# Best opening monologue to a movie or tv series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728 "2021-11-03T15:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/81 "2021-11-05T00:31:16Z")
How about a spoken word intro to an album? The Moody Blues _Days of Future Passed:_ > Cold-hearted orb that rules the night > Removes the colors from our sight > Red is gray and yellow white > But we decide which is right > And which is an illusion > > Pinprick holes in a colorless sky > Let insipid figures of light pass by > The mighty light of ten thousand suns > Challenges infinity and is soon gone > > Nighttime, to some a brief interlude > To others the fear of solitude > Brave Helios, wake up your steeds > Bring the warmth the countryside needs ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/82 "2021-11-05T00:35:12Z")
Is that an opening monologue? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/83 "2021-11-05T00:44:32Z")
It’s spoken word, not sung. It is at the beginning of the album just after an overture and sets the events of the rest of the album in motion. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/84 "2021-11-05T00:47:28Z")
Works for me. I always thought it was a closing tag for the overture. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/85 "2021-11-05T02:14:03Z")
“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission.” The Outer Limits, 1963 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/86 "2021-11-05T02:51:30Z")
It’s not Patton, or even Superman or the Lone Ranger, but a lot of people like this one. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hdjL8WXjlGI/hqdefault.jpg "Star Trek Original Series Intro (HQ)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI) ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/87 "2021-11-05T02:57:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Works for me. I always thought it was a closing tag for the overture. There’s also a bookend spoken word part that closes out the album, after “Nights in White Satin”, which wraps up the day. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/88 "2021-11-05T02:59:34Z")
Maybe I, or someone else, will start a “Best closing monologue” thread. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/89 "2021-11-05T09:48:35Z")
Christopher Plummer in _Starcrash._😁 ---
**Author:** ![Chelonaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Chelonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chelonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/90 "2021-11-05T10:16:28Z")
Not a movie, not a tv series but a video game trailer so still … close enough? I don’t know the dead man. Probably didn’t deserve what he got. Doesn’t make him special, though; all kinds of people die out here: the innocent, and the not-so-innocent. If I’m lucky, he hasn’t noticed me, yet. I want to warn him. I want to tell him to run, to hide, get out of sight so I won’t have to kill him. That’s what I want to say. What actually comes out of my mouth is- ‘I have the shiniest meat bicycle!’ (Scream) Heh. Close enough. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/91 "2021-11-05T12:33:17Z")
An awesome intro to an awesome movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/92 "2021-11-05T12:44:30Z")
I would have gone with Trainspotting. But only because I’d forgotten how awesome the opening to Plan 9 was. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/93 "2021-11-05T12:57:15Z")
Just reading it doesn’t do it justice, so here it is in all its glory: [Criswell Predicts Plan 9 From Outer Space Intro - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb6H14gVWjM) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/94 "2021-11-05T13:31:20Z")
Can’t believe that The Godfather’s opening monologue hasn’t been mentioned yet: > I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but – I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend; not an Italian. She went to the movies with him; she stayed out late. I didn’t protest. Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her, like an animal. When I went to the hospital, her nose was a’broken. Her jaw was a’shattered, held together by wire. She couldn’t even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life – beautiful girl. Now she willnever be beautiful again. > > Sorry… > > I – I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison – suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastard, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, “for justice, we must go to Don Corleone.” ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/95 "2021-11-05T13:34:04Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Can’t believe that The Godfather’s opening monologue hasn’t been mentioned yet: Post #7… ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/96 "2021-11-05T13:36:08Z")
Dagnabbit, you’re right. Anyway, the entire monologue is a good read. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/97 "2021-11-05T13:41:59Z")
I love the opening monologue in the movie,[“Payback”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120784/), with Mel Gibson. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/98 "2021-11-05T13:43:45Z")
Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death starts by establishing the context: > This is the universe. > > Big, isn’t it? > > Thousands of suns, millions of stars, separated by immense distances and by thin floating clouds of gas. The starlight makes the gas transparent. Where there are no stars it appears as dark, obscuring clouds…like that great black cone over there. > > Hello,…there’s a nova. A whole solar system exploded. Someone must’ve been messing about with the uranium atom. No, it’s not our solar system, I’m glad to say. > > Ah, those are called|a globular cluster of stars. Rather fine. > > Down here in the right-hand corner,…see that little chap rather like a boy scout’s badge? It’s a mass of gas expanding at thousands of cubic miles a minute. > > Ah, here we are, we’re getting nearer home. > > The moon, our moon,…in the first quarter,…and here’s the Earth, our Earth,…moving around in its place,…part of the pattern, part of the universe. > > Reassuring, isn’t it? > > It’s night over Europe. The night of the 2nd May, 1945. That point of fire is a burning city. It had a thousand-bomber raid an hour ago. > > And here, rolling in over the Atlantic… is a real English fog. > > I hope all our aircraft got home safely. > > Even the big ships sound frightened > > Listen to all the noises in the air. > > Listen…. > > Listen… ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/99 "2021-11-05T14:24:44Z")
He is immortal. Born in the Highlands of Scotland 400 years ago. He is not alone. There are others like him, some good, some evil. For centuries he has battled the forces of darkness, with holy ground his only refuge. He cannot die, unless you take his head, and with it his power. In the end there can be only one…Cue Queen song ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728/100 "2021-11-05T14:30:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Maybe I, or someone else, will start a “Best closing monologue” thread. Here’s one on spec: Next to me in the blackness lay my oiled blue steel beauty. The greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive. Gradually, I drifted off to sleep, pranging ducks on the wing and getting off spectacular hip shots. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-monologue-to-a-movie-or-tv-series/953728.md?page=6)