Blast from the Past: 10 '80s Sci-Fi Films That Didn't Age Well
The '80s: When Sci-Fi Was Awesome (and Sometimes, Really, REALLY Bad)
The 80s were a goldmine for cinema. Seriously, some of the greatest films ever were made then: Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Friday the 13th, you name it! Sci-fi especially was HUGE; brimming with ideas and futuristic possibilities! But just because it was a great era, doesn’t mean everything made then holds up. Time marches on, technology improves, and cultural attitudes change; some movies haven’t aged gracefully, and remain terrible. Some look great visually, or are quite intense, creating an excellent narrative which some may find quite thrilling – some others just remain hilariously awful!
This article is going to be a no-holds-barred look at some major disappointments from the 1980s. Many were products of their time– and their creative merit deserves discussion and some deserve that second look; even being given another look with changed perspective. Others? Nope, not so much, These truly don’t hold up, with questionable storytelling decisions that seem unbelievably problematic by today's standards. This article examines both why these were seen so badly now, along with a look into their cultural significance at their time of release!
10 '80s Sci-Fi Movies That Aged Like...Well, Not Milk:
10. Howard the Duck (1986): A Feathered Friend, A Seriously Cheesy Mess!
This movie is truly awful! A seriously strange, anthropomorphic duck Howard travels to Earth! Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, and Tim Robbins try their best, but it is simply atrocious! The special effects? They look ridiculously fake, and that plot? Absolutely nonsensical! Those awful effects even compare it to that of a badly done children's film; there's that utterly jarring almost sex scene between Howard and Beverly. Even this being mentioned is a surprise and completely undermines any serious creative quality associated with the entire production! That is likely why the producers planned an animated version originally! That choice may have ended up far, far worse than it already did.
9. Weird Science (1985): A Problematic 80s Comedy
John Hughes' Weird Science has feel-good parts, but boy it also showcases exactly what’s wrong about the earlier 80s depiction of many characters: Misogyny is everywhere. Two geeks create a virtual woman who later is brought into the physical world! And only her looks matter to those guys! That's awful. The reliance on extremely stereotypical portrayal that highlights only superficial success, these problematic details never actually get resolved and the ending never does something different to actually improve on the problem!
It's ridiculously funny, undeniably entertaining yet incredibly offensive! While that remains memorable; a re-imagining for modern audiences however should be done very, very carefully; it has a ton of issues related to the storytelling that needs major revisions for a current audience.
8. Tron (1982): Neon Overload and a Seriously Dated Visual Style
Tron's groundbreaking visual effects don’t compare to modern standards. The reliance on that cheesy 80s neon look is eye-searing today; making it a difficult movie for people to watch in the present day! And it gets worse – that premise of a guy getting trapped inside a digital world. The resulting visual look often mirrors early video games. It's dated even in comparison with other 80s tech-focused science fiction. That very fact demonstrates just how quickly tech improves.
7. Dune (1984): A Rushed Epic With a Ridiculous Pacing
David Lynch's Dune is both beloved and despised. And why exactly that happened should also be noted. The ridiculous pace, those problematic plot decisions in some areas and far too many psychic characters needing constant exposition, these elements make an unfocused movie. Lynch's comments about the filmmaking process— the inherent conflicts that always emerged throughout the development — provide valuable insight to the ultimate final product and provide enough information to allow many critics to now empathize with Lynch's situation and view the movie from the creative context which allowed such an impressive yet very complicated movie to come into existence. The creative merit behind Lynch's ambitions cannot be completely ignored even though the technological limitations existing within the filming timeframe hampered much of Lynch's desires. The plot is a lot less important than the sheer cinematic ambition at that time.
6. The Running Man (1987): A Dystopian Thriller Undermined by Poor Writing
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man is fun, a dystopian action-thriller – though the sheer absurd dystopia occasionally overwhelms the viewers in unpredictable ways. It often struggles to match those moments of sheer, violent drama, while others resort to far too simple, shallow comedic scenes that only distract; not resolving and enhancing those important scenes or themes instead it becomes jarring to view these vastly disparate tone shifts and a clear miscalculation on part of those responsible for crafting the storyline!
The inclusion of a nonconsensual scene is also pretty unsettling.
5. Flash Gordon (1980): Cheesy Fun With Hilariously Bad Special Effects
Flash Gordon is campy. And those extremely problematic decisions concerning special effects hurt this movie – using really bad back projections, low-quality scenes throughout; the effects remain outdated. Even that crazy high budget, exceeding Star Wars' original amount, fails to generate equally great results. Yet that charm makes some people genuinely appreciate those hilariously bad effects–which only generates greater satisfaction by knowing this; further reinforcing just why that overall cheese appeals to some even to the present day.
4. Mac and Me (1988): Product Placement Gone Totally Wrong
This E.T. ripoff failed; failing to reproduce the same magic; that same iconic charm entirely produced because of those carefully crafted scenes. Mac and Me features wildly unconvincing special effects. Yet the egregious product placement from McDonald's and Coca-Cola is just baffling; it undermines everything that may have otherwise made it a successful venture; and remains unbelievably absurd. Even a terrible alternate ending (Eric getting shot) can’t save this monstrosity. And honestly, after viewing the movie, this ending wouldn't necessarily feel entirely shocking.
3. Zapped! (1982): A Wholesome Premise With Creepy Execution
Zapped! seems simple; a teen getting telekinetic powers. The outcome is not so innocent: It’s seriously creepy. Those moments where Barney uses his powers to demean girls; those instances highlight some seriously awful choices concerning portraying those characters! The scenes showcase disrespect toward women, undermining that apparently “wholesome” narrative presented, resulting in moments involving those extremely problematic situations that remain inappropriate even now. While some attempts at redeeming these characters are available later on – the very problematic nature of those very specific actions and their lasting impact greatly hurts the movie, especially for viewers from a contemporary audience.
2. Short Circuit (1986): Brownface and a Seriously Offensive Choice
Short Circuit is fun– a robot gaining sentience. Yet the racist brownface performance from Fisher Stevens is horrific; completely destroying any enjoyment and making a fundamentally great story utterly repugnant. This isn’t a small error, this is seriously damaging, and this film could be greatly improved without using these really awful choices, showing exactly how detrimental those specific decisions from many involved greatly changed a decent movie, that remains very widely unenjoyable. This choice does have very lasting consequences.
1. Alien Nation (1988): Good Intentions, Awful Execution
This tackles segregation and racism–but horribly. The premise involving Newcomers (alien refugees) is interesting; even important – attempting to address some key themes, highlighting important racial and cultural divisions, that is also completely squandered. This uses far too many stereotypical ideas: minorities die early on, that hypocritical relationship between Skyes and Francisco undermines those key themes, resulting in an utter failure that is deeply damaging to the specific target demographics and to others, creating a really questionable end product! The potential of this story goes unrealized. The creators really failed here.
Conclusion: The '80s Were Great, But Some Movies Still Suck
The ‘80s sci-fi is a huge collection of incredibly different styles and eras that generated immensely diverse choices: some classics still hold up great! Others... not so much. These films demonstrate that amazing premises and brilliant ideas require much more to work than just putting those aspects into an actual narrative structure. This is easily recognizable. And audiences today demand that storytelling choices and artistic merit go beyond such extremely questionable practices.
