I was disappointed with Enemy Mine because I had read the book. I could see why they changed it for the movies because the ending of the book was more politics than action, but the action in the movie seemed weirdly forced.
Awesome content as always, the only omission to my mind would be 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Nothing was ever likely to match up the to the cinematic masterwork that it 2001, but I think it's worthy of a mention, and does some interesting things such as explaining HAL's behaviour and also the Cold War narrative is especially prescient.
Great and varied list here which covers a lot of awesome aesthetics and subgenres. Terminator didn’t pop up on the list but I would throw that and my favorite Terminator ripoff - Trancers - into the mix. Trancers to me is pure fun 80s knock off B movie greatness that serves as a nice deeper cut time capsule into the tropes and vibes of that era
Explorers. Dreamscape. Night of the Comet. The Stuff. Killer Klowns From Outer Space. I have a serious soft spot for 80s sci-fi and horror along these lines. ❤
I saw *ALL* of these in the theaters (mostly in my late teens), when they were released, usually more than once. I was a lonely kid and movies were my comfort, and my only “friend” (who, looking back, was an abusive twat), was as big a movie nerd as I was. I loved these films and the fostered a lifelong love of sci-fi movies.
A superb list, with 2 of my all time favourite films in The Thing and They Live. One that could have easily been included was Explorers, with River Phoenix and Ethan Hawk. It's a tonne of fun and well worth a watch for anyone sho hasn't seen it.
I've never seen Videodrome; it sounds interesting and James Woods has always been one of my favorite actors. James Woods is great at playing intense, mysterious characters. "They Live!" is wonderful. I have it on a DVD and my family and I watch it about once a year with thorough enjoyment. Although "Bladerunner" wasn't one of your picks for this video, it's my favorite sci-fi movie.
Memorable Flashback video, I was fortunate to see most of these at the theaters. TV is great, and the HD upgrades of these films are amazing. But, seeing them on a theater screen with the audio systems is hard to beat. My favorite of these is "They Live". "Repo Man", a close 2nd. Besides being very funny and sarcastic and a cast including Harry Dean Stanton, it has some strong music. The Director (Alex Cox, as I recall?) seemed to disappear after the film? I forgot Debbie Harry was in "Videodrome", which I only watched once. "Krull" may be more fantasy than SF, but pretty good, too. The original "Critters" 😂! Thanks for the video!
By the way, I was thinking, how about a list of unnecessary (and failed) remakes, like Total Recall? Or a list of movies in need of a remake, like Destination Brain?
I coulda sworn "Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" would've been number one! When I saw the video title, before watching, I said, "Like 'Tron'?" TBH, I haven't seen all of these. I'm gonna have to catch up. (Never saw Bladerunner, never wanted to -- don't know why, since it's based on a story by a real sci-fi author!)
I also wondered if the great Bonzai would make an appearance! Dude, you need to watch Blade Runner and then the sequel - both are masterpieces of the genre. Also check out "Arrival" - a thinking person's sci-fi film, and "Ex Machina" if you've missed those as well. Cheers!
Watch Bladerunner The Final Cut. I saw with my son when he was late teen. I warned him it is really SciFi noir, not an action film. I highly recommend it,
From my POV this is a great list. I think the 1970’s had some great sci-fi movies as well. But this 1980’s list is super relevant to me. Thanks for sharing
If you’re looking for sci-fi horror the movies “deadly friend” about a guy who resurrected a young woman with computer chip implants. Also “chopping mall” about teens in a mall patrolled by murderous robots.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) Lifeforce (1985) Outland (1981) The Salute of the Jugger [a.k.a. The Blood of Heroes] (1989) Gandahar (1987) I'd also add here 'Moon 44' and 'Hardware', BUT both these films are from the year 1990. These films definitely did not occur to "change cinema", but they are from the 1980s, they became 'cult classics' over the following years, and all of them commercially flopped when first released.
When I was in university in the late 80’s I took a social studies course called Film and Society, which posited that B and Cult movies tended to reflect underlying cultural fears and political commentary of their time, something more mainstream entertainment was rarely able to do. We Live was a big film in the course ‘reading list’, and I found it hilarious a film like that was something I was paying to study. But ultimately the professor wasn’t wrong, and in many ways that course helped solidify my watching habits ever since.
"Flight of the Navigator" seems kinda cheesy, in retrospect. It also featured Howard Hesseman , better known as Dr Johnny Fever on "WKRP in Cincinnati," and a very young Sarah Jessica Parker.
