Best Sci-Fi Space Battles? 247
ardor asks: "Recently, while watching Babylon5, I wondered about the space dogfights in popular sci-fi outings. I find the space battle in Star Wars VI to be still one of the best in existence, and some battles from B5 are amazing too. But where are more good space fights? I've found them to be surprisingly rare. Most are very short, or not very big (less than 5 ships). I know, large & complex scenes are very expensive, nevertheless I mean some with tons of small interceptor & bomber ships, large/huge cruisers, stations, and so forth. Have you watched a really awesome space battles, and if so, what show/movie was it?"
LoGH (Score:2)
Battlestar Galactica (Score:4)
Re:Battlestar Galactica (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course in movies, I'd still have to go with Star Wars (4-6).
Space: Above & Beyond (Score:4, Insightful)
Battlestar Galactica (the original - haven't seen the 'reimagined' version yet) had some good stuff, but it was repeated over and over throughout the series.
In general, though, the more 'realistic' it is, the less spectacular it's going to be. *shrug*
I'll have to agree with your assessment of Star Wars VI (coming to DVD on 9-21!) - that was some fun stuff.
Oh, I just remembered something - Battle Beyond the Stars. Some good stuff in there, albeit a pretty hokey story, and even worse acting. The ship models were used in many later movies. (as were many designs from the 'rag-tag fugitive fleet' from Battlestar Galactica)
Space: Above & Beyond ruled! (Score:3, Informative)
I know this is against all things geek, but honestly most Star Trek spacefights aren't that great... they tend to show more actors shaking around on stage than two goliath ships duking it out. The only show that even comes close to the greatness that was S:A&B is B5. They've got some pretty badass large scale fights... but IMO, nothing ho
Re:Space: Above & Beyond ruled! (Score:2)
Space Above and Beyond kicked space battle arse! (Score:3, Informative)
The plot was continuous and you could really feel the eb and flow of war in ever episode. The battles actually meant something to the plot, they weren't just TV versions of X-wing vs Tie-fighter, or something like that.
I could swear a lot of the battles and themes were based on WWII naval and air campaigns. I think it surpass
Wildcards Rule! (Score:2)
What's this were shit?
Last I saw they were still on active duty.
Did the 5/8 ever give up? Die maybe yes. Give up no. There is still hoep for a return.
Re:Space: Above & Beyond (Score:2)
And the space battles had some really imaginative effects.
Re:Space: Above & Beyond (Score:2)
In general, though, the more 'realistic' it is, the less spectacular it's going to be. *shrug*
Probably, because movie- and seriesmakers will more go for effect than realism.
I think that the most realistic space wars have probably been written by Larry Niven (Protector), CJ Cherryh (Downbelow station), Poul Anderson (The Space Fox), Joe Haldeman (The Forever War).
The scale of these things is too large and too slow for a movie, but they provide fine strategic thinking, which is mostly absent in movies
Re:Space: Above & Beyond (Score:2)
Battles... (Score:2)
Re:Battles... (Score:2)
I really like how STNG series has large ship's with littler run-abouts, they can't focus all thier power on run-abouts, or the larger ships would win.
Also, with only 1 laser beam (whatever) to shoot at, they had to target 1 thing at a time. Really made it harder. Wondered why the heavier cruisers didnt have multiple laser turrets, and smaller turrets to shoot smaller craft.
But DS9 had some great battles with t
Re:Battles... (Score:3, Funny)
Wondered why the heavier cruisers didnt have multiple laser turrets, and smaller turrets to shoot smaller craft.
They do, sort of. Next Gen ships have omnidirectional phaser arrays capable of firing multiple beams coupled with sensors that can maintain a lock on multiple targets (DS9 had a scene in Sacrifice of Angels, IIRC, which showed a Galaxy-class ship firing two beams simultaneously from its forward ventral array at a Cardassian cruiser, pounding the s@#% out of it). The trouble is that this would m
a few of treks! (Score:5, Insightful)
big but not that great: one of the last episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (don't remember which one in particular) - yes, you can stuff too many ships on screen at once!
while not a fight per se, it was still funny: the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Worf slides from one quantum universe to another, and finally the Enterprise finds he hole that caused Worf to start sliding... 1500 Enterprise D's anyone? (and yes, one was semi-hostile and blew up another semi-hostile one - that was a small fight)
just getting silly and out there: the orbital fight at the beginning of the lost in space movie <shudder>
finally, while not in a movie, there were a couple of good orbital flights in Halo: The Fall of Reach - it's same that we had to loose Keyes in The Flood/Combat Evolved
Re:a few of treks! (Score:5, Insightful)
Nar it wasn't that bad. Star Trek ships are color coded for easy reference. Gray or green ships are good guys, brown and purple are bad guys, and yellow changes sides on a whim.
