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
00:05on planet Earth captured our imaginations within the opening moments of these glorious
00:10chunks of sci-fi.
00:11So I'm Gareth, this is WhatCulture.com, and here are the 10 Greatest Opening Scenes
00:17in Sci-Fi Movie History.
00:1910.
00:20Landing on Pandora – Avatar Now sure, there are those who are quick to
00:23argue whether the first Avatar even made that much of a cultural impact on our own planet
00:28in 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
00:35the camera soared high above the trees during its opening moments were some of the most
00:39mesmerising of the 2000s.
00:41Waking up from cryo and floating out into this new universe James Cameron and the gang
00:46had beautifully crafted, within just a few gripping minutes viewers are swiftly informed
00:51why Jake was on this spacecraft, replacing his brother on the Avatar project, introduced
00:55to the gorgeous Na'vi homeworld for the first time via awesome-looking rocket ship,
01:00and the cool but impressive RDA's planet-sapping technology successfully took many a breath
01:06away.
01:07We certainly weren't in Kansas anymore.
01:09Cameron dumped viewers right into the middle of a bold new world, and brilliantly prepared
01:13them for a sci-fi adventure like no other.
01:16Now I've got a quick question for you – what's your favourite Jim Cameron movie?
01:20Is it Avatar, Terminator, something else?
01:22You let me know down below.
01:249.
01:25The New Arrakis, Dune
01:26Denise Villeneuve wasted absolutely no time when it came to blowing the minds of all in
01:31attendance back when Dune Part 1 was released in 2021.
01:35Opening on the sound of Zendaya's Chani telling viewers about how stunning her planet
01:39of Arrakis looks when the sun is low, a magnificent visual of that very desert world gives folks
01:45a glimpse of the spectacular universe they're about to be completely immersed in.
01:49That peaceful spice field is soon pulverised by the colossal intimidating contraptions
01:54used by the Outsiders to mine the Fremen's home, though, as the ferocious Harkonnens
01:59maraud into frame, led by the unsettling and monstrous Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban.
02:05And the sight of Fremen emerging from the dust to stamp these invaders, the occasional
02:09flicker of piercing light amid the sands as ships are gunned out of the sky, and shots
02:14of the big bad Harkonnen ultimately being forced to leave the planet in their extraordinary
02:19vehicles, all set the tone for the vast and routinely sensational sci-fi epic that was
02:24about to unfold.
02:258.
02:26Max is the One Who Runs – Mad Max Fury Road
02:29Inviting folks back into his post-apocalyptic wasteland, George Miller's Mad Max Fury
02:34Road begins with a breathtaking shot of the titular Rockatansky looking out over the sands
02:40beside a thoroughly beat-up car.
02:42One quick two-headed reptile snack later, as Tom Hardy's Max fights with the voices
02:46in his brain, the battered anti-hero is pursued across the plains, before being well and truly
02:52stopped in his tracks by the first of many jaw-dropping vehicular stunts.
02:56Not done there though, Miller steps down on the accelerator once again.
03:00After being dragged kicking and screaming to a Morton Joes citadel by the War Boys,
03:04a frenetic sequence involving Max being shaved, tattooed, and very nearly branded soon turns
03:10out to be the equivalent of someone strapping your face to the front of a speeding truck.
03:14The gloriously wild visual of Hardy desperately scrapping and scurrying his way through waves
03:19of pale adversaries, all while Tom Hulkenberg's throbbing score booms on, then comes to a
03:24screeching halt after a failed attempt to swing out of trouble.
03:27And it was here when viewers learned early on that there was simply no escaping this
03:31chaotic sci-fi ride.
03:337.
03:34I Think God Did It – Signs Long before it was revealed that H2O was the
03:38most powerful substance in the universe, in M. Night Shyamalan's 2002 sci-fi horror
03:43Signs, audiences met Mel Gibson's father Graham Hess as he suddenly woke from his slumber.
03:49Then, quickly disturbing this fairly mundane morning routine, a chilling scream cuts through
03:54the toothbrush in.
