scifi movies for a young teen

I highly recommend The Expanse on Amazon Prime. A number of badass female characters- Drummer, Naomi, Clarissa, Avrisarala, Bobbi. Not a single Mary Sue among them. 6 seasons, really gets into the meat of the story. Excellent character development,/Arc over the course of the series. Even the guy who is one dimensional (Amos) winds up having depths. If she likes to read, the books are even better. The same, but different. Also, the Murderbot Diaries are really good books, fast easy reads but very entertaining.

I think my favorite is probably Contact. It's an older movie, but it's really interesting. The lead character and the general story made me really interested in science as a kid.

If you want a newer movie, Interstellar seems somewhat similar to Contact and is an excellent movie.

Also, thanks for looking for content that your kid would enjoy. You seem like a good parent.

• Moon
• Event Horizon
• Alien and Aliens
• District 9
• Solaris
• The 5th Element
• The Valerian
• Blade Runner (both)
• Back to the Future 1, 2 and 3
• 2001: A Space Oddity
• Silent Running
• Fire in the Sky
• A Scanner Darkly
• Total Recall
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Planet of the Apes (all of them)
• John Carter (more the books than the movie IMO)

Some of these may be for when she's a bit older, but I had seen most of these before I was 13 and nothing traumatized me. The genre has quite a bit of horror in it, just FYI.

Teens love Dune because the Hero's story is a trope that teens like. Dune will open up their taste for social-science fiction too, i.e., stories that pertain to societies and culture rather than simply pew pew lasers. Watch the 3 versions of Dune; the Lynch, TV series and the latest movie.

I can't believe no one has suggested "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

You'll both be crying and hugging each other at the end of it.

Not sure how old she is, but if she's 14+ I would recommend The Expanse

Thanks for all the advice! I added some movies to my own to watch list, and here is the complete list of this thread (Sorted old to new).

• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• The Twilight Zone (1959)
• 2001 Space Odyssey (1968)
• Silent Running (1972)
• Solaris (1972)
• Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
• Alien (1979)
• Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• E.T. (1982)
• Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
• The Last Starfighter (1984)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• Enemy Mine (1985)
• The Explorers (1985)
• Aliens (1986)
• Flight of the Navigator (1986)
• SpaceCamp (1986)
• Predator (1987)
• Robocop 1 (1987)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
• The Abyss (1989)
• Back to the Future part III (1990)
• Robocop 2 (1990)
• Total Recall (1990)
• Babylon 5 (1993)
• Fire in the Sky (1993)
• Star Trek: Deep space 9 (1993)
• Stargate (1994)
• Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
• 5th Element (1997)
• Contact (1997)
• Event Horizon (1997)
• Men in Black (1997)
• Stargate SG-1 (1997)
• The 5th Element (1997)
• Back to the Future part III (1998)
• Galaxy Quest (1999)
• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Pitch black (2000)
• Titan AE (2000)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Planet of the Apes (2001)
• Firefly (2002)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
• Treasure Planet (2002)
• Bionicle: Mask of Light (2003)
• Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui (2004)
• Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows (2005)
• Doctor Who (2005)
• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• A Scanner Darkly (2006)
• Sunshine (2007)
• Cloverfield (2008)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
• Jumper (2008)
• The day the earth stood still (2008)
• District 9 (2009)
• Moon (2009)
• Pandorum (2009)
• Inception (2010)
• Space Battleship Yamato (2010)
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
• the adjustment bureau (2011)
• John Carter (2012)
• Looper (2012)
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• Upside down (2012)
• Coherence (2013)
• Dark Skies (2013)
• Europa Report (2013)
• Gravity (2013)
• Oblivion (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
• Interstellar (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
• The Maze Runner (2014)
• Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
• The Expanse (2015)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
• The Martian (2015)
• Bionicle: The Journey to One (2016)
• Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
• Life (2017)
• Time Trap (2017)
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
• War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
• A quiet place (2018)
• A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
• Annihilation (2018)
• Extinction (2018)
• Prospect (2018)
• Ready Player One (2018)
• The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
• Ad Astra (2019)
• Inner Space (2019)
• Synchronic (2019)
• The Vast Of Night (2019)
• Love and monsters (2020)
• The Midnight Sky (2020)
• Mother/Android (2021)
• Stowaway (2021)
• Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
• Moonfall (2022)
• Prey (2022)
• Star Trek: Strange new worlds (2022)
• Vesper (2022)

I'm glad that other posters have given you a broad sample of content, and nice to see a young person chime in. I've never used the parental info on IMDB, but relied on Common Sense Media for some guidance. It's tough to make recommendations based solely on age, not knowing you limits as a parent, etc. But with that said, I'll offer a little parental input on some (my daughter is 11, but she's also the third kid, sooo...).

