2001: A Space Odyssey is the greatest Sci-Fi film ever.

It was a lot of fun. Star Wars. As my opponent noted, I did not mention Star Wars in my last round. The Star Wars movies have inspired multiple generations. They are the reason most of us watch science fiction, with a fully realized sense of escapism, wonder and adventure not present in almost any other film, especially at the time. Particular mention has to go to Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, which is the best and most intense of the original series. Note the dramatic contrast between the sincere emotional acting, particularly between Han and Leia, and the wooden, emotionless acting of the astronauts on 2001: ASO. Even when threatened by HAL with complete destruction they barely react to what is going on. Empire also has a highly dramatic conclusion in which the dark side wins, Luke loses his hand and Han is frozen in carbonite, leaving the viewer on an amazing cliffhanger wondering how the protagonists will get out of the situation. This is a film that manages to connect in every way with its audience, in a way that 2001: A Space Odyssey fails to do. Inception On the matter of Inception, my opponent states “The film is pretentious, and that's how I feel. ” Now the exact same criticism could be applied to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s a pretentious movie that is chosen as the best Sci-Fi film ever by pretentious art critics and graduate students. Inception turns dreams and the freudian subconscious into visual reality, it's a great film. Ghost in the Shell While my opponent might consider “anime to be its own genre. ” The definition of science fiction according to the World English Dictionary (2009) is “A literary genre that makes imaginative use of scientific knowledge or conjecture. ” By this definition Ghost in the Shell is science fiction and my opponent cannot just dismiss the film. Ghost in the Shell is thrilling, compelling, visually splendid and moving, it isn't just classic anime, it's a great film. Blade Runner Alright to settle this “controversy” over which version of Blade Runner I meant, I choose the Blade Runner Final Cut version, which is the version that most closely resembles what the director actually intended and doesn’t include the annoying voice-over which neither Harrison Ford on Scott wanted. This I a film that holds up to scrutiny over the years, and is expertly crafted with massive attention to detail. You can watch the film over and over always finding something new to like. The dystopian future presented in the film, a mixture of some of the worst aspects of western and eastern culture has inspired countless films, video games, and TV series after it. Glenn Kenny of MSN writes “[t]he theme of what it "really" means to be "human" is of course a favorite one in sci-fi, and this film, adapted from, yes, a work by author Philip K. Dick, explores that question intelligently and without making a pretentiously big deal of it: The movie works beautifully on the surface level of an action-packed sci-fi thriller. ”[1] This is the main contrast between Blade Runner and 2001: ASO. Blade Runner manages to touch upon its themes without drowning itself in its own visuals and pacing. It works on many more levels than 2001: ASO. Comparison to other works of art. My opponent states “you can't deny that there have been plenty of people who yawned at the site of Renaissance paintings” now while that may be true, there is an enormous difference between having your audience yawn and putting your audience to sleep in the way that 2001: A Space Odyssey does. I urge voters to consider this scenario: It’s 7pm on a Sunday night, you have nothing to do. You turn on your computer, navigate over to Netflix and on your screen you see that Netflix is offering every science fiction movie ever made. Particularly including the 11 Best Sci-Fi Movie Ever contenders I have proposed (and Transformers). Think about all the possibilities (A. I. , I Robot, Clockwork Orange, the Star Trek movies (particularly The Wrath of Kahn)). Now would you rather spend the last few hours of your weekend watching 2001: A Space Odyssey, or would you rather watch any other Sci-Fi movie? (Even ones that you have already seen). I personally wouldn’t watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, particularly because I’ve already seen it, I’ve climbed that “mandatory” step on the pop culture ladder. I would probably watch Blade Runner. And I believe the vast majority of people would not choose to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey either. [2] In fact, is there any reason to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey more than once? For most people, the answer is likely no. If this is the greatest Sci-Fi film of all time, why is it so unwatchable? Why is it that it’s so hard to emotionally connect with this film for most people? And why oh why is it so boring? Pro states that he feels “…as if my opponent has not found a film that can topple the greatness and influence of 2001. ” It’s true, I have not found *a* film that can topple the greatness and influence of 2001, I have found *multiple* films that can topple the greatness and influence of 2001. Particularly Blade Runner. Online rankings of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time. I’d like to take a moment to go over some of the online lists for greatest Sci Fi films of all time. Going over the lists on totalscifionline. com (choosing Blade Runner)[3], imdb. com (choosing Star Wars Ep. V)[4], movies. ign. com (choosing Blade Runner)[5], totalfilm. com (choosing Blade Runner)[6], timeout. com (2001: A Space Odyssey doesn’t even crack their top ten)[7], TheGuardian. co. uk (choosing Blade Runner)[8], science. discovery. com (choosing Avatar)[9], film. com (choosing Blade Runner)[10], movies. msn. com (choosing Blade Runner). [11] The internet is in agreement, 2001: A Space Odyssey is NOT the greatest Sci-Fi film of all time. [12] In fact the consensus amongst the internet critics seems to be that Blade Runner is the greatest Sci-Fi film ever. My opponent’s apparent concession of the debate. Pro states in his closing statement that “2001: A Space Odyssey is still one of the greatest Sci-Fi films ever. ” But the debate here centers on whether “2001: A Space Odyssey is the greatest Sci-Fi film ever. ” Being “one of” the greatest is not the same as being “the” greatest. It appears as if Pro, not surprisingly, has developed some doubt as to whether 2001: ASO is the greatest Sci-Fi film ever, and has now partly conceded the debate. If so I thank Pro for coming over to the light side, it’s never too late. ;-) Conclusion: Despite its technical achievements and symbolic themes, 2001: A Space Odyssey is done in by its own slow pacing, wooden acting, over use of technical effects. It is a technical stepping stone to far better films that are actually capable of connecting with their audience. But it is not, the greatest Sci-Fi film ever. Vote Con! [1] . http://movies.msn.com.... [2] This is particularly true among the internet crowd as you’ll note from the section below on what the internet’s opinion on the question is. [3] . http://totalscifionline.com.... [4] . http://www.imdb.com.... [5] . http://movies.ign.com.... [6] . http://www.totalfilm.com.... [7] . http://www.timeout.com.... [8] . http://www.guardian.co.uk.... [9] . http://science.discovery.com.... [10] . http://www.film.com.... [11] . http://movies.msn.com.... [12] Digitaldreamdoor did have 2001: ASO at #1, but I’ve never heard of them so they don’t count. . http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com.... The only other site to choose 2001: ASO was Popular Mechanics, but that pretty much leaves the vote 8 vs 2 against ASO, so it is not the greatest sci fi film ever.