The moment that sold you?

[Lonemagpie]

Buffy - School Hard, with Spike, especially when he roasts "the Annoying one".

Stargate SG1 - the third season premiere with Hathor - I caught a rerun of the season 2 finale, which was a clip show with a cliffhanger, and then this episode *so* turned it around into an action show!

 

[Admiral2]

Battlestar Galactica (2003): The skiffy channel special when Katee Sackoff introduced herself: "Hi, I'm Katee Sackoff. I play Starbuck...deal with it."

Battlestar Galactica (1978): The opening scene, which showed the Colonial Fleet: five huge-ass dragon-lookin' spaceships. I was hooked.

The X-Files: On the way to their first case, Mulder stops the car on the road for no apparent reason and spray paints a big "X" on it.

24: "My name is Jack Bauer, and today is the worst day of my life."

 

[Admiral_Young]

"Firefly"--"The Train Job" pretty much all of it.

"Community" the season one finale, but the final scene. Not gonna spoil it for those who haven't seen the show or don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Kirkman1987]

Life on Mars - When Sam woke up in 1973.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Dexter: By 4:38 in this sequence, I was hooked:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPORpnPPnDY[/yt]

 

[the G-man]

Cosby: the first episode, when Theo makes the "can't you love me as I am speech,"

Spoiler: Cosby

Bill stops, the audience awwws (waiting for the typical 80s sitcom hug moment) and, instead of the hug, Bill says "son... that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard..."

the Simpsons: In the "Bart the General," episode when, instead of the usual "how to handle a bully" lesson, we see

Spoiler: Simpsons

Grandpa Simpson and the crazy gun shop owner training the kids to beat the crap out of Nelson

.

Seinfeld: The limo episode when the two must Jewish acting men on TV at the time

Spoiler: Seinfeld

had to pretend to be the leader of a neo-Nazi movement and his IRA sidekick...and George starts considering whether to hit on the "cute Nazi."

the Shield: the final scene of the first ep when,

Spoiler: the Shield

after you were set up to think that the show was about Terry Crowley infilitrating and taking down the strike team, Vic shot him point blank in the face and killed him

.

 

[Satyrquaze]

In the new Doctor Who series the entire episode "Dalek".

 

[Mysterion]

The last scenes of the pilot episode of The West Wing when President Bartlet makes his entrance for the first time and sets the staff back on track. Sheen immediately gives his character an undeniable presence that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

 

[shivkala]

In the new Doctor Who series the entire episode "Dalek".

After hearing about the new series on this board, I, an American back before Sci-Fi picked it up, *ahem* found an alternative means of watching it. When the Doctor meets Rose, I was all but sold:

The Doctor: I'm The Doctor, by the way. What's your name?
Rose: Rose.
The Doctor: Nice to meet you, Rose. [holds up the bomb, shaking it slightly while grinning.] Run for your life!

But, the Doctor's speech later on got me the rest of the way to being sold:

Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? [walks towards Rose] It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. [looks at Rose] I can feel it. [takes Rose's hand] The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... [lets go of Rose's hand] That's who I am.

I immediately watched "The End of the World," had trouble with my alternative means, but once it hit Sci-Fi, well, I've been watching it religiously ever since.

 

[23skidoo]

Doctor Who: for me it was watching "Revenge of the Cybermen" during a daylong marathon with a friend back in high school, and hearing the Doctor cry out "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!" You had to be there, but it made me a fan. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGdxMJ1H_Mo)

Well, that and encountering a photo of Nicola Bryant in a bikini, though in the mid-1980s I ended up having to wait years before I ever saw her as Peri in the Colin Baker era...

The Prisoner: the first "Be seeing you" in Arrival after the taxi girl gives Number 6 a rather bizarre tour of the Village.

Deadwood: I can't remember the exact episode. I'd heard of Deadwood and happened to tune in in the middle of an episode in which Ian McShane's Al Swearingen was doing his name proud and swearing up a storm and I realized that ignore the curse words and the dialogue felt and sounded like Shakespeare.

Twin Peaks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN7k-KjE8wI


Alex

 

[Gil T.Azell]

24 when Naked Mandy blows the door off the 747, then blows up the plane, parachutes down.

