The Qualifying Elite

Hopefully you’ll agree that this course studies many of the most influential sci-fi scripts.

However, the scripts for some of the greatest films are simply not available.

In particular some scripts that originated outside Hollywood were impossible to track, such as District 9, Predestination, and Fury Road.

Still, the greatest challenge was not to find the scripts, but to decide which ones to leave out.

After all, we want to complete the program within one month.

Two big titles are not included: the Star Wars (1977) and Star Trek (1966-) sagas. Both were a big part of my childhood, and their influence carries on today in every sci-fi film or show we see. It’s a clear case of killing your darlings, as the scripts somehow didn’t make it into the course.

But I’m over the moon (!) with the selection, as it offers a cross-section of most of the classics you and I grew up with, from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to Dune (2021).

When picking the scripts and clips, I considered these questions:

• Is the format still in use today?
• Is the style contemporary?
• Did the film/show enjoy critical or public acclaim?
• Is the writing style engaging?

In addition, I tried to keep a reasonable balance of the following:

• film / tv
• recent / classic
• masculine / feminine
• dialogue / description
• drama / genre
• hollywood / indie

Ready for liftoff?