I know it's on films, but Angel & Buffy episodes, 'Seeing Red,' 'The Body,' 'You're Welcome,' and 'A Hole in The World' were much sadder.

Frick | November 06, 21:21 CET

That list really smacks of recentism.

Frankly, I'd rather have Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in there over most of their selections. About the only thing I'd commend it for is having the guts to include A.I. as well.

jclemens | November 06, 21:42 CET

Heh, Man Without a Face, he mentions. That one really got to me too when I was 12 and it had come out on video for rent. I don't think I cried during it, but...yeah, it was good. Mel Gibson's directoral debut, he was good in it (Nick Stahl was too, from what I remember), long before he went crazy (or at least was keeping it hidden). But not sci-fi, so, moving along...

Haven't seen Lilo & Stitch yet, despite being pretty big on Disney animation. Remember thinking the trailers were pretty hilarious though, the ones that spoofed/invaded various big Disney films from the `90s.

I didn't cry during Serenity (it gave me fucking chills in the theatre though during some of the more beautiful moments--the opening where the logo fades in and the ship is sailing through space with the cello or some kind of string instrument I suck at identifying--the fact that the story was for real and continuing may've sunk in at that moment too, at the June Toronto screening--with Sean Maher!--in a way that the trailer didn't hit...River's dance/Reaver-fight...maybe some other parts). I could handle the deaths, but the moment that came closest to making me well up, I suppose, was when they fell back and Kaylee and Simon are on the ground and Simon's all, "I hate to leave" and River's all "You won't. You take care of me" and then "My turn", but it's Summer Glau's voice breaking at "You take care of me" and all we saw in Firefly behind that moment that brings it home.

Firefly got me a couple times though. I'm a big sap. "Safe" & "Ariel". Maybe one or two other eps, can't remember.

So was not expecting to cry at The Iron Giant.

The Fifth Element didn't get me (although I thought it was a very cool film and that scene they're talking about was still effective).

A.I., yep. Saw that one in the theatre alone, bad idea (at least the theatre was almost completely empty). The part with the cloned-mom at the end though wasn't the biggest kill though, it was when she leaves him alone in the woods. And also that part where you think the movie is ending with him and Teddy under the water and him on a loop pleading to the Blue Fairy statue. I know this movie gets trashed and I know it's not perfect, but I'll defend the merits it does have 'til the cows come home, and the emotional bits worked for me (yes, I wish we could've seen what Kubrick would've done with it too without Spielberg, but oh well).

That opening Star Trek scene was very well done and wrenching and all, but nah, didn't get me.

Only five choices ? Surely there're more sci-fi films than that that inspired wetter eyes.

[ edited by Kris on 2009-11-06 21:56 ]

Kris | November 06, 21:55 CET

Yeah I just hit up their site with my personal fave sci-fi weepy - "Running Silent" - those poor little robots and that one garden left in space.

viewingfigures | November 06, 22:01 CET

Does "The Little Prince" count? While the movie is hokey and an obvious product of the 70s from whence it was spawned, as a child it hit me pretty hard (the scene with Gene Wilder in the field of wheat). The book makes me cry every time.

And I concur with the addition of AI in any list. It's a great movie; Kubrick's film would have been different, sure, but what we have is wonderful.

narse | November 06, 22:16 CET

E.T. surely. Also the remake of Solaris.

Simon | November 06, 22:59 CET

I don't cry - I get emotionally drained (Dollhouse's Belonging was the last time that happened) but I wish I cried. I'm of the opinion that its very manly to get so emotionally involved with characters that you cry. Also, Lilo & Stitch. Now that's a franchise I adore wholeheartedly. I even have an expensive model based upon the first film I purchased at one of the "finer things" shops at Disneyland... Paris. It's awesome.

If I could cry, I'd cry at any death sci-fi death ever. I'd bawl at the end of The Return of the Jedi like nobodies business.

Jayme | November 06, 23:08 CET

Weird, but I can't think of any scifi movies that have made me cry - though A.I. did come close.

With tv-shows, the list is longer, though:

There's couple of Buffyverse episodes that make me teary eyed, like "Home", "The Gift" and "I Will Remember You" (I generally think that Buffy/Angel is one of the most boring pairings in the show, but that episode must have some subliminal messages or something because for the last five minutes I always turn into a B/A shipper).

The Babylon 5 finale "Sleeping in Light" is of course unbeatable - ten years and dozens of rewatches and it still makes me cry.

And then there are the Futurama episodes "Jurassic Bark" and "Luck of the Fryrish" which you wouldn't think could be so sad, but GAH!

ruuger | November 07, 00:07 CET

For me, "A Whole in the World" was the saddest 'sode from the jossverse.

duffman | November 07, 00:34 CET

Serenity a tearjerker? Serenity made me morose due to how glum Mal was, how messed up his relationships were, how fractured the crew was -- all the opposite of the qualities that made the tv show so good. If I shed a tear due to that reversal, I don't believe it was the kind of tear than denotes a "tearjerker".

(Although, ok, I did tear up when Simon looked like he was about to perish, and River told him that he always takes care of her. That hit on target. That was true.)

will.bueche | November 07, 00:43 CET

The bit at the end, when the music swells and Serenity flies up into the rain after the love talk makes me well up every time.

BobReturns | November 07, 01:02 CET

really? book's death? walsh's was more sad xD

Specialty | November 07, 06:37 CET

Aragorn: "My friends, you bow to no one."

All of Gondor bows to the Hobbits

ShadowQuest | November 07, 10:04 CET

I was too shocked at Wash's death to cry, but I teared up at the beautiful funeral scene.

I'm deeply ashamed to admit that the only Scifi movie that ever made me actually cry was Armageddon.

Include fantasy, and it's a different story. There were a number tear-inducing moments for me, throughout the LoTR trilogy, including the most unusual reason - I had tears in my eyes throughout the first several minutes of Fellowship (the first part in the Shire), just because it was so impossibly beautiful and I hadn't believed anyone could really capture it to such perfection.
Plus the "I know where this is going" factor. :)

Shey | November 07, 12:23 CET

TV eps? A few from Buffy (the end of Becomming pt2, and Grave, and obviously The Body).
I think the only Angel ep that made me cry was A Hole In The World. And Shells, but just the closing sequence.