Monday, September 5, 2011

Growing up Sci-Fi

Mike and I finally went to see Super 8 at the discount theater a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely loved it. I've heard a lot of people compare it to The Goonies, which I can totally see. This started a discussion about what movies we watched as kids. I'll make a confession. I never saw The Goonies until I was in middle school and we watched it in class. Same for Willow. Same for The Princess Bride. I also never saw Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal until I was in college.

I do enjoy these movies, but I don't have that childhood connection to them that so many people my age seem to have. I finally figured out that this was because I "grew up sci-fi" rather than "grew up fantasy".* I think that a movie like Super 8, because it is essentially a science fiction story, rather than a fantasy one, would have appealed to me a lot more as a kid.

Here's what I grew up watching instead of the classic fantasy kids movies:

Flight of the Navigator

I think I saw this movie 10 times before I was 10 years old. Loved it, loved it, loved it.


Scared the crap out of me, but I watched it. Many times. I used to have a recurring nightmare that E.T. lived in my closet. My dad had to check for me at night.

Star Wars

Of course. My dad claims that I'm such a nerd because he and my mom went to see Return of the Jedi while she was pregnant with me. It came out about a week and a half before I was born.

Short Circuit 

Johnny 5 is so hilarious when you're a kid. Goofy sentient robots are comedic gold.

Back to the Future

These are still some of my favorite movies of all times. I've watched all three of them into the double digits.

Now, of course, I've seen most of the classic fantasy stuff. I did read The Hobbit when I was kid, and if Harry Potter would have been around, there was no way I wouldn't have been reading those, but movie-wise, I was a sci-fi child.

How about you guys? Did you grow up sci-fi? Fantasy? Fairy Tale? Non-genre?

*One exception was The NeverEnding Story


  1. I loved most sci-fi stuff when I was younger too, and I also had an unjustified fear of ET. My older cousin made me watch it and it terrified me. This video store near my house had an ET cardboard cutout and I refused to go in there for months. I still don't know if I've ever seen it the whole way through, hehe :)

    Did you ever see The Wizard with Fred Savage? About the video game competition? Not sci-fi obviously, but I watched that movie at least once a week for like a year!

  2. I grew up both sci-fi and fantasy entirely of my own choosing. I think my parents are still baffled as to where my so-called nerdiness came from. :D

  3. I grew up in a sci-fi and fantasy loving home. I think my dad is proud that all his kids are still sci-fi/fantasy geeks :)

    And I TOTALLY need to re-watch Flight of the Navigator now! Such a classic.

  4. Katie - I'm so glad you were scared of E.T. too. I was also scared of Harry from Harry and the Hendersons. Basically all the monsters and aliens that you weren't supposed to be scared of.

    I never saw The Wizard but it was totally in my wheelhouse. I need to see it someday.

  5. Gretchen - I know, right? My Dad watches Star Wars occasionally and we would always watch that with him. Other than that, my brother and I have no idea why we were so nerdy. I didn't even have nerdy friends until middle school.

  6. Mariel - Flight of the Navigator is awesome. It's so nice that you come from a nerdy home. Your parents don't give you blank stares when you talk about stuff, I bet.


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