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Arriving on epic worlds, first glimpses of an iconic menace, and other great sci-fi movie openings.
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00:00It's time to enjoy and take a closer look at the way some of the greatest filmmakers on planet Earth
00:05captured our imaginations within the opening moments of these glorious chunks of sci-fi.
00:11So I'm Gareth, this is WhatCulture.com and here are the 10 Greatest Opening Scenes in Sci-Fi Movie History.
00:19Number 10. Landing on Pandora, Avatar
00:21Now sure there are those who are quick to argue whether the first avatar even made that much of a cultural impact
00:27on our own planet in the wake of its box office smashing run in cinemas.
00:31However, there's no denying that the moments that followed Jake Sully's narration as the camera soared high above the trees
00:37during its opening moments were some of the most mesmerizing of the 2000s.
00:41Waking up from cryo and floating out into this new universe James Cameron and the gang had beautifully crafted,
00:47within just a few gripping minutes viewers are swiftly informed why Jake was on this spacecraft,
00:52replacing his brother on the Avatar project, introduced to the gorgeous Na'vi homeworld for the very first time
00:58by an awesome-looking ra-ra-king the minds of all in attendance back when Dune Part 1 was released in 2021.
01:05Opening on the sound of Zendaya's Charney telling viewers about how stunning her planet of Arrakis looks when the sun is low,
01:11a magnificent visual of that very desert world gives folks a glimpse of the spectacular universe
01:17they're about to be completely immersed in.
01:19That peaceful spice field is soon pulverized by the colossal intimidating contraptions used by the outsiders to mine the Fremen's home though,
01:27as the ferocious Harkonnens maraud into frame,
01:30led by the unsettling and monstrous Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban,
01:35and the sight of Fremen emerging from the dust to stab these invaders,
01:39the occasional flicker of piercing light amid the sands as ships are gunned out of the sky,
01:43and shots of the big bad Harkonnen ultimately being forced to leave the planet in their extraordinary vehicles,
01:49all set the tone for the...
01:51...was about to unfold.
01:55Number 8. Max is the one who runs.
01:58Mad Max Fury Road.
01:59Inviting folks back into his post-apocalyptic wasteland,
02:03George Miller's Mad Max Fury Road begins with a breathtaking shot of the titular Rokatansky,
02:07looking out over the sands beside a thoroughly beat-up car.
02:12One quick two-headed reptile snack later,
02:14as Tom Hardy's Max fights with the voices in his brain,
02:17the battered anti-hero is pursued across the plains,
02:20before being well and truly stopped in his tracks by the first of many jaw-dropping vehicular stunts.
02:26Not done there though, Miller steps down on the accelerator once again,
02:30after being dragged kicking and screaming to a Morton Joe Citadel by the War Boys,
02:34a frenetic sequence involving Max being shaved, tattooed,
02:38and very nearly branded soon turns out to be the equivalent of someone strapping your face to the front of a speeding truck.
02:44The gloriously wild visual of Hardy desperately scrapping and scurrying his way through waves of pale adversaries,
02:50all while Tom Hulkenberg's throbbing score booms on,
02:53then comes to a screeching halt after a failed attempt to swing out of trouble.
02:58And it was here when viewers learned early on that there was simply no escaping this chaotic sci-fi ride.
03:03Number 7, I Think God Did It, Signs
03:05Long before it was revealed that H2O was the most powerful substance in the universe,
03:10in M. Night Shyamalan's 2002 sci-fi horror, Signs,
03:14audiences met Mel Gibson's father Graham Hess as he suddenly woke from his slumber.
03:19Then, quickly disturbing this fairly mundane morning routine,
03:22a chilling scream cuts through the toothbrush in.
03:25Brilliantly ramping up the tension from there on out,
03:28Shyamalan keeps those child cries in the distance as a panicked Hess and his brother Meryl
03:33begin sprinting through the crops in search of the youngsters calling their names.
03:37But the stress isn't simply squashed by the finding of young Morgan and Bo.
