History WesternAnimation / BattleForTerra

* SuperweaponSurprise: [[spoiler: The Terrians' past fighter aircraft and spider tanks. Subverted in that they're unable to put up more than a token resistance even with them due to being outnumbered, as they barely dented Jim's ship. The fighters are pretty powerful in action, though.]]

* LampshadeHanging: General Hammer lampshades the terraforming device taking seven days, an obvious reference to [[Literature/TheBible Genesis]], by saying, "Very biblical, don't you think?"
* LivingGasbag: Pretty much all the native life on Terra consists of this, including the Terrians.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Stewart is shown making peace with the Terrans at the end.]]

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:It looks like Jim is going to crash his ship into the terraformer's tower, but he blows it up before he hits it and then turns around, almost about to make it to safety... and is then killed in the fireball.]]

* HumansAreCthulhu: How humans are first presented as. Mala and the others stare in wonder at this new thing that showed up in their sky. Then these metal things suddenly come down and start abducting citizens, including Mala's father. Eventually they learn that said aliens are humans attempting to find a new homeworld, and there are two conflicting factions within, one that wants to kill the natives via terraforming the planet, and another that wants to try to coexist with them peacefully.

* InnocentAliens: The Terrians... mostly. [[spoiler: Those low hanging clouds in the ForbiddenZone? Ash clouds from a war that nearly destroyed their species.]]

* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:The terraformer is destroyed moments before the atmosphere conversion becomes irreversible, and as a result the already produced atmosphere dissipates pretty much instantly. Maybe the missiles caused an explosion that consumed the oxygen .]]

* PerfectPacifistPeople: Subverted, if not deconstructed. [[spoiler: The Terrians only adopted a pacifist society after a violent war that nearly destroyed their species, and the Elders ruthlessly suppress any further technological advancement for fear that it might lead them once again down the path of conflict.]]

* PlanetOfHats: Averted. The terrians weren't always a happy, life loving people. [[spoiler: They were once a warlike people who nearly wiped themselves out.]]

** The human President and his council, before a coup which results in Hemmer [[TyrantTakesTheHelm taking over]]. [[spoiler: They presumably broker peace between the two species after Hemmer dies.]]
** Also, Elder Doron among the Terrians. He maintains sole authority on any new inventions among the Terrians, [[spoiler: but it's because he was one of the last survivors of the war that nearly destroyed their species and he wants to prevent it from happening again. Later, he doesn't hesitate to break out the old armada to defend his people from hostile invaders.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Mala gets ''pissed'' when [[spoiler:her friend is shot down by Jim's brother]]. If not for Jim's intervention, [[spoiler:she'd have vaporized him eventually]].

* TakeAThirdOption: Twice. [[spoiler: Jim first is presented with the SadisticChoice between saving Mala or his brother, and chooses his brother. Then he orders Giddy to save Mala. Later, in the middle of the battle between human and terrian around the terraformer, he has to choose whether to rescue his brother or let Mala kill him for shooting down her friend. He intervenes and blocks them from fighting each other, then destroys the Terraformer at the cost of his life.]] Don't worry, it resulted in an EarnYourHappyEnding.

* UsedFuture: The Ark is in ''horrible'' condition. There is not a single part of the ship that isn't covered in rust or worn out, and equipment failures that result in death are common. [[spoiler: It fragmented when the humans moved out.]]

* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: The president wants to explore all options before they go with genocide, while Hemmer advocates an "us or them" position. First contact consists of the military abducting numerous Terrians, and Jim opens fire immediately when he spots Mala's primitive flying machine. Later on, bombers lay waste to her village, probably because Mala managed to take down Jim's ship.

* SuperweaponSurprise: [[spoiler: The Terrians' past fighters and tanks. Subverted in that they're unable to put up more than a token resistance even with them due to being outnumbered. These are just enough for sympathetic humans to act.]]

* AlmostOutOfOxygen: Jim runs out of oxygen in his spacesuit, and the other protagonists have to synthesize it for him. Later in the movie, Jim's brother and Mala are stuck in a room that is pressurized to support her, but not him. He has to choose between pumping oxygen in to save his brother, or to let him die to save Mala. He [[TakingAThirdOption takes a third option]]. [[spoiler:Hemmer also reveals that the Ark itself is down to two months of breathable air, making their need for a new home all the more immediate.]]

* AntiVillain: General Hemmer wants to exterminate the Terrian species, but his motivation is to [[WellIntentionedExtremist ensure humanity's survival]] when they're rapidly running out of options aboard a ship that's literally falling apart around them, and he clearly cares about [[AFatherToHisMen the lives of his men]], lamenting in frustration to Jim that more of his comrades have died from ''equipment failures'' than from actual combat.

