So, we have looked at the best science fiction books and movies, but how about the worst? I have scoured the net looking for the worst of the worst, and after a lot of tough decision making, here it is! The ten worst science fiction films ever made – with youtube clips! Ordered from worst to worstest. [Yes, I know that is bad English.]
10. Star Trek: The Final Frontier, Director: William Shatner [1989]
I had to include at least one Star Trek film. It was a tough pick between this and Nemsis, but this one wins. The crew of the Federation starship Enterprise is called to Nimbus III, the Planet of Intergalactic Peace. They are to negotiate in a case of kidnapping only to find out that the kidnapper is a relative of Spock. This man is possessed by his life long search for the planet Shaka-Ri which is supposed to be the source of all life. Together they begin to search for this mysterious planet
9. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Director: Sidney Furie [1987]
The clip is short – but you get the point – falling in space? What happened to gravity? Lex Luthor steals a hair of Superman’s head from a museum and uses it to create Nuclear Man, an android that gets energy from the Sun. His purpose of course is to use him as a weapon to kill Superman, so that Luthor will be free to realize his criminal plans.
8. Frankenstein Conquers the World, Director: Ishirô Honda [1965]
During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein’s) is kept in a Japanese lab, when it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and sprouts appendages, and eventually grows into a complete body and escapes. Later, a feral boy with a certain physical deformity (a large head with a flat top) is captured by scientists who refer to the boy as Frankenstein. The creature grows to the height of 20 feet, escapes again, fights police and army, and is practically indestructible. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle.
7. Robot Monster, Director: Phil Tucker [1953]
Watching this clip, I think I understand why women were not in the military in 1953! The Robot Monster has been sent to Earth as the advance party of an impending invasion. Ordered by The Great One to capture several humans, the Robot Monster becomes confused once it learns more about humans.
6. Sant Claus Conquers the Martians, Director: Nicholas Webster [1964]
My favorite line: Martian1: “You stay away from those children!” Martian 2: “That will be easy to do. They’ve escaped!”. Martians, upset that their children have become obsessed with TV shows from Earth which extoll the virtues of Santa Claus, start an expedition to Earth to kidnap the one and only Santa. While on Earth, they kidnap two lively children that lead the group of Martians to the North Pole and Santa. The Martians then take Santa and the two children back to Mars with them.
5. Monster a go-go, Director: Bill Rebane [1965]
“When you walk out, you will wonder what you have seen!” – I think the voice-over guy was having a premonition! An astronaut comes back to Earth and crashes in a field, incredibly irradiated and wreaking havoc. Just as they have him cornered, he disappears, and the “real” astronaut is found 7,500 miles away in the Pacific Ocean, “alive, well, and of normal size.”
4. Turks in Space (Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam in Oglu), Director: Kartal Tibet [2006]
Hmm – where have I seen those light-sabers before? This one is so bad that I can’t even find a synopsis for it! I will just say, this is rated the 6th worst film by IMDB (including non-SF films).
3. Plan 9 from Outer Space, Director: Edward D Wood Jr [1959]
“Can your heart stand the shocking facts about Graverobbers from Outer Space?” That’s the question on the lips of the narrator of this tale about flying saucers, zombies and cardboard tombstones. A pair of aliens, angered by the “stupid minds” of planet Earth, set up shop in a California cemetery. Their plan: to animate an army of the dead to march on the capitals of the world. (The fact that they have only managed to resurrect three zombies to date has not discouraged them.)
2. The Beast of Yucca Flats, Director: Coleman Francis [1961]
A defecting Russian scientist is transformed by an atomic test into a hulking monster, Tor Johnson, of course. Not much else except some people are killed, boys get lost, and a rabbit sniffs Tor’s corpse. If you liked the clip, watch the whole thing here.
1. Battlefield Earth, Director: Roger Christian [2000]
How could this have not been a disaster? It is effectively a Scientology advert in film format. Someone put together a nice little clip of the best/worst bits so I have used that here. In the year 3000, man is no match for the Psychlo’s, a greedy, manipulative race of aliens on a quest for ultimate profit. Led by the seductive and powerful Terl (Travolta), the Psychlo’s are stripping Earth clean of its natural resources, using the broken remnants of humanity as slaves. What is left of the human race has descended into a near primitive state, believing the invaders to be demons and technology to be evil.
