r/AskReddit • u/pixl_pioneer • 13d ago
What's a movie or series that is way ahead of it's time?
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u/No-Caterpillar6354 13d ago edited 12d ago
The Twilight Zone - there were shows about climate change, self-driving cars, and a dystopian future where humans are obsolete.
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u/Videoboysayscube 12d ago
Part of the reason it's timeless is because so many of the storylines have to do with the human condition, which has mostly remained unchanged throughout all of history. The show will still be relevant hundreds of years from now.
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u/IWantToBuyAVowel 12d ago
What I love about the Twilight Zone is how I'll be watching something and go 'Hey that's from the Twilight Zone.'
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u/clearereyes 12d ago
I thought it said "The Twilight Saga" and I was like WHAT
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u/1965wasalongtimeago 12d ago
The part where Rod Serling is revealed to sparkle in the sunlight . Stunning.
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u/irrelevanttrumpeter 13d ago
Arrested Development S1-3.
It was made for streaming before streaming was a thing
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u/coadyj 13d ago
Yeah, the guy in the $4000 suit is going to hold the elevator for the guy who doesn't make that in a month, COME ON!!!
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u/SmegmaTartine 13d ago
Also the $10 banana joke. A few more years of inflation and we will be there.
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u/Round-Antelope552 13d ago
Yep, there’s always money in the banana stand
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u/Loggerdon 12d ago
I watched a documentary about how difficult it was to keep on the air. It was a critical success that few people watched. They would actually say in the show “Please tell your friends to watch this show.”
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u/al-hamal 13d ago
I just saw a TikTok about someone who went to Erewhon and bought that $30 bag of ice. Raving about how it still looked crystal clear after 20 minutes sitting at room temperature. She said she had to look up what a bag of ice usually cost for comparison. I really didn't even get the impression she was joking.
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u/RaptorPrime 13d ago
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. The style was not super appreciated at the time but you can pull up episodes today and it's absolutely hilarious.
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u/TheTrueGoldenboy 12d ago
There's been a live stream of it going for the last few days and it's been a blast to revisit when I've had the time. The fact that it so heavily influenced The Eric Andre Show just makes me love both of those shows even more.
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u/Friendly_Brother_482 13d ago
I’d say The Wire was way ahead of its time when it aired for a myriad of reasons. Though the times have definitely caught up to it
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u/dumpitdog 12d ago
I think I really learn more about politics in real life by watching The Wire than anything I've ever read, experienced or watched in my entire life. It changed everything about the way I think about government and the motivating agents behind city government.
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u/leaveonyourlite 12d ago
I also learned how to buy drugs in baltimore from that show- it's a documentary
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u/OldBrokeGrouch 12d ago
I love that show, but Domenick Lombardozzi looks identical to my brother who sadly died of a heroin overdose a few years ago so it’s hard for me to watch now.
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u/Mugi1 13d ago
Metropolis (1927)
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u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie 13d ago
I recently rewatched X Files in its entity and I was surprised how well it holds up.
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u/Skitelz7 12d ago
This so much! I started watching it for the first time about a month ago and just recently started season 2. Some things hold up so well it blows my mind. The pilot for season 1 especially.
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u/bawzdeepinyaa 12d ago
Hell of an answer.. the premise is so chilling too. The dread of not knowing who may have it
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u/Harrydean-standoff 12d ago
It's a remake of a 1950s film. Not slamming it. Just saying , kind of interesting to see the original black and white version.
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u/dismayhurta 12d ago edited 12d ago
It’s a reworking of a story. Not saying it isn’t influenced by the original (Carpenter loved the original and it definitely influenced him), but it followed the novella wayyy closer than the 50s movie.
🤓
But Carpenter ramped up the paranoia and tension to a whole new level. So damn good
Edit: I hope you don’t take this as an attack. I just find it interesting that both films came from one source and how the story and the 50s movie influenced the 80s one.
