Fighter Launching Sequence: Difference between revisions

[[Rule of Cool]] insists that when a bunch of fighters go into battle, you always have to see them taking off first. ''Always''.

 

 

This is closely related to [[Red Alert]] with its attending imagery of lights flashing and klaxons sounding as the pilots in their flight gear race for their fighters while the ground crew calmly preps them for take-off as their commander goes over the PA with something like "All fighters, '''Scramble!'''"

 

 

Sometimes this trope is brutally [[Subverted Trope|subverted]], with the pilots attempting to scramble only to have their airfield or mothership disabled or destroyed before they can launch. That would be an example of [[Sitting Duck]].

 

 

* All the time in the various ''[[Robotech]]'' series (''[[Macross]]'', ''[[Southern Cross]]'', ''[[Mospeada]]''), complete with a [[Stock Footage]] unfurling of the tail fins from their storage mode.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' does this with its giant mecha.

** ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' gratuitously abuses this—not only is there the launch sequence but the whole lengthy combination phase as well in which the four segments of the Impulse Gundam (three-piece Gundam itself plus the expansion pack of the day) meet up and combine.

* The title sequences to the various ''[[Getter Robo]]'' series pretty much always include a scene with the three machines taking off and going through a tunnel.

* ''[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato]]'': The Black Tigers.

* With both sides of the conflict in ''[[Star Fleet]]'' having carrier ships that launch fighters, this tends to crop up in pretty much every episode.

* ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' features a [[Hot-Blooded]] pilot yelling, "MANUAL LAUNCH!" and just running his Aestivalis out of the hangar on foot. This is directly lampshaded.

* ''[[Tekkaman Blade]]'' has a [[Stock Footage]] launch sequence every time the hero launches up to the space ring.

* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' sometimes has [[Stock Footage]] of the Nirvash launching into batttle, complete with [[Transformation Sequence]].

* ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' has Honda Tadakatsu who uses a launch sequence reminiscent to that of Gundam despite being in the Sengoku era and just wearing very heavy armor with jet packs and treads.

 

== Films -- Animation ==

* Parodied and subverted in ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]: A Close Shave''. Wallace uses a visual feast of overly-elaborate [[Technology Porn]] to get on a bike to go and clean windows. Gromit, of course, achieves the same end result by walking through a door.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

** Except for the fact that the CGI folks got lazy and made them all copies of Red Five, Luke's fighter. They originally had stripes on the wings denoting what number they were, but instead they all have five stripes.

* The opening of ''[[Top Gun]]'' is a launching sequence.

* A (very) low-tech case could be made for ''The Wizard of Oz'': "Fly, monkeys, fly!!!"

* Subverted in David Lynch's version of [[Dune]]. As the Atreides troops become aware that their shields have been crippled, they run for their ships... which are blown up in their faces by Harkonnen bombers.

 

== Literature ==

* Throughout the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' there are pre-flight checks where characters sound off -- "Red Flight, are we good to go?" "Red Two, ready." "Red Three, four lit and ready to burn." "Red Four, nothing's gone wrong yet." Then there's that scene near the end of ''Starfighters of Adumar'' where Wedge gives a speech about purpose to the united Adumari nation, then has someone hit the air siren to get people in their fighters, tells Iella the two reasons why nothing is going to happen to him, and gets into the cockpit to lead them.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Subverted in season one "Hand of God" {{spoiler|the true attacking force is hidden nearby, rather than launching from Galactica}}

* This trope is used in the shows of the ''[[Ultra Series]]''. Often featured in opening theme sequences.

** ''[[Ultraman Gaia]]'' featured the XIG fighters launching from their base in the series' opening sequence.

** ''[[Ultraman Nexus]]'' featured the launching sequence of the Chrome Chesters in the series' opening sequence for the first 25 episodes of the series.

** The opening sequence of ''[[Ultraman Mebius]]'' shows the Gun Phoenix taking off.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' launches fighters by having them drop out of the spinning space station. The follow on ''Crusade'' uses a launch rail that extends out of the ship—slightly more compact but no less [[Rule of Cool]].

** The pilot actually subverted this - the outnumbered defenders of Earth saw the enemy ships fly out of their launch tubes only to explode. What they did not know was that our hero {{spoiler|was roaming the launch bay shoving munitions up the Draconian ships' tailpipes.}}

* ''[[UFO]]''. When [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EkR2GlzEFg Moonbase interceptors] or [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxNHMz5lSTA Sky One] launched to fight incoming UFO's.

* All the [[Gerry Anderson]] shows had stock launching sequences.