Re:a few of treks! (Score:2)
That one contained the only Wesley Crusher line ever to make me laugh. "Captain... we are receiving two hundred and eighty five thousand hails..."
Re:a few of treks! (Score:2)
just getting silly and out there: the orbital fight at the beginning of the lost in space movie
I like that fight, actually. It may seem pretty cheesy or whatever, but it lays down important foundation for later in the movie. And Joey actually plays a cool guy. :) (I hate Friends)
And on that topic, while not exactly a space battle, I really enjoy the sequence later in the movie where they go through the planet.
Yeah, I know, there's some cheesy stuff in that movie, but I really like it anyway. ;) Dann
Re:a few of treks! (Score:2)
Re:a few of treks! (Score:2)
Mmmm. Sorry! :(
Still can't figure out where I got Danny from....
Re:a few of treks! (Score:2)
Also, another thing that made the battle so neat was the fact that the Enterprise was attacked with its shields down. So instead of the ship just sha
Stargate SG1 (Score:4, Informative)
The dominion wars (Score:4, Insightful)
As for a small scale battle, I hate to make another trek reference but the nebula battle in nemesis was a beautiful portrayal of tactics and experience vs power and the overconfidence that came with it.
Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:3, Funny)
It was used in B5, ST:DS9, and ST:V iirc.
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:2)
Okay, I'm going to expose my geekiness here. Fortunately I don't think many femmes are watching. I don't think STV had a ramming order in it, but they did have a shuttle nick the floor of the shuttlebay, scaring the shit out of everybody involved. STVIII (First Contact) was the one where Worf ordered it, but didn't actually go through with it. STX actually portrayed a ramming scene, and like or hate the movie, that was pretty damn cool.
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:2)
STVIII (First Contact) was the one where Worf ordered it
I don't recall this exactly, sorta, however, in the next one (you know, that one nobody wants to remember) Riker orders them to ram the outcasts ship, and the guy says "He won't do it, will he?" and Worf says "Yes, he will." :) That whole movie's worth it just because Riker finally has balls, for the first time ever.
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:2)
Oops, I didn't realize you meant Voyager. I thought you were referring to Star Trek 5. Sorry.
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:2)
Oops, I didn't realize you meant Voyager. I thought you were referring to Star Trek 5. Sorry.
An honest mistake I made too. I thought she/he was talking about something cool and instead turned out to be talking about something worthless. ;)
(I like ST Five, and I don't care who knows it)
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:3, Funny)
"Prepare ship for light speed!"
"No no no, light speed is too slow!"
"Light speed too slow?"
"Yes, we're gonna have to go right to... ludicrous speed!"
"Ludicrous speed? Sir, we've never gone that fast before. I don't know if this ship can take it!"
"Whatsa matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?"
Spaceballs. Has a few space battles, too, but... well...
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:2)
It makes a lot more sense now.
Re:Give Me Ramming Speed! (Score:2)
"Ramming Speed" is probably the most basic yet most powerful thing a captain can say at the helm.
Star Trek: First Contact (Score:2)
Re:Star Trek: First Contact (Score:3, Interesting)
It didn't, but man it was effective. Remember when they listened in on the battle over the radio? All those ships reporting the damage they've sustained, etc. Seeing a bunch of ships flying around and blowing up is kinda neat, but that little audio blurb was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It caused me to imagine standing on one of those ships, knowing that if I didn't di
Re:Star Trek: First Contact (Score:2)
Watch Nemesis. Lots of battle there. Very 3-dimensional too. Very satisfying to boot.
Re:Star Trek: First Contact (Score:2)
No, but the scene of the Enterprise flying through the debris was wonderfully done.
TNG was always pretty good about that sort of thing; I remember the Riker from an alternate dimension where the Borg were conquering anything, screaming that he wouldn't go back...
Starwreck: ITP (Score:4, Informative)
The best were in Deep Space Nine (Score:5, Insightful)
Not sure it really qualifies, but there's an ep called "One Little Ship" where a minaturized runabout's flying around the Defiant. There is little that's more satisfying than watching a man shot in the chest by a photon torpedo. Heh.