* BloodKnight: Hemmer unapologetically wants to kill the Terrians. When he's told they can fight back, he's glad to hear it; slaughtering them like animals would have been a much less noble end.

* ChekhovsGun: The "web-room" of breathable oxygen that Mala builds for Jim. [[spoiler: It's eventually reused on a greater scale when the humans establish their own colony.]]

** [[spoiler:Jim]] dies with a content expression on his face as his ship is destroyed..

* FantasticallyChallengingPatient: {{Inverted}}. After human pilot Jim Stanton crashes his one-man craft on planet Terra, native alien Mala comes to check on him. Stanton is breathing with difficulty, since his air supply is almost exhausted, and the planet isn't habitable for humans. Mala has to cobble together an oxygen collector to keep Stanton alive.

* GenerationShips: The Ark is one, and has been in space for so long that its entire population was born there. [[spoiler:It's also so old that it's falling apart at the seams, and in two months will be incapable of supporting life at all.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Jim’s brother is shown making peace with the Terrans at the end.]]

* InvadingRefugees: The humans. As General Hemmer [[VillainHasAPoint points out]], they basically ''have'' to colonize Terra or face extinction because Earth, Mars, and Venus are all long gone, and they can't look for somewhere else to live because [[spoiler: the ''Ark'' has only two months left of air]].

* MoralMyopia: Hemmer justifies his coup by using footage of a Terrian causing a hull breach that killed two humans along with the Terrian. He refuses to even address that his men abducted said Terrian, [[spoiler:and that he was Mala's father and thus [[PapaWolf defending his daughter]]]], despite the fact that the council he is arguing to brings up both points.

** No one has long hair (Jim is bald, the Terrians are hairless), and the only flowing surfaces are some pendants in the middle of the film.

* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:The terraformer is destroyed moments before the atmosphere conversion becomes irreversible, and as a result the already produced atmosphere dissipates pretty much instantly.]]

* OurFounder: [[spoiler:Jim]] gets a statue at the end, [[spoiler:since his HeroicSacrifice led to the establishment of a colony that benefits both species.]]

** The President and his council, before a coup which results in Hemmer [[TyrantTakesTheHelm taking over]].

* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Giddy, which even catches Jim off-guard. Other robots of his model never even speak, so it's unclear if this is common.

* ShoutOut: One of the characters yells, "It's a trap!"

* SoftGlass: {{Averted|Trope}}. When Giddy breaks the glass of the containment room holding Mala, the shards give Jim some decent cuts on his face.

* TakeAThirdOption: Twice. [[spoiler: Jim first is presented with the SadisticChoice between saving Mala or his brother, and chooses his brother. Then he orders Giddy to save Mala. Later, in the middle of the battle between human and terrian around the terraformer, he has to choose whether to rescue his brother or let Mala kill him for shooting down her friend. He flies between them, interrupting their fight, and then destroys the terraformer.]] Don't worry, it resulted in an EarnYourHappyEnding.

* UncertainDoom: General Hemmer's terraforming operators are seen running from the control room before the kamikaze attack hits it, but given the size of the explosion it's doubtful (although not impossible) they could have gotten clear in time.

* UsedFuture: The Ark is in ''horrible'' condition. There is not a single part of the ship that isn't covered in rust or worn out, and equipment failures that result in death are common.

** While his [[FinalSolution solution]] is rather extreme, General Hemmer is quite right that the humans have to act ''immediately'' to prevent their own extinction, especially since the ruling council doesn't manage to come up with any ''alternative'' solutions to the imminent crisis. And his speech on the matter is surprisingly moving.

** A smaller example comes when Mala finds Elder Orin [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogating]] Giddy for information on the humans' plans and strategies. When Mala demands that they stop torturing him, the elders accurately point out that he ''is'' a tool of the enemy, one known to have superior numbers and combat experience, and the Terrians need any advantage they can get if they're going to survive.

* ActionGirl: Mala, which is pretty unusual considering she grew up in a society without weapons.

* ChekhovsGun: The "web-room" of breathable oxygen that Mala builds for Jim. [[spoiler: It's eventually reused on a much grander scale when the Terrians build a colony for the surviving humans.]]

** [[spoiler:Jim]] dies with a content expression on his face as his ship is consumed in flame.

* FantasticallyChallengingPatient: {{Inverted}}. After human pilot Jim Stanton crashes his one-man craft on planet Terra, native alien Mala comes to check on him. Stanton is breathing with difficulty, since his air supply is almost exhausted, and he can't breathe the heavy Terran atmosphere. Mala has to cobble together an oxygen collector to keep Stanton alive.

** [[spoiler: Jim, who dies destroying the terraformer.]]

* RayGun: [[spoiler: The Terrian aircraft and walkers utilize laser-like cannons, which prove superior to the human's traditional ballistic weapons during the final battle. Said weapons, however, don't prevent the Terrian force from being overwhelmed by their far more numerous Earth counterparts.]]

