History Main / ActivationSequence

* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': Cale Tucker needs to power up the Titan to battle the Drej, made more difficult by the ship's batteries being nearly exhausted. Cale almost single-handedly has to jury-rig the mechanism to absorb and convert the Drej DeathRay as a substitute power source.

* ''{{Series/Airwolf}}'' has the eponymous aircaft's pilots go through preflight check and startup sequence at least OnceAnEpisode, much of which is obviously StockFootage and [[EngagingChevrons stops being impressive after a few repetitions]], but the excellent accompanying [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFLFH8GW4gs theme music]] compensates a great deal.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E18InAMirrorDarkly In A Mirror, Darkly]]", Archer and his away team are required to power-up the TOS-era USS Defiant, complete with a pan round the bridge as all the workstations light up and the familiar TOS sound effects come in one by one.
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' occasionally features the activation of the spore drive, complete with the ComputerVoice announcing "Black Alert". The sequence usually involves retrieving a canister of spores from a wall storage and inserting it into the console, which fills the reaction chamber with the spores. Later on, the tardigrade or Lieutenant Stamets are also shown being injected with interface probes from the device retrieved from the USS ''Glenn''. Oh, and there are two sets of rings around the saucer section of the ship that spin in opposite directions as part of the drive's operation. The jump itself has the ship spin along its longitudinal axis in ''both directions'' at the same time, before teleporting away.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarCraft'': During the Demon Hunter campaign, the Illidari prepare to jump the ''Fel Hammer'' to a Legion controlled world. As you hit the control panel, fel energy is routed around, then a beam of it it shot up through the center as you make the jump.

* ''[[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 Assassin's Creed]]'': As Cal is put into the Animus for the first time, the arm is lowered, he's strapped in, DNA sequences are scanned and compared, lights come on and he is finally sent to relive the life of his ancestor, Aguilar de Nerha.

--> '''VideoGame/{{MechWarrior}} startup sequence'''

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'': The first scene is Marty arriving at Doc's place where he starts activating...something. He switches on the power, activates all the switches, dials up the driver ''and'' the overdrive, causing all the dials to go off-scale high. Then we see that this things he's powering up is a giant speaker, which blows him across the room, and blows itself up, when he tries to play a chord on his guitar.

* In ''Film/ErnestSaveChristmas'', when Ernest decides to fly Santa's sleigh to him, he has trouble getting it to take off, before the elves reveal that it's started up by saying the names of the reindeer. Trouble is, [[RunningGag Ernest can never]] remember [[DasherDancerPrancerAndNixon Blitzen's name]].

* ''Film/PacificRim'': The first time we see an Jeager in action, it's shown activating the control area in the head, which is then attached to the main body, culminating in the neural drift that connects the two pilots and allows them to control the enormous robot. A variant is seen later as Raleigh and Mako are attempting to establish a drift.

Compare TransformationSequence, which may occasionally overlap with this, and LockAndLoadMontage. There's the possibility of the device in question being UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway. See ChanceActivation when this happens on accident.

* ''Film/TheFifthElement'' centers around recovering four {{Plot Device}}s and installing them in an ancient temple. It's then necessary to trigger the keystones with their respective FourElementEnsemble, plus one of the main characters as ElementNumberFive, to activate the BFG that will neutralize the EldritchAbomination that threatens the Earth.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': The first scene is Marty arriving at Doc's place where he starts activating...something. He switches on the power, activates all the switches, dials up the driver ''and'' the overdrive, causing all the dials to go off-scale high. Then we see that this things he's powering up is a giant speaker, which blows him across the room, and blows itself up, when he tries to play a chord on his guitar.

The aim of such sequences is usually to create a sense of awe and wonder at what they have created, or what has been discovered if it's something good or beneficial. If not, the music scoring during the activation will create a sense of dread at what its activation portents. One significant part of this trope is that the sequence is progressive and takes time. They can last anywhere from thirty seconds to several minutes depending on the context. Sometimes they can last for an entire act.