Worst Science Fiction Film of All Time II: The Quickening

[areaseven]

I don't actually think this qualifies as all time worst material, but I want to give it an honorable mention because I just watched it: the 1998 American Godzilla film.

That movie was a complete embarrassment to the Godzilla name.

[anime52k8]

Speaking of recently watched bad movies, I'm watching 1999's Virus right now. The best way I can sum it up is that this movie is on the top of Jamie Lee Curtis' bad movie night list, and she starred in it.

Edited May 30, 2012 by anime52k8

[renegadeleader1]

That movie was a complete embarrassment to the Godzilla name.

When all is said and done the 1998 american Godzilla film isn't actually a bad monster movie, its just a horrible, horrible Godzilla film. I've actually looked at it in a different light since Final Wars establishes it as a seperate monster.

To be perfectly honest in my opinion the Heisei era Godzilla vs King Ghidorah is a much worse film. The boring plot(which involves time travel) makes no god damned sense and has way too many logic traps. Then there's the lame homages to six million dollar man, terminator, and Speilberg. This film has the worst special effects of any Godzilla film made.

[anime52k8]

Speaking of recently watched bad movies, I'm watching 1999's Virus right now. The best way I can sum it up is that this movie is on the top of Jamie Lee Curtis' bad movie night list, and she starred in it.

You know, after having watched this piece of crap through a bit more, I remember why I thought it was cool when I was a little kid. The animatronics in this thing are actually pretty awesome. Of course it's still an absolutely idiotic movie with no other redeeming qualities to speak of.

[Mommar]

Bad Sci-Fi movies? Wing Commander. We went and saw it for a friend's birthday when I was in high school. His Mom paid for us all. I felt like I should have paid her back when we left the theater. I remember it was so dumb there was a part where the capitol ships were hunting each other and they set low to the ground, shut off all the power and were shushing each other and trying to keep quiet to avoid the sonar from the other ship.

[Gubaba]

Very solid choices I see, but are half of them still available at rental stores?

There are rental stores still...?

[areaseven]

When all is said and done the 1998 american Godzilla film isn't actually a bad monster movie, its just a horrible, horrible Godzilla film. I've actually looked at it in a different light since Final Wars establishes it as a seperate monster.

To be perfectly honest in my opinion the Heisei era Godzilla vs King Ghidorah is a much worse film. The boring plot(which involves time travel) makes no god damned sense and has way too many logic traps. Then there's the lame homages to six million dollar man, terminator, and Speilberg. This film has the worst special effects of any Godzilla film made.

Then that means you haven't seen Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, which has been ranked as the worst Heisei-era Godzilla film.

[renegadeleader1]

Then that means you haven't seen Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, which has been ranked as the worst Heisei-era Godzilla film.

I own it, along with most of the rest of the series, and have seen every one at some point. SpaceGodzilla isn't too bad aside from being predictable, paint by the numbers, and having possibly the worst choice for a JSDF mecha in M.O.G.U.E.R.A. especially after the previous film showcased how powerful their MechaGodzilla was. Still its coherent if somewhat boring plot puts it above King Ghidorah in my book.

[sketchley]

My picks:

1. 2001: it's a classic. An extremely polarizing (like/dislike) one at that. But the more realistic portrayal of space travel can be a viewing chore at time. And the open ended ending will disturb people who want neat plot resolutions with ribbons on them. Nevertheless, everyone has to watch it at least once.

2. Armageddon: purely because of how much it insults the intelligence of anyone with half a brain. Who knows anything about physics. The only movie I wanted to walk out of at the 31 minute mark (but due to the silly rule of not getting refunded after the 30 minute mark, I decided to tough it out... and was rewarded by such things as a Gatling gun on a space mining truck Retch.

