Science Fiction

by Phil Hardy

This celebration of science-fiction movies includes plot summaries and critical commentaries, plus directors, producers, leading players, and production details of more than 1,500 films

Genres: Film, Science Fiction, Reference, Media Tie In

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that does not go out of date because it contains some early films which do not regularly get entered into similar books. In fact I would go as far saying that the newer SF film guides are slowley starting to ignore these films in favour ot the new glitzy movies.

Can be found quite cheap now and a good addition to the movie buffs shelves.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the Overlook series of Film encyclopedias, this one having to to do with Science Fiction films. It is a straight forward, if some times dry, but very thorough guide to SF films. Broken down by year, it is a exhaustively researched guide, up through 1994.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books and one of the first trivia references I ever bought, finding a remaindered copy of the book (and Hardy's Encyclopedia of Western Movies) at a Waldenbooks in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. This literally covers the genre of sci-fi movies from the beginnings of film itself, back in the late 1890's and early 1900's. Some excellent photos and a lot of interesting information in this one.

I would love to see an e-book version of this one.

[John King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for the pre-Internet Movie Database era.

[Janne Wass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phil Hardy's Encyclopedia from 1984 has long been the go-to opus on science fiction cinema. In short, capsule-size articles Hardy includes everything from the iconic classics to obscure B-movies. For anyone interested in delving into the history of the genre, this is still a must-read, and for me as a critic, it is a wonderful source of information. Hardy often includes a brief synopsis, a line or two of production notes and a mention of a film's place in the canon of SF movies. He mostly, but not always, also includes a small personal review of the film's merits and flaws. For obvious reasons, US and British cinema is covered best, but on the whole, the book is refreshingly international, including, for example, most kaiju films, a wide selection of German, French, Italian and East European movies, as well as a good selection of Mexican SF, and entries from many other countries, although these are not covered nearly as broadly as Hollywood's output.

Among SF scholars and aficionados, however, the book is also known for its many inaccuracies. It is clear from some of the articles that Hardy hasn't seen all of the films he writes about, as some entries only contain some production notes and a synopsis, sometimes wildly erroneous. This is particularly true regarding some of the none-American movies. This is only natural, as the possibilities to see more obscure movies before the time of the internet was were exceedingly smaller, and from this perspective, Hardy's work is extremely impressive. However, modern readers should proceed with caution in regards to non-Hollywood fare and smaller productions.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Overlook Film Encyclopedia (Science Fiction)

You can spend hours browsing through this encyclopedia. Of course, you will recognize many of the classics. Yet you may be surprised at the multitude of great films that you missed. There are better descriptions and stills than you find in most of the genre magazines.

Contents:

THE EARLY YEARS: Innocent Beginnings (1895-1919)
THE TWENTIES: Dark Visions and Brash Adventure
THE THIRTIES: Mad Scientists and Comic Book Heroes
THE FORTIES: Science Fiction Eclipsed
THE FIFTIES: Science Fiction Reborn
THE SIXTIES: Science Fiction Respectable
THE SEVENTIES: Big Budgets and Big Bucks
THE EIGHTIES: Science Fiction Triumphant

I am not going to bore you with the list of my favorites but I challenge you not to find one of yours.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those books where, the farther along I went, the lower the rating got. The author is a true pomposaur and windbag (as so often happens with these kinds of things), and a sprinkling of quotes from him would make for a trenchant spoof of all such critics. Absurd as many of his carps about great movies were, that paled compared to his frequent lauding of all the innumerable bumbler B's out there. Oh yeah, and one more thing: who came up with the genius notion of filing the films according to the years they were made (rather than released)? Hey, thanks for making my YouTube look-up job all the more demanding...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A giant sized book that covered every science fiction film up until 1983. A lot of the movies could be read about in many similar publications, but where this book delivers is the comprehensive coverage of every Japanese monster film ever made. This was a £20 book even in 1984, but it was easily the best of its kind so the high price tag was just about justified.

[morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a great resource in the 1980's in the days before imdb, wikipedia, learned about all sorts of films from this book I didn't know existed.. ie. The Big Mess/ Der Grosse Verhau, Flesh Gordon, Solaris, etc. there's some top ten lists at the end from some critics/ historians/ sci fi authors that was interesting too. a lot of great photos throughout.

[Cat Springer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have encyclopedia for collector and enthusiast of science fiction cinema. Exhaustive, complete, with synopsis, cast & crew listings, fully illustrated, gosh kids! Why are you sitting here reading this? But it now!

[FranklinTV · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd edition title is "Science Fiction: The Aurum Film Encyclopedia"? Detailed reviews of many sci-fi films. Its ok.