Topic suggested by: RobS
Technorati Tags: Movies, Worst Movies, sci-fi, science fiction
Just watched GayN-Words from Outer-Space.
It truly is awful – in an unfunny way. Maybe it’s funnier in Danish. As satire goes, this is pretty lame. Tries hard to offend just about everybody – and fails miserably.
But if y’all really want to waste 30 minutes of your life, like I did, here’s the YouTube link. Complete with gratuitous Carlsberg advert.
Thanks, though, Aaron.
You owe me thirty minutes. ;+)
Randy,
The Tim Allen movie you’re thinking of is “Galaxy Quest”, which I thought was a fairly funny movie. But, as in all things, your milage may vary.
The giant boob you mentioned reminds me of a scene from Woody Allen’s “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About *****”. You might be remembering that.
Rob
Che hah I can’t believe you found a copy to watch! Thanks for the link
No reason you have to do all the hard work Jamie.
:+)
Che: Thanks
Amazing list. Quite inspired.
One thing about “Battlefield: Earth” is not just how bad the movie was, but how incredibly wrong they got the book.
The movie story is so lame, there are so many aspects of the book that just didn’t make it to the screen… I felt violated.
It’s like releasing “Tremmors” with the title “Dune” (not that Tremors was bad, I loved it, actually).
There you go. My mood is ruined for the day.
My favorite “worst” Sci-Fi flick I can remember in my 50 years is Laserblast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077834/
Too many “bad” things to list but here are a couple of examples:
Beams from the aliens’ ray guns are purple with green lightning bolts in the center of the ray.
In Roddy McDowall’s scene the microphone is in view. They even spelled his name wrong in the credits (Roddy McDowell).
It’s available on Netflix, so if you want to torture yourself (or have a great laugh) check it out.
MST3K did Laser Blast. Just beautiful. It’s on their 20th anniversary DVD. I missed half the the jokes cos I was laughing so very hard.
battlefeild earth should have stayed on the page say what you want about Hubbard this was a good book the movie on the other hand was so bad i walked out half way through and demanded my money back
Battlefield Earth definitely belongs at number 1. The book was just way too long to make into a good movie. I don’t know how anyone who didn’t read it followed the plot at all. I vaguely remember it jumping all over the place. (It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.)
Also, there’s a really funny episode of Mystery Science Theater: 3000 where they show Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I’d recommend watching it.
Evidently, nobody’s seen “Space Mutiny”. Just awful, all the space shots to include the ship is reused footage from the original Battlestar Galactica. And let’s not forget brick walls on a space ship.
you have forgotten to include Star wars 1,2,3,4,5 and 6
specter: haha – I loved the original battlestar gallactica! I wanted to be starbuck – he was so cool.
Stephen: I didn’t forget – they are number 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16
I don’t know if it’s one of the 10 worst, but Logan’s Run was pretty stupid at times.
I think some band did a song using sound clips from “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” but I may be wrong. Anyone know it?
Punjar: I remember Logans run – it was bad.
aplspud: I am not familiar with it but I would be very curious to hear it. Let us know if you find out what it is.
I nominate “The Creeping Terror”, an early 60s B&W flic that was so profoundly bad that, even though I viewed it only once, I still remember it fondly 25+ years later. The title creature resembled a shag carpet/compost heap whose mode of attack was to engulf its victims, although I recall that some of its intended prey had to literally push themselves into its maw (which resembled a “doggy door”). One poor fellow tried to escape this fate by beating the creature with an acoustic guitar, but alas, he and his girlfriend are thusly consumed. This movie was wonderfully awful in every possible way. Unfortunately this terrible treasure has been lost; at least I can’t find it anywhere!
