Favorite Sci-fi Moments

[Ahriman238]

What are your favorite moments from the literature, films, television etc. what do you remember flawlessly years later?

For instance:

The moment Luke Skywalker steps off a plank, spins, grabs the edge and flips back up just in time to catch his lightsaber. To sweeping orchestral accompaniment.

John Crichton quietly realizing for the first time that he's on an entirely alien world.

Both the sheer wonder of the first time the Stargate activates, and the raising of an army of Abydonians.

A TOS book called 'Home is the Hunter' where Scotty, Sulu and Chekov were each sent back in time to a point of their ethnic/cultural history after Kirk brasses off a godlike alien potentate, respectively the time of Bonny Prince Charlie, unification Japan, and WWII. After Kirk forms an alliance with some Klingons the alien is amused enough to let everyone go. Kirk tries to sum up the moral of the story like he always does on the show, and the alien interrupts to say no, that's stupid, there is no lesson here and this was all an elaborate death-trap, nothing more.

[biostem]

Here are some of mine, (in no particular order):

1. The death blossom from The Last Starfighter.

2. My first time seeing the "I am your father" scene from TESB.

3. The courtroom scene from Ghostbusters 2, where they all don their proton packs.

4. The "Get away from her you b&*ch!" scene in Aliens.

5. The various POV scenes from the 1st (and still the best, IMO) Robocop.

6. In Robocop 2, when the 2 cyborgs are fighting in the conventions center, and the old man screams out "Behave yourselves!"

[Coyote]

The Trench Run of Star Wars (of course!)

The battle of the Mutara Nebula when the Enterprise finally gets the Reliant dead to rights and they manually fire right at it.

Aeryn's extreme depression after clone-Crichton's death, when she languishes in that city of mystics.

Almost final scene of Jurassic Park, when the TRex kills the velociraptors and utters its roar as the museum display collapses around it.

Battle of New Caprica, especially when Lee Adama sacrifices Pegasus to rescue Galactica.

The black hole death scene of Col. Butts in "Space: Above and Beyond".

The Stargate activation, with the "whrrrr.... k-chunk....whrrrr... k-chunk... whrrrr.... k-chunk... kawwoosh!" I love the sound effects.

Flushing the Alien out the big cargo airlock of the Sulaco.

[SilverDragonRed]

There was an opportunity for such a moment in the movie Battleship. It would require that the hero protagonist guy we're following throughout the film realizes that the aliens didn't come to invade; and that he was the one who, like the braying jackass he is, was the one started the war.

Other than that, there was the astronaut from Voyager's One Small Step who was trapped in an orange gravitational ball. He knew after a bit that he wasn't able to escape and spent his remaining time gathering as much info about the phenomenon as he could. He stared with awe at the wreckage that drifted by him and pondered how they were right they were to head into space.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The Trench Run, the battle between the E-Nil and the Reliant in TWOK, the battle over Antarctica in SG-1's season 7 finale, the battle of New Caprica (god damn Adama is awesome, free-falling BAttlestar for the win), the moment int he original Doctor Who when he first sees the Daleks.

The Battle of Hoth gets a special mention. First time I saw that was on VHS when I was 6. It was the first time I saw the bad guys actually win in fiction and it had a profound impact on me.

[Patroklos]

The star destroyer reveal scene from the opening of A New Hope. Still an epic scene today.

Any number of atmospheric scenes from Blade Runner displaying the cityscape.

Not so technically impressive today upon rewatch, but the scenes of the aftermath of the Battle of Wolf 359 in TNG made deep impression on me at the time.

[Borgholio]

Jurassic Park - The opening scene where we see a field full of dinosaurs for the first time.

Aliens - "Get away from her, you BITCH!"

Terminator 2 - End scene where the T-800 destroys itself to protect the future.

Robocop - Murphy's execution (the full scene is fucking brutal)

Star Wars Episode 3 - Opening battle scene

Star Wars Episode 4 - Opening scene (naturally).

Star Trek 2 - Enterprise gets the drop on Reliant in the Mutara Nebula

Star Trek 6 - Excelsior and Enterprise blow up the BoP

[Highlord Laan]

One of my favorites is from Freespace 2. Just remembering it makes me smile.

This is GTVA Colossus, fighters stand clear of enemy ships. All batteries, fire at will!

[TheFeniX]

Hugo Weaving spends most of his time in The Matrix just showing everyone why he's awesome, but there's a two scenes that stand out to me:
Smith after removing his broken glasses: "I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson."

"Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your death."

And his protracted rant (not the one you think) from the forgettable third movie. I also like how Neo's answer is basically "Because, fuck you, that's why." And it works quite well.

