Sci-Fi Shocks you Never Saw Coming

[O Wildish]

There has been very few Sci=Fi moments that's shock me, since I have an uncanny ablity to predict things in stories (why is that?) but it has happened but I can't really remember what they were though, generally what must have been a huge shock to tv audiances back in the 60s was (with little publicity, if any) William Hartnell, the first Doctor collapsing to the floor of the Tardis, his face blurs, becoming Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, introducing the then unnamed comcept of regeneration for the first time again in 2005 for the must have been shooking for younger audiance of Doctor Who but had no idea of it's history, when David Tennant took over from Christopher Eccleston

[Batman]

Having seen maybe all of three episodes of oldWho I have to say by the time nuWho came around I was familiar, if not at all intimately, with the concepts of the TARDIS, Cybermen, Daleks etc so I have to say the regeneration came as absolutely no shock to me (Eccleston leaving was something of a dissapointment, mind you, he's still my favourite nuWho Doctor). I suspect most people who picked up on the new series to begin with were at least vaguely familiar with the old one.

[Cesario]

Oddly, my only exposure to Doctor Who prior to the new series was the much hated TV movie with the half human doctor. At the time I vividly recall thinking to myself that this was an interesting concept, and it might make for a pretty fun TV series with just a little work.

[O Wildish]

My earliest memory of Doctor Who was exactly the regeneration scene between Tom Baker and Peter Davison, I had wierd dreams after that, hmm maybe thats why I'm so messed up, eh?

[Lord Pounder]

Apart from the previously mentioned shockers like Wash in Serenity dying (No love for Shepherd Book?) and a few others the moment that really shocked me was in Star Craft Mensk betraying Kerrigan and allowing the Zerg to get her. I remember actually yelling at the screen that Mensk and the General dude were bastards.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Watching 2010: The Year We Make Contact, (before I'd read the book), when Heywood Floyd looks out the window while aruging with the Russian Captain and Brig Brother is just...gone. That's kinda...damn.

[lordofchange13]

The story behind the "Alien" ship that appears in Anathem was really unexpected.

[JME2]

I'll go with Gul Dukat announcing that Cardassia has joined the Dominion from DS9's "By Inferno's Light".

While the show could and did change the geo-political status quo on a dime, this elicited a "Holy Shit" reaction from me the first time I saw it. In one fell swoop, Dukat made a bad situation even worse and guaranteed that the Federation would soon be at war.

[The Yosemite Bear]

well very little actually suprises me, except CAT SCARES, I still jump even though I know there's a cat going to jump at the heroes right as the music tension builds up and the infrasound kicks in. (no it's too early for the aliens, gotta be a cat)

This I should note is more biological reaction than anything else because I still jump at cat scares even after repeated viewings it's the infrasound I tell you)

[CaptainChewbacca]

Apart from the previously mentioned shockers like Wash in Serenity dying (No love for Shepherd Book?)

I don't think Book's death was 'shocking' because the audience figured out along with Mal that he was in danger, and then we had a good 10 or 20 seconds before we actually see Haven attacked. Wash literally went from wisecracking to slumped dead in 3/10ths of a second with no warning.

[Lord Pounder]

Apart from the previously mentioned shockers like Wash in Serenity dying (No love for Shepherd Book?)

I don't think Book's death was 'shocking' because the audience figured out along with Mal that he was in danger, and then we had a good 10 or 20 seconds before we actually see Haven attacked. Wash literally went from wisecracking to slumped dead in 3/10ths of a second with no warning.

Fair point. My younger sister refuses to believe that Wash died, despite us seeing his funeral and Mal teaching River to pilot.

[edaw1982]

It's a toss-up between Spoiler

Polito turning out to be dead and it was SHODAN

all along, or the OHFUCKMYHEART!! moment when Spoiler

your-not-so-dead girlfriend hitches a ride in the escape shuttle

, in Dead Space.

Of course, Freeman transported to Xen was quite a surprise too.

[Dalton]

Hah, in before the necro.

Babylon 5, when Earthforce One was sabotaged and destroyed. Jaw literally dropped.

