Space Battles/Sci-Fi Action scenes.

[Ordo]

I know I know...we're here for the great characters, the compelling stories, the interesting speculation on the advancement of technology and the impact it'll have on humanity....but sometimes we also enjoy a good throw down whether it be in space between massive capital ships or a personal fight with plasma blades. This thread is for a discussion of those scenes, what they say about the series, how they were shot, what you liked etc.


youtu.be/VbZw75cz-xA

The first Major fleet engagement against the Shadows. A costly victory but a victory non the less. The sequence itself is well done, IMHO, with John and Delenn audibly leading the fight but eventually all we see is orders being given with no audio as various ships rush to comply and shift tactics as demanded. This also lead to the Shadows revealing their true objectives to John.


youtu.be/XhKWeGXduzs

From a fleet battle to a much smaller affair. Visually the Expanse could almost work as a precursor to B5 considering how boxy the human ships are and how they move and fight in space.

[MadAmosMalone]

Excellent topic! You already covered my two favorite shows, B5 and The Expanse. As you said, it's all about the great characters, compelling story et cetera but that all just gives "context" to the action segments. My own favorite space battle is from B5's Severed Dreams. That whole episode was just one action scene piled on top of another after another and it all worked. I felt physically exhausted after I first watched it.

https://youtu.be/YYoCvgAAiQ8

Can't seem to get the YouTube tags to work so just linking it through URLs.

*Edit*
I also wanted to discuss a couple of movie experiences I had. Back when Return of the Jedi came out, I saw it in theaters and more people cheered when Darth Vader turned against the Emperor than when the rebels blew up the Death Star. Seems like a good example of a fight scene having good context.

Likewise the "mechanism vs. organism" battle between Ripley and the alien Queen was one of the best. Ripley's "get away from her" line really brought the house down.

[George]

I always liked the Battle of Endor, from Star War Episode VI.
It started out like a modern naval battle, with the big ships taking shots at each other from long range and the fighters/bombers closing in and fighting it out, with the stereotypical broadsides and big ships fighting at close range only happening later, and actually being justified (normally they wouldn't, and they only do because getting close to the Imperial ships is the only way to keep the Death Star from being able to safely target and pick off the Rebel fleet)

[BunBun299]

My favorite space battles have always been the Dominion War battle scenes from Deep Space 9. Even nearly 2 decades later, I've never quite seen their equal in television or film.

[Archanubis]

https://youtu.be/VoIFUJxJwcQ

[Ordo]

I always liked the Battle of Endor, from Star War Episode VI.
It started out like a modern naval battle, with the big ships taking shots at each other from long range and the fighters/bombers closing in and fighting it out, with the stereotypical broadsides and big ships fighting at close range only happening later, and actually being justified (normally they wouldn't, and they only do because getting close to the Imperial ships is the only way to keep the Death Star from being able to safely target and pick off the Rebel fleet)

The Battle of Endor is a good one....but the Battle of Scarif which is now, I think, the first major space battle between the Rebellion and the Empire seen on the big screen has a charm to it I enjoy.


youtu.be/ZsvcLcx0P60

youtu.be/JHJHUg2SNAQ

[Ordo]

Admittedly...what follows is not a fight....it's a slaughter but it's entertaining to watch.


youtu.be/wxL8bVJhXCM

This is a solid reminder of WHY Darth Vader is a feared warrior.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I always like a good space battle. Limiting it to tv, some of my favorites that come to mind- DS9's Sacrifice of Angels battle, B5's Severed Dreams battle, and BSG's rescue on New Caprica.

Most wouldn't bring up the original Trek, but I think they're actually extremely impressive, especially considering that this was 60s television. Understandably, you weren't going to get a lot of sfx shots, but episodes like The Doomsday Machine were filled with dramatic tension centered around a deadly foe. It doesn't get much better than the cat and mouse game in The Balance of Terror. Some battles become little more than a flurry of effects, but in TOS you could get a chess match (or the feel of a naval battle) with Kirk pulling out a smooth maneuver to save the day. You usually don't get that sense in, say, TNG, where they seemingly take more time debating each decision than they do actually making one.

[MadAmosMalone]

I actually liked a lot of TOS battles. The thing that impressed me most about TOS battle scenes was the very limitations that make them less than spectacular from a visual perspective makes them nearly spot-on from a realism perspective. They didn't have the money for a lot of model work in the early TOS days so you would often wind up with a blip on the screen being your enemy. Much of modern air combat takes place well beyond visual range so it stands to reason it would be even more so in a battle between starships. I think they got more right than wrong on TOS.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

Yeah, I agree. I love some good sfx stuff too, but sometimes just seeing the actors react to the situation escalates tension just as well as extended shots of the ships duking it out. For example, I think the battles in The Wrath of Khan and Nemesis both look great, but the latter is overlooked because the film itself falls short on an emotional level.

It wasn't one of the most noteworthy engagements, but both the space battle and brief land battle in the TOS episode Arena strike me as some of the more realistic depictions of futuristic warfare that we see in Trek (not that that's saying much). Unseen enemies on a faraway ridge are demolished and forced into a retreat by a small mortar-like weapon. In the subsequent space battle with the Gorn ship, the original effects make it clear that they're trading fire with a ship that's on the edge of visual range at best.

For the later Trek series, the Dominion War in particular has a lot of great action, but they fight like they have WWI or WWII technology sometimes. Then occasionally they introduce a technology like a rifle that could fire transporting bullets, only to completely forget about it once the credits roll.

As for movies, the Battle of the Mutari Nebula and the Battle of Endor are two that stand out. Another good one that has the disadvantage of being in an unpopular movie is the final battle in Ender's Game.