The City of Lost Children and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are both weepers for me.

Without a doubt: The Fountain.

Robot Jox...but for all the wrong reasons. Honestly, E.T. is the only one that ever really got me.

In addition to WALL-E and E.T....

The Iron Giant may be one of the most sob-inducing movies of all time for me. (The end is what does it, but I don't want to talk too much about it since I don't know how to make spoiler tags here.) It took my wife and I about fifteen minutes to speak coherently after watching it. Just thinking about it is making me mist up a bit.

Apollo 13 is closer to science fact than science fiction, but its tone is very much SFnal, and it makes me tear up every time. While the triumphant end gets some reaction from me, it's the Saturn V launch at the beginning that really starts the waterworks, for reasons I can't quite define. I think it's some sort of superposition of awe at what a bunch of naked prarie apes could accomplish when we put our minds to it and mourning for the fact that we can't seem to do it again.

Serenity, at the obvious point, gets me, too, and as was mentioned above, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Heck, I cry a lot at movies, so there's probably even more I could list.

Star Trek II -- Spock dying.
Aliens (of all things) -- when Ripley recovers Newt from the hive. It didn't affect me when I originally saw the movie, but now, with a 7-year old daughter...

Honorable mention to Avatar: The Last Airbender (t.v.). There are many moments throughout the series that have choked me up. This show is chock full of the emotional development you (rightly) point out is usually missing from our favorite genre.

This is kind of interesting because, in spite of the fact that I know when I'm being manipulated, I'll fall for it every time. If a filmmaker wants me to cry, they're likely to get their wish. And guess what? I can't think of a sci-fi film that succeeds.

I promise to cry at the premiere for Zoe's Tale. I don't know if it will be because they'll have done it really well or because they'll have messed up so badly, but one way or another, I promise to sob like a little girl.

The HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when Ford and Arthur are subjected to Vogon poetry...

I have to agree with Lethe on The Iron Giant. it gets me every time. You know what part I'm talking about. One word. One act. A whole bunch of tears from me.

In all seriousness though, Cocoon got to me in the scene where the man takes his dying wife to the pool hoping it will cure her.

I don't cry for anything, much less movies, but I'm with you on Wall-E (Both that moment and Eva's "No!" in the escape pod scene). And I'll chime in with Iron Giant. Keri's right - one word. All I have to do is think about it and I'm feeling a little tightness in the chest....

You didn't cry at the end of T2 the first time you saw it?

It's classic Old Yeller. Boy and his cyborg. Adventure. Excitement.

And then you have to put down your 800 pound Austrian Cyborg from the future.

You just can't fix him at that point.

The crackly, pubescent voice sobbing his way through a goodbye killed me.

The tears just poured during the thumbs up. I think you should add a fourth to your lise.

Agreed on Wall-E. Especially at the end, just before they came through with the happy ending.

I definitely get sniffly during Serenity. That's the only one I can think of though. I hate ET. It scared the poop out of me when I was a kid and I've refused to watch it ever again. I love Wall-E and there was definitely some throat-tightening in a couple of spots.

Now if we're talking television, the episode "Sleeping In Light" from Babylon 5 chokes me up every time. Just thinking about it chokes me up.

Absolutely, THE IRON GIANT. Woefully underappreciated film. When it came out, the stupid marketing people tried to sell it as a boy-robot buddy comedy. Wrong wrong wrong.

Another Brad Bird effort, THE INCREDIBLES, always makes me cry. It's the scene on the plane where Mrs. Incredible yells at her daughter to put a force field around the plane, but the daughter can't because she's never been allowed much practice with her powers, and Mrs. I. is screaming about how there are children on board. Waterworks.

I also second Eternal Sunshine. And Terminator, right before the love scene, when you realize how long Kyle has loved SC, and what that all means. (Especially after you've seen it, and you realize he knows he's going to die.)

And CONTACT, because I'm a sap.

Does UP count? The talking dogs were kind of SF-y, but I was crying at the dead wife in the first five minutes. Lord, I *am* a sap!

Gattaca gets me every time, when it becomes clear that Ethan Hawke's character is actually going to succeed despite all the obstacles that have been in his way, including the fact that he's in a dystopic SF movie and people fail in that kind of story.

