A&E blasts off with the 50 best sci-fi films of all time Sometimes it seems that science fiction and the cinema are synonymous.

1. "Alien" (1979, Ridley Scott): A horror/science fiction masterwork in which a creature that emerges from John Hurt's stomach hides inside a spaceship, grows to gargantuan size and begins killing off crew members. It's up to Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to fight the thing. Distinct in many departments, the film featured bona-fide scary violence, a strong female heroine, working-class heroes over scientists, effective use of claustrophobia and the design work of H.R. Giger. Highly inventive. (KM)

2. "Blade Runner" (1982, Ridley Scott): This adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel is a satisfying blend of science fiction, private eye yarn and religious allegory set in a world even more dazzling and influential than the one Scott contrived for "Alien." There have been several editions -- including more than one director's cut -- but for those dazzled by the original, it's only truly "Blade Runner" if it's got Harrison Ford's Chandleresque narration. (SL)

3. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951, Robert Wise): An allegory of humanity confronting its relative puniness, both internal and external, it stands the test of time as a smart, lucid futuristic thriller of the Ray Bradbury/Isaac Asimov stripe. Read this film as a religious parable, a political warning, a dissection of human fear and loathing or as a simple aliens-are-among us chiller and it's still a classic. (SL)

4. "Metropolis" (1927, Fritz Lang): Lang's monumental silent film has been butchered, restored and re-released so many times that there is no definitive version. But this futuristic fable of underclass revolt has a look so revolutionary that you see echoes of it in such films as "The Fifth Element" and, especially, "Blade Runner." (GB)

5. "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980, Irvin Kershner): It is your destiny! This dark heart of the original "Star Wars" trilogy riveted audiences when it was first released with its great plot twist: Luke Skywalker learns that evil Darth Vader turns out to be dear ol' dad. But it's the introduction of two key characters -- Jedi master Yoda and bounty hunter Boba Fett -- and those incredible snow walkers that gives this sequel an edge on the original. (GB)

6. "Star Wars" (1977, George Lucas): "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" is the opening premise. Then comes John Williams' blast of brass and the opening story crawl that changed sci-fi forever. The story evokes the film serials of the 1940s and '50s, and none of the acting rises above that level -- even thespian Alec Guinness overdoes it a bit. But the story of how farm boy Luke Skywalker becomes an intergalactic hero is the stuff of myth, echoing Shakespeare, Wagner and Jung. Heady stuff for a movie in which one of the leads has a cinnamon-bun hairdo. (GB)

7. "The Matrix" (1999, Andy and Larry Wachowski): When this film first arrived, viewers were shocked -- a movie starring Keanu Reeves was actually, very, very good! Influential, exciting action and fight choreography has been copied countless times (the slow bullet, the computer-style fighting, that back bend) and the film's story just gets more complicated through each sequel. But so far, the first one is still the best. (KM)

8. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977, Steven Spielberg): Perhaps the finest distillation of Spielberg's career-long obsession with restless, absent fathers and the possibility of reconciliation through a supernatural outside agency. There's an epic sweep to it and a satisfying payoff -- though some of us prefer the leaner finale of the original to the effects-rich Special Edition. (SL)

9. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968, Stanley Kubrick): A conversation about "2001" can last a moment or a month. At once demanding and defying explication, Kubrick's airy masterpiece frustrated audiences on its initial release. But its legend has steadily (and rightfully) grown to meet its tremendous, near-stifling ambition. It's science fiction stripped to its skeletal ideals. If you're in the right mood, it exercises the imagination like nothing else. (NR)

10. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982, Steven Spielberg): What makes "E.T." one of the best sci-fi films of all time and one of the most popular is that it's not "science fiction" per se. By the time ET's intergalactic cell phone summons the mother ship and he goes scurrying up that ramp, we know what Elliot is feeling. Maybe we've never been on a moonlit bike ride with an alien, but we've all had friends move away. (NR)