Trancers (1985)
If you guys are going to include cheesy sci-fi, you must not overlook Trancers. Poor man’s Blade Runner? Check. Scene where the protagonist shoots Santa Claus in front of a bunch of kids? Check. Helen Hunt before she looked like a sea hag? Check. —ericlr
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) is a police trooper in the year 2247 who has been hunting down Martin Whistler (Michael Stefani), a criminal mastermind who uses strange psychic powers to make people into zombies and carry out his every desire. Deth can identify a tranced victim (who appear normal at first, but once triggered, become savage killers) by scanning them with a special bracelet.
Before he can be caught, Whistler escapes back in time. Using a bizarre drug-induced time traveling technique, Whistler leaves his body in 2247 and travels down his ancestral bloodline, arriving in 1985. His ancestor at that time is a Los Angeles police detective named Weisling.
Once Deth discovers what Whistler has done, he destroys Whistler's body (effectively leaving him trapped in the past with no vessel to return to) and chases after him through time the same way, ending up in the body of one of his ancestors, a journalist named Phil Dethton.
With the help of a punk rock girl named Leena (Helen Hunt), Phil's girlfriend, Deth goes after Whistler who has begun to "trance" other victims and plots to eliminate the future governing council members of Angel City, (the future name of Los Angeles), who are being systematically wiped out of existence by Whistler's murder spree of their own ancestors. Deth arrives too late to prevent most of the murders and can only safeguard Hap Ashby (Biff Manard), a washed-up former pro baseball player who is the ancestor of the last surviving council member Chairman Ashe.
Deth is given some high-tech equipment which is sent to him in the past: his sidearm, (which contains two hidden vials of time drugs to send him and Whistler back to the future), and a "long-second" wristwatch, which temporarily slows time stretching one second to ten. The watch has only enough power for one use but he receives another watch through time later to pull the same trick again.
During the end fight with Whistler, one of the drug vials in Jack's gun breaks, leaving only one vial to get home. Jack then makes the choice to kill Weisling (who is possessed by the evil Whistler), or use the vial to send Whistler back up to 2247. Jack injects Weisling with the last vial sending Whistler home with no body to return to effectively destroying him. Jack decides to remain with Leena in 1985 although observing him from the shadows is McNulty, his boss from the future, who has traveled down his own ancestral line and ending up in the body of a young girl.
Brazil (1985)
I commend [Wired's] list for Blade Runner and 12 Monkeys. But where is Brazil? Akira? Tron? Sunshine? —Darklogic
et in a fictionalised version of Britain, the film follows Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), a low-level government employee who has frequent daydreams of saving a beautiful maiden. One day he is assigned the task of trying to rectify an error created by a government mishap, causing the incarceration and execution of Mr. Archebald Buttle instead of the suspected terrorist, Archebald "Harry" Tuttle. When Sam visits Buttle's widow, he discovers Jill Layton (Kim Greist), the upstairs neighbor of the Buttles, is the same woman as in his dreams. Jill is trying to help Mrs Buttle find out what happened to her husband, but has gotten sick of dealing with the bureaucracy. Unbeknownst to her, she is now considered a terrorist friend of Tuttle for trying to report the mistake of Buttle's arrest in Tuttle's place to bureaucrats that would not admit such a mistake. When Sam tries to approach her, she is very cautious and avoids giving Sam full details, worried the government will track her down. During this time, Sam comes in contact with the real Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro), a renegade air conditioning specialist who once worked for the government but left due to the amount of paperwork. Tuttle helps Sam deal with two government workers who are taking their time fixing the broken air conditioning in Sam's apartment.
Sam determines the only way to learn about Jill is to transfer to "Information Retrieval" where he would have access to her classified records. He requests the help of his mother Ida (Katherine Helmond), vainly addicted to rejuvenating plastic surgery under the care of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Jaffe (Jim Broadbent), as she has connections to high ranking officers and is able to help her son get the position. Delighted that her son has finally shown ambition despite having arranged for promotions before, Sam's mother arranges for Sam to be promoted into the Information Retrieval division. Sam eventually obtains Jill's records and tracks her down before she is arrested, then falsifies her records to make her appear deceased, allowing her to escape the bureaucracy. The two share a romantic night together before Sam is apprehended by the government at gun-point for misusing his position.
