Sigourney Weaver's 5 Best Sci-Fi Movies That Aren't Alien, Ranked

In 1979, Sigourney Weaver became the scream queen of space when she fought to become the last survivor of the Nostromo after that pesky, jaw-extending alien got on board. Since then, heroes have come and gone throughout the "Alien" franchise that began all those years ago, and she remains a pillar of its foundations. Do away with your Davids of "Prometheus" and get rid of your Rains from "Alien: Romulus." Ripley will remain the absolute badass who, even in death, lives on as a sci-fi legend.

Weaver has proved throughout her career, though, that she isn't some one-trick Xenomorph-dispatching pony. She's appeared in plenty of Earth-based gigs, but there have been some other equally entertaining sci-fi movies that are just as beloved in their own way. Striving for the same level of iconic status and even being far more family-friendly than the chest-bursting blockbusters that made her a star, we've found five science fiction movies that are just as good and don't have a single alien in them. Well, okay, they might have some aliens in them, just not the kind that bleed acid and come out of the goddamn walls. Take a look at our list and see what alternatives are worth watching, starting with an extraterrestrial that's far more sociable than the one Weaver was used to and has a laugh that sounds remarkably like one of the guys from "Pineapple Express."

In between "Hot Fuzz" and "The World's End," Simon Pegg and Nick Frost worked on a project together outside of the Cornetto Trilogy that remains a massively underappreciated sci-fi comedy from 2011. "Paul" saw the two as a pair of U.K.-based geeks who are on their way to the San Diego Comic-Con, only to have their trip interrupted when they make contact with an alien that sounds like Seth Rogen. From there, the two do their very best to get their new alien pal back off-world before shady Special Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) gets his hands on him, under the orders of the mysterious top brass known as "The Big Guy." In a marvelous bit of meta-casting, the head of the alien-nabbing operation is none other than Weaver herself. 

For most of the film, Weaver is heard but not seen, often giving Zoil orders over the phone on how to catch this weed-loving little green man. She makes her screen appearance in the final act, but hilariously, her screen time gets cut short when she suffers (spoilers) one of the best deaths after being squashed by a UFO. Regardless of how long she's in the film, though, Weaver was all for getting on board with "Paul" at the time, explaining on "The Graham Norton Show" that "It's a tribute to not only science fiction but people who love these movies."

When James Cameron decided just casually to change cinema once again, it was great to see him find a place for his "Aliens" star that he hadn't worked with in more than two decades. In "Avatar," Weaver starred as Dr. Grace Augustine, the head of the Avatar program, who was one of the few good humans who touched down on Pandora. Far less gung-ho than her space trucker days, Augustine was a great character who helped flesh out the few who sided with Sam Worthington's soldier-turned-savior of the Na'vi, Jake Sully. 

Unlike some of the rest of the cast of "Avatar," Weaver jumped the queue for the first trip to Pandora after Cameron called her directly, offering her the role. While the star could see the role as the opportunity of a lifetime, she even confessed she couldn't imagine her old collaborator bringing the story to life. "It's like something from your dreams. This movie is a Jim Cameron cornucopia," she explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "He created the cameras, he created the world, he created the creatures, he created the costumes, he created the Na'vi language. If you talk about playing God, he's done it — except it took him 14 years instead of 7 days." It would take him much longer to ultimately create a franchise that competes with "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" in scale, and he'd find another place for Weaver to be after Grace died in the first film, when she returned as Jake's Na'vi daughter, Kiri.

It might seem strange that we're putting "Wall-E" ahead of "Paul" on this list, when you consider how small her role is in Pixar's heartwarming (aren't they always?) 2008 movie. Let's call it what it is, though: "Wall-E" is arguably one of the greatest family sci-fi movies ever made, and Weaver's vocal work contributes to it in a brilliant way that's even more meta than her time in "Paul." 

While most of this movie is without dialogue, Weaver helps break the silence when Wall-E makes his way into space and aboard the massive colony ship, the Axiom, breaking humanity's longtime and lazy routine of floating around among the stars. The ship's computer that keeps the Axiom running is voiced by Weaver, who does a great job of portraying an artificial intelligence. 

Given that Weaver's character isn't massive in the movie, it's easy for her to go unnoticed. For die-hard sci-fi fans, though, she's unmistakable and another great nod to the character that helped define her career. Having spent the original 1979 "Alien" pleading to MU-TH-UR to cancel the Nostromo's self-destruct sequence, it's a great twist of fate that here, she's now the voice of another ship that's in a far less hostile space system. Give it another watch and listen out for her, if only for it being another excuse to watch one of Pixar's finest.

If there's another franchise Weaver appeared in besides "Alien" that had a massive impact on pop culture, it's the one starring Bill Murray and featuring one of the biggest earworms in cinema history. Released in 1984, "Ghostbusters" made big-screen legends out of some "Saturday Night Live" stars, with Weaver along for the ride. Weaver played musician Dana Barrett, the love interest of Murray's Peter Venkman, who starts to notice something strange in her neighborhood. Before long, this paranormal presence calling itself Zuul takes over Dana, forcing Pete and his proton-pack-wearing buddies to come calling and save New York City while they're at it. 

In this beloved comedy horror, Weaver balances between the two roles as Zuul, especially when Venkman visits her to check just how possessed she is. Watching it as an adult, Murray's gags of the surreal assessment are funny, but as a kid, there's something about Dana hyperventilating and claiming that there is "only Zuul" that provides an understandable amount of chills. 

Coincidentally, at this point, Weaver has made the same number of appearances in both the "Alien" and "Ghostbusters" franchises. After appearing in the original 1984 movie, she returned in "Ghostbusters 2," as well as making a cameo in "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call" and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife." Unfortunately, just like the "Alien" saga, the "Ghostbusters" movies have dipped in quality with every chapter, with or without Weaver's involvement. Nevertheless, the original movie still makes Bustin' feel good.

The "Alien" movies might always be where Sigourney Weaver is best remembered, but her best science fiction film outside that franchise is one that spends its entire runtime taking jabs at another. "Galaxy Quest" is the science fiction comedy that casts her as Gwen DeMarco, the former star of the titular "Star Trek"-like show, who, along with her former co-stars, is kidnapped by aliens and forced into a real-life battle of intergalactic proportions. Weaver stars opposite Tim Allen as the show's former lead, Jason Nesmith, and Alan Rickman as forgotten theater actor Sir Alexander Dane, who was the Spock-like counterpart to Allen's Kirk-like hero. 

A cult classic sci-fi comedy that pokes fun at every "Star Trek" trope you can imagine, Weaver is a great addition as the star, originally a dated female stereotype meant only as eye candy, but with a lot more to say than repeating whatever the computer says. Considered even by "Trek" fans to be one of the best "Star Trek" films ever made, "Galaxy Quest" is above all a comedy classic and a brilliant ensemble piece. If you ever need to get a signature set of scares, watch the "Alien" movies, but if you want some sniggering and straight-up side-splitting with your space travel, by Grabthar's hammer, "Galaxy Quest" is a great way to go.