03:55Brilliantly ramping up the tension from there on out, Shyamalan keeps those child cries
04:00in the distance as a panicked Hess and his brother Meryl begin sprinting through the
04:04crops in search of the youngsters calling their names.
04:07But the stress isn't simply squashed by the finding of young Morgan and Bo.
04:11Instead, with the short and shocking utterance of I Think God Did It, the former Hess child
04:16introduces both his father and viewers to a world-changing sign.
04:20Drawing people in with every never-ending second Graham spends taking in the surreal
04:24visual of his plants being well and truly wiped out by an unknown force, Shyamalan expertly
04:30had his audience on the edge of their seats within the first five minutes, as the camera
04:35gradually zoomed out to reveal an astonishing crop circle.
04:386.
04:39Chasing Trinity – The Matrix In the seconds that follow the first few notes
04:43of that unmistakable Don Davis score trickling out of nearby speakers, The Matrix introduces
04:49us to the instantly iconic falling green code that the titular simulated reality is made
04:54up of.
04:55But the soon-to-be legendary moments do not stop there.
04:58The Wachowskis shot viewers right through a zero and introduced the world to a mysterious
05:03woman decked out in full black leather.
05:05And this badass didn't need no man to get herself out of the sticky situation she'd
05:10found herself in, as cops appeared to have quote-unquote one little girl known as Trinity
05:15surrounded.
05:17Stopping time dead as Carrie-Anne Moss prepared to boot the life out of one foolish police
05:21officer, it was in this precise moment when folks buckled up for a science-fiction action
05:25journey unlike anything they'd ever seen before.
05:28By the time Trinity had unbelievably launched herself across a ridiculous gap high up on
05:33the city rooftops, it was already beautifully clear that the impossible simply did not apply
05:37to this miraculous world.
05:405.
05:41Behind the Curtain – The Prestige
05:42Showing off a ton of top hats that will ultimately come into play later on in the magical sci-fi
05:47tale, Christian Bale's magician Alfred Borden ominously asks if you're watching closely,
05:53within the opening few seconds of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.
05:56So begins a wonderfully puzzling sequence that sees Michael Caine's stage engineer
06:01John Cutter explaining the three acts that make up every single magic trick.
06:05And as he does this, the unbearably tense scene jumps between shots of Cutter making
06:10a little bird disappear, and Hugh Jackman's magic man Robert Angier doing that very same
06:15thing, only to himself with a lot more electricity.
06:18As Angier ends up being shockingly dropped into a locked water tank with Borden helplessly
06:23watching on, Nolan had viewers completely locked in.
06:26They wondered what in the holy hell they'd just witnessed, and were desperate to find
06:30out why the Jackman had just been seemingly killed off within the flick's opening minutes.
06:34That's one way to keep asses in seats, Chris.
06:37Those jaw-dropping revelations could not come soon enough after one of the most stressful,
06:41mysterious, captivating and well-executed sci-fi hooks you're ever likely to see.
06:464.
06:47Shoot That Raptor – Jurassic Park In typical Steven Spielberg fashion, the iconic
06:52director was able to conjure up ridiculous amounts of dread and anxiety with just a few
06:57hints at the monster within, during Jurassic Park's legendary opening.
07:01As the hilariously underprepared dino-wranglers attempt to safely move a deadly velociraptor
07:06from a container into a holding pen, things inevitably take a turn for the worst.
07:10As Bob Peck's park warden Robert Muldoon watches on, the dangerous lady within – one
07:15that is never fully revealed – soon turns an intriguing scene into the stuff of nightmares,
07:21dragging her next meal into her cage.
07:23The way said bloke is effortlessly ragdolled by the vicious raptor let viewers know early
07:28on that they definitely weren't dealing with Barney here.
07:30The occasional glimpse of the bloodthirsty animal staring into the petrified souls of
07:35all who were trying to keep her from going on a rampage then finally gives way to a two-word
07:39command for the ages – SHOOTING HER.
