Rousing Speech / Live-Action TV

Rousing Speeches in live-action TV.

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• 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "36! 24! 36! Dick!" After a group of hot Venusian women fail in their plot to steal everything of value from Earth, Dick cheers them up by telling them how they can make something of their lives by becoming supermodels.
• All That: In the very first Good Burger sketch, a commercial is being filmed for the titular restaurant, but after Ed keeps messing up his lines, everyone else is on the verge of quitting. Ed gives them this kind of speech to encourage them to continue.
  Director: People, this isn't working. I think we should just pack it up and call it quits!
  Ed: No! No, we can't quit! We have a TV commercial to do! The bunny wouldn't quit! The bunny would just keep going and going and going!
  Director: Yeah, I know!
  Ed: And just when you think he's gonna stop, he goes! Just like a magic bunny!
  Actor: Don't listen to him, we want to go home!
  Director: Wait, people! You know, Ed's right about the bunny. The bunny wouldn't quit, and neither shall we! People, let's make a Good Burger commercial!
• Andor:
  • Kino Loy gives a speech during the prison riot on Narkina 5, telling all the prisoners about how the Empire was never setting them free, and urging them all to fight, as it was their "one way out".
  • Maarva records a speech just prior to her death, encouraging the people of Ferrix to rise up against the Empire's oppression. When it's played at her funeral, it has the desired effect, as the crowd of mourners is so riled up that when the Imperials try to step in and shut down the recording, it triggers a city-wide riot.

• Ash vs. Evil Dead: Brandy gives one to Ash in "The Mettle of Man", doubling as Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  Brandy: Enough! I don't know much about this Evil Dead crap, and I know even less about why it chose you, but it did. You're the Savior of Humanity, so get on your damn feet and own up to who you are! In the short time that I have known you, I have seen things that I never thought existed. Seen you do things that I never thought possible. You taught me to trust you. You taught me to believe in you, and I do. Please, don't let me down now.
• Babylon 5 practically uses rousing speeches as motor fuel. The series likes to point out that this is humanity's trademark: Any other race gives in to despair, but humans fight to the end.
  • When Sheridan decided to attack Earth to get our government back.
  • "No more! NOT ON MY WATCH!"
  • "We can end this. Not just for now, not just for the next thousand years, but forever!"
  • Right before the Battle of the Line — the last, desperate battle in the Earth-Minbari war — the Earth President gives one.
• Battlestar Galactica (2003) has a lot of these, as you can imagine.
  • Most of them go to Commander (and later, Admiral) Adama, but a notable one goes to Colonel Saul Tigh — not usually the guy you look to for reassurance — in the Season 2 opener, "Scattered". Adama is lying in sickbay, with two bullets in his chest, and the Galactica has apparently lost the rest of the Fleet after a jump. Tigh admits that "This is Bill Adama's command. His orders are still the word of the Gods on board this ship. Just so we're clear. This will be Adama's command until the day he dies. And we are not going to let him die. So say we all." He then makes the call to network Galactica's computers together (something Bill would never do, and thus forcing him to deviate from his usual default setting of "follow Bill's lead").
  • Adama also does this after Earth is revealed to be just a nuked cinder in space.
• Blackadder:
  • The first episode has a parody, where Richard the Third gives a speech before the Battle of Bosworth Field which is largely cribbed from Henry V's speech in the eponymous play, with smaller speeches offered by Prince Harry and the future King Richard IV (played by BRIAN BLESSED).
    Harry: Now, I'm afraid there's going to have to be a bit of (unhappily) violence. (Brightly) But at least we all know its for a good cause.
    Richard IV: Let blood, blood, BLOOD be your motto. Slit their gizzards!
  • The finale of Blackadder Goes Forth — the whole series is set in the trenches of World War One, so it has a more serious overtone than the preceding three seasons/series of Blackadder. At the end of the final episode, the characters admit they're scared, decide to follow their orders, leave their trench and charge into a hopeless battle, where they are shot dead. Probably.
    Blackadder I'm afraid not. The guns have stopped because we're about to attack. Not even our generals are mad enough to shell their own men. They think it's far more sporting to let the Germans do it.
    George So we are in fact, going over? This is, as they say, 'it'?
    Blackadder Afraid so. Unless I can think of something very quickly...
    From offscreen: Company. One! Face, Forward!
