History Film / Moon

* BittersweetEnding: Sam 1 dies at the end of the film while watching Sam 2 escape back to Earth. The ending voice over implies the evil scheme is revealed, but even if the clones do end up gaining some measure of freedom, they only have three years to live.

--> '''Sam #1 (On Sam #2)''': He's really angry. He actually kind of scares me.\\
'''GERTY''': What is it about Sam that scares you?\\
'''Sam #1''': How he flies off the handle! I can see it now. I see what Tess was talking about.

--> '''Sam #2:''' I've got a temper. I need to do something about it.\\

** Being "[[TheBigSleep put to sleep]]" for the return ride home.

%%* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Futurology, level 5.5.

** The use of "I Am the One and Only" as his alarm is pretty sick, too. At first it was ironic because he is literally alone on the station, but it later becomes even more ironic.

* NotSoDifferent: Sam comes to realise that he and GERTY are more similar than he first assumed.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy:

* SpoilerCover: Cleverly done with the tagline of the poster, as Sam ''is'' HisOwnWorstEnemy - but that's because of CloningBlues, not isolation.

* SpoilerCover: Cleverly done with the tagline of the poster, as Sam ''is'' his OwnWorstEnemy - but that's because of CloningBlues, not isolation.

The first feature film directed by Creator/DuncanJones (Music/DavidBowie's [[NeverLiveItDown son]]), ''Moon'' was shown at the 2009 Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals.

* {{Homage}}: According to creator Duncan Jones, he deliberately tried to recreate the look, style, and feel of classic sci-fi films such as ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]'', ''Film/SilentRunning'', ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Jones' childhood favorite ''Film/{{Outland}}'', taking its RaceAgainstTheClock stake.

* {{Homage}}: According to creator Duncan Jones, he deliberately tried to recreate the look, style, and feel of classic sci-fi films such as ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]'', ''Film/SilentRunning'', ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and early 80's sci-fi films ''Film/{{Outland}}'', ''Film/BladeRunner'', and ''[[Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact 2010]]''.
** The RaceAgainstTheClock is an outright ShoutOut to ''Outland''.
* HumanPopsicle: This is what the "Return Vehicle" is ''supposed'' to be.

** The base has readouts for four harvesters. [[Literature/TheBible Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John]], Matthew, which is broken-down during the entire film, has been crossed-out and "Judas" written-in.

Jones has stated that he hopes that he will able to develop a full trilogy of films set in the ''Moon'' universe, and development on a sequel called ''Mute'' is already underway. Jones has stated that other than being set in the same universe ''Mute'' will share no direct connections to ''Moon'', and is going to be somewhat inspired by ''Film/BladeRunner''.

** An early version of the film poster (such as the one on this page) carries the tagline "950,000 miles from home, the hardest thing to face... [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil is yourself]]". The moon's distance from Earth varies between about 226,000 and 253,000 miles over the course of its orbit. Later posters fixed the distance to 250,000 miles, and given this fact it might have been a simple TyopOnTheCover.

* CellPhonesAreUseless: Staged satellite failure and the fact that Sam's stationed on the far side of the moon prevents real-time contact with Earth.

* CloneDegeneration: Each clone breaks down after three years. The DVD commentary states Lunar Industries figured three years was the longest they could expect someone to "want" to work on an isolated moon base, so they designed the clones to last just that long. It leads to use of BloodFromTheMouth and ImColdSoCold.

* DefaceOfTheMoon: We see more than one shot of the tracks the harvesters are leaving behind. They're on the far side of the moon to avoid visibly defacing the moon from an Earthbound perspective, and to avoid confusing wildlife.
* DiscoveringYourOwnDeadBody: Inverted when the older clone agrees to die in the harvester so the newer Sam can escape to Earth in the transport while the newly activated clone stays at the base.

* DyingAlone: Alone, and isolated on the far side of the moon, and with the knowledge that your entire "life" is a sham. Ouch.

** The base has readouts for four harvesters. [[Literature/TheBible Matt, Mark, Luke, and John]], Luke, which is broken-down during the entire film, has been crossed-out and "Judas" written-in.

* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: Lunar Industry Ltd. is the biggest supplier of clean helium-3 energy to 70% of the world. They even name their main base on the moon Sarang, Korean for "love".

** They're harvesting on the far side of the moon to avoid changing the reflectivity of the Earth-facing side, which might mess up nocturnal wildlife on Earth.

** Earth is visible when Sam makes his video-phone call to Earth because he had to drive the harvester around the curve of the moon to get line-of-sight for radio.
* SpaceIsNoisy: Mostly averted. Wide exterior shots on the moon are mostly silent. We do hear some noises in close-ups — the engine noise of the rovers, rocks falling in the wake of the harvesters, hatches opening, and so on — but this could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that they have the POV of a human in a pressurized compartment.

* StealthPun: Sam is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_Moon man in the moon]].

* TearsFromAStone: Sort of. After GERTY tells Sam the truth, his avatar becomes a sad face, and then sheds a few crudely animated tears. Important in that it's the first sign that GERTY genuinely cares about Sam.

** Sam used to be quite aggressive, but his three-year solitary stint on the moon made him a milder person. The newly awakened Sam 2 shows exactly how prone to anger Sam 1 used to be.
** Sam 2 himself grows nicer as the film progresses; by the end, he's willing to stay on the moon to give Sam 1 a chance to escape to Earth and never once considers taking the storage pod for himself until Sam 1 suggests it.

** The use of "I Am the One and Only" as his alarm is pretty sick too. At first it was ironic because he is literally alone on the station, but it later becomes even more ironic.

