Farscape/Awesome
Examples:
- Farscape "Talyn...Starburst!"
- *sniff* But also, Crichton killing a Dreadnought by basically throwing the heart of a star at it. Also brilliant because it was a really, really moving Heroic Sacrifice, that somehow wasn't cheapened by the fact that there was a duplicate. Those chimes as Aeryn wept over him...*shiver*
- Also, anything and everything Crichton did in the series-ending "We're So Screwed" trilogy. After walking into Scarran high-command with a thermo-nuclear bomb strapped and attuned to his body and vital signs, and giving an inspirational speech about being an all-American sellout while walking on top of the conference table, getting away with nuking the place was just an encore.
- Same trilogy, different character: Braca's grin after shooting the guard in part 2.
- *sniff* But also, Crichton killing a Dreadnought by basically throwing the heart of a star at it. Also brilliant because it was a really, really moving Heroic Sacrifice, that somehow wasn't cheapened by the fact that there was a duplicate. Those chimes as Aeryn wept over him...*shiver*
- Scorpius, being a particularly successful villain, has had several crowning moments of awesome, but probably the most notable was his little speech to Crichton at the end of season 2, after taking the neurochip from him and leaving him paralysed and unable to speak coherently.
Scorpius: You've cost me much, and I do not suffer disappointment well. I condemn you, John Crichton... to live. So that your thirst for unfulfilled revenge... will consume you. (A slight pause) Goodbye. (He exits, leaving Crichton screaming in impotent rage.)
- And he topped himself next episode by eating a chunk of Crichton's brain still attached to the neurochip, torturing a sleazy salesman by forcing him to eat two of his own fingers, and ending the episode by faking his death and returning to his command carrier with the coveted wormhole information in tow.
- Utterly humbling Captain Crais on board his own command carrier by hurling him across his office like a ragdoll.
- "If you want to fight anyone... fight your executioner."
- This exchange:
Scorpius: The only reason I escaped capture is because the bounty hunters do not know I'm here. By the time they got to my cell I was not in it.
Crichton: Now, how'd that happen? Oh, I know, I know; we forgot to lock the door.
Scorpius: The cell door was wholly inadequate.
Crichton: (Shocked) What are you sayin'... you opened it with your bare hands?
Scorpius: Gloved hands, yes.
- Snapping an opponent's neck... single-handedly... while swinging from a ladder.
- Oh, and the use of himself as a human shield to defend Crichton. Also, given the puns being thrown around this also counts as a moment for Crichton.
- Ripping one of the coolant rods out of his head and using it as a firebomb.
- The confrontation between Crichton and Scorpius at the end of season 3:
Crichton Looks like our partnership is over.
Scorpius John Crichton. Commander John Crichton. Generations will know that name. Because of you, very soon the Scarrans will destroy us all.
Crichton One evil at a time, that's the best I can do.
All while the Peacekeeper Command Carrier falls apart, stuff is being blown up dangerously close around them while the Ominous Chanting is in full force.
- The finale of his flashback in "Incubator," when he manages to shut Tauza up for good... without his coolant system, and shortly after being tortured, too.
Tauza: You are the product of a Scarran male, and a Sebacean female. The mating process shattered her fragile psyche: during the gestation she pleaded for death.
Scorpius: (Hoarsely) You killed her!
Tauza: Your birth was... difficult. You killed her.
(Scorpius crawls over to the wastebin, and vomits into it.)
Tauza: In ninety other such matings, the Sebacean female and her offspring perished. You were the only one we saved.
Scorpius: Why?
Tauza: To find out if Sebacean genetics could serve us. But we now realize that Sebaceans have no value, even as breeding stock: instead, the Sebacean race will be eradicated...
(As Tauza speaks, Scorpius reaches into the bin and retrieves his spent coolant rod, and snaps it in half.)
Tauza: ... And you will further that objective by telling us all you can about Peacekeepers.
Scorpius: (panting heavily) Can't speak. Thirsty.
(Sighing irritably, Tauza turns away... and as she does so, Scorpius gets to his feet andplunges the two halves of the coolant rod into her eyes.)
- In an episode where the crew has to face down one of the most annoying bad guys of the show, a religious fanatic who tried to blow up a bar, she ends up prepared to suicide bomb Moya. However, the piece of Moya's hull she attaches herself to turns out to be detachable, and Pilot pushes the button to send her out into space and blow up nothing but herself, all while laughing psychotically for the only time in the series.
- For Aeryn, in "The Hidden Memory", when she finds Crais in the Aurora Chair.
Aeryn: Captain Crais. What are you doing in this chair?
Crais: Who is that? Who's there?
Aeryn: Well, I suppose I shouldn't expect you to recognize my voice.
Crais: Did Scorpius send you? Release...me from this chair.
Aeryn: Why? So that you can kill me the way you killed Lieutenant Teeg?
Crais: Who are you?
