Ironically, movies set in future worlds are often the quickest to feel outdated, as our reality either surpasses or disproves their speculative visions. Nonetheless, a few select sci-fi films from the ’70s have managed to escape this fate. These films either boasted practical effects that remain impressive today or featured artistic qualities that have proven to be timeless.

In an era before digital technology, filmmakers frequently depicted future societies reverting to simpler times, often portrayed as post-apocalyptic worlds. This style of sci-fi is characterized by worn clothing, basic technology, makeshift gadgets, and a general do-it-yourself ethos.

Thanks to its innovative approach, “Mad Max” became a low-budget sci-fi hit, earning millions and spawning a franchise that persists into the modern day. The original film’s timeless aesthetic has influenced its sequels and spin-offs, which have stayed true to the distinct visual style created in the ’70s.

Another noteworthy, yet often overlooked, film from this era is “Silent Running.” It presents a future where humanity has exhausted Earth’s natural resources—a theme that remains relevant even today. To preserve the planet’s last trees, they are housed in geodesic domes attached to spaceships orbiting Saturn. However, the narrative unfolds as corporate greed threatens these sanctuaries, prompting a group of renegade botanists to attempt a rescue before the domes are destroyed.

As a result, “Mad Max” was a low budget sci-fi movie that made millions and launched a franchise that has survive well into the actual future. And owing to just how timeless the original movie is, its several sequels and spinoffs released throughout the decades have changed very little from the visually striking aesthetic birthed in the 1970s.

Perhaps the most niche film on this list, “Silent Running” is often unfairly overlooked in discussions about groundbreaking sci-fi. It’s another movie that imagines a future in which humans have wiped the Earth clean of its natural resources — a concept that, sadly, continues to be a concern 50 years later. To survive, mankind places the few remaining trees into geodesic domes anchored to spaceships orbiting Saturn. However, corporate greed finds its way in, and a few rogue botanists try to save as many of the domes as they can before they are destroyed.

In addition to being a creative triumph, “Silent Running” was also a stunning visual achievement, holding up better than many films 10-20 years its junior. Its director, Douglas Trumbull, had previously did effects work on “2001: A Space Odyssey” and later worked in a similar capacity on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and “Blade Runner.” He knew as well as anyone how to not only work within the confines of the era’s effects limitations, but to do so in a way that would hold up to scrutiny for decades to come. 

Using techniques he learned while working on “2001,” Trumbull employed a combination of fully built sets, meticulously crafted miniatures, and front projection to realize the film’s impressive visuals, all in order to achieve, as Trumbull explained to Den of Geek, ” … a very big look on a very low budget.”

Ridley Scott was a key figure in sci-fi cinema, laying the groundwork for many of the tenets of the genre for generations to come. In terms of his masterpiece “Alien,” that meant blending horror and sci-fi like never before. While far from the first scary sci-fi movie, it was among the first to lean heavily into the horrors of space, as well as utilizing a rarely seen monster that is all the more terrifying as a result.

While something of an overdone trope now, it still felt novel in 1979 — a crew investigates a ship whose team has seemingly been wiped out by a mysterious and violent force. That threat is revealed to be a race of aliens known as xenomorphs, with one subsequently stalking and killing the investigating crew. A spaceship serves as the perfect setting for a horror movie of this kind, and “Alien” makes ample use of its location with claustrophobic hallways, loose sparking wires, and sparing sources of flashing light.

The interiors of “Alien” still look stunning thanks to them being fully constructed set elements — no CG or green screen here. The few glimpses we get of the xenomorph similarly hold up, and still terrify, because it was built with practical effects rather than, again, just being built in a computer. As a result, the original remains one of the best versions of the xenomorph, holding its own against those created with more advanced technology. 

The first two “Star Wars” trilogies are perfect examples of how much better practical effects hold up compared to CGI. While the prequels’ use of green screens and wholly digital environments were impressive at the time, it didn’t take long before the phoniness of those locations stuck out like a sore thumb, especially in the age of high definition.

Such technology wasn’t available when the franchise debuted with 1977’s “Star Wars,” retroactively retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” Instead, alien planets were physically built on sound stages, creatures were brought to life via costumes and puppetry, and space battles relied on miniatures and film cel overlays. As a result, the story of unassuming farm boy Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) being called upon to lead the rebellion against the sinister Empire remains dazzling decades later. 

New generations first seeing “A New Hope” weren’t aware of the movie’s age, as it inspired as much wonder as any contemporary release they had seen. Despite George Lucas’s objections, many pine for a proper remaster of the original version of “A New Hope” and shun the poorly-aged computer effects awkwardly grafted into the movie’s numerous special editions, speaking to just how well those visuals hold up. 

People often overlook the fact that Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1971 film “A Clockwork Orange” is a work of sci-fi, and a very different flavor to boot. Rather than being about space and the like, “A Clockwork Orange” realizes a dystopian future where the gap between the powerful and the poor has grown so wide that the latter group have decided to fight back. And fight back they do, in some of the most disturbing scenes ever put into a major studio release.

It’s difficult to present a version of “future cool” that doesn’t embarrass decades down the line. Remarkably, even though “A Clockwork Orange’s” future is heavily influenced by then-current fashions and pop culture, it still holds up — or at least, remains eye-catching — years later. Compared to “Star Trek’s” at-times cringeworthy ’60’s-inspired view of the future, “A Clockwork Orange” adopts a more subversive take, one that equally celebrates and mocks the counterculture, not too unlike the effect nostalgia has when it comes back around to a previous era.

Of course, these concepts wouldn’t have mattered if the costumes and sets, weren’t so meticulously planned and realized. Kubrick’s perfectionism might have come at the expense of his poorly-treated cast and crew, but it resulted in movies with a look and feel that hold up a half a century later, and will likely continue to do so for 50 more years.