I'm pretty sure there was a tearjerker moment in Happy Accidents, which achieved with subtlety and humor what I really fear that The Time-Traveler's Wife will attempt with bombast and heavy-handedness.

Twelve Monkeys and that moment at the airport when Madeleine Stowe and the little boy's eyes meet. Jesus, I just misted up thinking about that scene.

The final moments of Last Night. I showed that movie to my wife when we were dating, and she got angry at me for screwing with her emotionally on that level.

And dammit, I cried like a child when Darth Vader died in Return of the Jedi. Of course, I was a child then, and I know that there are some heavy moral questions about Vader's "redemption" and blah blah blah, but its Darth Vader and he's sacrificed himself for his son, and now he's dying and bawwwww.

I am SO glad to hear that I'm the only sucker for 'Creator' in the world.

Iron Giant definitely chokes me up, but my favorite tear-jerking SF movie is Silent Running (1972). I get a bit weepy during the poker game with Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) and the drones (played by double amputees in robot housings) because it's so darned *human.* During the last scenes (which I won't give away in case there are those who haven't seen it) I'm in tears. Every time. It's available on DVD and includes a "making of" feature that is not to be missed.

I am SO glad to hear that I'm not the only sucker for 'Creator' in the world. That said, I can agree with 'The Fountain' and 'Eternal Sunshine', too.

The book On the Beach always makes me cry- I've avoided the movie, but suspect it would have the same effect.

Getting older, you see that there's a lot more in "E.T." that the people are dealing with, mainly their absentee dad, and how their mom is upset that he's left her for another women, leaving her to raise the kids. The kids are hopeful they'll be with their dad again, but it is happy to know that Elliott has found a friend in E.T. during this time.

The card game at the end of Star Trek: TGN gets me every time.

Sky's the limit.

Great ending. Just means that the adventure goes on, even if we're not following it.

I can't believe that no one's mentioned "AI: Artificial Intelligence". I cried in the beginning, when the child/robot was abandoned, when the other robots were tortured, I cried when he discovered he was not unique, I cried when he found the Blue Fairy and wished and wished and wished until he froze, and I sobbed my heart out when he finally got his perfect moment with his "mother" and it ended.

I am probably the only one who hated ET - I found it, even as a child, totally manipulative.

I can't believe that no one's mentioned "AI: Artificial Intelligence". I cried in the beginning, when the child/robot was abandoned, when the other robots were tortured, I cried when he discovered he was not unique, I cried when he found the Blue Fairy and wished and wished and wished until he froze, and I sobbed my heart out when he finally got his perfect moment with his "mother" and it ended.

I am probably the only one who hated ET - I found it, even as a child, totally manipulative.

I forgot to add, I loved and cried at the end of Bicentennial Man. (And sorry for the previous double post).

Fark. !@#$%^&* thing timed out.

Definitely Iron Giant. A tour de force. And all that implies.

I still get all misty when I watch Star Trek II.

Then there's that scene in Silent Running when one of the little robots gets yanked into space... can't remember if it was Huey, Dewey or Louie.

There's a poignant moment in Tron, where the program ROM de-rezzes due to injuries right after learning that Flynn is indeed one of the mythical 'users'.

Yeah, I forgot Serenity, but then I'd had 14 episodes of Firefly to fall in love with the characters and IP, so I don't really count that.

And damn, now I want to watch both Iron Giant and Incredibles, and I'm stuck at work. Sigh.

I cried at the end of Bicentennial Man. I also teared up at the end of Armageddon - I unironically love that movie. Oh and Monsters Inc. "Kitty!"

Donnie Darko. Two moments: when he says "I know I'll have so much to look forward to" and when his girlfriend waves to his mother.

Star Man made me cry when almost nothing else got the ducts flowing. Now that I'm a mother, much older and sometimes wiser, I'm a regular cry baby.

Some excellent suggestions here, including The Iron Giant, Star Trek II, and Contact.

I always get weepy at the end of Close Encounters, when Richard Dreyfuss stops at the threshold of the mother ship to take one last look at the world he's leaving behind.

Balde Runner: "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

right with you on "Creator", although the worst teary moments for me were when Harry's wife, Lucy, would appear... got me/gets me every time.

For some reason I cried during Edward Scissorhands. To this day, I don't know why. Seems that overcooked tragic person just got to me.