3. I've been wracking my brains for 3 picks as per the OP, but I can't pick a 3rd one... >.< So, the following are the few that I've been waffling between:

Soldier: mediocre martial arts movie that someone tried to bookend into a sci-fi movie. The most disappointing thing (aside from the incoherent plot) was the complete and utter lack of a space battle... that was IN the fricken ads for the movie! Talk about false advertising. >.<

Battlefield Earth: I don't know what's going on with this movie. The lame, overlong Matrix ripoff action sequences are mind numbing... but the atmosphere that the aliens breath explosively reacting to radiation is... just... plain... stupid! How the hell did their planet develop... let alone life... let alone intelligent life, when any nearby star will cause it to incinerate. Tarded with a capital RE.

Now, there are probably a whole bunch of worse movies than the aforementioned, but the OP indicated that any suggestions be movies that you've actually watched. A lot of those that others have mentioned are probably worse than my 3 (erm, 4), but I guess that my not having watched them is a good sign, right?

Edited May 30, 2012 by sketchley

[Funkenstein]

Space Mutiny. I've only ever seen it in MST3K version. I was LMAO through the thing.

Captain Santa Claus - "Everyone Look lively!"

Bot - "But she's dead."

My worst list would be

Space Mutiny

Liquid Sky

Manos the Hands of Fate.

Space Mutiny was the one that took place in the abandoned chemical factory right?

[Chronocidal]

Wing Commander made me cry for two main reasons:

1. They didn't get Mark Hamill to do it.

2. The games had better acting and casting, including Mark Hamil. Actually, better everything.

I honestly stopped thinking of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker a long time ago. He's either Christopher Blair, or The Joker.

Cabin Fever I have to agree with.. I don't remember why I saw it, but I think it involved a double feature at the drive in, and everyone was there for the second movie. Essentially, it was 5(?) douchebags and Shawn from Boy Meets World in a cabin in the woods, and they all catch a flesh eating disease. You wind up pretty much hating every character except Shawn

, and everyone dies

. The single redeeming element comes in the last 5 min of the movie when you see the setup for what will probably happen to the town full of douchier-bags that refused to help them.

If we're including any made for tv movies.. I'd use the one where the shark jumps up and bites the 747 in half, and the one where the moon is shattering and has to be remagnetized by nuking it from the inside. And possibly anything else involving Steven Baldwin.

Edited May 30, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Dynaman]

Space Mutiny was the one that took place in the abandoned chemical factory right?

Yes, supposed to be a space ship - but it had concrete floors and sunlight streaming in through the windows.

It also featured LOTS of people falling from ladders.

[Old_Nash]

Macross 7: The Galaxy Call Me.

WTF are this????

For me, it's just an episode that should come into the series, but as it was too bad (even for the serie), ended up going to the "theatres"

[JB0]

Also, 2003's The Core, worst disaster movie ever. Can we just make it a rule that any movie that uses the word 'Unobtainium' at any point automatically qualifies for this list?

What are you talking about? That movie was a hilarious parody, and that gives it redeeming value right off the bat. The fact that it was ACCIDENTAL parody is irrelevant.

I saw that one in theaters and laughed my ass off.

...

I got a few dirty looks from the other folks in the theater, but it's their own fault for trying to take it seriously after the crew crashed into a motherloving diamond supergeode. Heck, after the space shuttle crash-landed six inches from a construction worker's unprotected butt and he didn't even notice.

It's got a serious case of so bad it's good.

I'm gonna go ahead and say it. The worst sci-fi movie is Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Objectively, it's not even close to the worst movie ever. But subjectively, the broken promises, crushed expectations, and shattered dreams were more than enough to push it to the head of the line.

[Keith]

Macross 7: The Galaxy Call Me.

WTF are this????

For me, it's just an episode that should come into the series, but as it was too bad (even for the serie), ended up going to the "theatres"

Your joke is bad, and you should feel bad.

[areaseven]

Since it's Prometheus week, here's a question: which movie was worse - Alien³ or Alien Resurrection?

