In preparation for this Summer's (blockbuster?) re-release of War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise (in theaters June 29) I decided to get in the mood with a little research. Herein are described Attika's Top Ten Flying Saucer Movies of All Time!
First off, the movie MUST have a Flying Saucer in it! So all the Star Wars films are out; same with Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon, Conquest of Space, Men in Black, Space 1999, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, 2001: a Space Odyssey, The Day the World Ended, Silent Running, Starship Troopers, the Aliens movies -- yeah, they all have spaceships in em, but were they FLYING SAUCERS? I think not! The ship MUST be at least vaguely saucer-ish in shape. (Spinning is optional; as are death rays.)
No fair humans building saucers, they HAVE to be of alien design. (There goes Lost in Space.)
The film MUST show the flying saucers . . . flying! We're not interesting in the interiors of the durn things and the laboratories they take the humans to, we want to see those saucers in flight! So nix on all the abduction films like Fire in the Sky and Communion. (Sure we can be friends. Put down that probe!)
Finally, the saucers must play a PIVOTAL if not CENTRAL role in the movie, not just make an appearance and then disappear. (So E.T. doesn't count.)
With that as the basis, on with the list!
#10. The Day the Earth Stood Still(1951)
Gort. Klaatu. Barada. Nikto. The saucer flies. The saucer lands. Out steps a spiffy looking alien. We shoot him. Out steps a big honkin' robot! Yikes! Ok, the saucer doesn't do much, but it does fly, land, and practically all the action of the movie takes place around it. Plus, what a creepy soundtrack for this movie! Hard to beat it! Makes the list coming in at #10.
#9. Invaders from Mars(1953, 1986)
I'm speaking of the 1986 movie here; never saw the 1953 original. And ok, the saucer barely makes an appearance at the film's start and ending -- that's why this film is so far down on the list! But we get to see the saucer, and it flies, and man o man who can forget the scene where the two US government agents get sucked down screaming into the sand pit where the saucer is buried! A ten point on the Scare-o-meter! Decent movie that has a flying saucer in it. #9.
#8. Mars Attacks!(1996)
Lotsa saucers; lotsa death rays too! Unfortunately, the movie was made in a "high camp" style; merely a satirical take-off on the truth about about Flying Saucers! The saucers are awfully well done, however, looking just like a REAL flying saucer should! And the death rays are pretty neat too! Good effects; bad movie. (Movie's best line: "Say, you havin' a barbecue?") #8 on the list due to silliness.
#7. This Island Earth(1955)
Ok, now we're getting into the meat of these saucers! This Flying Saucer sucks up a Piper Cub with humans aboard, and takes 'em to the aliens' battle-scarred world! Neat saucer effects, even if there's only one of 'em. It flies around a lot and makes noises just like real flying saucers do! The saucer definitely has a leading role -- if not THE lead role -- in this film! Sweet! #7.
#6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind(1977)
Alien spacecraft and saucers have been visiting the Earth for all of human history, but only now do we have the smarts and technology to chase 'em around with police cars and crash said cars afterwards. Whoa! Flying saucers + car chases + crash! Lemme go buy another box of popcorn and see that again! Of course, the saucers don't have death rays (but can blast out a bass note that shatters glass), and they don't really . . . do . . . much of anything. But still! They fly, lots of 'em are saucer shaped, and they definitely are the stars of this (somewhat non-sensical) film! #6.
#5. The Battle in Outer Space(1959)
I can hear you now: What? Huh? Never heard of it! It's your loss as this Japanese movie uses incredible miniatures effects to create tons and tons (and TONS) of battles with flying saucers! And you can see the wires on less than half of 'em! There's battles between the saucers and our two Moon Rovers (which look suspiciously like the Oscar Meyer Hotdog Van!). Battles between saucers and laser-wielding humans ("I'll hold them off! You get back to the spaceship! Take that! And that! And that!" "Doctor Iwamura, no!" "Arrrgghhh!!!") And who can forget the finale, where Earth's laser-equipped interceptors take on the Mother Ship and her brood of saucerlettes (Saucerlings? Saucettes?). Unfortunately, our lasers are static and front-mounted; the alien saucers can fire at any angle. So it's one head-on pass by the Earthlings and 'Sayonara Carbon Unit'! Still, the magnificent battle between the two miniatures space fleets is something to behold! You need a pad and pencil to keep score on who's blowing up more of whom! Yah! #5!
