Science fiction isn't merely adventure that unfolds in space. To earn its mettle, sci-fi has to make us consider the larger implications of a few interrelated subjects. These include the benefits and consequences of technology; anticipation or dread of the future; time, and, yes, space.
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The genre will be the focus of my new Screening Room series, continuing a long collaboration with the Dallas Film Society. Previous series have zoomed in on 1970s Hollywood, film noir, American comedy and international classics. Now we boldly go where we haven't gone before.
The party starts 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Look Cinemas with The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original, not the Keanu Reeves remake) and will continue monthly through March.
Earth felt like a logical place to start. There were certainly earlier sci-fi films. But The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was among the first wave of classic American sci-fi, a finely structured cautionary tale with a cool robot and a firm message: Get your act together, earthlings. Or else.
Here's a rundown of the rest of the series. We tried to stay away from movies that get played in constant repertory rotation. The schedule is subject to change.
Nov. 12: Them! (1954) -- If the Cold War was a boon for sci-fi, the atomic age was the gift that kept on giving. In Them!,atomic testing in the New Mexico desert creates a species of giant ants. The visual effects were good enough to win an Oscar.
Dec. 10: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) -- The tagline sums up a central premise of sci-fi: We are not alone. The secret of Close Encounters is that it's more concerned with the frenzied, paranoid reactions of human beings than the intent of the visiting aliens. The film casts a rare kind of spell.
Jan. 21: Videodrome (1983) -- I was determined to get some David Cronenberg strangeness into the series. We couldn't procure The Fly, so we went with the media-shock cult favorite about a peculiar new kind of TV programming.
Feb. 18: 12 Monkeys (1995) -- It wouldn't be a sci-fi series without a little post-apocalypse. I was first drawn to Terry Gilliam's time travel/epidemic movie via the short film on which it's based, La Jetée. I hope to show both for this event.
March 17: Dark City (1998) -- Virtual reality was in the sci-fi air of the '90s. Dark City arrived a year before The Matrix, and it provides a little more steak if not as much sizzle. It never got its due.
Plan your life
The Day the Earth Stood Still at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Look Cinemas Prestonwood, 5409 Belt Line Road, Dallas. Discussion after the screening. Free for Dallas Morning News subscribers and Dallas Film Society members, first-come, first-served. DMN subscribers. RSVP: DallasFilm.org/ScreeningRoom. DMN subscribers: enter promo code SCIFI. $5 tickets available at the theater.
