Greatest Science Fiction Film Tournament Week 42: Final Round

It all comes down to this. 390 titles have been eliminated, leaving us to vote on these final two films. The complete elimination bracket can be seen here. Which will claim the title of the greatest science fiction film of all time? Last week saw no single vote wins, and no statistical upsets. Next week we reveal the winner, the complete statistics for the entire run of the contest, and start a poll for how we manage the TV tournament.

10 replies on “Greatest Science Fiction Film Tournament Week 42: Final Round”

  1. Profoundly disappointed Blade Runner made it this far into the poll. Oh well.

    To each their own. It’s been a fun ride. Maybe we need to revisit this every 5-10 years?

    • 91.25% of the time, by this point on a Friday afternoon, I can statistically predict the winner correctly based on existing votes. This week, I cannot: it’s too close. I’m also pretty sure that I want you to be the “second voice” in the Blade Runner podcast, since differing opinions make for the most interesting listening.

      I definitely want to revisit tournaments, if only because new movies come out that may deserve to be ranked. I’m thinking of doing them annually, with sci-fi, fantasy, both, TV and movies, thereby making six or seven year cycles (sci-fi movies, sci-fi TV, fantasy movies, fantasy TV, all genre movies, all genre TV, potentially one giant tournament for TV, movies, sci-fi and fantasy all in one) with previous tournaments seeding the new tournaments.

      • Yes! If only to learn why Brian has such a strong distaste for Blade Runner!

        Once we know the final rankings, I’d be very interested in hearing what people’s personal choices for the top five would be.

  2. This is one of the quietest discussions we’ve had in a while, surprisingly, especially since the race is close. Great voter turnout, and the leading choice keeps flipping back and forth every few hours…

  3. I have a suspicion that the lack of debate is because people mostly agree or at least understand why these two are here and maybe enjoy them both enough that it doesn’t spark any particular feelings of joy or rage at one or the other. Mostly.

    Over the years I’ve become even more cynical about these kinds of lists. Usually the ones that see the most debate are the ones where some items clearly do not belong, and I believe many of these lists insert obviously bad choices merely to inspire rage/debate/discussion for the purpose of getting page views, selling magazines/papers, etc.

    I’m not immune to that kind of manipulation. If I agree with something I’m much less likely to voice that opinion than if I disagree.

    • I think Fez is probabl on to something there. I know when I made my choice, I almost had to flip a coin. I eventually did make a choice based on some sort of reasoning, though. Personally, I don’t think either one is the greatest science fiction film ever but I do understand how both of them could make it this far and I can’t say I’m particularly upset by them being there either. (Don’t ask me to say which one I think is the best film – I’m not entirely certain. I just know that neither of these would be on my top ten list for various reasons. I know. Heresy.) Since “greatest film” is a largely subjective thing, I am not surprised to find that I disagree with the results. Still, it has been quite interesting seeing how it settled.

    • It’s an idea I’ve kicked around. I’m thinking more of “least satisfying” though, since a huge number of contenders wouldn’t have been seen by the vast majority of readers.

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