Product Details

• Actors: Mark Hamill
• Directors: Peter Swain, Chris Lethbridge
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Winstar
• DVD Release Date: February 23, 1999
• Run Time: 200 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305069735
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,733 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Sci-Fi Files" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Sci-Fi Files is equal parts science history and science fiction, and that's how it should be. The two are inextricable in the ways they take inspiration from each other. And here, composed of clips from dozens of science fiction movies, and commented on in interviews with scientists and writers alike, is a four-part study billing itself as "The Definitive Four Volume History." Well, that would be debatable if there were another four-volume history of SF somewhere, but that doesn't keep this one from being literate, well-researched, hip to the current print SF scene, and serious about its aims. "Children of Frankenstein" covers the influence and implications of Mary Shelley's book on SF; "Spaceships and Aliens" covers just that; "March of the Machines" covers devices and mechanisms; "Living in the Future" covers the relationship in SF between the here and now and the future that is its subject. On the science side, the film is bolstered by interviews with geneticist Steve Jones and physicist Lawrence Krauss (The Physics of Star Trek). Of most interest to SF fandom, though, will be the interviews with novelists William Gibson, Brian Aldiss, Steve Baxter, Kim Stanley Robinson, Larry Niven, and Arthur C. Clarke. Narrated by Mark Hamill, whose voice is easy to listen to. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious discussion about science fiction, November 27, 2007

By 

Anton Karidian (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sci-Fi Files (DVD)

This fine 4-part documentary is a serious attempt to probe both the history of science fiction and its interaction with society. It was made in 1997 for The Learning Channel, where I first saw it. I won't reiterate all the details about this show as related in Amazon's good review above, so I'll make a couple of points. For one thing, there's quite a breadth of sci-fi issues dealt with here, including genetics, cloning, time travel, high-tech weapons, aliens, relations between the sexes, faster-than-light travel, and much more. I thought some sections were particularly fascinating, such as the interaction of science fiction and the development of the atom bomb, and the involvement of science fiction writers with Ronald Reagan's missile shield program. And how did the producers get such great writers and scientists to talk to them? I mean, writers Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter, Brian Aldiss, Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, Forrest J. Ackerman, astronaut Story Musgrave, scientists Lawrence Krauss and Steve Jones, and others. WOW! What a treat! With such people there are inevitably many great observations made.

I do have a couple of carps. One is that there is much more emphasis in this documentary on filmed rather than on written science fiction, yet I guess that's inevitable since it gives the producers the ability to show us film clips. Oddly, at times the producers make an attempt to discuss writers and their stories, while other times they don't. For instance, founders H.G. Wells and Jules Verne are talked about at substantial length, but on the other hand there are few mentions of works by the writers interviewed here. Also, some of the films shown are not great quality ones, and several clips are unnecessarily violent, especially from the bloody "Robocop." However, many of the great filmed sci-fi classics are covered, such as "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Forbidden Planet," "Blade Runner," "Frankenstein," "Planet of the Apes," and the like.

Overall, THE SCI-FI FILES is a welcome relief to the many superficial discussions of science fiction. That's why I gave it 5 stars, although my reservations made me consider giving it 4. It is an interesting documentary even for veterans of the field, and would be a great introduction to those who have not felt the sense of wonder that good science fiction gives us. Oh, and it's great for us "Star Wars" fans to hear Mark Hamill narrate the show.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Compliment, January 22, 2008

By 

Roger Gay "rogerfgay" (Haninge, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sci-Fi Files (DVD)

I bought "to the Galaxy and Beyond with Mark Hamill" and gave it a very high review. The one complaint people seemed to have is that - although it included many sci-fi movies - some notable films were missing. "The Sci-Fi Files" mentions many not included in to the Galaxy and, as someone who is actually looking for a really broad overview, I'm glad to have both. The Sci-Fi Files is much different than to the Galaxy. Galaxy is focused purely on film. Files does spend most of its time on film but mentions books and magazine stories as well.

Its main theme is the interaction between real scientific development and sci-fi, but it leans heavily on bragging about how science has been influenced by sci-fi. Obviously, it's much easier to write about travel to space or the creation of super-intelligent androids than to do either one. If sci-fi didn't come before science, it wouldn't be science FICTION, would it gang? I got the feeling that The Sci-Fi Files went too far and gives the impression that sci-fi created much of the 20th century and is still fueling the future.

I've decided to give this one a somewhat lower rating for exaggerating the importance of sci-fi writers in science. As much as I appreciate their work for entertainment, and do not doubt sci-fi has stimulated the imaginations of future scientists (not a little I might add), the perspective here seems to go much father than Al Gore's claim of inventing the internet and the environment; and it hammers the point to death. As much as I love sci-fi and really want documentary on the topic, this one drug along with a one track mind a bit too much, and made me feel a little drowsy.