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10 Forgotten Sci-Fi Movies For People Who Think They’ve Seen Everything

The Sci-Fi Graveyard

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🎬 1500+ sci-fi films, searchable by mood, decade, subgenre, and streaming platform 👉 https://scifigraveyard.com

From a government that ordered sets burned and banned its own director, to a forgotten 1970s film that secretly became the blueprint for a movie you probably watched in theaters last year, these ten sci-fi films were made with real money, real stars, and real ambition. Then they vanished.

Leslie Nielsen playing it completely straight in a cloning conspiracy thriller. Peter Fonda directing his bleakest, most underrated film. Klaus Kinski in a robot movie that cost less than a music video with a young James Cameron working in the art department. A one-man nuclear apocalypse film that got its print seized by a lawyer after four screenings. And a Polish sci-fi epic that a communist government tried to erase from existence entirely.

These aren't bad movies that deserved to disappear. Bad timing, studio panic, bad marketing, political censorship, that's the real story behind every single one on this list.

🎬 Films covered in this video:

🤖 The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
🌍 Idaho Transfer
👾 Android
🪐 Saturn 3
⚔️ The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
💨 Slipstream
🛸 Save the Green Planet!
🐜 Phase IV
🏝️ The Noah
🌑 On the Silver Globe

If you know a buried film that should be on this list, drop it in the comments. I read every one.

#SciFi #ForgottenFilms #LostSciFi

20 Comments

@SciFiGraveyard Creator 1 month ago Pinned

If you're always hunting for sci-fi movies nobody talks about anymore, I put 1500+ of them in one place 👉 https://scifigraveyard.com

@RedDragonGeoffClark 1 month ago

YES! THE NAVIGATOR! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOREVER! Thank you

@aliservan7188 1 month ago

absoliey fantastic list and I've managed to get them all. Thank you so much

@chrisholds1 1 month ago

another terrific video, thanks for making it!

@SwanStar 1 month ago

I never saw the end of Phase IV. I was watching it late at night with my brother and it was close to the end when we saw something move across the floor. It was a huge spider and when my brother threw a book at it tons of baby spiders spread everywhere! We were already freaked out from watching the ants in the movie and it turned into an absolute living nightmare. I'll have to go back and rewatch it.

@jenskofoed-pihl-r1h 1 month ago

When my sci-fi punkband, Tumor Warlord, played a gig 15 years ago we had On the Silver Globe as a backdrop

@SpikeMoby 1 month ago

I have The Navigator: A Medieval Adventure sitting on my media server. A fascinating film, glad to see it here as it's really not known well.

@aadamtx 1 month ago

Thanks again for an excellent overview. I've seen three of the films - Saturn 3, Phase IV (with the very underrated actor Michael Murphy), and The Noah, although I'd completely forgotten about that one until you showed the footage. I'm most interested now in watching On the Silver Globe, which sounds fascinating.

@daletagedon6341 1 month ago

I saw On the Silver Globe 1990 on TV (3sat) in Europe.
It was an impressive movie despite the losing scenes.

@Demo-critus 1 month ago

Please include a time-stamped list of contents. Thanks!

@UrsGrether 1 month ago (edited)

Thank you for including this magnificent film of Vincent Ward! And what a true peak here: "Phase IV", "The Noah", "On the Silver Globe". "The Noah" was new to me (as "Idaho Transfer" was) - what a title, by the way, the biblical story told - sideways, flash forward?

@alexbaumans6493 1 month ago

Idaho Transfer needs to be remade with a cast and crew that is actually competent, not just a bunch of people Peter Fonda happened to run into.

@tube1971 1 month ago

As a nine year old, Saturn 3 freaked me out.

@EinsteinsHair 1 month ago

I saw Saturn 3 and Idaho Transfer. IT definitely has slow parts, sometimes feeling like an instructional video or documentary, but in the end I liked it.

@bigtom7465 1 month ago

Great list including the cult classic "Phase IV"! I would also mention "Demon Seed" (1977). Some of these films would deserve a serious remake or reinterpretation. Like "Bugonia" did with "Save The Green Planet". I would like to see remakes of Ken Russell's "Altered States" or "Dreamscape" from 1984.

@VannaxPJF 1 month ago

Saw Saturn 3 on the big screen when I was 13, loved it. Saw Phase IV as a kid too, sitting up alone late at night.
I think "Demon Seed" and "The Quiet Earth" deserve a place on this list, as well.

@rlbarney2 1 month ago

:47 Leslie Nielsen was known for playing straight roles during most of his career. Airplane was the first of many comedic roles for Nielsen.

@NorthSpider 1 month ago

Saturn 3 was a masterpiece. One of my all time favourites. Very atmospheric just like Alien. :face-blue-wide-eyes::trophy-yellow-smiling::trophy-yellow-smiling::trophy-yellow-smiling:

@howardcrook1153 1 month ago (edited)

I've seen Android, Saturn 3, Phase IV and Slipstream the latter being one of my favourite sci-fi films of the 80s and I bought the dvd.
Oh and Save the Green Planet has been on my must see list for a while but haven't found it anywhere in the UK.

@virginiatressider5753 1 month ago

Martin Amis got his revenge for Saturn 3. In his best novel, Money, a character named Lorne Guyland is an ageing, grandiose, narcissistic tough guy actor who obsesses over his abs and getting enough nude scenes. He's clearly based on Kirk Douglas. And 'Spunk Davis' (what a name!) is based on Harvey Keitel, and Butch Beausoleil on Farrah Fawcett.