The World of Layonara
The Layonara Community => Just for Fun => Topic started by: OneST8 on May 17, 2010, 07:25:57 pm
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Hi Everyone,
I've been hunting for some good space-type movies to watch and sadly I haven't found anything I haven't seen already. Basically, my idle brain cycles are craving some good space-ship based movies to consume and I'm coming to you fine folks for your recommendations.
To give you an idea, the following are all "A" list movies in my space-books.
- Star Trek (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/)
- Star Wars
- Sunshine (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/)
- Battlestar Galactica (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314979/) (yes it's TV but a good example of awesome space-based sci-fi)
- Event Horizon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119081/)
- Sphere (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120184/) (though underwater, it's still very much a space flick)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/) (though slow by today's standards, still a staple)
- Serenity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/)
- Avatar (3D IMAX rocked my senses)
- Red Planet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199753/)
I'm assuming that I'll have seen just about everything everyone suggests but I've got to ask anyways just in case there's that one gem I've been missing out on that will satisfy my craving.
Also, some background into the sci-fi-ness of the question, I've been consumed with all things Cosmos related these days and for anyone interested in learning about our universe I would highly recommend all of the following documentaries (in no particular order):
- The Universe: Secrets of the Sun (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053154/)
- The Universe: Spaceship Earth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1070254/)
- The Universe: Life and Death of a Star (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1082788/)
- The Universe: Beyond the Big Bang (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099790/)
- The Universe: The Milky Way (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119111/)
- The Universe: Supernovas (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119116/)
- The Universe: Constellations (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119105/)
- The Universe: Nebula (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1208575/)
- The Universe: Parallel Universes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1331971/)
- The Universe: Light Speed (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1331970/) (one of my all time favorite topics)
- The Universe: Liquid Universe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1533001/)
- The Universe: Pulsars & Quasars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1533002/)
- The Universe: Science Fiction, Science Fact. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596312/)
- The Universe: Extreme Energy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1549690/)
- The Elegant Universe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377171/) (3 part series chalk full of awesome)
- How the Earth Was Made (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267170/) (multi-part series)
- Journey to the Edge of the Universe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1363109/) (indescribable levels of awesome)
- Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything
- NOVA: Astrospies (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/)
- NOVA: Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fractals/) (not space-y but the math is awesome and will give you a better idea of how 3D games work)
You know what, while we're at it, suggest documentaries too! I love to learn about the deep-end of physics and I think one of the things I like about space-based movies is that I get to pick out all the "hollywood physics" and I've got to admit that the latest Star Trek held true to a lot of things that they ignored in the prior installments in the series. As an example, due to the vacuum of space, there is no sound nor is there really any chance for fire and in the prior films they'd have huge explosions with lots of real flame and noise but in the latest Star Trek there's a deafening lack of sound as the camera follows a crew-person that's sucked out a gaping hole in the ship and all the external "fires" are rendered at least fairly close to what would be expected of explosions sucked out into space.
Anyways, I appreciate all feedback!
Thanks!
~OneST8
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Wing Commander (1999) David Warner, Jurgen Prochnow, David Suchet, Saffron Burrows IMDb link (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131646/)
Space movie w/ combat sequences reminicent of WWII submarine and carrier engagements
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Wing Commander (1999) David Warner, Jurgen Prochnow, David Suchet, Saffron Burrows IMDb link (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131646/)
Space movie w/ combat sequences reminicent of WWII submarine and carrier engagements
Totally forgot about that one! Yeah, great example of awesome spacey stuff :)
I loved the original game too. One of the best space-combat games of all time!
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Well maybe this (http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-CA&vid=0b0388ab-6ec5-4022-b66f-59dc249542ea) could fit your list :P
.. or maybe not!
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Star Gate
Farscape
Titan A.E. ("An intelligent guard... didn't see that one coming.")
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Babylon 5
Yeah, it's TV again, but like Battlestar Galactica, they at least paid attention to space physics (thruster-based maneuvers and such). And they had a few full-length movie specials, too.
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I loved Babylon 5.
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Hmm....
Movies
Dark Star - an old 'B-movie' sci-fi comedy...well, dark-comedy really.
Red Planet - Val Kilmer crashes on Mars...
Taken - Mini-series from Spielburg about alien abducties.
Battle Beyond the Stars - An old space-opera-ish flick, starring that guy who played John-boy Walton on the Waltons.
Wall-E - Earth is trashed, humanity has fled to the stars and clean-up robot Wall-E hitches a ride to bring life back to Earth.
Solaris - A scientist leaves Earth to find out what's happened at a research station in orbit over a strange planet.
