Top Five Sci-Fi Boarding Actions

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Spacedock delves into five of science fiction's best boarding action scenes.
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[@Spacedock]

Get "Designing the Perfect Space Fighter - A Spacedock Reference Book" here! www.patreon.com/posts/77243474/

[@garetheckley7018]

I have not watched this yet - but if Astartes isn't in here, I'm going to have conniptions.

[@garetheckley7018]

Watched it now. Content quality remains on point. *thumbs up*

[@Marinealver]

Surprised you didn't mention the start of Star Wars where Tantive IV got boarded.

[@TheMhalpern]

I would have to say the one in Halo Reach also should have an honorable mention, its not as grand as Cyro, but it is actually pretty intelligent.

[@mikearmstrong8483]

Not even an honorable mention of boarding the Kilrathi command ship in Wing Commander?

[@RemoteEars]

The scary part of the Cylon boarding is that it's done intelligently. When bad guys actually act with common sense, it's terrifying

[@mortman200]

You could almost say that the Cylons had a plan. For once.

[@doctorroboto5018]

Yeah, seeing the Galactica dead in space and imagining what would happen to the fleet if it powered back up only to open fire on them was chilling.

[@RCAvhstape]

I loved the reboot centurions, I wish they had more screen time. Every time they were around they were terrifying.

[@Vandelberger]

Imagine if in the new Star Wars films, it starts with a crack First order attack on a secret Senate super weapon that even Leia didn’t know about. The new senates own hubris gets them blown up.

[@xendakakorva3267]

damn clankers knew they had ZERO NEED TO FUCKING BREATH XD

[@be-noble3393]

“Fly me closer, I want to hit them with my sword!”

[@thechroniclegamer4285]

Literally every Destiny 2 cutscene

[@shinhook2k280]

@@thechroniclegamer4285 what?

[@gabe9125]

The cool part about the Astartes boarding action is that the defenders do everything right. When the boarding craft first enters the ship, they quickly and quietly surround it, with multiple crossing fields of fire. As they Astartes proceed through the ship, they use chokepoints and their knowledge of the ship to set up ambushes from unexpected angles. They attempt suicide bombings. They hide anti-tank gun crews in the walls. They set up a massive machine gun emplacement at the end of a long hallway, bait the Astartes in, then willingly mow down dozens of their own troops just to get a clean shot. They put on a textbook display of defense in depth, ambushing and retreating, using a wide variety of surprise tactics with no regard for their own lives, and it DOES NOT MATTER. The Astartes are demigods, walking tanks, biologically enhanced superhumans with centuries of battlefield experience, devoid of all emotion except hate and rage. They roll over the resistance like it's nothing In addition to a great boarding action, it's also a great example of "show, don't tell" in story writing

[@trasen5626]

Fr, the idea that the boarding is only a small part of the film is kind of ridiculous. It's the first half.

[@ciCCapROSTi]

@@trasen5626 but the fact that they are boarding means basically nothing. That was the creator's point: they could attack any closed off fortification, the fact that it's a spaceship makes no difference.

[@HubiKoshi]

I think my favourite part of that whole sequence was when one guy tried to sneak up on an Astartes and slap some kind of explosive onto him, like an ork did to a Dreadnought in the Dawn of War opening. And the Astartes simply pulled out a knife, stabbed the guy, re-sheathed the knife and kept firing in another direction. It was so smooth and practised like he did that a thousand times before and he probably did.

[@TheChillee]

Astartes are traitorous amateurs….

[@valhalanguardsman2588]

​​@@ciCCapROSTi except for the fact that it all happened _on a ship_ and the fact that the immense size of 40k ships is portrayed correctly throughout the whole movie only shows the depth of details

[@ChrisPrice12]

My favorite to this day, some 27 years later, is the opening boarding action from a New Hope. It really shows the danger and effectiveness of Stormtoopers when the people they are shooting at don't have plot armor.

[@rmartinson19]

Exactly. They absolutely DOMINATED when it was just them versus rebel troops. Really set a great tone for the Empire as a real threat, only for subsequent movies to ruin that by turning stormtroopers into pathetic clowns that could be defeated by Stone Age teddy bears with bows and spears.

[@howard2liu]

@@rmartinson19 Also: the same movie, where their door-to-door sweep was foiled by someone not opening the door, and on the Death Star where plot armor was in full effect, like Han Solo's one-man charge.

[@rmartinson19]

@@howard2liu In fairness to the Death Star sequence, it was later revealed in the film that those troopers had been under orders to LET them escape. Leia deduced this herself when she told Han to stop acting so cocky about their success, and the subsequent conversation between Tarkin and Vader confirmed it.

[@howard2liu]

@@rmartinson19 While that's true, you have to wonder how they were carrying out that plan, and when Tarkin came up with the plan. Like, if that was the plan as soon as the Falcon landed then it would have been a lot easier to let Luke and Han just walk out with Leia, and not have a shootout at the detention block. So say Tarkin and Vader put out the word after Leia was broken out. What were the Stormtroopers going to do with Luke and Leia at the bridge if Luke hadn't happened to have a grapple with him? How were they going to let them escape and still make it look good?

[@rmartinson19]

@@howard2liu My guess would be that the plan was implemented just before the prison-block shootout. As for the bridge scene, that could have been a simple screwup (those happen, even to the most professional of people) where the troops in front of them and behind them found themselves stuck with no way to back off without making it clear that they were letting Luke and Leia escape. Worst case scenario, they'd have to fight until they were shot, then they could play dead and let them pass. But Luke saved them from that dilemma by having that random grappling hook.

[@Majere613]

According to Brian Blessed, he enjoyed himself greatly storming the war-rocket with a cardboard gun, blasting Ming's goons in all directions, only to be reminded after the director called 'Cut!' that the sound effects would be added in post and he didn't need to provide them.

[@hoojiwana]

Classic - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@adambielen8996]

Brian Blessed is a world treasure.

