Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Reader Top Ten Greatest Science Fiction Film Characters: Brian O'Rourke



Reader and friend Brian O’Rourke contributes our next top ten science fiction film characters list, and there are some new names to pore over.

Here is Brian’s list:

10. Scott Carey, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN

9. Seth Brundle, THE FLY (Cronenberg version)

8. Dr. Frank N. Furter, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

7. Roy Neary, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

6. The Man, LA JETÉE

5. Klaatu, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951 version)

4. Wikus van de Merwe, DISTRICT 9

3. Professor Bernard Quatermass, QUATERMASS XPERIMENT, QUATERMASS 2, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT

2. Alex DeLarge, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

1. Ellen Ripley, ALIEN

I love that Bernard Quatermass, the great scientist (and forerunner of a whole brand of televised science fiction…) makes an appearance high on Brian’s list.  

Also, I’m pleased by the ranking of another man of science: Seth Brundle, as played by Jeff Goldblum.  I have never forgotten my first viewing of Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), and the feelings for Brundle the film so successfully and poewrfully evokes.  His life turns into such a tragedy, all because of his inability to understand the human flesh, and the human heart.

Also, it’s great to see the title character from The Incredible Shrinking Man featured on the list.  Scott is a tribute to man’s grace and resolve in the face of an uncaring cosmos.  I watched this (great) movie again recently, and I can’t believe Hollywood hasn’t taken a shot at remaking it yet…

Roy Neary -- Steven Spielberg's every man of Close Encounters -- is another fantastic and worthy selection.

Lists resume tomorrow, so keep sending ‘em in!

2 comments:

  1. Roy Neary was on my list for a long time before I cut him. Great to see him on someone else's list! Also thought about Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Fly. Great stuff!

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  2. Roy Neary will always be one of my favorite movie characters, probably because, with his infinite curiosity about the fantastic and his determined passion to explore the mysterious, he represents every one of us sitting in the dark theatre. We're rooting him on because he is us: We want to believe, we want to experience, and we actually are doing that, right along with Neary.

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