"Mayday...mayday...can anyone hear me, over? This is US Station 31; can you read me? We found something in the ice. We need some help down here. Can anybody hear me? We found something...we found something...we found something..."
— Trailer for The Thing (1982)
Dallas: Well, as some of you may have figured out, we're not home yet. We're only halfway there. Mother's interrupted the course of our journey. She's programmed to do that should certain conditions arise. They have. It seems that she has... intercepted a transmission of unknown origin. She got us up to check it out.
Ripley: A transmission? Out here?
Lambert: What kind of a transmission?
Dallas: Acoustical beacon. It, uh, repeats at intervals of 12 seconds.
Kane: S.O.S.?
Dallas: I dunno.
Ripley: Human?
Dallas: Unknown.
Ripley: A transmission? Out here?
Lambert: What kind of a transmission?
Dallas: Acoustical beacon. It, uh, repeats at intervals of 12 seconds.
Kane: S.O.S.?
Dallas: I dunno.
Ripley: Human?
Dallas: Unknown.
— Alien
Samus is under fire! She sent an emergency directive: join the fight!
— Metroid Main Theme (Super Smash Bros. Brawl remix)
"This is Colonel John Konrad, United States Army. Attempted evacuation of Dubai... ended in...complete failure. Death toll... too many."
"This is Captain Martin Walker. Requesting immediate evacuation from Dubai. Survivors... one too many."
— Spec Ops: The Line, in some endings
Everything was going fine until once day her idiot Captain decided to land on the remote planet LV-426 to investigate some stupid distress signal the Nostromo picked up, which as we all know is one of the top five most boneheaded decisions any science-fiction space captain can possibly make.
Rick: The first rule of space travel, kids, is always check out distress beacons. Nine of out of ten times, it's a ship full of dead aliens and a bunch of free shit. One out of ten times it's a deadly trap, but I'm ready to roll those dice.
mayday mayday mayday... please answer please answer please answer... they're coming... they're coming... omigod, they're coming through the tunnels, the plastic tunnels in the walls.. i can smell them... i can smell their burning skin... they comes from outside space, outside our reality... the gauntlet will not hold! ...the gauntlet will not hold! ...low on ammunition... they walk through the walls of reality! ... the center cannot hold, they walk through souls! ... mayday mayday mayday... please answer please answer please answer...
—Mage: The Ascension - Convention Book: New World Order
The Doctor: That is my theme tune. Otherwise known as a distress call.
Bill: You like distress calls?
The Doctor: You only really see the true face of the universe when it's asking for your help.
Bill: You like distress calls?
The Doctor: You only really see the true face of the universe when it's asking for your help.
— Doctor Who, "Oxygen"
"The light's stopped flashing... does this mean he's coming or do I need to change the bulb?"
— Rory Williams, Doctor Who
''Free Trader Beowulf... come in, Free Trader Beowulf... can you hear me? Come in, Free Trader Beowulf... ...
— GURPS Traveller
Her course was set to intercept that of a massive United Planets patrol ship.
A message was shortly received at the headquarters of the United Planets. It was the last one they would get from that particular starship.
The message stated that their craft was being destroyed by an unarmed woman. It was cut off before the end.
A message was shortly received at the headquarters of the United Planets. It was the last one they would get from that particular starship.
The message stated that their craft was being destroyed by an unarmed woman. It was cut off before the end.
Never answer a distress signal. Why would you ever go to a place where people are in trouble? In horror movies, "help!" doesn't translate to "our hyperdrive is on the fritz again." It means "no-one lived long enough to send this message." By the time you arrive, not only will everyone be dead, but whatever killed them will be hungry. This is precisely why caller ID was invented.
CQD MGY. CQD THIS IS...
— Final tranmission of the RMS Titanic
Emergency transmission
Lighting up an empty screen
Beamed from the planet of the galaxy queen
Lighting up an empty screen
Beamed from the planet of the galaxy queen
— Tupper Ware Remix Party, "Black Swan"