03:41Instead, with the short and shocking utterance of I Think God Did It,
03:45the former Hess child introduces both his father and viewers to a world-changing sign.
03:50Drawing people in with every never-ending second,
03:53Graham spends taking in the surreal visual of his plant being well and truly wiped out by an unknown
03:58force, Shyamalan expertly had his audience on the edge of their seat within the first five minutes,
04:04as the camera gradually zoomed out to reveal an astonishing crop circle.
04:08Number 6, Chasing Trinity, The Matrix
04:11In the seconds that follow the first few notes of that unmistakable Don Davis score trickling out of
04:17nearby speakers, The Matrix introduces us to the instantly iconic falling green code that the
04:22titular simulated reality is made up of. But the soon-to-be legendary moments do not stop there.
04:28The Wachowski shot viewers right through a zero and introduced the world to a mysterious woman
04:33decked out in full black leather. And this badass didn't need no man to get herself out of the
04:39sticky situation she'd found herself in, as cops appeared to have quote-unquote one little girl
04:44known as Trinity, surrounded. Stopping time dead as Carrie-Anne Moss prepared to boot the life out
04:50of one foolish police officer, it was in this precise moment when folks buckled up for a science
04:54fiction action journey unlike anything they'd ever seen before. By the time Trinity had unbelievably
05:00launched herself across a ridiculous gap high up on the city rooftops, it was already beautifully
05:05clear that the impossible simply did not apply to this miraculous world.
05:09Number 5, Behind the Curtain, The Prestige
05:12Showing off a ton of top hats that will ultimately come into play later on in the magical sci-fi tale,
05:18Christian Bale's magician Alfred Borden ominously asks if you're watching closely,
05:23within the opening few seconds of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.
05:26So begins a wonderfully puzzling sequence that sees Michael Caine's stage engineer John Cutter
05:31explaining the three acts that make up every single magic trick. And as he does this,
05:36the unbearably tense scene jumps between shots of Cutter making a little bird disappear,
05:41and Hugh Jackman's magic man Robert Angier doing that very same thing, only to himself with a lot
05:47more electricity. As Angier ends up being shockingly dropped into a locked water tank with Borden
05:52helplessly watching on, Nolan had viewers completely locked in. They wondered what in the holy hell they'd
05:58just witnessed, and were desperate to find out why the Jackman had just been seemingly killed off
06:03within the flick's opening minutes. That's one way to keep asses in seat, Chris. Those jaw-dropping
06:08revelations could not come soon enough after one of the most stressful, mysterious, captivating,
06:12and well-executed sci-fi hooks you're ever likely to see.
06:164. Shoot That Raptor – Jurassic Park
06:19In typical Steven Spielberg fashion, the iconic director was able to conjure up ridiculous amounts
06:24of dread and anxiety with just a few hints at the monster within, during Jurassic Park's legendary
06:30opening. As the hilariously underprepared Dino Wranglers attempt to safely move a deadly
06:35velociraptor from a container into a holding pen, things inevitably take a turn for the worst.
06:40As Bob Peck's park warden, Robert Muldoon, watches on, the dangerous lady within, one that is never
06:46fully revealed, soon turns an intriguing scene into the stuff of nightmares. Dragging her next meal
06:52into her cage, the way said bloke is effortlessly ragdolled by the vicious raptor, let viewers know
06:57early on that they definitely weren't dealing with Barney here. The occasional glimpse of the
07:02bloodthirsty animals staring into the petrified souls of all who were trying to keep her from
07:06going on a rampage, then finally gives way to a two-word command for the ages – shooting her.
07:12Still wasn't enough to erase the terrifying ordeal both Muldoon's men and those watching on had been
07:17put through, however. I'm still having nightmares.
07:193. A Very Different Los Angeles – Blade Runner The gorgeous and unnerving use of synthesizers
07:26in Blade Runner's now-adored Vangelis score was first introduced as a simple but perfectly
07:31cold opening crawl, explained what replicants were and why they were being retired by Blade
07:36Runners at this time. But before a single bio-engineered humanoid had even made its presence
07:41known on screen, the audience was already in awe of the world Ridley Scott & Co. had unleashed.
