One of the best ways to spend a Monday night in Madison during the summer is at a Lakeside Cinema movie on the UW Memorial Union Terrace. Okay, one of the best ways to spend any summer night in Madison is on the Terrace, so I’m cheating a bit.

Still, the long-running free Lakeside series is a pretty much guaranteed good time. They set  up a screen by the lake, and people cluster around with their popcorn and beer. There’s usually a trivia contest or some kind of other giveaway before the show starts at dusk. And the Union has greatly improved the projection and sound in the last few years, so you can actually appreciate the movie, which wasn’t always the case.

Every summer program has a theme, and this summer’s is “Outta This World” — movies both serious and silly that feature aliens and outer space. It kicks off next Monday at 9 p.m. with “E.T. The Extraterrestrial.” Which I know just played at Olbrich Park as part of Madison Parks’ own outdoor summer movie series. But, come on, it’s “E.T.”

Then comes “Spaceballs,” “Alien,” the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and many more. It’s all free, so keep watching the skies! And the screen by the lake.

Here’s the full schedule. Visit union.wisc.edu/film for more information.

May 27: “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”

June 3:   “Spaceballs” 

June 10:  “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”

June 17: “Mars Attacks!”

June 24: “Alien”

July 1:  “Muppets from Space”

July 8:  “Men in Black”

July 15: “The Last Starfighter”

July 22: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

July 29: “Galaxy Quest”

Aug 5: “Little Shop of Horrors”

Aug 12: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

Aug 19: “WALL-E”

Aug 26: “Total Recall” 

Sept 2:  “Space Jam”