Your top 3 Sci-Fi movie scenes?

Admins, please let this thread stay—it’s a total passion project for me and everyone else here 🙂

For those who know me around here, you don't even have to ask which movie provides my top 3 Sci-Fi scenes—it's obviously just one single 😁 👍

My terminator my top 5 Sci-Fi scenes ever—personally, my favorites are:

1. The Terminator (1984): (The scene at the Tech-Noir club):

To me, this film is sacred (including the sequel)—you all know my obsession with the Terminator. This specific scene is... well, it's a part of me, honestly. It's pure childhood nostalgia...

It’s perfect—everything about it screams the 80s, including that soundtrack. You have Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, quite literally the only perfect Kyle Reese) watching over Sarah while the Terminator closes in. Then the slow-motion kicks in, aiming right for her head... destiny feels inevitable... then KYLE GRABS THE SHOTGUN and blasts him, while Sarah watches the Terminator stand back up in total disbelief. And then Kyle delivers that legendary line: "COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!" 🙂

A absolute masterpiece, in my eyes.

2. The Terminator (1984): The STORM is Coming scene

I could honestly end my list right here because I love this scene so much—there is nothing greater than this!!!

Sarah is pregnant with John, and a young Mexican man snaps a photo—the exact same photo that Kyle Reese will stare at constantly in the future. Back then, he couldn't have known that Sarah was probably thinking of him at the very moment the shutter clicked.

The kid says a storm is coming, the grandfather translates from Spanish that a storm is approaching, and Sarah says, pensively: "I know..." (thinking of the war to come)

She turns the wheel and heads straight into the storm... and the Terminator music starts to swell...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaa🙏🙏 🙏 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, oh my godddddddd 🙏

I'm speechless.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey: The opening scene, the dawn of man:

There aren't enough words for this scene, really... It's just... everything is said without saying anything at all. It leaves you with this strange feeling—this sense of mystery, of a distant past. There's something in the air while you watch it that just gets under your skin... such a powerful message about where we came from and where we've ended up... no comment.

An honorable mention goes to:

the original Blade Runner and that "Tears in Rain" scene...

Man, that scene... it just hits you right in the soul. Forget Hegel, forget Kant... even Aristotle doesn't hold a candle to it. Everything you need to know about life is captured in those few moments.

1. That moment when the Alien bursts right out of Kane's chest

2. Watching the T-1000 reform itself from those puddles in Terminator 2

3. Charlton Heston discovering the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes

*I've left things like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings out of this list—for obvious reasons...

Emily Myers32 said:1. That Alien bursting out of Kane's chest

2. Reassembling the T-1000 from those puddles in Terminator 2

3. Charlton Heston discovering the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes

*I left things like Star Wars and LOTR out of this thread for obvious reasons

Kudos—especially kudos for that Planet of the Apes scene. 🙏

In my opinion, that might be the biggest twist in cinematic history; even today, I can't stop marveling at it—just absolutely Maestral.

And that reaction of his; "You finally did it, you lunatics, you blew it up, damn you all."

What I particularly love about Heston's character in that Maestral film is how he’s actually a Cynic for the first half—he genuinely hates his own kind, which is why he went on that journey in the first place.

Only to realize halfway through just HOW IMPORTANT YOUR OWN SPECIES IS to you, no matter what it looks like.

By the end, he's proven entirely right regarding his species—starting as a Cynic at the beginning of the film, except now he isn't just cynical, he's FURIOUS because he was right all along.

Hey everyone, glad to see this thread getting started.

Ellen Ripley taking on the Alien Queen in Aliens

And that iconic scene where the Alien bursts out of the chest

Still can't make up my mind about the Third one

2001: A Space Odyssey - That segment with the space station and running along the gravity rim
Planet of the Apes (the original) - When Taylor discovers the truth and realizes he's actually back on Earth
Scanners (1986) - That specific moment when the fly zips into the capsule

EDIT - I just realized that Charlton Heston and those discoveries were already part of 🙂

One of my all-time favorite cinematic moments has to be the deactivation of HAL 9000 in Kubrick's Odyssey.



There’s a certain brilliance in how Kubrick approaches this computer shutdown; he treats it less like flipping a switch and more like performing euthanasia on a human—specifically a child. It isn't a small detail that HAL mentions his activation year, because it implies he’s essentially nine years old in this scene. To top it all off, he even sings that little song 🙂

When Johnny Bravo is chewing gum and losing his mind! (They Live)

When a computer suddenly comes to life like an infant and declares: "I'm alive!" (Demon Seed)

When Jul Briner coldly shoots down a tourist in a duel. (Westworld)

That moment in Signs (2002) when it turns out the Alien invaders looking to take over Earth are actually allergic to water.

