Oct 20, 2009 05:30 PM
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Science fiction takes place in a world beyond our own reality, but sometimes you need to go just a bit further — into the realm of the crazy, surreal dream sequence. Here are 40 or so of our absolute favorites.
Actually, my absolute favorite of all time has to be this weird sequence from Futureworld, with the red ninjas, and the bondage, and the sexy, sexy gunslinger action:
If you can explain to me exactly what that dream about Yul Brynner symbolizes, I'll buy you your own lifesize Yul Brynner gunslinger robot.
Even though science fiction often strives to portray bizarre or other-worldly things happening in our "real" world, it often reaches for the most jagged tool in a film-maker's kit: the dream sequence, in which things are practically required to get loopy and unreal. Some creators — like, say, David Lynch and Joss Whedon — love the dream sequence more than others. But it pops up surprisingly often. With the melty faces, and the people falling in space, and the weird animal costumes, among other things...
Here are 40 or so dream sequences that we love, divided up by era...
1920s through 1970s (Or if you want to view it in a non-gallery format, click here.)
1980s. (Or if you prefer a non-gallery format, click here.)
1990s. (Or, for non-gallery format, click here.)
2000s. (And it's available as a non-gallery page, here.)
I wouldn't dream of claiming that we included every amazing SF dream sequence, ever. So what are your favorites? What did we miss?
Sources: UGO, Wikipedia, FinestFive and IMDB, among others.
Send an email to Charlie Jane Anders, the author of this post, at charliejane@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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