Previously mentioned things:

• Doctor Who - man, I wish Jodie Whittaker had gotten better writing. Rosa was a cool episode to share with my daughter. Matt Smith's run would be my pick for younger folks. Some scary elements, but tame.

• The Hunger Games - yes! As long as you don't mind all the killing. Highly recommend the books at that age too.

• The Martian - I loved it and I think it's a good suggestion. I just wonder about the appeal to that age.

• Ready Player One - fun, easy, excellent popcorn flick. My son watched it over and over.

Ones I haven't seen in the thread:

• Firefly - Reavers are a bit scary for kids, and you'll probably need to explain Inara's job as a "Companion," but so good.

• Jumper - Teleportation, man! Another good read at that age, too.

• The Maze Runner - First movie was good, family said subsequent ones were not. Can't speak to the books, but they were certainly popular.

• Men in Black - all fluff, but still a fun movie.

And finally, I'll close with several 80s picks that tend to skew a bit younger :

• E.T. - duh.
• The Explorers - kids building their own space ship. Goes off the rails in the 3rd act.
• Space Camp - kids accidentally get shot into space and have to be real astronauts.
• Flight of the Navigator - the kids liked this more than I expected.
• The Last Starfighter - play game, be hero.
• Inner Space - honestly haven't seen this in 30 years, but loved it when I was young.
• Enemy Mine - human and alien stuck in a cave have to overcome their hatred.

Hey mom or dad,

Just wanted to let you, I use the Parental Guide on Imdb before I watch content with my dad. Helps to get a feel for what I'm about to see.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_Blade%2520Runner%25202049

Just above the "Did you know" section, you'll see the parent's guide.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1856101/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg

Star Trek Strange New Worlds is very good.

The OG 1950’s The day the earth stood still.

More drama than run-and-gun sci-fi; but it’s a classic for a reason. And with what’s going on in Russia still poignant today (it’s a criticism of Mutually Assured Destruction)

Also Babylon 5; it takes a few episodes to finish the world building but it gets very good. (Also probably has 2 of the best portrayals of strong female leaders in tv scifi. deleen is scary sometimes. And Ivanova is… Ivanova)

If you like bab5, Star Trek DS9’s first season ripped off JMS’s early show Bible for b5, so it has very similar themes

There’s also the star gate franchise; and Sanctuary (which isn’t sci-fi per se, but stars Amanda Tapping- captain carter in sg1. Give it some grace it started as a low budget web serial.)

How scifi? What time period? How mature is too mature? Without that, here is what I can recommend as good scifi, but you may need to sift through the content of each to determine if your daughter is mature enough for some. I have marked ones I think may need special attention by you with a ¤ icon. This is because it may be too scary, violent, or have nudity. Ones particularly egregious I marked with §.

A recommendation with ¤ beside it may contain brief scenes of nudity or some violence, or may make sexual references/jokes/innuendo, while a recommendation with § may contain scenes that are disturbingly violent or with scenes depicting graphic nudity.

// LIVE ACTION

• Forbidden Planet (the original black and white is best but the color version is okay too)
• Star Wars (Episodes 1-6, in release order of 4,5,6,1,2,3)
• Alien and Aliens §
• Predator (the first one) §
• 2001 Space Odyssey
• Star Trek The Next Generation (original series and Deep Space 9 were also pretty good)
• Doctor Who (take your pick of any season except the most recent one was not very good)
• The Last Starfighter
• Robocop 1 and 2 (the original ones not the remake) §
• Galaxy Quest ¤
• Abyss ¤
• Space Battleship Yamato (2010 release, its english dub is okay, I dont know how accurate it is to the anime but I thought it was entertaining)
• Bionicle 1-3
• Stargate ¤

// ANIMATED-ANIME

• Neon Genesis Evangelion and the End of Evangelion movie (the 4 Rebuild movies are good as well!) §
• Super Dimension Fortress Macross (Robotech is okay as well, the first part is effectivly unchanged from the original)
• Titan A.E.
• Treasure Planet
• AKIRA §
• Bubblegum Crisis ¤
• Bubblegum Crash!
• Full Metal Panic! (all seasons)
• Space Dandy ¤
• Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs
• Cowboy Bebop ¤
• Dirty Pair ¤
• Trigun (the original release, not the recent reboot) ¤

Interstellar

• Ad Astra (2019)

• Annihilation (2018)

• Coherence (2013)

• Dark Skies (2013)

• Donnie Darko (2001)

• Extinction (2018)

• Europa Report (2013)

• Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

• Gravity (2013)

• Inception (2010)

• Interstellar (2014)

• Life (2017)

• Minority Report (2002)

• Moonfall (2022)

• Mother/Android (2021)

• Pandorum (2009)

• Prey (2022)

• Stowaway (2021)

• Sunshine (2007)

• Synchronic (2019)

• The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

• The Martian (2015)

• The Midnight Sky (2020)

• The Vast Of Night (2019)

• Time Trap (2017)

• Vesper (2022)

Titan AE is an often overlooked animated sci-fi thats pretty good.

