Top 5 Worst Sci-Fi Films

Sci-Fi gives both gems and flops.  Here in no particular order are my top 5 worst sci-fi films of all time.

Let’s start of strong here with what is without a doubt not only one of the worst sci-fi films of all time, but one of the worst films period of all time.  It’s Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space.  Plan 9 is one of those rare films that not only has a bad concept, but is also poorly executed.  It tells the tale of a duo of aliens whose plan to make the governments of the world recognize them is to reanimate three dead bodies in some small town in southern California.  Yeah it makes you wonder what plans 1 through 8 were. This is a horrible, horrible film, but also incredibly fun to watch.  It’s actually really funny.  The space ships are literally hubcaps on wires.  It sucks, but is still good for a laugh.

We move out of the realm of the so bad it’s good and into the realm of just plain awful.  Here we have Battlefield Earth.  Battlefield Earth is an example of when the film gets a little too personal.  John Travolta really wanted to make a good film from the founder of his religion, (names withheld on advice of counsel).  Instead it turned into a flop of major proportions.  From hammy acting, to odd cinematic effects, to a just plain out odd storyline the film just couldn’t capture what Travolta intended.  But who knows, in twenty years maybe smartasses will be watching midnight screenings of it.

Next we have another flop, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.  Yeah the prequels suck, we know.  But Attack was so much more.  It represented everything wrong with the prequels.  Whereas Episodes I and III had some redeeming moments, Episode II has no such scenes.  The writing is crap, the action is dull, and the acting is horrendous.  The only good parts are the scenes with Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson.  Episode II almost broke Star Wars for a lot of fans and to me will always be the weakest film.  In that sense, it’s a mirror of Empire, which despite being the middle film is considered one of the stronger ones.  Regardless,   I won’t be changing the channel to Episode II when I see that it’s on.

Let’s move back into the world of camp and see probably one of the odder films made.  Fans of MST3K will recognize Santa Clause Conquers the Martians.  The film’s plot is basic.  Martians kidnap Santa.  Yeah, that’s it.  Martians think that their kids need a Santa like figure and kidnap him.  This film has all the hallmarks of bad sci-fi: silly plot and dialogue; bad science; bad acting; and bad overall execution.  This is not a good film, but it is really funny.  It’s like Plan 9, you can’t help but sort of like it.  It’s much better with the cast of MST3K riffing on it, but trust me you’ll get some laughs on your own.

Finally we have a bad film that is neither near nor dear to my heart.  This time it’s personal with the flop of Green Lantern.  Why is it here?  Because of my need for vengeance against this movie, that’s why!  Green Lantern is my favorite superhero and I looked forward to this film with eager anticipation.  What I got was crap.  They got every part of the mythos wrong.  Except Ryan Reynold’s portrayal of Hal Jordan, that was alright.  Everything else was pretty bad, they couldn’t even get the effect done well.  I hate this movie and what it represents: Lazy film making done for a quick buck.  At least the other films on the list had some heart.  This one didn’t and that’s why it’s here.

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