What Are the Best Sci-Fi Movies and TV Shows According to President Obama?

Credit: Nichelle Nichols—Twitter

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Election Day is now only a week away, and pretty soon we'll know which candidate will replace President Barack Obama as POTUS. However, Inauguration Day isn't until January 20, 2017, so we still have some time to glean some presidential wisdom from the Commander-in-Chief before he serves his last day in office. Lucky for us cinephiles, Obama, a total sci-fi nerd, took the time to give Wired a short list of his favorite sci-fi films and TV shows, complete with classics, crowd favorites, and Carl Sagan talking about the universe.

Here's President Obama's list:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977)
• Star Trek (1966-1969)
• The Martian (2015)
• The Matrix (1999)
• Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980)

Credit: Roger L. Wollenberg /UPI /Landov

Taking a look at Obama's list, you can see right away that there are the usual suspects: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope. You've also got classic sci-fi nerd fare, Star Trek, and a little something for the brainiacs, Cosmos—the "Personal Voyage" series with Carl Sagan. This should not be confused with the "Spacetime Odyssey" one with Neil deGrasse Tyson, which, if you're like me, you watch until you can explain string theory in perfect Klingon. (MajQa'!) 

Perhaps the most interesting thing, though, is that two Ridley Scott films earned a spot on the list, Blade Runner and The Martian, the latter of which he named his favorite movie of 2015. Could this mean the President is a big fan of the director? Maybe—however, if he truly was, why wasn't Alien on the list!? Mr. President, the No Film School people want to know!

Source: Wired