10 Movies That Did Star Trek Better Than Star Trek‏

10. The Quatermass Trilogy

What they get right: Intelligent science fiction Nigel Kneale has a considerable following in tinseltown, being the particular object of John Carpenter's affections, who has used many Kneale-derived pseudonyms in his own films. His notoriety has waned in recent years, but back in the day this prolific writer of intelligent, imaginative BBC television serials was one of the most influential voices in genre fiction. Most of that can be put down to his most famous work, the Quatermass trilogy, named for the stony-faced scientist who stars in each of the televised stories of science fiction, fantasy and horror that aired between the fifties and seventies. Many of those older episodes have been lost to time, however, which means that the most definitive version of the Quatermass serials are their film adaptations. Hammer took a break from their usual brand of primary colour splatter and swingin' sixties T&A when bringing Kneale's more cerebral, disturbing work to the silver screen. The first of these films, The Quatermass Xperiment, sees the professor dealing with a potential alien invasion in the exact way you see Kirk, Spock and the like try to placate angry extraterrestrials in the original series: not with big guns, photon torpedoes or anything, but by negotiating, speaking rationally and calmly, like civilised people. And aliens.