Our 10 Favorite Movie Space Ships

Spaceships are probably the nerdiest aspect of any fan boy’s repertoire and knowledge. I’m not one of those nerds who take pride in owning Millennium Falcon blueprints because unless I can board it, what’s the point of owning it? Even with Harrison Ford, George Lucas, and Chewbacca’s signatures, owning a blueprint of a fictitious ship is just above and beyond nerdy and pointless. But in honor of the slew of upcoming science fiction films storming theaters like “Skyline,” and “Battle: Los Angeles,” and the foreign import “Monsters,” and “Super 8,” (and whatever crap Eli Roth is planning with his alien movie) extra-terrestrials and spaceships are slowly becoming all the rage.

So we thought we’d cash in our final chances with a living breathing woman and list our ten favorite movie spaceships in order. If we’re never going to touch breasts again, we might as well be anal about it, right? Spaceships can be just as much a character as their alien pilots, and ninety percent of the time they’re even more complex characters than the denizens within them. Sometimes they’re beacons, sometimes ratty old rust buckets, and other times they can signal ultimate annihilation for a populace consisting of forty million city goers.

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Cura Te Ipsum (Webcomic)

In the interest of full disclosure, creator Neal Bailey is a former contributor of Cinema Crazed, and a long time close friend, but we’re reviewing his comic anyway because it’s entertaining.

Web comics are a tough sell. I know for a fact. There are thousands of them out there by many talented artists and writers (I’ve read more in my time than I could hope to list), all of whom have something unique or hilarious to give readers and sadly most of them are a dime a dozen in terms of entertainment. Sometime you’ll come across something original like Penny Arcade, Nedroid, or Movie Comics, and then sometimes… there’s stuff obviously drawn on MS Paint. In the same vein, if they’re stand alone comics that have a different story every day, audiences attention spans can waver and they tend to move on and wait for better comics.

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Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam (DVD)

Here’s what I assumed happened with the release of “The Return of Black Adam”: DC and Warner Bros. didn’t have enough creative material to turn the reunion of Superman and Shazam! in to a feature length film, and in spite of Shazam! playing a supporting role, Superman is much too iconic to be used as simple filler before a big animated feature from DC home video, so what they did was take the half hour movie featuring Superman and Shazam! and, knowing no sensible fan would spend twenty bucks on a half hour movie, filled the DVD with other short animated films starring DC third tier characters that were featured on prior DVD Releases. Deep down this feels like DC Comics testing the waters for a Captain Marvel animated movie, gauging public interest and we’re paying them to be a focus group.

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Superman: Earth One

“Superman: Earth One” verifies exactly what I’d feared. Superman is emo. Superman is selfish. Superman is “edgy,” and worst of all by the time the tedious graphic novel is over, we’re told by Jonathan Kent that Superman should serve a being higher than himself alluding to religious ideals. What a waste of time. Not since “Smallville” have I seen a less sympathetic portrayal of Superman and Clark Kent before my very eyes. Clark Kent, even with modern fashion, and a jacket and hoodie that’s meant to be his signature look indicating a nerdy but sexy persona, is so absolutely boring and one dimensional in “Earth One” that had I been introduced to Superman for the first time here, I would have never read another piece of fiction with this character ever again.

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Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale

serenitysheptaleShepherd Book is one of the greatest male characters of the Whedonverse, one who is bound by his strict sense of morality and religious beliefs, but one who isn’t at all overbearing. He uses his religion as an instrument to help and guide folks, he never uses it as a means of clubbing non-believers over the head. When we see him in the first episode of “Firefly” he meets a band of wicked sinners and criminals, but he never judges. He lives and lets live and that’s likely why he’s become such a beloved fixture of the “Firefly” universe for such a long time. He’s not only the heart of the crew, but he’s also the wise father everyone on the ship needs. By the time we reach “Serenity” and the crew are on their last options against the operative, even Mal has realized that Book is the man he needs in times of great stress who can offer wisdom, knowledge, and strategy where everyone clearly lacks it.

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TRON (1982)

tron-poster“Tron,” even decades after it release is still an incredible and astonishing movie. It is one that pre-dates computer generated science fiction blockbusters like “Avatar” and is somewhat of a precursor to “The Matrix.” Comprised mainly of special effects, animation, and newborn CGI technology, also celebrating the entertainment of the video game world that later became a cult all on its own. “Tron” has been an admirably influential science fiction epic, in spite of its poor box office grosses, spawning many knock offs like “Arcade” and “Spy Kids 3D,” also managing to outlive most special effects motivated films from the eighties.

That’s because “Tron” has a real heart to it, which is astounding considering it’s primarily set in the confines of the video game world where intelligence and emotions are artificial. “Tron” was just too ahead of its time, and oddly prophetic. It is a futuristic science fiction epic now just being appreciated as a potential property for an epic narrative and a breeding ground for new characters and stories. “Tron” is one of the first movies to appreciate the magic of the video game mixing the blossoming craze of computers and turning it in to a world, where programs are taken prisoner and turned in to gladiators fighting against pre-programmed menaces from the Master Computer.

The villainous Master Computer is a gradually growing artificial intelligence planning to dominate the world‘s computer systems while sapping the memory of many rival programs and users. Kevin Flynn, as played by Jeff Bridges, is a hotshot cocky computer programmer and hacker who takes to breaking in to the computer systems of his ex-company ENCOM. ENCOM is a corporation that abandoned him after inventing a revolutionary computer program leaving him penniless and running an arcade. After Flynn convinces his friends Lora and Alan to break in to ENCOM to corrupt the Master Computer, now running its user Dillinger blackmailing him and manipulating him, Flynn is zapped in to the mainframe.

Now he, as a user and player, is forced to play the MCP’s series of games along with the other individual programs struggling to survive in this new world. All of whom are at the clutches of this intelligent supreme being. Bridges is fantastic as gamer Flynn, a loud mouthed slick nerd and gamer who takes to this world with ease and skill. He engages in (still) harrowing action scenes involving light cycles, and memory disk combat all the while becoming a hero among the programs who turn to him for help against the MCP when they discover he’s much more than a program in this world.

Flynn, after quickly learning the intricacies of the vehicles and machines of the world, meets Tron and Yori (program representations of Alan and Lora) where he helps them bring down the MCP and free the programs from its clutches. With the use of rotoscoping, animation, and computer effects, “Tron” is still a wildly visual and imaginative science fiction adventure with a great sense of excitement. It conceives this amazing innovative technological world with a bold vision that warrants exploring. And while “Tron” is primarily a Disney film, the narrative is much more complex beyond action and romance. It’s often present with themes of religion and the dangers of artificial intelligence.

As well it draws the classic tropes of the genre with a new hero dominating a foreign land, and being the one key to helping mankind as well as this world before him. Lisberger directs a masterful and bold vision with vast possibilities and it’s a unique action film that deserves its cult audience.

Monsters (2010)

monsters_3Gareth Edwards science fiction horror flick is a grim picture, and one nowhere near intent on offering a positive look on humanity and a new world. What he instead does is spotlight a new world where one side has learned to co-exist with a new breed of creatures that crash landed on Earth, while the more privileged side of the world is so intent on refusing to admit the inevitable that they’ve built possibly the largest wall to separate them from the rest of society. Edwards’ genre offering while essentially a monster movie with carnage and shocks is also a thought provoking piece on society and two views on it looking down at two characters who see more than they ever have in a matter of forty eight hours.

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