Sapient Cetaceans: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[SeaQuest DSV]]'', Ensign Darwin is a dolphin crew member of the titular submarine. He can speak [[You No Take Candle|passable english]] thanks to a translator device hooked to the ships computer, and is considered an honorary ensign in the Navy.

** A few episodes involve them telling Darwin what to do, such as "playing" with automated submarine drones, causing them to crash into each other.

** In ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'', an alien probe is sent to Earth to re-establish relations between an alien race and humpback whales. Seems they didn't know that in the meantime human civilization had risen and {{spoiler|caused the extinction of humpbacks sometime before 2286.}}

* Parodied during a skit in the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000|MST3K]]'' episode "Devilfish". Mike and the bots make the mistake of talking disparagingly about dolphins—only to have a "Dolphin Mothership" show up and start attacking them. It takes some serious kissing up in order to get them to leave. (Later on Mike and the bots start talking smack about electricians, only to discover that they have a mutual protection pact with the dolphins. Whoops.)

* In the candid camera show ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' one victim is actually convinced that a dolphin can speak using a robotic-sounding translator. The dolphin asks to make a cellphone call to his girlfriend in another tank. It's really well-done, enough so that the mark actually accepts this, until the dolphin starts talking about their secret plans to overthrow the world, losing much of its credibility.

* In ''[[Blue Rose]]'', you can play a sapient, telepathic dolphin PC, or play a human who has one as a [[Bond Creature]].

* One early RPG inspired by Niven's [[Known Space]] novels had omitted rules for dolphin characters, but an article in ''Dragon'' corrected that, introducing such necessities as water-filled space suits and strap-on robotic arms.

** Some [[Space Whale]]s in ''[[Spelljammer]]'' (Delphinids and Great Dreamers).

** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' has a lot of cetaceans in the Sea of Fallen Stars sentient (many of them spellcasting - bard type magic works just fine with whalesong) or semisentient; most of the rest are domesticated by underwater races. Also, gods often have their own uses for sentient whales. The Earthmother even keeps a Leviathan as her powered-up (and beefed up, above and beyond their "usual" enormous size) divine minion.

[[Category:Aquatic Animal Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Dolphins, Dolphins, Everywhere]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]