You've gotten plenty of suggestions, but I'll launch an oddball one out, just in case.

Does your daughter already consume fanfic based on her favorite movies/television? "Young teen" is the prime age to start getting into fanfic on one's own. I, and my entire friends' group, were writing/reading up a storm at that age.

If she does like fanfic, maybe offer her the original book form of Ender's Game. It has several sequels that never got made into movies. Likewise, if you end up watching the Expanse and like it, it started as a book series, and there's a few books that didn't get turned into the show.

There's a LOT of excellent sci-fi out there that's written that will never get made into movies or television because A) it's not suitable for a visual medium because it's too "thinky" or "in your head" which makes it difficult to film or animate, or B) It's too new/cutting edge/weird for movie/television studios to risk putting lots of money on.

So if she's already exploring the written medium as an ancillary way to get more content around existing movies/shows, perhaps offer some books in the genre? Most cutting-edge sci-fi shows up in books 10-20 years before it hits movies/television. So if she likes the sci-fi for the "cutting edge cool idea" aspect of it, there's usually more to chew on on the lit side of things--both in quality and quantity.

Martha Wells' Murderbot series is very popular, and although the name suggests otherwise, I wouldn't flinch at giving it to a 12 year old to read. It's honestly tamer than Ender's Game (the book at least), where those kids are flat-out murdering/crippling one another in the book. Murderbot, in contrast, doesn't really like murdering all that much.

Star trek Strange new worlds. Foundation. Pantheon. Any of the new starwars series.

Check out some Star Trek like Strange New Worlds or Deep Space Nine, you don't have to understand much about Star Trek to enjoy it

It's an animated show, but Steven Universe is amazing and age appropriate.

• Star Trek Strange new worlds
• Oblivion
• Hunger games
• upside down
• the adjustment bureau
• Contact
• A quiet place (horror but not that bad, rated pg12)
• Ready player one
• Love and monsters
• pitch black (might be rated 16 or r)
• Cloverfield (horror but fairly tame, rated pg12)
• Looper(2012)

Not sure about the horror movie ratings, I think they're rated 12 but I think they should be fine. Maybe watch them by yourself first and judge. Star Trek is a TV show but really amazing and peak sci-fi. The new movies are watchable, too. Doctor who is a great sci-fi show too but it's a bit weird on where you should start watching, the first doctor's (of nuwho, so 9, I believe) series are a bit tough to watch at times so I'd recommend skipping them at first and coming back to them later.

The original Twilight Zone is a rapid fire smorgasbord of the greatest Sci-Fi writers of the 60s. When I was around 12 or 13 I couldn't get enough Twilight Zone. I always looked out for marathons on the SyFy channel on Holidays.

And since it's from the 60s it doesn't have any swearing or gore or anything inappropriate for kids but there's a lot of irony and death that a kid a little older will be able to appreciate that a younger kid wouldn't.

Short List of my Favorites: I Shot an Arrow into the Air To Serve Man The Monsters are Due on Maple Street It's A Good Life Eye of the Beholder Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Annihilation

The Giver, great wee film and great wee short YA novel.

You can't go wrong with "they're made of meat", or "when the yogurt took over" ( warning, boring boobs for like 2.5 seconds).

https://youtu.be/7tScAyNaRdQ?si=9_jCNLRr_4KSfw77

https://youtu.be/lOpvxj_FRN0?si=Aa5_mwVvkrTxWMDb

Also: The World of Tomorrow is top tier scifi.

https://youtu.be/lOpvxj_FRN0?si=Aa5_mwVvkrTxWMDb

Forbidden Planet

5th Element

Back to the Future

I haven’t seen anyone else recommend Prospect (2918).

I think your daughter might really enjoy it because the lead role is a young female, played by Sophie Thatcher, and it has a terrific far-future, hard SF vibe and great production values for an indie feature. Also the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal is very good in it as well. Killer sound track too.

Andromeda by Gene Roddenberry. It's an odd, unpopular tv series sorta along the lines of Star Trek, but the storywriting is so amazing it more than makes up for the low budget. Ran for 5 22-episode seasons, highly recommended.

The Thing 1982

Star Trek TNG and the fourth Star Trek movie. The one with the whales. And the 80s San Francisco.

Titan A.E.

Battle Beyond the Stars

The Last Starfighter