Personally, I thought Alien³ was the worst of the bunch. Hicks and Newt got killed in the beginning for no good reason (other than the fact that the actress who originally played Newt is older now). Michael Biehn was so pissed that he demanded royalties for the use of his likeness in one scene and he got almost as much as his Aliens salary.

Edited June 7, 2012 by areaseven

[s001]

Resurrection all the way. Alien 3 was at least interesting.

TRANSFORMERS!!!!!! End of discussion.

[taksraven]

The story of Ripley was done with the end of Aliens, there was no need to carry it further. (apart from box office reasons of course) The third film should have gone a different direction with new characters. As it stands, I think that Alien 3 was a great effort considering the restraints put on all those involved. Yes, it was ultimately a failure but I don't blame the directer. Alien 4 was just a really misguided film. Big budget, no script that made any sort of real sense and a new type of hybrid alien that is in every sense of the word one of the worst things ever seen onscreen.

[Penguin]

I'd say Resurrection as well. I thought Whedon wrote some good characters, and Jeunet shows them off well in the first half, but I found the overall story lacked suspense or menace, and the "newborn", while I lauded the attempt at something new, underwhelmed me. The alien design had gone too far from Giger's orignal for my tastes too. While Alien 3 "alienated" me with Hicks' and Newt's abrupt deaths as well, especially when I first saw it, I enjoyed the overall mood and especially the paranoia of the final tunnel chase.

[sketchley]

Alien 3.

Why? They killed the other survivors from Aliens OFF SCREEN. >.<

[s001]

You know when a science-fiction movie is bad when it's tv counterpart that is intended for kids (transformers prime) is 10,000 times better in about every single aspect.

[anime52k8]

I'd say Aliens³ was significantly worse than Resurrection. Resurrection wasn't amazing, and clearly inferior to the first two, but was a passably entertaining sci-fi action film with nothing particularly painful or offensive until the last 15 minutes of the film where it goes completely off the rails with all the hybrid child crap.

Aliens³ on the other hand is just a culsterf*ck. It starts out with a kick in the face to every person who every person who ever enjoyed Aliens then spends the ensuing 114 minutes finding new ways to fling fecal matter at the audience.

[Keith]

Alien 3.

Why? They killed the other survivors from Aliens OFF SCREEN. >.<

They mostly die off-screen, mostly...

[Gubaba]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it. The worst sci-fi movie is Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Objectively, it's not even close to the worst movie ever. But subjectively, the broken promises, crushed expectations, and shattered dreams were more than enough to push it to the head of the line.

I can't really argue with this, except by going all conceptual and stating that Star Wars isn't science-fiction, it's science-fantasy.

Ergo, you win. Probably.

[JB0]

They mostly die off-screen, mostly...

I applaude your wit, good sir.

I can't really argue with this, except by going all conceptual and stating that Star Wars isn't science-fiction, it's science-fantasy.

Ergo, you win. Probably.

You could say I win... from a certain point of view?

[Gubaba]

You could say I win... from a certain point of view?

I'll have to consult the midichlorians to make sure, but I think so.

[VFTF1]

Hm... recently, I've been rewatching the Charlton Heston sci-fi films like Omega-Man and Planet of the Apes. Yesterday, I sat mesmerized by the simple costumes and action/special effects of Omega-Man and wondering...dag...I really really LIKE this film. The acting, the kind of low budget noir...it really speaks to me. As impressive as the CGI rendered Caeser ape from Rise of the Planet of the Apes was - there's just something about these retro films that I will never stop loving...

Same with films like James Cann in Roller Ball...

Err...the point?

Well - I just kind of realized that lots of films which might be farcicle in some aspects get a lot of my respect. Generally speaking - I can almost be sure that any Sci-Fi movie made post-1993 will SUCK for me.

The last "new" Sci-Fi movie I watched and enjoyed a lot was District 9... the Star Wars prequils don't really count...they're good...but they're star wars...different category really...not sci-fi per se for me...