Sci-Fi-ish Documentary
Alien Planet - Explores what a futuristic probe sent to a nearby star might find, with input from many sciencey types, including a few words from Stephen Hawking. Has some very imaginative ideas.
Anyhow... there's a few off the top of my head that may not be as main-stream and popular, and therefore may have a higher chance of not having been viewed by you...err, with the exception of Wall-E, which I just like because it's a sci-fi Pixar flick the whole family can enjoy.
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Star Gate
Farscape
Titan A.E. ("An intelligent guard... didn't see that one coming.")
Loved Titan A.E. and the original Star Gate... Farscape though, I've "seen" it but have yet to actually "see" the movie. Thanks! I'll be sure to pick that one up!
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Well maybe this (http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-CA&vid=0b0388ab-6ec5-4022-b66f-59dc249542ea) could fit your list :P
.. or maybe not!
Haha! That was great :)
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Babylon 5
Yeah, it's TV again, but like Battlestar Galactica, they at least paid attention to space physics (thruster-based maneuvers and such). And they had a few full-length movie specials, too.
You know, I used to watch this and totally forgot about Babylon 5... Thanks :) I'll have to check for those specials and see how much the seasons are.
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Space Above and Beyond - TV series
And I loved Wing Commander III Heart of the Tiger for the 3DO (I wonder how many here even know what 3DO is LOL), stars included Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies, Malcolm McDowell and more!
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Space Above and Beyond - TV series
And I loved Wing Commander III Heart of the Tiger for the 3DO (I wonder how many here even know what 3DO is LOL), stars included Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies, Malcolm McDowell and more!
3DO... Classic...
I'll be checking into Space Above and Beyond though, looks interesting.
Thanks!
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Farscape is fun and different, for sure. Four seasons (if I remember right) and a movie to keep you going.
While not exactly on the cutting edge of accuracy, I still get a kick out of The Last Starfighter (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087597/).
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I don't know much about good movies, but i know something about movies so bad they are good.
Ice Pirates
Fifth Element
Flash Gordon
Galaxy Quest
Battle Beyound the Stars (Stolen form the Magnificent seven (Stolen from Seven Samuri))
SpaceBalls
Starship Troopers
also:
Alien(s)
Last Star Fighter
Good one but not really a space movie:
Forbidden Planet (a classic)
They need a Buck Rodgers movie!
Edit: Took too long to hit post, now Steel got Last Star Fighter on the list first.
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Farscape is fun and different, for sure. Four seasons (if I remember right) and a movie to keep you going.
While not exactly on the cutting edge of accuracy, I still get a kick out of The Last Starfighter (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087597/).
That was my all-time favorite sci-fi movie as a kid... Saw it on TMN and then a few years later got the VHS of it... still loved it... wore out the tape... couldn't find a DVD anywhere but found another copy on VHS... gonna have to dig it up and get it into a different format *chuckles*
Double kudos for bringing that one up.
Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.
Great! A million miles from no-where and I'm stuck with a gungho iguana that tells me to relax.
Simply Priceless!
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Planet of the Apes (the old ones and the new too)
And some comedy stuff by Finns, related to Babylon 5 and Star Trek -> Star Wreck (http://www.starwreck.com/)
It will also have a sequel sooner or later, named Iron Sky (http://www.ironsky.net/) (The Nazi's in WWII made a moon base to the dark side of the moon!)
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Star Gate
Farscape
Titan A.E. ("An intelligent guard... didn't see that one coming.")
Yay Farscape! If you have Netflix you can stream three seasons worth with 16 or 17 episodes per season...
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Planet of the Apes (the old ones and the new too)
And some comedy stuff by Finns, related to Babylon 5 and Star Trek -> Star Wreck (http://www.starwreck.com/)
It will also have a sequel sooner or later, named Iron Sky (http://www.ironsky.net/) (The Nazi's in WWII made a moon base to the dark side of the moon!)
Haha, nice! Star Wrek looks pretty cool.
And yeah, Planet of the Apes is a great franchise... loved the old and new one.
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Don't bother with Space above and beyond. IT got cancelled after the first season (was supposed to be five) so you get this open-ended series.
You can always try Space Balls (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094012/):
King Roland of the planet Druidia is trying to marry his daughter Princess Vespa to Prince Valium, but Vespa is kidnapped by the evil race of the Spaceballs. The Spaceballs ask Roland a tremendous ransom: all the air of Druidia (you see, the air of Spaceball had serious pollution problems...). The King decides to offer a generous amount of money to a space rogue, Lone Starr, to persuade him to save Vespa. What follows is the parody of a _LOT_ of famous SF movies
But you have to be in the mood for the humor.