Sam is restrained to a chair in a large, empty cylindrical room, to be tortured by his old friend, Jack Lint (Michael Palin), as he is now considered part of an assumed terrorist plot including Jill and Tuttle. However, before Jack can start, Tuttle and other members of the resistance break in to the Ministry. The resistence shoots Jack, rescues Sam, and blows up the Ministry building as they flee. Sam and Tuttle run off together, but Tuttle disappears amid a mass of scraps of paper from the destroyed Ministry. Sam runs to his mother attending a funeral for a friend that died of excessive cosmetic surgery. Finding her mother now looking like Jill and fawned over by a flock of juvenile admirers, Sam falls into the open casket, finding it to be bottomless. He lands in a world from his daydreams, and attempts escape up a pile of flex-ducts from the police and imaginary monsters. He finds a door at the top of the pile, and passing through it, is surprised to find himself in a trailer driven by Jill. The two drive away from the city together.
However, it is revealed this happy ending is all happening inside Sam's head; Sam is still strapped to the chair under observation by Jack and of Deputy Minister Mr. Helpmann (Peter Vaughan). Realizing that Sam appears catatonic, a smile on his face and humming "Brazil", the two declare Sam a lost case, and exit the room as the film closes.
Dune (1984)
In the far future, the known universe is ruled by Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV; the most precious substance in his sprawling feudal galactic empire is the spice melange, which extends life, expands consciousness, and is vital to space travel. The powerful Spacing Guild and its prescient Navigators use the spice to safely guide interstellar ships to any part of the universe instantaneously.
Sensing a potential threat to spice production, the Guild sends a Navigator to demand an explanation from the Emperor, who confidentially shares his plans to destroy House Atreides. The popularity of Duke Leto Atreides has grown, and he is suspected to be amassing a secret army using sound weapons called Weirding Modules, making him a threat to the Emperor. Shaddam's plan is to give the Atreides control of the planet Arrakis, the only source of spice in the universe, and to have them ambushed there by their longtime enemies, the Harkonnens. Informed of this plot, the Navigator commands the Emperor to kill the Duke's son, Paul Atreides, a young man who dreams prophetic visions of his purpose. The cryptic assassination order draws the attention of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, as Paul is tied to their centuries-long breeding program which seeks to produce the superhuman Kwisatz Haderach. Paul is tested by the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. With a deadly gom jabbar at his throat, Paul is forced to place his hand in a box which subjects him to excruciating and increasing pain; he passes to Mohiam's satisfaction, withstanding more pain than anyone has before him. Meanwhile, on the industrial world of Giedi Prime, the sadistic Baron Vladimir Harkonnen tells his nephews Glossu Rabban and Feyd-Rautha about his plan to eliminate the Atreides by manipulating someone very close to the Duke into betraying him. The Atreides leave their watery world of Caladan for Arrakis, a barren desert planet plagued by gigantic sandworms and populated by the Fremen, mysterious people who have long held a prophecy that a messiah would come to lead them to true freedom. Upon arrival on Arrakis, Leto is informed by one of his right-hand men, Duncan Idaho, that the Fremen have been largely underestimated, as they exist in vast numbers on Arrakis and could prove to be powerful allies. Leto gains the trust of the people of Arrakis, proving to be a charismatic and just leader. But before the Duke can establish an alliance with the Fremen, the Harkonnens launch their attack.
While the Atreides had anticipated a trap, they are unable to withstand the devastating Harkonnen sneak attack, supported by the Emperor's elite troops, the Sardaukar, and aided by a traitor within House Atreides itself, Dr. Wellington Yueh. Captured, Leto dies in a failed attempt to assassinate the Baron Harkonnen using a poison gas capsule planted in his tooth by Dr. Yueh. Leto's concubine Jessica and his son Paul escape into the deep desert, and with Jessica's Bene Gesserit abilities and Paul's developing skills, they manage to join a band of native Fremen. Paul emerges as Muad'Dib, the religious and political leader the Fremen have been waiting for. Paul teaches the Fremen to use the Weirding Modules and begins targeting mining production of spice. In the span of two years, spice production is effectively halted. The Emperor is warned by the Spacing Guild of the situation on Arrakis, and the Guild fears that Paul will consume a substance known as the Water of Life. These fears are revealed to Paul in a prophetic dream; he drinks the Water of Life and enters a coma that disturbs all Bene Gesserits in the universe. Awaking, Paul is transformed and gains control of the sandworms of Arrakis. He has also discovered the secret to controlling spice production; water kept in huge caches by the Fremen can be used to destroy the spice. Paul tells his army of Fremen "he who can destroy a thing controls it." Paul has also seen into space and the future; the Emperor is amassing a huge invasionary fleet above Arrakis to regain control of the planet and the spice.
