Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Film / EventHorizon

Go To

1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0786.JPG]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:''[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 In the grim darkness of the not too distant future...]]'']]
3%%
4->''"I created the ''Event Horizon'' to reach the stars. But she's gone much, much farther than that."''
5-->-- '''Dr. William Weir'''
6
7A 1997 SciFiHorror movie by Creator/PaulWSAnderson where astronauts investigate an experimental ship (the eponymous ''Event Horizon'') that disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
8
9[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture In the year 2047]], a signal from the starship ''Event Horizon'' is picked up on Earth. The ship had disappeared without a trace beyond Neptune seven years earlier. The ship has reappeared in a decaying orbit around the planet UsefulNotes/{{Neptune}}, and the rescue ship ''Lewis and Clark'' is dispatched to investigate. The ship's crew is commanded by Capt. Miller (Creator/LaurenceFishburne) and carries the ''Event Horizon''[='=]s designer, Dr. William Weir (Creator/SamNeill).
10
11No definitive trace of human life is found; inconclusive sensor readings lead the ''Lewis and Clark''[='=]s crew to enter the ''Event Horizon'' to search for survivors. Things start to go very wrong very quickly, it appears that someone--or some''thing''--is toying with them. Strange noises echo throughout the ship, sensors indicate the presence of life forms even though the vessel is [[GhostShip clearly deserted]], and what few records the ''Lewis and Clark''[='=]s team recover hint that [[GoneHorriblyWrong something went terribly wrong]]... and that's just the beginning. Before long, the question is no longer what became of the ''Event Horizon'', but what has the ''Event Horizon'' '''become'''?
12
13''Event Horizon'' is a CosmicHorrorStory which can be interpreted as an updated Creator/HPLovecraft story, a HauntedHouse movie [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE!]], or, as [[FanonWelding some]] like to think of it, a ''very'' disturbing prequel to the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' series.[[note]]Specifically, one set at the beginning of M3 (3rd Millennium AD), when humanity was first beginning to expand past Earth and colonize the Sol System (at some point of which they came to learn of the Immaterium's existence). Whatever dimension that the ''Event Horizon'' traveled through seems similar in nature to the Warp, and there are many telltale signs of corruption by Chaos.[[/note]]
14
15Not to be confused with MoralEventHorizon, DespairEventHorizon, or the term for the region around a UsefulNotes/{{black hole|s}} from which light can no longer escape (though the eponymous ship is clearly named after it). For the game that was ''heavily'' inspired by the film, see ''Franchise/DeadSpace''.
16
17----
18!!''Event Horizon'' contains examples of:
19
20* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The main airlock that the ''Lewis and Clark'' uses to dock with the ''Event Horizon'' is labelled with the Roman Numeral XIII or 13.
21* AbsentAliens: Though it's implied there is ''something'' out there, no non-human life forms are ever seen. [[spoiler:Unless you count the possessed-by-evil ship itself.]]
22* ActorAllusion: [[spoiler:[[Film/OmenIIITheFinalConflict Damien]]]] probably would feel right at home in a starship heavily implied to have accessed {{Hell}}.
23* AgentScully: Weir keeps trying to think up increasingly ridiculous explanations for the obviously supernatural goings-on aboard the ''Event Horizon'', long after everyone else accepts that something weird is going on. Not played quite so straight later on, however: [[spoiler:At some point Weir found out what was ''really'' happening the hard way, being corrupted or possessed by the force responsible for said goings on, but kept up the pretense for a while to try and keep the crew around so they could suffer the same fate.]] This comes to an abrupt end when the crew find [[ApocalypticLog the ship's log]].
24* AlliterativeName: '''W'''illiam '''W'''eir.
25* AmbiguousSituation: The very ending of the film. [[spoiler:The meaning of the door closing behind the survivors and rescue party is unknown: it might mean that the chunk of the ship they are in has retained its evil conscience and thus the [[HereWeGoAgain cycle is gonna start again]], or maybe it only symbolizes the wordless trauma they have lived and that they will never get over it, as told by Starck's uninterrupted screaming at the end. In any case, not nice.]]
26* AntagonistTitle: [[spoiler:The ship is heavily implied to have become alive and demonic after passing through Hell (or some kind of hellish alternate dimension).]]
27* ApocalypticLog: "''[[spoiler:Libera te tutemet ex inferis...]]''" The final, decoded version of this log entry, which places those words into context, is one of the most (in)famous examples of this trope in cinema; it's even been referenced in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
28* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Discussed.
29** It's noted in the film that the FTL Drive the ''Event Horizon'' supposedly has '''can't''' work because of the Law of Relativity stating that FTL travel is impossible. William Weir, as he puts it, had to work around it, which is where Folding Space comes into play and the cause of everything that happens in the movie.
30--->'''Smith''': You break all the laws of physics, and you seriously think there wouldn't be a price?
31** The movie never quite works out which pseudophysics handwave it intends to use for the ship's FTL capability: Weir talks about how the drive uses focused gravitons, implying that it uses the immense gravity of the black hole in the core to bend space, or, more glibly, that the ship works by warp drive; his demonstrated metaphor works more like a wormhole; however, the events that actually transpire suggest it was some kind of hyperdrive.
32** While no human being has yet seen a black hole up close, we can be pretty sure that, should that ever happen, we wouldn't be able to stick our finger in one, pull out some black hole goo, get sucked in, and then thrown out again. However, even that may be more of a consciously [[{{DiscussedTrope}} discussed]] trope that's, at least partially, played with: Weir [[spoiler:''before'' he is possessed]] explicitly says that an opening of the gateway the way it happened is not physically possible, which might imply that, under normal operation, the physical principles of the containment are quite different.
33*** Justin wasn't touching the black hole at the center of the gravity drive. He was touching the substance of Hell itself.
34** Played utterly and completely straight with the ''Lewis and Clark''[='s=] ion-drive acceleration. While an ion drive is a very efficient way to move around large distances, they produce minimal acceleration (you're basically using individual atoms as reaction mass to propel a ship billions of times more massive). Their advantages are excellent fuel economy and continuous acceleration, their disadvantages are extremely low changes in velocity and direction over a given period of time. So there's no way an ion drive firing would generate any appreciable g-force, let alone enough to liquefy a person.