** ''[[Thunderbirds]]''

* An elaborate one in ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'', in which the cockpits descend and attach to the bodies of the fighters before launch.

 

== Music ==

* ''[[Iron Savior]]'' has used this multiple times.

* "Aces High" by [[Iron Maiden]] is the [[World War II]] flavor of this.

 

== Video Games ==

* Game of ''[[Zero Wing]]'', has sequence of launching. Captain is said "Take off every Zig!"

* [[Soukyugurentai]] has a 9.92-second launch sequence before the first level. The two levels after that start with the player ship launching from a floating fortress or carrier.

* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star Fox]]'' in most games, (the original being pictured above) shows the team taking off before the first mission. In the original, they launch from a base on Corneria, but later games launch them from the Great Fox.

* ''Super [[R-Type]]'' and ''[[R-Type]] III'' use it.

* The player character of ''[[The Guardian Legend]]'' is always shown to go from Walking to Flying mode in a [[Transformation Sequence]] before she tackles a corridor. It also has the inversion, where she transforms back once the corridor is complete.

* The ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' games like to have mini-cutscenes before every mission, showing you and your fighter being readied for launch. In the first game, it was an animated scene (complete with [[Red Alert]], even for routine patrols) with pilots and technicians racing to the hangar, and a similar scene in ''III'' showed Col. Blair boarding his ship as it was being prepped by the deck crew; while in the last, it featured your fighter being loaded into the ''Midway's'' massive catapult. ''III'' and ''IV'' had an optional launching scene which was triggered if you launch your ship using the autopilot (it was skipped if you launch manually by upping the throttle).

** The novels and later games also mention a "magnum launch," where a carrier simply takes every available pilot and loads them into every available ride, then dumps them into space as fast as possible, usually when the carrier itself is about to come under attack. Such missions in the games, while usually awesome, are also a bit more challenging because you can't personalize your loadout and are stuck with the defaults.

** This is taken much further, of course, in virtually every actual combat flight simulator. Many also require a full startup sequence and correct radio communications.

* ''[[Air Rivals]]'' has a relatively cinematic launch sequence for whenever a player leaves town. There's also a bit of a tradition within the playerbase to send duel challenges while landed and then take off as it starts.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' had as many gratuitous take-off scenes as it did airships. It had a lot of airships.

* Your spaceship from ''[[Galaga]] '88'' does that at the start of the game.

* ''[[Gradius]] III'' has a scene of this if the title screen is left to play.

* ''[[Free Space]] 2'' usually just starts you in space, but your first mission into the nebula (full of [[Interface Screw]] and mystery) starts you and your wing on the wing of your flagship so that you can fly off into the blue in style.

* ''Top Gun'': The plane is seen firing its engines in the opening cinematic, and then you watch your jet take off in first person. You also have to land the thing at the end of the level, much to a generation of player's immense frustration.

* [[Combat Flight Simulator]] always starts campaign missions and one-off missions with the player on the ground, requiring you to start your engines and take off before getting to do anything fun. Ordinary flights usually let you start at altitude, though.

* ''[[Terminal Velocity]]'' had the launch scene (complete with caution sirens, and launching from out of a rotating space station) when the game is first started (since the player continues flying between each mission without returning to base or even docking).

* The opening cinematic of ''[[Silpheed]]'' for the [[Sega CD]].

{{quote|"Emergency! Emergency! Bogies approaching! All interceptors scramble now!"}}

* In ''[[Rogue Squadron]]'', each mission starts with a cutscene showing your selected craft take off from a hanger and fly out through space towards the appropriate planet. Including when that craft is a snowspeeder.

* The intro cutscene of ''[[Quake II]]'' has a squadron of drop pods launching. The pods are knocked out of the sky by an [[EMP]] blast, killing most of the soldiers except for the player character.

* ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' The start of the level ''Going Hunting'' had this as well as all of the pre-flight checks.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Rocket Robin Hood]]'' has one in the opening sequence.

* ''[[Swat Kats]]'' has a one-vehicle version of this in some form pretty much every time the Turbokat launched.

* ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]''

* ''[[Wing Commander Academy]]'' featured several such sequences, given that it took place aboard a spacecraft carrier. In contrast to the wildly gesturing commanders in many of the Anime examples, [[The Brigadier|Commodore Tolwyn]] could be seen standing on the bridge, [[Stiff Upper Lip|hands clasped behind his back]], as he oversaw the ensuing battle.

[[Category:Rule of Cool]]

[[Category:Spectacle]]