Science Fiction films have been with us since 1902, when Georges Mélie’s 3 minute epic Le Voyage Dans La Lune took cinemagoers off the planet for the very first time.

Since then, cinema has been the medium of choice for playing out futuristic fantasies, or commenting on contemporary social ills.

Science Fiction is a difficult genre to define. It can include both prophetic and nostalgic texts, glossy big budget effects-laden blockbusters, or small, gritty films about the human condition. The finest sci fi movies challenge audiences, taking them to places so far outside their everyday experience that they leave the cinema changed forever. The worst can be laughable.

This site, like its sister Horror Film History, charts the development of the genre through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

• The Origins of Science Fiction >>
• Definitions of Science Fiction >>