Good grief! A list from someone that I cannot argue with because I've seen all of them and many at the cinema on their release. Blade Runner was my favourite but enough has been talked about that already. Videodrome was, IMHO, the big one because, as time has gone by, it has become more and more relevant. Never mind the fact that I adored Deborah Harry, and still do, this movie never put a foot wrong. As the years pass it makes more and more sense. As you said, ''All praise the New Flesh'' 🙂
I would've included Battle Beyond the Stars, but it isn't as well known as some of these other movies. James Horner wrote the movie score. James Cameron worked on the special effects, which were impressive for the time and on such a low budget. The whole movie had a budget of one of Lucas' effects. It's like a Magnifiscent Seven in space, directed by Roger Corman. He used footage from this film in other films he made. For a movie that was supposed to be bad, it turned out to be an awesome movie with great world building, unique characters, and great character development.
I could never appreciate the look of Tron. Blasphemy to some, I know, but I could never get into the story, either. anyways I would say Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension should be on this cult changed cinema list. Highly original, Buckaroo is a scientist, surgeon and the front man of a rock band called the Hong Kong Cavaliers (his dad was Japanese mom Jamie Lee Curtis only seen in director's cut ...). The Oxillation Overthruster that makes travel through solid matter and into the 8th dimension possible predates the Flux Capacitor by a year. (See physical similarities). Good video by Sci-Fi Odyssey
Nice list. I was disappointed with Tron. I felt it could have been done so much better. I have not seen Flight of the Navigator. I always thought it was a kids movie. Is your definition of a cult film one that flopped in theaters but later found an audience? Some of the suggestions here were not box office bombs.
I had guessed most of these, along with the "honorable mentions", except for "They Live", which I didn't realize was that influential. I was expecting "Dreamscape" (which may have done too well at the box office) and "Phantasm" (which is definitely 'cult' but I suppose is more horror than sci-fi). Very good list!
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone from 1983, Saturn 3 from 1980, and in 1983 Christopher Walken starred on two sci-fi flicks, Brainstorm and The Dead Zone.
Flight of the Navigator does not belong on this list. It's a kids movie, not a cult classic and having a single minor special effect does not equate to changing cinema forever.
I loved The Last Starfighter. We watched it every time it was on tv.
Nice list... I'd add Enemy Mine and Robocop - 80s are a gold mine of classic sci fi movies...
Enemy Mine was excellent!
@@martinwtaylor Certainly a good film, but I do not really think that Enemy Mine anyhow changed cinema. :/
I was disappointed with Enemy Mine because I had read the book. I could see why they changed it for the movies because the ending of the book was more politics than action, but the action in the movie seemed weirdly forced.
The Terminator, Scanners, Aliens, The Fly 1&2, Robcop 1&2, The Predator, E.T., Dune, Ghostbusters 1&2, Dreamscape, Explorers, Innerspace, The Abyss, ESB, ROTJ, BTTF 1&2, Mad Max 2&3, Trancers, Starman, Buckaroo Bansai.
1/2 of your list _can't_ be cult classics, since they were *wildly* popular at the box office.
_Brazil_ and _Blade Runner,_ of course.
I would take out Flight of the Navigator and putting in Outland. A proper bit of hard sci-fi with no monsters apart from the Con Am Corporation.
Outland is not as good as Blade Runner or ALIEN but if you watch it between the two, it makes for a great corporate dystopia trilogy.
OMG!!!!!! I LOVED Flight of the Navigator as a Kid. Cheers
I truly love 'John Carpenter's They Live'!
Great, almost perfect list. I’d add in my own guilty pleasure of “Explorers”
Good choice!
Nothing guilty about it. Terrific fun movie by the great Joe Dante.
I love that one!!
I would also include Repo Man.
Repo Man did not change cinema, but it did make pinetree air fresheners funny.
Alien, Blade Runner, The Thing, The Terminator, Repo Man, Max Headroom (show), Videodrome,
Great list! I would suggest an honourable mention to Night of the Comet (84')
The griddy commentary was spot on
Awesome content as always, the only omission to my mind would be 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Nothing was ever likely to match up the to the cinematic masterwork that it 2001, but I think it's worthy of a mention, and does some interesting things such as explaining HAL's behaviour and also the Cold War narrative is especially prescient.
