SF movie scenes/dialogue that made you go "Whoa"

[Sheridan]

I still think that one of the greatest scenes in any film, let alone in science fiction, was in A New Hope, where Kenobi just sits there and lets Vader kill him. My response (and I saw this film for the first time when I was about five years old, so you'll have to forgive me) was exactly the same as Luke's.

Even going back and watching it now, I still feel that it's one of the greatest turning points in any film: here's one of your main characters, it's only two-thirds of the way into the film, and BAM! he's gone, with virtually no foreshadowing (well, there is some, but I wouldn't see it unless I was looking for it).

[Jade Falcon]

For me, there is absolutely no question which scene ranks #1 here:

Sitting in a dark theatre in 1977, seeing a little spaceship zoom by, and then seeing its monstrous pursuer slide overhead, its seemingly endless armoured bulk filling the screen. Star Wars established so much about the nature of this fantasy world in those precious few seconds. More than 30 years later, I still remember that moment. It was, in my mind, one of the most pivotal moments in cinema history; the entire business of movie-making was changed forever after the film came out, and to me, the opening moments of the film are still the most powerful symbol of that change. Those of you who grew up more recently do not have a real sense of how much different the movies were before Star Wars.

I have to agree with that, its the first film I saw in the cinema and the cinema I saw it in had a really huge panoramic curved screen that really showed it off well. I vaguely remember thinking the Blockade Runer was impressive enough then this ......thing, just came next and never seemed to end.

Unfortunately, the scene I nominate was one I first saw on TV, and while its well known, I think for its time it was pretty damned special.


The original Planet of the Apes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31QUOUxqz2M

I'd like to pick Downfall, but the trouble is that there isn't really one big scene, more a large collection of small moments, though the part where Magda Goebbels poisons her kids is pretty shocking, she was one wacked out woman.

Another I liked was the whole reactor repair sequence in K-19:The Widowmaker and the reaction of the Chief Reactor Officer when he says the state of those went in first.

[Majin Gojira]

The first one that comes to my mind is a sound. The original Godzilla roarconveys just about everything you need to know about the monster in a few seconds.

Another that comes to mind is King Kong's entranceinto the village before his rampage. Hell, it's hard to point to an FX sequence that didn't at one point in time make my jaw drop in that film.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I'd like to pick Downfall, but the trouble is that there isn't really one big scene, more a large collection of small moments, though the part where Magda Goebbels poisons her kids is pretty shocking, she was one wacked out woman.

Another I liked was the whole reactor repair sequence in K-19:The Widowmaker and the reaction of the Chief Reactor Officer when he says the state of those went in first.

And those are SF films is what way...? Anyways, at least sort of scifi: Dr. Strangelove is filled with classic scenes and dialogue. My favorite ones:

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.
General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Major T. J. "King" Kong: Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.

And then of course Major Kong riding the H-bomb like a cowboy and the last line "Mein Führer! I can walk!" immediately followed by a cut to scenes from atomic weapons tests with "We'll meet again" playing.

The funny thing is that while the cold war is over, Dr. Strangelove is not at all outdated, since the picture it draws about the insanity of large scale power politics and basic irrationality of man thinly covered by surface rationality is still as fresh and hilarious as nearly 50 years ago. Last but not least, Peter Sellers in his best shape is still quite unsurpassed by any comedian.

[eyexist]

The Mist, when David uses the last four bullets in his gun to kill the three passengers and his son to keep them from being torn apart by the monsters that were lurking in the fog. And again while he waits for the creatures to kill him, finds out that he was driving away from help the whole time as tanks and soldiers clear away the mist.

[Jade Falcon]

And those are SF films is what way...? Anyways, at least sort of scifi: Dr. Strangelove is filled with classic scenes and dialogue. My favorite ones:

Ah sorry, a bit of a brain fart there.

Well one for me was the USS Cygnus 'coming to life' in The Black Hole' when all its lights came on, but tha was more just the design of the ship itself.

[Eviscerator]

Gotta also remember the entrance into the Black Hole

We're going into the Black Hole?
Yup.
Let's pray he was a genius

[PeZook]

Most of my "whoa" moments don't actually come from Sci-Fi. One does, though: Adama's speech at the beginning of Season 3, when they were coming back to New Caprica to rescue their people. The way Olmos delivers the entire speech is just brilliant, despite the message not being particularly original.

