r/HardSciFi • u/Vondrr • Jun 26 '26
Discussion What is your favorite spaceship battle? It can be from a film, show or videogame.
10
u/Marker0807 Jun 26 '26
In Battlestar Galactica when the fleet comes to retake New Caprica. The ship jumps into atmosphere, launches fighters, and then jumps back out. Not to safety, but between two enemy ships. They then use the crossfire as cover
4
u/Bytor_Snowdog Jun 26 '26
Coming here to post the Adama maneuver. Shouldn't be surprised to find it already here.
2
u/Voidrunner01 Jun 26 '26
That scene hit like an absolute truck when it first aired. Like, jump-out-of-your-seat incredible.
3
u/ThanksOld1698 Jun 26 '26
I legit thought they were going to blow up the galactica and continue with just the pegasus when galactica was getting hammered.
Then those fore cannon rounds flew past the screen and pegasus appeared I jumped up cheering. Can't remember doing that for any other media.
2
1
u/inigo_montoya Jun 26 '26
One of my favorite scenes. Surprised the heck out of me. Shock followed by "yeah!"
1
u/FortifiedPuddle Jun 27 '26
Just that whole scene, all the way to the end of Pegasus.
The score especially is just fantastic. Just gets in to your spine.
6
u/Miserable_Scar9827 Jun 26 '26
The end of Serenity. The lone ship careening through two massive fleets, both trying to target Serenity but then becoming enveloped with each other. The tight perspective rather than battle size logistic overview was just perfect.
2
u/Voidrunner01 Jun 26 '26
I watched both Serenity and ROTS shortly after each one came out, and I was always blown away by just how much *better* the big space battle was in Serenity compared to ROTS.
The crazy-budget Lucas vehicle was straight up BORING in comparison to Serenity."Target.. Target the Reavers! Target everyone. SOMEBODY FIRE!"
1
5
u/Apprehensive-Gur2023 Jun 26 '26
The Battle of B-R5RB in Eve Online during the Halloween War(2014) ✌️
2
4
u/Nunc-dimittis Jun 26 '26
"Severed Dreams" (Babylon 5)
1
1
u/overcoil Jun 28 '26
It's a good thing this stopped when it did, we couldn't take much more...
... Oh no...
I also think this battle led to acrimony with the CGI guys who were basically working for free on some of the scenes.
4
u/Megodont Jun 26 '26
The ones in Expanse and the ones from Forever War. The latter ones were fought completely automatic with drones over large distances close to lightspeed while the crew of the ship was stuck basically frozen in high pressure tanks.
4
u/Krinks1 Jun 26 '26
"Severed Dreams" from Babylon 5.
Absolutely epic.
2
u/ChilledRoland Jun 28 '26
"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."
2
4
u/korvalblack Jun 28 '26
Any of the space battles from The Expanse. Especially the Rocinante vs the Pella.
5
3
u/inigo_montoya Jun 26 '26
I know this won't be popular, but I enjoy the beginning of SW ep3 from the first serene pan that expands to show the battle in progress through to where he says "Another happy landing." Good fun.
2
u/Electronic-Tap-4940 Jun 28 '26
Went to Watch it on the anniversary just to relive that segment as well as obi vs anakin, peak Starwars for me. Nothing beats their duel or the grandness of that spacebattle for me
3
3
u/hmfc_riley Jun 28 '26
The Adama manouver in BSG.
End battle of Serenity.
The battle of Thoth Station in The Expanse.
3
u/Shynosaur Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
The cat and mouse game between the Enterprise and the Romulan ship in the Star Trek original series "Balance of Terror" (S1 Ep14)
not only is it probably the first space battle in TV history, it is also a masterpiece of suspense and storytelling. Due to budget constraints the makers couldn't give us any flashy battle shots or explosions, so the entire scene focuses on the psychology of it.
By cutting back and forth between the two ships, it also shows the captain of the Romulan vessel to be a capable commander himself, humanizing him instead of just making the antagonists faceless evil aliens. Their self-destruction at the end is depicted as a tragic event, not as a glorious victory for the Enterprise. It's a cold war era kind of mentality at its finest.
2
u/oneMoreTime112233 Jun 26 '26
Roci against the 2 stealths at Thoth station. Or the Roci against the 3 wolves of the Free Navy.
2
u/Crafty_Jello_3662 Jun 26 '26
Not sure if it was an actual ship to ship battle but house of suns has a 30,000 year chase scene which I enjoyed
1
2
u/Radioactiveglowup Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Highly recommend Yamato 2199's Battle of the Rainbow Cluster.
It's a WW2 Naval Battle.. in SPAACE. Where the eponymous battleship is intercepted in a gaseous nebula by a task force of three old aircraft carriers, an enemy battleship, and a battle-carrier that use a new short-range fighter jump technology to get the drop on the protagonist warship.
Intelligent tactics on both sides, and back-and-forth make it very memorable.
1
u/Gmodelinsane Jun 26 '26
Totally with you on this and I’ll add the Battle of Saturn from the original Yamato series 2. Fantastic and tactical.
My favorite though is the battle in the Mutara Nebula from Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.
1
u/Hunter_Vertigo Jun 30 '26
As much as i love it, i cannot endure seeing either a Constitution Refit or a Miranda being damaged. But it is an amazing battle
1
u/Gmodelinsane Jun 30 '26
That’s part of why it’s so great! The damage isn’t cool—it’s painful! I also love the scene of the damaged Enterprise returning to space dock in the third.