35*** The Clark has what they call an ion drive that can generate extremely high acceleration. Maybe they are using the term to describe a different type of device?
36** The Event Horizon has a pressurized environment that might well be described as-- enormous, from an oxygen consumption and CO₂ waste point of view. The popular conception is of the lunar missions which had a few cubic feet of atmosphere or the Nostromo shuttle which was several times larger but they were considering a many months long duration. The Event Horizon would be able to support people for weeks before it would be become an issue, let alone 20 hours or whatever.
37** Cooper using the air from his suit to rocket toward the Event Horizon might be possible, but it's incredibly unlikely he would manage to actually intersect the ship, and there's no explanation of how he managed to slow down. Possibly justified by what the ship is trying up to.
38** When Justin is ejected into outer space, his veins immediately start to burst and bleed heavily. This isn't very likely to happen in the short time that he is exposed to the vacuum of space. Parts of the body will probably start to bulge due to the lack of atmospheric pressure, and there will probably be some subcutaneous bleeding from ruptured blood vessels, but the human skin is thought to be resilient enough to stay intact. Also, the blood that leaves his body remains liquid; in reality, it would boil and evaporate instantly due to the lack of pressure. Not everything about the scene is unrealistic: the fact that he remained conscious is probably correct (most adults would remain conscious for 10-20 seconds), as well as the fact that he does not freeze (although deep space is extremely cold, the lack of gas molecules makes it difficult for body heat to leave the body).
39* BackFromTheDead: "The ship brought me back. I told you she won't let me leave. She won't let ''anyone'' leave."
40* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler:Weir, when he returns from getting sucked out of the ship.]]
41* BathSuicide: Weir's wife, Claire, which constantly comes to haunt him.
42* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The final confrontation between Miller and [[spoiler:the possessed Weir]].
43** The alternate ending (which was cut) had Miller up against Corrick instead of Weir.
44* BigBad: [[spoiler:The ''Event Horizon'' itself has become an EldritchAbomination that wants to drag more people, if not all of humanity, into Hell beyond the stars. Weir also becomes this, due to being possessed by the ship.]]
45* BigNo: Delivered by Weir when Miller [[spoiler:activates the explosives, detaching the front of the ship and allowing the surviving crew to escape]]. Depending on how one interprets [[spoiler:Weir as having become an extension of the ship's will, however, one can reasonably argue the ''Event Horizon'' itself delivered it]].
46** Miller definitely has one while demonically possessed Weir shows him what ''will happen'' to his crew when the ''Event Horizon'' gets to Hell or the hellish dimension.
47* BigOMG: Miller gives an understated and rather appalled "Oh my god" after he sees [[spoiler:Weir's self-inflicted EyeScream]].
48* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The ''Event Horizon'' is destroyed and its engine is sent to hyperspace, seemingly ending its menace for good. However, only three members of the crew survived and they will probably have nightmares for some time to come, if they ever recover from the experience.]] It turns into a DownerEnding, however, if going by the interpretation that [[spoiler:whatever evil infected the ship is still present in their liferaft, so it's highly unlikely they will be returning to Earth... or if they do, they may even be bringing the evil with them. And that's not even delving into the possibility of the engine eventually ''returning'' from hyperspace]].
49* BizarreAlienSenses: Wherever the ''Event Horizon'' went, the [[Literature/RedDwarf eyeless look seems to be in fashion]]. The eyeless phantasm of Claire entices Dr Weir to [[spoiler:pull out his own eyes]], seemingly luring whatever inhabits the ship to possess him.
50-->'''Claire:''' I have such [[NightmareFetishist wonderful]], [[SanitySlippage wonderful]] things to show you...
51** [[spoiler: Dr Weir]], having sewn shut his vacant eye sockets, seems practically unimpaired.
52-->'''[[spoiler:Dr Weir]]:''' Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see.
53* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The ''Event Horizon'' itself. The hallway leading to the engine room is a giant rotating tube lined with spikes. The engine room itself is lined with yet more SpikesOfDoom, and the engine itself is literally beautiful. It's ''cool'', but the actual purpose of the design is {{Hand Wave}}d away as "[[{{Technobabble}} reducing the effects of the gravitational field]]." In reality, the ship's exterior itself was designed by scanning in images of Notre Dame Cathedral and mix-and-matching the various elements. Even the structural scaffolding along the neck was based on the stained-glass windows of the Cathedral.
54* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Subverted. Cooper is the only crew member to have survived the events of the movie with their sanity relatively intact, and Captain Miller is the last of them to die in a spectacular HeroicSacrifice. Cooper does get his death teased a few times but manages to survive them.]]
55* CameBackWrong: The whole ship. Wherever it went the last seven years, it returned in a heavily dilapidated state, becoming an unnerving GhostShip. [[spoiler:Weir, too.]]
56** The phantasms conjured by the ship invoke this; Dr Weir's eyeless wife Claire, serenely keen for him to join her in the "dimension of pure chaos", entices him to [[spoiler:pull out his own eyes]].
57** Peters's son Denny, while still alive back on Earth, appears on the ship with a severe exacerbation of his disability; [[spoiler:lures the distraught Peters to her death]], and, having done so, sports a singularly chilling PsychoticSmirk.
58** Eddy Corrick, whom Captain Miller was forced to leave to burn to death on the ''Goliath'', appears as a [[ManOnFire burning]], raging apparition.
59* CatScare: When first exploring the ''Event Horizon'', Miller is spooked by what looks like a hand grabbing his face. It's just a loose glove from a space suit floating in the gravity free environment.
60-->'''Cooper:''' ''(amused)'' Looks like Skipper's got a case of the willies.
61* ChekhovsGun: The explosive ship-cutting charges became plot-important - and more than once.
62* ClusterFBomb: Cooper, in keeping with his status as resident UncleTomfoolery.
63* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: At the beginning of the film, the ship receives part of a signal from the title vessel containing a message in Latin. As the signal is partly corrupted, they initially take the message to be "''Liberate me''"--"save me." Upon acquiring the full signal and inspecting it closer, they find that the message is actually [[spoiler:"''Libera te tutemet ex inferis''"--"Save yourself from Hell."]]
64* ConvenientlyPreciseTranslation: Subverted. The distress signal sent by the titular starship contains the Latin phrase ''liberate me'' ("save me"). It was later realized that the message was very different...
