How about in the direction of the original topic? Are there any further suggestions for movies? Nate, maybe you have some of your own? (suggestions, not movies) Ooh, let's five Sa'ar's ad! Of course, that would make it longer...
What was I talking about? Right, suggestions... Well, are there any further? And we need a list of the ones we have so far.

Well, I'd like

Batman Begins
Raiders of the Lost Ark and so on
National Treasure
Almost any Marvel Movie

Suggestions that aren't movies? How about "careful when wet?" :)

Looking back on my earlier James Bond suggestion, I suppose that there are too many for comver purposes. Bond would be it's own section.

Not a Sci-Fi film, but what about either:

A) The Big Sleep
or
B) The Maltese Falcon

?

A few other pop cultural touchstones:

E.T.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Godfather
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

LWW wouldn't be that bad, but doesn't that sneak a bit too far away from our scifi credo? In fact, it occurs to me that you could create a pie chart for a movie composed of portions of scifi, fantasy, horror, action, etc.

I separate scifi from fantasy thusly:

If any inventions, actions, or feats are presented that are beyond our current understanding are presented as though they are simple extensions of our current scientific knowledge and inventions, it's scifi.

If any inventions, actions, or feats are presented that are beyond our current understanding are presented as though they tap into some energy that is intrinsic to nature (i.e. the "natural laws" of the universe include the possiblility of such feats), it's fantasy.

Thus Back to the Future is scifi. The LWW is fantasy. Star Wars is scifi. Willow is fantasy.

My reason for not considering LW&W is simpler: I don't trust the mob with C. S. Lewis. But I like IJD's other suggestions. I knew there were some obvious ones we were missing. (Not The Godfather, though. Let's keep it sci-fi for now.)

Please no ET. If idgaf wants it, let him five it himself and stick it into Five-Minute Cheese.

I'm just trying to think of big movies that most everyone has seen (and if they haven't, they're uncultured heathens). Not necessarily films I like, just films that have wide recognition.

Oh.

Could someone stick the "uncultured heathen" arguement back into Pandora's Box and add another padlock, please?

I think it was a joke. In fact, given the website this forum is for, I'm pretty sure it was a joke. Don't take things so personally.

Godfather is a bit before my time and not science fiction. ET and probably also Close Encounters were already suggested by MY MUM (seriously). The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD NO I WILL STAB YOU.

If I seem nasty or annoyed or particularly short with anyone, well I'm tired. I have to run a post office on my own for a day on Thursday and I'm really not looking forward to it. Australia Post sucks, y'all. Just so you know.

On a completely random tack, why not go for one of the many films that is now in the public domain? Quite a few are corny B-movie stuff, I admit, but there are some real gems out there.

...Plan 9 From Outer Space?

Uh, I'd rather not. We're supposed to spoof quality scifi here, not Santa Claus Invades the Martians.

Some of the online actions I've regretted the most came from posting while annoyed or short. My advice? Unplug the computer. Go out and enjoy some time in meatspace/offline/RL whatever you want to call it. Smell some flowers. Personally I like to go hiking in the woods.

It's out there, if you care to look. I've got Things to Come sitting on my computer waiting to be watched, for instance.

What's out there? Santa Claus invades the Martians, or quality scifi?

(Bah-dum-bum-chissh)

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

...Come to think of it, I bet a sizable proportion of us is familiar with "This Island Earth". And not because we've all seen it in its original format. I certainly haven't.

Sorry, never heard of it.

Whose definition of "quality sci-fi" shall we use? (And the correct title is Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, thankyewverymuch.)

I'm sure you do.

I suppose "Invades" is pretty good for a random neuron misfire. Come on, I only knew it existed because of MST!

Quality science fiction means that fictional technology is used to amplify the meaning of the plot.