Favorite "Obscure" Sci-Fi Movies?

[Awesome Possum]

How could I forget Robinson Crusoe on Mars! What a great pic.

I forgot to add: Millenium. The term "so bad it's good" originated with this. But, I dated a girl who LOVED it, so I happily watched it many times. ugh

Things To Come - Truly a marvel for the time it was made. Maybe the first film to portray post-apocalyptic ruin.

Millennium did go on to inspire part of a Buddy Cole skit from Kids in the Hall.

I get all the best friend roles. I'm in this new American picture called Millenium. It's a big budget science fiction starring Cherryl Ladd. You know, one day someone thought, "Hey. I want to make a terrible movie in Canada. Everybody else has..." I play the best friend of the timegate operator. He has one line. But he says it directly to me. The movie is full of Canadian actors with one line. It's great. It won't make a dime.

I liked it. The short story it's based on is a little more interesting. All the people from the future are rotting away and have to wear skin suits to blend in with people in the past.

 

[BigJake]

One last mention, while not 'obscure,' I'd wager not many people have seen or remember this film - the 1980's Christopher Walken film, Brainstorm - about a machine that can record our thoughts.

You go to hell!

Damn man, what was that for?

He's quoting a moment from the movie, I think.

 

[martok2112]

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin....A 1985 animated movie somewhat inspired by Star Wars. (perhaps more accurately, "a brazen rip-off of Star Wars" as one critic put it) It was an okeeday movie that I vaguely remember...so to me, I guess this would certainly qualify as obscure.


I hadn't seen if anyone mentioned (and I'm not sure if those among us would consider it obscure) "Battle Beyond the Stars.". Star Wars meets Seven Samurai or Star Wars meets The Magnificent Seven. Another favorite of mine as a kid, now a fully qualified guilty pleasure.

And yes, Enemy Mine is one of my absolute favorite sci-fi films. Louis Gossett, Jr. should've gotten an Oscar for his portrayal of Jeriba Shigan, the Drac. The vocal inflection, the emotion he brought out in the character, and his very alien motions were really convincing.

 

[Kor]

I hadn't seen if anyone mentioned (and I'm not sure if those among us would consider it obscure) "Battle Beyond the Stars.". Star Wars meets Seven Samurai or Star Wars meets The Magnificent Seven. Another favorite of mine as a kid, now a fully qualified guilty pleasure.

Another masterpiece from Roger Corman.

Kor

 

[martok2112]

I hadn't seen if anyone mentioned (and I'm not sure if those among us would consider it obscure) "Battle Beyond the Stars.". Star Wars meets Seven Samurai or Star Wars meets The Magnificent Seven. Another favorite of mine as a kid, now a fully qualified guilty pleasure.

Another masterpiece from Roger Corman.

Kor

No kidding.


BBTS is also one of the most visually cannibalized movies I've ever seen. FX footage was being reused in other B-rate sci-fi movies that followed.

Space Raiders, clearly on even a lower budget than BBTS used footage from BBTS for its "space battles". (Even used some of James Horner's score as well.) The Showtime miniseries "Murder in Space" used footage of the Malmori cruiser to represent the ship that the story was set upon.

 

[kitik]

One last mention, while not 'obscure,' I'd wager not many people have seen or remember this film - the 1980's Christopher Walken film, Brainstorm - about a machine that can record our thoughts.

You go to hell!

Damn man, what was that for?

Dangit, I was afraid that might get misinterpreted.

He's quoting a moment from the movie, I think.

Yep, I'm glad at least one person got it.

This was shown at a movie marathon I went to a few years ago, and Christopher Walken told people to go to hell a couple times throughout the film, and by the end the crowd was loving it each time he said that line.

They even had a Christopher Walken contest a few hours later where people got up and delivered their favorite lines from him, and a couple people picked the old "you go to hell" line from Brainstorm.



Anyways, DarthTom, no offense was intended.

 

[T J]

Moontrap!

 

[Skipper]

What are your favorite sci-fi movies that are lesser-known / lesser- appreciated /non-blockbusters?

Here's a short list of mine:

Gattaca
Logan's Run
Oblivion
Forbidden Planet
Primer
Serenity
Sunshine
Cube
Solaris (both versions)

I'm terrible, terrible, terrible sorry for the resurrection of this necro-thread, but I couldn't resist.

How the heck can someone call titles like Forbidden Planet or Solaris obscure???

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

This dead thread is not bad... So...
#Apollo 18
#Europa report

 

[Skipper]

This dead thread is not bad... So...
#Apollo 18
#Europa report

These are a little obscure movies! (I liked Europa report!)

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

(I liked Europa report!)

And with nasas Clipper mission in the 2020's... This could come true within a decade..

