Something I've never seen a sci-fi series do

[Sci-fi fan]

In a Buffy episode of season 4 (the 10th),

Spoiler

the entire town is muted because of a spell. As a result, as large part of the episode is only classical music, ambient sounds and slight whispers.

It was beautiful.
I wonder if anyone has seen something similar.
I'm surprised I haven't seen it on Star Trek.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Yes, Hush is one of the best episodes of the series.

But Buffy isn't really science fiction. It's fantasy. Which is probably why you haven't seen it on Star Trek.

I could be wrong though. I'm just throwing in my two cents.

 

[Gaith]

As I recall, the first fifteen minutes or so of ENT's "Aquisition" are mostly silent.

The 2015 movie The Tribe is composed of exclusively unsubtitled Ukranian sign language. According to The AV Club's A.A. Dowd, it's "never entirely clear—at least to those, again, who don’t sign—whether the film is depicting a school for the deaf or an entire town, maybe even an alternate world, where no can hear. (Everyone the students encounter, from the truckers to doctors to strangers on the street, communicate through non-vocal means.)"

And the Aardman Animations Shaun the Sheep TV series and movie does feature some human dialogue, but it's unintelligible gibberish.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I think one of the episodes of The Prisoner was like this. There's the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders with Agnes Moorehead that doesn't have dialogue.

EDIT: Found this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoDialogueEpisode
Looks like Space Above and Beyond did it too.

 

[Greg Cox]

[QUOTE="Mr. Adventure, post: 11901368, member: 615" There's the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders with Agnes Moorehead that doesn't have dialogue..[/QUOTE]

Written by Richard Matheson, btw. And, yep, there's no dialogue until the last few minutes of the episode--when the twist is revealed.

 

[bigdaddy]

As I recall, the first fifteen minutes or so of ENT's "Aquisition" are mostly silent.

And the Aardman Animations Shaun the Sheep TV series and movie does feature some human dialogue, but it's unintelligible gibberish.

The only way Enterprise is watchable if none of that 'cast' talks.

I LOVE Shaun f the Sheep! It's on Amazon Prime in the USA.

 

[B.J.]

Reminds me of the entire beginning and end of "2001: A Space Odyssey".

 

[Non Sync]

While not completely silent, I seem to remember The Empath episode of the original series had some sections where there wasn't any dialogue as a character was mute.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Reminds me of the entire beginning and end of "2001: A Space Odyssey".

As a coincidence, yesterday I listened to Alex North's unfinished score for 2001. (The mid-90s Jerry Goldsmith recording.) I feel at times that Kubrick erred with his classic music temp track score; North could carry motifs throughout the score that the pre-written classical music lacked.

 

[Set Harth]

I wonder if anyone has seen something similar.

Yeah, every time I go to the movies.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Didn't Eureka do something like this? I'm remembering an episode where there was something similar done. The beauty with the show's concept was that they could do a lot of experiments and it wouldn't feel out of place.

 

[Harvey]

Not science fiction, but the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl did an episode without any spoken dialogue (called, functionally enough, "The One Without Dialogue"). Like The Twilight Zone's "Once Upon a Time," it was a riff on silent movies.

 

[tharpdevenport]

It was orchestral music, not classical music in that BtVS episode. Christophe Beck did a wonderful job.

While a combo of science fiction and fantisy and not straight science fiction, "Samurai Jack" had episodes with little to no dialogue, where the music and visuals carried the episode. The season four premiere is a good example -- next to no dialogue, and showdown at the end is entirely without dialogue as well and artsy.

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One of my favorite scenes in an otherwise okay episode is lead up to by Jack entering a tavern where a blousterous samurai who mouths off and threatens people, starts harrasing Jack. The guy just yacks and yacks until three assassins sent by Aku enter. Just when it seems it's about to be full of action and sound effects, it goes into a slow motion artsy battle style with the music leading the way:

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[JD]

I just watched the third episode of Samurai Jack and that one also only had a little bit of dialogue at the beginning and end, with most of it an extended action scene with just music and sound effects.

 

[Nerys Myk]

[QUOTE="Mr. Adventure, post: 11901368, member: 615" There's the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders with Agnes Moorehead that doesn't have dialogue..

Written by Richard Matheson, btw. And, yep, there's no dialogue until the last few minutes of the episode--when the twist is revealed.[/QUOTE]
Didn't the Twilight Zone episode "Two" have minimal dialog?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Didn't the Twilight Zone episode "Two" have minimal dialog?

Is that the one with Charles Bronson? You may be right but it's been a long time since I've seen it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Is that the one with Charles Bronson? You may be right but it's been a long time since I've seen it.

And Elizabeth Montgomery.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've seen some art movies with no dialog but nothing mainstream. Nothing else where everybody is magically silenced.

I assume we're not counting silent films.

Buffy was a show that knew how to be expressive without just leaning on exposition. I also liked the way the moment they couldn't talk together they immediately started making out.

 

[Tosk]

It was orchestral music, not classical music in that BtVS episode. Christophe Beck did a wonderful job.

I didn't want to be the one to say it.

 

[I am not Spock]

I think there's only one word of dialogue in that Twilight Zone episode 'Two' , from Elizabeth Montgomery (pre Bewitched). The Invaders is great, too.

And yes, 'Hush' is wonderful television. One of the best of Buffy