    Baldrick: Why there's a nasty splinter on that ladder sir, a bloke could hurt himself on that!
    From offscreen: Company, stand ready!
    Baldrick: I have...a plan, sir.
    Blackadder: Really Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
    Baldrick: Yes sir.
    Blackadder: As cunning as a fox who was just appointed professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
    Baldrick: Yes sir.
    From offscreen: On the signal, company will advance!
    Blackadder: Well I'm afraid it'll have to wait. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman around here?
    [Whistle from offscreen]
    Blackadder ...Good luck everyone.
• Every single episode of Boston Legal. However, the cases they take on are so incredibly far-fetched, that, prior to each Rousing Speech, you can't help but thinking "How are they going to get out of that one?" Lampshaded in one episode where Shore actually brings a soapbox to court.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Just about one per season, along with a spectacular backfire or two in Season 7.
  • Subverted in "Doomed": Spike's sudden unexpected outburst of enthusiasm for "fighting the good fight" (after he realized that the implanted behavioral modification chip didn't punish him for killing demons) meets with helpless silent protestation from Xander and Willow that, and after a long exhausting day of monster-slaying, Spike was blocking their view of the TV box. The irony of course lies in the fact that Spike is a vampire, and used to be Buffy's enemy until that point.
    What's this? Sittin' around watching the telly while there's evil still afoot? It's not very industrious of you. I say we go out there and kick a little demon ass! What? Can't go without your Buffy, is that it? Too chicken? Let's find her. She is the chosen one, after all. Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let's annihilate them, for justice, and for... the safety of puppies... and Christmas, right? Let's fight that evil! Let's kill something! [Credits start running.] Oh, come on!
  • Subverted in "The Gift" in which Buffy gives an unimpressive speech before the final battle, and Spike and Giles have the following exchange referencing Henry V:
    Buffy: Hey, everybody knows their jobs. Remember, the ritual starts, we all die. And I'll kill anyone who comes near Dawn.
    Spike: Well, not exactly the St. Crispin's Day speech, was it?
    Giles: (Wryly) "We few, we happy few..."
    Spike: We band of buggered.
  • The greatest has to be Buffy's speech to the Potentials in "Bring On The Night" where she declares war against the source of all evil.
  • Also occasionally lampshaded.
    Buffy: Hello! All I do is look at the big picture. The other day, I gave an inspirational speech to the telephone repair man.
    Giles: It takes more than rousing speeches to lead, Buffy.
• In Chernobyl, Legasov has to ask three of the plant's technicians to undertake a Suicide Mission to drain the irradiated water beneath the plant before it can be detonated in a catastrophic steam explosion. When they bluntly ask why they should be expected to do such a thing, Shcherbina shakes off the funk he's been in after learning radiation exposure has left him with a few years to live to tell them.
  You'll do it because it must be done. You'll do it because no one else can. And if you don't, millions will die. If you tell me that's not enough, I won't believe you. This is what has always set our people apart. A thousand years of sacrifice in our veins. And every generation must know its own suffering. I spit on the people who did this, and I curse the price I have to pay. But I'm making my peace with it, and now you make yours. And go into that water. Because it must be done.
• The Chosen: The Sermon on the Mount is one big, passionate manifesto outlining Jesus' most important teachings. Several characters later cite it as a cause for their Heel–Face Turn, the first of which are Matthew and his parents when they finally find the heart to forgive each other for the pain that split their family apart for several years.
• On Community when something needs to get done, Jeff usually relies on one of these to rally the study group. In fact Jeff uses this trope so much it could be called "Winger Speech" in his honour.
  • Truly the greatest parody of this trope (and its usage on the show) is in Paradigms of Human Memory, a Clip Show made from non-existent episodes. Jeff begins by noting how all the speeches he gives are all so different — it then proceeds to splice together about six different speeches from a haunted house, an aquarium, a steam engine, "Free Caesar Salad Day", a camping trip, a drug lord's compound and an asylum into one perfectly coherent speech.
  • Also played for laughs in the pillow fight episode, this time by Troy, trying to rally the troops of his blanket fort against Abed's pillow fort.
    Troy: Citizens of Blanketsburg, I ask you now, to prepare for war. And I ask Garrett, to please fix the microphone on my laptop. It's doing that thing again!
• On The Daily Show John Oliver cuts off Jon Stewart's mockery of a British politican using public funds to clean his moat to deliver a grand speech about the pride the British take in their moats, no matter how they're funded. A lampshade is properly hung:
  Jon Stewart: You're going Richard II on us?