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Don't bother with Space above and beyond. IT got cancelled after the first season (was supposed to be five) so you get this open-ended series.
You can always try Space Balls (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094012/):
King Roland of the planet Druidia is trying to marry his daughter Princess Vespa to Prince Valium, but Vespa is kidnapped by the evil race of the Spaceballs. The Spaceballs ask Roland a tremendous ransom: all the air of Druidia (you see, the air of Spaceball had serious pollution problems...). The King decides to offer a generous amount of money to a space rogue, Lone Starr, to persuade him to save Vespa. What follows is the parody of a _LOT_ of famous SF movies
But you have to be in the mood for the humor.
No Sir! I did not catch you playing with your dolls again sir!
Certainly a comedic classic! Lotsa good fun toilet humor for sure. It's like Ice Pirates (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087451/) but better.
Thanks for the note on Space Above and Beyond though. :)
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It was a shame too Ed... I was really into that show! :(
I still love the one episode with "Ray Butts" and his favorite quote..
"easy as eatin' pancakes"
.
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Read some Orson Scott Card. Better than a movie.
PS. Okay, maybe not better than Serenity ... but a more sure bet than some of the other movie suggestions.
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Ice Pirates! Ah, good times.
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The currently running series Stargate:Universe is rather space oriented this time around and I'm really enjoying it. It brings a different element into the equation of Stargate once you find out how deep in trouble they really are.
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Voices of a distant star!
Not sure if you like anime, but this is pure beauty...
Voices of a Distant Star - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voices_of_a_Distant_Star)
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Spaceballs!
What you wanted something more "serious" than a Mel Brooks classic?
Okay so since all I can think of has pretty much been mentioned already.
Lexx - "Lexx" (1997) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178149/)
Space'ish but dont count on getting any thrusters, and do bring the bugspray.
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AHh yes, did anyone mention Frank Herbert's: Dune miniseries (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/) and the following Children of Dune (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287839/)?
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Serenity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/)
wha? No mention of Firefly the series on dvd?
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Things not mentioned so far:
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Chronicles of Riddick
Dune
Enemy Mine
Life Force (Space plus Vampires for the win!)
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wow enemy mine.. a classic!
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Read some Orson Scott Card. Better than a movie.
PS. Okay, maybe not better than Serenity ... but a more sure bet than some of the other movie suggestions.
The point is to throw a flick on at night while going to sleep... if I had time to read... there's a loooooong list of "to be read" :)
Thanks though!
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Ice Pirates! Ah, good times.
Love the afro when they go through the time warp :D
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The currently running series Stargate:Universe is rather space oriented this time around and I'm really enjoying it. It brings a different element into the equation of Stargate once you find out how deep in trouble they really are.
I may just give the shows another chance to fill the role. Thanks!
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AHh yes, did anyone mention Frank Herbert's: Dune miniseries (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/) and the following Children of Dune (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287839/)?
Believe it or not, I've got it all on VHS :)
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wow enemy mine.. a classic!
This was the first movie I watched and even as a kid recognized the racism aspect of the story.
It honestly touched my heart.
Again, another of my aging VHS collection hehe
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I don't know much about good movies, but i know something about movies so bad they are good.
Ice Pirates
Fifth Element
Flash Gordon
Galaxy Quest
Battle Beyound the Stars (Stolen form the Magnificent seven (Stolen from Seven Samuri))
SpaceBalls
Starship Troopers
also:
Alien(s)
Last Star Fighter
Good one but not really a space movie:
Forbidden Planet (a classic)
They need a Buck Rodgers movie!
Edit: Took too long to hit post, now Steel got Last Star Fighter on the list first.
Battle Beyond the Stars... definitely will have to investigate.
Loved all the others you mentioned. Even Starship Troopers has found a spot on my shelf. Lots of people didn't like that movie but I enjoyed it because it illustrates (at least in my opinion) the totalitarian police state the western world is turning into. So many layers of brainwashing the populace...
Thanks!
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Things not mentioned so far:
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Chronicles of Riddick
Dune
Enemy Mine
Life Force (Space plus Vampires for the win!)
Life Force?! Vampires in space?!!! now that's peaked my curiosity!
Thanks!
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Loved the first star ship troopers, hated the other two. Especially the second one. I mean come on.. guns that shoot and all you see is a light bulb at the end of the gun??
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Huge fan of Babylon 5, probably watched every episode 6 times.. And since there are about 22 episodes in all 5 seasons, a one season spin off in the form of Crusades and about 5 rather crappy movies... I can safely say I spend a lot of time watching it.
