About The (Second) Space Film Renaissance

There had been many films about outer space before 1968, but it was in that year that Stanley Kubrick lit the fuse leading to a powder keg that would explode 9 years later. The influence of 2001: A Space Odyssey is arguably the most influential film ever made. Whether you like the film or not (and there are more people that find it boring and pretentious than you would think), there is no denying the technical mastery featured within it. The film holds up remarkably well today, 46 years after its release.

Kubrick hired NASA consultants to make sure the film gave a real sense of what space is like and because the effects were not ones created digitally, which age very quickly, 2001 still awes. But this was not the beginning of what I will call Hollywood’s First Intergalactic Renaissance. It took several years for the rest of the film world to catch up to the masterful effects work from 2001. After all, there were not many people as diligent as Stanley Kubrick. It was only in 1977 that Hollywood was able to take 2001’s small step of technical greatness into one giant leap for movie-kind.

The First Intergalactic Renaissance

1977 – Liftoff

Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I was not alive for the phenomenon that was the original Star Wars, but the image I have conjured in my head of the weeks following its release is one of unified amazement. This was before the days of DVDs or video on demand. In order to see Star Wars, you were going to have to get your butt off the couch, ride to the theater, and listen to the teenager next you crunch his popcorn in your ear. And the thing was, everyone had a blast! Star Wars is not perfect. The characters are pretty generic and the acting is… eh. But it is a very, very solid film trilogy (the original 3, that is) that has captured the imaginations of millions of people and made the franchise worth more money that most small nations’ GDP. The practical effects represent the beauty of a bygone era and seeing them reminds you of the personality the original trilogy had. It was a technical feat with a mainstream appeal, and it left the audience begging for more.

Not to be outdone, Star Wars director George Lucas‘ good friend, Steven Spielberg, also released a space movie in 1977. That film: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It may not be the epic space opera that Star Wars is, but it is a great film in its own way. It is rather slow at points, but the film’s climax is breathtaking. It should also be noted that in this film, Spielberg portrays the aliens not as galaxy conquering warlords, but as a peaceful race. It won’t get your adrenaline going like Star Wars, but it will make you think more.

1979 – Something Old and Something New

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien

After a year of recovering from the aftershock of Star Wars, Hollywood went back into space with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Alien. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a strange beast to tackle. It is a blatant rip-off of 2001. Except not as smart. It is slow, meandering, and even features a sentient computer and (most egregiously) a scene that almost exactly replicates the rainbow effect of 2001’s Journey Into the Infinite. It isn’t bad, per se, but it is barely on the fringe of this Renaissance.

Alien, however, is one of the greatest horror films of all-time and brought a new sub-genre into space. Ridley Scott (who also makes an appearance in the Second Renaissance) manages to create one of the more tense and terrifying films you will ever see. While it may seem cliché now, the tagline, “In space no one can hear you scream,” must have been completely unnerving at the time. The film is able to utilize this silence to make the traditional pop-out scare moments jarring and to never let up on the viewer. Scott lets the audience know that it is calm that always precedes any storm.

1980 – X-Wings and Jets

The Empire Strikes Back, Flash Gordon

The Empire Strikes Back is the best film in the original Star Wars trilogy. Most people will tell you that. It featured one of the most famous movie twists of in the history of film (for those curious—“vader” is German for “father”). Empire goes beyond the “western in space” simplicity of the first film. There are moral dilemmas in the film that take it to a level slightly above its predecessor.

On the other hand, there is Flash Gordon. You may ask yourself, “Jay, why on Earth would you include this campy piece of crap in your article praising space-centric films?” Answer: It is a fun, fun, fun movie. The production value is actually good for the most part and it has a theme song by Queen. Did you read that last part? I’m going to go all caps for those of you merely skimming: IT HAS A THEME SONG BY QUEEN. And what a great song it is. Sometimes it’s nice to sit back and enjoy a movie that merely tries to entertain. Although, any sports fan knows that any quarterback of the New York Jets would ever be capable of saving the world. So points off for lack of realism.

