What really makes this a formative film to me is the way Boyle, taking inspiration from Alien, 2001 and the original Solaris, tried and succeeded with his first effort in the Sci-Fi genre. Unfortunately, because he hadn’t prior success in the field people didn’t view it as kindly as it deserved despite it showing that a director who studies other films of the type can make an original film in his own right to add to the masterpieces.