65* CoveredWithScars: When [[spoiler:Weir comes BackFromTheDead for the final showdown]], he is bald, naked, and covered in freaky scars. [[spoiler:It did give him his CreepyBlueEyes back, strangely enough.]]
66* DecoyProtagonist: The opening scenes might incline you to believe that Weir is the protagonist, [[spoiler:but by the end, it's clearly Miller]]. Played with even further in that by the end, [[spoiler:[[SanitySlippage Weir has become the]] ''[[DemonicPossession villain]]'']].
67* DespairEventHorizon: Weir's leads to his crossing the MoralEventHorizon[[invoked]]. (Sense a pattern?)
68* DistressCall: The ''Event Horizon'' sending one after having disappeared a long time ago is what kicks off the story. [[spoiler:Except it was actually an incredibly garbled ''warning'' for people to stay the hell away from the ship. In fairness, the audio quality wasn't the best, even disregarding all the tortured screaming.]]
69* DoorClosesEnding: It ends with the door closing to the sleep chamber deck as Starck screams uncontrollably from the stasis nightmare she's had [[spoiler:of the possessed Weir showing up]] as the rescue crew try fruitlessly to calm her.
70* DoubleEntendre: Cooper, in a ShirtlessScene, offers Starck a cup of coffee.
71-->'''Cooper:''' Want something hot and black inside you?\
72''Starck [[FlippingTheBird flips him off]]''\
73'''Cooper:''' Is that an offer?\
74'''Starck:''' It is not.\
75'''Cooper:''' Well, how 'bout some coffee, then?
76* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Weir becomes this to the ''Event Horizon'' after finally embracing the evil of the ship.]]
77* DramaticDrop:
78** Peters does this upon seeing the restored ApocalypticLog.
79** Also D.J. when he sees Justin seizing on the examination table.
80* DramaticThunder: Lightning illuminates the ship interiors occasionally. Justified in that the ship is in a decaying orbit around Neptune which has storms with wind speeds up to 2000 km/h. The ship is already in the upper thermosphere and continues falling deeper into the atmosphere over the course of the film. [[ParanoiaFuel Or maybe it's just the ship]] [[MindScrew fucking with their brains]][[invoked]]?
81* DreamingOfThingsToCome: The first image of the film is Weir's nightmarish vision of the ship.
82* DrivenToMadness: Weir, after the ship continually shows him horrific visions of his wife and makes him relive his wife's suicide. Starck, in an interpetation of the film's ending. And of course, there was the ''Event Horizon''[='=]s prior crew...
83* DrivenToSuicide:
84** Weir's wife in his backstory.
85** Justin tries to blow himself out an airlock after being sent through the singularity (it may also be a PsychicAssistedSuicide caused by the ship). However when the airlock starts to depressurize causing him intense EarAche, he snaps out of his HeroicBSOD and [[OhCrap realises where he is.]] Unfortunately because the outer hatch is starting to open, the crew can't open the inner hatch to let him out as it would decompress the entire ship.
86* DyingMomentOfAwesome: If he wasn't [[spoiler:transported to the hell dimension, and instead perished in the explosion]], Miller went out with a huge bang.
87* TheEeyore: D.J. {{Lampshaded}} by Miller, who refers to him as a "gloomy Gus."
88* EldritchAbomination: It's unclear just what happened to the ship, but it's hinted pretty heavily that it brought one of these back with it, or [[spoiler:became one itself]]. Whatever happened, the sensor suite on the ''Lewis and Clark'' says that the [[GeniusLoci ENTIRE SHIP IS ALIVE]].
89* EldritchLocation: This is putting what's on the other side ''very'' lightly. The ship itself is this, too. If not both being a single and/or networked, ''very'' bizarre GeniusLoci. Who isn't very nice.
90* EldritchStarship: The ''Event Horizon'' was an excellent example of one even ''before'' it was [[spoiler:warped into a tortured consciousness by exposure to a [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace hellish extradimensional realm]]]]. Note the interior design of the ship, with its [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} odd cybergothic architecture, including its extremely strange "central core" and the "meat grinder corridor" leading to it, as well as the numerous spikes and other elements of its rather terrifying aesthetic]] (some of which, like the "meat grinder corridor," are handwaved as being essential to the ship's operation). It's definitely one of the weirdest human-designed ships on this list, even before being [[spoiler:possessed by extradimensional evil]]. It's also one of the closest examples on this list to a StandardHumanSpaceship, despite being simultaneously ''this'' trope.
91* EpicTrackingShot: The vertigo-and-motion-sickness-inducing pull-out from Weir opening his shutters, revealing him to be on a sprawling space station in orbit above Earth.
92* EvilGloating:
93-->[[spoiler:'''Weir:''']] Do you see? DO YOU SEE? '''[[LargeHam DO YOU SEE?!]]'''\
94'''Miller:''' [[ThwartedCoupDeGrace Yes. I see.]]
95* EvilIsHammy: For much of the film, [[spoiler:Weir is rather quiet and self-effacing]]. After [[spoiler:he's taken by the ship]], he quickly becomes as [[LargeHam theatrically evil]] as you'd expect.
96* {{Expy}}: Universal Orlando's annual Halloween Horror Nights event had the haunted house "Interstellar Terror" in 2008, which the Art & Development team proudly admitted was directly inspired by ''Event Horizon'': the first interstellar star ship disappears, then reappears several years later orbiting the moon. You go aboard and find that an alien artifact the crew found has driven them into homicidal insanity.
97* ExtyYearsFromPublication: Produced in 1997, and set in 2047.
98* EyeScream: This movie might hold some kind of record for most injured eyes/sockets in a major Hollywood movie. In fact, the very ''first'' person we see in this film is missing eyes! This is barely two minutes in, mind you. This is because whatever's on the other side of the wormhole is so horrifying that some gouge out their own eyes to make the madness stop.
99* EyelessFace: Due to the above.
100--> "Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see."
101* EyeOpen: Close-up of William's eye.
102* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: When Smith finally finds the explosive charge planted by Weir, he pops up the lid of the device, only to find there are 6 seconds left until the explosion]]. He takes a second to compose himself, exhales, lowers his head, and... FadeToWhite. He's clearly scared out of his mind, but doesn't spend his final moments panicking.
103* FaceFramedInShadow: Used extensively to indicate Weir's SanitySlippage.