[@artembentsionov]

@@adambielen8996 I think you mean BRIAN BLESSED!!! That’s the only way his name should ever be written

[@alanelizarraras4533]

I would argue that any film featuring BRIAN BLESSED! is one where he is having the time of his life. It's just his nature.

[@Twisted_Logic]

Truly a man that lives up to his name

[@jasonreed1631]

My favorite part of retaking the Normandy is that the only people taking the entire thing seriously are basically Shepard, Shepard's clone, and the Mercs. Your team mates are just having the time of their lives. Which to be fair, it was probably a nice diversion for them from the "OH, dear God! The galaxy is ending!" that has been the rest of the game.

[@adambielen8996]

Wrex tackling a flying truck out of the air has to be one of my favorite parts of that whole story line. And yes, everyone was having a blast.

[@themetalstickman]

One of my favorite boarding actions is when you board the IMC ship near the end of Titanfall 2. You don’t get a lot of in-atmosphere boarding actions between ships under full thrust.

[@hoojiwana]

Hell yeah that games campaign is amazing. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@ApocGuy]

the way BT interact with cooper by the end of the game... should be considered bioware level of relationship building. absolutely amazing game with heart breaking finale.

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

This might be my favorite. Other than my love for Titanfall 2, and the in-atmosphere nature of the maneuver, it also is pretty unique to get thrown instead of using a pod or something similar.

[@rayanderson5797]

Oh yeah, that was pretty sweet. I also kinda liked the fighter pilot merc you fight in that mission. He's so cheesy, but I love it.

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

@@rayanderson5797 Voodu one, Viper's on station.

[@lieutenantdan9337]

The boarding action from Astartes is my favorite, not just because I'm a big 40k fan, but because of how quickly and effectively the boarders engaged the ship's defenders. Fast. Simple. Brutal.

[@tarektechmarine8209]

I still wonder why it isn't counted as boarding, just because the super soldiers are better than master chief at actually boarding? or maybe that the ships are so superior that they can't be counted as ships?

[@cp1cupcake]

@@tarektechmarine8209 I agree, the justification that Spacedock has feels very contrived. I don't think he had a very good definition of what he considered a 'boarding action' when making the list.

[@alexfrost2799]

@@cp1cupcake the worst part is that, going by the definition, just about the entire series counts as a boarding action since the Astartes were on the ship nearly the entire time. They were _boarding_ the ship, aiming to take the xenos artifact and dismantle the rebels onboard in the process, which is exactly what boarding actions are supposed to do (secure priority objective and disable a ship's internal systems and/or crew)

[@KingdomOfDimensions]

@@tarektechmarine8209 He didn't say it doesn't count as boarding, just that most of the action wasn't boarding-specific. For example, most of it is completely indistinguishable from delving into the lower depths of a hive world or another labyrinthine stronghold. The process of boarding barely featured and didn't place any real constraints on the Astartes, ditto for the ship as a setting.

[@cp1cupcake]

@@KingdomOfDimensions The thing is, that you can make that argument for any boarding action that has combat aside from the initial boarding.

[@TheSaneHatter]

For me, nothing tops the Klingon Assault on Deep Space Nine at the beginning of the show's fourth season: after over an hour of build-up and backstory, including some very stern introductory dialogue on what the heroes are facing, we wind up getting a massive, FOUR-tiered battle in space, on the Promenade, in Ops, and in the station's shuttle bay, with weapons fire in all directions and hand-to-hand combat between at least five different species!

[@madsam7582]

Way Of The Warrior. Dukat and Garak fighting back was great.

[@RedWingnut00]

​@madsam7582 "I find this hand-to-hand combat really quite distasteful." "I suppose you'd prefer the siplicity of an interrogation chamber." "You have to admit, it's much more civilized!"

[@johnsteiner3417]

My problem with Klinging boarding scenes is that it always devolves to swords and knives. A ship that can handle micrometeorite impact at light speed or above shouldn't have problems with internal fire.

[@builder396]

@@johnsteiner3417 Thats more down to the Klingons PREFERRING combat to be close and personal. That means blades, mostly Bat'leths and knives. The station itself by the way can handle internal firefights just fine. Maybe a direct hit on a console will knock that out, but in the big picture random weapons fire wont do much and it would need aimed sabotage to do any real damage.

[@TheSaneHatter]

@@builder396 Doctor Bashir has an entire monologue to that effect, just before the shooting starts, as he briefs his medical team.

[@michaelmutranowski123]

I like how in Stargate: Atlantis Colonel Sheppard attaches his F302 to a Wraith Hive Ship before it jumps into hyperspace and while traveling at hyperspace he wonders if he can detach his ship so he has a flashback to doctors Zelenka and McCay arguing with each other about this but he doesn't remember what they were saying because he was focused on a beautiful woman sitting at another table; when the flashback ended he says "I gotta pay more attention to those guys" and doesn't disengage his docking clamps. It's a great scene in a great show.

[@EclecticFruit]

I loved that scene. That woman's innocent looking lunch almost got him pancaked!

[@anthony7697]

I feel like The Borg in 'First Contact' deserve an honorable mention. They get on without being noticed, and remain hidden till it's put together that the climate issues in engineering are suited for a Borg ship - by which point it's too late as they have their foot hold and start progressing through the ship and adding to their numbers. Combined with how the Enterprise crew tries to fend them off (including even the use of the Holodeck without it's safeties). I know we don't get to see a ton of it, but still I think worth a mention.

[@braditnyre911]

honestly, he missed at least a half dozen star trek boarding actions, though it seems he was rating basedbased on drama and excitement more than effectiveness or stealth

[@DrakeAurum]

Thanks for the shout-out, and of course for the inclusion of the awesome Flash Gordon scene.

[@hoojiwana]

DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE

[@Moondog-wc4vm]

DrakeAurum's aliiiiiiive! ;-)

[@PopeMetallicus]

I just did a stream with a friend on this movie, holy crap I forgot how much fun it is

[@TheMajorStranger]

It's strange to not mention at all the capture of the Tantive IV from Star Wars Episode IV. This is for many the first scene of Sci-fi they have ever seen.

