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Well why not? Everyone has their personal faves. Want an argument? Email me.
Top Ten...
Science Fiction Movies
#1 Aliens - 'Game over man', 'Get away from her you bitch!' Wow! what can I say, cool space commandos, snappy dialogue, relentless killing
machines, and Sigourney Weaver kicking ass. James Cameron rocked when he made this. Hard to believe he went on to make Titanic.
#2 The Thing - The John Carpenter version really blew me away when I saw it at the cinema. Okay the visual effects are stunning (and gruesome
at times) but the characterisation and the isolation and the threat makes for a tensely paranoid tale that doesn't let up until the final scene.
#3 Solaris - Not a lot of people liked the George Clooney version, but I thought is was a very effective tale of love, loss and redemption. Clooney's
performance is very personal and the cinematography is fascinating.
#1 Aliens - 'Game over man', 'Get away from her you bitch!' Wow! what can I say, cool space commandos, snappy dialogue, relentless killing
machines, and Sigourney Weaver kicking ass. James Cameron rocked when he made this. Hard to believe he went on to make Titanic.
#2 The Thing - The John Carpenter version really blew me away when I saw it at the cinema. Okay the visual effects are stunning (and gruesome
at times) but the characterisation and the isolation and the threat makes for a tensely paranoid tale that doesn't let up until the final scene.
#3 Solaris - Not a lot of people liked the George Clooney version, but I thought is was a very effective tale of love, loss and redemption. Clooney's
performance is very personal and the cinematography is fascinating.
#4 12 Monkeys - I love time travel stories and this one is superbly realised and quietly mindblowing. Terry Gilliam's direction elicits a fantastic
performance from Bruce Willis as the unwilling time traveller trying to find out who unleashed a plague that killed millions. Brad Pitt is a delightfully
frenetic maniac.
#5 The Matrix - Inscrutably messianic sequels notwithstanding, it was a pretty cool concept first time around, playing nicely on a ubiquitous
dissatisfaction with the 'real world' and featuring exceptional visuals.
#6 Brazil - I was lucky enough to meet Terry Gilliam when he was promoting this movie, and he confessed he was a big fan of Philllip K Dick.
Anyone seeing Brazil will recognise the Dickian touches, a 'protagonist' with a shaky hold on reality at the mercy of a distopian conspiracy. Lovely
stuff.
#7 Terminator 2 - Judgement Day - Well I am a boy after all. Very cool set pieces and lots of action with Arnie. But what I really loved was Linda
Hamilton's haunted, driven Sarah Connors character, and the sense of foreboding that brought to the movie. Her dream sequence when the city is
nuked still gives me shivers.
#8 Unbreakable - anyone who grew up reading Marvel or DC Comics will love this story of an ordinary schmo who survives a train wreck
unscathed and comes to realise he is indestructible and incredibly strong. Samuel L Jackson is the Svengali to Bruce Willis' antihero with a
delightful and completely in-genre twist to the tail.
#9 Dark Star - John Carpenter's low-budget story of starship Dark Star, flitting round the universe blowing up unstable planets, shows just how
boring space travel can be - and how hilarious.
#10 Silent Running - Bruce Dern plays 'space greenie' in this story, trying to save the last forests (which are preserved in space-going domes)
and helped by three robots, Hughey, Dewey, and Louie. Yes, it sounds crap but it works. Dern's performance is particularly effective. The
soundtrack is pretty good too.
performance from Bruce Willis as the unwilling time traveller trying to find out who unleashed a plague that killed millions. Brad Pitt is a delightfully
frenetic maniac.
#5 The Matrix - Inscrutably messianic sequels notwithstanding, it was a pretty cool concept first time around, playing nicely on a ubiquitous
dissatisfaction with the 'real world' and featuring exceptional visuals.
#6 Brazil - I was lucky enough to meet Terry Gilliam when he was promoting this movie, and he confessed he was a big fan of Philllip K Dick.
Anyone seeing Brazil will recognise the Dickian touches, a 'protagonist' with a shaky hold on reality at the mercy of a distopian conspiracy. Lovely
stuff.
#7 Terminator 2 - Judgement Day - Well I am a boy after all. Very cool set pieces and lots of action with Arnie. But what I really loved was Linda
Hamilton's haunted, driven Sarah Connors character, and the sense of foreboding that brought to the movie. Her dream sequence when the city is
nuked still gives me shivers.
#8 Unbreakable - anyone who grew up reading Marvel or DC Comics will love this story of an ordinary schmo who survives a train wreck
unscathed and comes to realise he is indestructible and incredibly strong. Samuel L Jackson is the Svengali to Bruce Willis' antihero with a
delightful and completely in-genre twist to the tail.
#9 Dark Star - John Carpenter's low-budget story of starship Dark Star, flitting round the universe blowing up unstable planets, shows just how
boring space travel can be - and how hilarious.
