Space.com's Top 10 Space Movies of All Time

Comatose51 writes "Space.com has posted a Top 10 Space Movies of All Time list based on reader ratings on each movie. Apollo 13 is currently the #1 movie, followed by Star Trek: First Contact at #2, and Wrath of Khan at #3. I was surprised by Apollo 13 at #1, since I initially equated space movies with sci-fi. However, I don't disagree with it. What do other Slashdotters think, or suggest as good space movies?"

Comments

Serenity flopped!

[Hobbex]

I'm sure there of hundreds of stories like mine.

Before everyone here starts oozing with happiness about Serenity, it should be noted that IT FLOPPED. Despite a lot of attention, lots of dedicated fans, and great reviews, it was not even able to recap production costs at the box office. Look at this years yearly box office to get an idea of just how badly it did (for those tired of scrolling, it is in place 77).

Now, with DVD sales I am sure the studio won't end up in the red when all is said and done, but $25 million for a high budget high profile movie is terrible. Serenity will probably be pointed to in the future as a good reason not to use cult DVD followings as a reason to greenlight films. Sorry to tell ya all.

Re:I want real astronomy in my space movies

[TheRaven64]

You might want to read up on orbital mechanics. A straight line is very, very expensive as a way of flying between planets. You have to solve the n-body problem with a fixed origin and a moving destination. The position of your destination depends on your flight time, which depends on your direction (the gravity of all of the points will affect your flight path once you leave). Someone who leaves a couple of hours after you, however, or has a different accelleration, will fly a very different route.

If you can still remember how to do calculus (I'm not sure I can - it's been about six years since I last tried) then have a go at working out the route from here to mars (pretend nothing else exists in the solar system). This kind of complexity is fairly easy to do with a pen and paper, but it (roughly) doubles every object you add to the solar system.

You will find that you don't fly in a straight line at all, you fly on an curved trajectory. Now, for fun, try solving the same thing in reverse, and for someone leaving a day later with a faster ship. You'll find that none of these paths intersect in space and time - often not even in just space - except at, or possibly very near, the destination.

If you want to make the calculations really fun, you can assume rocket propulsion, so your mass and thrust change as a factor of time...

By the way, I don't know where you got 496 as the number of straight lines between 32 points. There are 31 routes between each point and each other point. The number of direct routes between two of those points and any other point is 31x30=930. The total number of straight lines is 31!.