  John Oliver: F—k yeah, strap in!
• Defiance:
  • At the climax of the pilot, Mayor Amanda gives one to rally the citizens of Defiance to stay and fight to protect their home from the Volge.
  • In the Season 3 episode "The Beauty Of Our Weapons", Nolan gives one to encourage the faltering citizens of Defiance to stand and face Rahm Tak's pending invasion of the town.
• Doctor Who:
  • "Earthshock" has a memorable one, in which the Doctor confronts the completely emotionless Cyberleader with the limitations of their existence, pointing out that small, beautiful things — which they cannot appreciate — are what make life worth living.
  • The Ninth Doctor was fond of a gentle, understated, individualised version of this. And unlike with Ten, it usually didn't involve himself but was solely aimed at building up the other's self-confidence. (Exception: the speech at the end of "Bad Wolf".) It had more impact because he could be quite cynical about humanity as a whole, whereas Ten sometimes seemed unrealistically idealistic in his constant gushing. For instance, from "The Empty Child":
    Ninth Doctor: Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says "no". "No." Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. [smiles] You're amazing, the lot of you. Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then... do what you've gotta do. Save the world.
  • "The Christmas Invasion" has a subversion: The Tenth Doctor starts a Rousing Speech "From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking, step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than..." but abruptly stops himself upon realizing that his speech was in fact a quote from The Lion King (1994).
  • "The Satan Pit": The Doctor counters the "Reason You Suck" Speech the Beast is giving to the others with one of these, doing his best to rally them. The Beast clearly thinks it's working, as he proceeds to cut off the Doctor so he can't say any more.
  • The Tenth Doctor takes control in "Voyage of the Damned" by stating he's going to save "your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"
  • How about Colonel Alan Mace's speech in front of the ATMOS facility in "The Poison Sky"? The whole planet is covered in soon-to-be toxic gas, and there's an alien invasion underway, but he finds time to give his men a speech, before proceeding to kick the Sontarans' cloned asses back to space with a Airborne Aircraft Carrier.
    Col. Mace: The Sontarans might think of us as primitive, as does every passing species with an axe to grind. They make a mockery of our weapons, our soldiers, our ideals, but no more. From this point on it stops. From this point on, the people of Earth fight back. And we show them, we show the warriors of Sontar what the human race can do.
  • "The Hungry Earth": The Doctor gives a speech to the gathered people encouraging them to become "the best of humanity". Nasreen even claps, but unfortunately she's the only one.
• Sent up with Buck Frobisher's "March 11th" speech in the final episode of Due South, which, while only truly appreciable onscreen, deserves to be reprinted in full:
  Frobisher: They have called this day the eleventh of March. And whom-so-ever of you gets through this day, unless you are shot in the head or somehow slain, you will stand a hipnal when e'er you hear the name again, and you will get excited at the name March the eleventh. We happy few, we few, we band of brothers our names will be as like Household Names. Those who are not here be they sleeping or doing something else, they will feel themselves — sort of crappy. Because they are not here to, to join the fight. On this day, March the eleventh!
• While Farscape didn't have any speeches in the direct sense, a good portion of the final season had Crichton convincing his alien friends (and often himself) that this was the only course of action left: Stop running, make a stand, end this madness once and for all. In the final episode, Crichton goes back to Earth one last time, calls his father from the Moon and tells him that he's sealing up the wormhole to Earth (to keep it safe from the Scarrans) and isn't coming back. The "speech" ends with an endearing father/son moment.
  Jack: You tell my grandkids about me.
  John: Ha, that's a no-brainer. They gotta know who my hero is.
  Jack: You're going to find, when you have your own, you want them to surpass you. Be better. Climb higher. I guess if that's the measure, I'm the greatest Dad on Earth.
  John: I love you, Dad.
  Jack: You're the heart and soul of my life, son. I love you.
  John: (with a definite tone of finality) Goodbye.
• Firefly ruthlessly subverts this in the pilot episode, where Mal delivers a quick, rousing speech to his troops, only to have one of them clam up in terror, another gets killed while trying to call in air support, and at the end of the entire scene, The Cavalry pulls out and Command says they need to surrender, and the Alliance comes in to obliterate the entire Independent army, utterly crushing both the Browncoats and Mal's spirit. And the last surviving non-Zoe guy he gave the speech to is shot while Mal is in his Heroic BSoD.
