When it comes to space operas on the big screen, there are no franchises that truly compete with the likes of Star Wars or Star Trek. Both franchises stretch back decades with unbeatable stars like Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Sir Patrick Stewart, Ewan McGregor, Chris Pine, Oscar Isaac, Donald Glover, and so many more. They also feature the greatest space battles ever seen on the big screen. No one can ever forget the way Luke Skywalker took down the Death Star in the legendary trench run from the Battle of Yavin. Then there's the legendary final showdown between Captain Kirk and the infamous Khan Noonien Singh in the Mutara Nebula. It can be hard for aspiring sci-fi franchises to ever compete with iconic showdowns like that.
There have been hundreds of attempts to reclaim that glory but few true successes. That being said, there have been several franchises that have done the impossible by creating a legendary space battle sequence that has nothing to do with Star Wars or Star Trek. These are the franchises that managed to live up to George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry. Here are 10 films that managed to feature incredible space battles outside the two biggest space franchises of all time.
10 Galaxy Quest
If you can't watch a Star Trek film, the very next best thing is the Tim Allen classic Galaxy Quest. While many assumed that this would be a shameless parody of Gene Roddenberry's beloved franchise, it shocked everyone to find that Galaxy Quest was essentially one of the best Star Trek films ever made. In the beginning, it's a joke of a premise that basically asks what would happen if William Shatner and the cast of the original Star Trek were brought into space by aliens who assumed they were their characters. After the jokes end, the film bounces from emotionally charged scenes to some of the best space battle sequences ever seen in film history.
In particular, the way that the film showed the Protector get messed up by magnetic mines only to have the crew figure out how to use those mines as a surprise weapon for the final battle was just brilliant. It can be hard to explain a universe's complex space battle mechanics, but this was something anyone could understand.
9 Serenity
There's no way to have a list like this without mentioning Serenity. Despite the fact that its progenitor series Firefly only had one season and then one follow-up movie with no spinoffs or sequels, it still has a fandom as passionate as any Star Trek or Star Wars fan. That's probably because the fans of the seminal Nathan Fillion space western also likely love one of the two franchises Joss Whedon clearly was inspired by. It combines the Han Solo style from Star Wars with the general structure of a Star Trek series to incredible success.
As great as the series was, it had no proper climax. Enter Serenity which delivers several gut punches, twists, and an epic space battle which ends with perhaps the most brutal end of a beloved character in space opera history. Literally no one who has seen this movie would ever keep dry eyes when told the words, "I'm a leaf on the wind, see how I soar."
8 Guardians of the Galaxy
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a very successful pastiche of everything wonderful from film history. It has fantasy adventures, WWII epics, and spy thrillers. So it was inevitable that it would get its own space opera with James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy. The initial concept art showed a very serious, Star Wars-style epic. What Gunn produced was just as epic, but added in a ton of necessary levity for a movie with a talking Raccoon and a living tree alien. The final battle of Xandar has plenty of unique space battle action while also adding a Chris Pratt dance off that wouldn't have worked in any Star Wars or Star Trek film.
All the space bound action we see in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame owes everything to what was introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy. That includes Josh Brolin as Thanos who made his first real introduction in the first Guardians movie.
7 Ender's Game
There were a lot of problems with the adaptation of the science fiction classic Ender's Game. The casting, changes from the original novel, and truncated runtime all were complaints against the film from fans of the series that will likely be fixed when the book is inevitably adapted once again. One thing that the film did well was the final battle sequence which features one of the best twists in all of science fiction literature. Ender has been training his entire life to become a brilliant general capable of leading a squad of ships against an intelligent alien enemy. Ender viciously passes his final exam by deciding to utterly decimate the enemy's entire planet in a brutal display of genocide. After the exam, however, the real twist comes. Ender wasn't in an exam at all. What he thought was merely an intellectual exercise was actually the real thing. He had decimated an entire race of beings without realizing it. In one twisted moment, Ender had become both the hero of humanity and the villain of the enemy he was unknowingly pitted against for real.
No matter how many mistakes the film made, it's hard to get a twist that good wrong...