* SuperweaponSurprise: [[spoiler: The Terrians' past fighters and tanks. Subverted in that they're unable to put up more than a token resistance even with them, just enough for sympathetic humans to act.]]
* TakeAThirdOption: Twice. [[spoiler: Jim first is presented with the SadisticChoice between saving Mala or his brother, and chooses his brother. Then he manages to save Mala by ordering Giddy to save her. Later, in the middle of the battle between human and terrian around the terraformer, he has to choose whether to rescue his brother or let Mala kill him for shooting down her friend. He flies between them, interrupting their fight, and then destroys the terraformer.]] Don't worry, it resulted in an EarnYourHappyEnding.

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BattleForTerra.jpg]]

* AlienSky: Terra has two moons, and a ring system. The giant purple nebula that completely enshrouds the planet, can also been seen from Terra's surface at night.

** This is the primary source of Jim's conflict throughout the film, stuck with the morality dilemma of saving either his people, who are dying, or the Terrians, who are innocent, and knowing that siding one will likely doom the other. He eventually chooses [[spoiler: to save [[TakeAThirdOption both]].]]

* OutrunTheFireball: Both subverted and played straight. [[spoiler: When the terraformer goes boom, the fireball outruns Jim, who's flying a damaged fighter and is much closer, but his brother and Mala manage to barely escape it by virtue of having a greater lead]].

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Surprisingly hard, at about a [[Mohs/PhysicsPlus three]] or three-and-a-half. While Terrian society, wildlife, nature, and technology is full of unspecified phlebotinum, the human technology is portrayed very realistically. The ''Ark'' has CentrifugalGravity and shows some influence from a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station von Braun wheel]], and the human fighters are not given an aerodynamic design like you would usually expect. While its speed and effects are considerably exaggerated for the sake of the plot and simplified by depicting it as a process generated by a single machine, terraforming is actually [[AluminumChristmasTrees very real science]] and the existence of colonies on Mars and Venus is appropriate since they [[ShownTheirWork are indeed]] considered to be the best candidates for terraforming of another planet.

* RealityEnsues:
** [[spoiler: Despite their superior weapons technology, the Terrian defense forces ultimately fail to hold off the numerically superior and far more experienced Earthforce fleet. A few days of TrainingThePeacefulVillagers after ''centuries'' of complete peace isn't going to cut it against a highly trained army, no matter how much better your weapons are.]]
** [[spoiler: [[OutrunTheFireball Outrunning an explosion]] that you set off only meters away]] doesn't work in real life, as [[spoiler:Jim]] finds out.

* GreatOffscreenWar: [[spoiler: Two of them, actually.]] During the backstory, the colony planets Mars and Venus fought a war for independence against the Earth, which resulted in the destruction of all three planets and the near-extinction of humanity. [[spoiler: [[NotSoDifferent The Terrians nearly wiped themselves out as well]], which is why the elders are so paranoid about the development of any new technology.]]

* NotSoDifferent: As Jim remarks on when he, Mala, and Giddy infiltrate the hidden bunker, the humans and Terrians are more alike than they thought, [[spoiler:since both species nearly drove themselves to extinction through war]].

** This is the primary source of Jim's conflict throughout the film, stuck with the MoralDilemma of saving either his people, who are dying, or the Terrians, who are innocent, and knowing that siding one will likely doom the other. He eventually chooses [[spoiler: to save [[TakeAThirdOption both]].]]

* MoralDilemma: The primary source of Jim's conflict. After befriending Mala, he's forced with the extremely uncomfortable problem of siding with the Terrians, who are a completely innocent and fully sentient race just trying to defend their homeworld, or with his own people, who are essentially refugees fleeing from a planet that was destroyed long before any of them were born and have no time to look for another colony [[spoiler: because the ''Ark'' has only two months worth of breathable oxygen left]]. He ultimately chooses [[spoiler: [[TakeAThirdOption to save both.]]]]

* AmbiguousSituation: A minor example, but whether the refugees come from all three of the destroyed planets in their home system or just one is about unclear.

* AnyoneCanDie: The death of [[spoiler: Mala's father]], probably predictable even for a PG-rated movie. The death of [[spoiler: [[TheHeroDies Jim Stanton]], on the other hand...]]]

* ExpositionBeam: Used in place of TranslatorMicrobes.

** When they're sneaking out of the village, Jim takes note of a festival which Mala says is "Celebrating Life". Jim doesn't contradict her, but he clearly recognizes the movements

* OutrunTheFireball: Both subverted and played straight. [[spoiler: When the terraformer goes boom, the fireball outruns Jim, but his brother and Mala manage to barely escape it]].