• In Frasier's mind EVERY speech and piece of advice he has given fits, but often other characters will just tell him to be quiet. Sometimes played straight, especially in the last episode.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Theon Greyjoy gives one when defending Winterfell from an army of northerners with his 20 men. Subverted, as when he is finished, one of his soldiers knocks him out, because they've been planning to surrender and still are.
    Soldier 1: Thought he'd never shut up.
    Soldier 2: It was a good speech. Didn't want to interrupt.
  • Tyrion Lannister gives a particularly cynical (and accurate) one during a desperate moment of the battle for the Mud Gate, but it works. Particularly notable in that all present were saying Screw This, I'm Outta Here — and it's the little lion who says possibly the dumbest thing he has ever said in his life and gets them to instead Dare to Be Badass.
    Tyrion: Don't fight for the king. Don't fight for his kingdoms. Don't fight for honor. Don't fight for glory. Don't fight for riches, because you won't get any. (background laughter) This is your city Stannis means to sack. That's your gate he's ramming. If he gets in, it will be your houses he burns. Your gold he steals. Your women he will rape. Those are brave men knocking at our door. *beat* Let's go kill them!
    I'll lead the attack... I'll lead the attack! They say I am half a man, but what does that make the lot of you?
  • Sandor's brief but memorable one to his men as he charges out of the gates at Blackwater.
    "Any man dies with a clean sword, I'll rape his fucking corpse!"
  • For succinct speeches, look no further than the one Stannis Baratheon gives at the Blackwater. It's rather short, but gets the job done.
    Stannis: Come with me and take this city!
  • The normally taciturn and quiet Grey Worm gives a short, simple but great one to motivate the slaves who are debating whether or not to turn on their masters in Meereen in "Oathkeeper":
    Grey Worm: (drops bag of weapons in front of slaves) This one is called Grey Worm. I was taken as a baby by the Masters of Astapor, raised and trained as Unsullied. Now I fight for Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons and Breaker of Chains...there are three slaves in this city for every Master. No one can give you your freedom, brothers. If you want it, you must take it.
  • Alliser Thorne give one in "Watchers on the Wall" in order to rally the badly outnumbered Night's Watch against the attacking Wildlings:
    "Brothers! One hundred generations have held this castle. She's never fallen before. She will not fall tonight. Those are Thenns at our walls. They eat the flesh of the men they kill. Do you want to end up filling the belly of a Thenn tonight? [...] Tonight we fight! And when the sun rises, I promise you, Castle Black will stand! The Night's Watch will stand! With me now! Now, with me!"
  • Played for Laughs when Tyrion gives one to the hill tribes before battle in "Baelor", only get knocked unconscious and trampled on when they rush into battle.
  • Daenerys gives one to her khalasar. Surprisingly Realistic Outcome when some choose to leave anyway.
  • Euron gives a villainous example. During the Kingsmoot he informs the Ironborn nobles that if they were to ally themselves with Dany, her army and her dragons, it would enable the Ironborn to not just declare independence but claim dominion over all the Seven Kingdoms. It's enough for him to be declared King over Yara's claim.
  • As fantastic a speech Theon gave in "Valar Morghulis", Yara delivers one about ten times more moving and passionate in "The Laws of Gods and Men".
    Yara: They skinned our countrymen, and they mutilated my brother. Your prince! Your prince! Everything they've done to him, they've also done to you! As long as they can hurt our prince with impunity, the word "Ironborn" means NOTHING!
• Played with in the first episode of Generation Kill.
  Sgt. Maj. John Sixta: Yo president... is watchin'! Amerike... is watchin. But more important... Godfather is watchin'. There will be no FUCK! UPS!
• Averted heavily with Encino Man's speech in episode 4. He tries to use the loss of a supply truck (which was lost due to his own incompetence, taking with it most of the troops' food and a lot of weapons) to rally his men. It works out about as well as everything else he does.
  Encino Man: [The enemy] took your food from you. That's the important thing to remember. It was the enemy who stole your food from you and you should be really, really mad at them. Before we step off on this next mission, I'm reminding you of who your enemy is... the enemy.
• Peter gives one to his fellow mutants superhumans "people with abilities" when they're being pursued by the government in the Heroes episode "Trust and Blood".