6 Captain Marvel
By the time Captain Marvel came around, we had already seen two Guardians of the Galaxy films, three Avengers films, and the culmination of both by seeing Thanos destroy half the galaxy with the Infinity Gauntlet. So when Infinity War hinted that Captain Marvel would play a big part in saving the galaxy in Endgame, there was a lot of pressure to show just how powerful Carol Danvers was in her solo film. While the film itself became one of the most divisive in Marvel history, the final battle was truly epic. The film ramps up to a full Kree invasion of Earth to destroy the remaining Skrulls. A fully charged Captain Marvel then takes on the entire Kree fleet, including the formidable villain from the first Guardians film. She manages to solo the entire fleet in epic Super Saiyan style, proving that she has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with even the likes of Thanos.
When The Marvels eventually comes out, there will be a high bar for Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau to compete with the original Captain Marvel.
5 Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is perhaps the most slept on Disney film ever made. The animation studio isn't known for branching out into Space Operas often. While most attempts to make space opera end up seeming like carbon-copies of either Star Trek or Star Wars, Treasure Planet stands out due to its boundless creativity. It takes not only its plot from the classic Treasure Island but also its aesthetic. All the ships have giant solar sails, for example. What we get from Treasure Planet are a series of high octane action sequences that are nothing like any other science fiction film to date. It's closer to the best battles from Pirates of the Caribbean or Master and Commander, just in space instead of on the ocean.
Disney has been eagerly remaking every animated film they've ever made in live action. So that means a live action version of Treasure Planet has to be inevitable. Perhaps it will finally get the respect it deserves.
4 Independence Day
Before Will Smith was famous for slapping down Chris Rock at the Oscars, he was primarily famous for taking on aliens with the likes of Men In Black or Independence Day. The latter brings together a ton of 90s tropes together for an incredible alien-invasion movie that has aged just as well as something like Jurassic Park, largely due to its incredible practical effects. The film ends with a decimated humanity taking one final shot at the invading alien forces while Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith steal an enemy ship to use against the enemy. While it features incredible performances from Smith, Goldblum, President Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, and Vivica A. Fox, the biggest surprise is the scene-stealing performance from Randy Quaid of all people. It is quite surreal to see Cousin Eddie valiantly save the world through a tear-jerking sacrifice.
What's truly great about this 90s classic is that there was no forgettable sequel that tried fruitlessly to cash in on the original's success by turning it into a generic science fiction franchise that didn't even manage to bring back Will Smith. How horrible would it have been if a sequel was made in like 2016 with some terrible name like Independence Day: Resurgence. Thankfully that definitely never ever happened...
3 Transformers: The Movie
While most people likely associate Transformers with the series of Michael Bay live action films, most fans know that the best film in the series came from the Generation One animated film Transformers: The Movie. This film started out strong by featuring the final battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime. The movie then had to up the ante by providing an even greater force for our new heroes to contend with without Prime in command. That force comes in the form of the planet-sized Transformer known as Unicron, voiced by one of the greatest actors of all time, Orson Welles. The final battle of the film features the new hero Hot Rod take Optimus Prime's place by leading everyone against this colossal threat and saving the day.
No live action Transformers film, including the excellent Bumblebee, has come close to competing with this. Hopefully the new reboot Transformers: Rise of the Beasts gets closer to the quality of this classic.
2 Space Sweepers
When it comes to space opera films, people tend to focus primarily on American science fiction cinema. That leaves true international classics like the South Korean space western Space Sweepers out in the cold. This film has all the charm of something like Serenity or Guardians of the Galaxy while providing a perspective and style all its own. Anyone who loves space action sequences, lovable robots, and a crew of misfits needs to get on Netflix and watch this film as soon as possible.
It is the first space Korean blockbuster, but judging from its success, it won't be the last...
1 The Last Starfighter
After Star Wars came out in 1977 and took the world by storm, it was inevitable that Hollywood would try to replicate that success. A ton of science fiction movies made their way to big screens hoping to tap into that gold mine George Lucas found. That included a resurgence of the canceled Star Trek with a feature film sequel. Starcrash, Star Odyssey, Message from Space, Battle Beyond the Stars, and many many more failed to gain that coveted cult classic status. Then there's 1984's The Last Starfighter. It might not be as good as Star Wars, nor do its special effects hold up as well, but it is a true scifi classic in its own right.
The story centers on an arcade game that sends a gamer into space to fight the very-real space battle the arcade depicts. It has campy space battles, memorable characters, and all the '80s nostalgia a scifi fan could ever want.