Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Cyborg Helmsman

 Cyborg Helmsman
type
FeatureClass
 Cyborg Helmsman
label
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman
page
CyborgHelmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman
comment
In nearly every ship-based Science Fiction novel of relative hardness, your search for the most heavily augmented individual will usually end at one of two people, the grizzled war veteran, or this guy, the ship's navigator. Why? Maybe they need more brainspace for all the calculations necessary to adjust the ship's position in warp space, or they need better reaction times, or maybe they really need those Electronic Eyes to find and follow the normally invisible "safe zones" in hyperspace.
Appropriately, the word "Cyborg" derives from "cybernetic organism". Where does "cybernetic" come from? The Greek word "kybernetes", which means helmsman. Which makes this one a recursive trope.
See also Spaceship Girl and Psychic Starship Pilot.
 Cyborg Helmsman
fetched
2024-01-16T14:45:16Z
 Cyborg Helmsman
parsed
2024-01-16T14:45:16Z
 Cyborg Helmsman
processingComment
Dropped link to LivingShip: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Cyborg Helmsman
processingComment
Dropped link to NoTranshumanismAllowed: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Cyborg Helmsman
processingComment
Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
 Cyborg Helmsman
processingComment
Dropped link to SuperSerum: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Cyborg Helmsman
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_15c6ea92
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_15c6ea92
comment
Wonder Woman (1987): The fellow revolting slave who pilots Diana's revolutionaries' first couple of ships and acts as an Ace Pilot for the rebellion has cybernetic implants on the sides of her head.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_15c6ea92
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_15c6ea92
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wonder Woman (1987) (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_15c6ea92
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2ea6ae26
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2ea6ae26
comment
The Borg Queen in Star Trek: Picard is able to hack and control the Stargazer due to it being based on technology from a salvaged Borg cube and is able to mentally control La Sirena after being plugged into it to help with a slingshot maneuver.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2ea6ae26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2ea6ae26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Picard
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_2ea6ae26
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2f4271ed
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2f4271ed
comment
Ship captains and pilots in The Night's Dawn Trilogy have extensive neural implants for controlling the ship and mapping out trajectories. Physically modified Cyborgs are primarily used as engineers and for patching up damage — some of them are so heavily modified that they don't even need space suits to survive in the vacuum, instead just needing a bottle of oxygen.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2f4271ed
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_2f4271ed
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Night's Dawn Trilogy
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_2f4271ed
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_33bae31c
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_33bae31c
comment
In Star Wars: Annihilation, the Imperial battle cruiser Ascendant Spear is designed such that a Dark Side Force-user such as Darth Karrid can interface with and directly control the ship via the combination of cybernetics and the Force.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_33bae31c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_33bae31c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Wars: Annihilation
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_33bae31c
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_353b7af3
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_353b7af3
comment
Star Trek: Discovery has a couple:
Pilot Keyla Detmer has cranial and ocular implants, but it's unknown if they grant her any special qualities. She was established as an outstanding pilot prior to suffering the wounds that the implants repaired.
Paul Stamets gets cybernetic implants in his arms to facilitate his connection to the spore drive. He's able to get rid of them in season 4, when Adira finds an alternate connection method.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_353b7af3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_353b7af3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Discovery
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_353b7af3
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_4505668c
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_4505668c
comment
A number of mentions regarding cyborg pilots are made in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. They never appear directly but are apparently superior to normal pilots. This doesn't stop the protagonist from regarding them with disdain, referring to one as a "wired-up ex-human".
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_4505668c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_4505668c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_4505668c
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_50bcf7a6
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_50bcf7a6
comment
In Homestuck, this is the ultimate fate of the Ψiioniic, with a dose of Body Horror thrown in for good measure; with his incredible psychic abilities, he's implied to not only steer but also power the Condesce's flagship, to which he is literally fused.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_50bcf7a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_50bcf7a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Homestuck (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_50bcf7a6
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_60156176
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_60156176
comment
In the Vorkosigan Saga, starship pilots need special implants to interface with ship's navigation during wormhole travel. A recurring character is Arde Mayhew, who is unable to receive upgraded implants for medical reasons and so can't pilot more recent models of ship, and in The Warrior's Apprentice faces disaster with the decommissioning of the last remaining ship he is able to pilot.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_60156176
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_60156176
featureConfidence
1.0
 Vorkosigan Saga
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_60156176
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_6e1d5f36
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_6e1d5f36
comment
Farscape:
The Living Ship Talyn (who is himself a cyborg) forms a telepathic link with his captain by way of a cybernetic interface implanted at the base of the captain's neck. It's less for navigation than an instinctual need for a captain due to his native biology with a healthy dose of genetic engineering thrown in.
