Star Trek is a 2009 American science fiction adventure film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the eleventh film in the. The Adjustment Bureau, in theaters Friday, is just one of many movies based on stories by writer Philip K. Dick. We examine Hollywoods fascination with the scifi. Its been a year since the Marvels Agents of SHIELD spinoff starring Mockingbird and Lance Hunter died an ignominious death. And since then, the question has. The Andromeda Strain 1971 Very much the model of the restrained scifi film theres very little eye candy on display, including the starfree cast who. Rollerball is in this list somewhere but how high did it reach Bad scifi and fantasy movies arent merely the province of lowbudget quickies. Best and Worst Movies Based on Philip K. Dick Stories. Hollywoods go to source for sci fi. With roughly 1. 21 short stories and 4. Philip K. Dick has been inspiring filmmakers and other storytellers for years. The ninth ignoring the currently unreleased Radio Free Albemuth, and the French release of the non sci fi Confessions of a Crap Artist feature adaptation of Dicks work comes out this Friday. While some scifi outings become instant classics, others fade from view. These movies deserve masterpiece status. MORE LIT LISTS 50 Best Scientific Romances 18641903 Radium Age SciFi 100 Best Novels of 190433 Golden Age SciFi 75 Best Novels of 19341963 75. Watch free 600 Free Live TV Channels. See 45000 Complimentary movies TV shows and documentaries. Record Local TV zero cost. View Horror Movies at no charge Plot summary, commentary, and film details such as trivia, cast, crew, and reviews. An adaptation of Dicks 1. Adjustment Team, The Adjustment Bureau tells the story of a politician Matt Damon and the forces that try to keep him from being with the woman he loves, a ballet dancer played by Emily Blunt. Like the films below, differences exist between the original work and the film a love story being the major addition in The Adjustment Bureau, but the questions Dick explored in his work remain in each of the film adaptations. What does it mean to be human Blade Runner, Screamers, Impostor What impact does seeing or predicting the future have Minority Report, Paycheck, Next What influence do drugs have on identity, and who are you if your memory has been wiped A Scanner Darkly, Total Recall, PaycheckThese questions along with alternate realities, pervasive paranoia, and existential panic continually appear, and even though the resulting films have been wildly inconsistent, theyre never boring. And fans can expect filmmakers to continue to be inspired by Dicks work. In fact, Ridley Scott is producing an adaptation of Dicks alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle for the BBC, and director Michel Gondry announced just two weeks ago that hes planning an adaptation of the authors acclaimed 1. Ubik for 2. 01. 3. Philip K. Dick Adaptations, from Worst to BestIt essentially uses the setup of an early Dick short story as a bookend to one long, dull chase scene. Keith Phipps, The Onion A. V. Club. Impostor is set in the year 2. Earth is in the midst of a 4. Cult Sci Fi Movies Escape From Planet Earth ' title='Cult Sci Fi Movies Escape From Planet Earth ' />Alpha Centauri. Spencer Olham Gary Sinise is a military scientist who has created a weapon that could win the war, until Major Hathaway Vincent DOnofrio, of the Earth Security Agency, arrests him on suspicion of being a cyborg in service of the aliens. After a daring and surprisingly easy escape, Olham tries to prove his innocence with the help of his wife Maya Madeleine Stowe. The film was originally intended to be one third of a trilogy of short films, and it shows. The solid cast cannot overcome a padded story, low budget, and generic directing. The film failed at the box office as well as with critics. The UKs leading telefantasy and cult scifi website. Featuring News, Reviews, Competitions, Interview and Features on all your favourite science fiction TV shows and. How it compares to the story Since the film is based on a story that is quite short, changes and additions go way beyond the typical character name changes. The main themes of the story are intact, but Olhams escape from Hathaway Peters in the story is completely different, and the role of Olhams wife Mary in the story has been increased in the film. In addition, the middle section of the film in which Olham buddies up with a zoner named Cale Mekhi Phifer does not occur in Dicks original story. Next is clearly an attempt at a puzzle movie, one of those brainteaser pictures that lures viewers into another dimension, but it doesnt have the momentum, the quick wittedness, to keep us wondering whats going to happen next. Stephanie Zacharek, Salon. In Next, Nicolas Cage stars as Cris Johnson, a clairvoyant who can see two minutes into his own future. His powers are wanted by FBI Agent Callie Ferris Julianne Moore to help find a nuclear bomb before it blows up Los Angeles, but the key to his success might be Liz Jessica Biel, who allows Cris to see further into the future. The film failed to impress critics or moviegoers with the ludicrous story and Cages hair taking the most blame though foreign receipts did more than triple the domestic box office gross. How it compares to the story Loosely based might be putting it kindly, so Philip K. Dick shouldnt take any heat for the Next screenplay. His original story shares only the lead characters name and his ability. That is all. Instead of a sci fi thriller about a nuclear bomb, Dicks tale is a grim look at the future where Cris Johnson is a mutant, a golden literally god, irresistible to women and a danger to the human race. The amazing thing about John Woos steely, impersonal adaptation of Philip K. Dick sci fi story about a tech genius whose memory is erased. Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly. On the surface, one might expect a film with a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, and Paul Giamatti to have a successful release. Afflecks The Sum of All Fears had grossed over 1. Thurman was coming off the success of Kill Bill Vol. Eckhart was only a few years past his turn in Erin Brockovich, and Giamatti was praised just months before for his work as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor. But this story of a reverse engineer who rents himself out to companies for a huge paycheck only to have his memory wiped once hes completed the work could only muster 5. U. S. Should director John Woo and his doves take the blame Possibly. Paycheck is the film that ended Woos 1. Hollywood run, but many reviewers focused on Afflecks performance, and when teamed with his other 2. Gigli and Daredevil, only one result was possible a Razzie for worst actor of the year. How it compares to the story Paycheck sticks to the basics of Dicks short story. Instead of being an electrical engineer as he is in the original story, Jennings Affleck is a reverse engineer, taking a finished product and reconfiguring it for another company. The clues Jennings leaves himself have also been updated. In the story he gets seven items, including a bus token, a ticket stub, a half broken poker chip, but in the film he sends himself twenty items such as a pack of cigarettes, hairspray, sunglasses, a lighter, and other things that aid in his survival. And again the ending is changed lets just say that Affleck and Eckhart dont come to the same understanding as the characters in the short story. Screamersna 1. 99. Add to Netflix Queuebased on Second Variety 1. The look and the basic plot elements are not original, but what makes the film somewhat intriguing is its Blade Runner like ambiguity who is, and who isnt, a human being. Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times. Screamers takes place in 2. Sirius 6. B, a mining colony, where war between the New Economic Block N. E. B. and the Alliance has been raging for years. To win the war, the Alliance created screamers, or Autonomous Mobile Swords, that burrow just underground and then attack anything with a heartbeat, but what Colonel Hendricksson Peter Weller discovers is that these machines have adapted, and self replicated into multiple forms including that of a human. So who can he trust as he attempts to escape the planet Weller, Buckaroo Banzai himself and lets not forget Robocop, cant save this low budget action film from a clunky ending and average special effects, but the movie did receive three Genie Canadian Film Award nominations for art directionproduction design, original score, and supporting actor Ron White. It even produced a straight to video in the U. S. at least sequel, Screamers The Hunting. How it compares to the story In the original short story, the Cold War has degenerated into an all out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Earth is a wasteland, there is no mining colony on Sirius 6. B, and it is not so far into the future. The United Nations are the creators of claws, not screamers, and they threaten to eradicate humanity. To avoid spoilers, well just say that the ending of the short story is a bit darker than the movies convoluted happyforeboding ending. Total Recall. 57 1. Add to Netflix Queuebased on We Can Remember It For You Wholesale 1. Too bad director Paul Verhoeven lets brainless violence and tricky special effects swamp the cleverness of the tale itself. David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor. TVs top 5. 0 sci fi characters Mr. Spock, Starbuck andTOBOR Clark Kent, Smallville 2. This long running series starred Tom Welling as Clark Kent, the boy who would become Superman, and followed a no tights, no flight rule for most of its run, instead focusing on the difficulties facing the teenage alien transplanted on Earth. Divx Ipod Pez here. Throughout the series, Clark discovers his true heritage, builds relationships with both Lana Lang and Lois Lane, faces off against Lex Luthor, Major Zod and Darkseid and tries to find the courage to be the superhero he was born to be, all while keeping his identity under wraps. Michael Courtney The CWhttp herocomplex. Link. Beldar Conehead, Saturday Night Live 1. So, uh, whats with that head Were from France. That was good enough for most of the casually curious back in 1. Beldar Conehead Dan Aykroyd and his brood from the planet Remulak tossed their senso rings at Saturday Night Live viewers. After Close Encounters and Star Wars, that audience felt the power of the farce and looking back theres something about Beldars beer gut and hapless plots that made him the Homer Simpson of the Jimmy Carter era. Murray Close Paramount Pictureshttp herocomplex. Link. Capt. Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek The Next Generation 1. You cant out Kirk Kirk. That was the thinking leading up to the launch of Star Trek The Next Generation and it was sound. But the notion of an Enterprise captained by a tea sipping, bald native of France with patrician civility A bad joke then, it now ranks among TVs most inspired gambles. Patrick Stewarts Picard engaged audiences for seven seasons meaning he boldly went to a place that Kirk with 7. Elliott Marks Paramount Pictureshttp herocomplex. Link. John Sheridan, Babylon 5 1. In a way, the first season of Babylon 5 was a preamble building up to the arrival of John J. Sheridan, the man called Starkiller by his foes and eventually viewed as a messiah like figure by many of the people who saw him as something more than a leader. Brought back from the dead twice, Sheridan seems anointed by destiny, but hes no saint far from it. He can be impatient and has a withering temper. All those layers make Bruce Boxleitners captain and eventual president a star man with a killer arc. Handouthttp herocomplex. Link. Capt. Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek Voyager 1. Starfleets first female captain to get her own TV show, Kathryn Janeway Kate Mulgrew was also the toughest boss in Gene Roddenberrys sci fi future since Capt. James T. Kirk and, like him, an Iowa native. While some couldnt help chattering about her changing hairdos, we think Janeway stands out for her ability to beat back everyone who has crossed Voyagers path, be they Borg, Hirogen or Species 8. While romance was rare for the woman who put duty first, she had close bonds with friends including Tuvok Tim Russ, Seven of Nine Jeri Ryan and Chakotay Robert Beltran, as well as her beloved pots of coffee. Paramount Pictureshttp herocomplex. Link. John Crichton, Farscape 1. After American astronaut John Crichton Ben Browder accidentally flies his space module Farscape 1 through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy, he finds himself part of a fugitive crew aboard Moya, a living, sentient spaceship. Although he eventually befriends his fellow travelers aliens who at first view him as primitive and ignorant and finds love with Aeryn Sun Claudia Black, he longs to return to Earth, studies wormhole technology and searches for a way home. Brian Mc. Kenzie Syfyhttp herocomplex. Link. Dana Scully, The X Files 1. The skeptical, rational, redheaded foil to Fox Mulder, Gillian Andersons medical doctor proved a dedicated ally to her oddball counterpart. Cool and collected, Scully had very personal encounters with the unknown that left her battling cancer and later giving birth to a child with special abilities. Through it all, her rapport with her partner remained constant despite a sprawling story line that at various points involved alien abductions, shadowy government conspiracies, otherworldly bounty hunters and black gummy substances, clones, shape shifters and a two headed monster with a passion for Cher. Frank Ockenfels Foxhttp herocomplex. Link. Dr. Gaius Baltar, Battlestar Galactica 2. The brilliant scientist who narrowly escaped an apocalypse of his own making, the treasonous Gaius Baltar James Callis travels a treacherous path from unwitting Cylon accomplice to vice president of whats left of the colonies. He then engineers his own ascendancy to president, leading settlers to colonize New Caprica, before ultimately surrendering to Cylon invaders. Adopting the pose of a self appointed prophet, he maintains an unusual relationship with Number Six Tricia Helfer. Baltars limitless capacity for self preservation made him loathsome, but Callis performance was masterful his villain was a narcissistic chameleon who was as mesmerizing as he was despicable. Carole Segal Syfyhttp herocomplex. Link. Diana, V 1. In the original 1. Diana Jane Badler is high commander of the Visitors, a genocidal alien race. The Visitors land on Earth offering peace and shared knowledge, but Diana and her lizard people impose military rule and systematically perform mind control and biological experiments on humans. Diana returns in the 2. V, and she continues to plot and scheme, though this time against the new high commander, her daughter Anna Morena Baccarin. Gene Trindl NBC Universalhttp herocomplex. Link. Dr. Zachary Smith, Lost in Space 1. At the start, Dr. Smith was a true villain. An enemy agent, he sabotaged the Jupiter 2s systems and then trapped aboard he was a victim of the navigational misadventure he caused. But as episodes passed a new Smith took shape haughty, insincere, bumbling and shrill, he was unlikable but no longer evil. Actor Jonathan Harris was tilting the character he knew a true menace couldnt last but an irritant was invaluable for a writing team. A mad genius. Syfyhttp herocomplex. Link. Benjamin Linus, Lost 2. Is he a cold blooded villain or a visionary with good intentionsIts never quite clear. The enigmatic leader of a group of natives the Others who occupy the island on which Oceanic Flight 8. Ben Michael Emerson is ruthless in pursuit of his mysterious goals the main one seemingly to protect the island itself. He manipulates and often persecutes the survivors of the crash though later in the series, he becomes their ally. He moves the island and helps several of the survivors escape and then return again and eventually finds peace as advisor to Hugo Jorge Garcia. Mario Perez ABChttp herocomplex. Link. Sarah Connor, Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2. In this series set after Terminator 2 Judgment Day, Sarah Connor Lena Headey and her son John Thomas Dekker, who will eventually become leader of the resistance movement, are on the run, pursued by government agents and a Terminator from the future. Sarah is a devoted mother and decides the only way to protect her son is to destroy Skynet and prevent the rise of the machines. But her plans are complicated by enemies from the past and the future, as well as her own mortality. Frank Ockenfels Foxhttp herocomplex. Link. President Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica 2. When we meet her, she is the secretary of education and reeling from a cancer diagnosis she feels like the end of the world is coming. Shes right. A mechanical plague called the Cylons descends on humanity and Roslin Mary Mc. Donnell, suddenly the highest ranking official, is sworn in as president. The tale that follows her triumphs, defeats, tears, love, loss and faith showed a soulful and honest leader who would never let her people go quietly into the night. Justin Stephens Syfyhttp herocomplex. Link. SeptemberThe Observer, Fringe 2.