History Main / OrbitalKiss

Subtrope of OrbitalShot. Not to be confused by [[AnywhereButTheirLips a kiss on the orbitals.]] Or in [[RecycledInSpace near Earth space]]. A symptom of TheBigDamnKiss. Compare TwirlOfLove.

An Orbital Kiss is a phenomenon in {{Film}}, WesternAnimation, LiveActionTV and visual media, where two characters kiss, and the camera rotates a full 360 degrees around them as this happens. This may or may not be accompanied by SlowMotion. Look for one of the two to [[FootPopping lift a foot]].

* Happens in episode 3 of ''LightNovel/DateALive'' with Shido and Tohka's FirstKiss. Bonus points because Tohka's clothes [[TheNudifier disappear in the process]].

* At the end of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Next'', not only does the camera spin when [[spoiler:Lina and Gourry]] kiss, but ''they'' spin too. In mid air.

* At the end of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Next'', not only does the camera spin when [[spoiler:Lina and Gourry]] kiss, but ''they'' spin too. In mid air.

* Happens in ''LightNovel/DateALive'' with Shido and Tohka's first kiss. Bonus points because Tohka's clothes [[TheNudifier disappear in the process]].

%%* ''Film/TheThomasCrownAffair1968'' (the original).

* The geeky guy and girl get one at the end of ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle''
* ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'' has a [[https://youtu.be/GwD9twaZMZM?t=1m13s long one]] between Scottie and a made-up Judy. The lips of the two kissers are obscured by shoulders and heads during the rotation at regular intervals, due to rules at the time that forbade showing a kiss for more than a few seconds.

* A particularly disturbing one takes place in ''Film/{{Outbreak}}''. Jimbo and Cindy have one, but Jimbo's got Motaba virus and passes out in Cindy's arms when the orbit comes full circle.
* ''Film/ThreePoplarsInPlyuschikha'': In the opening scene, right before the scene cuts to Nyura waking up from her dream, revealing that instead of being kissed by a handsome man in the forest she's actually living in drudgery as a housewife.

* Baz Luhrmann's ''Film/MoulinRouge'' also features the equivalent, at the end of the Elephant Love Medley. Having learned his lesson from the ''Romeo + Juliet'' example, this time the actors were placed on a turntable in front of a static camera to make it easier to film.
* Every UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} film ever. Except the characters in question [[KissingDiscretionShot don't even kiss]], [[MundaneMadeAwesome they just hug very dramatically]].
** They definitely kiss at the end of ''Three Idiots'', and it's definitely an Orbital Kiss
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries''.
* Such a kiss, set to This Year's Love by David Grey, takes place in The Girl Next Door as the party drunkenly spins around the kissers.
* The finale of ''Film/{{Serendipity}}.''
* The second version of Kotaro Terauchi's ''Film/BoysLove'' ends with the former [[HotForStudent teacher and student]] kissing while the camera spins around them.
* Played straight at the end of ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' -- until the end, when the romantic background chorus sings so high they injure their voices.
* Played with in ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'': The train car in which Creator/CaryGrant and Eva Marie Saint perform their first kiss proved too small to allow a cameraman to rotate around them, so the actors turned around while kissing.
* Happens at the end of ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook''.
* Subverted in ''Film/BodyDouble'' (1984). The StalkerWithACrush starts making out with the woman he's obsessed with in a [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes tunnel where she snapped him out of a claustrophobic attack]], then it cuts to a passionate orbital kiss on a beach, then suddenly we're back to the tunnel where it's shown this is his fantasy and he's forcing the kiss on her. The orbital kiss (and the fantasy) is shown again when he has WallBangHer sex with a porn starlet, the body double of the title.
* Happens in ''Film/DonJon'', between Jon and Barbara in the theatre lobby.
* The last shot of ''Film/AKnightsTale''.
* Josie and Sam at the end of ''Film/NeverBeenKissed''. Earlier Josie describes this trope as what a ''real'' kiss is like, hence the title of the film.
* It's the theme of Claude Lelouch's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IafQqbsht_g 1 minute short]] for the ''Lumière and Company'' project.
* We get two looks at the same kiss between the two stars of the movie within the movie in ''Film/SweetLiberty''.
* ''Film/TheWarriorsWay'' has the first BigDamnKiss between Lynn and Yang, the two of them dancing in the desert night as the camera circles around them. They stop their dance and kisses, the camera moves in closer, and keeps orbiting.
* Film/{{Aquaman|2018}} and Mera share a kiss during an undersea civil war, which means their orbit is accompanied by some spectacular pyrotechnics.
* The final scene of ''Film/FirstReformed'' is the camera frantically spinning around two people kissing as a choir sings in praise of God. [[spoiler:It just so happens to one of the pair is our main character, a delusional, celibate priest wearing a suicide vest. The high romance mixed with the priest's delusion, faith, and suicidal ideation adds a lot of ambiguity to this scene.]]

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Chloe and Justin in "Crush". Frustratingly, they never seem to do that with long-term love interests.
* One features at the end of the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Monster Movie" fits beautifully as the entire episode is shot in the style of old black-and-white monster movies.
* Ned and Moze in the ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' series finale.
* Sydney and Vaughn's kiss at the end of the ''Series/{{Alias}}'' episode "Phase One" was the culmination of almost two solid seasons of UST.