104-->"I ''am'' home."
105* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Weir. Played with, as it seems he may have been possessed by the ship itself.]]
106* FailsafeFailure: The airlocks on the ''Event Horizon'' are designed in such a way that a depressurization sequence cannot be canceled from either side of the airlock once it's been activated. While it is a reasonable precaution not to allow both the inner and outer doors to be open at the same time, there is no excuse for not having an abort command when it takes half a minute to actually finish depressurizing the airlock. Then again, what isn't affected by the Eldritch force inhabiting the ''Event Horizon''?
107* FanDisservice: Weir's hallucination with his dead and half-naked wife. Her curves are on full display... [[spoiler: and she's also covered in blood. Oh, and she's eyeless, too.]]
108* FasterThanLightTravel: ''Event Horizon''[='=]s purpose. Didn't go so well.
109* FateWorseThanDeath: What awaits anyone entering hyperspace, and presumably what [[spoiler:Miller will be suffering, unless he mercifully died by being caught in the explosion or sucked into the space through the destroyed tunnel]].
110* AFatherToHisMen: Miller is very protective of his crew. See PunctuatedPounding below.
111* FictionalFlag: The crew's flag patches show an Australian flag with an aborigine flag rather than a Union Jack, to indicate Australia has broken its ties to Britain, an American flag with fifty-five stars and a European Union flag with thirty-two stars.
112* FlayingAlive: After being told about [[spoiler:Weir's madness]], D.J. gets a badass moment when he starts picking up scalpels and bonesaws and muttering that he will take care of him. Sadly, he doesn't have the chance to use them. [[spoiler:They get used on ''him'' when he's ambushed by Weir, and when Miller finds him, he's been completely flayed, with his skin hanging on hooks above his body]].
113* FoldThePageFoldTheSpace: The ship's designer, William Weir (Sam Neill), demonstrates the "folding spacetime" concept with the centerfold page from a magazine.
114* {{Foreshadowing}}: Miller mentions that the last time a rescue was attempted near Neptune, both ships were lost. [[spoiler:Both the ''Lewis and Clark'' and the ''Event Horizon'' end up lost in the end.]]
115** When Starck is scanning the ''Event Horizon'' for life-signs, it detects faint signals from all over the ship. It sounds like a convenient malfunction to get the crew to search the ship themselves, [[GeniusLoci until a later revelation...]]
116* FreezeFrameBonus:
117** Towards the end, Weir [[MindRape shows]] Miller gruesome visions of [[spoiler:what is presumably a hell dimension, in which his crewmates are [[BloodyHorror horrifically tortured and mutilated]]]]. These visions consist of very quick shots that are hard to see unless you pause at just the right moment.
118** Also applies to the restored message from the original crew of the ''Event Horizon.'' To an extent, this is a mercy.
119** If you check the time stamp on the beginning of the captain's log right before the ''Event Horizon'' initiated its first FTL gateway, and the time stamp on the later part of the log in which the original crew is going crazy, the gap between the two was apparently ''less than a minute''. At the very least, less than a day, because both give the date as "1-23-2040". The bottom of the recording says "Time Ref", though it's not clear if this is the clock time, or just time in the recording - in which case it could just be the next thing recorded on that file a few hours later (it would probably have taken more than ''one minute'' for them to physically rip each other apart like that).
120* FromNobodyToNightmare: Sort of. Weir wasn't exactly a nobody. The other crew members acknowledge he had been a highly accomplished and respected world-class physicist before the disappearance of the Event Horizon. But he was also the adult equivalent of the nerdy wimp with no physical combat capabilities whatsoever. Starck, early in the film, effortlessly subdues him with a submission hold. And he looks like a school boy wanting to cry after getting bullied. That all changes after his transformation into a HumanoidAbomination. He becomes the most powerful and immediate threat to the crew. And he doesn't hesitate to show it, like when he tossed Starck around like a ragdoll with his new power.
121* FTLTestBlunder: The eponymous GhostShip is discovered to have been testing an FTL drive when it disappeared. The trip seems to have taken them through a Hell-like dimension, and the entire crew were killed, though not before being driven insane first, and the ship itself corrupted.
122* FTLTravelSickness: {{Exaggerated|Trope}} to levels of pure {{gorn}}. ''Event Horizon''[='s=] space-folding drive caused the ship to travel through a hellish alternate dimension which drove the crew utterly insane and led them to slaughter each other in a both figurative and literal orgy of horrifically gory violence, and corrupted the ship itself.
123* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler:Weir, after he is "resurrected" by the ship.]]
124* GenreShift: Starts out as a near-future hard SF space exploration movie, but doesn't really stay that way.
125* GhostShip: The ''Event Horizon'' is a space variant - a derelict found seven years after it was last seen or heard about.
126* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Apparently even a glimpse of hyperspace is too much for most people's minds to handle.
127* GoneHorriblyWrong: The film's basic premise is an attempt at [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]] does this. Congrats: you [[GoneHorriblyRight totally managed to twist space-time into a pretzel]] and vanish from sight. Shame "instantaneous travel" wasn't the actual, primary result -- leading to a time-delay in discovering just how very badly off the rails things went.
128* {{Gorn}}: While the film itself is bloody (the original cut was so unnerving that 30 minutes were cut before release), the ApocalypticLog falls straight into this.
129* HeadDesk: Dramatic example; in the aftermath of [[spoiler:the ''Lewis and Clark''[='s=] destruction]], Miller does a subdued version of this against the nearest wall.
130* {{Hellgate}}: To all intents and purposes, this is what the engine core (with its DarkIsEvil take on a spiked [[Series/StargateSG1 Stargate]]) is, alongside its stated objective of being an FTL Drive. The rest of the ship? Who knows: the atrium with welcome mat, perhaps? Flypaper? It's hard to say what.
131* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Miller lets himself get blown up just as the ship is about to enter hyperspace to save the rest of the crew. Granted he didn't have time to escape the ship and death is a far better fate than what was waiting for him in the other dimension.]]
132* HiddenDepths: Invoked, as the ship uses the memories and regrets that haunt the protagonists most deeply against them, to horrifying effect. Interestingly, of everyone, it is [[spoiler:the rational, normal seeming Dr. Weir]] who proves the most susceptible to it, implying that the character was a touch more disturbed than he seemed to begin with.