07:47With flames shooting out of buildings and into the dark, twinkling skyline, other cars are
07:52spotted soaring through the soulless remains of LA, as the camera takes its sweet time wandering
07:57across the Hades landscape. The sudden cut to a fixated eye lit up by this fiery world
08:02is merely the icing on top of the stunning sci-fi cake.
08:06And if that wasn't enough of a reason to get excited about the mysterious thriller to come,
08:10Scott only goes and follows that majestic vista, with the first compelling look at a particularly
08:15tense Voigt-Kampff test. The gripping exam used to figure out whether an individual was a
08:20replicant. Spoilers, it did not go well.
08:22Number 2. The Dawn of Man
08:242001 A Space Odyssey
08:26Often imitated, but never even remotely close to duplicated.
08:30Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey contains an opening scene so iconic, memories of it can
08:36be elicited with just five simple notes. You know the ones, but you know better.
08:44After spending a rather uncomfortable three minutes in complete darkness, as the flick
08:48gradually glues you to your seat with its intense overture, also Sprach Zarathustra booms through
08:54the speakers as a tremendous sunrise over planet Earth emerges. And this all sets the fascinating
08:59stage for the legendary Dawn of Man sequence.
09:02What?
09:03Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey contains an opening scene so iconic, memories of it can
09:09be elicited with just five simple notes. You know the ones, but you know better.
09:17After spending a rather uncomfortable three minutes in complete darkness, as the flick gradually
09:22glues you to your seat with its intense overture, also Sprach Zarathustra booms through the speakers
09:28as a tremendous sunrise over planet Earth emerges. And this all sets the fascinating stage for the
09:33legendary Dawn of Man sequence, one most recently seen inspiring the folks behind the Barbie flick.
09:39Over the course of a bold, dialogueless 10 minute opening spell, Kubrick then takes us through the
09:44evolution of man as apes collide with big cats, and their own kind before an alien monolith eventually
09:50arrives on the scene. Not long after this eerie monolith interaction, these apes figure out how to
09:55use bones as weapons. With this world-changing discovery inevitably leading to said weapons
10:00being used against a rival tribe, naturally, bringing an endlessly captivating scene to its
10:05epic conclusion, one of the hominins then chucks said bone high up into the sky, with that weapon
10:10then majestically transitioning into a satellite floating through space. Chef's kiss, mwah!
10:15And speaking of space, number 1. Vader's Arrival Star Wars
10:19How do you convince an entire galaxy to fall in love with the idea of rebellions fighting against
10:24villainous empires within just a couple of minutes? By giving those same folks watching 1977's Star Wars
10:30a dark Lord of the Sith-shaped reason to sit up in their seat, that's how.
10:35But before a certain half-machine, half-man fallen Jedi even showed up in the galaxy far,
10:40far away for the first time, everything from John Williams' magical Star Wars main theme playing out as the
10:46crawl dropped, to a never-ending Star Destroyer floating across the stars, had already convinced
10:51viewers their lives were never going to be the same again. Then, it happened baby. After doing
10:56all they could to keep their ship from being taken over by Imperial forces, those rebels gunned down
11:01by many a stormtrooper were soon joined by the menacing force known as Darth Vader. The powerful brass,
11:08that badass suit, the first few mechanical breaths. And with just one terrific Vader-boasting opening
11:14scene, an entire generation and countless more were all in on this fantasy sci-fi space opera.
11:21But that right there is our list, so know of any other great opening scenes in sci-fi movie history
11:25that we have missed? Well, let us know all about them in the comments section right down below,
11:29and don't forget to like, share, and click on that subscribe button while you are down there.
11:33I have been The Great Gareth from WhatCulture.com, cheers for checking out this video today,
11:38and hopefully we'll see you again soon. Bye-bye!
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