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Best Sci-Fi Space Battles?
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?"
Also of note, Picard V.S. the Klingons is Generation(hope thats the right film).
Those are the two I always think of.
Needle Nardle Noo
Many of the battles in the anime "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" are quite good, especially for a late 80s show http://logh.net for more info
Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
One of the most memorable was from Battlestar Galactica, where the humans have been getting kicked around for three episodes, and finally their fighters have managed to fall upon a few Cylon ships. They're all about payback. They deploy only to have their avionics turned off by a computer exploit, then get to watch helplessly as they're detonated in a wave of missiles. I thought that "battle" was very well done in terms of dramatic tension, and hey, often war is like that. Just ask Task Force Z.
That show had some great dogfight stuff with more realistic than normal physics. Better than B5 B5 in that respect.
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)
I seem to recall some battles in Space: Above and Beyond, and Deep Space 9 seasons 4 and later being pretty bad-ass.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
not big but good: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn :) (produced by ILM no less)
:\
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
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
I really enjoyed the Stargate SG1 season 7 finale, Where the 37 Motherships and hundreds of Al'kesh (Medium range bombers) of Anubis' fleet enters Earth's atmosphere. Towards the end of the episode, Earth's mainline defense, the Prometheus and a fleet of X302 fighters do about a 5 minute battle. First to defend a small Cargo vessel above an Ancient outpost in Antarctica and later when the X303 (Prometheus) attack's Anubis' motherships. It's a pretty well done attack scene. I can't say I like the matrix like squiddies that O'Neil calls out from the Ancient's outpost, but It's still pretty good space battle scene. Bests most B5 scense I recall.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds -Albert Einstein
Towards the end of DS9's run, they had a few really good large scale battles that would really keep you on edge. It just gives you such a sense of the scale of a conflict like that when you see ship after ship get blown apart, and you start thinking "they MUST be running low by now" and all of a sudden another wave shows up from each side. Not to mention the suspense and the politics they showed before and between battles. Star Trek really is a very politically motivated show when you think about it. The bajorans as the jews, cardassians as the germans, klingons as the russians, romulans would be the chinese I think...the stories are definitely inspired by real world events and they can portray them with such candor because of the sheild of a fantasy world they can hide behind.
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.
It was used in B5, ST:DS9, and ST:V iirc.
The battle against the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact was pretty good. Didn't last very long, though.
Comment of the year
Just go see http://starwreck.com/ and their trailer. Now that's going to be THE fragfest of the century! :)
The obligatory Farscape plug. But in actuality, there were many very interesting space battles. Agile fighters, hulking battleships, and of course a myriad of species each with different ship technology and ways of fighting. While there were all-out battles with lots of ships, most of the battles were of course focused around the living ship and a few others. All of the battles were very well-done and worked with the storyline to add tension, instead of large-moving-object-laser-bolts-boom-repeat.
Of course there were quite a few Star Trek battles over the years, not all of which were good, but not awful considering the wilful ignorance of physics.
Deep Space Nine had some damn cool battles. "Sacrifice of Angels" was particularly surprising given that it featured a battle between 1200 Dominion ships and 600 Federation ships. The sheer scale of it was amazing. "Way of the Warrior" was another kick ass episode. It featured a fleet of Klingon ships assaulting DS9. What was so startling about it was that most of it featured motion controlled models as opposed to the CGI stuff we see today. The visual quality of that battle is amazing, even today. "Shattered Mirror" made a lot of people's eyes go wide as well. There moneymaker shot was when the Defiant went up against a huge Klingon ship and blew away pieces of the underside of it. They had to build a 20 foot model to film that! Eek.
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.
"Derp de derp."
I'll not comment on the practicality of such battle tactics, nor on the movie's total disregard for the book, but Starship Troopers had some interesting special effects during the assault on Klendathu--the bug homeworld. Seeing the Rodger Young and other transports lumbering about, colliding stupidly, and eating bug plasma was pretty cool--a good example of what happens when close formations of stupid people in big ships blindly fly over excellent AAA.
Ack. If they'd just paid a little attention to Heinlein's book. Sigh.
What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?
Book space battles are always better than movie battles. The stuff in the Forever war was some of the coolest battle gear.
The chase in 'Protector' by Larry Niven was pretty cool too.
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DS9 had some awesome battles towards the end of the series, during the Dominion War, and although they were often short by most people's standards, they were still pretty long action sequences for a Trek.
