This movie is pure Sci fi

I agree... this is text book sci-fi. More science than fantasy... fantasy made science. One of the greatest movies of this genre.

The human quality of it is just astounding.

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"The effects might not be that great, but they work in terms of the wonderful story"

?? I thought the effects held up rather well for a film from 25 years ago...there is something to be said for optical effects from their heyday Vs. the overly clean and smooth unrealism of digital, quite often I despise the over reliance on CGI in modern movies.

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While the genre is pure Sci. Fi. I think the story itself goes way beyond that. It's basically a story of tolerance and redemption

Some will refer to that type of story as "soft" sci-fi but then since some of the best examples in the genre ever were much more about sociology and the human condition than laser pistols, do not have the (which much of Hollywood seems to) false impression that science fiction means fiction with elements of science.

Any story can have that - and as the "SyFy" channel has proven time and time again, if you take a stupid monster movie concept but make it with a "mutated giant bee that came from a high tech looking lab" it does not automatically become sci-fi, and indeed the vast majority of the "Made for SyFy" movies are utter crap and are not science fiction in any way.

That being said, many science fiction stories (including some of the best) overlook the technology, even if the entirety of the story takes place in an exotic locale like an alien vessel or a planet halfway across the galaxy. They may go into explanation of where they are and how it appears to have been built but that's no different than other stories explaining where the characters are.

Asimov ranged from soft to hard between paragraphs sometimes, although most of his stories were more about sociology or evolution of humans and robots and their changing abilities over time, rather than space opera where it was mostly about laser pistols and warfare.

Heinlein also was much more about philosophy and sociology rather than neat inventions - they were in many of his stories but they were a means to an end, not the focus of the story. In 'The Number of the Beast' they travel between a series of dimensions, but the device that makes this possible is not the focus of the story - the main characters and the places they visit are. Even in Starship Troopers (the novel not the entertaining but completely unrelated film) where the Cap Troopers were literally surrounded by a powerful set of power armor, that was just a tool to them. The story was about the dynamic between the humans in the story more than anything else.

For Clarke, it wasn't about the trip to find the Monolith - it was about the consciousness contained within and understanding the fact that HAL was just as awake as we are, even though he has an On/Off switch so to speak. For Rendezvous with Rama same thing - the wonder of who or what created such a thing, and the adventure of exploring it - not about the technology itself so much.

In Frank Herbert's classic Dune, the story is very much about sociology and the evolution of humanity over many thousands of years. Sure, they have warfare and interesting technologies, but it's as much about exploring consciousness (spice / Water of Life) and understanding the nature of humanity as it is about anything "sciency".

For Phillip K. Dick, most of his stories were about the nature of consciousness and reality - and of course perception and the nature of sanity. No wonder, as many of his stories involved people who weren't really sure they were who they had been told they were, or weren't certain if they were in the "real" world. Sure, he had some advanced technology in many of his books, but it was much more about a journey of the mind than anything else.

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As to the special effects of Enemy Mine, there were some segments that were done very well, and others where it was done somewhat cheesy, especially the fighter battle at the beginning of the film (showing fighters in space flying as if they are in an atmosphere) and the scene towards the end of the film when Davidge (sp?) blasts the airlock doors when the crew of the space station won't open them for him. The special effects in that scene were as bad as some 60s shows had, and the scene where Davidge sees the refinery complex in flight wasn't done that well; however the practical cosmetics used for Jerry were absolutely amazing for the time and they still hold up very well. Overall an amazing film even after all these years.

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