133** When Weir is explaining the ''Event Horizon'''s gravity drive to the rescue crew, they are all obviously disinterested and utterly confused by the stream of TechnoBabble... except for Lt. Starck, who is listening intently, implying she understands what he's talking about. Though it makes some sense, as she is the navigator for the ship.
134* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Possessed Dr. Weir]] fires Miller's nailgun through the bridge's window in a reflexive attempt to kill Cooper outside. It instead shatters the glass, and he gets [[ThrownOutTheAirlock sucked into space]].
135* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler:Implied with Weir post resurrection. He gains a VoiceOfTheLegion in some parts and is covered with ritualistic scars, hinting that it's the ship using his form to confront Miller.]]
136* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: Things [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]] due to the ship "[[OurWormholesAreDifferent folding space]]"... [[ToHellAndBack and returning]]. The "hyperspace" the ship goes into is strongly implied to be either Hell itself, or something far, far worse than what you're probably imagining right now. Weir describes it as a dimension of "pure chaos"--chaos as in a lack of normal natural order.
137* IWantMyJetpack: 2015 has come and gone without a single colony being established on the Moon.
138* ItIsBeyondSaving: Miller and his crew appear to try and fix the ship as well as rescue any survivors. But after Miller's group begins to get picked off by the entity inhabiting the ship and they see the full distress call, Miller decides to throw in the towel, exit the ship and blast it to oblivion.
139* ImAHumanitarian: Yet another facet of the final log entry.
140* ImColdSoCold: Spoken by an apparition of Weir's wife early in the film. Made all the more chilling when we realize how she died.
141* ImprovisedWeapon: The rivet guns (meant for repairing hull damage) used in the climax.
142* IndyHatRoll: Miller does one when he's fleeing the manifestation of the Burning Man.
143* InertialDampening:
144** The rescue ship ''Lewis and Clark'' has an ion drive that produces 30 g's of acceleration, so the crew spends the trip sealed into fluid-filled pods to avoid becoming wall-gazpacho. This might also explain the interior of the ''Event Horizon'' when it returned.
145--->'''D.J.''': When the ion drive fires, you'll be taking about 30 [=Gs=]. Without a tank, the force would liquefy your skeleton.
146--->'''Weir''': I've seen the effect on mice.
147** Somewhat marred because none of the items on the table in the pod room slid to the floor or were crushed during the journey.
148* ItCanThink: And it wants a new crew.
149* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: Upon seeing just what really happened to the ''Event Horizon''[='=]s original crew, Miller decides that the best thing for everyone is to fire missiles at it until it ceases to be a ship.
150* {{Jerkass}}: Dr. Weir has his moments, [[spoiler:[[SanitySlippage even before he loses it]]]].
151* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
152** While he gets a bit snide in regard to the unaccountable phenomena, Dr. Weir is generally polite, softly-spoken, and, even when fanatically determined to further explore the ship, is genuinely saddened on finding the recently deceased [[spoiler:Peters]].
153** While at times brusquely hostile to unannounced passenger Dr. Weir, Captain Miller is firm but fair, and devoted to the safety of his crew, becoming the hero of the movie later on.
154* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Miller’s reaction to the revelation of what really happened to the crew of the Event Horizon? “We’re leaving.”
155* LastNoteNightmare: The Paramount logo starts out normally, then the soundtrack wails, as the logo darkens and lifts away, and then the score begins with a [[PsychoStrings threatening string section]].
156* LaymansTerms:
157** Weir tries to offer a dumbed-down explanation of the principles behind ''Event Horizon''[='=]s FTL drive ... and he still winds up unleashing an avalanche of {{Technobabble}}.
158--->'''Miller:''' ''Layman's'' terms.\
159'''Cooper:''' Fuck layman's terms, do you speak ''English?''
160** In what is a ''very'' rare and easy to miss FunnyBackgroundEvent in a movie very short on comic relief (Cooper aside), Starck's facial expression and posture in that scene do not change and suggest rapt attention, while all the other crew members are openly confused and/or bored, with Smith even sarcastically parodying Weir in a pantomime. It looks as if she, in contrast, has zero trouble following Weir's explanation. It's actually justified, with her seeming to be the ship's navigator, in addition to being the XO - judging by her activities and the fact that she brings up the impossibility of FTL, name-dropping relativity, so she seems to have some grasp on physics and mathematics (which she'd need if she were indeed the navigator).
161* LethallyStupid: Justin walks into the engine room and sees a strange black gateway appear in the center of the gravity drive. What does he do? ''Attempt to reach into it.'' Likewise, when Peters sees a hallucination of her son, she wanders off to follow him, knowing full well that the ship is trying to mess with their heads. [[spoiler:It gets her killed.]]
162* LittlestCancerPatient: Peters has a son with some unspecified condition affecting his legs. So naturally, the ship uses this against her.
163* LoveMakesYouEvil: Dr. Weir's guilt over his wife's suicide and obsession with his work leading to said suicide is exploited by the ship to its full extent, making him the one it drives to outright turn against the crew.
164* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Weir's first few nightmares would seem to be mundane since he is not yet on the ship, but they also appear to be prophetic, suggesting perhaps a greater range of influence for the ship than we might first suspect. Or his grief and guilt are so strong, it's the first natural thing for the ship to latch on to and exploit.
165* MeaningfulName:
166** The ''Event Horizon'' is a ship that creates a black hole to travel through space-time; an event horizon is the point in the gravitational pull of a black hole beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape. [[spoiler:Ergo, once you're onboard the ''Event Horizon'', you can't escape because it won't let you.]]
167** And for that matter, the ''Lewis and Clark'', named after two of the more famous explorers of the American West. This ship's crew, however, ends up exploring [[{{Hell}} much, much farther]] than they ever expected...
168** Weir's name is also meaningful given his psychology and history. Weirs or low-head dams are extremely dangerous to swimmers and people in small watercraft as they produce a strong hydraulic circulation that will essentially entrap someone and drown them.[[note]]Weirs are frequently referred to as "drowning machines" by rescue services for their tendency to pull people and even kayaks and canoes under and not release them for minutes to hours.[[/note]] Given how trapped Weir is in his past and how he's still drowning in emotional trauma, it's a fitting name.
