• The new B5TV.COM is here. We've replaced our 16 year old software with flashy new XenForo install. Registration is open again. Password resets will work again. More info here.

Top Ten moments in sci-fi...

darth_librarian

darth_librarian

Regular
A program broadcast on Sky One last night, that was actually kinda cool. Featured Kim Newman, Simon Pegg, Mark Hamill and most of the hacks at SFX...
I think it was voted on by website visitors...
list was (IIRC):

10) 'Luke i'm the daddy' In Empire Stikes Back
09) Final episode massacare in Blakes 7
08) Bullet Time in The Matrix
07) Quatermass and the Pit, entering the crashed ship. (original TV, not the Hammer, although that is very good too.)
06) End shot of Planet of the Apes
05) Dalek emerging from the Thames in Dr Who and the Dalek invasion of Earth (TV version)
04) UFO entrance on mountaintop in Close Encounters.
03) Title Sequence in Thunderbirds (ROCK!!! 5, 4, 3, ....)
02) Chestburster in Alien
01) Death of HAL in 2001 (one for you GKE)

No Trek or B5 and a bit UK biased, but not a bad list IMHO.
Discuss !! Whats your favourite Sci-fi moment?
 
Not necessarily my favorite, but a good one off the top of my head is the whole last act of ST:TNG's season five episode The Inner Light.

Another decent one... When Picard goes back to save Data in Star Trek: First Contact. Up until that point, it's a smartly played Borg-filled funfest. But, if I remember correctly, Picard doesn't say he's going back for an officer, he's going back for a friend (at least he implies it). He risks his life and re-visits his worst nightmare because--despite being an artificial lifeform--Data is still a friend. That's when the movie shows it also has heart.

Of course, in Babylon 5, as usual when listing best moments or best quotes or best anything, there are too many to mention. :)

This is more fantasy than sci-fi, but the best moment in TV or movies I've seen in the last few years (outside B5), is during the coronation at the end of LotR:tRotK when the hobbits bow, but then Aragorn says, "My friends, you bow to no one," and then everyone bows to them. That's the only time a movie has ever made me cry (although I've come close before).
 
a bit UK biased, but not a bad list IMHO.
Click to expand...

There is a definite UK bias, especially if you compare the list to the US biased one that would come out of any similar poll done on this side of the Atlantic. In the US none of the UK TV based ones have enough market penetration to make a similar list, I don't think.

That is not to say that those aren't worthy choices. All of these lists are very subjective and non-definitive, and those choices are as good as any. It is just that those shows aren't well enough known here to get *enough* people to vote for them. Even for shows that everybody (at least nearly everybody who would be likely to vote in such a poll) is aware of, such as Dr. Who, many don't have the depth of knowledge that would lead them to name a specific moment when asked this general of a question. Plus, shows such as Blake's 7 are downright obscure (which is not to say wholy unknown) over here. As far as I have been able to tell, B7 only ran for a few years or so on PBS stations over here. Since that period pretty well coincided with the period when I was a broke college student without a TV, I have never seen an episode of it dispite being an SF fan.

But the changes that wholy due to different levels of market penetration of different TV shows isn't the interesting comparison (in my eyes, anyway). I think that it is more interesting to contemplate the cultural differences that lead to different ratings among things that *are* well known on both sides of the Atlantic. Of course, I am just giving my opinion about how such a poll would probably turn out if conducted in the US, but ....

I really can't see the "death" of HAL being rated nearly that highly by a poll of the American public. Actually it wouldn't surprise me if it fell all the way off the list (if the list is limited to 10 slots). Conversely, I would expect Vader's "I am your father." to place much higher on a similar American poll, possibly in the top spot.

Actually, it might be interesting to see a demographic breakdown of poll respondents. If it was done in the US, I could the fate of the close of the original Planet of the Apes being heavily tied to the age of respondents. If they tended toward the young then it might well fall lower than in the UK poll. If they tended to be older (by which I mean old enough to remember at least the Apes sequels in theaters) then I could see it being rated even higher.

Speculation about why those differences exist in the minds of the two nations could be intersting.

Or, people might just disagree with me over how a similar poll of Americans would be likely to tutrn out.
 
PillowRock, I agree the moments would probably be different on A US conducted poll (although depending upon the age range of the respondents, I have a feeling the Blake's 7 may still be there).

I however think you'll find the motivation and emotion behind the scenes will likely be the same.
 
I was personally glad of the general age and obscurity of some of the entries. It made a list of good sci-fi from both sides of the atlantic, and a lot thought had obviously gone into it.
I guess such a list depends totally on who you ask. Its was voted on by UK viewers, but it was done over the net.

I guess 2001 is maybe too cerebral to a mainstream audience, but your average fanboy in the UK or US would have to at least acknowledge its supreme awesomeness as a movie, and its impact on the genre in film literature and TV.
 
I'd put the "I am your father" scene at the top for sure.

But having recently seen "The Day the Earth Stood Still" I'd have to incorporate "Klaatu barada nikto" in the list as well.
 
SFX is the magazine that JMS's copywrite notice explicitly bans from quoting him. Babylon 5 will not be in their list of great shows. Although they used to have fun making Claudia Christian their favorite actress.
 
I still read it, mainly for the book reviews, and they do actually look at B5 quite favourably these days. A lot of the editorial staff have changed since they managed to mess JMS and B5 fans around and get their facts wrong.

They are still a bit overly-fanboyish went it comes to Buffy though.
 
I however think you'll find the motivation and emotion behind the scenes will likely be the same.
Click to expand...

