Space Pirates: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

It's not as anachronistic as it might seem. After all, pirates themselves <ref>Now referred to by many governments as maritime terrorists</ref> have made a [[Real Life]] comeback in Somalia and South East Asia, and it's a lucrative enough "business" that it's taken a multinational military response to fight back. Surely an established society in outer space with significant trade and commerce would suffer similar problems!

 

As with Pirates in general, there are two kinds of Space Pirates in science fiction:

 

{{examples}}

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Captain Harlock]]'', a [[Loveable Rogue]] space pirate who has also appeared in other works of [[Leiji Matsumoto]]. The second version. His ship is a [[Military Mashup Machine]] with a submarine prow, a battleship body and a galleon rear. The [[Leiji Matsumoto|Leijiverse]] also has Emeraldas, who sails the Sea of Stars in a frigate attached to a dirigible.

* Buichi Terasawa's ''Cobra'' is also the second version. He is slightly less altruistic and noble-minded than Harlock, being mostly in it for his own interest, but he is also a hero, and has some morals and is better than an organized Guild of pirates that are his archenemies.

* Cleo and his crew in ''[[Glass Fleet]]'' are more or less space pirates.

* The ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' spinoff series ''[[Gundam SEED Astray]]'' reveals a surprising number of pirates operating at the fringes of the SEED universe.

** It gets even crazier. The titular Gundam has X-shaped thrusters (though they're actually practical), a beam cutlass and daggers instead of the standard saber, a beam gun shaped like a flintlock pistol, a targeting lens shaped like an eye patch and an extra antenna on its head modeled after a feather. Apparently just sporting the Jolly Roger insignia on its forehead wasn't enough for Hajime Katoki.

*** This actually gets a [[Lampshade]] in the side manga ''Skull Heart'', where we're shown the Crossbone Gundam shortly after it's finished, and one of the pilots, Umon Samon, suggests adding the familiar pirate elements (like a skull and crossbones on the forehead). The Gundam's pilot Kinkaid Nau teasingly asks "Isn't that a little much?", to which the other man says "Well, if going to be space pirates, we might as well run with it!"

**** As a minor note, Umon had been inspired by a Dom pilot he fought at the Battle of Solomon in the One Year War, who used a skull and crossbones as his insignia.

* ''[[Oban Star-Racers]]'' has Lord Furter, a comical example most notable for his incompetence and non-threatening appearance, even though both he and his crew seem to think he's the most bad-ass thing ever. He's also self-aware. "I'm [[Boarding Party|boarding]] your ship! That's what pirates do, we board ships!"

* ''[[Sol Bianca]]'', also the name of the ship that serves as both the home and the interstellar headquarters for an all-female band of notorious space pirates.

* The main characters of ''[[Vandread]]'' are female examples of this trope.

* ''Space Pirate Mito''.

* They are seen in ''[[Kurau Phantom Memory]]'' when Kurau and Christmas attempt to return to earth from the colonized moon.

* ''[[Bodacious Space Pirates]]'' (aka ''Mōrestu Pirates''), as might be deduced from the title. They are definitely of the second variety, with the tons of [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to other similar shows, including ''[[Captain Harlock]]''.

 

* During his first abortive return to the main X-titles in 2000, Chris Claremont introduced a vast number of new characters. They were given the umbrella term "the Neo", and most of them were possessed of an extremely fragile glass jaw (since they tended just to turn up, say their names and give a description of their powers in typical Claremontian fashion, and then get punched into oblivion, never to be seen again). Amongst the Neo was a faction of slave traders called the Crimson Pirates, one member of which actually had a giant comedy cannon on his shoulder. No, really.

* Captain Fate in the [[Marvel Universe]] is a [[Flying Dutchman]] [[Space Pirate]]. He occasionally visits Earth and acts as a [[Sky Pirate]].

* In ''[[Wonder Woman]]'', the "Silver Serpent" saga featured an [[Amazon Brigade|all female cadre]] of Space Pirates who travel from planet to planet to steal that world's technology, recruit a small group of the females for membership and the remainder of the planet's people for food stock.

* The Uralian Space Pirates, from ''Crusader from Mars''.

* Space Smith, from ''Fantastic Comics'', often fought Space Pirates.

* Disney's ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', being ''Treasure Island'' [[Recycled in Space]]. And it was ''awesome''.

* ''[[The Ice Pirates]]'' was a [[So Bad It's Good]] '80s sci fi adventure film where the protagonists were...you guessed it...interstellar pirates looking for water.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' references to "Corellian Pirate Ships". And Han Solo ''is'' a smuggler.