Everything about The 5th Element, but mainly RUUUUUB-EEEEEE ROD! The way he just fucking slides into view and does that little walk and women start swooning was about the best way you could ever introduce a character. There's nothing "manly" about him to a 20th century audience, but he fits within the context of the setting perfectly.

"So tell me my man... you nervous in the service?"

I have to quote the IMDB because I don't want to butcher it, but the last line is what I always remember:
Elim Garak: That's why you came to me, isn't it, Captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing? Well, it worked. And you'll get what you want: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant. And all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain.

Reading the text does not do the delivery any justice. I can't quote it from memory, but reading it, I can remember every emphasis Robison put into the dialog and it was perfect.

I think it's criminal I'm only just now watching Babylon 5. The show has it's issues, but it breaks a lot of conventions. Humans aren't super-fucking awesome and this show isn't about humanity showing everyone how it's done. Sure, most of the main cast is human, but their humanity has nothing really to do with why they are so good at what they do. The human race is just as fucked up as everyone else. Even the revisionist history of Earth "winning" the Minbari war lead to a great line from Delenn:

"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

And the show depicting actual alien morality lead to a great scene at the end of the Shadow War where the Vorlon and Shadow ambassadors are basically begging the younger races to keep them relevant. They come off as big brothers who have all the power, but none of the actual wisdom to lead and Lorean comes in as an actual parent to make them see how badly they've fucked things up. The scene makes them look rather pathetic (in a good way) as they ask Lorean sheepishly "will you come with us?"

And the Shadows don't turn out to be evil, just callous with life in the way they enact their plan. And it's just as bad for the Vorlons: an individual life isn't worth anything to them because they are protecting all life, albeit very poorly.

[Borgholio]

"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

I think Mira Furlan stole the show on many occasions with her portrayal of Delenn. That one scene made her look terrifying.

[TheFeniX]

I think Mira Furlan stole the show on many occasions with her portrayal of Delenn. That one scene made her look terrifying.

And she dresses like she's going to a Renaissance festival. It works.

Star Control 2 deserves a mention here. Specifically, the Ur-Quan Kzer-za.:


IIRC, they were the first example I had ever seen of "bad guys" that weren't really bad guys. Their whole beef is that a race of intelligent frogs (probably where the idea for Hypnotoad came from) enslaved them and genetically manipulated them into two distinct races. When the Ur-Quan broke free, they started enslaving all other sentient life in the galaxy. Now, this is pretty fucked up since Earth is locked under a slave shield and you're trying to break it and free your people.

Sure, they could have gone another route. Maybe setup a galactic UN or something, but it's not like things could get any worse. Oh what's that, their genetic off-shoot the Kohr-ah's plan is to just wipe out all life instead? Well, shit.

4:52 in really cuts deep: It's the all-powerful Ur-Quan begging you to go home so they can win their war to stop the genocide being committed by their brothers. That they are helping you in their own alien way. They care about you and your people for some reason, really all life, and this is the only way they know how to protect you. If you keep fighting them, they will lose their war with the Kohr-ah and you'll die and they consider that terrible.

Here's the text for those who can't or won't watch the video:

A final command human, but it is more of a plea.
Your insubordination has guaranteed your death, there can be no alternative
but your species has not yet crossed the threshold of disobedience
that would require us to decimate Earth.
You have survived combat with us before. You may survive the ensuing battle.
If this happens, leave! Return to your home. Await our arrival there.
If you interfere with us here, we may lose the Doctrinal conflict with the Kohr-Ah.
If we are defeated, you are defeated as well.
The Kohr-Ah will be unleashed. They will begin a genocidal orgy, cleansing all known sentience.
They will crack the slave shield around Earth and reduce the surface of your blue world to cinders.

[Crazedwraith]

"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"

I think Mira Furlan stole the show on many occasions with her portrayal of Delenn. That one scene made her look terrifying.

All I know of B5 is Chuck's reviews and out-of-contrex clips. but that scene on its own? Not that badass to me. Should probably watch the whole show to get the effect. lol.

Something that does really work though is Vir Cotto's answer to the shadow question when Mr Morden presents it to him. 'I want to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favours come with too high a price. I would look up at your lifeless eyes and wave. like this. Can you and your assocaites arrange that for me mr morder?"

---

Now for stuff I have seen:
- Wash and the crew of Serenity gunning up to retreive Mal in 'War Stories'
-The start of Out Of Gas. My first time watching the series, it was amazing how much of gutpunch just Mal falling onto the deck and bleeding through the grating was, how real the characters where after the first 7 episodes.