About AI: Artificial Intelligence - that one is a weeper, too. I don't get why it is so hated. It grew on me a lot on subsequent viewings. Maybe because I got that the aliens were not aliens :)

Chiming in to agree with all the Star Trek II and Serenity nods -- the latter only gets me misty, but the former makes me bawl. Also, Terminator 2 gets me about 50% of the time (depending on how much sleep I've had, I suppose); it's worse now that I've watched the show.

Smilla's Sense of Snow gets me every time, watching that happy little boy and knowing what's about to happen....

Definitely WALL-E, recently, and Close Encounters (at a number of points).

But the one that gets me every single time (and, yes, I admit to multiple viewings of this film), is the scene in The Abyss where Bud won't give up on reviving Lindsey after she deliberately drowns so that he can get her back to the habitat.

In regards to TV science fiction, I also will admit to copious tears when Toshiko and Owen were killed off on Torchwood. Even if Owen was a jerk, before zombification and afterwards, it was still sad.

I'm sure there are more. I'm horrible about crying during films. But I can't think of any more right now and, anyway, my break for work is over now.

I had actually forgotten the "one word" in Iron Giant (perhaps I repressed it as trauma) and had to look it up; I now find myself at my desk in a highly inappropriate state.

I found A.I. to be too disturbing and difficult for the end to make me cry; I felt too sick and numb after the scene at the "carnival."

Elaine, yes. THE ABYSS! James Cameron really knows how to push my buttons. "Fight, you bitch!" That's love right there, man.

Though, naturally, it combines two of my fave moments from Aliens and Terminator. Hmmmm, well, James Cameron's got one button. But it's a good one.

Also, I cry when Yoda fights Dukko in Episode II. But it's mostly from relief that there is SOMETHING in those three pieces of dreck worth watching.

When I saw E.T. in the theater, I thought "What's all this emotional crap? More aliens! More effects!" What can I say, I was eight.

I agree about Edward Scissorhands. Vincent Price's death scene and Edward's simultaneous loss of both his "father" and his potential for being "whole"--all his connections to humanity gone at once. The human hands being destroyed by his own scissors is just too painful.

Yeah, AI was a little sad in places, but I only came close to tears at the end out of mourning over the two and a half hours I had just lost.

I thought I might be the only one to mention the airport scene in 12 Monkeys, but at least on other person feels the same way.

A.I. also gets me several times. I keep thinking that some day when the backlash of "Spielberg ruined Kubrick's movie" is finally over, folks will see what a spectacular film that is. But, I guess not.

And, yes, I hadn't thought of the Iron Giant, but it is definitely on my list as well.

Dittoes on so many levels for the above. Funny, I was going to mention Apollo 13 -- as we cannot go to the moon today, it practically is SF. And both the launch and the long re-entry sequence, every damned time.

Contact and Jurassic Park affect me the same way. As a scientist, knowing what it would mean to suddenly hear the signal you've been searching for or to see a damn walking dinosaur... every damn time.

I found myself close to tears watching the opening of the new Star Trek movie, and "dad" doing his job. Being captain of a starship for twelve minutes...

Or Gandalf sacrificing himself on the bridge in the mines of Moria.

What's interesting about all these is that they are all action scenes and not deathbed scenes or quiet reflective ones. To me, that indicates a certain amount of power in the story. That we -- and the characters -- know exactly what is going on and why and what it means.

Sniff. Gotta go do some work now.

Dr. Phil

Well, if we're going to include Lord of the Rings movies here, I cried multiple times at every damn one of those films.

In Fellowship, when Frodo offers to take the Ring at the Council of Rivendell; when he starts to wander off in shock in the Dimrill Dale after Gandalf dies, and when he comes back for Sam at the end. Also Boromir's last words.

In Towers, when Haldir goes down, when Gandalf and Eomer ride to the rescue at Helm's Deep, the march of the Ents, and the final pullback to show what awaits Frodo and Sam.

In King, Theoden's speech before the charge at Pelennor, the "I can carry you" line, Aragorn's charge of the enemy at the Black Gate, the appearance of the Eagles to deus ex machine Frodo and Sam away from Mount Doom, and pretty much the whole Grey Havens scene. And hey, the moment when Arwen appears at Aragorn's coronation, and even Hugo Weaving almost gets weepy for a moment.

