1. THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD). Directed by Christian Nyby. (1951). Scientists isolated at a remote Arctic outpost encounter a creature from outer space that has crashed its flying saucer into an ice formation, and discover once its loose within their isolated station that its vegetable-based metabolish lives on human blood. James Arness played the Monster and Kenneth Tobey and Margaret Sheridan are among those fighting for their lives in the freezing-cold research station. Dimitri Tiomkin's score made effective use of the Theremin, and the realistic dialogue lends a sense of authenticity rarely encountered in a science-fiction movie. On video from RKO; Nostalgia Merchant; RCA/Columbia; VidAmerica; Goodtimes. On laser from Turner, Image, VidAmerica.

2. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Directed by Robert Wise (1951). A flying saucer lands in Washington DC and a humanoid alien named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) faces mankind in the company of a potentially destructive robot called Gort. Patricia Neal conveys fear on a most believable level in her scenes with Gort as she attempts to communicate a message that is the only thing that will save Earth from total destruction. (That message is: "Klaatu barada nikto." Never forget it.) This was the first film to suggest that mankind will have to conquer its destructive nature and control its atomic weapons if it ever wants to join the rest of the peace-loving Universe. On video and laser from 20th Century-Fox.

3. IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE. Directed by Jack Arnold (1953). Originally released in 3-D, this thriller based on a Ray Bradbury story finds astronomer Richard Carlson and girlfriend Barbara Rush meeting hideously looking but benevolent aliens that have crashlanded in the Arizona desert, and need to take over human bodies in order to repair their damaged spacecraft. The desert atmosphere is eerie and the alien point-of-view is depicted through a special fisheye lens. On 2-D video and laser from MCA Universal.

4. FORBIDDEN PLANET. Directed by Fred McLeod Wilcox (1956). A spaceship crew captained by Leslie Nielsen and accompanied by a fascinating robot (known as Robby) land on a farflung world (Altair II) where scientist Walter Pidgeon and his beautiful daughter Anne Francis are the catalysts for the unleashing of a supermonster from the human id. The special effects were the best for their time, and the music by Louis and Bebe Barron was one of the first electronic scores. On video from MGM/UA and on laser from Voyager.

5. ALIEN. Directed by Ridley Scott (1979). This trend-setting mixture of horror and sci-fi in space depicts the crew of an intergalactic freighter being slaughtered one by one by the most hideous and diabolical, killing-machine monster ever visualized. Sigourney Weaver became the female "Rambo" of the time, establishing a new kind of rugged heroine who would return to two sequels. On video and laser from Fox.

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