Science Fiction Screenplays

One of the first films my father took me to see was Alien, in 1979. I was an impressionable 6 years old, and had nightmares for a month. I have yet to have children, but I'm sure I would maintain this flippant attitude towards horror and violence. I know my wife is going to kill me.

Written by sci-fi scribe Dan O'Bannon, Alien, directed by another brilliant director Ridley Scott, this was, in my opinion, the best science-fiction/horror film to come out of the 70's. It's production won an Oscar, along with H.R. Giger winning for best production art.

H.R. Giger's Official Site is located here.

O'Bannon has some great scripts to his credit. Dark Star (directed by John Carpenter), a segment in Heavy Metal, Blue Thunder, The Return of the Living Dead (which he also directed), Lifeforce (directed by horror great Tobe Hooper), and Screamers (taken from the P.K. Dick short story Second Variety).

O'Bannon was also responsible for the 1990 hit Total Recall, taken from the Philip K. Dick short story, We Can Remember it for you Wholesale. Directed by the great Paul Verhoeven (Robocop), this was a fantastic script... which was also adapted into a novel by Piers Anthony, a fun read.

Continuing the Alien saga... noted author William Gibson took a crack at the third installment of this series, Alien 3. I have yet to read this script, but I have much faith in Gibson's ability to write a story, to construct great characters and a great plot... and to entertain. This is clearly apparent with his most popular novel Neuromancer, which Gibson also turned into a script. This is one of those stories that would be impossible to pull off... at least pull off well. It's too grand scale... and has flown the way of Alan Moore's fantastic comic book series, The Watchmen.

Blade Runner. The second film to solidify Scott's ability, not only to direct... but to show a consistent, original view of the future. This was was written by Hampton Fancher (who was also executive producer) and David Peoples... both of which went to work on various other projects.

Fancher went on to write The Mighty Quinn and The Minus Man (which he also directed). 10 years separated the two projects... and Fancher has nothing on his plate at the moment.

David Peoples has been responsible for a number of films, including The Blood of Heroes (which he directed), Leviathan, Unforgiven, Hero, Twelve Monkeys, Soldier (not a very good movie) and to be released in 2002 To the White Sea... which is a Coen Brothers project.

This next film, Back to the Future, was (for me) the smartest movie to come out of the 80's. Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, this movie was waaaaaaaaaaay ahead of its time... original in plot, characters, dialog... perfect for the time it came out... and, personally, I think the film is timeless. Zemeckis is one of the top five directors out of Hollywood right now, based soley on sheer production size and money-making ability. He helped write 1941 for Spielberg (back in 1979), Used Cars... the Back to the Future Trilogy... a really neat movie called Trespass in 1992 and the story for Bordello of Blood. But its Zemeckis' work behind the camera that is unique and wonderful. BTTF was his greatest work, by far.

Bob Gale was Zemeckis' writing buddy on all of those films listed above. HIs latest writing gig is called Interstate 60, which he is directing, too. It's starring Gary Oldman, James Marsden, Christopher Lloyd, Michael J. Fox, Kurt Russell... a huge cast. I couldn't find much on this film... but it should prove to be neat.

Originally titled Hunter, Predator was another great sci-fi film of the 80's, written by Jim and John Thomas (brothers). This writing team is responsible for Predator 2, Executive Decision, Wild Wild West, Mission to Mars... and the soon to be released Behind Enemy Lines. This was in the middle of Schwarzenegger's hey-day... and this film was perfectly cast with him at the forefront. Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Shane Black (the writer), Richard Chaves... rounded out a cast of perfectly tuned badasses. Even now, this movie surpasses films of its ilk... the army/marine/navy specialists films... this one tops them all.

In 1999, my all time favorite movie... better than American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, The Sixth Sense, The Insider... (though not better than Election, which should have won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay...) was Galaxy Quest. The movie was completely original... based on something we see and here everyday from Trekkie's all over the country. The writing was smart, the characters were perfect. Conceived by David Howard, and written by Howard and Robert Gordon (who is writing the new MIB movie...) I'm sure we'll be seeing other good material from these two.

Alien Nation is one of those 80's films that is close to my heart. It's another flick I went to see with my dad... and came out at a perfect time, before ID4, before all of the schlock effects that have flooded the film industry. The main focus in this film was make-up... and imagination. Rockne S. O'Bannon and James Cameron wrote this fantastic script. James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp. A great cast, for the 1980's... and pulled off a great movie.

In 1994, one of the more widely anticipated comics-to-film movies, The Crow, was helmed by a virtual unknown. I don't think anyone had ever heard of Alex Proyas. But he took control of the film and directed a very dark feature, violent and (unfortunately) deadly. But it didn't stop him from making films... that tragic death of Brandon Lee. In 1998 he wrote and directed a fantastically original, dark feature: Dark City. A fantastic movie with a unique plot, characters... especially the villians. A worthy job... with his next feature coming up in 2002, also written by him, called Garage Days. This one is completely out of character for Proyas... about a garage band in Sydney, Australia trying to make it big. Nothing dark about that... but you can't get any darker than Dark City.

The Fifth Element, directed/written by Luc Besson, is one of those grand sci-fi epics that is a treat to watch and read. I read an article on the writing Besson did, and once he'd come up with the original plot... he had doubts about the film taking place in the future, and entertained the idea that it take place in the 1950's. A strange idea... but ultimately came to be what it is today... and it's a great piece.

All of the scripts are in PDF format - Enjoy them. They are not for sale, they are for educational purposes ONLY.

Back to Scripts of the Week!

John Painz