This history of science fiction film traces the genre from its earliest days to the two pre-war blockbusters, "Metropolis" and "Things to Come", whose commercial failure put an end to big-budget science fiction film-making for 30 years. It goes on to examine the space adventures of the 1950s, such as "Forbidden Planet" and "This Island Earth", the more horror-based examples such as "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers", the hugely successful "2001" and the post-"Star Wars" boom from the late 1970s onwards. The author is a science fiction critic and author whose novels include the "Skylords" series.