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Series: Science Fiction Film Club Archives - Reactor

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Science Fiction Film Club

Ever since Georges Méliès sent his characters to the Moon in 1902, filmmakers have never stopped making science fiction movies. From very early adaptations of the works of Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and Arthur Conan Doyle all the way up through the juggernaut franchises we have today, from short films to weighty epics, political allegories to gee-whiz adventure stories, arthouse darlings to summer blockbusters, moody emotional ponderings to gloriously gory monster mashes, the history of cinema is inextricably linked with the genre of science fiction.

And the Reactor Science Fiction Film Club is here to explore every corner of it!

Latest

Santa and two earthling children aboard a spaceship in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: This Terrible Movie Is Actually Amazing

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Comment number: 21
Image from the animated film Mars Express (2023)

Mars Express: Cyberpunk Noir Will Never Die (And I’m Happy About That)

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Comment number: 5
Image from the film Rocketship X-M: 5 astronaut explorers land on Mars and survey the landscape

Rocketship X-M: The First Space Adventure of the Atomic Era

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Comment number: 16
Yuliya Solntseva as Aelita, Queen of Mars in Aelita (1924)

Aelita: An Ambitious Dream of Bringing the Revolution to Mars

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Comment number: 7
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990)

Total Recall: Extreme Escapism for Fun and Profit

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Comment number: 16

Visiting the Red Planet

Santa and two earthling children aboard a spaceship in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: This Terrible Movie Is Actually Amazing

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Comment number: 21
Image from the animated film Mars Express (2023)

Mars Express: Cyberpunk Noir Will Never Die (And I’m Happy About That)

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Comment number: 5
Image from the film Rocketship X-M: 5 astronaut explorers land on Mars and survey the landscape

Rocketship X-M: The First Space Adventure of the Atomic Era

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Comment number: 16
Yuliya Solntseva as Aelita, Queen of Mars in Aelita (1924)

Aelita: An Ambitious Dream of Bringing the Revolution to Mars

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Comment number: 7
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990)

Total Recall: Extreme Escapism for Fun and Profit

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Comment number: 16
Barney the Woolly Monkey in Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Robinson Crusoe on Mars: An Optimistic Space Age Survival Tale

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Comment number: 8
See All Visiting the Red Planet

Wholesome Family Nightmares

Lance Guest as Alex and Dan O'Herlihy as Grig in The Last Starfighter

The Last Starfighter: Let’s Go Join a Star War!

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Comment number: 22
Mrs Brisby reflected in Nicodemus's red amulet in a scene from The Secret of NIMH

The Secret of NIMH: The Unlikely Film That Revived American Animation

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Comment number: 20
Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards in Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)

Escape to Witch Mountain: An Otherworldly Glimpse Into the Weirdness of 1970s Disney

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Comment number: 23
E.T., wrapped in a blanket, rides in the basket of Elliott's (Henry Thomas) bicycle in a scene from the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: You’ve Got a Friend in Outer Space

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Comment number: 21
Screencap of Flight of the Navigator, showing Joey Cramer in Max.

Flight of the Navigator: It’s Exactly as Great as You Remember From Childhood

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Comment number: 15
See All Wholesome Family Nightmares

Our Space Journey Keeps Getting Worse

Emelie Garbers as Mimaroben in Aniara

Aniara: The Existential Despair of Waiting for the End

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Comment number: 9
Image from Sunshine (2007)

Sunshine: Let’s Contemplate the Flaming Metaphor in the Sky

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Comment number: 10
Robert Pattinson in High Life

High Life: You Can’t Go Home Again

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Comment number: 0
Anamaria Marinca as Rosa Dasque and Karolina Wydra as Katya Petrovna in Europa Report

Europa Report: Stress and Sincerity in Space Exploration

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Comment number: 10
See All Our Space Journey Keeps Getting Worse

Summer of Scares

Ben Foster in Pandorum

Pandorum: These Long Trips Can Really Mess With Your Mind

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Comment number: 10
Sam Neill in Event Horizon

