Science fiction through the years

Many movie lovers across the globe constantly debate what the best film genre is. While horror and animation are in a golden era right now, the genre that offers the most diversity along with the best quality has to be science fiction. 

The science fiction genre is very much alive with the release of popular films from this past year such as Avatar: The Way of Water along with Everything Everywhere All at Once. Taking it back to the genre’s early days, the original Star Wars was released in 1977 when there was a big craze for science fiction films, many forget that there were a multitude of great releases even before this release, the most notable of these being Stanley Kubrick’s 2001:A Space Odyssey where humanity finds a mysterious object on the lunar surface and then sets off on a journey to find its origins. 

After previously mentioning the original Star Wars it is hard not to mention the Star Wars saga’s impact on science fiction with its epic take on the genre. Its inclusions include The Empire Strikes Back where the fight with Luke, Leia, and Han continue against the Empire where audiences were dumbstruck when the now-iconic line of, “No, I am your father” was spoken. Return of the Jedi capped off the end of arguably the best trilogy of all time. 

The 1980s were also a fantastic time for science fiction, when many properties we know and love debuted iconic films. James Cameron brought the iconic The Terminator and Aliens to theaters and made audiences terrified of artificial intelligence and Xenomorphs. Blade Runner hit the big screen in 1982 with its beautiful retro-futuristic world and thrilling tone offering another new perspective on the genre. 

While the 1990s did not offer as much quantity as seen in previous decades, it sure did offer some iconic films of its own. Dinosaurs were brought to the big screen like nothing before in Jurassic Park (1993) which had groundbreaking computer-generated images. No one will look at our world the same after The Matrix hit the big screen in 1999 and had audiences questioning reality. 

In the 2000s many cult classic science fiction films hit theaters, like the severely underrated Donnie Darko. District 9 also is an underrated film where aliens come to earth and now have to cohabitate together. One of my all-time favorite films and one of my favorites as a kid was Avatar, where audiences were taken to Pandora and fell in love with the Na’vi people. 

There was a step up in science fiction during the 2010s with many different fantastic films and legacy sequels. Mad Max: Fury Road brought us back to the world of Mad Max after over 30 years since the series’ last entry. Arrival also had audiences enthralled with alien culture through a fantastic screenplay. The best of the decade in my opinion, though, is Blade Runner 2049 where we were brought back to dystopian Los Angeles in the distant future and taken into another thrilling film worthy of its tie to the original.

This now leads us to the present day in the 2020s; the decade is looking promising so far with films like Dune, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Avatar: The Way of Water starting off with innovative, sprawling science fiction worlds. In the distant future multiple avatar sequels, a new Star Wars trilogy, and the sequel to Dune are all set to release this decade; the future of science fiction looks bright.