Unlike its close relative the horror/comedy, the sci-fi/comedy genre has usually been an unsuccessful experiment left to mutate in a laboratory somewhere. Whereas horror and comedy make some kind of logical sense (both rely on timing; a shriek is simply a laugh you haven't met yet), the elusive sci-fi/comedy is a far riskier mutation.

Like mixing potions, go too far one way or another and the concoction will blow up in your face. So many have tried and failed harder and more obviously than in broader genres, with the addition of some of the more obvious choices in the subset simply not evolving with age (Weird Science's gender politics were already dated when it dropped in 1985). Television, meanwhile, has more than proven that it is fertile ground, from the days of Red Dwarf up to today's news that Futurama is being renewed and Adult Swim's Rick & Morty dominating as the new cartoon to rival the big boys.

For a very long time, it has felt like no one in space can hear you laugh. For the purposes of science, the following list sets out to disprove that rule. And no, Eddie Murphy is nowhere to be found here, faithful reader.

9 Twins (1988)

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in Twins (1988)
Universal Pictures

In Twins, directed by the fantastic Ivan Reitman (no stranger to the sci-fi/comedy scene), a set of twins are split at birth: one, a fantastic mind and the perfect specimen, and the other a gambling degenerate loser. The year is 1988. Who are the two biggest stars on the planet, who look universes apart from one another? Certainly a one-note idea but the vision of Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger being at all related is rib tickling content, and their chemistry on screen is wonderful.

Junior, the follow-up to Twins, saw the Austrian Oak get pregnant. A stuck-in-development-hell sequel to Twins, titled Triplets, is still said to be on the way.

8 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Heather Graham and Mike Myers in Austin Powers 2 The Spy Who Shagged Me
New Line Cinema

Arguably improving on the original, and now far more confident in what it is, The Spy Who Shagged Me would take its characters to space (and simultaneously spoof Moonraker) in a story about love-machine Austin Powers' "mojo" being kidnapped by Dr Evil (both played by Mike Myers). Leaning more in to its sci-fi elements here, this sequel's plot would go for both time and space travel.

Austin Powers 2's supporting cast are vastly improved for the better as well, with love interest Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), and villains Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) and Fat Bastard (also Myers) all making their first appearances in the series.

7 Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Hot Tub Time Machine poster with full cast
MGM Distribution Co.

Perhaps more of a surprise choice on our list here, but we're confident in Hot Tub Time Machine's inclusion. With a cast that gels so well together (Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry here really finally got to shine as main characters), the chemistry between the four men pops and pings as the runtime flies by.

Related: Exclusive: Steve Pink Discusses The Wheel and Amber Midthunder

With an entirely unimportant plot about a time-traveling hot tub that sends four guys back to 1986, the immensely fun Steve Pink film gives these characters the chance to relive and perhaps correct their own mistakes that night. Sit back and drink in this very funny and ideal stoner comedy, and the best thing John Cusack has made in years. Fantastic soundtrack too.

6 Sleeper (1973)

Woody Allen as a robot in Sleeper
United Artists

In an ambitious plotline, Woody Allen is cryogenically frozen and revived in the year 2173 in a bid to infiltrate the current police state of the time. Pre-dating Star Wars, this feels like it's set adjacent to the violent world of Rollerball (which Sleeper also pre-dates) but as a very silly reflection. Watch as Allen spends most of the time clowning about dressed as a robot, and marvel at Sleeper's actual ambition in its sci-fi (the Orgasmatron machine is a highlight).

Sleeper does lose its way in the last act after Diane Keaton and him separate, giving in to Allen's more cartoonish side and the complacent blueprint of his films while also losing the chemistry between Keaton and Allen. Nonetheless, the far off future depicted (from a 1970s point of view) is a really fun one.

5 Idiocracy (2006)

Terry Crews as President Camacho in Idiocracy
20th Century Fox

In the amazingly quirky premise of Idiocracy, a nondescript man is sent to the future, where humanity and its intelligence has hit rock bottom. As someone from the past, despite being average, he is immediately recognized as the smartest man on the planet. The muscled, rock star-haired Terry Crews as President Camacho is one of the best on-screen Master in Chiefs in film.

Speaking in 2016, and in the wake of the Trump election win, screenwriter Etan Cohan said to Buzzfeed: “We just thought it would take much, much longer to get to this point [...] Obviously, when writing the movie, we knew that that was true about TV and movies and pop culture," he said. "But it was a crazy joke to think that it could be extrapolated to politics. It seems to be happening really rapidly."

4 Men In Black (1997)

Agents J and K with futuristic guns in Men in Black
Sony Pictures Releasing

Will Smith has only lost his way over the last decade, but his star power knows no bounds in the cool-as-ice sci-fi film Men in Black, which would put his star on the map. When a street-wise cop is drafted into a secret organization, his eyes are opened to the everyday reality that, no, we are not alone in the universe. Blending incredible practical and CGI effects to create its aliens, along with the pitch-perfect setting of NYC and its denizens, this is a modern sci-fi classic.

Will Smith as the young and Black quick-talker linking up with the stoic white cop (Tommy Lee Jones) is buddy comedy gold. Come for the leads, stay for the gross-out aliens and incredible gadgets. Two Men In Black sequels and a spin-off followed.

3 Back to The Future Part II (1989)

Michael J Fox in Back to the Future Part 2
Universal Pictures

Perhaps not a comedy per-se (more like a lighthearted sci-fi with a fun disposition), but would be wrong not to include it here. Expanding on the first film without feeling like a rehash, Back to The Future Part II cleverly readdresses the first film's events, scene for scene even, but twists it on its head to alter the future. The villainous Biff uses a betting results book from the future to bet on the past and become stinking rich, so it's up to Marty to travel back to the past to stop him.

Related: Wacka Wacka! Muppets From Space Succeeds in the Tricksy Sci-Fi/Comedy Genre

Possibly even better than the first, this is a sequel that disproves the rule of diminishing returns. A wonderful trilogy of films that strives to be adventurous in its storytelling.

2 The Man With Two Brains (1983)

Steve Martin in Man With Two Brains
Warner Bros.

Get that cat out of here! Catching Steve Martin at his comedy heights (Three Amigos and Little Shop of Horrors would follow three years later), The Man With Two Brains finds Martin playing a brilliant neurosurgeon stuck in a Mexican stand-off between two women he loves. With a scatterbrained plot about a killer on the loose and the swapping of brains in bodies, this is a sci-fi/comedy film by way of a body horror, but really is just an excuse to let Martin loose.

By the third act the plot has entirely vanished, but it's really just an excuse to be hilarious without the constraint of logic or storylines. There's far too many laugh-out-loud scenes to pick just one, but the exceptionally thorough drunk test at the side of the road lodges in the skull like the very brains that Dr. Hfuhruhurr is so eager to remove.

1 Ghostbusters (1984)

Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters
Columbia Pictures

Inevitable, really. When considering such an elusive scientific anomaly like the sci-fi/comedy, Ghostbusters will be mentioned every single time. Bringing together the hottest comic actors at the time (and a wonderful supporting cast with Rick Moranis, Janine Melnitz, and Sigourney Weaver, above) in one big movie, and pitching them against some spellbinding visual effects results in Ghostbusters being an instant classic.

There's surprisingly very little story in this movie, with a lot of time spent on Bill Murray and Harold Ramis just goofing around, but when it works, it's perfect, and the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man destroying the city of New York is endlessly iconic.