A conference organized at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2011 brought together NASA experts who wanted to establish a ranking of science fiction films, from the most realistic to the least realistic. If Welcome to Gattaca by Andrew Niccol took the crown for most realistic science fiction film, the feature film at the bottom of the list was… 2012.
The ranking took place in a particular context, just like the production of Roland Emmerich's disaster film. Remember that at the time, many thought that the “end of the world” would take place in 2012, a good reason for Hollywood to produce a film on the subject a few years before the fateful year.
This belief was explained by the Mayan calendar, which predicted the destruction of the Earth on December 21, 2012, a theory echoed in the film, where the core of the planet began to heat up unusually, causing earthquakes and tsunamis all over the world.
A film that rides on general panic
After the film's release and as 2012 approached, panic gripped some people, so much so that NASA began receiving countless emails from senders worried about the fate of the planet.
“The agency receives so many requests from terrified people that we had to launch a website specifically dedicated to busting this myth. This is an unprecedented decision” said Donald Yeomans, then an expert in solar system dynamics at the agency.
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Could NASA's choice have been influenced by this general panic? Would scientists have placed 2012 at the top of the least realistic science fiction films to reassure the population? Maybe that's the case. Or maybe the feature is simply the stupidest of its kind.
The complete ranking of the least realistic science fiction films
We let you discover the list of the least realistic science fiction films (until 2011) below:
1- 2012 (2009)
2- Fusion (2003)
3- Armageddon (1998)
4- Volcano (1997)
5- Pursuit (1996)
6- At the dawn of the sixth day (2000)
7- What do we really know about reality!?
The most realistic films are…
NASA also wanted to reward the most plausible films in this area and here they are.
1- Welcome to Gattaca (1997)
2- Contact (1997)
3- Metropolis (1927)
4- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
5- The woman on the moon (1929)
6- The Thing from Another World (1951)
7- Jurassic Park (1993)
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Would the ranking be the same now, now that 2012 and the panic associated with the film have passed? What about the new films released since then? A new classification would be welcome. If you want to see or rewatch 2012it is available on Netflix.
Article written in collaboration with our colleagues from I love cinema.
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