The era is renowned for its somewhat campy aesthetic, yet also its underlying thematic heft.

The tale of invasion and paranoia remains a cutting parable of contemporary anxieties surrounding communism.

3’E.T.

10 Movies That Defined Science Fiction

Image by Federico Napoli

the Extra-TerrestrialpresentsSteven Spielbergat his warmest and most wonderful.

While science-fiction cinema was undergoing a pivot into darkness and thematic heft throughout the 1980s,E.T.

However, the aggressive tactics inspire resistance from the planets native people, the Navi.

A rocket hits the moon on its eye in George Melies' A Trip to the Moon.

Image via Star Film Company

NEXT:The 50 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time, Ranked

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A man looking at a woman with Maschinenmensch in the background in Metropolis

Image via Parufamet

Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s Monster peers out from behind a frame in 1931’s ‘Frankenstein.'

Image via Universal Pictures

Kevin McCarthy, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Dana Wynter in a greenhouse looking scared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Image via Paramount Pictures

A red-suited astronaut walks down a white, brightly lit hallway aboard the space station in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford as Luke, Leia, and Han looking in the same direction in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope

Image via Lucasfilm

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A large face projected on a skyscrapper in a futuristic city in Blade Runner

Image via Warner Bros.

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E.T. holds up his glowing finger in ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’

Image via Universal Pictures

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Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, and Trinity, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, walk intently in ‘The Matrix’.

Image via Warner Bros.

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Movie

2001: A Space Odyssey