History Main / SpaceBattle

* The HonorHarrington books each have a great big space battle or two somewhere. In fact, that's their emphasis; the titular heroine is a starship commander.

* ''{{Serenity}}'' had a rather impressive battle between the Alliance fleet and the Reavers chasing Mal, [[SpaceIsNoisy it even had sound]] (it was technically in the upper atmosphere of Mr. Universe's moon).

** The movies and shows tended not to have large-scale space battles, with dozens or hundreds of ships flying around, but they did have space battles that were impressive in their own scope. ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'', for instance, features the on-and-off duel between the Enterprise and Reliant, with both ships having to retreat early on to lick their wounds before meeting up for the final clash in the climax. Epic does not necessarily require a lot of participants.

* ''{{Robotech}}''— which is to say, ''[[SuperDimensionForce{Macross Macross]], [[ChoujikuKidanSouthernCross Southern Cross]],'' and ''GenesisClimberMospeada.''

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''ExoSquad'' had a lot of them, using MiniMecha in place of more conventional [[SpaceFighter space fighters.]]

The SpaceBattle can also be the FinalBattle depending on when it starts in the show. Can also overlap with DecisiveBattle depending on if it takes place before the FinalBattle.

The SpaceBattle can also be the FinalBattle depending on when it starts in the show.

This trope has extended into fantasy movies as well as they have become more popular, this is because use several of the same methods and cliches to bring about the same effect. TheLordOfTheRings for example required creative use of CGI and minitures to portray and do epic battles described in the books justice.

This trope has extended into fantasy movies as well as they have become more popular, this is because use several of the same methods and cliches to bring about the same effect. TheLordOfTheRings for example required creative use of CGI and minitures to do the epic battles described in the books justice.

What it provides is an opportunity to show off the special effects and a ton of ideas that the creator has come up with, to try and blow the audience away and use the potential awesome to lobotomize the audience into drooling masses as they enjoy the spectacle of it all. Of course making such battles have become easier as special effects have become simpler to make and have become much more advanced. The first film to really push the envelope in terms of this was ''StarWars'', during the battle against the Death Star. Virtually every battle will stick to the rule of SpaceIsNoisy, because of RuleOfCool. Now however films with huge battles are commonplace thanks to the advancement of technology.

* ''StarWreck: In the Pirkinning'' builds up into one.

* When it looks like the enemy will crush the last pockets of resistance, reinforcements show up to help the good guys.

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Live-Action Television]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

What it provides is an opportunity to show off the special effects and a ton of ideas that the creator has come up with, to try and blow the audience away and use the potential awesome to lobotomize the audience into drooling masses as they enjoy the spectacle of it all. Of course making such battles have become easier as special effects have become simpler to make and have become much more advanced. The first film to really push the envelope in terms of this was StarWars, during the battle against the Death Star. Virtually every battle will stick to the rule of SpaceIsNoisy, because of RuleOfCool. Now however films with huge battles are commonplace thanks to the advancement of technology.

* StarWars thrives on this, it was the first film to really showcase how to make one. Four out of the six films have an epic space battle along the line while the last two take place on a planet. Ironically one of those ground battles is the best remembered: The Battle of Hoth.
* StarTrek didn't rely on those so much for obvious reasons, the times ships would fight each other were really static affairs with nothing special going on. The first film to feature an epic Space Battle was StarTrekFirstContact although it only happened for 5 minutes. Ironically the best film to show off a decent battle was StarTrekNemesis. The latest film however does feature sequences when it's remembered that there is no sound up there.
** The movies and shows tended not to have large-scale space battles, with dozens or hundreds of ships flying around, but they did have space battles that were impressive in their own scope. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, for instance, features the on-and-off duel between the Enterprise and Reliant, with both ships having to retreat early on to lick their wounds before meeting up for the final clash in the climax. Epic does not necessarily require a lot of participants.