Aeryn: I am "irreversibly contaminated." Now do you know who I am?
(Aeryn stands in front of Crais.)
Crais: Aeryn...Sun.
Aeryn (Leaning close): Does this contaminate you, Crais?
Crais: As a Peacekeeper, you took a blood-oath to obey your commanding officer. Till death.
Aeryn: Yes.
Crais: I am still your commanding officer.
Aeryn: But I am no longer a Peacekeeper.
Crais: You are a Peacekeeper for life. On the oath you took--
Aeryn: Your oath means nothing to me. You made sure of that. You destroyed everything. I lost everything because of you.
Crais: Aeryn Sun!
Aeryn: You know what I learned when I was away from you? Everything I lost isn't worth a damn. And I don't want to go back to your past.
Crais: I order you--
Aeryn: You order me? You will never order me again.
- Shortly after (keep in mind, the Aurora Chair is a device that views its victim's memories and tortures them painfully): "I give you your life. *beat* I will make you watch your life." Followed by activating the chair at full power.
- YMMV: This troper found that moment a horrifying Moral Event Horizon. For one of the good guys, no less.
- Another crowning moment for Aeryn that might be seen as a Moral Event Horizon is in "Prayer": Aeryn's being held captive by the Scarrans, and is being offered a chance to overdose on sleeping pills by Morrock, another prisoner- specifically the one who was forced to watch her unborn child fry alive. As Aeryn considers the offer, Morrock begins making small talk about Crichton; Aeryn replies by grabbing her by the throat, revealing that she knows that Morrock is really a spy for the Scarrans, and asking if Morrock ever really gave birth to a single child in her life; when she answers with a whimper of "No," Aeryn snarls "Good!" and breaks her neck. "Then I orphan no one," she concludes.
- Slightly before then, Aeryn on truth drugs:
- Shortly after (keep in mind, the Aurora Chair is a device that views its victim's memories and tortures them painfully): "I give you your life. *beat* I will make you watch your life." Followed by activating the chair at full power.
Aeryn: No, don't use that, I won't lie to you. I'll just tell you what you want to know.
Battleaxe Nurse: You wouldn't lie to me?
(She injects Aeryn at the shoulder.)
Aeryn: Yes, of course I'd lie to you, you stupid bitch!
- Shooting while giving birth. Transformation from Pregnant Badass to Mama Bear through a large amount of deaths. "Shooting makes me feel better!"
- For Rygel, in "Liars, Guns and Money 3: Plan B", when he walks in with Durka's head on a stick and cows everyone on board, including several hardened mercenaries, into behaving. Despite being only 2' feet tall.
Rorf: What are you doing with that head?
Rygel: He's an old enemy. I like that he doesn't talk back.
- "I may be small, but keep in mind that only puts me at castration level!"
- "I am Rygel, 16th of my lineage, Dominar of the Hynerian Empire. I am at once your equal and your humble petitioner, requesting an audience."
- "You once told me I'd never leave your ship alive. You robbed me of so many cycles. But no matter what you did to me, I'll always remember one thing: You lose!"
- Psychologically dominating two dimwitted bandits and blasting one of them through a window when negotiations break down. And this manages to impress Scorpius of all people.
Scorpius: How did you know I was wearing body armor?
Rygel: I wasn't sure, but 131 cycles in Peacekeeper captivity teaches you a few things.
Scorpius: What if you were wrong?
Rygel: Huh! Not so bad for me either way.
- Crichton unleashing the wormhole weapon before both the Scarans and the Peacekeepers, showing them what it was capable of. a Blackhole
- Perhaps not quite a Crowning Moment, but close: Crichton tossing Harvey into a dumpster, yelling "Can I get a 'Hell Yeah!'?, and having the virtual crowd yell back, "HELL YEAH!".
- After spending most of his screen time as a lackey to every single major villain in the series, Captain Braca gets his crowning moment of awesome when removing Grayza from power.
Captain Braca: So the men and women of this vessel must pay for your miscalculation with their lives?
Grayza: It's for the greater good, Captain... and we shall all be remembered as heroes.
(A pause.)
Captain Braca: Commandant Grayza; under Article 6 Rulu, Uniform Code of Admiralty Conduct Section 19, due to a state of incapacitation of judgment displayed in multiple encounters under stress, I hereby invoke the Transfer of Command and relieve you of duty immediately.
(Grayza laughs softly, and then shouts...)
Grayza: OFFICER OF THE DECK! WEAPON, ZA! WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO SHOOT THIS MUTINOUS CAPTAIN DEAD WHERE HE STANDS?
(There is a tense moment as the officer steps forward and points his rifle... at Grayza.)
Officer: Sorry Ma'am: Captain Braca has already relieved you of command.
(Grayza looks at him in utter disbelief.)
Captain Braca: Now let's get this ship out of here.
