Push your home theater to infinity and beyond with these out-of-this-world sci-fi flicks on Blu-ray

In the annals of motion picture history, perhaps no genre has stoked the imagination and stimulated the senses quite so well as science fiction. There's something about gleaming metal entities and blinding bursts of projectile plasma that gets the juices flowing—and sets subwoofers in motion—in a way that mere earthly action never will.

So suit up, strap in, and get your home theater ready for five Blu-ray discs sure to bring the geek out in even your most reticent reality-based guests.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Best Chapter: 31

Let's begin with the granddaddy of them all: the masterpiece that not only launched many a film fan's lifelong obsession with the otherworldly, but also probably helped kick start a casual drug habit or three along the way.

Stanley Kubrick's ode to human evolution and our place in the universe is a majestic audiovisual tour de force that's rife with delicious demo material from the first frame to the last: imagery so finely resolved you can literally read the instructions for the Zero Gravity Toilet; uncompressed audio so rich and luscious that even the ubiquitous, thunderous opening chords of Also sprach Zarathustra, op. 30 seem revelatory.

If you really want to see what sets this new Blu-ray edition apart, though, check out Dave's journey through the Star Gate. You've never seen colors this vivid, this dynamic, unless you've found yourself trapped in the middle of a Crayola factory explosion.

The scene unfolds like an acid trip as seen through the eyes of Neil deGrasse Tyson—a torrent of slippery, slithering abstract globs of eye candy that somehow coalesce into something indubitably astronomical, with razor sharpness and super saturation that pushes even the fledgling Blu-ray format right to its limits.

Transformers: Two-Disc Special Edition
Best Chapter: 10

OK, to be fair, Michael Bay's latest mega-budget no-brainer can't technically be classified as science-fiction—certainly not in the same vein as 2001. But its plot does revolve around gigantic sentient robots from outer space invading the earth and disguising themselves as various modes of transportation. That has to count for something, right?

Darn tootin'. It counts for one wall-to-wall, eyelid-peeling, rafter-rattling home theater stress test that's sure to quicken pretty much any existing pulse.

Load up one of the movie's seemingly nonstop giant-robot throw-downs, especially the climactic battle between Autobots and Decepticons in the streets of L.A., and even your most pedantic Klingon-speaking friends will forgive your genre-classification faux pas.

If you need a primer on the preceding two hours of film, the Autobots are the good guys, the Decepticons are the bad guys, and they like hitting each other.

I think that just about covers it.

Seriously, that knowledge, a good 1080p projector, and a few thousand watts of amplified speakers are all you need to enjoy what follows.

From here on out, it's nothing but giant mechanical monstrosities contorting into new shapes—some of their own free will, some on the losing end of a rocket or huge metal fist—explosions that will send your subwoofer scuttling for the nearest exit, and tons of buildings tumbling down, all in a transfer so finely textured, so pristine, that you won't just see the pixel-sized debris wafting through the air, you'll feel the asbestos coating your lungs.

But in a good way. Promise.

I, Robot
Best Chapter: 18

The robots in disguise aren't the only autonomous mechanical beings on the block, though.

This fast-paced cybernetic murder mystery (named, at least, after some bona fide science-fiction) is packed to the servo motors with heart-thumping action that will leave your speakers begging for a smoke break and a slick aesthetic that practically dares the best 1080p projectors around to try and keep up.

This is especially true of Chapter 18, a scene dubbed "You Are Experiencing a Car Accident" in the menus, although "It's Raining Psychopathic Robots, Hallelujah" would have been a far more apt description.

You know the scene. If you've had a home theater for any time at all, you've probably drooled over it dozens of times on DVD. But if you've yet to witness it in all its gleaming glory on Blu-ray, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Even at 125 breakneck miles per hour, every line in every brushed aluminum façade pops off the screen. Every sliver of broken windshield glitters with heretofore unseen facets. Every inch of translucent android flesh tries and fails to hide a gaggle of clockwork guts and gears and gadgets.

And it all comes together in an image so vivid and deep, you might just find yourself patting your face to make sure you're not wearing 3D glasses.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition
Best Chapter: 4

Don't be surprised if your guests give you a funny look when you pull this one out.

That old thing? Seriously? Great film, but it's hardly Show-Offs material, is it? And they can be forgiven for thinking so if they haven't seen it on Blu-ray, or in a rocking home theater like your own.

If you really want to blow some hair back, pop in the disc, queue it up to Chapter 4, and let your sound system work its magic. You may want to do a quick check to ensure that everyone's dental insurance is up to date first, though.

Dentures and fillings intact and protected, go ahead and crank up the volume as Richard Dreyfuss sits in his truck at the railroad intersection fiddling with his map.

When the mailboxes begin to rattle, you might want to fasten your seatbelt (you did install seatbelts, didn't you?) because you're in for one bumpy ride. When the blinding lights come crashing down from above, the bass—some of the lowest, most aggressive LFE to ever grace a five-inch disc—hits you from beneath like a ton of wet pillows.

It's a rumble that starts down at the gates of Hades and only reaches high enough to palpitate your naughty bits.

Blade Runner: 5-Disc Complete Collector's Edition
Best Chapter: 6

We end our journey not with a bang, although definitely not with a whimper, either.

A more subdued Show-Off, if you will. Ridley Scott's 1982 neo-noir classic may not pack quite the XPM (explosions per minute) Quotient of a Transformers or I, Robot, but its sumptuous imagery and delicious cinematography are no less a feast for the eyes.

Check out the discussion between Bryant and Deckard near the beginning of the film to see what I mean.

By all rights it should be the most aesthetically boring scene in the history of cinema—two talking heads in a smoke-filled room gabbing about replicants for goodness' sake.

But the lighting, camerawork, and especially the unparalleled Blu-ray transfer elevate the exchange to a thing of beauty: two haloed landscapes—every line and wrinkle a story in and of itself—bathed in a billion and one shades of blue and framed in brilliant white light.

If you don't find yourself getting lost in the nigh-infinite detail, your home theater isn't doing something right.