From Alien to The matrix: reading science fiction film

Waking into dreams: competence cascades, thick texts and the universalization of the geek aesthetic

Director as parodist: Paul Verhoeven's Starship troopers

Comedy 1: Galaxy quest

The decline and fall of the alien invasion

Comedy 2: Small soldiers and the joke of the robot

Who are you? Cognitive dissonance and lots of really big guns

The mirrored gaze: James Cameron's and Kathryn Bigelow's Strange days

Creation as product: the paradox of franchises

A franchise case study: Alien and its sequels

Index of films

Index.