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.
Random and weird software I've written.
The Last Star Fighter.
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 budget operations that can throw together a good set of battle scenes that can be included.
The other side of this is that it makes a great adreneline boost towards a climax, but really should not be the end all of the show.
Then again, that's my opinion....
-Rusty
You never know...
I'd really like to see a fleet of eggs from Ork engage a fleet of Police Boxes from Gallifrey.
"Derp de derp."
Pity it's so short, though...
Right on. S:A&B was the friggin BOMB. I loved that show to death, especially the space battles! They just got SO much right, and still managed to keep it exciting! /.ed to hell), clicky over here for a short (and really poor quality) clip of S:A&B. At first blush it doesn't really seem special, but if you watch it closely, you start to notice the little things that S:A&B got right. Stuff like the ship having to dodge debris, or how the alien fighter at that flys past them at the end cuts power and spins around to blast them while still traveling forward (momentum). Its stuff like that that made their dogfights so enthralling to watch. ;))
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 holds a candle to S:A&B. Heck, if you're feeling a little nostalgic (and read this before the server gets
Plus, the Wildcards were just badass! "Expect No Mercy". (And who can forget the forboding "Abandon All Hope" ace?
I don't know if anime really qualifies, but still a great deal of imagination is still needed. I remember when Macross Plus volume 4 was released, all the anime fans at the time were raving about how fantastic final dog fight was. I didn't think much of it myself, however in my expereince, that was the most hyped action battle scene I have come across.
"I just can't sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it's nonsense" J Watson, Sci Am 288:(4)51
I am going to submit a new question to Ask Slashdot:
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 to be lots of blood, and additional entrails are much desired.
Voyager! That damn little ship could take out a borg cube all by its self! If took most of the federations war fleet to do the same thing at wolf 359...
I like the B5 battle where this quote is said.
"*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
To this day I still say Return of the Jedi is the best space fight I have ever seen.
(1) Macross Zero.
:)
I know, I know - technically this just has a lot of Giant Robot fights - but the first time you see a VF-0 transform, your jaw is agape and drool starts dripping down your chin. There are some absolutely amazing CG battle sequences in this series (I have seen up to part 3).
Not officially available in the US yet, but be resourceful.
(2) Battlestar Galactica (2003 remake).
Anyone who caught the recent Battlestar Galactica remake on Sci-Fi channel could testify - there were some pretty frickin' cool space battles in it. Very anime-inspired with the missile trails streaking all over the place - and they don't forget the laws of physics (turning around and shooting while traveling backwards).
And one of the battles is the setup for the best line of the entire miniseries:
"What do you hear?"
"Nothing but the rain, sir!"
(As chunks of debris from destroyed enemy craft bounce off the hull of Starbuck's fighter).
The space battle scenes are very cool.
They just showed it this week on AMC. Lucky me.
Runner-up: ROTJ
The USS Odyssey, a Galaxy Class ship, went into the Gamma Quadrant, and the Jem Hadar ships made quick work of it with a kamakazi style attack. I was in shock. It wasn't the Enterprise, but it was the same class, and to see the new enemy just destroy it was quite amazing.
astronauts + laser rifles == sweet
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN!!!
Aside from Star Wars IV, my favorite is Independence Day. Yes, it's not a space battle, but that gives it the advantage of a good excuse for sound and banking turns. It's only real shortcoming is the fake explosions, especially of the fighter jets. They completely stop and vaporize, leaving no debris, and well after it's vaporized, the pilot is still shown screaming. But the motion and cinematography is great.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one yet.
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."
Damn Slash made me put this sentence in.
The latest Slashdot meme.
What about anime space battles? Someone mentioned The Legend of Galactic Heroes already. I strongly reccomend Macross Zero 1&2, the battle scenes are really impressive. Macross Plus is very good but the battles are mainly one-to-one. Also Voices of a Distant Star is a very good story and has quite good graphics.
It was General Hammond using the line:
"Give Me Ramming Speed!
If we're going down we're taking them with us!"
In which the commander utters the words *we've gone to plaid* is worth sacrificing a few space vessels for.
How about Starship Troopers? The design and rendering of the craft is incredible, as are the effects when they break up!
Probably considered minor compared to Star Trek and Wars, but it was the first time I was wowed by special effects in ages.
http://franceweb.fr/poesie/nerval4.htm
Best battles descriptions ever. Of course, you had to be there ...