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Some early Roger Corman for me:

Battle Beyond The Stars *(don't own yet)
Forbidden World
Galaxy Of Terror
Humanoids From The Deep
Starcrash


Other, mostly cheesy ones:

Alien Apocalypse
Dark Star
Enemy Mine
Evil Alien Conquerors
Ice Pirates
The Haunted World Of El-Superbeasto
The Last Starfighter
The Man With The Screaming Brain
Time Bandits
Wizards

 

[Starbreaker]

Another Earth
About Time
Womb
The Final Cut
Sound of My Voice
The Final Cut
The One I Love

 

[DrCorby]

Ice Pirates
Last Starfighter
Time Bandits

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Ice Pirates
Last Starfighter
Time Bandits

Damn, I forgot to put Ice Pirates in my list. A good fun movie and of course Mary Crosby at her absolute hottest.

 

[Vger23]

I'm terrible, terrible, terrible sorry for the resurrection of this necro-thread, but I couldn't resist.

How the heck can someone call titles like Forbidden Planet or Solaris obscure???

I don't know man...who knows, right??

 

[Vger23]

Another Earth
About Time
Womb
The Final Cut
Sound of My Voice
The Final Cut
The One I Love

Another Earth was very good. Not very "sci-fi"...more philosophical...but very good nonetheless.

 

[N-121973]

"The gun is good. The penis is evil."

You've just summed up the modern day Republican Party in one sentence .

I had the same reaction. Is Forbidden Planet really considered "obscure" these days? I thought it was regarded as a classic instead.

It's like reading that Casablanca or King Kong are obscure.

EDIT: I see that the "obscure" thing has already been hashed out at length. But, yes, I have to agree with another poster that "old" does not necessarily equal obscure.

Granted, it's possible for once-major movies to fall into obscurity. LOGAN'S RUN, for example, was a big deal back in the day, but it can be argued that it's profile has declined a bit over the years. As I like to joke, I'm old enough to remember when LOGAN costumes were still fashionable at conventions. Not so much anymore . . . .

Meanwhile, I'll throw in a vote for Frequency, a cool time-travel movie from a few years back that didn't get the attention it deserved.

Greg bare in mind, there can't be any 'Logan's Run' fans over the age of 30 - unless their Runners .

The Showtime miniseries "Murder in Space" used footage of the Malmori cruiser to represent the ship that the story was set upon.

Ah, I remember 'Murder in Space'. Here in Britain it was shown in the early 80s and I taped and watched it several times. Over here there was a gimmick attached however where they didn't reveal the perpetrator but stopped at the point where they disembark the ship for Earth and Wilford Brimley goes out to meet them. There was then a competition held in which the viewers were invited to guess the murderer and there would be a prize. The conclusion was shown a couple of months later

Spoiler

If memory serves it was Michael Ironside's character who was the ship's captain that was the murderer.

Many others have already pointed out in this thread how arguably 'Forbidden Planet' isn't obscure and was 'remade' in the form of 'Star Trek' much more eloquently than I could so I'll just give you my favourite obscure Sci-Fi film - 'The Final Countdown' . It got me interested in naval aviation (aided and abetted by 'Top Gun').

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By the way I noticed someone upthread listed 'Capricorn One' in their list, I wouldn't call that Sci-Fi myself.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Virtual Nightmare
Dark City
The Prestige (my favourite movie of all-time, and counts because it has [spoiler you'll know if you've seen it])
Super Mario Brothers (YES.)
Zardoz (FUCK YES.)

 

[Tribble puncher]

Hmmmmm.......Obscure Sci Fi Films:

The PBS Broadcast 1980 version of "Lathe of Heaven" It looks pretty cheap in some ways (laughably so in some parts) but you get what they were trying to do, It's excellently acted overall though. and the story is pretty damn good, I recommend this one, (You need to be in the mind for a slow burn, high concept type film with little action) Based on a book of the same name by Ursula K Le Guin, I recommend watching this at least once, DVD is expensive now (Long out of print), but it is on YouTube as of this writing.

1999's "Supernova" while not the best script is a visual guilty pleasure and I really like the concept the film is based on.

1980's animated film "Starchaser: The Legend of Orin" some interesting Rotoscoping/early cgi animation, a borderline shameless Star Wars rip off but a fun one! I recently rewatched this and while there were a couple of cringe parts it was still surprisingly decent.

1984 film "Explorers" plot is decent for what it is, pretty good score in parts by Goldsmith, I think this one's obscure by now, loved it as a Lad, and still as an Adult, it takes me back every time I watch it, I swear I can almost feel my M.A.S.K. toy's sitiing next to me on the living room floor as a kid whenever it's on.

1970's film called "Silent Running" Soundtrack is a little cheesy now, and some would say it's a bunch of 70's "Hippy-Dippy B.S." and maybe it is, but the arch the main character goes through is worth the watch.

1984 film "2010: the year we make contact" I'm not sure if this is obscure, maybe more like buried, I know even as a kid this film bombed when it came out, I personally actually liked it (Quite a bit, even as a kid, it was a more accessible visit to the 2001 universe.) Has some heavy hitters in the cast (Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Roy Scheider) a pretty creepy synth score, and some of the shots of Juptier are still achingly beautiful, I think this one is more accepted now among cult fans.