10 Greatest Opening Scenes In Sci-Fi Movie History

How do you convince an entire galaxy to fall in love with the idea of Rebellions fighting against villainous Empires within just a couple of minutes? By giving those same folks watching 1977's Star Wars a Dark Lord of the Sith-shaped reason to sit up in their seats, that's how.

But before a certain half machine, half man fallen Jedi even showed up in the galaxy far, far away for the first time, everything from John Williams' magical Star Wars (Main Theme) playing out as the crawl dropped, to a never-ending Star Destroyer floating across the stars had already convinced viewers their lives were never going to be the same again.

Then, it happened.

After doing all they could to keep their ship from being taken over by Imperial forces, those Rebels gunned down by many a stormtrooper were soon joined by the menacing force known as Darth Vader.

The powerful brass. That badass suit. The first few mechanical breaths.

And with just one terrific, Vader-boasting opening scene, an entire generation and countless more were all in on this fantasy, sci-fi space opera.