[@frigginresulrum]

Kind of a bland boarding action though, it's like one hallway and the rebels get wrecked very easily

[@calebbarnhouse496]

@frigginresulrum that's why it's so great, it shows how hopeless the rebels are at winning the fight, what people originally thought was a giant space ship was not a small ship, but the guys holed up in a defensive postion got slaughtered by the first wave of stormtroopers

[@artembentsionov]

@@calebbarnhouse496 it also shows that their armor is actually useful. Sure, it can’t stop a direct blaster hit, but a near-miss won’t kill a stormtrooper but will kill an unarmored rebel

[@artembentsionov]

What if they come in through the other door?

[@watcherzero5256]

Replace with the Vader boarding scene from the end of Rogue One

[@Tobiasfowler]

Not a board action, but that line from Severed Dream when the Whitestar turns up gives me chills every time “if you value your lives, be somewhere else”

[@artembentsionov]

Mira Furlan will be missed

[@warblerblue]

Aight, Im out!!

[@jlokison]

Delenn and Ivonova could be terrifying when they wanted to be.

[@Hatsuzuki808]

After which, despite having just come out of the jump gate, the Omegas were so desperate to be somewhere else, they did it themselves.

[@darrenrichardson6146]

@@Hatsuzuki808 IIRC it's implied very early in the series that the Jump Gates/points are one way when they open up, you can come through from Hyperspace through opening one, but can't re-enter hyperspace from a jump point you just opened, which is used several times to ambush space ships during the Narn-Centurai war, in order to escape, you have to re-open a new hole into hyperspace. The same principal is used for Stargate SG1's wormholes, you can go through a gate you just opened, but you can't re-enter it from the other end as the matter stream is being pushed one way only between the two gates.

[@derrImperator]

Thank you for making this list real. But I real miss Star Wars the Clone Wars. This show had so many boarding actions, but I really want to point out the boarding of Cad Banes ship in Session 2, where Anakin just uses AT-TE as boarding vessels!

[@nathannychyk4117]

Hell yeah that’s exactly what I was thinking

[@Cylindryk]

Well, just first scene of Star Wars, boarding of Tantive IV, is one of the best scenes - it is even more suprising not see it on the list anywhere.

[@craidiefin]

@@Cylindryk or Vader boarding the Profundity in an attempt to board the Tantive IV

[@robertbutler2964]

Grievous intrigue from season 2 was non stop boarding action

[@yellowprime8491]

"I keep warning you. Doors and corners, kid. That's where they get you."

[@bohellan6227]

Nice

[@mattstorm360]

A boarding action i want to mention is the Antero, a Wyvren class super carrier from the MMO EVE Online. It was hyjacked by the Dread Guristas while it was being retrofitted. A captured shuttle carrying a small assault team boarded the carrier under the guise as maintenance workers. After gaining control of the hangar force field, they waited for the crew exchange. Once most of the workers were in the hangar they turned off the force fields and vented the workers into space before resetting the force fields to deny the incoming shuttles from boarding. The boarders then called in reinforcement with boarding craft carrying the main assault team to clear out the rest of the carrier and take control. While you don't see the gunfight and only see the plan from outside and a play by play from Scope News it's very much sound. Attack the carrier while it's being retrofitted. Board and take control of the force fields. When everyone gets to the hangar for the crew exchange you vent the hangar killing most of the crew. You bring in your reinforcements, sweep the ship, take control, and jump out.

[@TheEDFLegacy]

I WISH they had done stuiff like that for Dust. It would have been _outstandingly_ fun.

[@GottHammer]

this video, and this comment, reminded me of the brief boarding action segment in the EVE Online 'Prophecy' trailer.

[@mattstorm360]

@@GottHammer Yeah. But another that came to mind was the boarding of Clear skies in Clear skies 2.

[@CMTechnica]

I’m surprised you didn’t give the Expanse’s slot to the scene where they fire FedEx breaching pods at the station, sine the entire operation isn’t only pivotal to the plot of the season, but the entire series

[@ananonymousnerd.2179]

Even after I watched that scene myself a few times, that sentence never fails to amuse me.

[@hoojiwana]

Very little actually happens if you focus on the boarding, its more of an afterthought and theres no resistance once they got on board Thoth. All the cool battle stuff there was outside with the Roci. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

It’s still the best product placement in Sci-Fi.

[@MiG-21bisFishbedL]

@@hoojiwana Fair, but at the same time, I think it also demonstrates how vital ship support is during such an operation as the entire landing part would have been toast otherwise.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@Jaydee-wd7wr Makes you want to buy FedEx stock, since apparently the company will last and expand across the solar system for another 200 years or so.

[@yodaslovetoy]

Second honourable meantion.... "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari Fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!" - Delenn

[@rayhatton7683]

When it's all said and done. Earth Force ships vrs Minbari in not a fair fight. It's was truly one sided. If they showed up as one whole force before she showed up then yes it would be a different fight. Still would be outclassed ships vrs Minbari but it wouldn't be fair. Her lines conveyed her seriousness and the Minbari fighting force. Basically saying you want a fight. Let's go. Im right here. Earth forces after.....ummmm I'm out. Great episode but at a cost of forces. As for Ming, Ddddddiiiiiiieeeeeee!!!!!!

[@inductivegrunt94]

Seeing Halo in the top 5 makes me so happy! And at least Astartes got an honorable mention. This was a great video.

[@usel1500]

A boarding action that I really love is in season 1 of Gundam iron blooded orphans. A lot of the space battles in more recent Gundam shows involve a lot of trickery, and this is an excellent example. They make a close flyby of an enemy ship and have their boarding party jump across. High risk, high reward.

[@noneedtoknow07]

And they made it to the bridge without inflicting or taking casualties like they wanted.