• Ash Morgan gives one about the beauty of football and what it means to Britain at the start of the Hustle episode "The Fall of Railton FC". It noticeably fails to inspire the rest of crew until he adds that it will also involve "Lolly. Lots of lolly."
• What happens when one person writes the Rousing Speech, and somebody else ends up reading it out (from The Legend of Dick and Dom)
  Prince Dick:Be brave, Blah, Blah, Blah, never take our freedom, blah blah blah, two lemons, a pint of milk and some loo roll, blah blah blah, zero chance of success- don't read that bit out, blah blah blah, good luck. Let's go!
  Audience: Yaaaay!
• Legends of Tomorrow: In the Season 3 finale, Sara gives a brief one to the rest of the team and their allies just before the showdown with Mallus and his army.
  Sara: All right. We're facing an army of Romans, Vikings, and pirates. But you know what today is? Today is the day that we prove that Rip did not sacrifice his life in vain. And today is the day that we prove that we are NOT losers. And today... is the day that we earn the name "Legends".
• Lexx: "Brigadoom". Usually cowardly Stan delivers the relevant speech, with the One-Liner delivered as the last line of a song: "If this should be our final stand / Then we stand together with pride / We will honor the past / And fight to the last / It will be a good way to die."
• A rather twisted one from the finale of The Librarians (2007), after Frances decides to stand up to Xavier Fisher over the cutbacks at the library, which would force her to fire three of the staff. The thing is, all of them were quite willing to be fired, each believing that they could find work elsewhere easier than the rest (and some of them were probably right). As such, her motive for taking action seems to be wanting them all to remain under her thumb if possible, since she wouldn't be able to get any satisfaction out of firing any of them — but none of them seem to pick up on this in the end.
  Frances: Gather round, everyone, please. I've made my decision. None of you will be vacating your position at the library.
  Neil: Are you going?
  Frances: No, I'm not going. Nobody's going.
  Christine: But Franny, how?
  Frances: None of you are leaving this library. I will not see one position, let alone three, discarded. You are highly-trained and highly-skilled... in your different ways, dedicated librarians ...and cleaners. I will not stand by for a moment longer while this library is undermined and its resources diminished. They think we can't do that for ourselves? Yes, the library is a drain on the public purse and, well, it should be because it's the public who use it — the... the students, the families, the elderly, the poor, the nutcases. I mean, where would the nutcases go if they didn't come in here to wee on our chairs while they read a big-print novel? Mr Fisher is not interested in anything that doesn't make money. Well, that's too bad, because the library is the last free public space and it's going to stay that way. I will not see a single member of my staff laid off to satisfy the corporate bullying of a government staffer. I do the bullying around here! You are librarians and, by God, you are going to stay librarians in this library!
  (The others rise and applaud her as she walks out.)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Adar is quite good at rallying the Orcs:
  My children, we have endured much. We cast off our shackles. Crossed mountain, field, frost and fallow 'till out feet bloodied the dirt. From Ered Mithrin to the Ephel Arnen, we have endured. Ye tonight, one more trial awaits us. Our enemy may be weak, their numbers meager..., yet before this night is through, some of us will fall. But for the first time, you do so not as unnamed slaves in far-away lands, but as brothers. Brothers and sisters in our home! This is the night we reach out the iron hand of the Uruk and close our fist around those lands.
• In Merlin (2008), Arthur, being the future King Arthur, occasionally gets to do a Rousing Speech.
  • The first example of this is to the villagers in The Moment of Truth, and the best so far has to be the one he gives to the soon-to-be Knights of the Round Table in The Coming of Arthur, part two.
  • Arthur's best speech may be the last on the show, in 5x12. Watch it here.
    Arthur: Tonight... we do battle. Tonight we end this war, we end a war as old as the land itself. War against tyranny, greed, and spite. Not all will greet the dawn, some will live, some will die. But each and every one of you fights with honour, and with pride. For not only do we fight for our lives, we fight for the future. The future of Camelot. The future of Albion. The future of the united kingdoms. [He lifts Excalibur into the air.] For the love of Camelot!
• Common two or three episodes before the finale to any season of Power Rangers.
  • In the season finale of Power Rangers in Space, there's an interesting (and plain ol' inspirational) variant, where resident bumbling comic relief characters Bulk and Skull declare that everyone in the crowd full of unarmed civilians facing down a superpowered alien threat is a Power Ranger themselves, and that they'll fight the aliens without the "real" Power Rangers show up, because they're just that heroic. The real Rangers do come, but not before Bulk and Skull deliver an Ensemble Dark Horse kind of ass-kicking.
