George R. R. Martin names his 10 favourite sci-fi movies
Fantasy may have made his name when he authored the A Song of Fire and Ice saga that would become a global sensation after being brought to the screen as Game of Thrones, but George R.R. Martin has always had a soft spot for science fiction.
Of course, that’s common knowledge to anyone who’s followed his works away from Westeros, with several of his early stories, including With Morning Comes Mistfall, A Song for Lya, Dying of the Light all occupying the sci-fi genre, and it is an arena he’s sporadically returned to even after the fantastical took precedence.
In naming his favourite sci-fi films to The Daily Beast, Martin makes it abundantly clear that he’s a huge fan of many established classics, along with a long-held admiration for the 1950s boom that yielded several unforgettable titles.
Martin describes Forbidden Planet as “almost Shakespearean”, praising the movie for how its “visuals and special effects were state of the art in their day, and still hold up pretty well”, along with praise for an “amazing and unique” score to complement its visual daring.
Both Alien and Aliens make the cut, as Ridley Scott’s original is lauded as “great horror film in science-fiction drag”, with its unforgettable jump-scares and Sigourney Weaver’s performance held up as all-time greats, whereas James Cameron’s sequel is “one of the rare cases of a sequel that was actually better than the original”. Scott’s Blade Runner is inevitably mentioned, too, with its “superb direction” and Rutger Hauer’s iconic final speech still capable of chilling Martin to the core.
Martin echoes a polarising sentiment on Invasion of the Body Snatchers by saying, “Every time they remake it, it gets worse”, with Don Siegel’s original lauded for the way it “made an entire generation afraid to go to sleep”. 1953’s The War of the Worlds is deemed vastly superior to Steven Spielberg’s 2005 version thanks in part to its “elegant, ominous, and unforgettable” aliens, while Keanu Reeves’ iteration of The Day the Earth Stood Still is also summarily dismissed, with Martin finding the original “infinitely preferable to the sour misanthropy of the remake”.
John Carpenter’s debut feature Dark Star was made – according to Martin, anyway – with “whatever loose change John Carpenter and Dan O’Bannon found under their couch cushions”, not that it prevented the writer from calling it “the funniest science fiction film ever made”. The Empire Strikes Back was made on a much grander scale and exists as his favourite entry in the Star Wars series, finding Martin of the opinion that it “holds up better” than its predecessor.
Throwing a post-apocalyptic curveball into the mix, George Miller’s The Road Warrior may not involve anyone or anything from outer space, but in Martin’s words, “It has it all”. Rather controversially calling Mad Max “utterly forgettable”, he nonetheless holds its seminal sequel up as not just the best in the franchise but one of the best sci-fi flicks ever.
George R. R. Martin’s 10 favourite sci-fi movies:
- Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956)
- Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)
- Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
- Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)
- The Road Warrior (George Miller, 1981)
- Dark Star (John Carpenter, 1974)
- The War of the Worlds (Byron Haskin, 1951)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951)
- The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