[@robertdrexel2043]

@@noneedtoknow07 Hmmm... Yes they did. Or are we thinking the same boarding action? The one with the Turbines was that yes, but the one with the Brewers both sides had a very large casualties. Including one scene where a Tekkadan Soldier got taken out by a few scared Brewer Human Debris. Speaking of which we never got to see that combat equipment they used during that again in the series. Which is darn shame as it was quite interesting in my mind. Different from Gjallarhorn's own combat equipment, but still looking a bit similar at the same time. Also, I know Gundam shows had ship boardings before, Ramba Ral's famous one comes to mind, but something I always hated with Gundam is things like GundamJacks and such are always done via mobile suits themselves without any sort of dedicated infantry force to secure said Gundam. The only two instances of such GundamJacks that managed this was the two Gundam SEED/Destiny Jacks, though the latter was only a small team, and then Unicorn Gundam with a confusing mess of things happening.

[@noneedtoknow07]

@@robertdrexel2043 Ray is mentioning the Turbines with the flyby detail.

[@fightingfalcon777]

One I would include on my top boarding action scenes is probably the Klingon assault on Deep Space 9 in DS9’s Way of the Warrior

[@HeadlessChickenTO]

The Wraith taking over Midway station in Stargate Atlantis. The Ta'ri thought their little middle-of-nowhere outpost didn't need any major defense systems, only to be proven very wrong. This leads to Teal'c and Ronon on an absolute killing spree with a pair of G36K throughout the station all the way to Earth's Cheyenne mountain complex. Star Trek Elite Forces II had an interesting level where the Enterprise-E gets boarded. And you, as Hazard Team lead, is taken to sights like the bridge, engineering, and eventually doing a spacewalk to an external auxiliary weapons placement to fend off the attack shuttles.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

You had me at Teal's and Ronon! Mountains tremble at their combined approach.

[@jamesthomas7670]

The Narn rushed in because they wanted to demonstrate to Babylon 5 that they would die for them. It was calculated. The station was the only place they could reliably stage supplies and evacuations from their occupied homeworld. They needed the humans to trust and value them. So in true and insane Narn fashion they did just that.

[@GaldirEonai]

IIRC one of the novels pointed out that Garibaldi's chokepoint would have been eventually bypassed by the boarders cutting through another bulkhead. The Narn goal was to assault the marines' "beachhead" and either pin them down in a location they can't get out of by cutting through a wall or wipe them out entirely.

[@norm3380]

Throwing everything at the beachhead is absolutely the best action to take. Garibaldi is likely still hesitant to take on Earth Force and I can't blame him. The Narn didn't have that hesitation, by simply not being human.

[@SkylerLinux]

Also Garibaldi made a bad call, and they had to move position.

[@kineticdeath]

i'd also argue that the Narns arent so much about careful strategy but more about brutality. They hammered home their defensive stance, literally with the butt of a PPG rifle or bare handed combat

[@artembentsionov]

The Narn are more about honor and combat. They’re not quite Klingons, but we do see that Narn later with a katana-like sword that can’t be re-sheathed until it shed blood

[@julias5980]

Another honorable mention - not because it wasn't great but because it didn't really make it into the show - is Fred Johnson's boarding action on Anderson Station. It's one of the novellas, and really drives home how much of a meat grinder a boarding action can be, even when you're the side with UNN marines.

[@avollant]

Although not a complete boarding, I would have put the "Daedalus Manoeuver" from Macross/Robotech as an honorable mention... at the time, it was quite innovative.

[@yellowprime8491]

Hopefully it shows up in a countdown of best SciFi Ramming Maneuvers

[@georgeowain]

Dont forget, in one episode, the Zentradi actually used it as a means to board the SDF-1.

[@GaldirEonai]

@@georgeowain Yep. Gotta love a show where the antagonists actually think about the heroes' badass surprise maneuver and come up with a specific counter to it.

[@happisakshappiplace.6588]

Nice to see Babylon 5's Severd Dreams action being mentioned. Jerry Doyle aka Garibaldi broke his arm in the fighting scenes they were all going at it. It was a short scene but a brutal one. The final scene with the bodies piled up rammed it home too.

[@yellowprime8491]

Aye, hard to find clips of it on YT. People tend to make clips of the space battle and Delens' badass entrance.

[@Dave0G]

Special mention to the Babylon 4 flash with Geribaldi's big guns 😁

[@hoojiwana]

@@yellowprime8491 Hard to find clips because theres really only very short scenes showing it. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@Vastin]

As a side note, I think B5's PPGs had some of the best effects for a televised show weapon up to that point, and probably for quite a while thereafter. The way the superheated air distorted in the wake of the plasma bolts was great.

[@LtDavidB312]

Andrea Thompson’s story about trying to find him at the ER was a riot. “He’s in a costume!” “Yeah, we need you to be more soecific, ma’am.”

[@MrHws5mp]

The captain of the Ajax is my go-to case study for how to do EVERYTHING wrong, consistently and with consequences. Firstly, he electrifies the cloud and observes that Gordon doesn't fall out of it, thereby proving conclusively that Gordon _isn't in the cloud_ . So then, he goes into the cloud, where Gordon definitely isn't, to get him, sacrificing his speed and vision in the process, and for what? He could miss Gordon by 20 feet and still not see him. 🤦‍♂ Then, having emerged from the cloud to find, to the surprise of exactly nobody except him, that it's a trap, he's confronted by a swarm of Hawkmen, who are, in tactical terms, a bunch of tiny, slow, squishy, lightly-armed flapping infantry. So what does he do with his big, fast, tough, armed-to-the teeth space rocket? He comes to a dead stop and prepares to repel borders with small arms...🤦‍♂🤦‍♂🤦‍♂ I'd call him an idiot, but that wouldn't be fair to mere run-of-the-mill idiots... If you ever find yourself in the same situation (like you do...), then do yourself a favour and fly your BIG FAST ROCKET _around_ the cloud, and upon seeing the Hawkmen, fly your BIG FAST ROCKET right through the middle of them, shooting your BIG FORWARD-FACING GUNS as you go and pulling as many Gs as you can stand. Not only do you get to, y'know, _win_ , but you also get Brian Blessed spread-eagled (spread-hawked?) Garfield-style on the front windsceen as a keepsake...

