Big Dumb Object: Difference between revisions

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== [[Film]] ==
* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' movies have a few Big Dumb Objects for the Enterprise crew to contend with:
** ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek the Motion Picture]]'' has a cloud-covered super ship called V'Ger (or Vejur). It was built around an old Earth probe named Voyager (no, not ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|that]]'' Voyager, but rather a fictional 6th iteration in the real-life Voyager program) and sent back to meet its creator.
** ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'' has a "Whale Probe" that disables every ship in its path by <s>just looking at</s> communicating with them and begins vaporizing Earth's oceans in search of an extinct species.
* ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' pits a single human up against a giant monolith in orbit around Jupiter. The Monolith serves as an alien teleportation device.
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== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==
* ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' has Space Hulks, large mashups of starships that will occasionally drop out of [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|the Warp]] in orbit around a planet at random. While the Space Hulks themselves (usually) aren't a threat, they can serve as hideaways for [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orks]], [[The Corruption|Daemons]], or [[Bug War|Genestealers]].
** And, on one occasion, the tattered remnants [[Defector From Decadence|of a renegade Space Marine chapter]].
* The title ship in ''[[Alternity]]'''s ''[[Star*Drive]]'' setting adventure "The Last Warhulk".
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* [[Infocom]]'s [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''Starcross'' is about the player discovering and exploring one of these.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' has the Mass Relays, giant space constructs believed to be left behind by the [[Precursors]]. While they are the definite means of interstellar travel for the humans and other races, they are also {{spoiler|part of the [[Abusive Precursors]]' omnicidal plans}}. The Citadel station applies as well.
* The ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' game ''A Final Unity'' has the titular Unity Device, which has all the earmarks of one of these. It's actually {{spoiler|a Dyson Sphere created by the Chodak to hold their vast galactic empire together by manipulating the very fabric of reality; it has the power not only to destroy an entire fleet, but to eliminate or create ''an entire species.'' A group of Chodak rebels, worried about the damage being done to reality, gained control of it and disappeared along with the device itself. When the rebels bonded with it, it ceased to be a Big Dumb Object and became a living one. At the game's best ending, Picard chooses not to wield its massive power to destroy the Borg, and it vanishes again to continue its peaceful mission of repairing rifts in the space-time continuum.}}
* The entire ''[[Xenosaga]]'' trilogy's main plot is driven by the Zohar.
* ''[[Shores of Hazeron]]'' has the Ringworlds, massive ringworlds left behind by unknown objects. These are fully colonizable and can have multiple cities.
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** In the original [[Comic Book]] series, Cybertron was described as a natural planet where [[Mechanical Evolution|naturally-occurring gears and pulleys evolved into sentient mechanical forms]]. This was later revoked by [[Retcon]], however.
** Cybertron itself was ultimately revealed to be [[Genius Loci|no ordinary planet]]...
* The ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series|Star Trek the Animated Series]]'' episode "Beyond the Farthest Start" featured an alien podship a mile long and 300 million years old whose pods were exploded from the inside. The ship's insectoid crew left behind only a message warning of an invasive being that forced them to self-destruct rather than bringing it to their homeworld, which the mains take down fairly easily.
** The same ship (or a very similar one) is a level in the ''[[Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (video game)|Star Trek: 25th Anniversary]]'' point-and-click adventure game. Instead of the invader it is occupied only by the trader called Mudd, who has legally established salvage rights. The cause of its destruction is not discovered, but there are plenty of pirates in the area.
* ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' featured a tremendously old alien colossus that landed on Earth and was fed by heat. Its original purpose was as a construction tool.
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
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