#4. Episode #20(Destruction) from the British TV series: UFO(1970)
Ok, so this one isn't really a _movie_ per se. Well excuuuuse me! I just had to include it as it kicks posterior! This TV series (called UFO! Can you beat that?!) lasted THREE seasons and, of course, NEARLY EVERY EPISODE HAD A FLYING SAUCER IN IT! What more could you ask for? Ahhhh, the prim and proper British acting, decent dialogue and an actual continuing plot that makes sense! Oh baby I'm drooling! Add to this an alien technology not all that far ahead of our own and some interesting confrontations develop. Take this episode(#20: Destruction) for example. The Brits are trying to dispose of mega-tons of deadly nerve gas by dumping scores of drums of it into a deep sea trench in the Atlantic Ocean. The aliens get wind of it (ahem) and decide to blow up said shipment -- ship included! -- and send off a saucer to intercept. But the aliens didn't bargain on the frigate the Brits have escorting the cargo vessel, and this destroyer lives up to its name by shooting down the alien craft with a surface-to-air missile!! Score one for the humans, uh-huh, uh-huh! Who's bad NOW? Um, ok, so like you got another saucer coming, . . . . Still, I loved this episode, and it has to be listed on the all-time greats of films featuring flying saucers! #4 on the list!
#3. Independence Day(1996)
Hollywood's big budget blockbuster at least got some of the major stuff right. The aliens are bad, their smaller fighters (saucer-like in appearance) put our best technology to shame, and the deathray those motherships have. . . ! Awesome! Ok, so the action and plot are formulaic (you KNOW the good guys are going to win in the end) and the movie's tone is preachy and self-righteous . . . Still, this UFO film has battles out the wazoo and special effects you can sink your teeth into! Pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a big Hollywood production, but they DID do the SAUCERS-thing right! #3 with a Deathray!
#2. War of the Worlds(1953)
This is the original; Tom Cruise's remake will have some pretty big alien footwear to fill! Ok, parts of the dialogue are clunky, and the narration at both the beginning and end of the movie is downright ponderous, but the rest of the movie rocks! It's going to be hard to duplicate the sinister menace (and the sounds!) of the alien ships and the snake-like appendages that house those deathrays! (Remember this scene? "There's nothing to be afraid of. Everyone knows the meaning of a white flag!" BRRRZZAAAAPPP!!!). Dunno exactly why I put this one in front of Independence Day -- I guess I just didn't like all the sappy sentimentality and blind patriotism slathered on in the other one. This one is pretty much an US versus THEM tale, and there's no cheesy love story or politics to worry about. No doubt the remake will "improve" upon this, though. Bummer. #2 on the all-time Flying Saucer Movie list!
.
.
.
And finally, the #1 Flying Saucer Movie yet made is . . . .(drumroll please). . . .
.
.
.
#1. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers(1956)
Right from the very title you know exactly what you're getting here. No smarmy love story. No political maneuvering. No sensitive sub-plots involving children or animals. They named it EARTH VERSUS THE FLYING SAUCERS and that's exactly what you get. And talk about getting down to business! The first saucer shows in like the first 6 minutes of the film, and proceeds to wipe out a military installation -- um, after we blow away one of the alien astronauts using a twin 40mm bofors mounted on the back of a open-bed deuce-and-a-half. (Take THAT you alien menace, you!) Still, these UFO's have it all! They're saucers! They spin while they fly! They're got deathrays! They have cool sound effects for their movement! There's almost no sub-plots in this entire move, it's just us and them going at it for nearly an hour! And when the saucers attack the Capitol! You've got to see when the one saucer crashes into the Washington monument and cuts it in half! This is just mano-y-saucero combat from start to finish, which is what every good flying saucer movie should be, and is why this movie is ranked #1 on the Flying Saucers Movie list! Yeehaw! More popcorn!
Honorable Mentions: The Flying Saucer, It Came from Outer Space, The Zanti Misfits(original The Outer Limits adventure), Quartermass and the Pit, The Last Starfighter, The Mysterians, Fireball XL5, The Thunderbirds, The Invaders, Flight of the Navigator, The Aurora Encounter, V: the television series, and many many others.
Ok, hope you enjoyed the list. Feel free to comment or add a movie that you think was missed. (Must have saucer! Must be flying!)