* RayGun: [[spoiler: The Terrian aircraft and walkers utilize laser-like cannons, which are proved superior to the human's traditional ballistic weapons during the final battle. Said weapons, however, prevent the outnumbered Terrian force from being overwhelmed by their Earth's counterpart.]]

* RobotBuddy: Giddy accompanied Jim and shows loyalty to him when he’s in danger, but also some understanding and even empathy with Mala who is devestated to see her people hurting Giddy.
* SadisticChoice: When Hemmer forces Jim to [[spoiler: choose between saving Mala or his brother]]. Also doubles as a SecretTestOfCharacter, since [[spoiler:Jim's brother willingly went along with it to test Jim's loyalty]].

* TakeAThirdOption: Twice. [[spoiler: Jim first is presented with the SadisticChoice between saving Mala or his brother, and chooses his brother. Then he manages to save Mala by ordering Giddy to save her. Later, in the middle of the battle between human and terrian around the terraformer, he has to choose whether to rescue his brother or let Mala kill him for shooting down her friend. He flies between them, interrupting their fight, and then destroys the terraformer.]] Don't worry, it resulted in an EarnYourHappyEnding.
* UncertainDoom: General Hemners terraforming operators are seen running from the control room before the kanikazie attack hits it but given the size of the explosion it’s doubtful (although not impossible) they could have gotten clear in time.

* AnyoneCanDie: The death of [[spoiler: Mala's father]], probably predictable even for a PG-rated movie. The death of [[TheHeroDies Jim Stanton]]]]...

* AnyoneCanDie: The death of [[spoiler: Mala's father]], probably predictable even for a PG-rated movie. The deaths of [[spoiler: Senn and [[TheHeroDies Jim Stanton]]]]...

* GreyAndGrayMorality: No one in this film is evil; the Terrians' ShadowDictator is well meaning and kind, and most of the humans don't want to invade, but see no other option [[spoiler: as their ship will fail in about two months]], which is why the villain is so willing to do whatever it takes. Moreover, despite appearing like a textbook example of PerfectPacifistPeople at first, the Terrans themselves [[spoiler: have a long history of warfare]], and when the humans invade they don't hesitate [[spoiler: to whip out their stockpiled weaponry and fight back.]] The protagonists do some questionable things as well. Jim's brother is still presented as a sympathetic character despite [[spoiler: killing Mala's friend Senn]], and while he definitely had good reasons for doing so, Jim does eventually [[spoiler:''mutiny and kill not only his own commanding officer'', but everyone else who was onboard the terraformer, at least some of whom we can assume were just good, if conflicted, people like Jim and his brother.]]

* RobotBuddy: Giddy.

* PlanetTerra: A subversion. Terra here is an alien planet named so by the humans fleeing the destroyed Earth. Its real name is unknown.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: In the beginning of the film we are introduced to aliens... that surprisingly speak English. Later on, one of the aliens meets an English-speaking human, at which point we realize that they actually ''can't'' understand each other. Obviously, the aliens are speaking their own language, and the filmmakers just gave it to us in English to [[TranslationConvention make it easier to understand]]. Though it leads to a bit of confusion the first time the alien and human meet when one realizes that their first few lines (both of which we hear in English) are actually in different languages. In the DVD Commentary, the Director/Writer says he had originally intended to do something akin to ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' but many people found it more confusing than the way it ended up.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: The film has several cases of what may pass in a film aimed for children/family, but not so as this is very much aimed at the Sci-Fi Fans or Star Wars Teens.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the shots inside the Elder's airship [[spoiler:shows a digital display on the wall, well beyond the tech level displayed at that point]].

-->'''Hemmer:''' Tired of watching comrades die for nothing? We've come a long way, Terra is our prize. A jewel hanging in space. It has real water, not that chemical junk, and ground. God, I'd like to feel steady ground under my feet one day. Kids born on the ''Ark'' have never seen a blade of grass, or heard a bird sing.

The planet Terra is [[SugarBowl home to a race of peaceful, floating aliens who celebrate life and live in harmony with nature]], but everything is not as [[TownWithADarkSecret cheerful as it seems]]. Mala (Evan Rachel Wood) is a [[GadgeteerGenius mechanically gifted]] and [[HotBlooded rebellious]] girl who questions their society's restriction on science and the ForbiddenZone. After [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot an ominous eclipse]], space ships descend and abduct several of the Terrians who mistake them for gods; among the abducted is Mala's father (Creator/DennisQuaid). This prompts her to try getting abducted herself, leading to a dangerous chase as she catches the attention of Lt. Jim Stanton (Creator/LukeWilson). After a harrowing pursuit, she outmaneuvers him into a [[GeoEffects wind tunnel]] and his ship crashes.