---------- ovidius naso
I think "Independce Day" had one of the all out best sci fi aciton in it. I mean come on, it had great special effects a decent plot, and good acting..... gotta love will smith
Plus, the Wildcards were just badass!
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.
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
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.
You must think in Russian.
Making a great space battle in an anime is less of a technical challenge, and more of a story-telling challenge. Many anime productions which rely heavily on technical props (from giant robots to space battles to cyborgs, etc.) have design staff working specifically on the technology in the anime.
Among the better examples of how technical design produces realistic-looking space battles are such animes as Cowboy Bebop and Crest of the Stars. You can also find very realistic-looking space sequences in Planetes. All of these three are also well-told tales, so one needn't fear that focussing on the tech will draw away attention from telling a good story.
Getting slightly off-topic, a fine example of technical innovation and design implemented in an anime is Ghost in the Shell. Featuring well-designed cybernetics technology, this one is a joy to watch. And though the technological details (and the shapely female lead) are definitely the main draw, the character development is excellent, too.
- Peter Ravn Rasmussen
Not really a space battle but has to be said:
Cat: "Is that what I think it is?"
Lister: "What do you think it is?"
Cat: "An orange whirly thing in space?"
and later on:
Cat: "I hate to get all technical on you guys, but - all hands on deck! Swirly thing alert!"
Where the orange swirly thing was obviously just orange colored water being stirred, with added glitter.
henry -- the human evolution news relay
If we're talking on TV, then obviously B5 with the super-manuverable fighters has to win.
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.
...the bit around about when the lizard uses Death Blossom.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
"Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise"
- Yesterday's Enterprise
If TPTB hadn't screwed up the whole Star Trek franchise, I'd still think that that phrase Picard utters was the pearl of the whole thing.
Now, after all the crap that has been shown, I think of it as pearl of a period where Star Trek was worth watching.
Other than that, most B5 battles were REALLY good, especially the ones with the Minbari dreadnoughts.
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Independence Day (although technically not in space it did involve thousands of spacecraft) and Stargate SG-1 has had a number of good battles. The season finale this year was pretty impressive.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
OK, I just managed to get reception in my crystal ball, and it tells me that some of the best space battles will be around in 15 years or so. That's when we will have huge video archives in our home computers, where we can use intelligent agents to recreate battles, using characters from different series, possibly even with different laws of physics, and watch the results.
:-)
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 highly trained Wookies in SG-1 DeathGliders for good measure.
In other words, we will be able to BE AS GODS.
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
The man/ machine battle in matrix-3 was very good. The biggest depictions of space battles are the movies and TV shows you and others have mentioned. The media has a tendency to go for the massive WW II Dogfight scenario around the bombers style of space battle.
It is easier for most people to grasp that type of battle and makes better cinema. Warfare in space is limited in the scifi movies because in tends to be a climatic scene.
you will find more computer games about the subject then cinema or TV. most of those games are again you flying a armed space craft in space / you in a walking tank.
remeber the technology to depict space battles has advanced tremendously in the last 40 years.
Compare the 1939 Buck Rodgers serials to todays movies to understand the state of the art in space battles.
Gold Medal goes to Star Trek II, with Kirk and Khan in a battle of wits in the Mutari (sp?) Nebula. The most compelling space battle because you knew the personalities involved, and they played a role in the outcome.
Silver would have to be Return of the Jedi, the final battle scene where the super star destroyer crashes into the Death Star. The Star Wars series has the best mix of small/fast fighters and big/slow capital ships.
Bronze goes to the Last Starfighter, everyone loves the impossible odds, one against a thousand type battles.
Among computer games, the Homeworld series stands tall with varied ships, true 3d and pretty explosions.
Wrath of Khan... yeah... Wrath of Khan... it's not every day you get to see an enemy down the Enterprise's shields and slice through it's hull with Kirk at the helm. He got through by the skin of his teeth, but he also got his ass served to him. "Revenge is a dish served cold..." - Khan
Anything with the Black Tiger Squadron or the Argo (Yamato). Check out the Star Blazers home page.
Robotech. Honestly, I think the answer is Robotech. I know! I know! Pick me! Pick me! Robotech! Macross Saga, please. Definately the Robotech. I cry when Roy dies, don't you? I have trouble suspending disbelief when watching live-action shows, as they are obviously actors. but I have no trouble believing anime. Am I defective? Or hey, did you see that show Last Exile on the Anime Unleashed?? Not space combat, but whoever dreamt up that sky-ship combat has to be a genius, that was awesome.
