my brain has gone blank.
can any of you guys name some Sci Fi films that are not remakes, reboots, adapted from comics or tv in the last 10 years?
i have a hard time thinking about who made an original idea for Sci Fi or action films.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Sunshine
City of Men
Cloverfield
The Fountain
The Host
The Prestige

Are some recent ones off the top of my head.

Several come to mind....

Children of Men - from an original story, as I recall
I, Robot - maybe not the best novel adaptation, but I still don't feel it was horrible
Minority Report - Philip K. Dick short story (I think it was?)
Paycheck - another PKD short story - along with several others

There's also been a lot of good horror/supernatural stuff of late, as well, that's not a remake, comic adaptation or TV Show.

ok, how about including films NOT made from books, published short stories, ripped from the headlines.

i guess what i'm after is, a pure screen idea that made into a film.
Cloverfield is a great example.

i'm trying to figure out if Sci Fi film makers have any great ideas of their own that dont come from anywhere but their own brain.

I don't think Cloverfield counts because JJ Abrams said he wanted it to be an "American Godzilla", so I feel that is what it is based on.

I can't think of any off the top of my head though... sad, really.

DARK CITY is the first that pops to mind (if it's adapted from something I never heard, sorry). Also THIRTEENTH FLOOR is decent.

i'm trying to figure out if Sci Fi film makers have any great ideas of their own that dont come from anywhere but their own brain.


I don't have statistics to back me up but I would guess that few films in most genres (with the exception of comedies maybe) are made from wholly original screenplays. Even in the 1950s, most "A-List" Sci-Fi movies were adaptations of short stories, novels, or even plays (Forbidden Planet).

The Matrix?

It was inspired partly from Gibson's cyberpunk novels, but it was fairly original otherwise.

Or howabout Cronenberg's eXistenZ?

Yes. Most movies are based on something else.

So what?

This year, two of the most original movies I saw were a TV spinoff (SPEED RACER) and a remake (THE FALL, based on a Yugoslavian film called YO, HO, HO).

There are more ways to be original than in the plot. And considering how little the plot has to do with how well a movie works, why this should even be a consideration.

The Matrix?

It was inspired partly from Gibson's cyberpunk novels, but it was fairly original otherwise.Well, except that it borrowed from Descartes, who came up with the bare bones of the premise in the 1600s. And Descartes was just updating ideas put forth by Plato (see the "Allegory of the Cave"). And Plato was probably not the first …

Lilo & Stitch, from 2002, was an original work — as original as it gets, at least.

Qapla'

SSB

ideas put forth by Plato (see the "Allegory of the Cave").

Ah, dude, I totally flunked philosophy.

Lilo & Stitch, from 2002, was an original work — as original as it gets, at least.

Qapla'

SSB

Hmmmm, a child bonds with a stranded extraterrestrial. Never seen that one before:cool:

BTW, as a rabid William Gibson fan, I never felt The Matrix ripped off Gibson.

Hmmmm, a child bonds with a stranded extraterrestrial. Never seen that one before:cool:I know — weird, isn't it?! At least the alien was a destructive little monster this time.

Qapla'

SSB

Gattaca, just over ten years old. Deserves attention, to say the least.

Ice Age?

Or was that a re-make of LoTR's with the ring replaced by a human kid?

Ice Age?

Or was that a re-make of LoTR's with the ring replaced by a human kid?

Couldn't be...they weren't required to toss the kid into a volcano. :p

Signs?
whatever you think of it, it was an original story fom MKS.

now if you are asking for something that wasn't insprired by anything else. you are not going to find one. Everything is influanced by something else

In the last 10 years? tough one.

The only things that come to mind are:

Eureka - small town simple minded keeps saving the day for a town full of scientist.

Stargate - not sure if this came from any novel or not.

John Doe - This show lasted for one season on the SciFi channel. About a man who has an encyclopedic mind but can't remember his past or see color. Never did learn if he was human,android or cyborg. It was just getting interesting when it was canceled.

The Fifth Element? (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/) OK it's 97, do I get a consolation prize?

The Fountain. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414993/) oops dupe

Frequency. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186151/)

Mission to Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183523/)

Red Planet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199753/)

The Final Cut (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364343/)

The Astronaut's Wife (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138304/)

Equilibrium (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/)

The 6th Day (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216216/)

Ghosts of Mars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0228333/)

Ice Age?

Or was that a re-make of LoTR's with the ring replaced by a human kid?
Actually, it's a reworking of 3 Godfathers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040064/plotsummary).

Saw GATTACA for the first time the other night. Wasn't perfect but did not live up to the mass panning I recall it getting...don't know if I'd buy it at Big Lots for $3 either, tho.

(guy in wheelchair torching himself totally wrecked it for me)

spoiled, sorry

John Doe - This show lasted for one season on the SciFi channel. About a man who has an encyclopedic mind but can't remember his past or see color. Never did learn if he was human,android or cyborg. It was just getting interesting when it was canceled.

Actually that was a FOX series that Sci-Fi rebroadcast (much the same as they did with Firefly)
Another good show that didn't survive the Friday Death Slot on FOX.

.

John Doe - This show lasted for one season on the SciFi channel. About a man who has an encyclopedic mind but can't remember his past or see color. Never did learn if he was human,android or cyborg. It was just getting interesting when it was canceled.

If it had lasted a little longer, he would have eventually been revealed to be Christ returning to Earth to deal with the heathens at Fox. Well, sorta anyway:

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=34221

Thanks for the correction. I keep hearing that jingle "SciFi Original" with just about every commercial they have on a show. I guess it's true, you hear a lie often enough, you begin to believe it. I need a reality check from these guys.

How about 'Enterprise'? People say that wasn't based on anything that happened before.

Most movies these days are full of Fictional Science. Get shot and you fly backwards 2 blocks. Jump a car off a building and land without harm. Get punched in the mouth and lose no teeth.

There are so many great works by so many sci-fi guys. Frank Herbert did more than Dune. Arthur C. Clarke did more than 2001. But hollywood doesn't read.

Couldn't be...they weren't required to toss the kid into a volcano. :p
Details!

There was lava though...

Actually, it's a reworking of 3 Godfathers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040064/plotsummary).
Well that confirms it then, when John Wayne gets turned into a cartoon you just know there are no original ideas left.

DARK CITY is the first that pops to mind

One of my favorites, with William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland and Jennifer Connelly. Critics compared it to Metropolis for it's originality.

Another obscure one "The Dark Backward". Still trying to figure that one out. With Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton, Wayne Newton, Lara Flynn Boyle, James Caan, Rob Lowe and others. Even with all the big names (and even bigger actresses) in this one it never made it as it was so far removed from the "Mainstream" of Sci-Fi.

Well that confirms it then, when John Wayne gets turned into a cartoon you just know there are no original ideas left.
I take it you haven't seen Fox's lineup for next season?:jest::p

Ice Age?

Or was that a re-make of LoTR's with the ring replaced by a human kid?

I always thought that Babylon 5 was a remake of LOTR.
With the exception of destroying a ring in the end, many characters and the overall plot was very eerily similar.


There was good and evil
there were mentors
the mages left like the elves did
all powerful beings like Kosh/Shadows fought like wizards
battles everywhere leading to the final battle
Zahadoom = Modor
Mr. Morden kinda equals Gollum
In the end, the vorlons and shadows left leaving it to be the universe of mortals much like the storyline of the LOTR being the age of men.

All in all it was a very close storyline.