[@samuelyoung1]

I believe the term is avant idiot

[@killerhellhound]

Given its BRIAN BLESSED I would expect him to smash through the windscreen, laughing and killing everyone in the room

[@danielhaire6677]

In JMS' notes for the B5 episode Severed Dreams, it was actually explained why the Narn rushed the Marines. The Narns knew that trained soldiers versus security personnel in an open gun fight would get security killed. SO they rushed the Marines to get Security into the hand to hand range where they could win. It was written that every Narn who fell got their human compatriots a meter closer with Narn's taking the gaps caused by the deaths of their fellows to keep the forward momentum going.

[@jeyfromnowhere]

The cerebral simplicity of Jubal Early invading Serenity is quite good.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

"Am I a lion?"

[@MrChromeJob]

Saesee Tiin and the clones abandoning their ship to board a Separatist ship in Clone Wars(2003) is an epic one that missed out here. And of course The Way of the Warrior(DS9) where the Klingons attack and board DS9, is epic!

[@Jawmax]

One of my favorite boarding actiones is in the beginning and end of the Transformers Fall of Cybertron video game. The first Stage The Exodus you play as Bumblebee, when the Decepticons board the Ark catching glimpses of actions elsewhere. While in the Final Stage Till All Are One, you begin as Soundwave boarding the Ark beginning sabotage, switch to Jet fire destroying boarding tubes, switch angain to Brutascus on the ship hull, then you fight Brutacus, and bringit to where The Exodus ended and choose between Optimus Prime or Megatron to face the other as the final boos. You take part in one of the big moments of Transformers lore from different angles!

[@The_Frustrated_Optimist]

Having just finished watching Legend of The Galactic Heroes today, I have to say the assault on the Brunhild toward the end was one hell of a brutal boarding action. Just the sight of the Brunhild impaled by the ship that rammed it alone was something.

[@watcherzero5256]

All the Rosen Ritter actions with their armoured spacesuits and axes in the original and remake. Brutal.

[@ThatSlowTypingGuy]

@@watcherzero5256 "All the Rosen Ritter actions[...]" This!

[@wanjanechtangroeger]

Yes, I hoped to have one of those scenes on this list!

[@jamesd1175]

I get you chose boarding actions that were the main focus of a scene and I agree with that perspective but all the grievous boardings in the clone wars are great and brutal with Eeth koth and Kenobi (both times). For a focused boarding action Ashford boarding the Granicus in Expanse S4 finale was incredible also.

[@NefariousKoel]

Ashford's one-man boarding assault in The Expanse is one of my favorites. Because it shows a zero-G environment and how very experienced he is in doing so while flying through the corridors with a pair of pistols.

[@georgehill8285]

I think the part that makes the Severed Dreams boarding so iconic is the music. It’s not triumphant, it’s not ominous, it’s just sad, which is the point. This is the beginning of a wasteful civil war, it is a tragedy.

[@amahashadow]

That and bad ass Mira Furlan. "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else"

[@MWBalls]

One thing that makes boarding actions potentially interesting is that one, or possibly both sides will be limited in the kinds of weapons they can use for fear of damaging key parts of the ship or causing haul breaches.

[@johnsteiner3417]

The boarding of the Geth dreadnought in Mass Effect 3 also should've gotten a mention for its zero-g entry scene. Your sense of up and down becomes completely mutable. The music set a horror ambience, and the sneaking around with gun lights adds to the tension.

[@-JustHuman-]

Would say the Legends of Galactic Heroes does a good job too, they flood the ships with particles so you can't use laser weapons without dying yourself, so most battles are fought hand to hand in spacesuits.

[@mariusionita266]

Was about to drop LotGH myself before I saw the comment. Good to see another gentleman with refined taste. Who doesn't like mfkers in power armor swinging tomahawks sharpened to a nanometer so as to slice heads with ease?

[@circeciernova1712]

I love seeing a crew recapture their ship - the captors are the defenders, but the original crew knows their home! Mass Effect and Skies of Arcadia are favorite examples, though the former does much more with the concept. Honestly though, my favorite is Moretsu Pirates. A new pirate captain learning to use flair and intimidation as primary weapons rather than just superior firepower so as to _prevent_ a fight - something about it all feels more grounded than the constant all-out battles I constantly see.

[@memoryfoam2285]

I knew that BSG boarding would be #1, such a tense sequence

[@Kubinda12345]

I think that the boardings from Star Wars Episode IV should've been at least honorably mentioned. Not only is it iconic sequence but also shows a unique method how to board a ship. The Tantive IV is pulled into a docking bay of the Star Destroyer and the Stormtroopers had than an easy job. Even if by some miracle the rebels defended the ship, it's game over for them.

[@IAmEvilTree]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars had a pretty good boarding action in "Cloak of Darkness". Penetrating boarding craft filled with battle droids that swarmed the ship, but they turn out to only be a distraction for Ventress to slip through unnoticed, sabotage the ships power, and rescue Gunray. Highlights a scenario where the initial boarders cause a disruption for other boarders to slip by and achieve different goals.

[@Freesorin837]

I went into this video thinking "If he doesn't mention centurions boarding Galactica, gods help him." Imagine my jubilation that it's in fact the number one pick. Hats off to you sir!

[@NightBeWheat]

Honestly my favorite was Operation: Uppercut from Halo Reach. (its the mission where you attack a corvette and destroy the long night of solace) From a gameplay perspective, it was an interesting mission. It might have been a classic "shoot everything" boarding action, but i think it was more than that. RIP Jorge.

