What has Hollywood done to SciFi movies?

[Clovis]

They arent the same anymore. Now its just not much of real SciFi, just a bunch of monster movies. Not anything much about space exploration. Good thing i bought the DVDs of the ones i really like.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Unless someone can say differently (and if so, I wish they would), I think Sci-Fi pretty much started with "monster" movies. I'm thinking Nosferatu, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc... I think it really hit it's stride in the mid 50's with atomic age monsters (Them and Tarantula being two of my personal favorites) and the space age (Forbidden Planet, This Island Earth).

I think the problem is that even though it's fiction, it still needs to be somewhat plausible and most, if not all, of those tropes have been ridden to death. If you look at the following list:

Star Trek
Star Wars
E.T.
Contact
Passengers
Voyagers
(and probably a couple dozen more than I can't think of at the moment)

What angles of non-monster sci-fi are left; that hasn't been done (really well, I might add) already?

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you. I (like Hollywood, I'm guessing) just don't know where to go that hasn't been visited before, nor how to do it better than before.

-Wolf sends

 

[Clovis]

Unless someone can say differently (and if so, I wish they would), I think Sci-Fi pretty much started with "monster" movies. I'm thinking Nosferatu, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc... I think it really hit it's stride in the mid 50's with atomic age monsters (Them and Tarantula being two of my personal favorites) and the space age (Forbidden Planet, This Island Earth).

I think the problem is that even though it's fiction, it still needs to be somewhat plausible and most, if not all, of those tropes have been ridden to death. If you look at the following list:

Star Trek
Star Wars
E.T.
Contact
Passengers
Voyagers
(and probably a couple dozen more than I can't think of at the moment)

What angles of non-monster sci-fi are left; that hasn't been done (really well, I might add) already?

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you. I (like Hollywood, I'm guessing) just don't know where to go that hasn't been visited before, nor how to do it better than before.

-Wolf sends

Surviving in a Mars colony?

 

[Clovis]

A lot of dangerous things could happen there.

 

[Catastrophe]

I think there is a lot remaining in distant galaxies and their inhabitant aliens - beyond helmet heads with antennae and telescopic eyes. We have had enough of those.

Maybe more psychological thrillers with more substance and fewer extravagant artifacts?
Manipulation of world lines, and lots more impossible things?

Cat

 

[Dale Holley]

Hollywood has it's place, but tell it like is NO!!!
The best or closest, to being realistic probably in my opinion?
Would have to be? Fantastic Voyage, 2001 Space Odessey, Apollo 13, Mission to Mars, Silent Running And maybe Gravity.
These don't have Monster's and aren't to off the mark of what could or might actually have happened
in a real mission

 

[Wolfshadw]

Surviving in a Mars colony?

Total Recall, The Martian, to a lesser extent, Babylon 5.

-Wolf sends

 

[Helio]

IIRC, Roddenberry based his Star Trek on the B Western series. [Was Death Valley Days one in particular he used?]

Humans struggling during any trek leads to great story telling. Those involving outer space allow for a much broader range of stories since there are almost no limits on the mysteries and circumstances that can cause those struggles.

 

[suneritz]

Science fiction movies by Marvel. Superhero movies.

 

[Pogo]

If I remember, Roddenberry quipped that Star Trek was like the ‘Wagon Train’ to the stars and likened Kirk was like Horatio Hornblower.

 

[SpaceRocks1]

I know what you mean, but to be fair Arrival was as good as any of the classics, I thought.