Science fiction writers and readers are notorious nationalists, addicted to the chores of border patrol and border crossing. By which I of course don’t want to suggest that the members of the S.F. community (if it exists at all) have particular strong feelings about their country of origin, I always fancy that S.F. producers and consumers by and large gravitate to progressive ideas, since S.F. for the most part is about new ideas and as a genre possesses a fascination with change. No, what I mean is that we as authors and readership are often very reflexive about the questions: What is science fiction? What should it be about? I won’t lose myself in another exploration for a new definition of science fiction, but rather just want to present a somewhat self-indulgent list. Lists are one of the great weapons we use to define our love for the genre, the reduction of the really worthwhile to canon. In this list, which will be accompanied by a list of my favourite science fiction books, I will present ten of my favourite S.F. films. The self-imposed rule of ten films I immediately cursed since it forced me to leave off a number of cinematic joys (Hardware, Dark Star, Predator, Aliens 3, The Abyss or Soylent Green) although I also cheated somewhat by sometimes naming more than one film from a director because I find that in those cases there are interesting thematic connections or that they form a inseparable whole. I eschewed some of my more obvious loves, like Altered States, Ghost in the Shell or Empire Strikes Back, for films that try to open the borders of science fiction, that give us more possibilities as authors and for us as movie-goer paint impossible pictures to rival that of the writer. In no way is this a definitive list; the films are presented in no particular order because at this level I find that ranking becomes meaningless. Think of them as ten little think pieces or connection-machines on the power and beauty of visualising that, which lies beyond man.