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

> 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?

*By YPB Team · Published June 1, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-sci-fi-movie-of-the-1980s*

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## Current results (1 vote)

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

Tags: movies, 80s, sci-fi, classics