 

[Brikar99]

"30 Rock" - I forget what episode it was in, but at one point Alec Baldwin says something like, "I'm sure you know Arsenio?" Tracy replies, "Hall or Bellingham?"Baldwin, incredulous, says, "You know someone named Arsenio Bellingham?"

After that, I couldn't stop laughing.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Star Wars (Episode IV). I was sitting in a row near the front and saw a giant space ship pass over my head. I though to myself, "This is going to br cool."

Ya beat me to it.

In the new Doctor Who series the entire episode "Dalek".

This episode was incredible.

To these I gotta add

ding dong ding dong
"Space: the final frontier "
Sw-Swish!
​

 

[Mike Ram]

I had watched Batman (1989) as a kid multiple times, but didn't see Superman until after high school. The opening credits sold me on it - the comic book panel transitions into "reality," the camera drifts up past the moon, the first credit appears and opens the curtains...then blasts right at you! I knew I was in for something epic.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I had watched Batman (1989) as a kid multiple times, but didn't see Superman until after high school. The opening credits sold me on it - the comic book panel transitions into "reality," the camera drifts up past the moon, and all of a sudden the first credit blasts towards you and opens the curtains into space. I knew I was in for something epic.

That's pretty awesome

 

[Broccoli]

Heroes - The second episode where Hiro (and the viewers) realize he is in the future and NYC goes boom. Up to that point, I was about to write off the show.

 

[Emher]

The last scenes of the pilot episode of The West Wing when President Bartlet makes his entrance for the first time and sets the staff back on track. Sheen immediately gives his character an undeniable presence that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

Seconded and agreed.

 

[HaventGotALife]

The last scenes of the pilot episode of The West Wing when President Bartlet makes his entrance for the first time and sets the staff back on track. Sheen immediately gives his character an undeniable presence that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

That show I was sold on long before Martin Sheen was on screen. I saw Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The American President, SportsNight) connected to a show called The West Wing and made sure my VCR was set. Of course, I learned to love it the way a mother eventually learns to love her child for totally different reasons than when she was expecting.

Of course, it's harder to have a better introduction than "I am the Lord your God, you shall put no other gods before me! Boy those were the days, huh?" Perfect Bartlet. Learned, commanding, warm quip afterwards.

Wednesdays at 9PM. All new West Wing on NBC.

I miss "experience" shows like that where you'd gather around the television, talk about it the day before and the day after, and generally become obsessed. I have no shows that took the place of my Sopranos, The West Wing, Roseanne, Law and Order, Deep Space Nine, Friends, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Enterprise weren't all that enticing. I hate cop shows, Charlie Sheen, the new vampires, and reality TV. Everything feels drama-filled. Like getting to know characters and simply having an actor respond to the events of a script isn't enough. Too many weapons and explosions.

What happened to interesting shots? Now we have to over-use editing, close-ups, speeding up or slowing down real time, and music to make a point. There's something about the color scheme to--lost of yellows, greens, and blues. I think HD has made it difficult to watch any show because they ask for too much detail and you get lost in it. Instead of focusing on a subject, you are distracted by what is going on around them. It's beautiful on the screen, but it's eye-candy. There's really no purpose to it. Everything is very fast like you're on amphedimines as the audience. Slow it down, allow for some pauses, and for people to feel emotion.

Anyway, I'm rambling. West Wing Rocks!

 

[Alidar Jarok]

In the new Doctor Who series the entire episode "Dalek".

That was the first episode for me too. Definitely sold me on the series. End of the World was a bit too cheesey so I'm glad I didn't start there.

The last scenes of the pilot episode of The West Wing when President Bartlet makes his entrance for the first time and sets the staff back on track. Sheen immediately gives his character an undeniable presence that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

I think I have to agree with that (although the bickering between Toby and the religious lady in the previous scene was quite good too). Of course, originally, he was going to have a minor role, but Martin Sheen was so great they knew right away that wasn't going to be a possibility.

 

[SPCTRE]

The moment when Megan Fox opens that engine hood.




Wait, what?!