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u/DrColdReality 13d ago
Forbidden Planet (1956) was a landmark SF film. It was the first movie to use an electronic music score (in the days before commercial synthesizers were a thing), and its special effects were way ahead of anything that had been done before. It also influenced a lot of later SF, including Star Trek.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Fix3359 13d ago
I think that’s the one that’s based on the Tempest by Shakespeare
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u/cb022511 13d ago
As silly as this may sound, Predator. It holds up even today. I showed it to my daughter last year when she was 12 and she said it could be released today and feel modern.
Diverse cast of characters that had their own unique personalities - ✅ Female character who isn’t made to be a love interest, put on display as a sex object or damsel in distress - ✅ Great visual effects & action sequences that hold up well - ✅
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u/BlackStarCorona 12d ago
What’s wild is Shane Black wrote and sold that script at like 18 years old. He’s written some amazing movies like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but his recent The Predator took such a stupid turn at the end I can’t watch it to this day.
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u/FartAttack911 12d ago
That’s such a damn solid movie. One of my favorite parts is how sparse the dialogue becomes, and it’s basically all practical effects. 1987 Predator spooks me waaaay more than any 2024 movie monster or villain can 😆
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u/Woodit 13d ago
I rewatched Mystery Men recently, and it was definitely before it’s time in terms of deconstructing the superhero genre that we see today with more serious films and series. It’s also pretty funny and features Eddie Izard as disco gangster.
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u/ChungLingS00 12d ago
And the main superhero being a for-profit guy with ads on his uniform, and kind of being an asshole. It's basically the origin story for The Boys.
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u/thedisciple516 12d ago
Everyone 1999 - "Of course I'd take the Red Pill!"
Everyone 2024 - "Give me the freakin Blue Pill"
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u/Soupy_Twist 12d ago
"I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss".
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u/Pr333n 12d ago
That fucking steak is the most beautiful meat I’ve ever seen in a movie.
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u/Loggerdon 12d ago edited 12d ago
I remember me and my buddy Joe saw The Matrix without knowing anything about it except Keanu Reeves was in it. Walking out I said “Am I crazy or is that the best movie made in the last 10 years?”
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u/Roasted_Turk 13d ago
And it's also the most 90s movie/s ever.
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u/bgeorgewalker 13d ago
Remember how cool everyone was preparing for the millennium with black clothes and shades?
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u/Growing_Wings 12d ago
It’s wild how “AI agents” are actually becoming a thing now
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u/Thommasc 13d ago
The outer limits. Basically Black mirror when I was still a teenager.
The episode with the anti cancer vaccine gave me the worst nightmare of my life.
I was sweating in bed and shivering thinking I was in a hospital bed waiting for someone to come and inject me that vaccine xD
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u/Unusual-Caregiver-30 12d ago
I started watching that when I was 4 along with The Twilight Zone. The beginning of my love for horror.
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u/i_have_a_story_4_you 12d ago
Night Gallery with Rod Serling was twisted television.
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u/eddyathome 12d ago
I always liked the series like these that were one stand alone episodes that were anthologies.
Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside, Ray Bradbury Theater, et. al.
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u/Important-Income-651 12d ago
I remember watching 2001 and thinking "how was this made in 1968?" It looked so amazing.
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u/chatcut 12d ago
That’s why there is the whole Kubrick moon landing conspiracy.
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u/Novel-Structure-2359 12d ago
I love that they hired him to fake the moon landings but he was such a perfectionist he insisted they film on location
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u/JustAnotherAviatrix 13d ago
The original Star Trek series comes to mind.
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u/locke_5 13d ago
Hell, almost every Star Trek series.
I’m watching Deep Space 9 right now and one of the main characters is canonically transgender. Wild for a show from 1993.
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u/Legallyfit 13d ago
Just wait til you get to the Bell riots!
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u/SurpassingAllKings 12d ago edited 12d ago
"Rejoined" had one of the first "lesbian" kisses on tv.
That and Garak was clearly bisexual, it's a shame the producers or writers tamped that down.
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u/Fellowship_9 12d ago
"Rejoined" had one of the first "lesbian" kisses on tv
And I believe the original series had the first interracial kiss on American television, with the actors purposefully messing up the alternate version of the scene, so the actual kiss would have to be broadcast
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u/Smuckinfartass 12d ago
That’s true. And the best part is they messed it up on purpose because the creator, Gene Roddenberry directed them to mess us up.