Upon the Emperor's arrival at Arrakis, Paul launches a final attack against both the Harkonnens and the Emperor at the capital city of Arrakeen. His Fremen warriors, armed with Weirding Modules and riding sandworms, defeat the Emperor's legions of Sardaukar while Paul's sister Alia kills the Baron Harkonnen. Paul faces the defeated Emperor, and avenges his family in a duel to the death with Feyd-Rautha. After defeating Feyd, Paul commands rain to fall on Arrakis. Alia reveals to everyone that Paul is indeed the Kwisatz Haderach.Enemy Mine (1985)
Enemy Mine, one of the best of all time. How can that not be on the list?! —z00ropa
is the late 21st century. In the midst of an interstellar war between humans and Dracs (a reptilian alien race), human pilot Willis E. Davidge (Dennis Quaid) and Drac pilot Jeriba "Jerry" Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr.), engage in a spacecraft battle resulting in both crashlanding on Fyrine IV, a hostile alien world with a breathable atmosphere, water, and dangerous animal life.
After initial hostilities, the two eventually learn to cooperate in order to survive. They work together to build a shelter for protection against intermittent bombardment by meteorites, and to satisfy their needs for food, water, and warmth. Over a period of years, they learn to overcome their differences, become friends, and learn each other's languages and cultures. Each saves the other's life on at least one occasion.
Davidge, haunted by dreams of spaceships landing on the planet, leaves in search of help. He finds signs of a human presence, but learns that the planet has been periodically visited by human miners who employ Dracs as slave labor. He returns to warn Jeriba only to discover that Jeriba is with child (Dracs are parthenogenic).
The combination of a blizzard and attack by one of the planet's predators forces Davidge and Jeriba to flee their shelter. To pass the time Jeriba teaches Davidge his full ancestry, a necessity if his child is to be accepted into Drac society. Jeriba later dies during the childbirth, but not before making Davidge swear that if he ever escapes the planet to take Jeriba's child back to Dracon (the Drac Homeworld) and recite his full ancestry so he can join Drac society. Davidge raises the child Zammis (Bumper Robinson) as his own. Over the years, Davidge and Zammis form a very close bond, and although the young Drac refers to Davidge as its 'uncle', its emotional range towards Davidge is as a son would look up to a father - an emotion that Davidge shares as well. Davidge knows of the mining crews scouring the planet in search of minerals and ore deposits, and he knows that they have little regard for Drac life, so he remains on guard to keep Zammis from getting captured or killed should they run into any of the miners. However, Zammis doesn't realize the danger and goes off to get a closer look at such a spacecraft. Although Davidge follows and tries to rescue him, Zammis is abducted by the humans with Davidge hurt and left for dead. A B.T.A. patrol ship finds Davidge apparently dead, and takes him back to the space station where he was formerly based before being shot down. On the station, during the funeral ceremony, Davidge awakens when one of the techs tries to steal the small book that Jerry had given him years before when he first wished to learn the Drac language. Davidge's former patrol crew vouch for his hatred of Dracs, even after it is discovered that he speaks the language fluently. Sometime later, Davidge is reinstated to duty, but not as a pilot - he subsequently steals a fighter and goes after the miners to rescue Zammis and bring him back. He manages to find the ship, and the Drac slaves help him overcome the brutality of the human overseers and he eventually reunites with Zammis. Davidge's crew now realize that whatever it was that he experienced while MIA has made him more humane, he no longer hates the Drac race, and helps to take all of the Drac slaves back to their homeworld as well.
In the epilogue, Davidge and Zammis return to the Drac homeworld for Zammis's introduction ceremony to the Drac Holy Council so that it may be accepted into Drac society. Davidge recounts the ancestry before the Holy Council in the traditional ritual, as he was taught by Jerry. In time, Zammis also has a child and the audience learns that the name of "Willis Davidge" was added to the line of Jeriba.
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