7 Great Sci-Fi Movies And TV Shows Heading To Netflix In April

The rain on the East coast this weekend was enough to exhaust even the lengthiest of Netflix queues, so if you're running out of ideas on what to watch, have no fear because there are a bunch of great sci-fi properties about to hit the streaming giant's platform over the next week. Even better, some of them are already on there!

- Coneheads

Coneheads might not be everyone's cup of tea, but this big screen outing of the classic SNL sketch features some prime Dan Akroyd comedy. Akroyd stars as Beldar, an alien who is left on Earth with his partner Prymaat after assessing the planet's suitability for conquest. Beldar and Prymaat try to blend in among the suburban elite of New Jersey, but soon they find themselves trying to avoid the attentions of an INS and preventing a Remulakian invasion of Earth.

Watch with: Booze. Yeah, this is a drinking movie.

- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg's 1977 tale of extraterrestrial shenanigans just seems to keep getting better with age. It is almost 37 years since Close Encounters was first released in theaters and it still feels like the most realistic imagining an extraterrestrial contact. Maybe that's just me being wistful, but heck, that's exactly the sort of emotion that this movie evokes. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the perfect movie for a rainy Sunday, so hunker down and remember just what a genius Steven Spielberg can be.

Watch it with: Tinfoil hat firmly in place.

- Dexter's Laboratory

Move over Stewie Griffin because all four seasons of Dexter's Laboratory - starring the ORIGINAL pint-sized genius - have just been added to Netflix. For many kids who grew up in the 90's, the adventures of Dexter the ginger genius were an absolute must-watch. The show had everything; slapstick capers, a hidden laboratory and, in big-sister DeDe, one of the most irritating antagonists ever to grace our screens. Dexter's Laboratory may well have been a kids cartoon, but a healthy dose of subtle adult humor means that watching it as an adult will be just as good, if not better than watching it as a kid.

Watch it with: A bottle of your favourite pop and some of Mom's PB & J.

- The Fifth Element

Luc Besson's sci-fi classic The Fifth Element is coming back to Netflix and with Jupiter Ascending in theaters later this year, now is the perfect time to watch it. It hasn't gone unnoticed that the Wachowski siblings appear to have borrowed a number of themes from The Fifth Element for their latest blockbuster, so why not take the chance to see who does it best. From what I've seen so far, it doesn't look like Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum are going to come remotely close to bettering Milla Jovovich and Bruce Willis, but then again, who could?!

Watch it with: Popcorn, so much damn popcorn.

- Gattaca

Slow-burn sci-fi at its best, Gattaca has the power to elicit some serious introspection as it charts the physical and mental flaws of humanity in a future society that demands perfection. Gattaca has all the ingredients of a perfect watch-at-home movie; suspense, mystery and an eye-wateringly beautiful Uma Thurman.

Watch it with: A list of ways you're going to better yourself...tomorrow

- Night of the Comet

In a premise that only the 1980's could come up with, Night of the Comet sees two teenage girls survive a deadly comet strike that has left nothing but dust and zombies across the Los Angeles area. Tragic, right? Not at all! The girls get over their grief in the flashiest of flashes and are soon hitting up the mall and just generally having fun on a 'last humans on Earth' scale. It might be considered an abomination by many, but Night of the Comet offers a lot for those pining for a touch of 80's Hollywood cheese.

Watch it with: Shazam at the ready so you can identify that totally boss soundtrack

- The Running Man

Classic 1980's Arnie in this loose adaptation of Stephen King's novel about a dystopian future, in which criminals are used as fodder for a violent reality tv show. Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richards, a cop who gets sent to prison after being framed for the massacring dozens of civilians. After causing trouble at a high-security prison, Richards is forced into becoming a contestant on The Running Man, a show which will see him and his fellow contestants hunted down by a team of highly trained and blood-thirsty 'Stalkers'.

Watch it with: The knowledge that this is what they should have done with The Jersey Shore.

- The Terminator

with a new movie out in 2015, The Terminator is going to be popping up in the news a lot more over the next few months. Turn the lights down, crank the volume up and head back to where it all began.

Watch it with: Your best Arnie impressions at the ready.

Honorable Mentions: The Last Days on Mars and The Green Lantern Animated Series