  • A similar variant happens in the finale of Power Rangers S.P.D.. The Ranger team has been captured by Emperor Grumm, and Grumm is making a final assault on SPD headquarters. Boom, an academy washout who works as the resident guinea pig for new Ranger gear, stands up and tells the demoralized cadets that he will stay and fight. Not because he thinks that they'll win, but because that's what Power Rangers do.
  • Jason delivers a pretty good one in Green With Evil, rallying the Rangers to not give up in spite of their losses. Tommy gives a speech to in the third season about even if Ninjor won't give them the Ninja Powers, they're still Rangers at heart, and Zedd can never take that away. They'll keep on fighting to protect the world. This is the confirmation Ninjor needs that they are indeed truly heroic.
• Red Dwarf:
  • "Out of Time". Shocked at the decadent attitude of their future selves, the crew refuse to hand over the Time Drive to them, and are delivered an ultimatum: hand it over or be destroyed.
    Rimmer: Do we have any chance of winning?
    Kryten: Their craft is greatly upgraded. We have no chance whatsoever.
    Rimmer: Then I say fight.
    Kryten: (shocked) Sir?
    Rimmer: Better dead than smeg.
    Lister: All right! Cat?
    Cat: Better dead than sofa-sized butt.
    Lister: Kryten?
    Kryten: Better anything than that toupee!
  • Red Dwarf X, breaking news: Rimmer grows a spine. The other three are so shocked at this that he has to carry on shouting for a bit until it sinks in.
• In Retro Game Master, Arino puts on his living shame mask to give up the Ghouls 'n Ghosts challenge, only to receive a letter from a boy which encourages him to keep fighting.
• Robin Hood loves doing that, some of which are also episode titles, such as "Will You Tolerate This?" and "We Are Robin Hood".
• Rome. Julius Caesar shows how this is done when he needs to take his elite 13th Legion into Italy, an illegal act. First Caesar informs them the Senate has declared him a Public Enemy. His soldiers are shocked and outraged. He adds that by standing with him, the Senate is declaring all of them outlaws as well. Caesar then whips up their fervor by denouncing the treacherous attack by a thousand Pompey supporters on Marc Antony and the fifty 13th Legion men who were protecting him. Antony is standing there with blood on his face (which Caesar had instructed him not to wash off) as evidence of this. Caesar declares his intention to march on Rome and save it from these Corrupt Politicians who have such contempt for Roman values. The kicker comes when Caesar calls out Legionary Titus Pullo from the ranks and publicly rewards him with a bag of silver for killing the first attacker (ironically Pullo set the whole incident in motion, as his attacker had a personal grudge against him).
  Caesar: Are you with me, Titus Pullo? Will you come with me to Rome?
  Pullo: Yes... Yes sir! Certainly!
  Caesar: Titus Pullo is with me. And you — are you with me?!
  (Entire legion roars their assent)
• Subverted with Ana Gasteyer's Janet Blaum character from late-nineties Saturday Night Live, whose whole schtick was attempting to do these, but utterly failing due to her complete lack of presence, charisma or speaking skills, to the point that even the people she was trying to stick up for were embarrassed.
• Smallville has an extraordinary example in the finale — extraordinary in both content and the fact that it's Lex Luthor, of all people, giving one to Clark Kent.
  Lex: Our story hasn't been written yet, Kal-El. And every villain is only as great as his hero. But, you —-see, that all relies on you saving us from the coming Apokolips.
  Clark: You know about Darkseid?
  Lex: You really thought I just read the cliff notes of the Veritas journals? They foretold of a chosen savior — the light that will inspire this world out of darkness. You are the light, Clark. Only you have the power within.
  Clark: I'm not so sure that Clark Kent can save the entire world on his own.
  Lex: He can't. But we both know who can.
  Clark: I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Lex.
• Stargate SG-1 has a notable subversion of this trope in "The Serpent's Lair":
  O'Neill: I suppose now is the time for me to say something profound. [pauses] Nothing comes to mind. Let's do it.
• Star Trek: Whenever a Klingon is around for one of these, he gets the Catchphrase, "Today is a good day to die."
