Time Travel Films

A number of time travel films have been produced over the years: 

• producer/director George Pal's classic film adaptation of H. G. Wells' 1895 novel with Oscar-winning Special Effects, The Time Machine (1960) in which a turn-of-the-century English time traveler and inventor H.G. "George" Wells  went to the year 802,701 to find a most-unusual world populated with peaceful Eloi and monstrous green Morlocks

• La Jetee (1962), the landmark, eloquent short French film from director Chris Marker composed entirely of B/W still frames; set after WWIII, about a group of scientists who attempted to send a man back in time to his life before the war; remade as 12 Monkeys (1995) 

• The fantasy-biopic Time After Time (1979), director Nicholas Meyer's directorial debut film, in which a young H. G. Wells  pursued Jack the Ripper through late 70s San Francisco

• The Final Countdown (1980), in which the USS Nimitz, a modern-day aircraft carrier, was sent back to the Pacific Ocean by time warp to December 6, 1941 (pre Pearl Harbor)

• Somewhere in Time (1980), an old-fashioned, dramatic love story conducted across time and based upon Richard Matheson's novel Bid Time Return; aspiring playwright/actor (Christopher Reeves) willed himself back to 1912 to a turn of the century hotel after falling in love with the picture of an actress (Jane Seymour) given him by an elderly woman who beckoned: "Come back to me"

• Time Bandits (1981), Terry Gilliam's sci-fi fantasy in which six renegade dwarves and a British schoolboy traveled through history after entering a time portal

• The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), 

• The Planet of the Apes series

• Back to the Future (1985), Back to the Future II (1989), and Back to the Future III (1990), three entertaining and popular films in which Marty McFly traveled backwards and forwards in time with the help of mad scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and a super-adapted Delorean vehicle

Science - fiction is one of the most interesting genres in film as it is capable of interlinking with many different genres outside of science fiction. For instance, science fiction horror will include fictional monsters such as zombies or werewolves as the antagonist. There is also the science fiction action which can be seen in films like the Dark knight in which it is set in Gotham City, a fictitious city where Batman fights against the Joker and it is based on comic books which are imaginative pieces not realistic.

The Alien Films:

Ridley Scott's effective and influential horror/sci-fi film Alien (1979) - the last major sci-fi film of the 70s, was a unique combination of Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and Carpenter's horror film Halloween (1978). However, it was actually based on A.E. Van Vogt's 1939 short story "Black Destroyer," found in his 1950 collection titled "Voyage of the Space Beagle."

'Sci-Fi' Films with Revolutionary Visual Effects and Set Design: in 1982

Seven films revolutionized film set design and visual effects, and have become some of the most influential science-fiction/supernatural films in recent film history: 

• TRON (1982) - a pioneering film in computer graphics

• Blade Runner (1982) - the model for all futuristic tech-noir dystopias with bleak, night-time LA cityscapes (influencing films such as Batman (1989), Strange Days (1995), and Dark City (1998))

• The Dark Crystal (1982) - an influential fantasy adventure masterpiece featuring Jim Henson's Muppets

• E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's classic alien visitation film

• Pink Floyd the Wall (1982) - an expressionistic musical, the first feature-length music video (or "MTV" film before MTV's popularity surged)

• The Road Warrior (1982, US release) - the prototypical post-apocalyptic action film and sci-fi western

• Poltergeist (1982) - a seminal supernatural thriller with a possessed young child