Event Horizon: Bring All Your Bad Memories to the Blood Orgy

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Comment number: 27
Close up on a resurrected crewmember in Planet of the Vampires

Planet of the Vampires: Spooky Gothic Horror Goes to Space

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Comment number: 3
Silhouette of the monster (Ray Corrigan) in It! The Terror From Beyond Space

It! The Terror From Beyond Space: This Is Why Astronauts Need Biological Contamination Procedures

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Comment number: 6
See All Summer of Scares

Summer of Silliness

Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet in Spaceballs

Spaceballs: In Space, No One Can Hear You Smashing the Fourth Wall

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Comment number: 14
Uncle Vova (Stanislav Lyubshin) and Gedevan (Levan Gabriadze) stand in a field of flowers in a scene from Kin-dza-dza!

Kin-dza-dza! Let’s Trade a Box of Matches for Two Hours of Absurdist Social Commentary

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Comment number: 0
Louison (Dominique Pinon) in Delicatessen

Delicatessen: A Surreal Apocalyptic Romp About Madness, Morality, and Locally-Sourced Meat

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Comment number: 2
Anil Kapoor and Sridevi in Mr India

Mr. India: Feeding the Poor and Saving the Day With Superhero Hijinks

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Comment number: 3
Peter Weller in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Buckaroo Banzai: The Aliens Were in New Jersey All Along

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Comment number: 17
See All Summer of Silliness

We’re Working Through Some Stuff

Tony Leung Chiu-wai in 2046

2046: The Past, the Future, and the Painful Impermanence of Human Connection

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Comment number: 4
Bruno Lawrence as Zac Hobson in The Quiet Earth

The Quiet Earth: Alone and Together at the End of the World

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Comment number: 6
The Girl (Noutnapha Soydara) and the Boy (Por Silatsa) in a scene from The Long Walk (2019)

The Long Walk: Grief, Guilt, and the Inescapable Weight of the Past

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Comment number: 2
Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Navigating the Landscape of Human Emotion

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Comment number: 16
See All We’re Working Through Some Stuff

Around the World in Animation

Image from Watership Down (1978)

Watership Down: Creating a World in the English Countryside

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Comment number: 28
Image from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Living and Dying in the World We Create

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Comment number: 25
Image from the animated film Boy and the World

Boy and the World: A Stunning Child’s-Eye View of Post-Colonial Latin America

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Comment number: 2
Hogarth and the Iron Giant in The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant: One of the World’s Few Truly Perfect Movies

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Comment number: 20
Alisa looks at mirror-like flowers in a still from The Mystery of the Third Planet

The Mystery of the Third Planet: An Intro to Soviet Animation With a Children’s Adventure Turned Cult Classic

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Comment number: 10
A still from Fantastic Planet: A young female Draag holds a small male Om, whom she keeps as a pet.

Fantastic Planet: A Surreal, Unsettling Allegory of Oppression

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Comment number: 13
See All Around the World in Animation

Blue-Collar Sci Fi Jobs

Signourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien (1979)

Alien: I’m Chestbursting With Love for This Sci Fi Horror Classic

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Comment number: 18
Emilio Estevez as Otto in Repo Man

Repo Man: A Brash, Indelible, Outrageous Look at 1980s America

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Comment number: 21
Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element: Saving the World With Weirdness and Wonder

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Comment number: 34
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Dr. Lindsey Brigman encounters the alien in The Abyss

The Abyss: The Nuts-and-Bolts Approach to High-Pressure First Contact

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Comment number: 20
See All Blue-Collar Sci Fi Jobs

Elegy for a Magnificent Weirdo

Naomi Watts and Laura Harring in Mulholland Drive

Mulholland Drive: Lost in the City of Dreams and Nightmares

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Comment number: 5
Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me — An Unflinching Portrait of Despair

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Comment number: 5
Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides in Dune

Dune: The Enticing Weirdness of a Frustrating, Fascinating Failure 

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Comment number: 48
Jack Nance as Henry Spencer in Eraserhead

Eraserhead: Existential Anxiety as Cinematic Art

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Comment number: 8
See All Elegy for a Magnificent Weirdo

Here We Go Again and Again and Again…

Franka Potente as Lola in Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run: Free Will, Determinism, and That Killer Techno Beat

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Comment number: 12
David Sullivan and Shane Carruth in Primer

Primer: A Film for People Who Would Use Time Travel for Day Trading

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Comment number: 14
A figure in a long coat stands in the woods; their face is wrapped in bandages and they carry scissors. From the movie Timecrimes.