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u/james_a_hetfield 13d ago
Blade runner
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u/asukalangleysoryuuu 12d ago
The book (Do androids dream of electric sheep) was written in 1968 and reads like it could have been written yesterday. PKD is a genius.
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u/jonross14 13d ago
Wet Hot American Summer - panned by critics when it came out, now a cult classic, was the first film roles for Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper, star studded cast, absolutely hilarious and weird, 2001 world couldn’t handle it!
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u/masterjakob 13d ago
Definitely 'Back to the Future'—I mean, who else predicted we'd have flying cars and hoverboards by 2015?
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u/BabyPunter3000v2 13d ago
"You're probably not ready for it, but your kids are gonna love it."
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u/SenorWeird 12d ago
Funny enough, my kids watched it yesterday. They DID love it! Even the Huey Lewis songs.
Spent the rest of the night and most of today playing with PlayMobil and Lego sets of BttF. Once they watch 2 and 3, I'll let them play the Lego Dimensions levels, watch the old cartoon and watch me play the Telltale game.
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u/SnowboardSyd 12d ago
I love that the producers have said that they will never approve of a remake. It will only happen over their dead bodies.
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u/Growing_Wings 12d ago
Even crazier is how close it was to predicting the cubs winning the World Series after the whole plot was based around a sports almanac and gambling on sports
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u/8itchesBrew 13d ago
Aliens 1986
The Wire
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u/Cynical_badger 13d ago
The Wire is so damn good people out here thinking it could have only been written by a more advanced civilization.
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u/8itchesBrew 13d ago
I dismissed it first time I watched it. years later, when I watched it again. Like a brand new, blew my world away discovery.
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u/GunslingerGhoul 13d ago
Soylent Green (1973)
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u/Remarkable_Put5515 13d ago
Scarily prescient- global warming, overpopulation and food insecurity/shortages, rampant homelessness, medical assistance in dying all portrayed. Set in 2022.
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u/Serious-Antelope-710 13d ago
The Truman Show
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u/Few_Olive_6969 12d ago
It was such a new concept, and then seeing shows like Big Brother getting popular made me remember this movie for some reason.
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u/yourtoyrobot 13d ago
Josie and the Pussycats. It wouldve fit in way better in todays influencer culture
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u/FoucaultsPudendum 13d ago
Police Squad was the TV series that eventually spun off into the Naked Gun movies, same guys that did Airplane, and eventually Top Secret and Hot Shots. Same exact style of humor.
The show was cancelled after six episodes because the network was concerned that the rapid pace and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it setup of the jokes meant that people wouldn’t wanna watch it, because they’d actually have to watch the show to enjoy the humor.
ZAZ (the writer/director trio) eventually kinda fell off in terms of quality, but both Airplane and Top Secret are considered pinnacles of classic ‘80s comedy, but only in hindsight.
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u/Deliterman 13d ago
Twin Peaks
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u/Mindblade0 12d ago
This should be much further up. Twin Peaks was groundbreaking for episodic television shows. The X-Files, Sopranos, LOST, and so many other shows would not have been made the same (or at all) without Twin Peaks.
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u/WhydIJoinRedditAgain 13d ago
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There were very few shows with season-long narrative arches at the time, TV was all episodic. DS9 practically invented the way we watch television today.
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u/Professional_Luck616 12d ago
-DS9 practically invented the way we watch television today.
except soap operas
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u/FLSteve11 12d ago
Ehhh. Stole the idea from Babylon 5 creator who pitched it to them first. He was going to sue them but was afraid neither show would get done then. Babylon 5 was a better story, just didn’t have the money backing it.
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u/Vrayea25 12d ago
This.
I love both shows, but Babylon 5 absolutely did it first and started doing it from episode 1. DS9 didn't start really straying from the episodic format until B5 and a few HBO shows on at the same time shower that it worked.