  • Facing an overwhelming Klingon force in an alternate timeline, The Next Generation's captain gives the speech, ending,
    Picard: "Let us make sure history never forgets... the name... Enterprise."
  • In the Deep Space Nine episode "Sacrifice of Angels", the Federation manages to retake the eponymous space station — partly because of Sisko's Rousing Speech to the Prophets:
    Sisko: (...) We all know that's exactly what's going to happen if the Dominion takes over the Alpha Quadrant!...You say you don't want me to sacrifice my life — well FINE! Neither do I. You want to be gods? Then BE gods!...I need a miracle. Bajor needs a miracle...STOP THOSE SHIPS!!!"
  • Deep Space Nine: Having failed to succeed militarily, Damar gives a rousing speech to Cardassian civilians calling for them to revolt against the Dominion. It works.
  • One Deep Space Nine episode had:
    Omet'iklan: I am First Omet'iklan, and I am dead. As of this moment, we are all dead. We got into battle to reclaim our lives. This we do gladly, for we are Jem'Hadar. Remember, Victory is Life!
    Assembled Jem'Hadar: Victory is Life!
    O'Brien: I am Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. I'm very much alive and I intend to stay that way!
  • Deep Space Nine S2 episode The Siege had this one, given by a reluctant war hero coming to embrace his role:
    Li Nalas: "Where are you running to? This is Bajor. We are Bajorans. We fought a war to regain our homeland, how can you abandon it like frightened Cardassian voles? These ships are for our guests, who must leave because it is no longer safe for them here! However, we are Bajorans, and I say that we stay and we solve our own problems together. Are you willing to join me?"
• Supernatural:
  • Subverted in the Season 5 premiere. Dean delivers a rousing-yet-typically-Dean speech to Sam and Bobby about how, in this apocalyptic and collateral damage-heavy war between Lucifer and the angels, they're gonna win the war for humanity... only, once Bobby is out of earshot, Dean admits to Sam that he was just talking shit to keep Bobby's spirits up, and they don't have a chance in hell of winning.
  • Sam gives an epic one in the penultimate episode of Season 12, to rally the other American hunters for a showdown with the British Men of Letters:
    Sam: I called you here because people, um, our people are being slaughtered and we're next. The British Men of Letters — they came here because they thought they could do our job better than we could. And they helped us with their flashy gear and their tech. Most of you had the good sense to turn them down. They said they wanted the same thing we wanted, you know? A world free of monsters. That's not what they really wanted. They want control. They wanna live in a world where they can sit in some office and decide who gets to live and who gets to die. And they've killed people, they've killed innocent people, just because they got in the way. They think the ends justify the means, but we know better. We know hunting isn't just about killing. It's about doing what's right, even when it's hard. So we go by our gut, right? We play by our own rules. And that scares them. That's why they want us dead — because we're the one thing they can't control.
    Roy: So what do you want from us?
    Sam: I want you to follow me. Take the fight to them, to hit them before they hit us. We go in fast and hard and we fight. And we beat them down until they give up or until they're dead. Look, they are well-trained and well-armed; some of us might not make it back. But we will win. We will take down the bad guys because that's what we do. They're scared of us -— yeah, good. They should be.
• Abby likes to deliver these on Survivors, especially when her group's cohesion is hanging by a shred.
• In Teen Wolf the lacrosse coach always gives the speech from Independence Day before a big game. No one is quite sure why.
• In The Thick of It, after Malcolm convinced the PM to call a snap election, both he and his opposite number, Cal "The Fucker" Richards give their own inspiring speeches. Cal's falls flat on it's face. Malcolm's? Well...
  Let's get out there, and let's fucking kill them, let's SET FIRE TO TEARS! Let's go!
• Quoted and used as the theme in an episode of Titus. It involved getting closer to death to make you feel alive. "Erin makes me not want to splatter myself on the rocks. Great! Now I'm boring!"
• In Torchwood, medic Owen Harper, trapped in a nuclear bunker which will shortly fill with radiation, begins to shout and run around and smash things, insisting that he will "rage his way to oblivion". He stops, though — it wasn't accomplishing anything except hurting Tosh's feelings.
• Dramatic example: The West Wing: "Shutdown", when President Bartlet decides to stand up to Congress (also a He's Back! moment). The speech was more impressive, but the context less seasons earlier when something similar happened in "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet", which employed a One-Liner Echo with "I serve at the pleasure of the President."

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