Yes! I actually love 2010 but for many different reasons to why I love 2001 👍
Great and varied list here which covers a lot of awesome aesthetics and subgenres.
Terminator didn’t pop up on the list but I would throw that and my favorite Terminator ripoff - Trancers - into the mix. Trancers to me is pure fun 80s knock off B movie greatness that serves as a nice deeper cut time capsule into the tropes and vibes of that era
Good call!
Great list, brings back a lot a fond memories. My honorable mentions are enemy mine and silent running
Silent Running is from the early 1970s, though.
You forgot Brainstorm with Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood.
Perfect list. I agree with every choice. My honorable mention would be D.A.R.Y.L. (1985). The ending was similar to Clint Eastwood’s Firefox.
Interesting fact: I was named after that film… only my parents misspelled it when I was born 🤣
Brazil is VERY dark.
Explorers. Dreamscape. Night of the Comet. The Stuff. Killer Klowns From Outer Space. I have a serious soft spot for 80s sci-fi and horror along these lines. ❤
I saw *ALL* of these in the theaters (mostly in my late teens), when they were released, usually more than once. I was a lonely kid and movies were my comfort, and my only “friend” (who, looking back, was an abusive twat), was as big a movie nerd as I was. I loved these films and the fostered a lifelong love of sci-fi movies.
A superb list, with 2 of my all time favourite films in The Thing and They Live.
One that could have easily been included was Explorers, with River Phoenix and Ethan Hawk. It's a tonne of fun and well worth a watch for anyone sho hasn't seen it.
I've never seen Videodrome; it sounds interesting and James Woods has always been one of my favorite actors. James Woods is great at playing intense, mysterious characters. "They Live!" is wonderful. I have it on a DVD and my family and I watch it about once a year with thorough enjoyment. Although "Bladerunner" wasn't one of your picks for this video, it's my favorite sci-fi movie.
Videodrome is pretty intense. It's peak Cronenberg.
Memorable Flashback video, I was fortunate to see most of these at the theaters. TV is great, and the HD upgrades of these films are amazing. But, seeing them on a theater screen with the audio systems is hard to beat.
My favorite of these is "They Live". "Repo Man", a close 2nd. Besides being very funny and sarcastic and a cast including Harry Dean Stanton, it has some strong music. The Director (Alex Cox, as I recall?) seemed to disappear after the film?
I forgot Debbie Harry was in "Videodrome", which I only watched once. "Krull" may be more fantasy than SF, but pretty good, too. The original "Critters" 😂!
Thanks for the video!
By the way, I was thinking, how about a list of unnecessary (and failed) remakes, like Total Recall? Or a list of movies in need of a remake, like Destination Brain?
Great suggestion!
I'd remake Wing Commander. Or better make a TV show out of it, similar to BSG from 2003.
I coulda sworn "Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" would've been number one! When I saw the video title, before watching, I said, "Like 'Tron'?" TBH, I haven't seen all of these. I'm gonna have to catch up. (Never saw Bladerunner, never wanted to -- don't know why, since it's based on a story by a real sci-fi author!)
I also wondered if the great Bonzai would make an appearance! Dude, you need to watch Blade Runner and then the sequel - both are masterpieces of the genre. Also check out "Arrival" - a thinking person's sci-fi film, and "Ex Machina" if you've missed those as well. Cheers!
Watch Bladerunner The Final Cut. I saw with my son when he was late teen. I warned him it is really SciFi noir, not an action film. I highly recommend it,
From my POV this is a great list. I think the 1970’s had some great sci-fi movies as well. But this 1980’s list is super relevant to me. Thanks for sharing
Honourable mention: Buckaroo Banzai
Had a crush on Meg Foster and her ice blue eyes...
Meg Foster did have AMAZING eyes. Stunning!
Modern classics like the matrix.
The matrix is 25 years old
Now I feel old… thanks 🤣
If you’re looking for sci-fi horror the movies “deadly friend” about a guy who resurrected a young woman with computer chip implants. Also “chopping mall” about teens in a mall patrolled by murderous robots.
"Chopping Mall"? LOL!!
Sounds very cerebral. :D
@@daxbashir6232 you know it
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
Lifeforce (1985)
Outland (1981)
The Salute of the Jugger [a.k.a. The Blood of Heroes] (1989)
Gandahar (1987)
I'd also add here 'Moon 44' and 'Hardware', BUT both these films are from the year 1990.