Second on the list is Farscape, great show and I went through a lot of trouble to find the movie where it all ends. That movie is also really for people who want to see the end to the story.
B5 and Farscape have both very long story arcs with an actual finish. In the case of B5, events that happened in the first season that seemed unimportant at the time would actually make sense 3 seasons later.
If you like Pocahontas, you should probably watch Avatar though. :)
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Since Serenity was mentioned and not FireFly... here you go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)
This series was aired years ago, and axed in its first season. Why? I have no idea... considering it was brilliant.
Earth 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_2_(TV_series)
SunShine Sunshine (2007) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/)
And although its already on the list, I'm gonna promote it.
BattleStar Galactica. Not the old ones... the NEW ones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series)
In my opinion, this series is what all SCI-FI's should strive to be like.
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District 9 (the movie from was it 2010 or 2009?), I liked it on many aspects.
Alien Nation (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096531/) although it's only 1 season and probably axed duo to network reasons after the first season, it was a fun series to watch.
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I can not believe you all missed Spaced Invaders. I know it is not as fancy as Star Wars or all the other serious movies you have listed. This one is down right stupid but you can not stop watching it.
Some of my favorite quotes from the movie:
"But dad, they're not really bad. They're just stupid."
"Let me explain the who situation in a nutshell: there are five of us and four billion of them!"
"Look, when a vastly superior alien culture comes all this way to take over your world, certain basic laws of planetary conquest apply. For example, when someone points a quad-vected hypothermic cosmo-blaster at you, it's a fair bet you are about to become toast."
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Mmmm... toast.. *homerdrool*
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I watched Serenity last night (Netflix on the Wii)
It was pretty good :)
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BattleStar Galactica. Not the old ones... the NEW ones.
In my opinion, this series is what all SCI-FI's should strive to be like.
BSG has been and always will be my absolute favorite SCI-FI series. I cannot stress that statement enough. On so many levels, in so many ways, that show is so full of awesome that words cannot describe or even produce coherent sentences that attempt to describe.
In my original post I should probably have added something like "If you've seen BSG you know exactly what I truly want out of a movie series."
While I really like a lot of sci-fi movies, secretly I wish they were all set in the BSG universe. I know there's Caprica (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799862/) now and that's great too, but having only two options just isn't enough ;)
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District 9 (the movie from was it 2010 or 2009?), I liked it on many aspects.
Alien Nation (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096531/) although it's only 1 season and probably axed duo to network reasons after the first season, it was a fun series to watch.
I've seen Alien Nation and did enjoy it and District 9 is definitely on my short list to watch.
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Hmm....
Movies
Dark Star - an old 'B-movie' sci-fi comedy...well, dark-comedy really.
Red Planet - Val Kilmer crashes on Mars...
Taken - Mini-series from Spielburg about alien abducties.
Battle Beyond the Stars - An old space-opera-ish flick, starring that guy who played John-boy Walton on the Waltons.
Wall-E - Earth is trashed, humanity has fled to the stars and clean-up robot Wall-E hitches a ride to bring life back to Earth.
Solaris - A scientist leaves Earth to find out what's happened at a research station in orbit over a strange planet.
Dark Star and Battle Beyond the Stars, both look interesting. I liked Red Planet, overall a good flick. I've seen bits of Taken and have totally forgotten about it, gonna have to check into that again. Solaris was good but for some reason I found it never resounded with me as something to watch again. Definitely enjoyed watching Wall-E with the family.
Sci-Fi-ish Documentary
Alien Planet - Explores what a futuristic probe sent to a nearby star might find, with input from many sciencey types, including a few words from Stephen Hawking. Has some very imaginative ideas.
There's also an excellent series on Discovery right now; Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/stephen-hawking/). The third episode in particular is really good (and 2hrs w/commercials). (Here's a link to a bunch of clips from the episode: Story of Everything (http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/stephen-hawking-story-of-everything/).)
Anyhow... there's a few off the top of my head that may not be as main-stream and popular, and therefore may have a higher chance of not having been viewed by you...err, with the exception of Wall-E, which I just like because it's a sci-fi Pixar flick the whole family can enjoy.
:)
Thanks!
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Spaced Invaders.
I have totally forgotten about that one, I remember when it came out but I never ended up watching it. This one is definitely on my list to watch.
Thanks!
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Richard Corben's dark planet :P
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if you include TV
defying gravity would have been good if they hadnt axed it
buck rogers in the 25th century with gil gerard was good
the latter seasons of stargate sg1 had alot of space oriented action
V both series have aliens but on earth
for movies hmmm
lost in space wasnt mentioned cause it was so bad
galaxyquest was funny
space cowboys
just a few