[@logicplague2077]

It might not have been "fair" per se to have two from the same series, but I would have included the boarding of Thoth Station using refitted Fed-Ex containers from The Expanse as well. Still happy to see The Expanse on the list, and I would have to put the Azure Dragon boarding above Thoth as well.

[@sugondese123]

Disappointed that the boarding scene from the begging of a new hope, wasn't even mentioned, beyond being a good action scene it helped establish the threat of Darth Vader and the empire in general.

[@cjfedler327]

Speaking of boarding actions, I recently fi ished a book called "Sixteen Watch" that was mostly about a group of Coast Guard sailors training on how to do boarding and interdiction on the moon. It was a quick but fun read, and featured a fair bit of realistic Sci-Fi knowledge packed in. I highly recommend it

[@yodaslovetoy]

4. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun FLASH... AAAAAHHHHHH

[@weldonwin]

SAVIOUR OF THE UNIVERSE *DUN DAH DUN DAAAAAAHHHH!!!*

[@volrathsstronghold3989]

aa haaaa

[@thestanleys3657]

No boarding of the Tantive IV by the stormtroopers from SW ANH surprising 😳😆 "STANDBY MY HAWKMAN...DIVE!!!"

[@onehopeofthedoomed]

The Magog boarding the Andromeda at the end of season 1 really has weight to it and shows just how chaotic it could be while innovating ways to save the ship

[@ryanhill2348]

Bizarre that the opening moments of episode 4 “A New Hope” are not mentioned here,….probably the first ever science fiction boarding ever on film to that point.

[@dadab22]

I think an honorable mention (at the very least) was the boarding action showed in the fanmade short Astartes. Firstly, it is incredibly fast. No waiting around, no hesitation, and no opportunities for the enemy to avoid once they detect it coming. That kind of speed is needed for boarding, lest the enemy outmanuver. Second, the Caestus Assault Ram showcases how perfect it is for boarding action. With a handful of drones and a turret to intercept point defence missiles, heavy armor for balistic rounds, a multimelta to assist in boaring into the enemy ship, and even a misericorde recoil compensation system so the marines are not injured from the collision, it is one of the more effective and well designed Imperial crafts. Third, because the Caestus pierced so deeply into the ship, the renegade defenders had to scramble defences, as they clearly were not expecting combatants to arrive so deep in their ship. Their desperate scramble to set up killzones and defences really hammers home how unprepared they were. Finally, it shows why a space marine knows no fear. They are brutal, bloody angels.

[@bigchunguskeanureeveswhole1143]

but they did do an honourable mention on Astartes

[@dadab22]

@@bigchunguskeanureeveswhole1143 Yes, but they didn't mention *Why* it's actually a brilliant boarding action depiction. Infact, they kind of dismissed it, saying it's "not really a boarding action"

[@sundragon7703]

My favorite "guilty pleasure" boarding action is transporting tribbles into key locations in Klingon facilities like engine rooms. It is "out of the box" tactics with minimal if not no casualties and/or little collateral damage. Yet, the Klingon asset is neutralized. It is a win-win with booty!

[@JohnCena-fd5yw]

personally i love the boarding of the Malta from Titanfall 2. Aside from how incredible the game is as a whole, you know exactly what you're doing in that fight and why, you get some equally awesome NPC friends, and you work your way up from an epic entrance to platforming off other ships to performing a synchronized hit on the bridge crew. all around winner

[@edberger7712]

I really liked the scene in the Expanse where the UN marines are boarding the freighter looking for Marco Inaros. It's really good at showing the utter confusion of fighting in confined spaces filled with civilians and insurgents.

[@TheXlen]

Nice to see BSG as the top! Sadly no Stargate in this top😢 I'd also not forget Dark Matter

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Mmm, Stargate! I loved the scene where they are on Clarel's ship as it hurtles toward Earth in FTL, and Bra'tac explains to O'Neall about how difficult it will be to fight all the way to the bottom of a deep shaft to the explod-y bits of the ship, then how hard it will be to climb all the way back up and escape alive before the ship explodes. Then O'Neall just drops two hand grenades down the shaft.

[@TheXlen]

@@MonkeyJedi99 Stargate has a bunch of boarding actions, some better some worse, most worth to talk about

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@TheXlen I agree! I just really liked the grenade drop.

[@MortyMortyMorty]

I'm still not over The Expanse getting cancelled 😢

[@Marinealver]

Well it could be worse, It could be "Rebooted for Modern Audiences".

[@Rasc0117]

I'm excited for the upcoming ship size video! And no, I don't believe that giant ships are silly as it almost always depends on the setting and the needs of that space faring civilization. Looking forward to seeing you try to convince us! Try not to fight me in the comments as my debate game is weak lol

[@ryuukeisscifiproductions1818]

No, you are right about that, scale of ships is heavily setting and circumstance dependent.

[@bohellan6227]

Hoojiwana is just setting up a point for another video. He loves large ships. He's on record loving the Galactica, the Donnager, Avatar's ISV and so on. And who doesn't love a big chunky and death spitting Star Destroyer or a Martian skyscraper in space?

[@hoojiwana]

Yeah one of my favourite Star Destroyers is the largest one lol - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@bohellan6227]

@@hoojiwana lol, I still remember the description of the onboard systems. A true classic!

