New List Of The 250 Greatest Moments in Sci-Fi, Horror, & Fantasy Is Sure To Cause Some Arguments

Nerd arguments at the ready? Aim? Fire!

As with any “list” presented to the masses, there are the inevitable “but you forgot” and “that shouldn’t be on there.” We make such lists from time to time, so we’re used to it, but we’re not sure SFX Magazine is prepared to deal with the onslaught of responses to what they call the “definitive” list of moments from sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Let us first start off by saying they already had their work cut out for them including those three genres in one list but here’s the Top 10 as voted by 96,000.

1. DOCTOR WHO The Doctor and Rose say farewell at Bad Wolf Bay in “Doomsday”
2. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE “Puny god!” The Hulk owns Loki
3. ALIEN The chestburster
4. FIREFLY Mal Reynolds kicks a bad guy into Serenity’s engine intake (“The Train Job”)
5. STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Luke learns that Darth Vader is his father
6. BLADE RUNNER Roy Batty’s “Tears in rain” speech
7. GAME OF THRONES The Red Wedding: “The Lannisters send their regards”
8. THE MATRIX Neo dodges bullets in the bullet-time scene
9. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Dumbledore’s death
10. BACK TO THE FUTURE “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”

Ok, let me lay something out for you. I am a disgusting Rose/10 shipper. I will defend them and talk about that scene to my dying day. But it never would have occurred to me to put it on any list of “greatest scenes,” even a Doctor Who-specific one, because it’s horrible and heartbreaking and it made me slobber all over myself with tears and snot. To each their own, of course, but I’m completely shocked so many people chose that one for the top spot. Out of the Top 10 I would have pegged the chestburster scene as number one for historical significance and also badassness.

Here’s what David Tennant told SFX about the scene: “I remember worrying on the day we shot this scene that as I was actually a projection from inside the Tardis my hair shouldn’t be blowing in the wind. That seemed terribly important at the time and although we didn’t find a solution to it, it bothered me for weeks. Then I saw the finished scene and of course all that matters is the end of the Doctor and Rose’s story. Russell [T Davies] had weaved some glorious magic for two seasons and it all came together so perfectly in this scene that people still talk to me about it with misty eyes all these years later (and I suspect they always will.) Murray Gold created some heart stopping music that accentuates the misery and Billie is just breathtakingly good. I feel very lucky to be standing on that beach, with my hair flying around, in amongst all these brilliant elements. Whatever else I do and wherever else I end up, this will be a moment I will be forever proud to look back on. Thanks for having us at number one.”

While the complete list can only be found in SFX Magazine for now, we know a few more on the list as they relate to Joss Whedon thanks to Whedonesque:

64 The Cabin in the Woods – The monsters are all released
43 Angel – Illyria lets Wes see Fred for the last time
40 Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Buffy imagines her mother is alive in ‘The Body’
22 Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Scoobies find out that Buffy was in Heaven in ‘Once More With Feeling’
18 Serenity – Wash’s death
17 Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Buffy pushes Angel into Hell

Here’s a small sampling of how The Mary Sue staff reacted to the Top 10:

Susana: Yoda lifting the X-Wing
Susana: “That… is why you fail.”
Victoria: HOW IS 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY NOT ON THAT LIST
Victoria: GEHFGIGFQFw
Dan: Yoda lifting the X-Wing is a good call.
Victoria: i would say the beginning establishing shot of the first movie over that
Glen: If we’re including fantasy, the swordfight between Westley and Inigo.
Rebecca: get some fucking metropolis on there
Victoria: oh for sure
Rebecca: the birth of the mariabot
Victoria: if it’s including fantasy how is never ending story not at the top
Victoria: if it’s including horror how is FRANKENSTEIN not on that list
Victoria: THIS IS A STUPID LIST
Jill: ok nerds, back to work
Victoria: NO SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET

Feel free to join the chorus of complaints and let us know what your #1 would be (it may be harder to choose than you think).

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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