You Pick BestYouPickBest

What is the best sci-fi movie of the 1980s?

By YPB Team1 vote

The 1980s produced a golden age of science fiction — from dark dystopian visions to blockbuster crowd-pleasers that still hold up today. Which is the decade's finest?

  1. The Terminator — ranked #11
    The Terminator
    James Cameron's 1984 low-budget sci-fi breakthrough about a cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill a woman whose son will save humanity.
    1000pts
  2. Back to the Future — ranked #22
    Back to the Future
    Robert Zemeckis's 1985 timelessly fun adventure about a teenager accidentally sent back to 1955 in a scientist's DeLorean time machine.
    555pts
  3. Aliens — ranked #33
    Aliens
    James Cameron's 1986 superb action-horror sequel expanding the Alien universe with pulse-pounding colonial marine combat.
    555pts
  4. The Empire Strikes Back — ranked #44
    The Empire Strikes Back
    Irvin Kershner's 1980 celebrated Star Wars sequel widely regarded as the high point of the franchise with the iconic Vader revelation.
    333pts
  5. Blade Runner — ranked #55
    Blade Runner
    Ridley Scott's 1982 neo-noir sci-fi masterpiece set in a dystopian 2019 Los Angeles where a cop hunts rogue androids.
    333pts
  6. RoboCop — ranked #66
    RoboCop
    Paul Verhoeven's 1987 satirical sci-fi action film about a murdered Detroit cop resurrected as a crime-fighting cyborg.
    333pts
  7. Tron — ranked #77
    Tron
    Steven Lisberger's 1982 groundbreaking Disney sci-fi about a programmer transported into a digital computer world.
    333pts
  8. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — ranked #88
    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
    Nicholas Meyer's 1982 acclaimed Star Trek film featuring a personal vendetta between Admiral Kirk and the genetically enhanced Khan.
    0pts
  9. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — ranked #99
    E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
    Steven Spielberg's 1982 beloved family sci-fi about a lonely boy who befriends a gentle alien stranded on Earth.
    0pts
  10. The Thing — ranked #1010
    The Thing
    John Carpenter's 1982 ice-cold paranoia sci-fi horror about a shape-shifting extraterrestrial infiltrating an Antarctic research station.
    0pts
  11. Akira — ranked #1111
    Akira
    Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 landmark Japanese animated cyberpunk epic set in a dystopian neo-Tokyo wracked by psychic powers.
    0pts
  12. Total Recall — ranked #1212
    Total Recall
    Paul Verhoeven's 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi actioner about a man who discovers his memories of Mars may be real.
    0pts
  13. Videodrome — ranked #1313
    Videodrome
    David Cronenberg's 1983 unsettling body horror about a cable TV programmer who stumbles upon a broadcast signal that blurs reality and flesh.
    0pts

Comments 1

Blade Runner, Aliens, The Thing, RoboCop and Akira all arrived inside eight years, the densest decade the genre has had in cinemas: https://youpick.best/articles/star-trek-ranked-many-ways https://youpick.best/articles/star-wars-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team
Aug 21