You think Thanksgiving offers only turkey dinners, next-day left-overs and Black Friday stampedes to be thankful for? It offers much more than those, such as plenty of TV viewing. But if you think nothing but afternoon football and Hallmark holiday programming dominate the television channels over the Thanksgiving weekend, then be thankful for the best twelve sci fi movies listed below! The list is not necessarily arranged by air date, but rather by popularity. However, stations and air dates are indicated. Check your TV service provider’s listings for specific times.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: Airs on Spike, Friday Nov. 25. Part of Spike’s Star Wars movie marathon, this is George Lucas’s prequel episode that culminates in Anakin Skywalker’s (Hayden Christensen) tragic commencement to his villainous career as Darth Vader. Episode III is the best of the prequels in that its characterization is more developed and the plot elements more realistic than those of the other films which tend to be more sentimental. The movie takes the biggest trend from all other SW movies, including the ones of the original trilogy.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): Airs on MoMax, Sunday Nov. 27. In this installment of the Star Trek movies, a villain from the original TV series makes a return appearance--for revenge of course. This film is loaded with action and great special effects for its time, and intense dramatic moments between the characters, especially Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Khan (Ricardo Montalban).
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: MoMax, Saturday Nov. 26. A direct continuation of the above ST movie, although aired out of its chronology. Just call the above one a prequel in this age of movie prequels, or simply record this one and watch the other first. This was the best of the sequels that starred the original series’ characters since it came to a satisfying story completion, yet, as indicated at the end, “the adventure continues . . . “
Jurassic Park (1993): AMC, Nov. 25. TVGuide.com calls it “Steven Spielberg’s monster hit . . . The film won three Oscars, including Best Visual Effects . . .” A tale about a scientist who revives the pre-historic reptiles and attempts to make a tourist attraction of a zoo out of their island habitat. This is a great mix of elements of the atomic age sci fi movies and modern hard science fiction dealing with genetic engineering. One of Spielberg’s first movies that uses well developed characterization since his Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982): USA, Nov. 25 and 27. No, this movie was not accidently thrown in here. Raiders really is science fiction when you think about it: archeology is a science and no one’s found the lost Ark of the Covenant just as no one’s found intelligent life on other planets yet. So Raiders is as much sci fi as it is high adventure. This is the best of the four Indy movies! Part of USA’s Indiana Jones marathon.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): USA, Nov. 25. One of the other Indy episodes on USA’s above said marathon, and by popular opinion the worst of the four movies. But even though that may be so, if you’re heavily into sci fi, especially that of the 1950s/atomic era like this Examiner is, then this Indy film deserves a place on this list. It is the more science fictional of all the Indy movies since it deals with extraterrestrials--the biggest trend the Indiana Jones franchise has taken and it works! (At least when we disregard the previous movies.) Indy (Harrison Ford) is still up and going on his freelance archeological adventures at age 50-plus. He discovers he has a teenage son (reminiscent of a “Rebel Without a Cause” James Dean, played by Shia LaBeouf), and deals with foreign threats both at home in the U.S. and abroad, particularly in the Peruvian jungles. He also reunites with his love of the first film, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).
Wall-E (2008): ABC Family, Thursday Nov. 24 and Friday Nov. 25. This is Disney/Pixar’s greatest of computer-animated productions. A waste management robot and his cockroach friend are the last two things closest to life on Earth after the planet has been devastated with environmental destruction and all humans have fled for a kind of pleasure “dome” in space. The robot, Wall-E, accidently launches into space and lands on the humans’ all-luxury/-leisure high tech home and must survive its lethal security system. This is a family film with a significant moral for our time of exceeding global warming and other environmental concerns.
Ghostbusters (1984): VH-1, Nov. 24. So ghosts may be of the supernatural, but the paranormal investigators in this movie use high tech equipment to study and, if need be, exterminate them. This movie contains plenty of frightening surprises and laughs. Stars Bill Murray, Rick Moranis (Honey I Shrunk the Kids, 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors) and Sigourney Weaver (the Alien movie series).
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948): Sacramento’s KQCAD, Channel 58.2, Nov. 24. The classic comedy duo are pursued not just by Frankenstein’s monster, but also by Dracula (Bela Lugosi returning to his famous role), and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr. also returning to his famous horror movie role. TVGuide.com calls it “one of the best in the Abbot and Costello series.” They’re not kidding. Like Ghostbusters above, this movie provides fright (or at least what constituted as it during the movie’s era) and humor simultaneously.
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955): KQCAD, Channel 58.2, Nov. 25 and 27. A straight sci fi horror film about a giant octopus that attacks the San Francisco coast. It contains a climactic scene where the octopus attempts to pull down the Golden Gate Bridge. This film may look lame to some with its stop-motion animated effects, but if you like vintage sci fi and can therefore place yourself in its historical context, you’ll like this one.
Moonraker (1979): SyFy, Nov. 26. Part of SyFy’s James Bond marathon, this movie took the jump onto the Star Wars craze band wagon in its time. Yet it’s more down to earth (don’t mind the pun) and closer to reality in that--though there are high tech space vessels, including a space shuttle before the upcoming 1981 launch of the Columbia-- there are no aliens. Although the setting in space is futuristic in appearance, the movie is still set in its present time. This helps keep it in the James Bond series' continuity while giving it a space epic twist.
Brazil (1985): Cinemax, Nov. 26. Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam directed this science fiction dark comedy about a futuristic, Orwellian society. Using great surrealistic visuals, this film transports you to another, darker, world while giving you plenty of laughs at the same time. Robert De Niro is one of the many starring actors and, ironically, even one of the funniest.
The Thanksgiving weekend will not just be restricted to football or holiday viewing, and not even to the above listed movies. Go to TVGuide.com for more sci fi/fantasy listings!
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