-O'Neill talking down the scientist in 'Window Of Opportunity', its a real fun little episode and it just turns on a dime to gut-wrenching as O'Neill talks about his son.
-Jonas Quinn being prepared for Surgery to remove the tumour that's giving him precognition in 'Prophecy' and even though it was killling him he still asking them to hold off surgery so he can keep the precog and 'be useful' a little longer. holy inferiority complex, Jonas. I really feel for the guy there.

[TOSDOC]

Aliens: The Dropship scene as it drops from the Sulaco. Still gives me goosebumps.

Star Trek II: The Battle of the Mutara Nebula. We must have watched that almost as much as Star Wars when it was finally on VHS.

Firefly: Mal kicking a merc into Serenity's engine.

Farscape: Crichton's death from radiation poisoning was very well done. I also love the scene where he goes to Scorpius to trade wormholes for Aeryn's life. All that was missing was him signing on the dotted line in blood.

The Abyss: Lindsay's drowning. That was haunting in the theater, no one realized it would go that far at the time. (You could also hear the entire theater sucking in a breath every time someone had to swim underwater, it was hilarious).

Another theater memory was my first time seeing Ghostbusters; the entire audience would yell "Ghostbusters!" with Ray Parker's song during the opening and closing credits.

Seaquest DSV: I always found the scene where Nathan says farewell to Scott as his capsule fills with water very touching.

Predator: The raid on the rebel encampment. I still watch it the night before every paintball game.

The first time I was old enough to appreciate Quatermass and the Pit. What an awesome flick.

[TheFeniX]

All I know of B5 is Chuck's reviews and out-of-contrex clips. but that scene on its own? Not that badass to me. Should probably watch the whole show to get the effect. lol.

It plays well because Delenn is very waifish (yet still very attractive), more so after she goes hybrid Human-Minbari. She's not physically imposing or even a fighter at all, but she doesn't get walked over when she doesn't want to. She plays coy and, what I would describe as, weak and ineffectual, but it's all pretty much her just not wanting to get involved in certain plots, but also that the last time she let emotion overtake her, the human race almost got wiped out.

Almost all of her work is done behind the scenes and it was nice for her to take on-screen action for a change.

Something that does really work though is Vir Cotto's answer to the shadow question

Skip to :50
Lando's rant, when Mordin asked him the question previously was also particularly powerful:

[White Haven]

On the subject of Londo and Morden...

'Now, do not move.'

[Borgholio]

On the subject of Londo and Morden...

'Now, do not move.'

Londo - "This is most frustrating. It's like being nibbled to death by... *sigh* What are those Earth creatures? Feathers, webbed feet, long bill, says "quack"?"

Vir - "Cats."

Londo - "Cats! This is like being nibbled to death by cats!"

[J Ryan]

The ending of Pegasus in new BSG

Gaeta: (over intercom) Commander Adama, please call CIC ASAP
Adama: This is Adama.
Tigh: I just talked to Fisk. Court-partial's over.
Adama: Over? When did it start?
Tigh: I don't know, but they've been found guilty o­n all counts. She's going to execute them for murder and treason.
Adama: I want a marine strike team in a raptor in five minutes. Prepare to launch alert fighters. (to Cally) You have work to do.
Cally: Sir.

The music just makes that scene. Only time I've heard violins sounding angry.

[TheFeniX]

Any episode where Lando has a major (or even minor) role is going to be good. Just the inflections he puts on names sells it:

"Mis-dah Gar-da-ball-D"
"Mis-dah Mooore-den"

Adrian Brody isn't a guy I'd bet money on to star in a Predator "remake," but he got jacked for the role and nails it. The exchange between him and Topher Grace made no sense and would normally be laughable, but somehow manages to be awesome:

"Turns out, you're a good man after all."
"No. I'm not. But I'm fast."

That.. what? No. Just no. I should be spitting coke at the screen, but I'm not. It's awesome and Adrian Brody is awesome.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The music just makes that scene. Only time I've heard violins sounding angry.

"Prelude to War" it's called. Awesome piece of music. Then again, the vast majority of the music from nBSG is awesome.

[Borgholio]

The music just makes that scene. Only time I've heard violins sounding angry.

"Prelude to War" it's called. Awesome piece of music. Then again, the vast majority of the music from nBSG is awesome.

Even better is when vipers are all wrestling for good positions if the kill order comes in, then the blackbird returns. The deep drum music as all the fighters cease trying to get a lock on each other and form up IN UNISON to advance on the new threat. That gave me goosebumps.

