Books like The Day The Earth Stood Still
30 science fiction books to read after The Day The Earth Stood Still, by Robert Wise, the closest match first.
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1. Terminator 2
by James Cameron
- On the same lists
Iconic. It's a word that gets tossed around a lot, but the images found in Terminator 2 are 100% iconic. Arnold Schwartzenegger's return as the Terminator on the side of...
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2. The 5th Element
- On the same lists
Sometimes you need a stylish, fun, over-the-top sci-fi action flick like The 5th Element. The 5th Element is full of bizarre characters and an even more bizarre world. It's great...
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3. Gattaca
- On the same lists
In a world increasingly becoming influenced by genetic research, Gattaca has some terrifying relevance: what if you could be distinguished, not on the bases of race or color, but by...
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4. Akira
by Otomo, Katsuhiro
- On the same lists
Welcome to Neo-Tokyo, built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by a blast of unknown origin that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo...
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5. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
by Spielberg, Steven
- On the same lists
Humans make contact with aliens after witnessing the arrival of flying saucers from another world.
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6. Blade Runner
by Ridley Scott
- On the same lists
No film has managed to so successfully navigate two separate genres at the same time as Blade Runner. Based on a Philip K Dick novel, Blade Runner is both a...
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7. 2001 – A Space Odyssey
by Stanley Kubrick
- On the same lists
A mysterious monolith appears on the moon, and an investigation of a mysterious signal it emits to Jupiter leads the US to send the ship Discovery One to investigate, and...
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8. The Matrix
by Wachowski Brothers
- On the same lists
What is reality? That is the essential question at the heart of the Matrix. Neo, a hacker, is given the option of living in a false reality that is comfortable...
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9. Star Wars
by George Lucas
- On the same lists
You've seen it, you probably know Star Wars by-heart. One of the most incredible impacts on the field of science fiction, Star Wars led to so many other films, and...
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10. Metropolis
by Fritz Lang
- On the same lists
Visually striking science fiction has been in existence since the films of George Melies. Director Fritz Lang may have been the most important figure in defining what was seen as...
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11. Forbidden Planet
by Fred M. Wilcox
- On the same lists
Star Trek inspired many of the science fiction writers of the late 20th century, and it was Forbidden Planet that inspired Star Trek. A gloriously full-color space opera retelling of...
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12. The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
by W. D. Richter
- On the same lists
Arguably the smartest science fiction comedy of all-time, Buckaroo Banzai is actually an exploration of themes common in pulp fiction. Doctor Banzai, not only the world's greatest brain surgeon, but...
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13. Alphaville
by Jean-luc Goddard
- On the same lists
Secret Agent Lemmy Caution of the FBI is as hard-boiled as they come. The central figure in a number of British novels, he became an important figure in French cinema...
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14. Brother From Another Planet
by John Sayles
- On the same lists
Perhaps the least-seen film on the list, Brother from Another Planet is a rare bird indeed. It's a quiet film of an alien who has escaped slavery by coming to...
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15. Dark City
by Alex Proyas
- On the same lists
The late 1990s produced some of the most thoughtful science fiction. Dark City begins as an amnesia story, but as it unfolds, we discover that the world itself is stranger...
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16. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
by Richard Fleischer
- On the same lists
Ah, steampunk. While it didn't have a name for more than 30 years after 20,000 Leagues was released in 1954, you can trace so much of the steampunk aesthetic to...
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17. Planet Of The Apes
by Franklin Schaffner
- On the same lists
The original Monkeys take over the world picture, Planet of the Apes is too often remembered for the final scene, and though it's one of the best finishes in the...
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18. Rollerball
by Norman Jewison
- On the same lists
Corporations are taking over, man! That was the fear in the 1970s, and it's still with us today. Rollerball takes that fear and twists it just enough to make what...
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19. Escape From New York
by John Carpenter
- On the same lists
John Carpenter is one of the best directors of genre films alive today. This is his finest work that is purely science fictional. The world has fallen and MAnhattan is...
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20. Godzilla
by Ishiro Honda
- On the same lists
The Japanese kaiju film goes back to their pre-WWII film industry, but it wasn't until 1954 that it really came to the rest of the world. While the American version...
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21. Ghostbusters (1985)
by Chip Lovitt
- On the same lists
In the decade that gave us more quotable films than any other, Ghostbusters might be the most quotable. Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd at the peak of their abilities playing...
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22. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
by Jim Sharman
- On the same lists
When you think of Rocky Horror, you think of shouting back at the screen and throwing toast ("To absent friends…") but beyond all of that, at the heart of the...
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23. Dune
by David Lynch
- On the same lists
The filmed version of Frank Herbert's classic novel Dune is one that divides critics and viewers alike. Some say it's unwatchable, and others drool over the visuals, the complex story,...
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24. Alien
by Ridley Scott
- On the same lists
Alien is a horror film in a science fiction setting. It's also just as powerful today as it was when it was released. Ridley Scott gets the aspect of horror...
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25. The Empire Strikes Back
by Irvin Kershner
- On the same lists
The second of the Star Wars films, many claim it's the best of 'em. It's a story that requires a viewer to be familiar with the original, which is only...
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26. Destination Moon
by Hergé
- On the same lists
Robert A. Heinlein is one of the most important voices in the history of science fiction. In Destination Moon, you can see his fingerprints over the entire film, from the...
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27. They Live
by John Carpenter
- On the same lists
Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David have a fight. It goes on a LONG time. That's all anyone seems to remember from They Live, a late 1980s science fiction film,...
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28. The Wrath Of Khan
by Vonda N. Mcintyre (adapter)
- On the same lists
In a sense, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is Moby Dick if the whale REALLY wanted to fight back. It is a revenge tale, and it has what...
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29. Things To Come
by William Cameron Menzies
- On the same lists
HG Wells is pretty much responsible for the rise of 20th Century British science fiction. His works are among the most widely-read in the history of the genre, and many...
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30. Back To The Future
by Robert Zemeckis
- On the same lists
The first of the trilogy, and easily the best. It's an amazing snapshot of two things – the mid-1980s, and what people in the mid-1980s thought the 1950s were like....
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to The Day The Earth Stood Still.
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