I loved Deep Space Nine's space fx. To be honest, that show is the main reason I'm gunning for the VFX industry right now. Not only were the battles on that show unique (notice how one doesn't really sound like the other, unlike some shows that overdid it ridiculously), but man the visual quality was just top notch.
Re:The introduction of the Jem Hadar (Score:2)
Then again, something similar happened to the Constitution class ships too.
Given that we see so many of them in active service over a long period of time, the Mirandas and Excelsiors seem to have worked out better.
Course the costs of building the models probably had something to do with this.
Starship Troopers (Score:5, Interesting)
Ack. If they'd just paid a little attention to Heinlein's book. Sigh.
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:2)
Interceptors!...1...2...3...
Wicked cool show. I hated that my Dinky SHADO Interceptor was metallic green rather than the white mil-spec look of the show.
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:5, Insightful)
Like or hate the movie, they did an excellent job of portraying how dangerous it would be to be in a soldier/pilot in a battle like that. That scene where the escape pod bumps into a dead body really burned into my mind.
I really like battles that make you feel like "Ugh, I'm glad I'm safe at home in my living room." I saw Star Trek II when I was a kid. There was a scene where the torpedo bay took a hit, and somebody was walking past that section when it was hit. All the sudden there was a flash, the whole room was instantly on fire, and this guy just let out this awful scream of pain. Blowing nacelles off is cool, but that scene really got me.
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:2)
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:2)
Ever see Tora Tora Tora? (Note: I might have the name wrong, I only caught a little bit of it on TV...) I think it was a portrayal of Pearl Harbor. Several runways were bombed by Japanese planes. They had scenes where guys were hopping out of their plane just before the bomb hit. I remember thinking "SON OF A BITCH!! How'd they film that?!! I can't imagine a stunt guy being that close to a plane blowing up!" (Note: No fancy opti
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:2)
I saw Star Trek II when I was a kid.
You could have just stopped there, man, 'nuff said. Kirk and Khan facing off is by far the best space battle ever. It really is a last man standing, and they didn't fool around with it, they trashed both of those ships.
On a completely unsci-fi note, I really enjoy the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the movie Pearl Harbor. Sucks that there's this whole stupid movie built around it, but when the fight actually starts it rocks.
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember watching Robotech on TV, as a kid, and being absoultely stunned by the fact that, unlike Transformers, or GI Joe, or other 'war' stories, people died.
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:3, Insightful)
If they ever release the "All Min Mei's songs are 5 seconds long" or "She knows more than 3 songs" special edition, I'll buy the macross set.
Re:Starship Troopers (Score:2, Insightful)
But it is nice when big ships collide. Same thing goes for those (super) star destroyers in RotJ.
I think the best space fights I've seen has been in
The Forever War... (Score:5, Interesting)
The chase in 'Protector' by Larry Niven was pretty cool too.
Re:The Forever War... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Forever War... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The Forever War... (Score:2, Interesting)
Good scenes (Score:5, Insightful)
B5, obviously. You mentioned it already, but really, the battles in B5 are some of the best that I've ever seen, especially when coupled with the build-up to the battle provided by the storyline. "There is only one man who has ever survived a battle with a Minbari fleet. That man is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, you will leave." (Technically not a battle, but there's one shortly afterwards)
Battlestar Galactica had some cheesy battles that were actually pretty good for their time.
The Wing Commander movie had some good space combat in it, it's really too bad they felt the need to lobotomize the plot into some sickening Hollywood "Ooh Blair is one with the universe and has magic powers" tripe. Really not a bad movie though if you go take a walk for a minute anytime you hear the word "pilgrim".
Finally, as long as I'm talking space shows: Go buy Firefly. It has almost no space combat (seeing as the Firefly doesn't have any weapons to speak of) but it's got the whole "no sound in a vacuum" thing going for it. Besides, it's truly excellent. If you enjoy the depth and intelligence of the characters and story in B5, you'll like Firefly too.
Re:Good scenes (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, any good battles in that movie were nullified by the "Be quite, the other SPACE ship might hear us talking!" scene.
Re:Good scenes (Score:2)
During the Depth Charging, err.. I mean Bombing, I started thinking "When did they start showing Das Boot instead of Wing Commander, and wasn't Das Boot better than this?"