So yeah, I'm a big suck when it comes to those films.

Well, if we're going to include Lord of the Rings movies here, I cried multiple times at every damn one of those films.

In Fellowship, when Frodo offers to take the Ring at the Council of Rivendell; when he starts to wander off in shock in the Dimrill Dale after Gandalf dies, and when he comes back for Sam at the end. Also Boromir's last words.

In Towers, when Haldir goes down, when Gandalf and Eomer ride to the rescue at Helm's Deep, the march of the Ents, and the final pullback to show what awaits Frodo and Sam.

In King, Theoden's speech before the charge at Pelennor, the "I can carry you" line, Aragorn's charge of the enemy at the Black Gate, the appearance of the Eagles to deus ex machine Frodo and Sam away from Mount Doom, and pretty much the whole Grey Havens scene. And hey, the moment when Arwen appears at Aragorn's coronation, and even Hugo Weaving almost gets weepy for a moment.

So yeah, I'm a big suck when it comes to those films.

When I saw E.T. everyone in the theatre was crying but me, my mom leaned over and asked me why.
"It's got at least 20 minutes, he can't be dead."
"You're heartless!"
Me and my damn logic...

That said... Iron Giant always gets me, and if A.I. had ended in the right spot, it would have gotten me too.

Oddly, I hated ET and loved Abyss for exactly the same moment: the dead brought back to life.

In ET, which I had loved up till that moment, I'd accepted ET's death as a necessary sacrifice, and then when he was brought back, I felt manipulated, cheated even. It cheapened the emotion I'd spent on his death.

In Abyss, Lindsey's drowning was part of the plan. It was a desperate act of last ditch heroism, done specifically because there was the hope she could be revived.

That's not the moment that makes me choke up, though.

That would be the "LOVE YOU WIFE" text message.

(As is necessary in any discussion of the Abyss, I must strongly recommend Orson Scott Card's novelization, which fills in many background story and character details. It's brilliant.)

Another show that makes me choke up, no, I'll say it: weep in happy sorrow every time, is the anime series Haibane Renmei. A warning: there are no tentacles, no fan service, no giant robots. There are no giant eyes; human anatomy is (with one crucial exception) realistic. There is no weird colored hair; and indeed, the overall color palette is very restrained, even muted (although occasionally a bit...odd). By modern animation standards, it's...well, restrained. It was done in a rush, on a very tight budget, even for anime, and it shows.

It's also one of the most beautiful stories I know in any medium.

I am choking up right now just thinking about the final scene. After you've been through it once, watch it again; there will be many moments you pass over the first time that will catch you, hard, once you know what's coming.

I'm not saying anything else about it, because one of the best things about it is the way it reveals (some of) its secrets. The structure of this thing is amazing.

Youtube the first episode (Link is to the first of three parts, watch the whole thing.) If you are not in anyway engaged, don't bother with the rest. If you are, be prepared to wait awhile for the main story to kick in; the next few eps are mostly travelogue to introduce you to the characters and the world they live in. You'll know the plot when you see it, although you won't see it coming. It's a real sucker punch.

The music's a treat, too.

There are a bunch of movies here that I agree with, but I want to mention one that hasn't been mentioned--"Sunshine." Course, I know opinion is divided on that one, so maybe everyone else thinks it's lame. But for me, the entire last 20 or 30 minutes was just heartwrenching.

I believe I cried at Howard the Duck.

I know. I know. I'm officially kicked out of SciFi fandom.

(But yeah, I cry at everything).

Clannad, the anime series by Key... Open tears watching some episodes, and I didn't even blink during the Bjørk movie, which I'm told makes me a heartless robot.

I found Children of Men (2006) heartbreaking. I'm also a huge fan of The Iron Giant and of Serenity.

I don't like ET. Yeah, I cried when I saw it in the theater, but I was 16. I cried more when Spock died in Wrath of Khan.

However, I love Creator, shameless as it is. Peter O'Toole can convey more emotion in those big blue eyes than damned near anyone I've ever seen. I need this movie in my home. Now.

Stephanie Leary, Smilia's Sense of Snow is pretty damned sad, but if you haven't read the book, do so. It's even more heartrending.

OSC did a novelization of THE ABYSS? I hope it's still in print.