Timecrimes: Causality and the Consequences of Very Bad Decisions

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Comment number: 10
Tom Cruise as William Cage in Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow: If At First You Don’t Succeed, Die and Die Again

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Comment number: 34
See All Here We Go Again and Again and Again…

The Invasion Is Not Proceeding as Planned

An alien spacecraft flies through a city in The War of the Worlds (1953)

The War of the Worlds: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Square Dance

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Comment number: 26
Shin Ha-kyun as Lee Byeong-gu in Save the Green Planet!

Save the Green Planet! — A Brutal, Slapstick Descent Into Humanity’s Madness

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Comment number: 4
Children with glowing eyes, a scene from Village of the Damned (1960)

Village of the Damned: Killer Kiddos From Outer Space

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Comment number: 29
Screencap from Attack the Block

Attack the Block: A Very South London Welcoming Party

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Comment number: 12
Images from the 1956 and 1978 versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers: All Alien Stories Are Human Stories

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Comment number: 22
See All The Invasion Is Not Proceeding as Planned

We’re Here to Watch Movies and Chew Bubblebum

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in a publicity still for Halloween (1978)

Halloween: Horror Comes Home

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Comment number: 8
An alien disguised as a human stands in front of a sign declaring "OBEY" in a scene from They Live

They Live: We’re Here to Chew Bubblegum and Challenge Systemic American Economic Inequality

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Comment number: 22
Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges in Starman

Starman: This Is Actually Pretty Normal for an Arizona Road Trip

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Comment number: 23
Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing (1982)

The Thing: Have A Shot of Whisky With Your Existential Terror

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Comment number: 37
Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken in Escape From New York

Escape From New York: Snake Plissken Doesn’t Care

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Comment number: 17
See All We’re Here to Watch Movies and Chew Bubblebum

Put Your Thinking Spacesuits On

Alexander Kaidanovsky in a scene from Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker

Stalker: Journey Into the Landscape of the Human Soul

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Comment number: 12
Image from Contact (1997): Dr Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) listens to headphones in front of the Very Large Array Radio Telescope

Contact: Looking Outward From Our Pale Blue Dot

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Comment number: 27
Image from Ghost in the Shell (1995): Major Motoko Kusanagi sits overlooking the city

Ghost in the Shell: Exploring the Boundary Between Mind and Machine

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Comment number: 24
David Bowman (Keir Dullea) walks down an octagonal hallway of the Discovery One in a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey — Pushing the Boundaries of What Sci Fi Cinema Can Be

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Comment number: 39
See All Put Your Thinking Spacesuits On

Let’s Skip Ahead to the End

A scene from 12 Monkeys: Bruce Willis as James Cole, wearing a hazmat suit

12 Monkeys: The Terror and Trauma of an Inevitable Future

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Comment number: 21
Image from the film La Jetee

La Jetée: Time Travel Through Snapshots of Memory

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Comment number: 9
A scene from Aditya 369: the emperor, Sri Krishnadevaraya (Balakrishna Nandamuri), sits on a golden throne

Aditya 369: Diamond Thieves, Dance-Offs, and Derring-do

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Comment number: 2
A scene from the movie The Time Machine (1960): H. George Wells (Rod Taylor)grips a lever on the time machine

The Time Machine: Victorian Storytime With Cave Creatures and Camp

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Comment number: 36
See All Let’s Skip Ahead to the End

Wet Hot Kaiju Summer

Scene from King Kong (1933): King Kong stands atop the Empire State Building and attempts to grab a passing biplane.