[@ryuukeisscifiproductions1818]

@@hoojiwana Yeah, it s also worth noting that with realism there are a lot of advantages that corms with larger size, not just from bigger power generation. Square cube law allows larger ships to be armored better than smaller ones since the amount of armor needed on a ship scales relative to surface area, while reactor power scales more to volume. though settings that depends on heat radiators may have problems with this. Bu8t the biggest unappreciated advantage of larger ships is the ability to mount larger, longer ranged weapons and longer ranged fire control systems along with that. The key advantage of dreadnought era battleships and later was their ability to hit targets from much further ranges than cruiser or destroyer gunnery could manage and was one of the main reasons torpedo armed destroyers and torpedo boats where never going to make battleships obsolete, because a battleship can simply blast them from outside of effective torpedo range. Same thing happens with modern missile boats vs larger DDG's. Even though a missile boat can carry a missile that has a theoretical range of hundreds of kilometers, their smaller more limited fire control radars that are also lower down cannot achieve a target lock on an enemy ship or aircraft at anywhere near the range that a DDG's radar can achieve. Thus the DDG has a much longer effective engagement range than a missile boat. Same thing would apply to spacecraft, where smaller spacecraft would be limited to smaller, less powerful sensors wit lower resolutions and a more limited range. These smaller lower powered sets would also have the disadvantage of being easier to jam and disrupt, where as larger sets, due to having more power and more ability to use varied sensor bands, are more resistant to ECM. Larger ships can also afford to have more crew manning processing the incoming data on those sensor sets, giving them a better idea of whats going on. But what's going to dictate the upper limit depends on available infrastructure and tactical and strategic needs.

[@Smokedship]

Loved the boarding scene from the Expanse that you showed in the background in the beginning. The one where the SpecOps units board a ship using small personnel pods after firing a rail gun to take out the target ship’s drive and electrical systems.

[@duvetofreason16]

problem with Galactica was that Centurions went from unstoppable monsters, to dying regularly to ordinary bullets.

[@yellowprime8491]

Definitely a problem they could have avoided if they spent extra on props and sound fx to introduce heavy weapons. The visual of real-world 9mm carbines (Beretta storms) and FN 5.7mm Pistols killing centurion because of magic AP rounds just isn't satisfying. Props for anti-material rifles (a greebled up barret .50 or grenade launchers) and some deep base sound design would have so much better.

[@bohellan6227]

Agreed, but in my head canon, there are two models; the regular unarmored variant and then the "combat" variant, meant for boarding and war. I don't have a source, but it's the only way most of the Centurion deaths make any kind of sense.

[@duvetofreason16]

@yellowprime8491 tbh if the allied cylons were shown to give them better weapons, it might've made sense

[@foxale08]

@@bohellan6227 Correct, there are two versions. One being up armored.

[@kj_heichou]

Honestly one of my favourite boarding actions was in star wars the clone wars, where seperatist dropships filled with B-2 battle droids board the ship that's holding Newt Gunray. I personally really like the Seperatist way of boarding via these spire like dropships, that boar through the ships' hull and deploy the droid's. so instead of the enemy troops on the ship being able to just wait at the doors. they have to be deployed throughout the ship.

[@wh1t3stblackguy]

One that I loved was the Call of Duty Infinite Warfare mission where you rush the command deck in your fighter ship, then blow the windows with explosives, quickly neutralizing the bridge.

[@fdvjlke]

The halo reach long night of solace was pretty damned awesome. Break through a siege on the launch station, fly into orbit, take down attacking craft at the orbital dock, cover an allied frigate for the approach, then board and take control of the enemy for use as a suicide slip space bomb on the super carrier. Then finishing it off by falling back to the planet’s surface from orbit haha

[@positronicfeed]

How about Macross/Robotech, when SDF-1 punched a spaceship in the face with an assult carrier so the latter could have its complement of Valkyries and other craft let their entire arsenal of missiles loose right in the heart of the enemy vessel?

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

Battlestar once again comes out on top.

[@nexviper]

The decepticons boarding the autobot shuttle early in the 1986 movie is up there for me. Quick, brutal, great song and most importantly shows you they have seriously worked on their aim, these aren't the bumbling fools from the TV show.

[@PvtPartzz]

Can’t believe the pilot episode of ‘The Expanse’ didn’t get in there as one of the top boarding scenes. That first rail gun shot to punch through their holding cells… Gott daaayom that was intense.

[@patrickdusablon2789]

Some I particularly enjoy are the ones in David Weber's Honorverse when crippled ships that have surrendered are being boarded. Weber goes in detail about navigating ships that have been gutted by enemy fire, partially decompressed, corridors blocked by debris, the wounded and the dead laying where they are, survivors in shock, while the boarding parties are working a whole series of tasks ranging from securing command and engineering spaces, ensuring the crew stays surrendered, and search and rescue for the enemy crew that may be injured or trapped, because Space Geneva Convention. Another good one in literature is the taking of the infiltration ship in John Ringo's A March to the Stars. The good guys first think it's just some kind of freighter, but then realize they're up to their necks in an elite crew and special forces troops, and the ship gets savaged as they fight across it. And a third one that's really good, the boarding of a massive space station in The Hot Gates. Aliens are trying to board a space station via its missile and laser tubes, with some vicious close-quarter combat in those areas. A fourth, the last one here, is the boarding of Aachultani ships in David Weber's Empire from the Ashes. A truly brutal fight, against an enemy that just won't surrender because they've been conditioned not to.

[@JayVeeEss36]

Halo 2's opening mission is a masterclass in the use of the Reverse Uno card. Brings Bomb to Cairo Station. Plants Bomb in Fire control room. Bomb is used on your own Assault Carrier *confused Gru face* Edit: Spelling

[@cgi2002]

It's a cool mission but does come with a bit of a plot hole that has annoyed me for years, fortunately I manage to ignore it when playing. That same bomb took out a CSO super carrier, so you can easily say its yield was impressive. Detonating it on the outer hull of Cairo station would have killed it (atleast knocked out the MAC) meaning no need to get inside and take the station or even really board it at all. Just fly close, drop bomb on hull, fly away, detonate. Or if you must detonate it inside the station, just load it on a boarding ship and ram the hangar (or the gun itself).

[@JayVeeEss36]

@@cgi2002 a fair observation. As a side point I think the ship Chief blew up was not a CSO supercarrier (as in Reach's appallingly large Long Night of Solace) but a CAS supercarrier such as Shadow of Intent, but don't quote me on that. Perhaps the Covenant felt they had to get the bomb inside the station because local point defense and fighter craft may have interrupted any such action. The Home fleet was likely trying to box in the Covenant's fighters and bombers as a priority, allowing for the boarders to slip through with their surprise cargo. I don't know if that fixes the plot hole though!

