Standardized Space Views

A spinning planet, a launching rocket, and an orbiting space station^{Top to bottom} Winx Club, La oreja de Van Gogh, and Gravity

"Cambot, give me Rocket #9!"

— Mystery Science Theater 3000

There exist some camera shots that quickly tell the audience that the current setting is the space and that they should be properly awed by it:

1. A shot of a satellite orbiting the earth, with varying degrees of realism, often with a blinking light accompanied by a synchronized beep.
2. A shot of a shuttle or other spacegoing vessel (starship, shuttlecraft, shuttlepod, space station) with audible engine sounds, which are almost always a low, almost subliminal rumble.
3. A shot of the planet spinning.
4. Shots of approaching spaceships will almost always be from slightly below, as this makes for better composition. By the same token, departing spaceships will be shot from slightly above.

There is almost never a shot of just the stars, unless it stems from—or goes to—a shot of somebody looking up at said stars from the ground or a spaceship window.

Expect to see these shots a lot. Often the effects crew would make a variety of standardized shots at the beginning of production and composite in the planet-of-the-week to save costs.

Sub-Trope of Establishing Shot. Compare Distant Reaction Shot, when an event is so massive that it can be seen from far away and the characters respond by doing a take. If the rotating planet it's our Earth, then a Hemisphere Bias is quite likely. Sister Trope of Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot —when this is done to show off cool spacecraft.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Ginga Teikoku Kouboushi: The first pages are comprised of various Establishing Shots of spaceships approaching Trantor.

Arts

• The Planet Venus: In what has to be the Ur-Example, this painting has a half-crescent moon framing the figure of the Greco-Roman goddess Venus. It counts because the moon is shown as a sphere, its waxing appearance being accomplished with the lighting. As if it was painted mid-rotation. It's also a case of Unbuilt Trope, to boot, because it's meant to highlight the connection between mythology and astronomy, not show the state of humanity's cosmological exploration.
• Space Fantasy Commemorative Stamp Booklet: Since its purpose is to celebrate the Sci-Fi genre, most of the stamps display a range of stellar objects. There are artificial satellites, colorful planets, stars, a Retro Rocket, and a Mile-Long Ship.

Literature

• Artemis Fowl: The graphic novel first begins with an orbital shot of the planet alongside an introduction from Artemis.

Live-Action TV

• The Expanse: Locations beyond Earth tend to get this kind of scenery as their Establishing Shots. For example, when Ceres Station is introduced, the camera shows several ships in orbit.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Parodied whenever the host wants to show the audience what's happening outside the ship. It doesn't matter what is it, the host will always request a shot of the same gray Standard Human Spaceship.
  Host: Cambot, give me Rocket #9!
• NewsRadio: One Formula-Breaking Episode is set in space, so its Special Edition Title predictably features replaces the panoramic shots of New York City with shots of the cosmos acquired from NASA.

Music

• La oreja de Van Gogh: "Europa VII" has a doomed astronaut as a protagonist. As she ponders over religion, politics, and philosophy, there are times when she peeks at the slowly-moving spacescape. The camera also pans to show a rocket-like spacecraft launching from a rocky planet and then flying through the stars.

Video Games

• ANNO: Mutationem: The opening starts with a satellite's orbital view of Earth while having several missiles guided towards it target.

• SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative: Each stage has a background oriented in a way that you always see the Earth, the Moon, and/or asteroids at different angles that scroll past the screen. There is no shot of just the stars.
• Super Adventure Rockman begins with a satellite in space getting directed towards the island where the ruins emerge.

Western Animation

• Winx Club:
  • "Mission to Domino" shows a shot of the frozen, devastated planet of Domino before the girls land on its surface.
  • "Battle on Planet Eraklyon": Bloom, Flora, and Brandon go to Sky's planet to help rescue Princess Diaspro. They travel in one of Red Fountain's Owls and the camera peeks through the ship's windows or pans to the space. When they are about to land, there's a shot of Eraklyon from afar.
  • In the third season, the other girls' home planets are introduced this way whenever they travel there by spaceship. Typically, an Owl will be approaching the planet's surface —the golden Solaria in "The Princess Ball", the aquatic Andros in "Sea of Fear" and "One Last Fluttering of Wings", and the nature-bound Lynphea in "The Black Willow's Tears". The inhospitable Omega Dimension is also presented this way in "The Princess Ball" and "In the Snake's Lair".
  • The fourth season's Title Sequence opens with a shot of a slowly rotating Earth (the American continent, to be specific). Then, the Winx fly right to where Gardenia is roughly located (the U.S.) while in their fairy forms. This is partially reclycled in "The Last Fairy of Earth", the episode where they move to that planet.

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