* RobotBuddy: GERTY plays the trope to somewhat creepy effect with his monotonous voice and suspiciously placating demeanor, but in the end he really ''is'' just there to help Sam.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Mostly averted. Wide exterior shots on the moon are mostly silent. We do hear some noises in close-ups -- the engine noise of the rovers, rocks falling in the wake of the harvesters, hatches opening, and so on -- but this could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that they have the POV of a human in a pressurized compartment.
* SpaceIsolationHorror: The protagonist is stuck on the far side of the Moon all by himself, with very little communication with the world and the claustrophobia starting to drive him loopy... this is before finding out just how horrifying the CorruptCorporateExecutive cabal he works for truly is (without going into spoilers, suffice to say he's more expendable that he expected to be.)

* StrawManPolitical: The radio TalkShow host at the end is implied to be the conservative version. The final line of the movie is, "You know what, he's one of two things. He's a wacko or an illegal immigrant -- and either way, they need to lock him up. Line two!"
* SwissCheeseSecurity: For the story to unfold, the [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated evilcorp]] aiming to capitalize on clone slave labour has to [[IdiotBall ignore several glaring security holes]]. The worst of these is the misbehaving (to their standards) AI. Others include inadequate isolation of the workforce from restricted areas, inadequate isolation of communication channels, inadequate surveillance measures, etc.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Not quite, but Sam is very nearly spaced when the rover crashes and is depressurized. Luckily he gets his helmet on in time.

** Being "put to sleep" for the return ride home.

Jones has stated that he hopes that he will able to develop a full trilogy of films set in the ''Moon'' universe, and development on a sequel called ''Mute'' is already under way. Jones has stated that other than being set in the same universe ''Mute'' will share no direct connections to ''Moon'', and is going to be somewhat inspired by ''Film/BladeRunner''.

* BittersweetEnding: Sam 1 dies at the end of the film, while watching Sam 2 escape back to Earth. The ending voice over implies the evil scheme is revealed, but even if the clones do end up gaining some measure of freedom, they only have three years to live.

* FingerTwitchingRevival: The first sign of Sam 3 awaking from stasis is the twitching of the fingers of his right hand.

* PeaceAndLoveIncorporated: Lunar Industry Ltd.'s the biggest supplier of clean helium-3 energy to 70% of the world. They even name their main base on the moon Sarang, Korean for "love".

** The computer-generated dust and debris from the harvesters is likewise animated to reflect the lower gravity and lack of atmosphere.

* StockFootage: The "commercial" for Lunar Industries at the start of the film contains mostly stock footage, because the indie film production couldn't afford anything else.

* SwissCheeseSecurity: For the story to unfold, the [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated evilcorp]] aiming to capitalize on clone slave labour has to [[IdiotBall ignore several glaring security holes]]. The worst of these is the misbehaving (to their standards) AI. Others include inadequate isolation of workforce from restricted areas, inadequate isolation of communication channels, inadequate surveillance measures, etc.

* YouDidntAsk: Implied with GERTY. For example, GERTY never even hints Sam is a clone, until Sam actually ''asks'' him point blank if he's a clone or not. Even then, the first time a Sam asks the question, GERTY responds by changing the subject.

Jones has started that he hopes that he will able to develop a full trilogy of films set in the ''Moon'' universe, and development on a sequel called ''Mute'' is already under way. Jones have stated that other than being set in the same universe ''Mute'' will share no direct connections to ''Moon'', and is going to be somewhat inspired by ''Film/BladeRunner''.

* SpaceIsolationHorror: The protagonist is stuck on the far side of the Moon all by himself, with very little communication with the world and the claustrophobia starting to drive him loopy... this is before finding out just how horrifying the CorruptCorporateExecutive cabal he works for truly is (without going into spoilers, suffice to say he's more expendable that he expected to be).

* MirrorMatch: Sam 1 and Sam 2 brawl several times. The effect is ... unsettling.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the first scene, Sam is wearing a shirt that says "Wake me when it's quitting time."; later on he comments on talking to himself.

[[quoteright:297:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Moonposter.jpg]]

!!'''''MAJOR SPOILERS follow'''''. As the film depends heavily on twists and [[TheReveal reveals]] for its impact, [[Administrivia/HandlingSpoilers spoilers are unavoidable]]. If you want to keep your surprise, watch the film first, then come back here. And don't click any of the icons on the top of the page. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* BrainUploading: Sort of. Sam has "memory implants"; "Uploaded, edited memories of the original Sam Bell." We're not sure what or what doesn't get uploaded though.

* NotSoDifferent: Sam comes to realise that he and Gerty are more similar than he first assumed.
-->'''Sam:''' Gerty, we're not programs. We're people. Understand?

* SpaceIsolationHorror: The protagonist is stuck on the dark side of the Moon all by himself, with very little communication with the world and the claustrophobia starting to drive him loopy... this is before finding out just how horrifying the CorruptCorporateExecutive cabal he works for truly is (without going into spoilers, suffice to say he's more expendable that he expected to be).

** Sam 2 himself grows nicer as the film progresses; by the end, he's willing to die to give Sam 1 a chance to escape to Earth.

* TookALevelInKindness: Sam used to be quite aggressive, but his three-year solitary stint on the moon made him a milder person. The newly awakened Sam 2 shows exactly how prone to anger Sam 1 used to be.

** Particularly worthy of mention is one scene in which the Sams play Ping Pong with each other, in one long locked-off side-on shot of the table. This is a throwback to the style of shot used in earlier DoubleVision movies, in which double exposures put two instances of the same actor on screen at once, but confine them to their own respective halves of the screen. However, the Sams' Ping Pong game subverts audience expectations by having each clone cross into the other's half of the screen over the course of the shot.