Ok, so after hours of searching (instead of writing a paper of course) I’ve figured out the name of the band is The Laziest Men on Mars (of All Your Base fame). There are actually several songs that feature clips from Santa Clause Conquers the Martians. “Nothing Can Stop Torg!” can be found on YouTube, though that’s not the one I was originally thinking of. A write up on the group with a list of their songs can be found at http://www.evilintellect.com/clarph/aybabtu.html If anyone can find MP3s of the songs, I would be sooo happy!
I think you kinda cheated here, I mean come on, let’s stick to SERIOUS sci fi, or at least, Sci Fi that takes itself seriously. I wouldn’t include Santa Claus Conquers the Martians or Monster a Go Go in this list, and Plan 9 has always been considered camp theatre. There’s plenty of really bad Sci Fi out there to go around… Every Aliens after II, Solaris, Lost in Space and the Hellraiser in space movie are all good candidates.
“The Beast of Yucca Flats” is completely, utterly, thoroughly unwatchable without the MST3K commentary.
And while we’re on ghastly sci-fi film, here is part of a commentary I recently left on another website concerning that classic “The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant”
“…the great MST3K episode that never was. As romantic leads, you had Casey Kasem and Pat Priest. Kasem’s experience as the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo no doubt sealed his cartoonish creature credentials, while Priest, of course, had tons of experience sharing screen time with big, lumbering stupid monsters. As for the two-headed transplant of the title, that was none other than future Academy Award nominee Bruce “what the hell am I doing in this film” Dern.”
Sorry, Dern played the scientist, not the monster. My bad
I liked Battlefield Earth,but the rest,no.Some ive never heard of.
How do you find time for this??
Peggy: I seriously don’t know
Two films far worse than the worst Star Trek ever offered: 1) Disney’s “The Black Hole” which was the only movie I ever wanted to walk out on. This movie contained two appallingly annoying hyper-cute robots, no science content to its fiction, and, the violent scene where a robot cuts a man’s heart out with a spinning blade spills not a drop of blood. The movie has no redeeming features that I can recall.
2)Wing Commander, a retooled WWII ships-and-submarines movie in which, at one point, a crashed fighter is bulldozed off of the carrier’s landing deck and it falls. Both of these movies hammered my bull***** button until the circuit breaker blew.
Also, if you ever get a chance to see the obscure film “Yor, Hunter from the Future”, AKA Mondo di Yor, Il, you’ll want to find a place for it on this list.
BTW, I have to agree that Plan 9 and The Beast of Yucca Flats are more enjoyable less painful than Battlefield.
well, dünyayı kurtaran adamın oğlu is the sequel to the movie ‘dünyayı kurtaran adam’ and it is very famous in turkey with the effects being so funny and such. the real funny thing about it is in fact that; in 80′s, when asked cüneyt arkın (the lead actor) used to say stuff like ‘we didnt have enough money but i think the effort still counts, you dont have the right to laugh at it! we worked our asses off, people!’ but when nobody took him seriously and when the movie ‘dünyayı kurtaran adamın oğlu’ was shot just for the laughs, he started giving interviews like ‘oh sure we deliberatly made it so funny. so we re doing a sequel now.’ cüneyt arkın is a really wierd person. i am a cinema student in istanbul and i want to finish saying this: we were made to watch and study this movie as the worst turkish film ever made..
Nah!! I always felt Santa conquers the martians worse than Battlefield Earth…….How they made a movie wid that title I’ll never know!….Thanx for letting me know about the existance of “Bambi meets godzilla”….Ugh!
plan 9 from outer space is concidered by most movie reviewers as the worst movie ever si-fi or otherwise.
“space truckers”…Dennis Hopper why did you do it to uswe love you so.
and let it not be forgotten “attack of the killer tomatoes” its just so …so …so…there’s no saying just how bad it is.
I haven’t seen any of these movies, and have never shown the least bit of interest in them – thank goodness.
