One of the biggest and most popular sci-fi titles is nearing its end, but before Stranger Things Season 5 hits Netflix later this month, fans can stream the underrated sci-fi film that inspired it. There’s no denying that the sci-fi genre’s popularity has grown significantly, in part due to the Netflix show, and watching some of the genre’s best titles is thankfully easier than ever in the streaming era. Streaming free this November, just ahead of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, is an underrated sci-fi masterpiece from award-winning director Steven Spielberg.
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We’re of course talking about Super 8, the 2011 sci-fi thriller written and directed by J. J. Abrams and co-produced by Abrams, Spielberg, and Star Trek‘s Bryan Burk. The film, now streaming on Tubi as of November 1st, is set in 1979 and follows a group of kids who witness a train derailment while making a Super 8 movie, only to discover that something escaped the trash, leading to a series of stranger occurrences in their small Ohio town.
Despite a “Certified Fresh” critic score of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and an impressive $260 million worldwide box office haul, Super 8 has largely been forgotten amid an influx of bigger sci-fi films, but its influence on the genre can’t be understated. The Duffer Brothers have even cited Super 8 as a major source of inspiration for Stranger Things, sharing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2023, “We wanted to bring back that more not ironic, sincere, adventure, family storytelling that just seemed to have gone [away] – with the exception of Super 8, nobody was doing it.”
Super 8 Is an Incredible Coming-Of-Age Sci-Fi Story
Just like Stranger Things, Super 8 at its core is a coming-of-age story with sci-fi elements woven in, and it does it incredibly well. The movie gives significant weight to the young characters and their relationships as they navigate everyday childhood challenges of loss, family issues, and burgeoning friendships, with the large-scale sci-fi events that take place around them acting as a catalyst for their personal growth and emotional arcs. The film serves as a deliberate tribute to the style and spirit of Steven Spielberg’s classic films like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, capturing the sense of wonder and nostalgia of classic adventure films.
Given just how brilliant Super 8 is, it’s a shame that it not only went down as an underrated masterpiece but that it also never got a sequel. Fans have long hoped that Abrams would revisit the story, but the filmmaker has said that the “movie feels like a beginning, middle, and end” and “works best as a standalone tale of love, loss, aliens, and most importantly, filmmaking.” However, much of the cast have indicated that they would be on board if a sequel was ever put in the works.
Other Sci-fi Movies Now on Tubi
Super 8 isn’t the only sci-fi movie now on Tubi. The start of November brought a great list of movies to the free platform for fans of the genre, including Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Jack the Giant Slayer, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. On November 24th, 10 Cloverfield Lane will also start streaming.
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Courtesy of Toei Animation
