It's a shame that so many movies fight a losing battle to stay relevant as generations come and go. Whether it's a summer blockbuster or a budget-strapped B-movie, great movies frequently find themselves relegated to the basement of silver screen history.
Due to the amount of forgotten 1980s sci-fi gems out there, we're tacking on a few more winners to our existing list. Grab your popcorn, and let's dial things back to a decade of unbridled movie creativity!
Updated by Derek Draven, April 27, 2020: As mentioned in our updated intro, we've added 5 new entries to our existing list. There are so many tremendously top-notch 1980s sci-fi movies out there, and it's a shame we can't cram them all into this list, but any of them are perfect for first-time viewers, or to share with your family. They're timeless, imaginative and loaded with wonder!
ENEMY MINE (1985)
Dennis Quaid paired up with the wonderful Louis Gossett Jr. for this 1980s sci-fi epic that was far less about spectacle and scale, and more about the relationship between their two characters. The plot involves two starfighter pilots on opposite sides of a brutal war who find themselves stranded on a hostile alien planet.
In order to survive, both must overcome their hatred of one another. In so doing, they begin to learn about each other's history, family and world culture, forming a bond of friendship in the process. It's one of the most effective films that dared to tackle the concepts of bigotry, hatred, and animosity between peoples.
THE ABYSS (1989)
James Cameron nearly broke his cast in two with the grueling and dreadful production of his 1989 classic The Abyss, but it was well worth the stress. This deep-sea adventure involves the crew of an underwater drilling platform hosting a SEAL team investigating a UFO that inadvertently sank a U.S. submarine.
It's a long, but fascinating adventure film that broke new technological ground which would later become a staple in Hollywood cinema. There's nothing quite like it, and there probably never will be.
METALSTORM: THE DESTRUCTION OF JARED-SYN (1983)
This crazy 1980s B movie blended Mad Max-style vehicular combat with Star Wars-style grit, grotesque cyborgs and funky, mystical dream sequences. None of it makes any true sense, but the movie has a particular charm and vibrant energy lacking in many of today's sci-fi films.
On the surface, it may have looked like a low-budget romp with a cast of unknowns, but it featured such big names as Kelly Preston, Richard Moll and Tim "Jack Deth" Thomerson.
THE ADVENTURES OF HERCULES (1985)
Lou Ferrigno would star as Greek mythology's most famous superhero in two Italian adventure films based on the character. Both have aged poorly, but they're still exciting, entertaining and plenty of fun to watch.
While the original had its moments, the second film in the franchise is clearly the better, focusing on Hercules dispatching a number of vile villains and monsters to retrieve the seven mighty thunderbolts of Zeus, while battling his arch-nemesis King Minos.
SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (1983)
Long before Michael Ironside starred in such hit films as Total Recall and Starship Troopers, he played Overdog, a hideously disfigured villain who kidnaps three women for his own amusement. It's Peter Strauss to the rescue as down-on-his-luck salvage guy Wolff, who channels his inner Han Solo to rescue them and score a big reward.
The film also starred 80s darling Molly Ringwald as an annoying sidekick who gets into plenty of trouble, before she finds herself the target of Overdog's lustful affections. It's campy, it's gritty, sexist and silly, but nobody can accuse Spacehunter of being unoriginal!
TRON (1982)
The TRON franchise has seemingly been hijacked by its own sequel, which means that few audiences really remember the seminal Disney original. That's tragic because the first TRON film isn't just a technical marvel - it's one of the most original movies ever made.
This is one adventure that you'll definitely want to share with your entire family, and for good reason. Sure, the technology is dated, and the premise is nonsense, but that's all part of the fun. After all, who wouldn't want to be digitized into a video game?
THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT (1984)
This underrated 1984 classic actually references a supposedly real event that took place in 1943 involving the U.S. Navy's pursuit of technology that could render their forces invisible to radar. The movie takes it a step further by throwing two crew members of the USS Eldridge into the future, where they learn that the government is attempting to adapt the experiment to create a shield against ICBM attacks.
It takes a lot of scientific liberties, but it's one of the few films that paved the way for the kind of time paradox plot-lines that we take for granted in movies today.
