No Seat Belts: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Lister:''' Fasten your belt!<br />

'''Cat:''' Hey I do ''not'' need fashion tips from you!<br />

'''Lister:''' ''Safety'' belt!|'''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'''}}

There are '''No Seat Belts''' on the [[Cool Ship]] (when there are even ''seats''), particularly not on [[The Bridge]]. Whenever the ship is hit by [[Energy Weapons]], even if the [[Deflector Shields]] hold, everyone on board will be flung about by the [[Star TrekScreen Shake]]. Either the designers assumed that [[Space Is an Ocean]], or everyone has a standing battle station.

''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek]]: [[The Movie|The Motion Picture]]'' did a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on this, giving [[The Captain]] a chair whose arms folded down to function as a seat belt. Kirk wound up being tossed around anyway despite this. ''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' also had an impressive sequence of the bridge crew aboard the Excelsior buckling up in similar fashion before activating the transwarp drive -- whichdrive—which instantly [[Phlebotinum Breakdown|broke down]].

* Inconsistently done in the ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' franchise, which can'tvaries seemby to make up itsthe mindseries if Mobile Suits have seat belts or not. MostAverted notablyin the original, where Amuro being thrown around despite a cross harness is heavily re-used [[Stock Footage]]. avertedAverted in ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (Anime)|Victory Gundam]]'', where all mobile suits have a fairly sizable, inflatable lap restraint that expands to cover the torso in an emergancyemergency. [[G Gundam]] has all pilots ''standing'' but the mobile trace system seems to serve as some form of restraint, almost killing a kid who isn't used to the pressure it exerts.

* Averted in ''[[Star Trek III: the Search For Spock (Film)|Star Trek III theThe Search For Spock]],'' where the arms of the chairs on the ''Excelsior'' folded down to become essentially a safety bar.

* There was a scene at the end of ''[[Star Trek Nemesis (Film)|Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', cut from the final version, where Picard enters the bridge to find some techies installing a new captain's chair. It includes an automatic seat belt of sorts; a pleased Picard notes that [[Lampshade Hanging|"it's about time!"]]

* Averted in ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'', where, as the title ship is [[Coming in Hot]], everyone ''does'' strap down.

* There are seat belts on the Space Ball One in ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]''. However, do not expect Lord Helmet to use one.

* ''[[The Fast and Thethe Furious]]'': Oddly enough, the lack of seat belt use seems to have little effect on [[Rule of Cool|anyone's ability to survive catastrophic crashes]].

== [[Literature]] ==

* Averted, then subverted in the ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' novel [[Star Trek: Millennium|''War of the Prophets'']]. The future starship ''Phoenix'' has effective seat restraints, even though the Federation is falling apart and the universe is about to end. They're so effective, Captain Nog uses them to restrain the bridge crew so he can sell them and the ship out to the Romulans. (He has a very good reason.)

* Averted in the ''[[Star Trek: Titan]]'' series, then [[Double Subverted]] when only Riker (The belts work perfectly for Vale and Troi) gets thrown to the floor anyway as he wasn't sitting down when they were hit, leading him to note "Obviously the lesson here is to stay in my chair".

* Subverted in Larry Niven's later ''[[Known Space]]'' stories: No one uses or even needs seatbelts since every vehicle in the universe is comprehensively equipped with outrageously effective automatic safety, restraint and crash protection systems. Who need a seatbelt when your driver's seat has a built-in force field?

* Very definitely averted in ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]]'', where warships' duty station seats have full-up shock frames to hold the crew in place -- whichplace—which come in handy when you take a [[Frickin' Laser Beams|graser]] hit near the bridge. Not so much when you take one to the inertial compensator; everyone on the ship is instantly turned to "strawberry jam".

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' "The Satan Pit" features seat belts in the rocket (they're even plot relevant...). Mind you, they're not the kind of seatbelts you'd usually find in a spaceship (this was a production oversight).

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' when the team gets severely knocked around while on board a Goa'uld shuttle:

{{quote| '''Daniel Jackson:''' You'd think a race smart enough to fly across the galaxy would be smart enough to have seatbelts.}}

* Referenced by name in the ''[[Andromeda]]'' episode 'Belly of the Beast', made by Beka after she is tossed around the bridge in yet another explosion.

* ''[[Halo]]'': At the end of the first mission, Master Chief and Cortana get into an escape pod with a group of [[Red Shirts|Marines and crewmembers]]. Cortana suggests that Master Chief strap in, but he merely braces himself and says "We'll be fine." MC and Cortana are the only survivors when the escape pod lands. [[Fridge Logic]] and [[Fridge Horror]] would suggest that this is because Master Chief [[Grievous Harm Withwith a Body|killed everybody else by bouncing around in the cabin when they landed]].

* In ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'', Black Mage made a similar comment and carried out the same actions as Bender did in the ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' episode "Roswell That Ends Well". However, this was his plan (that he would be thrown clear of the burning wreckage). Of course, the [[Word of God|fact]] that {{spoiler|the [[The Chew Toy|universe hates Black Mage]] meant that he was immediately crushed by a giant, and the others escaped thanks to quick thinking on the part of [[Genius Ditz|Red Mage]] (for further irony, this was at the cost of the very items that could have saved Black Mage from his predicament).}}

* Spoofed in ''Sev Trek: Puss in Boots'', an Australian 3D animated send-up of ''[[Star Trek: the Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek theThe Next Generation]]''. After sitting down in his [[Cool Chair|Captain's Chair]], Captain Jetlag Pinchhard pulls across a seatbelt. Later when the Enterforaprize runs into another ship, airbags inflate from the consoles, but one of those ensigns who are always standing around at the back of the bridge goes flying through the air.