[@cgi2002]

@@JayVeeEss36 your right, it was a CAS, the fleet had 2 of those and 13 CCS battlecruisers. Been a very long time since I played 2.

[@communizzy]

@@cgi2002you can see a primary then secondary explosion, so presumably the bomb caused a chain reaction in the ship’s reactor or central beam cannon.

[@cgi2002]

@@communizzy true, but if its capable of doing enough damage to cause a major system like a reactor to explode, then its powerful enough to cripple an ODP with an external explosion. The ODP's lacked the levels of protection you'd find in (specifically in, not on) a CAS, especially when you realise the bomb was not in direct contact with the CAS, but rather floating inside it and not near the reactor systems themselves (watching the visual it was in the centre of the ship, the reactors are in the rear section).

[@YoungerFuthark]

The 1st scene of Captain Harlock Space Pirate has the Arcadia sideswipe the victim ship to open it's innards for easy boarding by axe wielding armoured suits.

[@nailin18]

Today's episode of "The Bad Batch" (2x14) had a pretty great one, rescuing prisoners from an Imperial Gozanti Cruiser during the cold opening, good stuff.

[@artemistx2143]

A great boarding action I love is when Blue Team boards the Unyielding Hierophant, overloads it’s reactor, destroying a massive covenant fleet. For anyone wondering this comes from the book Halo: First Strike

[@justusbrinkmann5206]

That was a really good video. Thank you for doing it.

[@Brigand231]

Great video! Thanks for the shout-out in the opening too. :)

[@rachelblake2350]

The Halo 2 boarding action was what inspired me to start writing as a kid. Your videos were what inspired me to try my hand at sci-fi as an adult. So cheers, I guess?

[@UlookinMe]

Not the boarding the corvette during Halo Reach? It was fantastic!

[@smithskyes]

Great video and channel over the years. Content that I think you could have fun with is adapting “on war” or the “art of war” by taking one principle at a time and apply it to science fiction. The other interesting thought I had was talking about specific scenes from books. Example David Weber

[@johnirving5949]

David Weber's Honor Harrington "In Enemy Hands" has a reverse boarding action, a mass prisoner breakout that is utterly awesome.

[@pravusprime]

There are lots of great boarding sequences over the years, "Way of the Warrior" from DS9, a few on Stargate Atlantis, and that are mentioned either in the video or prominently in comments, but as soon as I saw the title, my first thought was the attack on the Autobot shuttle in the 1986 Transformers the Movie. The shuttle on it's way to pick up energy to power a new offensive to try to take back Cybertron from the Decepticons is instead intercepted, the crew aboard killed, and then the Decepticons planned to just land in Autobot city on Earth and take them all out in total surprise. If a little kid didn't want to see the shuttle land and saw a hole in the shuttle with the viewer at the observation point, that boarding action would've ended the war in one swoop. As it was, it gave enough of an advantage to be extremely costly and set up the events of the rest of the movie.

[@Zmok]

I didn't expect Flash Gordon here. I'm pleased by the variety of sources you use.

[@kingsix2000]

The boarding of the prison ship in The Mandalorian season 1 was great.

[@TheyCalledMeT]

galactica truly is a masterpiece on so many levels, it's one of the most impressive scifi productions i've ever seen

[@mini_bunney]

so say we all!

[@bm8985]

I liked the separatist boarding actions in the clone wars. Just injecting droids into the ship to cause mayhem, even if they weren't lethal to the ship it distracted the crew. Also the terror troopers in the force unleashed two. Oh, Star Trek Into darkness had that great improvised boarding with Khan and Kirk.

[@connorhalleck2895]

I'm sad to see missing the first scene of the original Star Wars! Star Wars is full of great boarding actions

[@MichaelRainey]

The boarding action in Moonraker was another early inspiration.

[@mroxion8271]

I thought you were going to mention the Thoth Station boarding scene from season 2 of The Expanse. I think that played a pretty significant role in the episode granted it was a little anti-climactic once they got on the station.

[@spartan001zadkiel]

Excellent list!

[@RJ_Ehlert]

Great episode.

[@rcso2010]

The the boarding fight in Ice Pirates is a great parody with ingenious moments.

[@chriswriter9087]

7 months late reply but Space Battleship Yamato / Starblazers has a whole bunch of boarding actions both in the classic and reboot series. The one that stands out most to me is in the penultimate episode of 2199. Dessler has entrapped Yamato and his robots break in through the hanger and start going room to room, even killing a few secondary named characters. The robots take the engine room, nearly dooming the whole ship before the science team manage to hack and remotely disable the robots.

[@daviddrake4715]

Battlestar Galactica jumping into NEW Caprica should be another honorable mention. As for a proper boarding action the Magog swarm ships from Andromeda TV series, similar to Covenant Tic ships but watching them pierce into Andromeda like a mosquito or a wasp is something to see

[@gregmchurch]

Some good concepts in Andromeda. Yes the Magog swarm ships.

[@philrm99]

Awesome list

[@frankharr9466]

That was a good episode, man.

[@TastySanchez]

Good call on battlestar for number 1. That episode was awesome.

[@MBKill3rCat]

That scene from BSG definitely deserved the number one slot. Honestly my favourite sci-fi show there ever was.

[@Shimazusama]

Destiny 1 The Taken King had your boarding following the Cabal's efforts to board Oryx's ship. Very cool setting.

[@mahmoodmiah1700]

While it's not a boarding action on a space station or starship, you would probably greatly appreciate the Carrington Institute invasion from the original Perfect Dark for the same reasons why you liked the Mass Effect 3 Normandy recapture.

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

Oh it is fantastic.

[@devastater97]

Starting to see Spacedock use more Mobile Suit Gundam footage. Getting my hopes up for some Universal Century coverage. Them doing a breakdown of a MS-06 Zaku II would make my day.