1982 – Spielberg in Space

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

After a mixed fixed entry into the world of film, Star Trek righted the ship with The Wrath of Khan. There was a lot for Trekkies to like, the sometimes overly dramatic moments and a very large scope among them. But it also had great mainstream appeal. Khan put the franchise back on track in the realm of popular culture. Gone are the too ambitious elements of the first film. The movie went back to the TV show’s roots, focusing on universe building and characters. The formula was a good one, as Khan may very well be the franchise’s greatest film to date, although J.J. Abrams may have something to say about that in the Second Renaissance.

Then there is E.T.. This is Spielberg at his best. Sentimental without being sappy and combining child-like wonder with darker, more adult elements. It isn’t a huge space epic, but featuring an alien as the titular character makes it a space movie. Plus, I am making the rules and there is nothing you can do about it. If you are introducing the idea of movies to a person who is completely unfamiliar, E.T. may be the best movie to show them. It perfectly encapsulates the sense of wonder that film can produce. There are laughs, there are emotions, but most of all, there is a tremendous amount of heart.

1983 – Let’s Sell Some Toys!

Return of the Jedi

Sorry, Star Wars super fans, but Return of the Jedi is the beginning of the end of the First Intergalactic Renaissance. There are fantastic moments (specifically, that awesome speeder chase in the forest) but this is when George Lucas turned the corner as a marketer as opposed to a true filmmaker with regards to the Star Wars franchise. It is easy to point out the furry, adorable Ewoks as evidence of this, but it doesn’t make the fact any less true. There is not as much thoughtfulness or connection with the characters in Return of the Jedi. It is the worst of the trilogy, and I believe only the 4^th best film in the Star Wars series as a whole, behind Revenge of the Sith. It is a kid’s movie in the way that the first two weren’t.

1984 – This Is the End

Dune, 2010

Here is another fun fact: David Lynch was considered to direct Revenge of the Jedi. How crazy would that have been? I like to think he backed out because he refused to be involved with those furry freaks, the Ewoks. Instead of Revenge, Lynch ended up directing Dune, based on the 1960’s novel by Frank Herbert. It is a much more complicated film than the likes of Star Wars and Flash Gordon, but that isn’t a bad thing. Instead, the bad thing is that the film is both too David Lynch-y and at the same time not Lynch-y enough. The movie refused to commit to one style. Beyond that, the script is a mess. On paper, a David Lynch-directed space movie sounds interesting, but in reality it is anything but.

Then there is 2010, the world’s third most unnecessary sequel behind only Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and Grown Ups 2. There are many questions that can be asked about 2010 but the most fun part of those questions is the different answers people can give and talk about. 2010 tries to give the answers to you, and that is simply not in the spirit of its inspiration. There is no touching 2010, no matter how hard filmmakers try. Let it lie, Hollywood, for the masses to enjoy without being tarnished by what other filmmakers think about it.

The Second Intergalactic Renaissance

It’s not that there weren’t good space movies between the First and Second Renaissance, but they were few and far between. The market was so saturated before that audiences were ready for a change of pace. But the new technology lent itself to an intergalactic setting, and directors knew that. So at the turn of the millennium, these movies were back in vogue. A special effects arms race began with better visuals being created each year. After a while, some of the industry’s best filmmakers decided to take a whack at films with space elements, and the Second Renaissance began.

2007 – Sunrise

Sunshine

Let’s get something out of the way right off the bat: the new Star Wars trilogy was not the beginning of the Second Renaissance. You can’t blame George Lucas for wanting to return to that world, but he put special effects in front of anything else and the first two movies were 2-hour long toy commercials. So while the effects of the films may have made the next crop of space films possible, it is certainly not the dawn of a great new era of space movies.

