Line #23 Main/StandardEstablishingSpaceshipShot


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/ANewHope https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star-wars-opening-shot_9246.PNG]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:And it's ''still'' awesome after [[LongRunners nearly 50 years]].]]
3
4	->''"Slow, awe-inspiring shot of approaching underside of spaceship. Thanks to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Act, passed by Congress in '79, it is law."''
5	-->-- '''Creator/MikeNelson''', ''Podcast/{{Rifftrax}}''
6
7	So you want to establish your CoolSpaceship's power and destructive potential? Easy! Just have it enter the screen (usually from the top) and [[MightyGlacier sloooooowly crawl forward]]. For extra drama have the ship suddenly appear in the distance with a small flash of light after coming out of [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] and ''then'' slowly crawl forward.
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9	Compare FighterLaunchingSequence and EmergingFromTheShadows. SisterTrope of StandardizedSpaceViews. See also DramaticAlienVTOL.
10	----
11	!!Examples! Incoming!
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13	[[foldercontrol]]
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15	[[folder:Comic Books]]
16	* A non animate version of this is used in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' when the sabotaged stranded in space vessel Diana and Natasha are on gets picked up by a huge Sangtee Empire ship. The imposing expanse of the ship coming in from "above" their tiny vessel looses some of its intimidation factor on second glance when it becomes apparent the thing looks like a misshapen whale, in accordance with the way all Sangtee Empire ships look a bit like mechanical sea life.
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19	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
20	* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. Used for the ''Discovery'' in a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning famously drawn-out fashion.]]
21	* ''Film/{{Alien}}'' opens with the camera panning over the ''Nostromo''.
22	* At the beginning of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' we see the ship transporting Jake to Pandora.
23	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in ''Film/DCCab'', where the opening shot of a nighttime sky is interrupted by the underside of a passing yellow taxicab.
24	* The beginning of ''Film/EventHorizon'' is the camera slowly exploring a space station, with such costly CGI that it reportedly took up a third of the film's budget.
25	* The opening shot of ''Film/IndependenceDay'' has an alien ship flying over the Moon's Sea of Tranquility[[labelnote:*]]Mare Tranquillitatis[[/labelnote]] about to enter Earth orbit.
26	* ''Film/PitchBlack'' starts with a top-down view that show a small part of Hunter-Gratzner's first section, but mostly the container behind it. Then the camera slowly rotates and pans down the ship and it ends with the classic from behind view.
27	* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', with the introduction of the BigBad's ship going on and on and on for [[OverlyLongGag well over a minute]], while [[NoFourthWall the orchestra playing the score grows more and more impatient.]]
28	** In the DVD commentary, they say that the first edition of the ship was over 5 minutes. That could have [[CrossesTheLineTwice crossed the line]] a dozen times!
29	** With a bumper sticker saying "We brake for nobody." Spaceballs: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Genocide, oppression, and vehicular homicide.]]
30	* ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' opens with an establishing shot of the heroes' spaceship in flight.
31	* Used to [[ShootTheMoney show off the shiny new]] ''Enterprise'' in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. Half the movie is just fly-by shots of the ''Enterprise'', or doing a fly-by over V'Ger.
32	* Also used for the U.S.S. ''Kelvin'' in ''Film/StarTrek2009''. Soon after they run into the ''Narada'', which in one wide shot easily dwarfs the ''Kelvin''.
33	* The TropeCodifier is ''Franchise/StarWars Episode IV: Film/ANewHope'', which began with a Star Destroyer chasing Leia's much smaller ship. The scene is helped by the wedge-shaped design of the Star Destroyer making it appear larger and larger as it comes into the audiences' view.
34	** The later films use the trope OncePerEpisode. The Super Star Destroyer ''Executor'' in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', the Rebel flagship ''Home One'' in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Jedi transport in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the Naboo senatorial ship in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', and the [[TheEmpire First Order]] Star Destroyer ''Finalizer'' in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', which ''eclipses a planet'' in its shot.
35	** The long panning shot of the Republic ''Venator''-class Star Destroyer in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' subverts this, as it ends to reveal ''hundreds'' of warships fighting the Battle of Coruscant in the distance, showing that ''this'' ship isn't particularly special. Yes, George Lucas loves this trope.
36	** All five of the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novels in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' and the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology by Creator/TimothyZahn start aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer ''Chimaera'', employing this Trope by inference.
37	*** In fact, every single Zahn ''Star Wars'' novel save for ''Literature/OutboundFlight'' (which opens with a light freighter in space) and ''Literature/{{Thrawn}}'' (which completely averts this trope) opens with a Star Destroyer in flight.
38	** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' changes it up with a ''planetary'' establishing shot, the camera zooming right past the Resistance fleet in orbit over D'Qar to focus on the base they are abandoning. Soon after, we get a standard shot when the First Order Dreadnought ''Fulminatrix'' drops out of hyperspace and prepares to attack, her behemoth size contrasted by the numerous Star Destroyers dwarfed by her presence.
39	* Copied in the opening shot of the Italian {{Mockbuster}} ''Film/{{Starcrash}}'', simply because it was done in ''Star Wars''.
