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I saw this as a teen (it was probably at least 20 years ago, maybe even 25) so my memory is very vague. For some reason I only (sort of) remember this single scene:

The location was (what I believe to be) some kind of bridge/control room on a spaceship. I remember a person, sitting in some kind of metallic chair. It may also have been some kind of stasis pod, because I believe that there was glass in front of it. Or the man was just wearing a space suit, I am not sure. The scene was very dramatic, because there was some kind of emergency. I think the spaceship was flying or being pulled towards something. While getting closer, some kind of gravitational force was starting to rip things apart. The person in the chair wasn't able to move and I believe that at some point his arm was ripped off (it was frozen or something and just broke off).

Some further details:

  • I believe the room had some kind of large window, which allowed to look directly into space (or maybe it was just a large view-screen, similar to star trek).
  • The set was dark. More like in Aliens than in Star Trek.
  • Maybe the person was waking up from stasis (caused by the emergency?). That may also explain why I remember that his arm was frozen (cryo-stasis).

I know that there is a lot of "maybe" and "I believe" in there. But it's possible I got at least some little thing right that makes the difference.

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  • Only thing it makes me think of a bit is Disney's "The Black Hole", but I don't think there was any cryo/stasis in that.
    – eidylon
    Apr 23, 2013 at 20:38
  • Maybe Solaris (imdb.com/title/tt0069293), or Silent Running (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running) but these came out in 1972.
    – Ray Tayek
    Apr 23, 2013 at 22:11
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    I don't remember cryo in Silent Running - and there wasn't any in The Black Hole. I don't know about the original Solaris, though. Another possible movie could be Dark Star en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Star_(film)
    – HorusKol
    Apr 23, 2013 at 22:50
  • Thanks for the comments. I don't think i watched Silent Running and Solaris so I will look into it. I already suspected it could be The Black Hole (i listened to the audio play ages ago) and ordered it at Amazon. I can most likely rule out Dark Star, since i watched it a few years ago (but maybe only part of it).
    – Rev
    Apr 24, 2013 at 8:04
  • @eidylon: I watched The Black Hole yesterday. Its not what i was searching for, but pretty entertaining anyway ;)
    – Rev
    Apr 27, 2013 at 11:58

7 Answers 7

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5

Test Pilot Pirxa (1979)? No stasis pods, but an arm ripped off by acceleration forces in a dramatic scene as the spaceship heads towards the Cassini division (in fact ripping off the arm of the evil robot guy was the point of the acceleration manoeuvre. And the humans in their chairs couldn't move under high G forces).

From IMDb:

The movie is about "finite nonlinears," robots that closely resemble human beings but are even more perfect than humans. They are intended to eventually replace human beings in space flights. Somewhat apprehensive about their usefullness, the United Nations sets up a space flight to determine their reactions to the human beings who also make up the crew. Pirx is selected as a commander of the flight, although the identity of the robots is not revealed to him...

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  • While this seems to be very similar to what I described in some ways, I don't think thats it. At least it doesn't ring a bell, but I might have to watch that specific scene. In the scene I remember it was more like one "central chair" in a somewhat bigger room (like a dedicated captains chair?!). And I think the arm that was ripped off was human (but frozen?!). Well as I said, my memory about this is very very vague and might be totally off.
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 8:44
  • 1
    I found it on YouTube and skipped through it. Sadly, its not familiar at all. Thank you for the try.
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 20:00
3

This is likely Supernova.

  1. Released in 2000, so it's not far off from 20 years old.
  2. It has a dark tone to it, and some parts were inspired by HR Giger paintings, supposedly.
  3. The "suspense" is that they're stranded in orbit around a blue giant star, and won't be able to repair the ship until just minutes before their orbit will decay. I believe there is also a scene where a planetoid is being ripped apart and sucked into the star, even while some are on it (suited up).
  4. There are stasis pods of some sort.
  5. An alien artefact causes one guy to become the villain, and I believe there is a scene where he dismembers one of the crew by ripping an arm off of him.

Wikipedia summarizes the plot better than I could.