Re:Good scenes (Score:2)
--Mike
Re:Good scenes (Score:2)
Re:Good scenes (Score:2)
Balance of Terror was an awesome episode. I'm glad you brought it up. That battle is very good, and considering how early it was in visual science fiction, it was an excellent battle.
Yeah, it might have had the same plot as whatever the GP was bitching about, but it was played out well. That's what the cloaking device was all about, it was the same ol' submarine warfare. Not to mention the weird plasma gun the Romulans had, so they could cloak themselves for awhile, hide, and fire their gun, and wipe o
Re:Good scenes (Score:3, Insightful)
They were not being quiet because they were afraid of having noise detected.
They were being quiet because, when a human being knows he is being stalked or searched for, they tend to try to hide. It's a subconcious thing, and I, for one, thought it was a wonderful touch.
Re:Good scenes (Score:5, Interesting)
I've heard this complaint a lot, but I've never particularly subscribed to it. There's a few things that people don't typically consider.
1.) In a battle, it's important to keep moving. If you suddenly spin your ship 180 degrees and fire your thrusters the other way, you're going to come to a complete stop for a moment before re-accellerating back to your attack speed. A wide sweeping arc keeps you in motion and provides for better evasive maneuvers.
2.) Even though most ships have magic intertial/gravitic control force field thingies, there are probably still structural reasons to keep the ship oriented a certain way while it's moving.
3.) The most powerful thrusters on a ship are going to be to its aft, and along the lateral side of the ship. One's for moving forward, the other's for hovering over a planet. Banking the ship to perform a controlled turn is not necessarily wasteful seeing as how very little is known about how its basic maneuvering systems work.
4.) B5 did it all the time.
Re:Good scenes (Score:2, Interesting)
But in space, moving at constatnly velocity is the exact same as being motionless (although what "motionless" means in what context is a good point as noted by the other post). As such, the structural integrity of the ship would have to be designed to support the direction of acceleration not motion.
As for the most po
Re:Good scenes (Score:3, Interesting)
It's important to keep moving, but if you're both going 150,000kmph in the same direction, you're relatively motionless to each other, making yourselves targets. And, if you're going too fast past each other your shots are going to be very difficult.
Babylon 5's 4th season space battles were some of the best I've ever seen.
As far as nitty gritty goes, The battle in Star Trek Nemesis was very in-your-face, very real. Unfortunately, there was a whole lot of
Re:Good scenes (Score:2)
I may be just an historian, but I have at least a nodding acquaintance with simple Newtonian physics.
I'm not trying to troll, really, but you should have read his whole post.
If you suddenly spin your ship 180 degrees and fire your thrusters the other way,
Emphasis mine. So visualize this. You're walking down the street, and you do a sudden about face. Regardless of how fancy your technology is, your velocity must reach 0 before you begin moving in the opposite direction.
Now, you're right if you're t
Re:Good scenes (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Good scenes (Score:5, Interesting)
"This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw... or be destroyed."
'Negative, we have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship.'
"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."
As for good space battles, B5 easily has the best ones that I've seen. Anything with an Earth Alliance cruiser is IMO opinion particularily fun to watch. I just love those massive cannons that they have mounted on the fronts of the ships.
Re:Good scenes (Score:2)
Fun but campy... (Score:2)
also a couple of the transitional movies from video games.
One of the bad parts of dogfight scenes in space is the fact that you have to decide if you are going to make it a first person view from the perspective of one (or iteratively several) of the fighters, a seprate observer's view, or some combination of those. The more combinations you choose, the more video that needs to be generated, an awful lot of which won't make the final cut.
There have not been a lot of really high budg
Re:Fun but campy... (Score:2)
I would vote the large-scale stuff from the original Buck Rogers movie over Last Starfighter. Also a big armada and a silly means of destroying it, but cool Terran ships and Erin Gray to boot. Of course, the best special effect of that movie was the princess-tig-ole-biddies and the anti-gravity jubblies.
The NBC series d
Re:Fun but campy... (Score:2)
The battle I wanna see... (Score:3, Funny)
Best question ever! (Score:2)
Dear Slashdot. I was watching Lord of the Rings and wondered what the best battle sequence of all time was. I guess Lord of the Rings had some decent ones but I know there are better ones out there. I mean one with tons of people, catapults, elephants, dragons, pirates, ninjas, robots, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and rocket launchers. Additionally, there should be aliens using an alien operating system (that Mac users can communiate with of course). There has
I liked this one from B5. (Score:4, Informative)
"*Who am I*? I am Susan Ivanova, Commander, daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanova. I am the right hand of vengeance, and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth... I am Death Incarnate, and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me." (they open fire)
--Ivanova
Have to agree (Score:2)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Score:2)
The space battle scenes are very cool.
