3 Cult Classic 1986 Sci-Fi Movies That Had ’80s Kids Convinced the Future Would Actually Be Awesome

The sci-fi genre has seen countless beloved releases, but some specific years seem to be more stacked with great science fiction than others. 1986 turned out to be one of those years, with beloved sci-fi blockbusters such as Aliens, The Fly, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home all proving especially popular, not to mention successful. Some of the best sci-fi movies of the 1980s were released in 1986, making it an especially important year for the genre. However, that isn’t to say that all of 1986’s beloved sci-fi movies earned widespread success, as there were also a handful that only managed to secure much smaller cult followings.

The following cult sci-fi movies were all released in 1986, and they all painted a picture of an incredibly exciting future. Kids of the ’80s will remember these sci-fi movies fondly, as they did more than just entertain: they gave their audience a sense of hope that the future may just be incredibly awesome. While the future they hinted at might not have quite lived up to expectations, the following 1986 cult classics all once gave sci-fi fans the impression that the future would be totally incredible.

3) Flight of the Navigator

Flight of the Navigator proved a seminal movie in many ways, as it was the first foray into sci-fi for many ’80s kids. Its story follows David Freeman, a 12-year-old who is abducted by an alien spaceship and returned eight years into his future. It’s a sci-fi movie that was huge in the 1980s, but has since become a relatively obscure film that has come to be labelled a cult classic, with younger members of modern audiences often completely unaware of its existence.

The future teased by the movie’s story was not too far away, and didn’t really establish a whole lot of change. However, looking a little deeper at Flight of the Navigator reveals the ways it promised an incredibly awesome future, some of which have already come true. Its story of friendly interaction with aliens teased an exciting future for humanity, but that has yet to come to pass. It was the movie’s groundbreaking special effects that caused ’80s kids to feel the future of sci-fi movies would be incredibly awesome, and on that front, Flight of the Navigator actually got its prediction right.

2) Short Circuit

Short Circuit might not have been a critical darling, but it was certainly a box office success, and it has since cemented itself as a cult classic. The 1986 movie followed an experimental military robot that gains sentience after being struck by lightning, resulting in him building a relationship with a human woman while learning about the world. Its story is sometimes described as E.T. but with a robot instead of an alien, and honestly, that’s probably about as accurate a description as possible.

Although Short Circuit didn’t tease a specific future, it did fill ’80s kids with hope for a time that the Earth would be populated by both humans and awesome friendly robots. By featuring one of the coolest sci-fi movie robots of all time, Short Circuit painted a picture of a future where robotics could provide humanity with a whole new species of sentient friends. The reality of modern robotics is ultimately far less exciting than Short Circuit made it seem, but kids of the ’80s still look back incredibly fondly on this 1986 classic.

1) Solarbabies

There have been many great dystopian sci-fi movies over the years, but 1986 delivered one that has been almost entirely forgotten. Solarbabies — also released under the names Solarwarriors and Solarfighters in some territories — is set in a bleak post-apocalyptic future, and follows a group of orphaned adolescent freedom fighters hoping to overthrow the oppressive regime that controls society. It also heavily features a fictional sport that’s essentially a cross between roller-hockey and lacrosse, and is credited with launching the career of Jason Patric.

Despite originally being panned by critics and bombing at the box office, Solarbabies has since come to be considered an underrated sci-fi film and a cult classic. For ’80s kids who saw it growing up, the 1986 movie made the future look edgy and incredibly awesome, with its rebellious themes in particular resonating with audiences. The future so far hasn’t begun to look anything like the one promised by Solarbabies, but for a long time, it gave ’80s kids hope that they might one day be stars of a bizarre fictional sport and save the world from corporate greed.

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