169* MeatMoss: The bridge of the ''Horizon'' seems to have some stretched across the walls. If you look closely, you can see ''screaming faces'' in it.
170* MindRape:
171** [[spoiler:Weir projecting nightmarish images to Miller of his crew in "hell."]]
172** The ship seems to take a shine to taunting the characters with dead loved ones/former comrades, but Weir's nightmares are particularly recurrent/violent. [[spoiler:It eventually drives him insane.]]
173* MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil:
174** [[spoiler:The ''Event Horizon'' itself, on its return from hyperspace.]]
175** [[spoiler:The ship]] employs several, though most are arguably either hallucinations or phantoms reconstructed by [[spoiler:the ship]] from their own minds.
176* MoreThanMindControl: The ship has this effect, especially on Justin.
177* MultinationalTeam: The crew of the ''Lewis And Clark'' represent three key nations, as evidenced by the flag insignias on their uniforms, though there are a few alterations from the present, due to the film’s future setting; the USA still exists as a nation, and seems to have picked up a few more states as there appear to be more stars on the flag’s blue canton. The British-accented crew members all sport a star-patterned flag reminiscent of the flag of the EU, suggesting that the UK is part of an overall UnitedEurope (ironic in hindsight). Finally, Dr. Weir sports an altered Australian flag, still featuring the constellation of the Southern Cross, but with the Union Flag canton replaced with the flag of the Australian Aboriginal People.
178* MyGreatestFailure: Miller leaving an ensign to burn in a spaceship fire. It's the core of his NoOneGetsLeftBehind attitude.
179* NakedNutter: The fate of the eponymous ship's crew has remained a mystery for most of the film. Towards the climax, the crew of the ''Lewis And Clark'' belatedly find a video log of what happened: [[spoiler:as soon as they activated the gravity drive, everyone on board descended into violent madness and murdered each other in a variety of hideous ways - many of the perpetrators being undressed at the time. The final shot is of the blood-splattered captain sitting in front of the camera, stark naked and holding his own eyeballs in his outstretched hands]].
180* NightmareSequence: At the end, Starck has a nightmare and wakes up screaming in Cooper's arms as he and the rescue team try to calm her down.
181* NoOneCouldSurviveThat:
182** Uttered by Starck when [[spoiler:Weir]] is blown through the breached window into space; Miller doubts it. They still arm themselves, just to be sure.
183** A heroic example happens after [[spoiler: everyone assumes Cooper died in the explosion that took ''Lewis and Clark''. He shows up a few scenes later to save the day]].
184* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Miller strongly believes in that - at least now. He was forced to leave one of his own men behind in the past, and it's haunted him ever since.
185* NoOSHACompliance: A room that has a pit leading into the gravity drive chamber, completely lacking any guard rails to stop anyone from falling in. Some of the horrific failures could be blamed on the ship being possessed, but the entity is never shown to have outright reconfigured the ship.
186* NonSequiturEnvironment: Dr Weir begins hallucinating and transitions seamlessly from the ship's drive room to his apartment... just in time to relive the moment his wife committed suicide.
187* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Possibly subverted. Dr. Weir is a doctor of theoretical physics, but shows an amazing grasp of surgery and anatomy later in the film. This is most likely due to [[spoiler:the ''Event Horizon'' [[PowersViaPossession possessing him]] as the 'surgery' was performed by an eyeless Weir]] and around/after this time he was also able to [[spoiler:[[NeckLift neck lift]] and throw people across a room with unnatural ease for someone with his build]].
188* OhCrap:
189** Smith gets one when [[spoiler:he finds the misplaced explosive charge, seconds away from going off]]. He doesn't ''say'' anything, but his humiliated, terrified cringe as he lowers his head speaks for itself.
190** Cooper also has a few of them.
191--->'''Cooper:''' Why's this shit always gotta happen to ''me''?!\
192'''Cooper:''' ''(when the ship fills with blood)''... Oh, fuck me.
193** D.J. has obviously just had an OhCrap moment when he comes to speak to Miller about the message in Latin; he's sweaty and nervous in a way that is [[TheStoic extremely out of character for him]].
194** Justin, after being released from his trance and realizing he has just trapped himself on the wrong side of a ''depressurizing airlock '''without a pressure suit'''''.
195** D.J. has another one when he turns around and ends up facing now-eyeless, possessed [[spoiler:Dr. Weir]].
196* OutrunTheFireball: Miller, but then this is a hallucination, and it's not even normal fire in that context.
197* PosthumanNudism: The film unexpectedly concludes with [[spoiler:Dr Weir]] being brought back from the dead as a HumanoidAbomination by the ship; along with being given powerful new abilities in this new form, he's also stark naked - the better to show off the fact that he's bald and covered in bloody rune-marks.
198* PoweredByABlackHole: The eponymous starship uses an artificial black hole drive to achieve faster-than-light travel.
199* PrecisionFStrike:
200-->'''Miller:''' I have no intention of leaving her, Doctor. I will take the ''Lewis and Clark'' to a safe distance, and then I will launch TAC missiles at the ''Event Horizon'' until I'm satisfied she's vaporized. '''''FUCK this ship.'''''
201* PsychologicalTormentZone: The ''Event Horizon'' acts as this in general. It makes your standard, everyday {{Troll}} look positively tame. It seems to exploit past grief and guilt: Miller's guilt over his crewman's death, Peters' guilt over her son, Weir's guilt over his wife.
202* PulledFromYourDayOff: The crew of the ''Lewis and Clark'' finds itself suddenly pulled from shore leave to undergo a top-secret rescue mission. Once they are finally told on-site that they are looking for the ''Event Horizon'', a ship that was famously ''destroyed'' (which was actually a cover-up), they get quite understandably angry (imagine if someone pulled you off your vacation and ordered you to go rescue the ''Titanic'').
203* PunctuatedPounding: "YOU! WON'T! TAKE! MY! CREW!"
204* RainOfBlood: Of the 'actually raining blood' variety, near the end of the movie.
205* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Captain Miller. His reaction to seeing [[NightmareFuel what happened to the old crew]][[invoked]]? [[KnowWhenToFoldThem Aborting the mission, exiting post-haste and blowing the ship into its component particles.]]
206* RecycledInSPACE:
207** A [[GhostShip ghost ship]] story [-IN SPACE!-] A setting in the upper atmosphere of Neptune even allowed a dramatic [[LightningReveal lightning reveal]] fitting the theme.