Attika
PS Check out the interesting movie teaser trailers at http://www.waroftheworlds.com/
Seems that the movie will be contemporary and American, not a period piece
First off, the movie MUST have a Flying Saucer in it! So all the Star Wars films are out; same with Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon, Conquest of Space, Men in Black, Space 1999, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, 2001: a Space Odyssey, The Day the World Ended, Silent Running, Starship Troopers, the Aliens movies -- yeah, they all have spaceships in em, but were they FLYING SAUCERS? I think not! The ship MUST be at least vaguely saucer-ish in shape. (Spinning is optional; as are death rays.)
No fair humans building saucers, they HAVE to be of alien design. (There goes Lost in Space.)
The film MUST show the flying saucers . . . flying! We're not interesting in the interiors of the durn things and the laboratories they take the humans to, we want to see those saucers in flight! So nix on all the abduction films like Fire in the Sky and Communion. (Sure we can be friends. Put down that probe!)
Finally, the saucers must play a PIVOTAL if not CENTRAL role in the movie, not just make an appearance and then disappear. (So E.T. doesn't count.)
With that as the basis, on with the list!
#10. The Day the Earth Stood Still(1951)
Gort. Klaatu. Barada. Nikto. The saucer flies. The saucer lands. Out steps a spiffy looking alien. We shoot him. Out steps a big honkin' robot! Yikes! Ok, the saucer doesn't do much, but it does fly, land, and practically all the action of the movie takes place around it. Plus, what a creepy soundtrack for this movie! Hard to beat it! Makes the list coming in at #10.
#9. Invaders from Mars(1953, 1986)
I'm speaking of the 1986 movie here; never saw the 1953 original. And ok, the saucer barely makes an appearance at the film's start and ending -- that's why this film is so far down on the list! But we get to see the saucer, and it flies, and man o man who can forget the scene where the two US government agents get sucked down screaming into the sand pit where the saucer is buried! A ten point on the Scare-o-meter! Decent movie that has a flying saucer in it. #9.
#8. Mars Attacks!(1996)
Lotsa saucers; lotsa death rays too! Unfortunately, the movie was made in a "high camp" style; merely a satirical take-off on the truth about about Flying Saucers! The saucers are awfully well done, however, looking just like a REAL flying saucer should! And the death rays are pretty neat too! Good effects; bad movie. (Movie's best line: "Say, you havin' a barbecue?") #8 on the list due to silliness.
#7. This Island Earth(1955)
Ok, now we're getting into the meat of these saucers! This Flying Saucer sucks up a Piper Cub with humans aboard, and takes 'em to the aliens' battle-scarred world! Neat saucer effects, even if there's only one of 'em. It flies around a lot and makes noises just like real flying saucers do! The saucer definitely has a leading role -- if not THE lead role -- in this film! Sweet! #7.
#6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind(1977)
Alien spacecraft and saucers have been visiting the Earth for all of human history, but only now do we have the smarts and technology to chase 'em around with police cars and crash said cars afterwards. Whoa! Flying saucers + car chases + crash! Lemme go buy another box of popcorn and see that again! Of course, the saucers don't have death rays (but can blast out a bass note that shatters glass), and they don't really . . . do . . . much of anything. But still! They fly, lots of 'em are saucer shaped, and they definitely are the stars of this (somewhat non-sensical) film! #6.
#5. The Battle in Outer Space(1959)
I can hear you now: What? Huh? Never heard of it! It's your loss as this Japanese movie uses incredible miniatures effects to create tons and tons (and TONS) of battles with flying saucers! And you can see the wires on less than half of 'em! There's battles between the saucers and our two Moon Rovers (which look suspiciously like the Oscar Meyer Hotdog Van!). Battles between saucers and laser-wielding humans ("I'll hold them off! You get back to the spaceship! Take that! And that! And that!" "Doctor Iwamura, no!" "Arrrgghhh!!!") And who can forget the finale, where Earth's laser-equipped interceptors take on the Mother Ship and her brood of saucerlettes (Saucerlings? Saucettes?). Unfortunately, our lasers are static and front-mounted; the alien saucers can fire at any angle. So it's one head-on pass by the Earthlings and 'Sayonara Carbon Unit'! Still, the magnificent battle between the two miniatures space fleets is something to behold! You need a pad and pencil to keep score on who's blowing up more of whom! Yah! #5!