OK, if you can include Superman, then I feel free to nominate Roger Korman’s version of “The Fantastic Four” – so bad it didn’t even make it out of the studio! (A friend has a bootleg copy)
I would also like to recommend “Oblivion” – a really cheezy wild-west-on-some-other-planet-we’ve-colonized movie. Cliches from two genres, it doesn’t get much better than this! George Takai as the town doctor (and drunk!) saying things like ‘I’m a doctor, not a mechanic!’ and Julie Newmar as Miss Kitty, the owner of the town’s saloon (and *****), with the line “Sherrrrrriff! How perrrfectly wonderful to see you again!” Androids, empaths, reptilian aliens, a creepy undertaker, a “native” that looks like a really bad version of Tonto, evil female henchman (henchwoman?) wearing skintight patent leather and a whip…….and if this movie wasn’t enough for you, there’s a sequal, “Backlash” that’s just as bad as the first….
Great things to watch on a rainy Satuday afternoon.
how about “attack of the killer tomatoes”!?!?
love adding things bro…
damn, they really overused angled shots.
I agree with adding Pluto Nash.
The Core (or whatever, with Hilary S*****) was pretty bad.
Mars Attacks was hilarious!
I need to go watch it right NOW!
hm. Turks in Space actually looks interesting. I might have to rot my brain watching it. Battlefield looks like a good comedy flick. And I loved the new Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. It’s about as close to Terry Pratchett as you can get on film . . .
The plot is Turkish space patroling ship intercepted by pirates. And a crew member kidnapped. In the quest of rescuing her, they discover a planet with civilization. And it turns out a Turk MIA astronaut is also there and leading an uprising against tyranny. And furthermore they also finds frozen body of “The man who saved Earth”. The movie’s 2nd half all takes on planet and filmed as a historical movie. So you dont need to buy 2nd CD
hey, if santa claus can conquer the martians, why cant we conquer al quaida?
If the “Creeping Terror” that IMSA12(#76) is the movie I think it is, it ranks close to “Plan 9…” It had little, or no dialogue. A guy described what had happened in a Voice-over for the whole movie. The only dialogue I remember is girls screaming when they lose a shoe, fall down, then get eaten by what looked like 5 guys draped in a giant shag rug, holding it over their heads with broomsticks. There’s a scene where teenagers go to a “hootenanny.” I thought, “What the heck is a hootenanny?”
Ray Milland in Frogs. A wretched piece of film. As Leonard Pinth Garmell would say “Bad Cinema”.
But I’ll watch it anytime it’s on
battlefield earth winns haha
i guess john travolta lost a good few million he was intending to make
There’s this movie called 2889, it’s worse than all these movies combined. It’s about telepathic zombie cannibals. I know it sounds awesome, but it isn’t.
Worst SF movie of all time: Star Wars.
So now you think I’m a nut, a crank, a fool. Give me a chance.
Get the picture: It’s the late 70s. Critics are finally beginning to recognize the serious contributions of Clarke, Heinlein, Herbert, Dick, Le Guin, Farmer, Sturgeon, Blish, and others. Then, along comes this innocuous, juvenile action flick called Star Wars. All of a sudden Star Wars is SF’s brand. All of a sudden, SF is totally irrelevant, a modern-day cowboy and Indian romp.
So far it’s been 30 years; it will be at least another 20 before SF recovers from Star Wars.
Wow, Its hard to imagine that any true science fiction buff worth their salt cannot believe that “NIGHTFALL”, the low budget 1988 Asimov rip-off by Double Day book club is not the worst movie of all time regardless if its science fiction or not. If there is still copies not burned I suggest if you can stomach at least to the hilarious, idiotic, and rather unpleasant ***** scene you may become scarred for life!!
Im sorry but whoever compiled this list mustve looked at a few other lists and made assumptions, because they sure the hell didnt see this flick!
What about Hell Comes to Frogtown? It has Roddy Piper in it.
There must be something wrong with me but I liked Battlefield Earth. The “Fantastic Four” & “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” were much worse than Battlefield was.
I can not believe you left out “Lepus” Giant rabbits attack!! It looks like they got all the rabbits they could find and dumped them on the set.
I haven’t seen any of these but aren’t most cult classics?