[Iroscato]

I seem to remember a list similar to this a few years back. My pallette has widened a bit since then.
- "Tears In Rain" speech from Blade Runner. Brilliant moment in an astonishingly beautiful film.
- The last scene of Star Trek: TUC, where the legendary, aging crew finally accept their time of saving the galaxy has come to a close...but not before they have one last little trip!
- The opening battle over Coruscant in ROTS. Saw it when I was 11, and it remains the single most visually impressive sequence in the entire saga.
- "ALRIGHT YOU ALIEN ASSHOLES! IN THE WORDS OF MY GENERATION...UP! YOURS!" Fuckin' classic.
- The battle of Antarctica in SG-1, season 7. After several years of gathering technology to resist the Goa'uld, humanity finally gets to kick some ass in a throwdown.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles;
It was a long road going into darkness and hills, and he held to the wheel, now and again reaching into his lunch bucket and taking out a piece of candy. He had been driving steadily for an hour, with no other car on the road, no light, just the road going under, the hum, the roar, and Mars out there so quiet. Mars was always quiet, but quieter tonight than any other. The deserts and the empty seas swung by him, and the mountains against the stars.

There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind. There was a thought. What did Time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down on hollow box lids, and rain. And going further, what did Time look like? Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theatre, one hundred billion faces falling like those new year balloons, down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight- Tomas shoved a hand into the wind outside the truck- tonight you could almost touch Time.

[Batman]

Since most of the obvious ones from B5, Trek and Wars have already been mentioned and the SG franchise is too full of awesome moments to mention all of them...
Roughnecks:Starship Troopers Chronicles
Flores: 'Hey! No guts, no glory.'
Rico:'No brains.'
Carl: 'No kidding.'

The 'It's going to a slaughter' and 'maybe there is a Starfighter left' moments from The Last Starfighter.

The 'Who do you want to be'?-'Superman' moment from Iron Giant (and seriously, they use the Williams theme in Quest for Camelot but not here?)

And, of course, Titan A.E.
Akima: 'You can't call a planet "Bob."'
Cale: 'So now you're the boss. You're the King of Bob.'
Akima: 'Can't we just call it "Earth"?'
Cale: 'No one said you have to live on Bob.'
Akima: 'I'm never calling it that.'

[Elheru Aran]

A few great moments from SG, since I've been working my way through it lately.

Season 1 finale when the Ha'tak arrives at its destination and they look out the front window, see Earth.

Window of Opportunity-- pretty much the whole episode is golden.

Cold Lazarus with the crystal clone of O'Neill exploring his past.

The bit where O'Neill gets face-sucked by the Ancient repository and gets loaded up with Ancient knowledge, especially the bit at the end when he goes to see the Asgard. Their first encounter with an extragalactic civilization and it has to be Jack O'Neill... but he does a decent job of it, all things considered.

The episode where Daniel Jackson dies/ascends. Still can't watch that one without the waterworks.

The culminating battle of Season 8, between Anubis' fleet, the Replicators, Jaffa, and Stargate Command, Daniel and Replicarter, Sam and Jacob trading barbs with Ba'al, Replicators pouring through the Earth Stargate...

Threads was a pretty sweet episode, even if Jacob's death seemed slightly contrived to amp up the feels. They should've somehow ended the series with that rather than Moebius, which while a decent two-parter in its own right just didn't really hit the right feel for a season ender. Now, I have no idea *how* they would have done that (maybe put Moebius shortly after the episode where they found that time machine), but still.

Poor Jonas Quinn. He wasn't an amazing character, but Corin Nemec really put a lot of work into the guy, and then they just summarily dump him for Daniel with a throwaway episode later on to wind things up. Kind of a shitty thing to happen, and I hope I'm not the only one who felt pretty bad for him in the long run.

Now for other SF, one that I don't think I've seen so far--

The fate of the Kelvin against the Narada. While it's very fast-paced, it's a wonderful introduction to the nu-Trek universe. Huge scary ship out of the middle of nowhere; classic ST moment where the captain goes over to shake hands and make nice-- and that turns out to be a bad idea. Fighting ensues. Kelvin is woefully outmatched, and George Kirk orders abandon ship. In the middle of all that chaos, his son is born. The Kelvin plunges to its doom within the Narada.

Now if only that scene had a few less lens flares... but it was honestly very well done, I thought, and well qualifies for 'best scene' out of that film.

Oh, yes. I don't know if this is SF, but Wall-E, especially the first half-hour when he's trundling around the dystopian abandoned Earth, exploring it for artifacts, and then the arrival of EVE, the silent robotic romance they share. It's a sweet little film.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Upon reflection, the very first episode of Thunderbirds when the titular machines arrive to save the day was pretty awesome. Granted I was about 3 at the time but damn it was cool. And that Fireflash plane. And how everything was "atomic powered" with no regard to safety