* The last few episodes of season 4 of BabylonFive are full of these. Huge three way battle between the Shadows, Vorlons and Everybody Else; Huge assault on Earth with Earth Defense satellites acting as the giant killing machines that's going to kill everybody and everything that you need to tie up all the plot lines of the series in four seasons. Then they got extended for a fifth... whoops.
* Some space-themed video games live on the concept of SpaceBattle, and since this genre is going in a pretty bad way, the ones that done it right have gained a cult status among their geeky fans, becoming the 'Space Battle Generator' to fuel their unending needs of SpaceBattle. Expect a huge amount of GameMod to spice things up... ''a lot''. Some of them are {{Freespace}}, {{Homeworld}}, {{Freelancer}}, SinsofaSolarEmpire, StarTrekBridgeCommander, with honorable mentions to Star Wars: Empire At War, GratuitousSpacebattles, NexusTheJupiterIncident and RogueSquadron.
* {{Fallout}}, despite being set in a wasteland with small hints of alien life features one of these in Fallout 3 with the Mothership Zeta add-on, complete with a DeathRay. It's a mostly static affair but the first time can be considered quite tense due to you being unfamiliar with the controls. In fact the wiki advises you to perform ButtonMashing to make the battle better. If you go through it again it becomes a pretty predictable "Full power to weapons, reroute power to shields!" etc. Does feature a nice explosion at the end.
* The climax of ''[[MassEffect1 Mass Effect]]'' showcases a [[spoiler: cut scene where the Citadel defense fleet is trying to take down [[SapientShip Sover]][[EldritchAbomination eign]] and save the council until the Human fleet shows up, much ass kicking ensues and it is absolutely awesome!]]
** Space battles take place at both the beginning and end of ''MassEffect2''. The second is much easier on the protagonists, [[EarnYourHappyEnding but how much so is up to the player]].
** ''MassEffect3'' is bound to feature several, if the teaser trailer is any indication.
* {{Serenity}} had a rather impressive battle between the Alliance fleet and the Reavers chasing Mal, [[SpaceIsNoisy it even had sound]] (it was technically in the upper atmosphere of Mr. Universe's moon).

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* There will be hundreds of soldiers or vehicles running amok to show the scale of it, they will all be computer generated.

* The climax of ''[[MassEffect1 Mass Effect]]'' showcases a [[spoiler: cut scene where the Citadel defense fleet is trying to take down [[LivingShip Sover]][[EldritchAbomination eign]] and save the council until the Human fleet shows up, much ass kicking ensues and it is absolutely awesome!]]

* {{Fallout}}, despite being set in a wasteland with small hints of alien life features one of these in Fallout 3 with the Mothership Zeta add-on, complete with a DeathRay. It's a mostly static affair but the first time can be considered quite tense due to you being unfamiliar with the controls. In fact the wiki advises you to preform ButtonMashing to make the battle better. If you go through it again it becomes a pretty predictable "Full power to weapons, reroute power to shields!" etc. Does feature a nice explosion at the end.

* The climax of MassEffect showcases a [[spoiler: cut scene where the Citadel defense fleet is trying to take down [[LivingShip Sover]][[EldritchAbomination eign]] and save the council until the Human fleet shows up, much ass kicking ensues and it is absolutely awesome!]]

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->'''[[TheMuppetShow Waldorf]]''': They really blow the budget making these battles don't they?\\
'''[[TheStinger Statler]]''': Quite so, they certainly blew it when they made this website.\\
'''[[ThoseTwoGuys Both]]''': [[MemeticMutation Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!]]

Well, it's not exactly as simple as that, [[LampshadeHanging almost.]] It is meant to represent an occasion in a movie where the movie shows off where most of the budget probably went and why it took as much time as it did, providing jaw dropping visuals, tons of FrickinLaserBeams, a lot of tense edge-of-your-seat action, advanced iconic vehicles or weapons, and a totally awesome end sequence. It's supposed to [[BeyondTheImpossible blow your brains out]] and leave you slack jawed at the [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesomeness on display.]]

* Someone will make a HeroicSacrifice or preform a HeelFaceTurn or FaceHeelTurn.

* The climax of MassEffect showcases a [[spoiler: cut scene where the Citadel defense fleet is trying to take down Sovereign and save the council untill the Human fleet shows up, much ass kicking ensues and it is absolutely awesome!]]

Well, it's not exactly as simple as that, [[LampshadeHanging almost.]] It is meant to represent an occasion in a movie where the movie shows off where most of the budget probably went and why it took as much time as it did, providing jaw dropping visuals, tons of FrickinLaserBeams. A lot of tense, edge of your seat action, advanced iconic vehicles or weapons and a totally awesome end sequence. It's supposed to [[BeyondTheImpossible blow your brains out]] and leave you slack jawed at the [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesomeness on display.]]