They just showed it this week on AMC. Lucky me.
Runner-up: ROTJ
Re:Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Score:2)
I mean some with tons of small interceptor & bomber ships, large/huge cruisers, stations, and so forth.
I suppose you could say that the Enterprise and the Reliant both weighed several tonnes, although still quite weightless in space. But I should say, two (2) spaceships playing pattycake in a nebula doesn't class as a "huge space battle" for the purposes of an article.
Definately, nonetheless, the defining space battle of the entire original set of movies, and the only one worth me
Re:Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Score:2)
Bigass space battles are good and all... but a good one-on-one confrontation can be way more exciting. Kirk and the Enterprise (good old 1701) vs. Khan and the Reliant is one of the best space battles ever. Because of the captains, because of the action, because of the effects, because of the strategy...
it was like Enemy Down Below, but in space! (US destroyer captain vs. German u-boat captain... awesome movie)
Moonraker (Score:3, Insightful)
Ricardo Montalban as the devious and cunning (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Ricardo Montalban as the devious and cunning (Score:2)
ID4 (Score:2)
"Yesterday's Enterprise" (Score:2, Informative)
Season 3 of TNG. Picard and the Enterprise-D must protect the Enterprise-C from three Klingon Bird-of-Prey vessels until it enters a rift to go back in time.
"Let's make sure that history never forgets... the name... Enterprise. Picard out."
Re:"Yesterday's Enterprise" (Score:2)
The Last Starfighter (Score:2)
Anime? (Score:5, Interesting)
Any Chase Scene (Score:2, Funny)
Enders' Game (Score:2, Insightful)
Attack! (Score:5, Interesting)
Star Wars - the final minutes of the Death Star attack *still* get my adrenaline going, even after all these years!
DS9: 'Sacrifice Of Angels' - fighters! Wings of Galaxies kicking ass! Mirandas spinning and exploding right into the camera! Klingons to the rescue! The Defiant flying three feet above the hull of an exploding battleship! Geek porn!
The Last Starfighter - the CG looks cheap now, but the Gun Star was/is a fantastic design. Death blossom!
Starship Troopers - one of the few times big ships have been given a real feeling of mass, especially when they start crashing into each other.
Excession (Score:3, Insightful)
However, Excession (Iain M Banks) has to win for all-time greatest space battle, despite it lasting ~0.1 seconds. Several massive ships, all travelling faster than light, controlled by AIs, looping around and hyperspace. Somehow the speed and scale of the fight came out of the book, it was wonderful.
More SB (Score:2)
The future of space battles (Score:2)
Think of the SIMS, now multiply by 10,000,000 -- and include the abililty to set the Borg against the Jedis, and throw in a squadron of
Star Trek 2 Baby... (Score:3, Informative)
Star Blazers (Score:2)
Andromeda (Score:3, Interesting)
In preparing to fight, Dylan says he's going to dump the atmosphere in most of the ship to reduce its mass.
DUH. That makes perfect sense. In over 40 years of sci fi reading and watching, I'd never seen that before.
Re:First Post (Score:2)
I also strongly recommend the new Battlestar Galactica.
Re:First Post (Score:3, Informative)
The Last Starfighter... (Score:2)
Re:First Post (Score:2)
Re:Voyager! (Score:2)
no, Voyager just took the Borg from being this menacing supervillain to the silly cyborgs to be kicked in the shins. (just one of my many gripes with ST:Voy)
*watches the women run away from the geek*
Re:ID4 (Score:2)
April 1.??
Re:Red Dwarf (Score:2)
Red Dwarf reply: How about when they tackled the aliens that souped up the starbug.
Aliens (paraphrased): "We have given your ship big guns and really fast drives. Now you may try to run away while we count to 100, then we come after you."
Cat: "Hey, I know this game, it's called Cat and Mouse. And the only way to win is to be the cat - despite what those stupid cartoons show."
Re:Red Dwarf (Score:3, Funny)
Rimmer: Step up to red alert!
Kryten: Sir, are you sure? It does mean changing the bulb!
Love it!