Moya's Pilot was initially bonded to her by a cybernetic interface, but that's not normal for Leviathans and the Pilot species, it was installed by the Peacekeepers because they didn't have time for him to bond organically and he rips it out after discovering they killed Moya's previous Pilot.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_6e1d5f36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_6e1d5f36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Farscape
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_6e1d5f36
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_74c659e6
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_74c659e6
comment
Mechs in Rocket Age require a pilot with a neural interface to work correctly. The Nazis surgically add this to their pilots; the Ancient Martians may well have grown pilots with built in interfaces. The Europans also have technology that allows them to do the same; the only difference is that theirs is much less invasive.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_74c659e6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_74c659e6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Rocket Age (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_74c659e6
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_7559ae0b
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_7559ae0b
comment
Dune:
The Navigators arguably qualify, albeit without the usual biomechanical augmentation; they use Spice.
Odrade has a cyborg pilot for her shuttle on her trip to Junction in Chapterhouse: Dune.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_7559ae0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_7559ae0b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dune (Franchise)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_7559ae0b
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_81692f99
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_81692f99
comment
Star Trek:
In spite of Star Trek's usual stance on cybernetics and transhumanism, Geordi LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation wears a VISOR that connects to his brain and allows him to see. In the first season, his role on the ship is as the Helmsman, although he eventually graduates to Chief Engineer.
In Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine uses Borg technology to create Voyager's Astrometrics lab, a 3D map of the space they're traveling through.
Star Trek: Discovery has a couple:
Pilot Keyla Detmer has cranial and ocular implants, but it's unknown if they grant her any special qualities. She was established as an outstanding pilot prior to suffering the wounds that the implants repaired.
Paul Stamets gets cybernetic implants in his arms to facilitate his connection to the spore drive. He's able to get rid of them in season 4, when Adira finds an alternate connection method.
The Borg Queen in Star Trek: Picard is able to hack and control the Stargazer due to it being based on technology from a salvaged Borg cube and is able to mentally control La Sirena after being plugged into it to help with a slingshot maneuver.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_81692f99
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_81692f99
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek (Franchise)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_81692f99
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_8ac81016
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_8ac81016
comment
Sleep Dealer: Zig-Zagged — with immigration having been reduced to near zero, poor countries host a massive workforce of people with cybernetic implants who remotely pilot robotic avatars that have replaced the "unskilled" labor positions those workers would have otherwise taken in richer nations. Every robotic taxi driver, mechanical orange picker, or construction robot toiling away in the United States is directly operated by a human in a cybernetic sweatshop somewhere in the global south, like Memo and his co-workers in Mexico. Even paramilitary enforcement is carried out by pilots with those same cybernetic implants flying unmanned drones thousands of miles away; Rudy and his fellow pilots remain safe in their command center in the United States while their drones patrol the skies over Oaxaca.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_8ac81016
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_8ac81016
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sleep Dealer
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_8ac81016
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_90aa1b05
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_90aa1b05
comment
Sandstrom the "augumented human" in Hyperdrive is a buggy prototype. It's not clear that her Unusual User Interface is actually any better than a normal helmsman would be.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_90aa1b05
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_90aa1b05
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hyperdrive
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_90aa1b05
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_9e8e9ba3
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_9e8e9ba3
comment
Also, some ship captains, especially on Adeptus Mechanicus ships. One such captain appears in the first Gaunt's Ghosts book.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_9e8e9ba3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_9e8e9ba3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Gaunt's Ghosts
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_9e8e9ba3
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_a1a8f917
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_a1a8f917
comment
Foundation (2021): "Modern" Imperial jumpships are crewed by genetically engineered Spacers who can handle the mental stresses of jump, but older ships like the Invictus needed a cyborg navigator with his brain wired into the main computer. It's possible for an unmodified human to chart a course, but has a high chance of killing them, as seen when Pirenne flies the Invictus back to Terminus.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_a1a8f917
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_a1a8f917
featureConfidence
1.0
 Foundation (2021)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_a1a8f917
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_aa740ba8
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_aa740ba8
comment
Odrade has a cyborg pilot for her shuttle on her trip to Junction in Chapterhouse: Dune.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_aa740ba8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_aa740ba8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Chapterhouse: Dune
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_aa740ba8
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b11e29d2
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b11e29d2
comment
Outlaw Star has Melfina, an Artificial Human, as a helmsman.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b11e29d2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b11e29d2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Outlaw Star (Manga)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_b11e29d2
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b3721df4
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b3721df4
comment
Gun Runner: Oracle, pilot of the Warbird, is a cyborg Enhanced soldier who’s now integrated with her spaceship.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b3721df4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b3721df4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Gun Runner (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_b3721df4
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b6886bfd
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b6886bfd
comment
Star Trek Into Darkness has a background character named 0718 who has a cybernetic implant in the back of his head. Interviews with his actor say it's like a miniature version of the Enterprise computer and that he's telepathically connected to the ship's computer at all times.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b6886bfd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b6886bfd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek Into Darkness
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_b6886bfd
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b9a0d78d
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b9a0d78d
comment
Alien: Before Prometheus was released, the Space Jockey was intended to be this; H. R. Giger designed it as essentially an extension of the ship. Dallas remarks on how the creature appears to be fused into the chair.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b9a0d78d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_b9a0d78d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Alien
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_b9a0d78d
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcadd7cb
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcadd7cb
comment
Warhammer 40,000:
The Navigators are mutant helmsmen, capable of navigating through the Warp and allowing the Imperium to exist. Many officers in the Imperial Navy are so heavily augmented that they're often described as being more part of their ships than autonomous beings.