I didn't second the LOTR or Avatar mentions, though, because I think of them as fantasy and not SF. But yeah, I basically cry through the whole third movie and in several spots in Avatar.

Well, clearly, I am ridiculous. I cried during the birth scene of the new Star Trek, both times I saw it.

Also Blade Runner. Serenity. Donnie Darko. And K-PAX--boy HOWDY.

Not really a movie (although it was movie length) the Battlestar Galactica finale had me crying at a couple scenes. The last Kara/Anders scene, and the Admiral Adama scene after he has buried Laura.

@DianaPeterfreund:
No, it's no longer in print, although Amazon lists used copies.

Usually, when I buy used paperbacks there, I pay no more than cover price, and usually far less. Like twenty five or fifty cents -- basically shipping and a tip.

For this one, the first copy is about five bucks, the next twice that -- and the last of twelve is almost fifty damn dollars.

I gave my copy away years ago, and oh how I regret it.

===

Also: I neglected to echo my love of Creator. I haven't watched it in years; I've got to put it on my DVD list. Beautiful little story. (This movie has a special place in my heart, for being one of the very few to remind us that lab gear arrives in big cardboard boxes on shipping pallets, which then get thrown out. Somebody went to real labs to check on look-and-feel, and was paying attention. Then there's the grant-fight....)

There's also some throat-clenching for me at the end of Brainstorm, another neglected and underrated SF flick with an above-average lab set. Ignore some of the technical blunders (no, you cannot pump a CD's worth of data every second through a pay phone with an acoustic coupler) and pay attention to the message about how new technology can go in unexpected and wildly divergent ways, even helping us to understand the sacred. I know of no other movie that even tries to examine this theme.

The only movie I have ever actually cried in was Transformers: The Movie (the 1986 animated one) when Optimus Prime died. Then again, I was seven, and all my friends were crying too. (My mom took me and my friends out to see it for my birthday).

But scenes that make me go :{ already have been mostly covered.

Buffy had me openly sobbing at a few points in the later seasons, particularly around Joyce and Tara's deaths.

[warning: walle spoiler in this message.]

I never liked E.T.

Wall-E got me chocked up at one point, which is impressive, considering the dialogue between walle and eva consisted of little more than "walle" "eva" and "directive". Most of it was accomplished with vocal tones and the situation.

as for the scene in the garbage room, if I'm thinking of the same moment, my understanding was walle reminded her of her directive and then he moved his eye-sensor the same way he had moved it when he replaced it in an earlier scene. Therefore, he was pointing her to fulfil her directive, handing her the leafy mcguffin, and if she fulfilled her directive, the ship would go to earth, and if they went to earth, then walle could get the spare parts he needed. I didn't read it as a "no, you have to leave me and fulfil your directive", it was more like "if you fulfil your directive, then I'll get what I need too." Not that win/win is bad or anything. Where I got choked up is towards the end when she installs the spare parts and it seems like his memory is wiped and he doesn't remember her. Earlier, she had gone into "directive" mode after she found the mcguffin, and shut down. during that time, walle had taken her on a number of "dates" while they waited for the ship to return. She only finds out about much later, when they're looking at her security tape. after that, shes much nicer to him. Later, when it looks like he's lost his memory, she tries to remind him, and it isn't working, and it's like a nearly perfect symmytry between the two. first she wasn't aware of him. Now he is no longer aware of her. it's pure romantic tragedy at that point, and I got a knot in my throat. The thing that slightly annoyed me about the film was how much they beat up walle especially when he first sees her and tries to befriend her.

wrath of khan got me choked up, and it's one of my favorite movies.

The new Star Trek made me cry in the opening sequence, actually.

So does Babylon 5 in the Battle of the Line flashbacks, watching a wall of human ships hopelessly hurl themselves at the incoming Minbari fleet in an attempt to buy the rest of their species another few moments to escape.

For the exact same emotional reasons I was almost incoherent with rage at the end of Donnie Darko. I sat through the whole movie wondering where they were going and when it turned out that the resolution of the plot was the main character caving like a professional spelunker I nearly lost it.

Meaningful necessary sacrifice is moving, especially in moments where it is potentially hopeless to even try. Sacrifice because you're too unimaginative or spineless to come up with the guts to try again is unacceptable.

Iron Giant, Silent Running and Scissorhands ("Hold me", "I can't...") were my first thoughts.

