.

Director: David Lynch
Writers: Frank Herbert (novel), David Lynch (screenplay)
Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Francesca Annis |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1984



8) Total Recall
Douglas Quaid is haunted by a recurring dream about a journey to Mars. He hopes to find out more about this dream and buys a holiday at Rekall Inc. Where they sell implanted memories. But something goes wrong with the memory implantation and he remembers being a secret agent fighting against the evil Mars administrator Cohaagen. Now the story really begins and it's a roller coaster ride until the massive end of the movie.

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"), Ronald Shusett (screen story), 5 more credits »
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside | See full cast and crew »
Released: 1990



9) E.T.
While visiting the Earth at Night, a group of alien botanists is discovered and disturbed by an approaching human task force. Because of the more than hasty take-off, one of the visitors is left behind. The little alien finds himself all alone on a very strange planet. Fortunately, the extra-terrestrial soon finds a friend and emotional companion in 10-year-old Elliot, who discovered him looking for food in his family's garden shed. While E.T. slowly gets acquainted with Elliot's brother Michael, his sister Gertie as well as with Earth customs, members of the task force work day and night to track down the whereabouts of Earth's first visitor from Outer Space. The wish to go home again is strong in E.T., and after being able to communicate with Elliot and the others, E.T. starts building an improvised device to send a message home for his folks to come and pick him up. But before long, E.T. gets seriously sick, and because of his special connection to Elliot, the young boy suffers, ...

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Melissa Mathison
Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1982



10) Tron
Hacker/arcade owner Kevin Flynn is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate known as Master Control and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the ultimate blazingly colorful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron to outmaneuver the Master Control Program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game.

Director: Steven Lisberger
Writers: Steven Lisberger (screenplay), Steven Lisberger(story), 1 more credit »
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1982