Also, some ship captains, especially on Adeptus Mechanicus ships. One such captain appears in the first Gaunt's Ghosts book.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcadd7cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcadd7cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcadd7cb
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcd27544
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcd27544
comment
The protagonist of Genome is a genetically and, to a lesser degree, cybernetically augmented starship pilot. In a subversion, though, almost every human in the story is similarly enhanced (except the "natural" navigator, and even that's a rarity, as the job requires one to plot a course in multiple dimensions).
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcd27544
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcd27544
featureConfidence
1.0
 Genome
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_bcd27544
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c20bb6fc
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c20bb6fc
comment
The Master Captain in Great Ship. While she still looks fairly human on the outside, she is far larger than a normal person to help disperse heat as her skin is jam packed with computers, AI assistants, and communication systems to interface with the Great Ship.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c20bb6fc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c20bb6fc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Great Ship
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_c20bb6fc
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c506565e
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c506565e
comment
Vatta's War uses implants that allow access to certain functionalities not normally allowed, as well as allowing mental activation and use of some controls.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c506565e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_c506565e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Vatta's War
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_c506565e
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_cdedd56a
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_cdedd56a
comment
In Exo Squad, E-Frames and other machines connect to their pilots through a port built into the base of their skulls. This is shown being used to activate weapons systems or execute special commands.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_cdedd56a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_cdedd56a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Exo Squad
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_cdedd56a
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_d4642985
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_d4642985
comment
In the Revelation Space Series, the crews of interstellar spacecraft have formed their own culture, and most of them are cyborgs. A more extreme example is John Brannigan, a starship captain who became infected with a nanotechnological virus, causing his mind and body to merge with his ship in a very disturbing way. Even before the virus, he is described as being more robot than man, with the only visible trace of his humanity being his dreadlocks and the skin around his highly modified face.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_d4642985
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_d4642985
featureConfidence
1.0
 Revelation Space Series
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_d4642985
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_e360efbe
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_e360efbe
comment
The pilot of the Vandervacken in Space Assassin is a robot whose body is permanently connected to the pilot's seat due to its navel having a wire hooked into its control panel.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_e360efbe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_e360efbe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Space Assassin
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_e360efbe
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eaaef767
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eaaef767
comment
Flight of the Navigator plays with this a little. The robotic ship needs to store some of its data in a human brain while it reboots itself. After redownloading that data, a little Humanity Is Infectious takes place, and the ship develops some very human emotions and personality.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eaaef767
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eaaef767
featureConfidence
1.0
 Flight of the Navigator
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_eaaef767
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eeaaec28
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eeaaec28
comment
The pilots in Martian Successor Nadesico all have visible implants in their arms that let them interface with ships and mechs. On Earth, they're strictly military, but they're used for more mundane purposes on Mars, so when Martian civilian Akito is zapped to Earth during a Jovian attack, everyone assumes he's a deserter from the war.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eeaaec28
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_eeaaec28
featureConfidence
1.0
 Martian Successor Nadesico
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_eeaaec28
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ef076a36
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ef076a36
comment
In Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine uses Borg technology to create Voyager's Astrometrics lab, a 3D map of the space they're traveling through.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ef076a36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ef076a36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Voyager
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_ef076a36
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ffd1ab7f
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ffd1ab7f
comment
Starsnatcher: Tesla is the most heavily modified crewmember of the Dragonfly and its pilot. They have wires coming out of their head to steer the ship with whereas everyone else's modifications are more cosmetic. Most other spaceships don't have pilots at all.
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ffd1ab7f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Cyborg Helmsman / int_ffd1ab7f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Starsnatcher
hasFeature
Cyborg Helmsman / int_ffd1ab7f

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Cyborg Helmsman
processingCategory2
Robot Roll Call
 Cyborg Helmsman
processingCategory2
Speculative Fiction Tropes
 Cyborg Helmsman
processingCategory2
Tropes in Space
 Gun Runner (Comic Book) / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Sleep Dealer / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Chapterhouse: Dune / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Dune / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Empress of Forever / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Perry Rhodan / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Revelation Space Series / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Roxy Was Here / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 The Affinity Bridge / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 The Night's Dawn Trilogy / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Knights of Sidonia (Manga) / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 CDT Adventure (Roleplay) / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Andromeda / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Foundation (2021) / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Hyperdrive / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Rocket Age (Tabletop Game) / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman
 Crimson Dark (Webcomic) / int_88525242
type
Cyborg Helmsman