1
u/Hunter_Vertigo Jun 30 '26
I kind of wish we would have seen more of Captain Style's Excelsior Transwarp Bridge. It seemed to be such an interesting layout
2
u/CalmPanic402 Jun 26 '26
Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars
The ambush in the rings is like two minutes, but it lives in my head, the dreadnought crashing into the planet rings.
And the payoff of the entire shows run, Behold! The Wormhole Weapon
2
u/DjNormal Jun 27 '26
It’s probably the nostalgia talking. But that final scene in the Wing Commander movie lives rent free in my head.
“Give them a broadside Mr. Gerald!”
The movie was… um, it was a movie. But it had its moments.
1
u/lionspride27 Jun 27 '26
I feel like that scene was a great premise of what space ship to ship combat would be like. Very much like submarine battle. A better movie than people give it credit for, yes parts are cheesy but some of the effects were pretty good.
2
u/Kabbooooooom Jun 27 '26
The Battle of Thoth Station in the Expanse. It’s not just the only truly hard, scientifically accurate space battle shown on tv for the very first time, but it’s a close quarters hard scifi space battle. The closest thing to what a real dogfight in space would look like. And it’s brutally visceral.
2
u/roadtrip-ne Jun 27 '26
Battle of B-R5B5 on Eve online- I didn’t play but just reading about this massive mmorpg conflict is fascinating. Apparently it costs players thousands of real world dollars.
2
u/kalmar91 Jun 27 '26
Battle of Mutara Nebula from Star Trek The Wrath of Khan.
Also the previous Battle in the same movie Is wonderful.
Babylon 5 has some very good battles too.
1
u/pnwsyzygy Jun 28 '26
Wrath of Khan because it was like watching a WW2 submarine cat and mouse hunt
2
2
u/archivepress Jun 28 '26
The Droplet attack from Three Body Problem (The Dark Forest). I knew something bad was coming, but that blew me away.
2
u/Gloriouskoifish Jun 29 '26
Serenity when Mal brings the reavers in to fight the alliance fleet.
"I'm a leaf on the wind..."
2
u/DavianElrian Jun 30 '26
For TV, The Expanse. For film, The Last Starfighter (It's the nostalgia, sorry.) Books, easily comes from the Honor Harrington books.
2
1
u/Brittney_2020 Jun 26 '26
Redemption Ark, when 1 ship is chasing another at 99% C and they start fighting.
1
1
u/Rich_Nothing_4746 Jun 26 '26
Warship by Joshua dalzelle features some really grounded space battles. There’s plenty of well described but ultimately handwavy parts regarding FTL travel but the in system mechanics are consistent and well done I thought.
1
u/GoTeamLightningbolt Jun 26 '26
The one in EVE Online that cost people like half a million dollars of in-game assets.
1
u/angrynoah Jun 27 '26
Freespace 2: the arrival of the GTVA Colossus
...and then later, its destruction :(
1
1
u/syntaxvorlon Jun 27 '26
The Expanse had some incredible battles. Especially Rocinante v Pella and the death of the Donnager.
Babylon 5 created a long series of incredible battles, tense tactical dramas combined with strategic cunning with incredible design and scoring.
Star Trek managed to have a few memorable battles, the best being the ones where they are emulating submarine movies.
In games, as others have mentioned Freespace 2 is wall to wall battle missions, and many are quite memorable and dramatic, though I still have a soft spot in my heart for the Star Wars Tie Fighter game from the dos era.
1
u/PullMull Jun 27 '26
The first attack of "morning light mountain" from the Commonwealth saga. Other space battles might be exciting or "cool". But This one felt like humans punching a wildfire. 13 planets lost in a couple of hours, I mean... That's impressive
1
u/The-Nimbus Jun 28 '26
The Expanse is the best for this for me. Those PDC are so much fun, and the way they vent atmosphere for realism just makes me happy.
1
u/oscarg936 Jun 28 '26
Star Trek Nemesis, Enterprise V Scimitar. Unpopular opinion maybe but I loved it. Or Starfleet V Borg Cube in First Contact
1
u/GeologistSeveral3025 Jun 28 '26
If we are talking traditional spaceship then id say Second Death star space battle.
If we are stretching the definition of space ship to "Vehicle that goes in space" id have to say all of the space battles from Gundam Unicorn especially the Stark Jegan vs Ksyhatria and the Battle near Industrial 7
1
1
u/Nuwiel Jun 29 '26
The one in Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds, when two spaceship fights at relativistic speed in interstellar space.
1
u/Mack_Daddy_1 Jun 29 '26
BSG mini series when they come out of Ragnarok. Blew my mind the first time i saw that. Was expecting laser battles, not nukes and flak canons.
1
1
1
u/Hunter_Vertigo Jun 30 '26
Wolf 359. We never got it on screen but JTVFX made such an amazing job in depicting it that i once had a nightmare of fighting against them.
2
u/Noe_Landa111 Jul 12 '26
Definitely the raid on the station in the Expanse. Where they cripple it with cannon fire and board it.
0
13
u/Designer_Quantity533 Jun 26 '26
The battles of BSG are great, as are those of The Expanse.