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For decades, science fiction has been very prevalent in film and television, but it's only been incredibly popular in the recent past. How long ago was it that everyone heard about Trekkies (or Trekkers), those devotees of the Star Trek franchise and only imagined dweeby 20-something guys who dressed up in a makeshift uniform? Now, there are still certainly people as obsessed as it takes to dress up for a movie like the upcoming Star Trek reboot or one of the newer Star Wars sequels, but science fiction is no longer thought of as a niche product.

Yet, even before then, science fiction was filled with more drama, romance, action, and comedy than most mainstream films. Nowadays, seeing a science fiction movie at the theatres is as common as the horror-film remake, the romantic comedy, and the action movie. What with that J.J. Abrams' version of Star Trek and this week's 3-D animated release Monsters vs. Aliens, science fiction is closer to the norm than anything else. On television, it's almost the exact same, with buzzworthy shows like Lost, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica dominating the watercooler talk. There's no question that science fiction films and TV shows are filled with classics, and now, the A-List will take a little look back at some of them.

Alien

Like most science-fiction films, 1979's Alien owes many debts to past works. Based in no small part on the Howard Hawks sci-fi thriller The Thing, which was later remade, Alien has a simple premise: seven people are on a spaceship, they investigate a distress call, and the thing causing all the distress comes on board and wreaks a lot of havoc. Alien was the beginning of a long-running series, kickstarted the career of Sigourney Weaver, and also made Ridley Scott a star among directors. Though many people got a bigger adrenaline rush out of the 1986 sequel, Aliens, the original film is still the best, thanks to the growing tension that arises not only between the humans and the terrorizing title character, but the humans. Weaver's Ellen Ripley is often at odds with Yaphet Kotto's Parker and Harry Dean Stanton's Brett, even after the alien has made its infamous appearance straight from the stomach of one of their colleagues. More like a haunted house movie instead of a normal, ultra-futuristic science-fiction film, Alien remains one of the great science-fiction/horror movies, one that has more scares than gore, more thrills than spills, and a more lasting effect than any of its wanna-be follow-ups.

Blade Runner

Yes, it's Ridley Scott again. The director was behind the camera for this 1982 cult classic. Many film buffs know the lengthy history of this film's production as much as they know how many versions and "director's cuts" of Blade Runner there are. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner is set in the near future in Los Angeles. The lead is Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a detective tracking down four rogue replicants, also known as humanoid robots who rebelled against their creator. Deckard ends up falling in love with a potential femme fatale (Sean Young, before her career went south) and questioning his own humanity. Featuring a great cast including Rutger Hauer (who delivers his final monologue so brilliantly, it doesn't even matter that the content makes little sense), Daryl Hannah, and Edward James Olmos as a snarky detective who knows a bit more than he should, this is one of the great movies, even if it didn't catch on until the following decade. The original release was a flop, with plenty of fighting amongst the producers and the studio. Some versions of Blade Runner feature a noir-esque narration from Deckard, some versions end happily, some end vaguely; in late 2007, a final DVD and Blu-ray was released called Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Apparently, this is the final version; who knows if Scott and company will come out with a new "final cut" a few years from now, but this much is clear: the stunning visuals, gritty tone, sly performances, and special effects add up to Blade Runner being one of the great all-time films.

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