This is a dangerous field into which one ventures. Choosing your favourite movies is like choosing your favourite bands – it’s a very personal, subjective thing, and any two random people will rarely agree. Choosing your favourite science fiction movies is even more treacherous. That’s more like choosing your favourite songs from your favourite band.

In choosing my “best of” list, I’m imposing some definite selection criteria that may be enough to weed out films that others consider better. To be included on my list, a movie must tick the following boxes:

• Must actually be science fiction. That does NOT include fantasy (which rules out any of the “Lord of the Rings” movies right there). I just wish a few bookstores viewed that definition of science fiction the same way. Not that I’m devaluing fantasy, just that I see that as a distinct category of its own. What actually constitutes science fiction will always be a matter of debate, but as a starting point, a good science fiction story should make you THINK and WONDER. It should have some root in science or alternative possibilities, without which the story could not exist.
• Movies that are just westerns set in space don’t count. This was actually a tough one to add, because it actually rules out a couple of movies that I like. For example, I like “Outland” even though I know a lot of people don’t consider it a very good movie – but it’s just “High noon” in space and has no discernable science fiction premise other than it’s set on a moon.
• Big special effects do not a good science fiction movie make. “Independence Day” had jaw-dropping effects for its day, and I still like it as an action movie. But just because it has spaceships and aliens doesn’t mean it is good science fiction. I mean really, a computer virus bumped those guys off? C’mon.
• Just because I loved a particular science fiction book doesn’t mean I thought the movie was any good. A good example is “I, robot” – a classic science fiction book, and one of my all-time favourites, but the Will Smith movie had almost nothing whatsoever to do with the book and was only an average action movie.
• Superhero movies (eg, Spiderman, Superman, Green Lantern, Thor, etc) aren’t eligible, even though they may contain science fiction elements.
• An action movie is fine, as long as it is still science fiction. A horror movie is fine as long as it is still science fiction. A comedy movie is find as long as it is still science fiction.

It is entirely probable that my list will change over time. My tastes and opinions change, new movies come out, or I can reconsider an older movie in a new way. Finally, they’re my rules, and I can break them if I want to.

Having said all that, here I go…

My list of the best science fiction movies

(as at Wednesday 16 may 2012)

1. 2001: A space odyssey (1968)
2. Blade runner (1982)
3. Forbidden planet (1956)
4. The day the earth stood still (1951)
5. Star Wars (1977)
6. Alien (1979)
7. Rollerball (1975)
8. The matrix (1999)
9. A clockwork orange (1971)
10. Inception (2010)
11. Close encounters of the third kind (1977)
12. The fifth element (1997)
13. Terminator (1984)
14. Metropolis (1926)
15. THX 1138 (1972)
16. Silent running (1972)
17. Gattaca (1997)
18. Solaris (1972)
19. The man who fell to earth (1976)
20. 1984 (1984)
21. Avatar (2009)
22. Sleeper (1973)

Honourable mentions

Here are some movies that I thought were still good (or just fun) science fiction films, even though they may not have made my best-of list.

• Adjustment Bureau (2011)
• District 9 (2009)
• The blob (1958)
• The andromeda strain (1971)