"Gattaca" got me once, just the ending, so... stately.

Frequency got me... the whole father/son talking over time... T2, ET...

Bicentennial Man - the book got me to cry. But, since I knew the story so well, the movie didn't do it as much for me. The Abyss when he texts messages Love You Wife, does it for me.

I can't think of a proper Sci-Fi movie that made me cry (unless you count Deep Impact and On The Beach), but in live action tv the last two season enders (Journey's End and Last of the Timelords) of Dr Who have been incredibly tearworthy, even Primeval managed a few sniffles with the death of Cutter. Not to mention the sobfest that was the grand finale of (the UK) Life on Mars and Being Human.

On the animated front, well the (first) death of Optimus Prime was a childhood trauma I may never recover from. Then there is the entirety of End of Evangelion (not to mention the last third of episode 24 of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime). Oooh, and Spirited Away (which, granted is fantasy rather than sci-fi), I cried.

One of the all-time greatest sci-fi stories, turned into the biggest tearjerker of all time was Charly. (Flowers for Algernon).

Anyone else remember it?

Algernon is probably the first SF movie to make me cry. I watched it in the theater when it first came out, and anticipated the movie from having loved the original short story. How could I have forgotten?

I did, somehow. Thanks for rectifying my error.

CrypticMirror, not to hijack the thread, but can you tell me in what order one should view Evangelion/Neon Genesis Evangelion/etc. in? Netflix's descriptions have me most confused.

Children of Men gets me every time--when the main character is mourning, at the climactic emotional moment, and at the end. I used John Tavener's "Fragments of a Prayer" as a sound cue in a tragic sci-fi play I directed.

And I'm in complete agreement with Mary Robinette Kowal--City of Lost Children and Eternal Sunshine.

There's a very cool animated sci-fi/fantasy movie called "More" that might make people cry, by an animator named Mark Osborne. Worth checking out--only 7 mins. long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRMfDbm7nFo

@DianaPeterfreund

The Evangelion series is the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, the first movie Evangelion Death and Rebirth (the first half of that movie is a recap and clarification on the series, and the second half is more an extended trailer for the second movie), then the second movie End of Evangelion.

It's complicated at the moment because Gainax, the studio that makes it, is doing a continuity reboot with a series of new movies. Evangelion 1.0 You are (not) Alone, and Evangelion 2.0 You may (not) Advance, with others to come. These aren't available outside Japan yet.

Then there is a slew of alternate continuities in the games and mangas. Even the main manga adaptation of the main series is an alternate continuity. It is a bit complicated.

Old school stuff:

Day of the Dolphin - When George C. Scott has to yell at the talking dolphin to go away because he doesn't love him anymore in order to save him. God that tore me up as a kid.

Silent Running - Someone already mentioned, but when Bruce Dern sends Huey (or was it Dewey) off to be alone, forever, while he and the damaged Dewey (or was it Louie) self destruct.... Again, tore me up as a kid.

Logan's Run - I remember being touched to the point of tears when Peter Ustinov's lonely, lovable character laughs like a child as he meets the young people emerging from the domed city while they curiously touch his beard.

Return of the Jedi - When Luke looks on as Darth Vader's body burns on the pyre it was the culmination of the whole saga, and I remember at 19, tears rolling down my face, I had the sense of something in my childhood coming to a close.

Also have to agree with all the Iron Giant love out there--wonderful, touching movie.

-Daniel B.

I missed my E.T. window -- I didn't see it until college.

I never liked "Blade Runner," but Rutger Hauer's ending speech is a killer. So touching. And oddly enough, "Dark City" choked me up a bit, when it wasn't terrifying me to death.

"Eternal Sunshine" and "Iron Giant" for sure. Not a movie, but a couple weeks ago, the re-aired ST:TNG finale "All Good Things..." when Picard finally sits down to play cards messed me up something awful. I don't think I even actually cried when it first aired.

"The Two Towers" -- "Forgive me. I was wrong to despair." Basically the whole Helm's Deep sequence.

And "Serenity." Damn. Every time I watch that film I cry at a different place. Particularly: "My turn." And most reliably, Mal's ending love-speech to his ship, which means so much more than the machinery, but also the people inside it.
"Storm's getting worse."
"We'll pass through it soon enough."