King Kong: Brother, Can You Spare a Giant Gorilla?

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Comment number: 30
A scene from the Korean film The Host (2006): Park Hee-bong (Byun Hee-bong) points a gun at the monster.

The Host: When Fighting the Monster Is a Family Matter

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Comment number: 13
A scene from the movie Trollhunter: a large troll stands above a jeep on a dirt road

Trollhunter: Strategies for Wildlife Management of Charismatic Megafauna

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Comment number: 21
Godzilla, surrounded by cannons in a scene from Godzilla (1954)

Godzilla: Baptized in the Fire of the Atomic Era

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Comment number: 30
the Rhedosaurus on the streets of New York City in a scene from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms: I’m Always Rooting for the Dinosaur

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Comment number: 34
See All Wet Hot Kaiju Summer

The Bright and Shining Cities of the Future

High-angle shot of the character Kaneda from the anime film Akira.

Akira: The Children Are the Future

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Comment number: 15
Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner (1982)

Blade Runner: A Future More Human Than Human

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Comment number: 41
Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) and Natacha (Anna Karina) in a scene from Jean-Luc Goddard's Alphaville

Alphaville: Hard-Boiled Noir Meets New Wave Techno-Dystopia

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Comment number: 12
Rotwang the inventor with the Maschinenmensch in a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis

Metropolis: A Fever Dream of Mankind, Our Machines, and Maria

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Comment number: 32
See All The Bright and Shining Cities of the Future

Your Mind in the Machine

Neo (Keanu Reeves) holds up a hand to stop a hail of bullets in a scene from The Matrix

The Matrix: Hope, Fear, and Radical Liberation

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Comment number: 19
A scene from Tron (1982) in which Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) holds an Identity Disc

Tron: Breaking Cinematic Ground on the Gaming Grid

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Comment number: 42
Scene from World on a Wire

World on a Wire: Smoke and Mirrors in Paranoid Unreality

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Comment number: 15
Jennifer Jason Leigh in a scene from eXistenZ

eXistenZ: Sex and Video Games and Gooey, Indescribable Things

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Comment number: 15
See All Your Mind in the Machine

Earth Is Lovely This Time of Year

An alien spacecraft hovers over Devil's Tower in a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Yearning for a Place in the Cosmos

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Comment number: 30
The Brother (Joe Morton) and a young boy in a scene from The Brother From Another Planet

The Brother From Another Planet: Beer on the Rocks and the Kindness of Strangers

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Comment number: 20
Image from the 1957 film The Mysterians, depicting a group of aliens in brightly colored uniforms and helmets

The Mysterians: Flying Saucers, Mecha Kaiju, Ray Guns, and… International Cooperation?

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Comment number: 11
Klaatu (Michael Rennie) emerges from a spaceship in a scene from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Suspicion, Paranoia, and a Very Polite Alien Visitor in 1950s America

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Comment number: 38
See All Earth Is Lovely This Time of Year

It’s a Dangerous Universe Out There

Still from Ikarie XB-1

Ikarie XB-1: Imagining a Journey Across the Stars, Martinis Included

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Comment number: 21
Scene from Silent Running featuring Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) and Dewey the drone

Silent Running: A 1970s Environmental Fable Remains Depressingly All Too Relevant 

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Comment number: 40
Scene from Solaris (1972): Kris and Hari look at their reflections in a mirror

Solaris: Guilt, Grief, and the Many Human Facets of Science Fiction

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Comment number: 31
Scene from Forbidden Planet, featuring Anne Francis (as Altaira Morbius), Leslie Nielsen (as Cmmr. James J. Adams), and Robby the Robot

Forbidden Planet: The Moment Hollywood Got Serious About Sci Fi Cinema

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Comment number: 66
Black and white image from the film Le Voyage dans la Lune: a large spacecraft capsule has crashed onto the moon, directly into the face of "the man on the moon"

Introducing the Reactor Science Fiction Film Club!

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Comment number: 57
See All It’s a Dangerous Universe Out There

"It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult.”

Frank Herbert, Dune

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