40	* Done with Sark's cruiser in ''Film/{{Tron}}''.
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43	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
44	* The sequel series to ''Series/ArmorHero'' has an egregiously long shot at the start of episode 32 that takes a full '''two minutes'''. Half is spent viewing it from the classic angle (the bottom), and the other half is spent viewing it from the top.
45	* ''Series/RedDwarf'', particularly the epic opening titles used for series 1 and 2.
46	** It's too much of an homage to ''Franchise/StarWars'' to be merely coincidental. And despite the tone of ''Red Dwarf'' the rest of the time, the establishing shot was a completely straight example.
47	* A huge alien spacecraft, accompanied by much smaller fighters, looms slowly into shot over Moonbase Alpha in the ''Series/Space1999'' episode ''War Games''. It is possible that George Lucas was influenced by this sequence as he was impressed by the special effects being used on the show and visited the studios during its production.
48	* Used during the premiere of ''Series/StargateUniverse'' to introduce the ''Destiny''.
49	* A regular feature on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Notably, during the title sequence, you can see crewmembers walking around through the windows behind the bridge just before the ''Enterprise'' goes to Warp.
50	* ''Series/UltramanTiga'''s opening sequence features a showcase of Earth Defence Force GUTS's various vehicles (and a few shots of the eponymous Ultraman). The centerpiece, however, is the [[FighterLaunchingSequence launch sequence]] of GUTS' mothership ''Artdessei'', which is interspersed throughout the opening. It has her start out sitting in drydock before rolling out to the elevator shaft, rising up said shaft, etc. It culminates with her takeoff, wings unfolding just as the theme song swells into its chorus. The classic underbelly shot is the very next one, with the ocean below and the shore on the horizon. Then finally, a frontal shot of her climbing into orbit with the Earth in the background, before Tiga takes centre stage. Very much appropriate, as her design is essentially a cross between a Star Destroyer and a whale.
51	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} and {{Subverted\|Trope}} in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"]] where an opening shot of what ''appears'' like the underside of a spaceship under a night sky is revealed to be the underside of a cherrypicker.
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54	[[folder:Video Games]]
55	* The Lindblum in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' makes its first appearance by slowly emerging from a huge cloud.
56	* ''VideoGame/FreeSpace 2'' does this numerous times, the most noteworthy being the intro. At the end of the scene, the camera pans out above the planet, where a fleet of GTVA ships flies in, including the [[TheBattleStar GTVA Colossus.]]
57	* The Opening Sequence of the first game in the ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' gameverse features the ''Elsior'' crawling upward, behind the five Emblem Frames piloted by the Angels.
58	* The ship database of ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'' does this when viewing ship information. It's also the victory screen after battles and the "Press Start" screen when the game starts up.
59	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
60	** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' opens with the ''Pillar of Autumn'' floating by as it approaches [[RingWorldPlanet Alpha Halo]].
61	** Most of the games do this at least once, such as the assault carrier and ''In Amber Clad'' in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', and the ''Long Night of Solace'' supercarrier in ''VideoGame/HaloReach''.
62	** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' does this several times with the ''Infinity'', sometimes with an escort fleet, and with the Didact's ship.
63	** ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'' opens similarly to ''Combat Evolved'', with the ''Infinity'' floating by as it approaches Zeta Halo -- but immediately after it enters the frame, it quickly gets pulverized by a fleet of Banished warships.
64	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
65	** [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 The first game]] mixes this with shots of Shepard walking through the interior on his/her way to the bridge.
66	** The first scene after the Illusive Man's office in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second]] is the Normandy exiting hyperspace and flying towards the camera. Turns into a BaitAndSwitch when [[spoiler:said ship is completely destroyed mere moments later. The first establishing shot of the ''new'' ship is when it is still in drydock. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzv5k6p0Swo The dock lights gradually turn on as the camera slowly tracks down the hull of the ship.]] ]]
67	** Played straight so often in [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 the third game]] that the times it's not used can be counted on one hand. An entire thousands-strong fleet does it in formation at one point.
68	** In [[VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda Andromeda]], the first shot in the title galaxy is of the Hyperion exiting hyperspace in this manner and then starting the wake-up sequence after its centuries-long flight.
69	* The introduction movie to ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' has the human [[{{battlestar}} assault carrier]] slowly emerge from the bottom border of the screen.
70	* The original login menu of ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' had the Hyperion over the screen and then go off to hyperspace. Apparently it goes right behind the screen and does it again. Turns into a overly long gag if you stay on the login screen for a while
71	* ''VideoGame/StarFox1'' opened with the first boss ship emerging from the top of the screen, heading towards Corneria and dispatching fighters.
72	* Continuing with the ''Star Wars'' examples, the introductory cutscene to ''Videogame/XWing'' includes a squadron of Star Destroyers descending into planetary orbit about to attack a group of Mon Calamari Cruisers.
73	* {{B\|igBad}}owser is introduced this way at the very beginning of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.
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76	[[folder:Web Original]]
77	* ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'' uses it for the Omega Doomship.
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Context Main / StandardEstablishingSpaceshipShot