Actually, I have a warm spot in my heart for most really bad sci fi. Movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space seems to be one of those that was meant to be bad. Star Trek: The Final Frontier was a big disappointment for me. I’m a huge Trek fan but this one is one of those sci fi movies that was supposed to be good…not like Plan 9…
It occurs to me that, if one who had been condemned to Hell were to carry copies of these movies along, threatening to air them non-stop, that person could secure their release…
One you’re missing form this impressive list is my own nominee for the worst movie ever — The Alpha Incident. Alien virus gets loose in small town while being transported cross-country by train! There are NO symptoms until you fall asleep and then . . . your brain goes bubbling out your ears! AWFUL!
What about MARS ATTACKS! That was horrible
Mars Attacks was one of the worst
I like this list because I love watching SciFi, especially the really crappy “B” movies. However there are hundreds if not thousands of these movies that are just as bad or worse. Star Crystal, Death Machine or RobotJox to name a few. (How many of you have actually heard of these titles?) I think this list should be limited to the the big budget productions by the mega-companies of the U.S. So with that in mind, I agree that Star Trek 5, Superman 4 & Battlefield Earth should be on the list and I think the following movies also deserve consideration:
The 6th Day
Alien 3 & 4
The Core
Dreamcatcher
Highlander 2 (actually all Highlander sequels)
Ultraviolet
Terminator 3
Red Planet
Ghosts of Mars
Judge Dredd
Robocop 3
Hello idiots what about FORBIDDEN ZONE!!!!!!!!
Can we include TV? The Starlost is a must see for any B-crap masochists.
“The giant Earthship ARK, drifting through space for 800 years, headed for destruction, unless three young people can save the Starlost.”
Truly bad! The saddest part is that it was such a good idea, created by Harlan Ellison, of all people! Keir Dullea (of 2001 ASO fame) stars, and many episodes have some ‘name’ actors. Yet it still SUCKS! The first episode is actually intriguing, despite the poor production value. But once you’re hooked you have no idea the mind-numbing horror that awaits you! Truly evil! Most of the episodes are up on YouTube, if you dare!
What about wing commander with freddie prinze jr. ?
I love ST – The Final Frontier for its pure cheese
What about, “The Navy vs. the Night Monsters” or “Creature From the Haunted Sea” or “The Monolith Monsters” and who could possibly forget “Plan Ten from Outer Space?” There are so many wild and wonderful sci-fi films that can be brought up. By the way, to me “Nemesis” wasn’t as bad as “Insurrection.” All through the film I was waiting for an insurrection and it never came. I think the best part of the 1988 Godzilla film was when Godzilla was stunned leaning against a building, was hit by lightning and got jump-started.
During the Christmas holidays I got taken to see Santa Claus Conquers the Martians while my mother did some shopping. It was a turd even the when I was probably 13 or so. Gaahh!
I actually found an AVI file of this on the Internet Movie Archive and played it for my kid who just didn’t believe his dad. You know– share the joy! It was great for a laugh!
I liked The Final Frontier and Battlefield Earth. They attempted grand ideas before CGI became affordable. Lay off Shats and Hubs. (PS I’m not a Trekkie or an ‘Oligist)
I love these movies! Robot Monster is the ultimate in 50′s kitsch and Monster a Go Go represents the 60′s. And there are so many more. This list should really be limited to serious films, not ones that were tongue in cheek. I know Ed Wood as a “serious” film maker, but really!
And Mars Attacks was hilarious!
I can only assume that no one here ever saw “Moontrap” (1989), or else it would have been mentioned long ago–and repeatedly. The leading role is played by, of all people, Walter Koenig… a man cut out for supporting roles if ever there was one. You know how some movies (“Plan 9″) are so bad they’re good? This one goes well past that and plunges headlong back into “so bad they’re bad” again… and keeps on going.
Not sure if “Lifeforce” (1985) belongs on the list or not, but it’s certainly worthy of consideration.
A favorite of mine, not necessarily belonging on this list but one whose very concept merits being included on “worst story ideas of all time,” is “Sundown” (1991). It is–get this–a vampire western. I kid you not. (Actually, it’s worth watching just for the ending… which is quite novel for the genre. Not sure how it made it into this movie….)