* Kirk and Uhura's famous "first interracial kiss" in ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E10PlatosStepchildren Plato's Stepchildren]]" was, as a result of cultural taboos, hidden by an Orbital Kiss that just didn't make it all the way around.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Although a kiss isn't involved, the camera does a half-circle around Tuvok and Noss as they MindMeld at the end of "Gravity", to show the [[CanNotSpitItOut romantic subtext]] of this act.
* Josh and Donna in ''Series/TheWestWing''.
* Shawn and Juliet in ''Series/{{Psych}}''. Their second after their first is a ShutUpKiss.
* ''Series/{{Downton Abbey}}'':
** Mary and Matthew
** Sybil and Tom in season 3.
* Rachel and Finn in the ''Series/{{Glee}}'' episode "Michael". It starts off as a hug then turns into a kiss.
** Finn and Rachel again in "Nationals", this time it doubles as a ConcertKiss
* Oliver and Felicity in ''Series/{{Arrow}}''; [[spoiler: bittersweet as it comes while Ollie is breaking it off with her because of his double life]]
* In ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', Lyudmilla and Vasily get an Orbital Hug version, when she enters his hospital room and sees him up and about, playing cards with the other patients. The hug is accompanied by LensFlare. [[spoiler:The flare is likely a visual shorthand for Lyudmilla getting irradiated by touching her husband, a Chernobyl first responder, who is in his "Walking Ghost" phase of Acute Radiation Syndrome and would die within days. Lyudmilla is actually pregnant and would lose her baby mere hours after giving birth. While she would later remarry and have another child, both of them would have health problems because of that single hug.]]
* Chidi and Eleanor in ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' Season 3 episode "Janet(s)". In Janet's void where they kiss, everyone is stuck in a Janet body, but Eleanor's has started shifting rapidly due to having an identity crisis fueled by Chidi rejecting her on philosophical terms and discussing the self. When they kiss, Eleanor's form stabilizes back to her Janet body, and the two shift back to their original human forms, Eleanor first and then Chidi, while they hold on it and the camera spins.
* Loki and Sylvie in the sixth episode of ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'', right before [[spoiler: [[YankTheDogsChain Sylvie thows Loki into a portal to the [=TVA=] and traps him there]].]] The camera does not actually rotate around them though. Rather, Sylvie turns Loki around [[spoiler:to take the [=TemPad=]]] which imitates this effect.
* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding back]] for so long, Anthony and Kate eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church ([[spoiler:following the cancellation of his wedding with Edwina]]). Later in the final episode[[note]]post-wedding[[/note]], they confidently kiss passionately in front of his family, as if unleashing their longtime repressed desires as well as expressing their gratitude.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', this happens in Thane's romance scene. (Well, the camera rotates by 180 degrees, but it's close enough.)
* There is a mod that adds this to the pre-FinalBattle dialogue with [[RomanceSidequest your love interest]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''.

* The kiss in WesternAnimation/PhantomPlanet, the series finale of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': "Wow. Remind me to save the world more often."

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding back]] for so long, Anthony and Kate eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church ([[spoiler:following the cancellation of his wedding with Edwina]]). Later in the final episode, they confidently kiss passionately in front of his family, as if unleashing their longtime repressed desires as well as expressing their gratitude.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding back]] for so long, Anthony and Kate eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church (spoiler:following the cancellation of Anthony's wedding with Edwina). Later in the final episode, they confidently kiss passionately in front of his family, as if unleashing their longtime repressed desires as well as expressing their gratitude.

* Creator/LarryTheCableGuy in ''WitlessProtection'' before fading to black.
* Greg Pilkington and Graham in ''Film/{{Priest 1994}}'', complete with sweeping orchestral music on the beach.

* The final scene of ''Film/TrueReformed'' is the camera frantically spinning around two people kissing as a choir sings in praise of God. [[spoiler:It just so happens to one of the pair is our main character, a delusional, celibate priest wearing a suicide vest. The high romance mixed with the priest's delusion, faith, and suicidal ideation adds a lot of ambiguity to this scene.]]

* Loki and Sylvie in the sixth episode of ''Series/Loki2021'', right before [[spoiler: [[YankTheDogsChain Sylvie thows Loki into a portal to the [=TVA=] and traps him there]].]] The camera does not actually rotate around them though. Rather, Sylvie turns Loki around [[spoiler:to take the [=TemPad=]]] which imitates this effect.

* Loki and Sylvie in the sixth episode of ''Series/Loki2021'', right before [[spoiler: [[YankTheDogsChain Sylvie thows Loki into a portal to the [=TVA=] and traps him there]].]]

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding themselves up]] for so long, Anthony and Kate eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church following the cancellation of Anthony's wedding with Edwina. Later in the final episode, they confidently kiss passionately in front of his family, as if unleashing their longtime repressed desires as well as expressing their gratitude.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding themselves up]] for so long, Anthony and Kate eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church following the cancellation of Anthony's wedding with Edwina. Later in the final episode, they confidently kiss passionately in front of his family, as if releasing their longtime repressed desires as well as expressing their gratitude.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding themselves up]] for so long, Anthony and Kate, eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church following the cancellation of Anthony's wedding with Edwina. Later in the final episode, he and Kate confidently kiss passionately in front of his family, as if expressing their gratitude and releasing their longtime repressed desires, both toward each other or publicly.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 2 episode 6, after [[UnresolvedSexualTension holding themselves up]] for so long, Anthony and Kate, eventually share a passionate kiss when left alone in the church following the cancellation of Anthony's wedding with Edwina.

* * The geeky guy and girl get one at the end of ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle''