It’s officially the weekend! That means it’s time to curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and some new flicks — and this week, we’re celebrating NASA’s New Horizons probe and its successful flyby of Pluto with 10 of the best space movies and TV shows.
Gizmodo’s weekly Netflix movie night is presented by the new HP Spectre x360. Any way you bend it, the Spectre x360 delivers. With four modes, lightning-fast performance, and impressive battery life, this convertible PC has the best of all worlds and the shortcomings of none.
Not what you’re after? Check out some other Netflix Movie Night suggestions:
Netflix Movie Night: The 10 Best Netflix Originals For You To Binge-Watch
Netflix Movie Night: A Dozen Fascinating, Eye-Opening World Movies
Netflix Movie Night: A Dozen Of The Best Sci-Fi, Supernatural And Superhero TV Shows
Gravity
Gravity is a film about what happens when things go wrong in space — but it’s SO much more than that. It’s incredibly claustrophobic for a movie that’s all about vacuum and emptiness, and its sound effects and music were good enough to win multiple Oscars. George Clooney and Sandra Bullock are supreme in their respective roles as grizzled veteran astronaut and greenhorn medical engineer, and the story will keep you gripped from start to finish. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: When debris destroys their shuttle, a medical engineer and a seasoned astronaut find themselves floating through space, with no connection to Earth.
IMDb: A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after a catastrophe destroys their shuttle and leaves them adrift in orbit.
Firefly
Firefly is Joss Whedon’s The English Patient. It’s his Shawshank Redemption. It’s his National Treasure. A rag-tag band of outlaws live in a beaten-up Firefly-class spaceship in a wild west universe set 500 years in the future, and they get up to a whole lot of fun. It’s irreverent, it’s silly, it’s honest, it’s clearly made on a shoestring budget, but you can’t help but love Firefly. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Set almost 500 years in the future, this short-lived but much-loved series follows the adventures of the ragtag crew of the spaceship Serenity.
IMDb: Five hundred years in the future, a renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars centres around the events that occur between The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones. The Jedi fight the droid army of the Separatists, and all your favourites like Anakin and Obi-Wan and baddie Count Dooku are back for the ride. This is definitely one for the kids, too, so settle down and watch it with the entire family with a big bowl of popcorn. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Follow the animated adventures of the Jedi knights, including Anakin Skywalker and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
IMDb: The Grand Army of the Republic, led by Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and other Jedi Knights, fights the New Droid Army of the Separatists.
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 is the movie to watch, if you could only watch one movie about space. It’s based on a true story, too, following the aborted Apollo 13 moon landing mission that almost killed the three astronauts onboard and threw NASA into crisis mode. Six days aboard a spaceship that was falling apart around them, this is a proper tale of survival against the odds. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Technical troubles scuttle the Apollo 13 mission in 1971, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew in this chronicle of a true story.
IMDb: NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Atlantis is every bit as good as any of the other Stargate TV series, with the amazing blue-sky concept of taking a promising and brilliant team of scientists working with alien technologies and a military support team, transporting them to another galaxy and stranding them away from the security of planet Earth. Plus the Wraith are one of the best and most devilish antagonists in any sci-fi TV series around. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Lt. Col. John Sheppard pilot their crew straight into the lost civilization of Atlantis to explore its long-hidden secrets.
IMDb: An international team of scientists and military personnel discover a Stargate network in the Pegasus Galaxy and come face-to-face with a new, powerful enemy, The Wraith.
WALL-E
WALL-E is a lovely Pixar film about a hard-working robot, unsurprisingly called WALL-E, tasked with the job of cleaning up an abandoned and waste-covered planet — Earth. Humans have fled off-world to an orbiting space cruise-liner, but things change when a vegetation-surveying robot called EVE visits Earth and runs into WALL-E in the middle of her mission. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: After humans destroy and evacuate the Earth, dutiful but lonely robot WALL-E cleans up the mess until the arrival of EVE, a female bio-probe.
IMDb: In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
Lost In Space
Lost In Space is a remake of a 1960s TV series, following the Robinson family and their mission through space to emigrate from a nearly-uninhabitable Earth. Along their journey they’re thrown devastatingly off-course by a saboteur, and must find their way to their new home. It’s very much a space-based popcorn-munching flick, but it’s good one to kick back with and enjoy for an hour or two. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: In this reboot of the 1960s sci-fi series, the Robinson family is launched into space to colonize the only other habitable planet in the galaxy.
IMDb: The Robinson family was going into space to fight for a chance for humanity. Now they are fighting to live long enough to find a way home.
Armageddon
Armageddon. I could stay awake just to hear you breathing, watch you smile while you are sleeping. While you’re far away and dreaming, I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: As a massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth, NASA’s head honcho hatches a plan to split the deadly rock in two before it annihilates the entire planet.
IMDb: After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, N.A.S.A. recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save the planet.
Doctor Who
Doctor Who‘s 2005 reboot brought back one of sci-fi’s most loved and most interesting characters, the titular Time Lord. This is a genuine adventure, and each episode stands on its own with excellent storylines and character writing. Netflix has a whole seven seasons of Doctor Who for you to choose from, too — my recommendation is to start at the start. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: An updated incarnation of everybody’s favorite time-traveling Doctor sets about fighting nefarious aliens and other foes in this epic sci fi series.
IMDb: The further adventures of the time traveling alien adventurer and his companions.
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Guardians Of The Galaxy is an absolute rollercoaster ride, and I’d say that it’s by and far the best comic book movie that Marvel Studios has made. Star-Lord (or, y’know, buff Chris Pratt) makes an unlikely team with not one but two notorious intergalactic killers, a super-smart raccoon and a giant anthropomorphic tree, on the run from the galaxy’s most dangerous and powerful warlord. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: On the run from intergalactic warlord Ronan, hotshot space pilot Peter Quill unites a ragtag band of oddballs to form a team of unlikely heroes.
IMDb: A group of intergalactic criminals are forced to work together to stop a fanatical warrior from taking control of the universe.
Bend the Rules with the HP Spectre x360