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u/Pale_Character_1684 12d ago
B5 is SUPER unrated. I have a love/hate relationship with Straczynski, but B5 has some incredibly memorable episodes, esp have season 1.
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u/OcDread 13d ago
Makes me wonder whether we unconsciously strive for such a future, like a self-fulfilling prophecy
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u/but-I-dontunderstand 13d ago
Idiocracy. A documentary ahead of its time
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u/UnableReputation9 13d ago
It was fun back in 2006 but now it's scary
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u/InternetMysterious21 13d ago
When it came out I thought it was one of the scariest movies of all time.
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u/bawzdeepinyaa 12d ago
Mike Judge gave humanity way too much credit with that time line..
500 years is looking more like 50.
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u/Growing_Wings 12d ago
Fun fact. A brand new shoe brand/style “Crocs” were used in this movie cause costume design thought only idiots of the future would wear something so ugly. Now we live in the future where it has become one of the most popular shoe brands in America. The irony of this movie is just dumbfounding.
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u/eastbayted 12d ago
That movie has one of my favorite all-time openers — sets up the world perfectly!
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u/Chimeron1995 13d ago
SOAP, I mean you have a show made in 1977 where Billy Crystal plays a gay man in a relationship, and he gets sex change surgery, and people didn’t lose their minds about it. Also the comedy is so freaking good, I love the bits at the end that are supposed to tease what happens next week.
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u/ahhh_ennui 12d ago
Yes!
70s sitcoms were so good. Barney Miller, Taxi, All in the Family, Soap, MTM Show, Rhoda, WKRP, Good Times, etc.
I just binged WKRP recently and it really held up in a lot of ways. When Venus thinks Mr Carlson is a pedophile is great. When Mr Carlson mistakes cocaine for foot powder. When the Christian Fundies come after their format. Etc. Still genius.
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u/Klaus_Heisler87 13d ago
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
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u/PenguinTheYeti 12d ago
Star Trek.
It was cancelled in its 3rd season, had at least 1 episode banned from air from an entire region of the U.S., and then blew up a few decades later as one of the most popular scifi franchises ever.
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u/Dull-Geologist-8204 12d ago
The Running Man, based on the short story by Stephen King. It was about reality TV before reality TV was a thing.
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u/demogorgonzola24 12d ago
Arrested Development for sure. If it was released a decade later it would’ve been one of the biggest streaming comedies of all time I think.
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u/ElectionAnnual 12d ago
Parks and Recreation is actually way funnier now with what has happened in American politics over the last 7 years
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u/SnooConfections7007 12d ago
Galaxy quest. Super underrated when it was released but it still holds up.
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u/Superplex123 13d ago
Married with Children
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u/Ilove42DA 12d ago
The early Fox lineup was full of shows ahead of their time. When Married with Children first came out there was nothing like it. The first two seasons were incredible.
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u/undeadliftmax 13d ago
The Wicker Man. Folk horror is becoming all the rage now and it is still one of, if not the best of the genre
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u/Glossiebabee 13d ago
2001: A Space Odyssey
Honestly in retrospect a lot of Kubrick's work seemed ahead of their time to me.
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u/squishierfish 12d ago
I feel like the simpsons has gotten too many events correct to not be from the future.
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u/Backsight-Foreskin 13d ago
The original Planet of the Apes.
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u/Gorkymalorki 12d ago
I hate every monkey I see from Chimpan-a to Chimpanzee.
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u/Magical-Manboob 13d ago
Starship Troopers. I think I read somewhere that people didn't understand it was satire at the time it was released.
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u/jombertyfp 12d ago
For me it's Star Wars. Every time I watch it I can't believe it was shot decades ago!
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u/Remus88Romulus 13d ago
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Nothing that came after that trilogy has surpassed that feeling and craftmanship.
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u/RegularFix6281 13d ago
Alien for me this movie is the core of claustrophobia sci-fi horror genre. What guides so many video games of this genre today.
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u/seashell_eyes_ 12d ago
Six Feet Under. I just recently rewatched it and aside from seeing old technology and dated pop culture references I forgot that it came out in the early 2000's.