These films definitely did not occur to "change cinema", but they are from the 1980s, they became 'cult classics' over the following years, and all of them commercially flopped when first released.
I just recalled; I'd probably also add John Carpenter's Starman (1984). Among others, that goddamned film made me cry. 🙂
Blade Runner is THE greatest film, IMO, Sci-Fi or otherwise.
Cameron's Titanic is much better. :)
When I was in university in the late 80’s I took a social studies course called Film and Society, which posited that B and Cult movies tended to reflect underlying cultural fears and political commentary of their time, something more mainstream entertainment was rarely able to do. We Live was a big film in the course ‘reading list’, and I found it hilarious a film like that was something I was paying to study. But ultimately the professor wasn’t wrong, and in many ways that course helped solidify my watching habits ever since.
"Flight of the Navigator" seems kinda cheesy, in retrospect. It also featured Howard Hesseman , better known as Dr Johnny Fever on "WKRP in Cincinnati," and a very young Sarah Jessica Parker.
The “They Live” fight scene was fully reenacted by Timmy and Jimmy in South Park’s “Cripple Fight” episode 😅
Good grief! A list from someone that I cannot argue with because I've seen all of them and many at the cinema on their release. Blade Runner was my favourite but enough has been talked about that already. Videodrome was, IMHO, the big one because, as time has gone by, it has become more and more relevant. Never mind the fact that I adored Deborah Harry, and still do, this movie never put a foot wrong. As the years pass it makes more and more sense. As you said, ''All praise the New Flesh'' 🙂
Enemy Mine should have made the list.
It didn't change cinema, I'm afraid. Still a decent film, though. 👍
I would've included Battle Beyond the Stars, but it isn't as well known as some of these other movies. James Horner wrote the movie score. James Cameron worked on the special effects, which were impressive for the time and on such a low budget. The whole movie had a budget of one of Lucas' effects.
It's like a Magnifiscent Seven in space, directed by Roger Corman. He used footage from this film in other films he made. For a movie that was supposed to be bad, it turned out to be an awesome movie with great world building, unique characters, and great character development.
Flight of the Navigator. The movie that has everything. Except a plot!
Lol!
Compliance
I could never appreciate the look of Tron. Blasphemy to some, I know, but I could never get into the story, either. anyways
I would say Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension should be on this cult changed cinema list. Highly original, Buckaroo is a scientist, surgeon and the front man of a rock band called the Hong Kong Cavaliers (his dad was Japanese mom Jamie Lee Curtis only seen in director's cut ...). The Oxillation Overthruster that makes travel through solid matter and into the 8th dimension possible predates the Flux Capacitor by a year. (See physical similarities).
Good video by Sci-Fi Odyssey
For the algo. 🙂
Thank you!!!
Best sci-fi comedies of the 80s? Howard the Duck and Time Bandits are up there
Howard the Duck scared the sh*t out me as a kid 🐤
Nice list. I was disappointed with Tron. I felt it could have been done so much better. I have not seen Flight of the Navigator. I always thought it was a kids movie. Is your definition of a cult film one that flopped in theaters but later found an audience? Some of the suggestions here were not box office bombs.
BUCKAROO BONAZI!!!!!
I had guessed most of these, along with the "honorable mentions", except for "They Live", which I didn't realize was that influential. I was expecting "Dreamscape" (which may have done too well at the box office) and "Phantasm" (which is definitely 'cult' but I suppose is more horror than sci-fi). Very good list!
We used to make good movies in the 80s.
You are way to young for nostalgia for the eighties, Darrel. You don’t fool me 😂
I saw The Last S/ar/⁵5
Blade Runner as an honorable mention?? It's a benchmark.
Good choices...
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone from 1983, Saturn 3 from 1980, and in 1983 Christopher Walken starred on two sci-fi flicks, Brainstorm and The Dead Zone.
REPO MAN!!!!!
From 2010? :)
Who the hell is Johnathan Pierce? 3:44 His name is Johnathan Pryce. Do you even pre read the scripts?
Flight of the Navigator does not belong on this list. It's a kids movie, not a cult classic and having a single minor special effect does not equate to changing cinema forever.
I saw Tron as a kid and almost fell asleep. The video games based on it were fun, but the movie was near monotone
Isn’t Ender’s game movie in essence the same movie as the last starfighter?
No.
Not EVEN close.
NOPE!!!
Nasim Aghdam #1