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 surpasses Babylon 5 in its handling of space combat physics (it was even part of the plot of some episodes). I love that show.. I miss that show.... being region 4 (Australia and Brazil among others.. go figure!), I doubt I'll ever see it on DVD... :(
oh, for those who haven't seen it: Chiggy von Richthofen is the name the wildcards gave an alien ace pilot, which was flying a prototype fighter. I forget what he'd written on his ship.. anyone remember?
click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.
Macross - Do You Remember Love? the Movie (1984) takes the space battles from the Macross TV show (later dubbed into Robotech: the Macross Saga) to another level of scale, detail, and scope. Big ships, little interceptors, mechs walking around fighting on the hulls of mammoth cruisers - completely awesome and still looking top notch 20 years later.
Don't forget Star Wars Fan Films. If you're looking for to fix your jonez for a battle, there are a number of good films available. Seeds of Darkness while not having the best actors, does have a well-done battle sequence. To the filmmakers' credit, it is very well crafted and paced, borrowing liberally from Lucas' own style of showing simultaneous battles on multiple fronts.
Ryosen
One man's "Troll, +1" is another man's "Insightful, +1".
Come to think of it, the recent Pearl Harbor movie had me going in a similar way. There was a point in that movie that I *really* hated the Japanese military of that era. I haven't been charged by a movie like that in ages. (Fortunately that disappeared quickly after leaving the theater..)
Why is that fortunate?
Why should you not hate both tyranny and the tyrants that seek [or sought] to impose it?
As they reused footage from Star Trek III and VI. I'm not kidding. Watch how the Bird of prey cloaks, then watch Search for Spock. Then observe how the Bird of Prey explodes.. Strikingly similar to how the ship explodes at the end of Undiscovered Country. Cheap, eh?
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
Can't say much for the dogfights, but I was rececntly very impressed with what's an otherwise minor detail in Andromeda's pilot show.
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.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Don't get me wrong, I loved the show, but besides Fox's crappy timeslot placement and such, there were two major flaws. Anyone who speaks, dies. If you weren't a main character, and you had a speaking part, you could expect to die this episode. There was an exception -- there was a two parter, where the person with the speaking role lasted through a second episode before dying The commercial breaks gave away the ending The little bit that they'd play as a teaser right before (during?after?it's been a few years) would give away the ending of the episode without fail The second one shouldn't be an issue on a DVD release, however, and was probably an issue with Fox more than with the show itself.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
There were some good space battles in "The Gripping Hand" by Pournelle and Niven.
Realistic, true to the physics of the universe, etc. and spellbinding as well.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
Dark Star. There's a flight sequence where the ship is moving at some incredible velocity and it just plain *stops*. No slowing down, just stops. Everyone in the cinema lurched to one side.
As for the battles, in every movie I've ever seen they seem to be rehash of aircraft warfare, all 2D based where "lift" and "gravity" affect behaviour.
All these neatly arrayed ships sharing a common "up"
Can't remember ever seeing a decent 3D attack formation...
"Abandon All Hope"
Someone hates these cans.
One word:
Momentum.
As in ship that (mostly) followed the laws of physics.
Another word, missiles.
r
E.E. "Doc" Smith wrote decades ago the ultimate Space Police series. The Lensmen were the good guys buzzing around in inertialess ships. The battles and weapons just keep getting bigger and bigger. Fairly early in the series there are things such as a fleet flying in cone-shaped formation so they can fire all their weapons forward, producing one huge cylinder of coruscading destruction. And I won't spoil your reading enjoyment by describing what they do with planets.
Simple, the movie at the start of freespace 2 was the most impressive space battle i have ever seen! Many many ships, loads of little ships dogfighting, whilst the big ships are used more like capital battleships. Small ships dogfighting amongst big ships is much better, why i always prefer star wars to star trek! Regards Seb
to real space battles. None of that *STUPID* banking in vacuum...
On the other hand, a real battle would look more like the command room in Empire Strikes Back. NO big dogfights...they don't happen anymore, and you cannot see them, in RL. Modern fighter jets use automatic targetting, because you aim when you're 50 miles away, and by the time you've fired, you're 50 mi. past them.