I might have cried a bit at the Star Trek reboot had I not been grinning from ear to ear.

Basically, I'm a sucker for emotional reaffirmations of teammate-hood.

OH, and okay, this might be lame, but the ending of "Pitch Black." Aieeee. After all that struggle.

Wow, Lots of crybabies in here :)

Funny as it sounds I cried during the first Jurassic Park when they see the dinosaurs for the first time. He was so excited and overwhelmed and awestruck.

And the newest addition would be the opening scene of the new Star Trek movie.

I absolutely agree with Iron Giant. ET, LOTR (Gandalf vs the Balrog) and Serentiy (Wash!!!!!!!!)

I'm too damn easy when it comes to crying. Even when I know I'm being manipulated, they can get me with the right music or when I'm in the right mood.
Movies:
Contact does it for me, both when she goes out star-gazing after her dad dies and when she meets the alien in her father's form. Plus after living in PR for 20 years, I enjoyed the shout-out to the Arecibo Observatory.

Never saw Flowers for Algernon. The tragedy of the original story was sufficiently tear-jerking and cathartic for me that I've always felt the movie would be redundant.

Animes:
Haibane Renmei only hit me a little, but then I'm only halfway through it, so maybe there's more to come. I have to agree that it's an excellent story with sophisticated drawing, rather than over the top caricature.

Another brilliant SF anime is Dennou (Denno) Coil. Basically, it's about a virtual environment that maps onto the real world and people (the focus is on kids in the story) interact with the VR and real worlds simultaneously with special glasses. But there's a problem/mystery...Tear-jerker moment for me is when the virtual dog "dies". I even cried again when he was rebooted, but at that point I felt manipulated.

Clannad and Clannad: Afterstory are definite tear-jerkers, but I can't call them SF unless you think of them as manifestations of the quantum many-worlds theory.

Damn, dude, "Harry and the Hendersons" didn't get to you?

"This means something to me! HE means something to me!"

If that ain't good for a tugged heartstring or two, you're the real monster.

First, it is so cool that no one has yet posited that men crying at a movie is a negative thing.

I love it when they get me all teared up... and I'm a beer-drinkin' gun-totin' Heinleinian explorer-type whose fantasy is to catch a fish while leading a Lewis and Clark style expedition on a new planet. (And I do happen to spend at least a week in a canoe with no resupply possible, on any given river somewhere in North America, every single year.)

That said, I know nothing about Iron Giant, so I guess it's off to Amazon after this.

Almost all of the other movies mentioned I've seen -- and did not cry. Which underscores John's point... the genre, at least as it has been produced on the screen, ain't really known for reducing us fans to simpering celebrations-of-the-human-spirit, ala the reunion scene in Shawshank (that gets me *every* time, even after more than a dozen viewings).

So, my position is that NO ONE HAS TRULY DONE IT YET. But they should. The genre has plenty of superb tales well suited to the formula.

In fact, when Ender finally gets to the screen, if I don't cry, they. will. have. done. it. wrong.

Enemy Mine is one of my favorites and has a few moments actually that get my emotional pumps pumping somewhere around the tear ducts.

@ Bozo:
I'd like to hear what you thought of Haibane after you watched a few more episodes; it sounds like you were just about at the tipping point....

I agree with all you say about Coil as well.

Thanks for mentioning Enemy Mine, I always thought it was overlooked for that very reason

I did tear up a little at Enemy Mine. That's probably the closest the genre has come. And that movie is highly underrated, even though Gosset garnered a nomination.

Triumph of the human spirit, ladies and gents. That's what existence is all about. Even if that spirit resides in other than a human.

Not including fantasy or true-story movies or TV shows, only one SciFi movie has made me cry. WALL-E, Jurassic Park, and the new Star Trek all got me teary eyed at points (sometimes more than one!). But only Serenity made me flat-out bawl. Realizing that Wash had died after successfully maneuvering Serenity so far made it hit home that Serenity was the last I was ever going to see of these characters, and I just lost it.

When they destroyed the Enterprise in Start Trek III. Most of the movie I could do without, but when Kirk was standing on the planet and says "My god what have I done" and we see the Enterprise burning as it falls into the atmosphere, that gets me every time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Why, yes, I do consider a movie that explores how people might react to something implausible happening to be science fiction. Don't you?