208** ''Film/{{Solaris|1972}}'' as Horror. Also, according to [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119081/trivia IMDb]], it was pitched as "''Film/TheShining'' in space."
209** By the climax, [[spoiler:Sam Neill is basically reprising his role as [[Film/TheFinalConflict Damian Thorn]], but in outer space]].
210* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Miller is haunted by the memory of the crewman he left behind to save himself. In the end, [[spoiler:he saves what is left of his crew by sacrificing himself]].
211* RedEyesTakeWarning: The hallucination of Weir's wife, Claire, that keeps popping up. Notable in that her eyes are ''entirely'' red. The reason for that being that, like so, so many other people in this film, her eyes are gouged out in the hallucination.
212* RuleOfCool: The captain of the ''Event Horizon'' firmly believed in GratuitousLatin. After bidding farewell in English, he gave his sendoff in Latin; "Ave Atque Vale--Hail and farewell."
213* RuleOfSymbolism:
214** The design of the ''Event Horizon'' draws inspiration from gothic architecture most commonly associated with old European churches and cathedrals. After the reveal of what lies [[{{Hell}} beyond the portal]], the religious connotations become much more appropriate in a perverse, twisted sense.
215** The Gravity Drive bears a striking resemblance to the descriptions of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ophanim]]: constantly rotating interlocking wheels covered in eyes (lights in this case), with the bright light it gives off when activating alluding to how they're occasionally depicted as being on fire. Like the above, any holy connotations become inverted when it's reveal what the Gravity Drive [[{{Hellgate}} actually is.]]
216* SanitySlippage: When you touch "the beyond."
217* SayMyName: Weir screams Miller's name repeatedly, just before [[spoiler:he gets sucked out the breached window]].
218* SchmuckBait:
219** Even without the warning being fully translated, the demonic vocal tone and the agonized and clearly tormented screaming and wailing in the background should have been, by themselves, enough of a collective warning for all to stay away from the ''Event Horizon''.
220** The gateway-goop of the gravity drive in the center of a [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} massive and scary room filled with massive and scary spikes, the entrance to which is a corridor that is compared to a meat grinder]].
221* ScientistVsSoldier: The crew of the rescue vessel just wants to find out what happened to the missing science team and then plans to blow up the derelict ship after realizing it’s become a conduit for a CosmicHorrorStory villain. The scientist accompanying them wants to preserve the ship and study its paranormal effects, and quickly finds himself experiencing a dangerous SanitySlippage.
222* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: There is concern that the Event Horizon will "run out of air" (oxygen) within hours or there will build up a poisonous level of carbon dioxide. These are concerns that affect real spacecraft, perhaps most well known in the dramatic saga of Apollo 13. However, the Apollo craft interior were smaller than a small bathroom. The Horizon's interior is enormous, literally thousands of times bigger than Apollo's. Even the Clark's interior is hundreds of times bigger than Apollo's. The Clark's crew is only about three times that of the lunar missions. They would have had safe atmosphere for probably months on the Horizon and weeks on the Clark, not even considering that they had a supply of suits and the option for stasis.
223* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Miller's immediate, extremely sensible response to seeing the last log entry:
224--> "We're leaving."
225* SelfDestructiveCharge: [[spoiler: The explosive charges are ultimately used by Miller during his HeroicSacrifice, separating the crew compartment of ''Event Horizon'' from its engine]].
226* SendInTheSearchTeam: The crew of the ''Lewis and Clark'' are sent to find survivors and salvage what they can from the ''Event Horizon.''
227* SequelHook: What happens if (or when) the drive section of the ''Event Horizon'' returns?
228* SexIsEvil: Let's just say it wasn't called a "Blood Orgy" for nothing. Porn actors were even hired to [[NauseaFuel make it look all the more realistic]][[invoked]].
229* ShooOutTheClowns: Possibly the darkest example in cinema. [[spoiler:When Weir starts his rampage, his first act is to blow up the ''Lewis and Clark''. Cooper survives on a piece of wreckage, but is blown clear. He blows his air supply to try to return, but we don't see him again until much later.]]
230* ShoutOut:
231** The UsedFuture sets and the costumes of the film are influenced by those from ''Film/{{Alien}}'', not to mention that in this film the protagonists also respond to a distress call that turns out to be a warning.
232** The experimental [=FTL=] drive on the ''Event Horizon'' takes the ship to what Weir describes as "a realm of pure chaos and pure evil", and just being exposed to it at all drives you to murderous insanity and self-mutilation. Combine it with the Gothic influences in the ship's design and the use of GratuitousLatin, and you can see why it's often joked the film is a pseudo-prequel to ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''.
233** The Burning Man, to ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination''. The working title of the movie during filming was even ''The Stars My Destination''.
234** Cooper quipping "Ooh, it's time to play Spam in a can!" is a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheRightStuff''.
235--->''(from Film/TheRightStuff)'' Chuck Yeager: Anybody that goes up in the damn thing is gonna be Spam in a can.
236** [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 "Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see."]]
237** ''[[Film/TheShining The Shining]]'': Towards the climax, Starck and Cooper encounter a torrent of blood that erupts from a tank of the gravity couch bay.
238** [[spoiler:Dr. Weir, after being exposed to the other dimension and blown out into space, basically turns into a [[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} Cenobite]], with his facial scare resembling those of Pinhead's.]] And before that, Weir's wife's statement of "I have such wonderful things to show you" [[spoiler:before gouging out his eyes]] parallels Pinhead's "We have such sights to show you."
239** Twice in the film, Peters is tasked to attend to the ships' CO[[subscript:2]] scrubbers. This is undoubtedly a callback to Creator/KathleenQuinlan's role as Marilyn Lovell in ''Film/Apollo13'', wherein CO[[subscript:2]] filters were also kind of a big deal.
240* ShowingOffThePerilousPowerSource: In the Engine Room of Spinny Spiky Doom.
241* ShownTheirWork:
242** Given the liberties taken with physics above, the astronomy is surprisingly on-point. UsefulNotes/{{Neptune}} looks like Neptune should look; we see accurate depictions of [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfNeptune Triton and Nereid]], and Miller mentions that they are "three billion clicks from the nearest outpost," which happens to be the orbit of UsefulNotes/{{Saturn}} (perhaps a colony on Titan?).