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  • Thank you for your answer, I will totally check this out.
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 7:48
  • Oh, I just realized you said its from 2000. 14 years ago I was about 20, but I watched the movie when I was much younger. I think I was 14 at most. But thank you for the feedback anyway! If I get a chance I will take a look at supernova nevertheless, despite its 4.7/10 rating ;)
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 7:59
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    @Rev1.0 Memories like these can play tricks on you, I have some where I swear that I remember the impossible (seeing movies during childhood 2 or 3 years before they could have come out).
    – John O
    Feb 6, 2014 at 14:04
  • But i definitely was MUCH younger than 20. I edited the original question to reflect that the movie is AT LEAST 20 years old. Thank you anyway.
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 20:01
  • RinkWorks lists Supernova in its section of "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Movie." @Rev1.0: You have been warned.
    – Codes with Hammer
    May 20, 2014 at 18:30
2

Another possibility is Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) where the baddie loses his arm and replaces it with one of the goodie clone's arms:

Sador's new arm

From IMDb:

Shad, a young farmer, assembles a band of diverse mercenaries in outer space to defend his peaceful planet from the evil tyrant Sador and his armada of aggressors. Among the mercenaries are Space Cowboy, a spacegoing truck driver from Earth; Gelt, a wealthy but experienced assassin looking for a place to hide; and Saint-Exmin, a Valkyrie warrior looking to prove herself in battle.

Picture source and more pictures that might ring a bell.

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  • Thanks for the suggestion. Any information about how he loses his arm? Is this in any way similar to the scene I described?
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 8:46
  • @Rev1.0: I must be honest, I can't remember, sorry. (Tried Googling, nothing yet. I thought it was in a manner similar to what you describe, but obviously I cannot verify that right now.)
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Feb 6, 2014 at 9:02
  • No problem, I will keep an eye on this as well.
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 9:20
  • @Rev1.0: if the images in my link don't ring a bell with you, then it is probably not this film.
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Feb 6, 2014 at 9:43
  • Its available on Youtube, so I just took a look at it. Its indeed NOT what I was looking for, but has entertaining moments :)
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 19:50
1

Could it be Disney's The Black Hole. It ends with a black hole and has a robot and man merging (perhaps) that may be mistaken for a suit. In any case, if you enjoyed Event Horizon it is definitely a movie you should watch, having a lot of parallels to the point of some considering event horizon to be a spiritual successor.

(Don't let the Disney part fool you, it has some terrifying stuff in it in addition to a few inexplicable comedy parts forced in by the studio)

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  • Thanks for the feedback "The Black Hole" was already ruled out as discussed in the comments below the original question. Guess I will never find out :/
    – Rev
    Nov 23, 2016 at 6:45
  • Ah, didn't see the comments. only other thing that occurred to me is Pandorum but that is way too new. So take it as a suggestion for something to watch instead.
    – John Meacham
    Nov 23, 2016 at 6:53
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How about Alien Cargo from 1999? Bears some resemblance to Event Horizon and Supernova.

From IMDb:

In a time when interplanetary shipping is routine, poor judgment is a fatal error. The crew of the Solar System Shipping shipping vessel number 17 runs in shifts. When the second shift awakens from hyper-sleep almost ten months after their scheduled time, they find the ship badly damaged, off course, and missing the first shift. What's more, it's discovered the first shift killed each other. As the plot unfolds, something truly evil is discovered on-board - humans.

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1
  • Thank you for the suggestion, but its most likely too "new". What I remember feels more like mid-late childhood memories and I was already about 20 years old when this one came out. However, is there a specific scene in Alien Cargo that is similar to what I described?
    – Rev
    May 20, 2014 at 6:39
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It's the 80s TV series V! Nitrogen freezes his arm or something, and he turns round and knocks it off. I've been trying to find it on YouTube to show a friend, but can't find, but I'm pretty sure it's V you remember.

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  • 2
    Could you possibly add some more details which link the TV show to the points made in the question body?
    – Edlothiad
    Dec 16, 2017 at 17:55
0

Apologies if it's not helpful, but while the specifics are different, the style of what you describes reminds me of Event Horizon (1997), and it is possible your memory has drifted in the time since you saw it. If I think of anything else, I'll come back and post again.

I also seem to remember someone or something shattering in Supernova, but it's a long time since I've seen that myself.

The only time I can specifically remember an arm shattering was in the original V mini-series - but that's going back even further, and it was definitely on Earth, in a manufacturing plant where there was a leak of liquid nitrogen.

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  • Its definitely not Event Horizon, I watched it at least 10 times ;) Supernova is not old enough from what I can tell(2000). I don't know the V mini series, but what you describe seems too far off. Thank you for the suggestions anyway.
    – Rev
    Feb 6, 2014 at 19:53

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