1900-1920s

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era, typically as short films shot in black and white, sometimes with colour tinting. They usually had a technological theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1902, Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune, a film that used early trick photography effects to depict a spacecraft’s journey to the moon. Several films merged the science-fiction and horror genres, such as Frankenstein (1910), a film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912). A longer science fiction film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), was based on Jules Verne’s novel. In the 1920s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction films for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis (1926) and Frau im Mond (1929).

1930s-1950s

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the 1930s, there were several big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine (the first feature length science fiction film by a US studio), the US-made films King Kong (1933) and Lost Horizon (1936) and the British-made Things to Come (1936). Starting in 1934, a number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials, notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, both starring Buster Crabbe. These serials, and the comic strips they were based on, helped fix in the mind of the US public the idea that science fiction was juvenile and absurd, and led to the common description of science fiction as "that crazy Buck Rogers stuff". After 1936, no more big budget science fiction films were produced until 1950's Destination Moon, the first color sf film.

During the 1950s, public interest in space travel and new technologies revived. While many 1950s science-fiction movies were still low-budget B movies, there were several successful films with larger budgets and impressive special effects, notably Destination Moon, The Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth, and Forbidden Planet. Some of the many B mvoies are also still of interest today, especially Howard Hawks's The Thing from Another World, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and It Came From Outer Space.

There was a close connection between the science fiction genre and the monster movie, in, for example, Them, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and The Blob

Ray Harryhausen began to use stop-motion animation to create special effects for films such as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).

1960s-1980s

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There were relatively few science fiction films in the 1960s, but some of the films transformed science fiction cinema. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) brought new realism to the genre, with its groundbreaking visual effects and realistic portrayal of space travel and influenced the genre with its epic story and transcendent philosophical scope. Other 1960s films included Planet of the Apes (1968) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966), which provided social commentary, and the campy Barbarella (1968), which explored the sillier side of earlier science fiction.

The era of manned trips to the moon in the 1970s saw a resurgence of interest in the science fiction film. Andrei Tarkovsky’s slow-paced Solaris (1972) had visuals and a philosophic scope reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Science fiction films from the early 1970s explored the theme of paranoia, in which humanity is depicted as under threat from ecological or technological adversaries of its own creation, such as Silent Running (ecology), Westworld (man vs. robot), THX 1138 (man vs. the state), and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (threat of brainwashing). Conspiracy thriller films of the 1970s included Soylent Green and Futureworld. The science fiction comedies of the 1970s included Woody Allen's Sleeper and Dan O'Bannon's Dark Star.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both released in 1977 , were box-office hits that brought about a huge increase in science fiction films. As well, Star Wars helped to blur the distinction between the science fiction, fantasy, and superhero genres. In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the television series to the big screen for the first time. Ridley Scott's films, such as Alien and Blade Runner, presented the future as dark, dirty and chaotic, and depicted non-humans such as aliens and cyborgs as hostile and dangerous. In contrast, Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extraterrestrial, one of the most successful films of the 1980s, presented aliens as benign and friendly.

The big budget adaptations of Frank Herbert's Dune and Arthur C. Clarke's sequel to 2001, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, were box office duds that dissuaded producers from investing in science fiction literary properties. The strongest contributors to the genre during the second half of the 1980s were James Cameron and Paul Verhoeven with The Terminator and RoboCop entries. In the 1980s, animation began being used for science fiction films, such as the Japanese anime film Akira (1988) and the French animated science fiction film Light Years (1988).

1990s-2000s

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the 1990s, the emergence of the world wide web and the cyberpunk genre spawned several movies on the theme of the computer-human interface, such as Total Recall (1990), The Lawnmower Man (1992), Virtuosity (1995), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), eXistenZ (1999) and The Matrix (1999) . Other themes included disaster movies (e.g., Armageddon and Deep Impact both from 1998), alien invasion (Independence Day from 1996) and genetic experimentation (e.g., Jurassic Park from 1993 and Gattaca from 1997).

As the decade progressed, computers played an increasingly important role in both the addition of special effects and the production of films. As the software developed in sophistication it was used to produce more complicated effects . Developments in software also enabled filmmakers to enhance the visual quality of animation, which was used in the science fiction films Ghost in the Shell (1995) from Japan and The Iron Giant (1999) and Titan A.E. (2000) from the US.

During the 2000s, fantasy and superhero films abounded, as did earthbound SF such as the Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. In 2005, the Star Wars sextet was completed with the darkly-themed Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Science-fiction returned as a tool for political commentary in films such as A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and Children of Men. The year 2005 saw a remake of King Kong.