History Main / EpicLaunchSequence

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': Throughout the game, you're told that the ''Comet Observatory'' requires Grand Stars to be able to return to full power and travel through the stars again. Naturally, many players were initially confused as to how something that looks like a space station can achieve intergalactic travel, only to realize that said craft had "comet" in it's name [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACoxKsD9Gfg for a reason]].
* ''VideoGame/WarioWareDIY'': At the start of Orbulon's chapter, the liftoff of a rocket is being broadcasted by Diamond News; but just as the count for the blastoff approaches zero, Orbulon's ship is struck by a lightning and falls onto the rocket's tip, getting atuck on it. The rocket is then shown launching skyward, and the incoming microgames have to be won so the rocket's pieces remain together and the interplanetary vehicle keeps going up.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': Throughout the game, you're told that the ''Comet Observatory'' requires Grand Stars to be able to return to full power and travel through the stars again. Naturally, many players were initially confused as to how something that looks like a space station can achieve intergalactic travel, only to realize that said craft had "comet" in it's name [[https://youtu.be/1OjU3zu-8WA?si=7ntRa9U44wQufCm4 for a reason]].

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': Throughout the game, you're told that the ''Comet Observatory'' requires Grand Stars to be able to return to full power and travel through the stars again. Naturally, many players were initially confused as to how something that looks like a space station can achieve intergalactic travel, only to realize that said craft had "comet" in it's name [[https://youtu.be/cjHYPR2Pb1k?t=15 for a reason]].

** Plus, it really IS awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgT9-oMXgCU (better link needed?)

Some vessels are of such sheer magnitude -- be it physically, technologically, or historically -- that the act of embarking on their maiden voyage becomes a spectacle in and of itself, a dramatic and memorable event to match the scale of the ship itself. Thus you have the Epic Launch Sequence.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''

** At one point during the game's pre-''Odyssey'' days, ''Orbis''-class station ''Jacques Station'' managed to become the first station to mount a booster pod[[note]]a temporary [=engine/FSD=] module normally only used to move a station to its final position during construction[[/note]] post-completion, sparking an entire in-game event where the station's owner and namesake tasked players from across the galaxy to deliver enough fuel for him to make a mammoth jump to ''Beagle Point'' of all places. Unfortunately subverted, however, as not only did game limitations mean you couldn't physically see the station leave (it was simply "scooted" during some scheduled downtime), but the aging station couldn't make the entire jump, and had to make an emergency drop partway, which damaged the station to the point that it couldn't risk another jump.

* Before that, ''Series/{{Stingray}}'' had the launch of the eponymous super-sub show the way. Starting with the descent of the heroes on their seats down poles into Stingray (accompanied by catchy drumbeats), it continued with the submarine submerging and commencing a 10-mile trip along a narrow tunnel (WASP HQ is a naval base, so naturally it's located 10 miles inland for security reasons), ultimately emerging from the Ocean Door into the Pacific. Like most Anderson launches, it was rarely seen in full after the pilot episode; most times, all that was seen was Stingray coming out of the Ocean Door.

* 'VideoGame/EliteDangerous'':
** While there's not much in terms of visuals during the "setup" phases of a fleet carrier's jump sequence, the actual jump is truly a sight to behold, as a bright flash in front of the ship gives way to an ominous black void, at which point you see the ship advance toward and ''into'' this void, vanishing entirely in less time than it takes for a smaller ship to go through its entire jump sequence. The update that added concourses to carriers made it even better, as now players that are aboard at the time of the jump can ''watch'' the jump from the observation deck instead of just hearing it from within the enclosed hangar bay.
** Unfortunately, game limitations meant you couldn't physically see the station leave, it was simply "scooted" during some scheduled downtime, but according to the lore, ''Jacques Station'' managed to become the first ''mobile'' station, sparking an entire in-game event where the station's owner and namesake tasked players from across the galaxy to deliver enough tritium for him to make the mammoth jump. However, an error in the jump sequence meant that the station not only showed up in a different system partway to its intended one, but the ordeal dealt enough damage to the station that Jacques decided to settle down where he wound up instead of risking destroying the station with another jump.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The quest "Come Fly With Me" has [[PlayerCharacter the Courier]] helping a cult of ghouls bring some pre-war rockets to working order so they can reach their promised land in "the Far Beyond". Once the rockets are up and ready and the ghouls are aboard, they give you the honour of launching them. The original engineers of the facility were clearly going for this trope, as "Ride of the Valkyries" starts playing the moment you flip the switch.

* Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen: A small one that's easy to miss, but near the end of the film, when Nemo orders the ''Nautilus'' to go ahead full, the [[MileLongShip massive]] "Sword of the Sea" goes from a dead-stop to a speed fast enough for hydroplaning to push the bow out of the water within about two seconds.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo'': Much like [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} the original]], ''Thunderbirds Are Go'' is likewise filled with it's fair share of launches. And while most of them are largely reproduced ([=TB1=] still comes out of the pool, for example), the one sequence that was completely changed is Thunderbird 4's "island" launch, first seen in ''SOS Part 2'' ([=S3E13=]): Instead of just taxiing(!?) out of it's module and driving off the end of Thunderbird 2's runway, it instead gets a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SubYfKe1D4 proper sub-aqua launch sequence]] worthy of this trope.

* ''Series/TheOrville'', being an AffectionateParody of Star Trek, has a [[SincerityMode genuinely majestic]] [[https://youtu.be/L88mezGZJBc departure from the dockyard]] in the first episode.

* Music/{{Rush}}'s song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW_ru5P2zNI Countdown]]" is about one of these.
* Music/{{The Moody Blues}} song "Higher and Higher" begins with what can only be described as a musical representation of a rocket launch. There's even a sequence in which one stage drops away and a second one takes over.

* Considering how far our space program has gotten compared to [[VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram our fictional counterparts]], rocket launches in general can be seen as this, as most designs require complex logistical challenges just to get them off the ground. Not to mention that, unlike KSP, most rockets don't have enough thrust to send them soaring into the air in the first second, it takes at least 3-5 just to overcome it's own momentum. Plus, if a rocket fails, you can't just [[SaveScumming revert back to the launch pad and try again]], you've got to start over from scratch.

** Even better? ''None of that was faked!'' The movie showed the actual ''Missouri'' being properly activated by real Navy vets, some of which were actual ''Missouri'' crewmembers during her active service.

** Even better? ''None of that was faked!'' The movie showed the actual ''Missouri'' being properly activated by real Navy vets, some of which played themselves.

* Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen: A small one that's easy to miss, but near the end of the film, when Nemo orders the ''Nautilus'' to go ahead full, the "Sword of the Sea" goes from a dead-stop to a speed fast enough for hydroplaning to push the bow out of the water within about two seconds.

No matter the specifics, this trope generally serves to indicate that the vessel in question will be important, possibly even central, to a story's plot. It may be the primary setting of a movie or TV series, or the player's personal vessel in a game. It may be the villain's sinister flagship announcing an escalation of the conflict. Either way, it's important enough that the creative team comes together and gives it their all-- the effects teams and the composers really flex their fingers to show it off and leave you in no doubt of its glory.

** Even better? ''None of that was faked!'' The movie showed the actual ''Missouri'' being properly activated by real Navy vets.

* The 1929 German silent film ''Film/WomanInTheMoon'' invented the idea of having a countdown before launching a rocket, in order to increase the drama of the launch. The moment where a giant three-stage rocket is assembled in a cavernous building, then trundled to the launch pad by means of a huge transport platform down a dual-tracked road has uncanny similarities to the Apollo program three decades later. It's then lowered into a large pool of water from which it launches with [[SpinningClockHands close-ups of dials]] and [[LudicrousSpeed straining facial expressions]] to protray the crushing pressures of acceleration that would become obligatory tropes of sci-fi movies in the 1950's and 60's.

* The 1929 German silent film ''Film/WomanInTheMoon'' invented the idea of having a countdown before launching a rocket, in order to increase the drama of the launch. The moment where a giant three-stage rocket is assembled in a cavernous building, then trundled to the launch pad by means of a huge transport platform down a dual-tracked road has uncanny similarities to the Apollo program three decades later. It's then lowered into a large pool of water from which it launches.