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The best sci-fi film never made: Also-rans take a bow

Some classic works, but they didn't make the cut

We're obliged to all those readers who took the time to throw over their nominations for the best sci-fi film never made, and we're delighted to report that we've whittled the contenders down to a final 50.

We simply waded through all your emails and comments and picked those titles which had received the most support. On Thursday, you'll get the chance to vote for the definitive pick in our online poll, but in the meantime we'd like to salute the numerous other works which received multiple votes, but didn't make the cut.

There's some good stuff here in the reject pile, so we'll leave it to you lot to ponder just which 50 sci-fi classics will vie for pole position later this week ...

  • Ace Trucking Co – John Wagner and Alan Grant
  • Against a Dark Background – Iain M Banks
  • Agent To The Stars – John Scalzi
  • The Amtrak Wars – Patrick Tilley
  • Anvil of Stars – Greg Bear
  • The Ballad of Halo Jones – Alan Moore
  • The Black Cloud – Sir Fred Hoyle
  • The Caves of Steel – Isaac Asimov
  • The Chanur Saga – CJ Cherryh
  • Chasm City – Alastair Reynolds
  • The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant – Stephen R Donaldson
  • The Chrysalids – John Wyndham
  • Citizen of the Galaxy – Robert A Heinlein
  • Creatures of Light and Darkness – Roger Zelazny
  • Daemon – Daniel Suarez
  • The Dark Wheel – Robert Holdstock
  • Desolation Road – Ian McDonald
  • The Difference Engine – William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
  • The Dispossessed – Ursula K Le Guin
  • The Dosadi Experiment – Frank Herbert
  • Earth – David Brin
  • The Expendables – Edmund Cooper
  • A Fall Of Moondust – Arthur C Clarke
  • Feersum Endjinn – Iain M Banks
  • The Fountains of Paradise – Arthur C Clarke
  • Glory Road – Robert A Heinlein
  • Hammer's Slammers – David Drake
  • Have Spacesuit – Will travel – Robert A Heinlein
  • Hinterlands – William Gibson
  • Icerigger – Alan Dean Foster
  • Inferno – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  • The Integral Trees – Larry Niven
  • The Invincible – Stanislaw Lem
  • Kiln People – David Brin
  • The Kraken Wakes – John Wyndham
  • The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K Le Guin
  • Liege Killer – Christopher Heinz
  • Macroscope – Piers Anthony
  • Mars – Ben Bova
  • The Mars Trilogy – Kim Stanley Robinson
  • Mindstar Rising – Peter F Hamilton
  • Mockingbird – Walter Tevis
  • Moving Mars – Greg Bear
  • Mutineers' Moon – David Weber
  • Nimbus – Alexander Jablokov
  • The Number of the Beast – Robert A Heinlein
  • Orbitsville – Bob Shaw
  • Only Forward – Michael Marshall Smith
  • Otherland – Tad Williams
  • Out of the Silent Planet – CS Lewis
  • Pandora's Star – Peter F Hamilton
  • Planet of Adventure – Jack Vance
  • Pushing Ice – Alastair Reynolds
  • Revelation Space Saga – Alastair Reynolds
  • Rocheworld – Robert L Forward
  • Rogue Trooper – Gerry Finley-Day
  • The Saga of the Well World – Jack L Chalker
  • Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future – Mike Resnick
  • The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
  • The Skinner – Neal Asher
  • Spinneret – Timothy Zahn
  • Startide Rising – David Brin
  • The Survivors – Tom Godwin
  • Tales of Pirx the Pilot – Stanislaw Lem
  • Time Enough for Love – Robert A Heinlein
  • Timescape – Gregory Benford
  • Transition – Iain M Banks
  • A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! – Harry Harrison
  • Ubik – Philip K Dick
  • The Uplift War – David Brin
  • The Void Trilogy – Peter F Hamilton
  • The Voyage of the Space Beagle – AE van Vogt
  • Vurt – Jeff Noon
  • Who Goes There? – Bob Shaw
  • The Wreck of The River of Stars – Michael Flynn

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