07:43Still wasn't enough to erase the terrifying ordeal both Muldoon's men and those watching
07:47on had been put through, however.
07:503.
07:51A Very Different Los Angeles – Blade Runner The gorgeous and unnerving use of synthesizers
07:56in Blade Runner's now-adored Vangelis score was first introduced as a simple but perfectly
08:01cold opening crawl, explaining what replicants were and why they were being retired by Blade
08:06Runners at this time.
08:08But before a single bio-engineered humanoid had even made its presence known on screen,
08:13the audience was already in awe of the world Ridley Scott and co had unleashed, with flames
08:17shooting out of buildings and into the dark, twinkling skyline.
08:21Other cars are spotted soaring through the soulless remains of LA as the camera takes
08:26its sweet time wandering across the Hades landscape.
08:29The sudden cut to a fixated eye lit up by this fiery world is merely the icing on top
08:34of the stunning sci-fi cake.
08:36And if that wasn't enough of a reason to get excited about the mysterious thriller
08:39to come, Scott only goes and follows that majestic vista with the first compelling look
08:44at a particularly tense Voight-Kampff test, the gripping exam used to figure out whether
08:49an individual was a replicant.
08:51Spoilers, it did not go well.
08:532.
08:54The Dawn of Man 2001 A Space Odyssey
08:56Often imitated but never even remotely close to duplicated, Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A
09:02Space Odyssey contains an opening scene so iconic, memories of it can be elicited with
09:07just five simple notes.
09:09You know the ones.
09:10Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.
09:11But you know, better.
09:14After spending a rather uncomfortable three minutes in complete darkness, as the flick
09:19glues you to your seat with its intense overture, Sprack Zarathustra booms through the speakers
09:25as a tremendous sunrise over planet Earth emerges.
09:28And this all sets the fascinating stage for the legendary Dawn of Man sequence, one most
09:33recently seen inspiring the folks behind the barbie flick.
09:36Over the course of a bold, dialogue-less ten-minute opening spell, Kubrick then takes us through
09:41the evolution of man as apes collide with big cats, and their own kind before an alien
09:46monolith eventually arrives on the scene.
09:48Not long after this eerie monolith interaction, these apes figure out how to use bones as
09:53weapons, with this world-changing discovery inevitably leading to said weapons being used
09:58against a rival tribe, naturally.
09:59Bringing an endlessly captivating scene to its epic conclusion, one of the hominins then
10:04chucks said bone high up into the sky, with that weapon then majestically transitioning
10:09into a satellite floating through space.
10:11Chef's kiss.
10:13And speaking of space…
10:141.
10:15Vader's Arrival – Star Wars
10:16How do you convince an entire galaxy to fall in love with the idea of rebellions fighting
10:21against villainous empires within just a couple of minutes?
10:24By giving those same folks watching 1977's Star Wars a Dark Lord of the Sith-shaped reason
10:30to sit up in their seats, that's how.
10:32But before a certain half-machine half-man fallen Jedi even showed up in the galaxy far
10:37far away for the first time, everything from John Williams' magical Star Wars main theme
10:42playing out as the Kroll dropped, to a never-ending Star Destroyer floating across the stars,
10:47had already convinced viewers their lives were never going to be the same again.
10:51Then it happened, baby.
10:53After doing all they could to keep their ship from being taken over by Imperial forces,
10:57those rebels gunned down by many a Stormtrooper were soon joined by the menacing force known
11:02as Darth Vader.
11:03The powerful brass, that badass suit, the first few mechanical breaths, and with just
11:09one terrific Vader-boasting opening scene, an entire generation and countless more were
11:14all in on this fantasy sci-fi space opera.
11:18But that right there is our list, so know of any other great opening scenes in sci-fi
11:21movie history that we have missed?
11:24Well let us know all about them in the comments section right down below and don't forget
11:27to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you are down there.
11:30I have been the Great Gareth from WhatCulture.com, cheers for checking out this video today and
11:35hopefully we'll see you again soon.
11:36Bye bye!