SHORT CIRCUIT (1986)
In the 1980s, Johnny Five was a household name. This lovable robot started out as a high-grade military weapons project, but after being struck by lightning, he became self-aware and escaped his government enclosure to soak up everything the world had to offer.
The original film is a hilarious and fun comedy adventure that still holds up today. It's a shame that audiences have largely forgotten about Johnny Five. Without him, other robot characters like Chappie, Wall-E, and Baymax might never have seen the light of day.
EXPLORERS (1985)
Children were the beneficiaries of 1985's Explorers. It's one film that successfully taps into the wonder and imagination of kids, and their ability to dream big. It's also a star-studded film with a very young Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix rounding out the stellar cast.
The plot focuses on a wiz kid who successfully develops a spaceship crafted out of an old Tilt-A-Whirl, allowing him and his friends to leave Earth and meet up with a series of quirky alien beings. While obviously far-fetched, that's missing the point entirely. Explorers isn't about technological or scientific realism. It's about how good it felt to dream as a kid.
FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR (1986)
Similar to Explorers, 1986's Flight of the Navigator is another oft-forgotten sci-fi classic that puts a huge emphasis on how great it was to be a kid. The film centers around a young boy named David who disappears in 1978 after falling into a ravine, only to awaken in 1986. With no memory of his ordeal, David is taken to a NASA research facility where he learns that he can communicate telepathically with a mysterious alien spaceship held in their hangar.
David eventually escapes the facility by commandeering the ship and teaming up with its onboard AI, dubbed "Max." The two flee pursuing NASA forces while learning about the reason behind David's disappearance. It's adventurous, fun and quite funny, thanks largely to Paul Reubens voicing the role of Max.
THE LAST STARFIGHTER
The Last Starfighter still has a galvanized fan base that has allowed it to brace against the storm of time better than others on our list, but the memory is beginning to fade. With each passing year, the story about a small town video game pro turned intergalactic hero loses more ardent fans.
The soil is prime for a remake/sequel of this classic gem. After all, video games are no longer the stuff of lonely nerds, but a pop culture phenomenon. What better time to continue the story with new Starfighters ready to tackle the Ko-Dan armada?
COCOON
A movie like Cocoon stands apart in the sci-fi genre for being so completely unique. It tells the story of elderly folks in a retirement home who stumble upon a pool with incredible healing powers, thanks to the presence of an alien life force. As the benevolent aliens make friends the newly rejuvenated elderly, it throws their plans of going back to their home planet in disarray.
Funny, charming and timelessly emotional, Cocoon is a movie without any bad guys - only humans so fascinated with the idea of becoming young again that they lose sight of their benefactors and their well being. Unfortunately, it's been all-but forgotten.
KRULL
Many people have picked up Krull just to see a (very) young Liam Neeson playing fantasy warrior, but there's a lot more going on besides that. Ingeniously inventive, Krull is a mixture of medieval Robin Hood-style fantasy and sci-fi elements all mixed into one.
Though the final act is a little anti-climatic compared to the rest, the entire film is one inventive and entertaining romp that only the 1980s could possibly muster. It deserves more attention than it's been getting of late.
ROBOT JOX
Long before giant robots lit up the screen in movies like Pacific Rim, guerrilla filmmakers pulled out all the stops to bring Robot Jox to the silver screen. The movie takes place in a dystopian future where nations settle disputes over resources by having their best champions duke it out in gigantic skyscraper-sized robots.
It's a great story with excellent action, clever use of its own budget, and an on-screen rivalry that ends on a satisfying, positive high note. It's flown under the radar for far too long.
STARMAN
This sci-fi love story never truly made long-term waves, but it's still a movie that deserves a ton of praise, as well as another watch. Jeff Bridges plays Starman, an alien who attempts to make first contact with Earth, only to have his craft shot down and SETI agents pursue him.
He creates a clone body of himself from the DNA of a dead husband, and communicates with his wife Jenny that he means no harm. The two take a road trip to Arizona where Starman is to rendezvous with his people, forging a powerful bond with Jenny along the way.