This is probably the most common premise in all of science ficition, even to the point where it was so popular that people actually decided that they were going to have to go ahead and just do it. Like, for reals. Now, granted, when man actually went up into space, there weren't great naval-style ship battles or space smugglers or any opportunities to make out with blue women, but I suppose there's still hope for that, and hey, we got the opportunity to get like, 4,000 TV channels on satellite, so that's something. Anyway, as far as the fictional part of space travel is concerned, people basically shuffle most every disparate sort of space travel show/movie into a "Star Trek" and a "Star Wars" pile, which I guess would be okay if people didn't constantly get the two confused. Or worse yet, call it "Star Track." Yeah, I know, I shouldn't be this embittered about all this, but come on people, think for a minute. "Star Trek" is a show about intersteallar exploration. "Star Track" would be a show about decatheletes in space, clenched into competition, forced to perform high jumps and throw javelins with no gravity. Wait, was I going somewhere with this? Oh yeah, an opinion. Whatever, let's just say...plus 2 bullets.

I like the Back to the Future movies. Plus 3 bullets.

It's easy to get the idea of these movies/shows/books pretty quickly. Okay, so the people are small. They can survive on just a little food. An ant is gigantic to them. One cat hair can make them cough a lot. Grass and carpet are like canopy jungle. I really can't imagine this idea being very entertaining for more than ten minutes. Not to mention the fact that this premise is one almost exclusively used for horrible family comedies. I'm sure that if it had been "Honey, I Sent the Kids to an Abominable, Hellacious Alternate Universe" I would feel the same way about that particular premise. It just happens that the idea of microscopic people was the one to get the raw end of the deal. Minus 6 bullets.

Of all the Jules Verne premises, this is the only one that still holds up as "science fiction" anymore. It's really been no problem at all to go around the world in eighty days, undersea exploration has become a lot more streamlined, and flying around in a hot air balloon has gone from being rare to a common occurrence to something reserved only for the downright eccentric. A journey to the center of the earth, though, that's still something that we haven't really done. Unfortunately, there's no real intrigue about going to the center of the earth anymore, as we're pretty sure now that the thing's just full of really, really hot liquid. So, instead of stories that have big crystal lakes and previously unknown races of underground people, we get movies like The Core. Damn you, science! Minus 4 bullets.

While this is an altogether terrific idea for a science fiction show or movie, it seems that people can't get past the idea that the only possible alternate universe is one where the Nazis won World War II, like that was the only historical event, ever. As a result, the only things that really save this premise are its vastly untapped potential and its comedic value. I mean, the only other possible alternate universe being one where your counterparts just wear cowboy hats? Thank you, Futurama. Thank you. Plus 1 bullet.

Tron: plus 3 bullets
The Matrix: plus 1 bullet
The two Matrix sequels: minus 10 bullets
That one episode of the Batman animated series where the Riddler traps Batman in the virtual world and makes him play on a chessboard as a knight: plus 4 bullets
eXistenZ: plus 5 bullets
The Lawnmower Man: minus 1 bullet
The Lawnmower Man 2: minus 10 bullets
The fact that they made The Lawnmower Man 2: minus 15 bullets
Minus 23 bullets.

Look, I know I left out robots, but, come on, is it really right to rate robots? If the Terminator movies are any indication, one day, it will be they who rate us.