There is *NO* *WAY* that you'll have more than one wing "visible" to anyone's eye. They'll take place at the range of hundreds, or thousands, of *MILES*. And mostly, a hit will mean that it's radioactive debris in space.
Survivors? Miracles only. Consider the movie I just watched, "K-19, the Widowmaker" - and *that's* only a reactor leak.
mark "in space, you don't ever have to
look in the eye of the person you're
about to kill"
The Battle: the Dominion-Cardassian-Breen fleet v. the Federation-Romulan- Klingon fleet with a last-minute defection by the Cardassians. Six separate sets of craft: tenders, small corsairs and cruisers up to full battleships are represented for each fleet. That's 18 classes of craft all performing the kinds of support / defense / attack performance corresponding to a major naval and air battle on Earth.
The battle is brilliant. The craft are well executed (and Defiant III, or whatever) has some of the most complicated CGI flight I've ever seen in ANY medium. The 7th Season DVD's have a number of interviews with the art and computer graphics staff (the Okudas) and Ira Behr - the production problems are discussed, as are storyboards of the battle.
DS9 is IMHO the best of the Trek franchise and this final episode and battle have production values that equal any large-screen production.
No, seriously. It's incredible. You can catch it in syndication or on the 1st-Season DVD. It's a huge but short space battle with some incredible animation, both hand-drawn and CGI. Plus, it's led by the immortal Zap Brannigan.
More info here
THE GOOD HUMOR MAN CAN ONLY BE PUSHED SO FAR
Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 2F18
the intro movie to this game had some amazingly well done space battle action. i think it was the first time i had seen realisticly modeled camera movement in CGI as well, which added greatly to the sense of realism.
Try watching Seikai no Senki (Battleflag of the Stars) for one of the greatest battles ever created (read: animated). Yeah, its an anime, but that doesn't make it any less good. Please note that this is an 11 episodes show for a single battle. No CG on this one. If you want some kewl speedy action with lots of ships in CG (though not nearly as impressive as Seikai no Senki) try watching Vandread 1st and 2nd Stage (two series, 13 episodes each).
I am a speak english. Do you not? - Saroto
The last battle, where he spins a shoots all the baddies...
Jeoin
At the risk of being flamed, for my hard earned, you cant go past the big battles between real spaceships and modern day fighter craft and weaponry in Independance Day (Will Smith et al). Now bring it on!
Interesting that noone should come up with spacebattles.com - they mix everything in some grand figthing scenes (ships from B5, Star Trek, Galactica, Star Wars etc), and seem to be a bunch of happy amateurs. Great fun, and even some story line thrown in for good measure.
Hurricane Application Group, Dept of Meteorology Control, Ministry of Proactive Defense
I can't believe that no-one has mentioned the combat sequences in the night's dawn trilogy of books, nothing beats 1500 nuclear, laser, missile and antimatter combat wasps blowing the crap out of each other, or even the sequence where they use orbital defense xray laser satellites on the possessed.
Belongs to Irresponsible Captain Tyler. ;)
You gotta love all those ships in SW banking while flying through space. Duh. B5 and the remake of BG are some of the few shows to do it right. Sure it looks cool to see the banking and turning, but it's an insult to the viewers because it's so fake.
the opening dogfighting scenes in Lost in Space the Movie were fun! Though not vast in scale, it qas quite easy to get caught up in it and you were on a rollercoaster!
Be True, Unbeliever
The jets vs the alien crafts.... it was brilliant.... hundreds of crafts battling it out... one of the most furious air combats I have seen.
:D Star wars rocks
The combined attack on the borg cube by the federation fleet... was nice again; the max number of ships involved in a battle in a trek movie
Some decent space battles in the sub-par Wing Commander movie
Star Wars.. well... the movies had to justify the name
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If you want to know what a real battle in space would be like, I suggest you read the relevant passage from Iain M Banks' book "Excession". Said battle takes 4 or 5 pages to describe, involves hundreds of ships and takes 350 milliseconds. All the film space battles I've ever seen, and the Star Wars ones are particularly bad, are reworkings of WW2 aircraft dogfights. The audience may be comfortable with this, but it involves breaches of the laws of physics (spacecraft cannot fly in curves unless under thrust, explosions make no noise in space), obvious nonsense (human beings aiming projectile weapons - sheesh) and stupidity such as the ships all being the same way up.