[fgalkin]

The end of "Z'Ha'Dum" in B5
Wash's death in Serenity
The introduction of the Geometers from Lukyanenko's "Stars Are Cold Toys"
The ending of "Hard to Be a God"
The big reveal of "The Use of Weapons"

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[JME2]

I'll go with Gul Dukat announcing that Cardassia has joined the Dominion from DS9's "By Inferno's Light".

While the show could and did change the geo-political status quo on a dime, this elicited a "Holy Shit" reaction from me the first time I saw it. In one fell swoop, Dukat made a bad situation even worse and guaranteed that the Federation would soon be at war.

Since we've reopened the thread, let me add a point to my earlier comment.

In retrospect, Cardassia joining the Dominion should have been obvious given the foreshadowing from Sisko's visions in "Rapture" about the locusts heading for Cardassia.

An additional one from this two-parter was that Bashir had been replaced by a Founder before the events of "Rapture".

[Terralthra]

+1 for Use of Weapons's reveal.

[gigabytelord]

Wash's death in Serenity, and the destruction of the Battlestar Pegasus, the first one shocked me, and the second one made me sad.

[Darth Nostril]

+2 for Use of Weapons's reveal.

Avon blowing Blake away in the final episode of Blakes 7.

[CaptHawkeye]

Luke finding out the truth about his father, and Kirk being absolutely, totally fucking serious about blowing up the Enterprise.

[CUE]

-Dee's death was crazy

-Wash dying in Serenty was unexpected

-Neo waking up for the first time. When I first saw the Matrix I walked in to the movie not having any expectation or knowledge of the movie. I don't think I even saw a preview for it. When he woke up and I got it, my jaw dropped. It was awesome.

-Tasha Yar biting the bullet

-Daniel Jackson dying in season 4-5 of SG1

[Cowl]

In B5 -- and I think this qualifies as a shock -- the sequence immediately after Mr Morden says, "so what're you gonna do, huh? Blow up the island?"

That entire episode was great.

At the time I was also impressed with this:



I had serious reservations over the involvement of Bruce Boxleitner at the time, in addition to the other changes made to the show at the end of season one. The mystery of the Minbari was the only enduring quality that I found to be rewarding during that time period. Of course since then I've come to appreciate the show for what it is.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

When Talia Winters was exposed as a Psi Corps sleeper agent.

[wautd]

Gaunt's Ghost Spoiler

Colm Corbec getting murdered by Cuu. Bragg was pretty expandable, but the Corbec? Damn

Admiral Adama getting shot in the head at the end of season 1. OK, he didn't die, but you didn't know untill the next season.

As some mentioned before, some major characters in LoGH.

Loooong time ago, but I vaguely remember an Outer Limits episode where you have a human fighter pilot imprisoned by brutal aliens. He tells some secrets to his cellmate who turns out to be an alien spy.

[PREDATOR490]

Yup, I remember that Outer Limits episode and thought it was quite interesting but alot of that series had shocks and crazy stuff happening.
I remember an episode where a guy buys a robot to do the housework or something and the robot eventually replaces him resulting in him being told to sit down and stfu beacuse the Robot is the overlord.

Wash getting whacked in Serenity - Totally didnt see that happening and made for an extremely effective demonstration that these folks might not actually make it through.

Firefly - Earl the bounty hunter threatening to rape Kaylee... that was really brutal.

Buffy - Tara getting shot. The subsequent off-the-rails Willow is equally brilliant.

Angel - Wes gets gutted after the speech he gives earlier about not intending to die.

Dollhouse - All of Season 2... giant trainwreck of wierd crap

Andromeda - Series finale... Dylan: "I won... the end". Excuse me... what the fuck ?

DS9 - Waltz, Dukat beating Sisko and going completely off the deep end

Voyager - Threshold

TNG - There are FOUR lights !

Supernatural - The whatsit girls blowing themselves up in the store to kill the hell dogs

Doctor Who - Dalek vs. Cybermen smacktalk.

[takemeout_totheblack]

I imagine VOY Threshold was more akin to septic shock, but a shock nonetheless

Another one for me would be the shockingly noble sacrifice of Talyn and Crais in Farscape. Talyn and Crais both went down doing what they loved, berating deserving people and blowing shit up respectively.