Oh boy...sorry...

Why is it that I either write short one line posts with a coherent thought or I babble on without being able to express a clear point of view?

I don't know what the worse sci-fi movie is...

Revenge of the Fallen still hurts - kind of like if somebody shoved a broomstick up my a$$ two years ago - it would probably still hurt today.

Pete

[Dimis]

I'd say Aliens³ was significantly worse than Resurrection. Resurrection wasn't amazing, and clearly inferior to the first two, but was a passably entertaining sci-fi action film with nothing particularly painful or offensive until the last 15 minutes of the film where it goes completely off the rails with all the hybrid child crap.

Aliens³ on the other hand is just a culsterf*ck. It starts out with a kick in the face to every person who every person who ever enjoyed Aliens then spends the ensuing 114 minutes finding new ways to fling fecal matter at the audience.

I could not disagree more. Each of the 3 Alien films takes a different approach, except for Resurrection which is a pastiche of everything before it. Alien 3 was the only one i would refer to as emotional. It may not have the atmosphere of Alien, or be as compulsive to watch as Aliens - mainly because of an ungainly cast apart from S. Weaver, who are unpleasant to watch - but it is a non-Hollywood finale to the trilogy fitting the first rather than the second film. It ends with a sacrifice in a prison facility, at the ass end of space no one cares about. Instead of spending half the film watching an "Alien planet" being sabotaged and blown to pieces which would have been fecal matter as you set it.

Having said this, Avatar was one of the worst sci-fi films i've watched the last 5 years that i can remember. There are several others but this was shocking as to how by the numbers it was. It was intended for people who went for a double feature, with Twilight following right after.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Dimis

[Gubaba]

Revenge of the Fallen still hurts - kind of like if somebody shoved a broomstick up my a$$ two years ago - it would probably still hurt today.

Pete

Thank you. You've encapsulated my feeling for the first Transformers movie and explained why I refused to see Parts 2 and 3, in one fell swoop,

[sketchley]

Well - I just kind of realized that lots of films which might be farcicle in some aspects get a lot of my respect. Generally speaking - I can almost be sure that any Sci-Fi movie made post-1993 will SUCK for me.

Hmmm... that's about the time that CG started to appear, and people could do the first idea that pops into their head...

... which is usually crap. Lack of CG and requiring people to a) make practical effects and b) work within a limited budget to make those practical effects actually required a lot more creativity and thought.

In addition, the time spent on special effects drastically increased as the range of things CG could produce increased and the cost to do it decreased. Meaning that a LOT less time was spent developing the script to make the in-between scenes (you know, the scenes between the actiony show stoppers) more interesting - as in the old days, they were much longer.

Anyhow, the last semi-decent science fiction movie I saw (Movie Plus. have 3 kids, no way am I getting out to the theatre, so the following isn't really all that recent) was "DejaVu" (2006).

[VFTF1]

Yep - I agree Sketchy.

The CGI craze really got going with two sci-fi movies: Terminator 2 and the Abyss.

Both T2 and the Abyss were AWESOME - and both of them used CGI SPARINGLY. I think that's the point - they used CGI only a little bit to do something truly surrealistic.

Nowadays, CGI is used for mundane things - all because a digital toilet is cheaper than a real toilet. It's cost-driven, I think - and that is certainly hurting creativity...

Pete

[Ghost Train]

I have found a winner:

[areaseven]

Goddamn, what was J. Michael Straczynski smoking when he wrote that movie? What a way to leave a mark on the Babylon 5 legacy.

[Keith]

Goddamn, what was J. Michael Straczynski smoking when he wrote that movie? What a way to leave a mark on the Babylon 5 legacy.

Lost Tales made up for it.

[areaseven]

"We should have done MegaForce, that was a sweet movie, we should have done that." - Trey Parker Edited July 29, 2013 by areaseven