243** When Justin attempts to space himself, Miller tells him to blow all the air out of his lungs. This is correct; attempting to hold your breath would cause the air to be violently sucked out of your body, causing severe damage to the respiratory system.
244* SlasherSmile: Possibly the most disturbing part of the ApocalypticLog (and that says ''a lot'') is Kilpack flashing one in front of the camera while holding up his own gouged-out eyes and uttering [[spoiler:''"Libera te tutemet ex inferis."'']]
245* SmartPeopleKnowLatin: The use of Latin by the captain in the ApocalypticLog seems to be there partly to suggest what an educated guy he is.
246* SoundtrackDissonance: The end credits features the techno song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxBC7ol-iUs Funky Shit]]" by Music/TheProdigy.
247* SpaceIsolationHorror: A rescue mission in deep space that runs into a ship that is not only vile in terms of following NoOSHACompliance, but also because it's become a literal demon from Hell.
248* SpikesOfDoom: In the DVD commentary, the director states that the spikes in the gravitational drive room were originally intended to engage with the core, but this wasn't possible due to budget constraints. They were left in due to the RuleOfScary.
249* SpiritualSuccessor: Arguably to ''Film/TheBlackHole''. In fact, there are so many similarities that some people consider ''Event Horizon'' a ''remake'' of ''The Black Hole''.
250* StaggeredZoom: Few of those are used for incoming {{Jump Scare}}s
251* TheStoic: Miller, with a touch of JerkAss thrown in. It is enforced by his line of work as a commander of a search and rescue vessel - being calm and collected is pre-requested for the job.
252* SubmersibleSpaceship: The titular spaceship is adrift in the clouds of Neptune. It's said to be in a decaying orbit, but if it was that low in the atmosphere it must already have been operating in the equivalent of an ocean for some time.
253* SuicideMission: Hinted at by Miller, who notes rescue missions as far out as Neptune usually end in a TotalPartyKill.
254* TakeMeInstead: Captain Miller offers himself in exchange for his crew. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:"Weir" isn't in a negotiating mood]].
255--> '''[[spoiler:Weir]]:''' No. There is no escape. The gateway is open, and you're all coming with me!
256* TakeMyHand: When Miller saves a crew member from being sucked out the ship's broken window into space.
257* TeleporterAccident: The ''Event Horizon'' was supposed to travel to Alpha Centauri. Instead it wound up in Hell (or something very close to it) for about a decade and CameBackWrong, with none of its crew making it out alive.
258* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[DefiedTrope Defied.]] This is what Captain Miller ''wants'' to do to the ''Event Horizon'' upon finding out what the ship did to its crew, but [[spoiler:Weir and the ''Event Horizon'' itself]] make sure he never gets the chance.
259* ThisIsNotAFloor: [[spoiler:Peters]] is killed when [[spoiler:the evil ship creates an illusion of a bridge across the gravity chamber floor, with her son on the other side]], leading to [[spoiler:Peters falling to her death]].
260* ThrownOutTheAirlock: The self-inflicted one attempted by Justin is averted by his team rescuing him. Later it's played straight with [[spoiler:possessed Dr. Weir]] breaking the window of the ''Event Horizon''[='=]s bridge and getting sucked out.
261* ToHellAndBack: Hell is just a word, however. The reality is much, ''much'' worse.
262* TooDumbToLive: Averted, if not outright [[DefiedTrope defied]]. Except when they're [[MindRape under the influence of the ship]], in which case it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]], the characters consistently make smart decisions (Miller for example immediately says "we're leaving" and notes that neither of the crew's mission objectives is still achievable after [[spoiler: they watch the decoded log of the ''Event Horizon'']]). It doesn't help.
263* TooStrangeToShow: Again, it's much, ''much'' worse; so much worse that the place the ''Event Horizon'' ended up can't even be shown.
264* TouchedByVorlons: [[spoiler:Dr. Weir, though "Touched By ''Shadows''" might be more appropriate, here. Or "touched by [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Slaanesh]]", even.]]
265* UncleTomfoolery: Cooper, all the damn time. "HERE I COME, MOTHERFUCKEERRRS!" Used for PluckyComicRelief and a foil to Captain Miller's dour seriousness. On the other hand, as a rescue technician, he's extremely competent and resourceful -- the crew treat him like a BunnyEarsLawyer.
266* UnplannedManualDetonation: Needing an escape vessel because their own ship was destroyed, the surviving crew of ''Lewis and Clark'' decide to detonate the charges in the connecting tunnel between the ''Event Horizon''[='=] habitation section and its drive section, which the ship was designed to do in order to use the front as a lifeboat. Before they can detonate them, however, they're attacked by visions of their dead friends that the ''Event Horizon'' is projecting into their minds and even a resurrected Dr. Weir. Captain Miller is trapped in the drive section and detonates the explosives manually, sacrificing himself to save his remaining crew.
267* VertigoEffect: Used when Weir is trying to fix an electrical fault in the gravity drive and hears someone else crawling around nearby.
268* VoiceOfTheLegion: It's only for one line, but [[spoiler:Dr. Weir]]'s infamous "DO YOU SEE" uses this as an effect.
269* TheWatson: The ''Lewis and Clark'' crew need to get Weir to explain, in simple words, how the ship's FTL drive works, which of course allows him to explain it to the audience as well.
270* WhamLine:
271--> '''D.J.''': ...I thought it said ''Liberate me''. "Save me." [[spoiler:But it's not "''me''". It's "''Libera te'' '''''tutemet'''''." "Save yourself." And it gets worse... I think... that says "''ex inferis''". "Save yourself... from Hell."]]
272* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: Naming your ship after the point in which escape from a black hole is theoretically impossible isn't the greatest of omens.
273* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: Other characters joke about this with Cooper. He states that he's the ship's "Rescue Technician."
274* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: Used and inverted. On one hand, the gravitational drive is always spinning due to [[{{Technobabble}} magnets]] in a tri-axis gyroscope. Inverted in that the real science happens when it stops.
275* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Poor [[spoiler:Weir]].
276* YourWorstMemory: The psychological effects of the ''Event Horizon'' seem to involve this, subjecting them to visions of the most painful moments of their lives: a former shipmate burning alive for Captain Miller, and the suicide of his wife for Dr Weir.

Top