When Vickers goes sprinting in a straight line right in front of a crashing spacecraft in Prometheus (2012).

The scene in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) featuring the band in Jabba the Hutt's palace—well, not the original one, but that CGI version they added later.

Three is way too few; I can think of several more.

When that spacecraft hits the Moon right in the eye in Le voyage dans la lune (1902).

Those three breasts in Total Recall (1990).

That head explosion in Scanners (1981).

Deckard shooting the replicant in the back in Blade Runner (1982).

When Zorg nearly chokes on a cherry in The Fifth Element (1997).

That bathroom scene in The Iron Giant (1999).

"The enemy can't press the button if you disable their hand," from Starship Troopers (1997).

The scene in the car in Children of Men (2006).

The fight over the desk in Brazil (1985).

Quote: Gregory Jones28

Christian Myers As specified by: There’s just something about Ellen Ripley and that intense showdown against the Alien Queen in *Aliens*—it’s easily one of the most iconic moments in cinema history. That Aliens scene where the creature bursts out of someone's chest—absolutely terrifying. I'm having a hard time deciding on the Third one.

Ripley vs. the Alien Queen. 🙏

"Leave her alone you bitch!!!"

Honestly, I have to hand it to him—it doesn't get any more badass than that.

For me, the most gut-wrenching part of that whole sequence—though I feel like people tend to gloss over it—is when Newt screams, "Bishopppp!" just as he’s barely managing to grab her while he's being ripped in two.

To felt like the ultimate validation for Bishop—this way for the story to suggest that he might actually be a better man than most people, despite being a machine. It’s especially poignant considering how much Ripley resisted anything "artificial" at the start of the film.

And honestly, I still get goosebumps every single time I watch that "punch it, Bishop" scene—especially when that music starts swelling... man, what a rush. Hands down, the greatest countdown scene ever made!

Quote: Gregory Jones28

bluecyclist64 said:When Johnny Bravo chews his gum and starts causing absolute mayhem! (They Live)

That's that, man. 🙂.

"No, I am your father"

Gregory Jones28 said:"An enemy can't press a button if you take his arm off" from Starship Troopers (1997).

👍

Honestly, I still think the original Alien introduction hits harder. It’s such an iconic cinematic moment—not even just for sci-fi...
That specific beat where initial relief—thinking the facehugger just fell off and died—suddenly shifts into pure, unadulterated dread. That feeling of losing all control over the situation...

Everything else feels like a mere upgrade 🙂

By the way—if we decide to bring Star Wars and Lord of the Rings into the mix—I’m going to need a much longer list. Actually, probably even more entries than that, since I could make separate ones for each...

sorry guys, but you don't stand a chance against this one. You're totally unarmed. ☕

just a montage of various scenes 🙏

the movie is already a visual masterpiece on its own, let alone everything else about it...

sorry... I really feel for you guys

Honestly, this one’s been sitting near the top of my list lately

Emily Myers32 said:By the way, if we decide to include Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, I’m going to need a much more extensive list. Actually, I’ll probably need several lists since I can categorize them individually for each franchise.

But honestly, what would be the point in adding those?🤔>

bluecyclist64 said:And why exactly would we want to include that?🤔

I get where you're coming from regarding SW—I totally see that connection—but I just can't wrap my head around the Lord of the Rings comparison. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love LOTR, but there isn't really a link there to Sci-Fi at all.

When it comes to Star Wars... well, honestly, I don’t really care what anyone else thinks about it. Hahaha—it always seems to end up this way whenever someone brings up Sci-Fi and Star Wars in the same breath. 😁

Listen, folks—this thread is really meant to be about the soul. It’s a space for those scenes that truly resonate with us, those moments that stay close to our hearts and feel like an actual part of who we are.

I’ve finished my three scenes, but I really think we can't afford to lose sight of The Matrix.

Personally, I consider this movie a total cult classic—though if I had to pick one standout moment, it would definitely be that rooftop scene.

Neo : Trinity Help!

And then there was that one scene.

Trinity: I’ve honestly never seen anyone move quite like that.

I was practically frozen in my seat at the local AMC during my freshman year of high school.

What on earth is this? 😁

To me, this film is massive—not just because of the script, but because of its philosophical depth, its metaphorical layers, and that absolute technological revolution with bullet time. It’s more than just a movie; it’s a total cult classic. 😁

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It is somewhat interesting, I suppose, that the vast majority of the selections in this thread consist of scenes from movies released in the last century. One might wonder if it implies that modern directors simply lack much in the way of imagination. 😁