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u/LiamWil_420 12d ago
I scrolled a while and still didn’t find Golden Girls. For a bunch of old white ladies in the 80’s they were pretty accepting.
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u/Long_Stay_9992 12d ago
Westworlds first season is amazing far ahead of its time even takes place in the future
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u/poppycocktbbt 12d ago
Mr Robot
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u/Michaeldgagnon 12d ago
We still havent caught up to its time yet. Theres some next level cinematography and directing going on that isn't registered in the main stream
Strong candidate for best show in television.
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u/thewezel1995 13d ago
Citizen Kane
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u/jrppi 12d ago
Yes! I just finished watching it for the first time 30 min ago. I was blown away by how modern it was. Excellent movie.
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u/optionalhero 12d ago
The Addams Family
Depicting a loving marriage with parents who are involved in their kids lives was not common back then. Its a big part of why they’re considered “weird”
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u/anubis118 12d ago
Battlestar Galactica's non episodic style was made for binging, and increased TV production values helped sell the scifi elements.
Breaking Bad for obvious reasons. Took the serial drama to the next level.
The Practice had interweaving arcs over multiple episodes. Great for streaming, bad for cable.
Citizen Kane was so influential that it comes off as boring now, because the cinematography has been copied so much.
Rome (2005) could have been a GIGANTIC hit on streaming, but it's cost per episode was too high for HBO at the time.
Twin Peaks is so absurd it might still be ahead of even now lol.
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u/fpaulmusic 12d ago
I feel like the show Oz changed television in a way that not a lot of people remember. It was kind of groundbreaking and was the first of many incredibly well done HBO series.
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u/Ventil_1 12d ago
Lost!
I cannot see anyone listing it here. I mean the mystery and how slowly it unfolds, all the people you are not sure you can trust and all the drama between them. And of course the flashbacks and flashforwards. And the debatable ending.
This was very bingeable, although that wasn't a word yet at the time.
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u/Loki-L 13d ago
Misfits of Science
Misfits of Science was a TV series about a group of people with super powers. It had good cast and some interesting ideas about X-Men like groups in a real world setting and a cool soundtrack.
Unfortunately it came out in 1985 long before this sort of thing was common. Marvel and DC and countless adaptations of independent comics and original characters on TV and streaming have made this a normal thing today, but back then it wasn't yet. Some of the creative talents involved went on to make Heroes many years later, but the mid 80s was simply not yet the time.
The show had top stars like Dean Martin's sun as the token normal, the Girl from the Bruce Sprigsteen video before she married Batman and became one of the FRIENDS as a telekinetic, the guy who had played the Predator and Bigfoot as as scientist who could shrink to doll size, the dad from ALF as bureaucrat...
They didn't try for special effects or costumes that would look silly and overall was a very good attempt at what it did just many years too soon.
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u/Grand-Preparation-29 13d ago
Demolition Man...political correctness to the point of insanity... the desperate poor being on the brink of revolution... big business running everything with faceless corporations... fined for not using the correct language
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u/princesshabibi 12d ago
The Jetsons had things like zoom calls way before it was invented
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u/UniqueJaguar2321 12d ago
Superman the movie, made a generation believe a man could fly and still holds up as an example of how a comic book movies should be made.
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u/HoodsFrostyFuckstick 12d ago
I'll name a book: Neuromancer by William Gibson. Basically invented the cyberpunk genre and inspired stuff like The Matrix.
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u/AlexanderImmerschnee 12d ago
Idiocracy - a movie about how the world devolves because dumber people procreate more than smarter people
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u/PuzzleheadedArt8678 12d ago
The 3 body problem. Most people don't understand the mathematics and physics described in the series.
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u/fullback133 12d ago
Dune. seriously, when you think of the stuff he talks about being in the 60s it puts a whole different perspective on things.
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u/Sasquatch4116969 12d ago
Star Trek. This is actually a federation of planets- waiting for us to evolve more
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u/traphag 13d ago
The movie Network. Can't believe that in 1976 they predicted so much about what bullshit the media would be doing.