Among the great joys of pop culture come those wonderful moments where the creators pull out all the stops and abandon reason to deliver a spectacularly unnecessary but completely awesome moment. The Venture Brothers cartoon delivers these about twice a season, and I am still awed at the sight of 199 superheroes (or, even more impressive, 199 stuntmen/suit actors) in action in the Super Sentai 35th Anniversary movie. It’s the equivalent of a live-action Crisis On Infinite Earths, a truly mind-blowing moment in the annals of superhero films.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) never misses a chance to use a picture of the Power Rangers, asking: What’s the most awesomely overblown, over-the-top, bombastic Crowning Moment of Awesome ever?
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Running a cinema and its projectors I still finding myself watching bits from Avengers whenever I can. The teamwork montage after Cap gives his orders his mindnumbingly awesome. I’m sure I’ve seen it at least 70 times and could easily watch that seen 70 more times.
In the movie version of Return of the King, at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, when the Riders of Rohan arrive, and come roaring down into the battle on 6,000 horses. That scene is truly epic, the buildup with Théoden’s speech, the tension and release in the music, it is all perfect, and gives me chills every single time I see it.
Also, pretty much any scene from Rik-Oh, but that’s a different kind of over-the-top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCnXBD8TKJg
I know that’s cheating, but damn.
Yeah, that’s a damn fine moment.
“Hello. I’m the Doctor.
Basically?
RUN.”
Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen – Pretty much the entire run of Gokaiger was beyond awesome, including this movie and the one that crosses over with Space Sheriff Gavan. But this was one of those over the top movies that fans of the franchises had hoped to see for years. I know there is a decent plot to the story, but all I cared about was Super Sentai vs Kamen Riders, Riders fighting alongside Rangers and Rangers BECOMING Riders. It was the stuff geek dreams are made of.
Godzilla: Final Wars – Getting to see the “true” Godzilla fighting the CGI Godzilla from the Hollywood remake (now called simply Zilla). The fight may have only lasted 13 seconds, but it proved once and for all that there is no better Godzilla than rubber suit Godzilla.
Honorable Mention:
Turtles Forever – This I loved purely from a nostalgia viewpoint. The 2003 version of TMNT meets the 80’s animated TMNT that a lot of us grew up with and towards the end they even meet the black and white TMNT of the original comics. It was a pretty fun movie, even if it was kinda cheesy. But I still found it to be one of the best moments of awesome when the three teams were all together (and there had been a scene earlier showing several other incarnations as “alternate timelines”).
By far it has to be the final battle of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann where two giant mechas thousands of times larger than galaxies fight it out in space; we even see them throwing galaxies life Frisbees. This is made complete with epic over-the-top dialogue and the fact that the bad guy ends up being defeated by a mech the size of a fork lift.
You should watch the movies. They’re retellings of the story, but sped up and, of course, way higher production value.
I still think the original series is a better thing to start with if you’re new to TTGL, but for anyone who has already seen it they should all watch the movies.
To give you a sense of how overblown and even more over the top it is: There’s another evolution of the Lagann and the last fight is settled by FISTS.
Is there a place online where one can watch these?
Netflix has the TV series.
Yeah, I’m watching those with the 3 year old who loves them, especially the dinosaur-themed ones. Got him a bunch of the old toys on eBay last Xmas. But is there someplace online where I can watch the Japanese series? Haven’t seen them since I was stationed in Okinawa in the 70s.
The last part of the scene where Speed wins the race in Speed Racer.
Rory: “Would you like me to repeat the question?”, that whole intro was bad-ass and blowing up an entire legion to get a point across? Totally overkill, but in a great way.
That was one of my favorite scenes in all of Smith’s run as Doctor so far. It was about time Rory got a bit more action hero-y rather than goofy sidekick.
And it just got better from there… Let’s Kill Hitler was an awesome episode for Rory.
Bobba Fett going crazy on the Ewoks with dual lightsabers and missles then making out with Princess Leia in the 2nd Robot Chicken Star Wars special. They even say it is the most awesomest thing in the history of ever at the end of the skit.
For me the most awesome, over the top thing ever would be the car chase at the end of the Blues Brothers. Hundreds of police cars crashing everywhere trying to capture just two guys. Great ending to a great movie.
If you haven’t watched, don’t judge….
Digimon Tamers, episode 34, “Lionheart”.
Powerfully written; beautifully animated, and poignant as hell. Brian Beacock’s voice acting as Takato cuts me to the core every time I see this….
Superman’s “Word of Cardboard” scene from Justice League and the opening to the original animated G.I. Joe movie (with the Joes saving the Statue of Liberty from Cobra)
I think the entire animated GI Joe movie was a bit over the top. But I think that was part of what I liked about it as a kid.
Gimmie!