#4. Episode #20(Destruction) from the British TV series: UFO(1970)
Ok, so this one isn't really a _movie_ per se. Well excuuuuse me! I just had to include it as it kicks posterior! This TV series (called UFO! Can you beat that?!) lasted THREE seasons and, of course, NEARLY EVERY EPISODE HAD A FLYING SAUCER IN IT! What more could you ask for? Ahhhh, the prim and proper British acting, decent dialogue and an actual continuing plot that makes sense! Oh baby I'm drooling! Add to this an alien technology not all that far ahead of our own and some interesting confrontations develop. Take this episode(#20: Destruction) for example. The Brits are trying to dispose of mega-tons of deadly nerve gas by dumping scores of drums of it into a deep sea trench in the Atlantic Ocean. The aliens get wind of it (ahem) and decide to blow up said shipment -- ship included! -- and send off a saucer to intercept. But the aliens didn't bargain on the frigate the Brits have escorting the cargo vessel, and this destroyer lives up to its name by shooting down the alien craft with a surface-to-air missile!! Score one for the humans, uh-huh, uh-huh! Who's bad NOW? Um, ok, so like you got another saucer coming, . . . . Still, I loved this episode, and it has to be listed on the all-time greats of films featuring flying saucers! #4 on the list!
#3. Independence Day(1996)
Hollywood's big budget blockbuster at least got some of the major stuff right. The aliens are bad, their smaller fighters (saucer-like in appearance) put our best technology to shame, and the deathray those motherships have. . . ! Awesome! Ok, so the action and plot are formulaic (you KNOW the good guys are going to win in the end) and the movie's tone is preachy and self-righteous . . . Still, this UFO film has battles out the wazoo and special effects you can sink your teeth into! Pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a big Hollywood production, but they DID do the SAUCERS-thing right! #3 with a Deathray!
#2. War of the Worlds(1953)
This is the original; Tom Cruise's remake will have some pretty big alien footwear to fill! Ok, parts of the dialogue are clunky, and the narration at both the beginning and end of the movie is downright ponderous, but the rest of the movie rocks! It's going to be hard to duplicate the sinister menace (and the sounds!) of the alien ships and the snake-like appendages that house those deathrays! (Remember this scene? "There's nothing to be afraid of. Everyone knows the meaning of a white flag!" BRRRZZAAAAPPP!!!). Dunno exactly why I put this one in front of Independence Day -- I guess I just didn't like all the sappy sentimentality and blind patriotism slathered on in the other one. This one is pretty much an US versus THEM tale, and there's no cheesy love story or politics to worry about. No doubt the remake will "improve" upon this, though. Bummer. #2 on the all-time Flying Saucer Movie list!
.
.
.
And finally, the #1 Flying Saucer Movie yet made is . . . .(drumroll please). . . .
.
.
.
#1. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers(1956)
Right from the very title you know exactly what you're getting here. No smarmy love story. No political maneuvering. No sensitive sub-plots involving children or animals. They named it EARTH VERSUS THE FLYING SAUCERS and that's exactly what you get. And talk about getting down to business! The first saucer shows in like the first 6 minutes of the film, and proceeds to wipe out a military installation -- um, after we blow away one of the alien astronauts using a twin 40mm bofors mounted on the back of a open-bed deuce-and-a-half. (Take THAT you alien menace, you!) Still, these UFO's have it all! They're saucers! They spin while they fly! They're got deathrays! They have cool sound effects for their movement! There's almost no sub-plots in this entire move, it's just us and them going at it for nearly an hour! And when the saucers attack the Capitol! You've got to see when the one saucer crashes into the Washington monument and cuts it in half! This is just mano-y-saucero combat from start to finish, which is what every good flying saucer movie should be, and is why this movie is ranked #1 on the Flying Saucers Movie list! Yeehaw! More popcorn!
Honorable Mentions: The Flying Saucer, It Came from Outer Space, The Zanti Misfits(original The Outer Limits adventure), Quartermass and the Pit, The Last Starfighter, The Mysterians, Fireball XL5, The Thunderbirds, The Invaders, Flight of the Navigator, The Aurora Encounter, V: the television series, and many many others.
Ok, hope you enjoyed the list. Feel free to comment or add a movie that you think was missed. (Must have saucer! Must be flying!)
Attika
PS Check out the interesting movie teaser trailers at http://www.waroftheworlds.com/
Seems that the movie will be contemporary and American, not a period piece