Yes, the reasons why a given scene is included generally will be the same. The question is: Are there cultural reasons for the differences in relative rankings? For example: I would fully expect an American poll to rate "I am your father" noticeably ahead of the death of HAL, but the UK poll has that relative ranking reversed. Why is that?

My expectation for an American ranking of that moment doesn't mean that I think that American SF fans wouldn't acknowledge 2001 as a great, seminal movie. They would, unquestionably. I just don't see them ranking that *moment* as the top "moment in SF history". I'm not even *sure* that the American public would rate that particular moment as the top moment in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

So, are there cultural reasons why a scene with a particular emotional underpinning resonates more deeply with a broader cross-section of one country's population than another?
 
Another decent one... When Picard goes back to save Data in Star Trek: First Contact. Up until that point, it's a smartly played Borg-filled funfest. But, if I remember correctly, Picard doesn't say he's going back for an officer, he's going back for a friend (at least he implies it). He risks his life and re-visits his worst nightmare because--despite being an artificial lifeform--Data is still a friend. That's when the movie shows it also has heart.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you liked this moment, but I seriously doubt it would rank in any poll...considering it's indicative of one of the worst character moments for Picard and his crew. It is this last minute, "oh, shit, I almost forgot Data who's been captured for most of the film and I didn't remember him until now just as I'm about to blow him to kingdom come," moment that actually, quite frankly, turns my stomach as it represents the terrible aspects of Trek and it's writing that have come to represent the franchise. I call it "bad." :rolleyes:

As for my list, well I would have to think about that some, but I can say it would have some different moments on it...such as the "Aliens try to get in the house" scene in Close Encounters...which is one of the best "alien abduction" scenes ever done, if not the best.

Ripley's fight with the queen alien in Aliens.

And much, much more on this new special CD...only $19.95, if you order now we'll throw in a second CD of absolute nonsense at no extra charge!

As for any Trek moments making the list...well, Khan's first appearance in ST II would be one of them IMO. The death of Edith Keeler in TOS, the revelation of Sela in TNG, the hunt and destruction of the Bird of Prey in ST VI, there are probably a couple of moments in ST IV, the return to life of Spock in ST III...but that's about it really. Nothing from any of the TNG films would I put on any great moments list. Quite frankly I would say that the TNG films have been some of the worst Trek and SF moments ever.

As for more obscure moments...The Three Doctors in its entirety...the regeneration from Pertwee to Baker...the death and return to life of ET (although to me that one isn't obscure but one of the best moments ever).

I could go on...there are so many. As for B5, that one would be hard to pick a moment or scene to put on the list...so in such a case...I would have to put the entire 5 yrs. of the series on the list as one grand, great moment in SF history...which it is.

Anyway, 'nough for now.

CE
 
Well, I do agree with #1...

But I can't really comment on the list fairly, as I've never seen Blake's 7, Dr Who, or Thunderbirds (do I lose my Geek Membership now?)

I do kind of feel that something from Blade Runner should be on such a list, 'cause that is awesome. And of course classic Trek.
 
I do kind of feel that something from Blade Runner should be on such a list, 'cause that is awesome. And of course classic Trek.
Click to expand...

I don't know about Blade Runner. It is a great flick. However, it is such an overall mood piece that it is hard for me to pick *any single moment* out in the manner that they have the ones on the list.

In addition to those ST:TOS moments that CE mentioned, I would add Spock learning Kirk is alive at the end of Amok Time, and possibly a couple others to the nominees list. I don't know about final Top 10 list, but to the nominee list.



As for possible nominee single moments from B5, how about:

Delenn's "Be somewhere else" speech in Severed Dreams.

Sheridan and Delenn parting in SiL.

G'Kar's "Though it take a thousand years, we will be free" speech.

Londo wordlessly watching the bombardment of Narn.

Sheridan falls / White Star explodes.



I could also come up with a couple / few nominees from Farscape, but I'm not sure that enough people know the show well enough for it to win a spot on the final Top 10 of such a poll. (Actually, I could say that about B5 as well.)
 
PillowRock said:
As for possible nominee single moments from B5, how about:
Londo wordlessly watching the bombardment of Narn.
Click to expand...

You could also add Londo's answer to Morden in "Signs and Portents" in the "Be Careful What You Wish For" catagory.
 
Favourite moments:

Star Wars:
A tie between "I killed them all" and "I am a Jedi, like my father before me!"

Babylon 5:
"Jump Now!"

Buffy:
"I may be dead, but i'm still pretty"

Angel:
When he tries to kill Wes, that's a good moment.
 
You're right about Blade Runner, of course. I've just been thinking about it recently and want to see it again...

As for Trek moments, I would nominate Spock not letting Kirk save Edith Keeler's life in City on the Edge of Forever.
 
Ah yes, "get away from her you BITCH!" is one of my favorite moments of any film. :D

The death of Spock in ST II and the destruction of the Enterprise in ST III were both extremely powerful moments for me. I grew up watching...and loving original Trek. Seeing a beloved character...or ship die was a bit overwhelming for me.
 
I seem to remember about this time last year someone posted a "Top 10 Moments in Sci-Fi history" thread that was an article from a magazine or TV show. I recognize some of the above, but also see some omissions. From what I remember:

Darth Vader telling Luke he is his father was like #2.
Dave becoming the "Star Child" in 2001 was on the list.
Sinclair becoming Valen was #6 on the list (B5 fans rejoice).
Spocks Death was on there as well I believe.
End of Planet of the Apes was also there.

These sort of things are cute and cool, but really subjective as to who is writing the article. :)
 
The only know half of what's on that list: 10, 8, 6, 2, and 1. I'm pretty sure I've seen Close Encounters, but it's been years and I don't remember much of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 58 (members: 1, guests: 57)

Share this page

Back
Top