So what was that? Well, it is one that I’m sure many of you are not aware of. Danny Boyle‘s Sunshine is a visually stunning film. The plot revolves around a crew on a mission to reignite the dying sun with a giant bomb. The attention to detail is miraculous and the visuals of the sun are some of the best you will see. It devolves into a rather generic horror movie towards the end, but the film showed that you can combine both the fantastic new visual effects with strong direction and interesting ideas, with regards to both story and theme.

2008 – Intergalactic Cartoons

WALL-E

Who would have thought that Pixar would be responsible for one of the best science-fiction films of the new century? Wall-E is the best film that Pixar has ever made, in large part because it is their most ambitious. It may as well be The Artist for families. And, as usual for Pixar, there is more for adults to love than the children. The word created in Wall-E is simultaneously beautiful and tragic. There is a message of environmentalism, but more than that there is a message of distance in the digital age. Funny, then, that the most compassionate and caring intelligent being in the film has gained that intelligence artificially. Wall-E is enamored with old Hollywood and the trinkets of a world long forgotten. He leads a lonely life, until he meets Eve, a more advanced and temperamental “female” robot. What transpires after their first meeting is a beautiful and heroic love story that lets everyone know how precious this Earth is and that it cannot ever be replaced by the innumerable screens that become more readily available every day.

2009 – Everywhere You Look

Star Trek, Moon, District 9, Avatar

Wow, what a year this was in science-fiction. With two high-budget epics and two independent gems, there was something for everyone in 2009. For all of the justified criticisms of James Cameron’s Avatar, it is a technological marvel that pushed special effects to a place it had never been close to before. It is included in the Second Renaissance more for that reason than the plot or acting. The second blockbuster of the year was J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek, a reboot of the franchise that was equal parts fan service and origin story for new viewers. Excessive lens flares aside, it is a high-quality blockbuster with a fantastic cast.

But better than these two were the small films that came out in 2008. Moon is a brilliant film featuring Sam Rockwell as, for all practical purposes, the only actor in the whole thing. Rockwell’s performance is absolutely fantastic and it is a wonder that a guy as charismatic and talented as Rockwell has not become one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood. With a fantastic plot twist and eerie tone, it is a must-see. District 9 is an incredibly fun (although a little heavy-handed) movie about humans forcing newly-settled aliens into little more than concentration camps. It is very original and also very much worth a watch.

2012 – So, About Prometheus…

Prometheus

Prometheus and I don’t really get along. I was so looking forward to it, but it ended up being a movie that thought it was smart while featuring some of the dumbest plot points you will see. But a lot of people like it and it is a gorgeous film that actually had great 3-D. Ridley Scott‘s second appearance on the list should have an asterisk beside it. Moving on.

2013 – The Best Film of 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness, Gravity

Star Trek Into Darkness is a good sequel to a good film, but the Second Intergalactic Renaissance reached a peak with Gravity. I said that Avatar was a technological feat, but Gravity is a complete game changer. The film took many years to make because of how complicated it was to make. I still don’t fully understand how it was done. But the result was a master-class on filmmaking. Jose Cuarón needs to be considered as one of the premier filmmakers of this generation. Gravity is a terrifying film that uses the sheer vastness of space as the main antagonist. My palms were sweating as Sandra Bullock floated helplessly as debris fell by, smashing everything in its path. It was the best film of 2013. I am afraid that watching the film at home will not do the movie justice, but seeing it on the big screen was an experience that only a theater can provide.

2014 – Still in Orbit

Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar (?)

Which brings us to this year. We all know how fun Guardians was. With great characters and a new take on the superhero film, it has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. But what we are all waiting for is Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

I would be willing to bet a Christopher Nolan movie won’t be the one that kills the Second Renaissance. So take a little time to appreciate what has been happening over the last 6 years. It has been a great time for space movies and science-fiction as a whole. It seems that soon we may all be able to enter space ourselves, but until then we have fantastic movies as surrogate experiences.

What are your favorite space movies? Do you think this recent influx of space films warrants the title of the Second Space Film Renaissance? Let us know below.

(top image source: Guardians of the Galaxy – Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)