“Science fiction has produced some of cinema’s boldest and most glorious flights – in every sense,” said film critic Peter Bradshaw. “Sometimes patronised as kids’ stuff, the genre seeks to look beyond the parochialism of most realist drama: to see other worlds and other existences, and therefore to look with a new, radically alienated eye at our own.”

Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902) was one of early cinema’s biggest hits. In the middle of the 20th century, sci-fi inhabited the B-picture world of monsters and rockets and intuited a “red scare” anxiety about aliens. At the end of the 1960s, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey broke through into a new level of poetry and wonder. Films like Dark Star and Alien worked a satirical, pessimistic darkness into sci-fi, but George Lucas and Steven Spielberg together expressed its lighter, more hopeful strain.

These are the 25 best sci-fi and fantasy films according to the critics of the Guardian and Observer.

1.

2001: A Space Odyssey

(1968)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester

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2.

Metropolis

(1927)

Director: Fritz Lang
Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich

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$23.99

3.

Blade Runner

(1982)

Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

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4.

Alien

(1979)

Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt

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[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B00CNW9ZEU&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming, George Cukor]

5. [amazon text=The Wizard of Oz&template=custom_title&asin=B00CNW9ZEU&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming, George Cukor] (1939)

Directors: [amazon text=Victor Fleming&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Victor Fleming], [amazon text=George Cukor&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=George Cukor] Stars: [amazon text=Judy Garland&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Judy Garland], [amazon text=Frank Morgan&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Frank Morgan], [amazon text=Ray Bolger&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Ray Bolger]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B00CNW9ZEU&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming, George Cukor]

[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B003UESJLK&search_text=%TITLE%&title=E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Steven Spielberg]

6. [amazon text=E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial&template=custom_title&asin=B003UESJLK&search_text=%TITLE%&title=E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Steven Spielberg] (1982)

Director: [amazon text=Steven Spielberg&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Steven Spielberg] Stars: [amazon text=Henry Thomas&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Henry Thomas], [amazon text=Drew Barrymore&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Drew Barrymore], [amazon text=Peter Coyote&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Peter Coyote]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B003UESJLK&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Steven Spielberg]

6.

Solaris

(1972)

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet

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[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B00V3QQF6I&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki]

8. [amazon text=Spirited Away&template=custom_title&asin=B00V3QQF6I&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki] (2001)

Director: [amazon text=Hayao Miyazaki&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Hayao Miyazaki] Stars: [amazon text=Daveigh Chase&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Daveigh Chase], [amazon text=Suzanne Pleshette&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Suzanne Pleshette], [amazon text=Miyu Irino&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Miyu Irino]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B00V3QQF6I&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki]

9.

Star Wars

(1977)

Also known as: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Director: George Lucas
Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

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10.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

(1977)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr

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10.

King Kong

(1933)

Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot

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12.

The Terminator

(1984) /

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

(1991)

The Terminator
Director: James Cameron
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Director: James Cameron
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong

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[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B0083SJG2E&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Matrix Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski]

13. [amazon text=The Matrix&template=custom_title&asin=B0083SJG2E&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Matrix Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski] (1999)

Directors: [amazon text=Andy Wachowski&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Andy Wachowski], [amazon text=Lana Wachowski&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Lana Wachowski] Stars: [amazon text=Keanu Reeves&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Keanu Reeves], [amazon text=Laurence Fishburne&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Laurence Fishburne], [amazon text=Carrie-Anne Moss&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Carrie-Anne Moss]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B0083SJG2E&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Matrix Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski]

14.

Alphaville

(1965)

Director: Jean Luc-Godard
Stars: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff

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15.

Back to the Future

(1985)

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson

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$16.47

[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B00JQYUV9Q&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Planet of the Apes Franklin J. Schaffner]

16. [amazon text=Planet of the Apes&template=custom_title&asin=B00JQYUV9Q&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Planet of the Apes Franklin J. Schaffner] (1968)

Director: [amazon text=Franklin J. Schaffner&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Franklin J. Schaffner] Stars: [amazon text=Charlton Heston&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Charlton Heston], [amazon text=Roddy McDowall&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Roddy McDowall], [amazon text=Kim Hunter&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Kim Hunter]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B00JQYUV9Q&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Planet of the Apes Franklin J. Schaffner]

17.

Brazil

(1985)

Director: Terry Gilliam
Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro

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18.

The Lord of the Rings

(trilogy) (2001-2003)

Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen

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19.

Dark Star

(1974)

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Dan O’Bannon, Dre Pahich, Brian Narelle

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20.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

(1951)

Director: Robert Wise
Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe

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$17.79

21.

Edward Scissorhands

(1990)

Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest

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22.

Akira

(1988)

Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Stars: Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata

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[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B008FD36IC&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Princess Bride Rob Reiner]

23. [amazon text=The Princess Bride&template=custom_title&asin=B008FD36IC&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Princess Bride Rob Reiner] (1987)

Director: [amazon text=Rob Reiner&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Rob Reiner] Stars: [amazon text=Cary Elwes&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Cary Elwes], [amazon text=Mandy Patinkin&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Mandy Patinkin], [amazon text=Robin Wright&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Robin Wright]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B008FD36IC&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=The Princess Bride Rob Reiner]

24.

Pan’s Labyrinth

(2006)

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López

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$17.34

25.

Starship Troopers

(1997)

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Stars: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer

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