[Sarevok]

Yeah. It drove home the point about how legends are created. The men that crewed Galacticas suicidal assault on New Caprica were ordinary humble folks. They were nobody before. None of them bar Helo were main characters. But if they manage to pull it off they will all become legends. Centuries later ordinary mook Viper pilot would be remembered as a larger than life hero who flew with Adama in the battle that saved the human race. It was a very inspiring speech that shone a ray of hope for a crew who were in doomed to die in a potentially futile battle.

[Crazedwraith]

The scene in Equilibrium where Preston visited 'Father' with intent to kill him but they hook him up to a lie detector before hand to detect his illegal emotions:

"Now Preston, the supposed saviour of the resistance are now its destroyer. And along with them you've given me yourself... cooly... calmly... entirely without incident."

*polygraph goes crazy then flat lines*

tech: oh... shit!

Preston: No. Not without incident.

*cue ass kicking*

[Ryan Thunder]

The rally scene at the end of Attack of the Clones.

[White Haven]

Yeah. It drove home the point about how legends are created. The men that crewed Galacticas suicidal assault on New Caprica were ordinary humble folks. They were nobody before. None of them bar Helo were main characters. But if they manage to pull it off they will all become legends. Centuries later ordinary mook Viper pilot would be remembered as a larger than life hero who flew with Adama in the battle that saved the human race. It was a very inspiring speech that shone a ray of hope for a crew who were in doomed to die in a potentially futile battle.

And then they went and ensured that no history would ever be kept, and that those people would never become legends.


Phantom Menace for me, oddly enough. Not because it was a good movie (Protip, it was not), but the instant Duel of the Fates kicked in.

[Darth Hoth]

While I generally agree with Darth Wong, I must say the scene in tESB with the panorama view of the Executor affected me more. Though that might be due to me seeing that film first.

[Sinewmire]

Return of the Jedi. "If you will not be turned... then perhaps she will!" The part where Luke almost turns. It's arguably the darkest point of the original trilogy.

"I will never join you. I am a Jedi, like my father before me." The sudden reversal - Luke steps back from the the precipice. It's a very generic hero moment, but like a lot of the poor dialogue in the original trilogy, the actor manages to make it believeable and very very cool.

I was too young to understand how evocative the original trilogy was, as I'd grown up knowing all the plot twists, which is a great pity. I'd loved to have experienced stuff like the duel with Vader in Bespin not knowing what the outcome would be.

Mal Reynold's "I aim to misbehave" speech from Serenity. At the time I had never seen Firefly, so all I knew about the character was the (even more so than in Firefly) bitter burnout of the movie. That made the moment much stronger for me than if I had already been accustomed to the softer Mal of Firefly.

That was a particularly moving scene, yeah. I found the transmission from Miranda the most powerful scene in the movie. Heart-wrenching, particularly the cast's reactions. The actress (Sarah Paulson, I think) did an amazing job considering she managed to evoke horror, pity, compassion, loathing and sorrow in a single monologue. Plus being a Firefly fan, the huge plot reveal it represented.

Also the Operative's reaction to watching it. I've seen a lot of "bad guys" killed, but I never actually seen one utterly destroyed like that.

Also River Tam fighting in the last action sequence of the movie, especially the music, the triumphant bombastic reprise of her pained, limping fragile theme on the piano that had been woven into the film.

Oh hell, just all of the denouement of Serenity. All of it. I still say that there hasn't been a tv series or movie with half the acting and directing talent as Firefly and Serenity. Inara crying in Heart of Gold still feels like a kick to the stomach, every time.

Hm, I think I've rambled enough.

[Shroom Man 777]

I think that a good woah part was when I rewatched the swordfight between Vader and Luke in ESB. I mean, by then I had the preconceptions that OT swordfights were shit and the PT were awesome with all the waving around of lightsabers. But, when I just saw the amount of emotionality and character in that fight between Luke and Vader in Bespin, man. Sure they weren't flashy, but the emotion and tension was palpable - you could taste it! And when Luke's hand gets chopped off and Vader reveals himself to be his father, and Luke's horrified reaction. Man, classic.

Goddamn. That was some fine acting and fine choreography.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Sure they weren't flashy, but the emotion and tension was palpable - you could taste it! And when Luke's hand gets chopped off and Vader reveals himself to be his father, and Luke's horrified reaction. Man, classic.

Goddamn. That was some fine acting and fine choreography.

This has probably has been said here before, but the sword fights in the OT were inspired largely by Japanese samurai movies, which in the West were the most popular oriental fighting movie genre in the 1970s. The sword fights in the PT were inspired by HK and taiwanese Wuxia movies, which surpassed the samurai in popularity during the 1980s; hence the different styles. I personally like the OT style better as well.