- For this troper, just about the entire crew specifically, those that survived the film so far earn a crowning moment when the wormhole weapon is activated: Crichton gives his grand speech to the Peacekeeper and Scarran fleets; Aeryn refuses to succumb to Staleek's desperate goading; Stark prays for peace and Chiana joins in; Rygel proclaims that if the wormhole weapon does kill him, it'll be a death worthy of a dominar; and Scorpius just basks in the light, smiling mysteriously.
- Crichton. Combines CMoF with CMoA. During an episode where he was forced to disguise as a woman, he says in a completely masculine voice "Excuse me ladies! Does anyone of you have one of these under your skirt!?" and proceeds to then hitch up his skirt and pull out two pistols and begin firing them across the nightclub as a distraction for Aeryn and Jool. I was in hysterics.
- D'Argo bluffing the aliens of the week into thinking a whole fleet of Luxan ships will be after them if they do anything to Moya or the ship Crichton is on. As the alien captain says after figuring out the bluff too late to do anything about it, "You had nothing, but you used it well."
- Aeryn in the third part of Liars, Guns and Money. The crew don't have any money to pay the mercenaries, but they still want to raid the Shadow Depository and save Crichton; when the mercenaries get angry and try to take over Moya, pointing a gun at Chiana in the process, Aeryn doesn't even lower herself to batting an eyelid:
Aeryn: Go on, shoot her... You're an embarassment, Zelkin. No, worse then an embarassment,you're an idiot. There are 30,000 containers in the shadow depository filled with riches that you could have, but you'd rather point a gun at a girl!
Zelkin: What are you trying to do, Aeryn, shame me into going with you?
Aeryn: No. No, because even if you wanted to, I wouldn't go into battle with you now. Do you know why? Because you're a coward and an idiot! What do you think you're going to get if you steal Moya? She's a half-burned Leviathan. You have to be the stupidest pirates I've ever met!
- Stark also deserves credit for impressing the mercenaries that weren't cowed by Aeryn's speech:
Rorf: I think this whole idea rots! I want-
Stark: I WANT, I WANT! MY SIDE! YOUR SIDE! ALL OF YOU "I WANT"!
Rorf: (Startled) What's the matter with you, fek-face?
Stark: MATTER? MATTER? I'LL TELL YOU MATTER! ANTI-MATTER-MATTER-MATTERMATTERMATTERMATTER!!! SCORPIUS KILLED 10,000 OF MY PEOPLE! 10,000 CAST INTO SPACE! 10,000 souls scream in my brain! The chair, the chair! Remember the chair!
Rorf: (Backing away) What chair?! This frek is crazy!
Stark: You coming? D'you agree? Agree?
Rorf: Will you fight like this down there?
Stark: Of course! Of course! Look! No hands! No hands!
(He pulls his sleeves over his hands and waggles the loose ends in Rorf's face)
Rorf: Then I change my mind, Zelkin. This one has the spirit of the hunter and not the prey.
- Rygel in "Durka Returns" for delivering "The Reason You Suck" Speech to his old enemy.
"Because the all-powerful Durka is a failure. It's the TRUTH, DURKA! You tortured me without mercy, but you never broke me! You only made me stronger! And even if you kill me, I'll be laughing at you because the last thing I'll think of is you on Nebari Prime for another 100 cycles - being ground back down into nothing!"
- Crichton and D'Argo's confrontation of the unscrupulous prince in "Thanks for Sharing." Overlaps with CMOF.
Crichton: You've been lying to your daddy, boy, and you know you shouldn't lie to your daddy. It's gonna stop. Who's your daddy? C'mon, you know who your daddy is. Who's your daddy? D'Argo, tell him who his daddy is.
D'Argo: I'm your daddy.
- Chiana, Jool and Sikozu's epic Charlie's Angels-style moment when breaking themselves and Noranti free from imprisonment in part two of "What Was Lost". Chiana plugs Sikozu's ears while Jool uses her metal-melting scream to melt off their cuffs. Then the three of them turn, smile sweetly, as Sikozu seductively saunters past the guards... then the guards turn to face Chiana and Jool, who instantly and in-sync high-kick them in the face.
- A crowning moment of acting surely has to be Season 2's "Out of Their Minds". Everyone in the regular cast except Virginia Hey gets to play someone else, and they all nail it. From Ben Browder and his hilarious Rygel voice, Claudia Black completely shedding her Aussie accent for Aeryn-as-Crichton, Lani Tupu imitates D'Argo's rougher voice and speech patterns to a T, Gigi Edgely completely shifts gears for Pilot-as-Chiana, Anthony Simcoe's hilarious attempts to be seductive as Chiana-as-D'Argo, and even Jonathan Hardy gets in on the fun by switching up his vocal performance for Aeryn-as-Rygel. And then they switch *again* at the climax, and once more everyone hits it out of the park. It's a hilarious episode already, but add in the phenomenal comic acting and it's easily a series highlight for this troper.