#10 Silent Running - Bruce Dern plays 'space greenie' in this story, trying to save the last forests (which are preserved in space-going domes)
and helped by three robots, Hughey, Dewey, and Louie. Yes, it sounds crap but it works. Dern's performance is particularly effective. The
soundtrack is pretty good too.
Science Fiction Novels
Well, I'll start with a top 5, but don't hold me to this...
#1 The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov - Okay I'm counting this as one, and I'm ignoring the prequels and sequels
(whether penned by Asimov or not). You could argue that TFT in one sense was pure space opera - the themes are grand:
the death of empires, space battles, political and social upheaval and so on, but the overlay of the science of
psychohistory and the basis for the next human empire are so original, such a full-on science fiction idea that the whole
thing just goes to a higher level. Even though the nature of the story is episodic, the characters really speak to you through
the text. I take my hat off to a true master of the genre at the height of his powers. BBC radio did an excellent 8 hour
adaptation of the novels in the late 70s, and a lot of the spoken word dialogue is word for word what you see on the page
which is a real testament to the quality of the writing. Nuff said.
#2 Pattern Recognition - William Gibson - From the Golden Age to the New Age. Actually there's a similarity with my first
choice and that is the core originality of the ideas. With Pattern Recognition, Gibson returns to form. His central character
Well, I'll start with a top 5, but don't hold me to this...
#1 The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov - Okay I'm counting this as one, and I'm ignoring the prequels and sequels
(whether penned by Asimov or not). You could argue that TFT in one sense was pure space opera - the themes are grand:
the death of empires, space battles, political and social upheaval and so on, but the overlay of the science of
psychohistory and the basis for the next human empire are so original, such a full-on science fiction idea that the whole
thing just goes to a higher level. Even though the nature of the story is episodic, the characters really speak to you through
the text. I take my hat off to a true master of the genre at the height of his powers. BBC radio did an excellent 8 hour
adaptation of the novels in the late 70s, and a lot of the spoken word dialogue is word for word what you see on the page
which is a real testament to the quality of the writing. Nuff said.
#2 Pattern Recognition - William Gibson - From the Golden Age to the New Age. Actually there's a similarity with my first
choice and that is the core originality of the ideas. With Pattern Recognition, Gibson returns to form. His central character
Top Tens
www.keithstevenson.com
www.keithstevenson.com
Kayce is incredibly well drawn, and her job as someone who can tap into the zeitgeist and tell companies what the next big thing is, while also being
allergic to brand names shows the complexity that not only echoes through the characters in this story but also in the plot. Seriously this is the best
book Gibson has ever written.
#3 A Scanner Darkly - Phillip K Dick - Not what you might call a typical Dick novel, although a lot of his common themes were present - the
subjectivity of reality, the disintegration of self, etc., this is at once a hilarious and extraordinarily dark tale, but with a hopeful, redemptive end.
Much against the odds, the Hollywood version kicks ass (even with Keanu!) and is very true to the book. Go see it while you can.
#4 Norstrilia - Cordwainer Smith - Another story burgeoning with ideas - a planet of sheep-herders who are incredibly wealthy because of
Stroon, a fungus which grows on the wool which is an anti-agathic. But the strength of this novel is in Smith's incredible, poetic prose style.
#5 Cities in Flight - James Blish - Yes, I know it's four books, but it's my list. This is another story that spans centuries and is packed with original
ideas. The cities of Earth, powered by anti-gravity 'spindizzy' generators are now akin to merchant vessels, plying the space lanes in a kind of
inter-galactic free market economy. All this and the end (and rebirth) of the universe. What more do you want!?
allergic to brand names shows the complexity that not only echoes through the characters in this story but also in the plot. Seriously this is the best
book Gibson has ever written.
#3 A Scanner Darkly - Phillip K Dick - Not what you might call a typical Dick novel, although a lot of his common themes were present - the
subjectivity of reality, the disintegration of self, etc., this is at once a hilarious and extraordinarily dark tale, but with a hopeful, redemptive end.
Much against the odds, the Hollywood version kicks ass (even with Keanu!) and is very true to the book. Go see it while you can.
#4 Norstrilia - Cordwainer Smith - Another story burgeoning with ideas - a planet of sheep-herders who are incredibly wealthy because of
Stroon, a fungus which grows on the wool which is an anti-agathic. But the strength of this novel is in Smith's incredible, poetic prose style.
#5 Cities in Flight - James Blish - Yes, I know it's four books, but it's my list. This is another story that spans centuries and is packed with original
ideas. The cities of Earth, powered by anti-gravity 'spindizzy' generators are now akin to merchant vessels, plying the space lanes in a kind of
inter-galactic free market economy. All this and the end (and rebirth) of the universe. What more do you want!?