* In ''[[The American Astronaut]]'' the Blueberry Pirate [[Only Electric Sheep Are Cheap|steals and bootlegs fruit]] across the solar system.

* ''[[Battle Beyond the Stars]]''. We're first introduced to [[Space Trucker]] Cowboy being attacked by jackers who are blasting his ship with laser fire in order to wear down the shields, whereupon they'll blast him and steal his cargo. Cowboy responds by [[Face Death with Dignity|laconically calling for help]] and playing a [[Captivity Harmonica]].

* ''[[Space Truckers]]'' has the protagonists go "off-road" in order to avoid being stopped by the authorities but end up getting captured by a giant pirate ship, which literally swallows them. These pirates were of the second, [[Recycled in Space]] type, complete with cybernetic false limbs and a skull-and-crossbones flag.

 

== Literature ==

* The impossibility of space piracy and the trick Julian Forward uses to make it work is central to the plot of [[Larry Niven]]'s "The Borderlands of Sol".

* In [[Poul Anderson]] and [[Gordon R. Dickson]]'s ''[[Hoka]]'' stories, when the Hokas set out to emulate a Space Patrol, Alex has horrified visions of their being tried for piracy. He's not even sure that hanging isn't still in effect as the approved form of punishment.

* [[Lucky Starr]] confronts space pirates in the juvenile novel ''Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids'' by [[Isaac Asimov]].

* ''Consider Phlebas'' (the first [[The Culture|Culture]] novel by Ian M. Banks). The crew of the ''Clear Air Turbulence'' are ostensibly [[Private Military Contractors]], but are actually just a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] raiding whatever they think will be vulnerable. Seeing as they're carrying out their activities amidst the chaos of an intragalactic war, that tends not to be very much.

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga]], Miles' Dendarii Mercenary Fleet gets hired to rescue hostages from hijackers. Also, in the later books, the Barrayaran Fleet is put to use as bodyguards for Komarran merchants. This is a win-win for both parts, since the Komarrans get protected by an army with a reputation for ruthlesness and the Barrayarans get to give good military training to their soldiers, without needing to declare war on anybody.

* The ''Vatta's War'' series, by [[Elizabeth Moon]], features pirates as well. In this case, they are usually only a major problem if you venture off the charted and patrolled space routes. This changes when the Pirates form a large organized fleet, leading to the creation of first an ad-hoc fleet of privateers, and later {{spoiler|an alliance of different navies (including what amount to a large corporate security space force and a [[Private Military Contractor]] with its own fleet of warships). The formation of such alliances is only made possible with the development of technology for ship-to-ship faster than light communications.}}

''Well, screw you all, we'll '''earn''' the motherless name!''|"Mazianni", lyrics by [[Mercedes Lackey]]}}

** On the other side of Earth, the [[Starfish Aliens|knnn]] might qualify, if they had enough concepts in common with oxygen breathers to be able to formulate the idea. They used to force their way onto stations and take what they want; after lengthy negotiations through t'ca/chi intermediaries, now they take what they want and leave something behind. Among oxy-breathers, the kif, who see every action as a bid for dominance, turn out to make excellent pirates.

* ''[[Honor Harrington]]''. Among the nastiest things they do is [[Thrown Out the Airlock|throw people into space as a means of execution]], which is widely regarded as an unforgivable atrocity. Space piracy is the major raison d'etre for military power in times of peace, and plays heavily in the various works of fiction. It typically serves as a place for new characters to "start off small" in deadly, but relatively low-stakes, combat (prior to the war with Haven, anti-piracy operations in Silesia were the primary source of combat training for RMN personnel). They also tend to come up as disposable pawns in Mesa's latest [[Evil Plan]]. Space pirates are ''never'' portrayed the least bit sympathetically. Piracy is universally a capital crime, and for excellent reasons.

** It may be worth noting that many of the pirates operate under an agreement with a local polity. In Silesia, it is not uncommon to turn over a batch of recently captured pirates to the local government, and then six months later the same pirates have a new ship and are back in action. The local government is basically taking a bribe to ignore the piracy, or has funded the pirates to plunder shipping from richer nations (I.E. Manticorian shipping would carry batter goods that the government can buy through normal means) and will turn a blind eye to rape and murder to gain such benefits.

** Piracy is also a career of choice for military units from non-existent governments. After the Saint-Just dictatorship is defeated State Security forces go into piracy and merch work. Some get hired by Mesa, while at least one set of battleships finds a small planet to set up a local lords. In fact the first armed ships in the Honorverse were pirates with space navies being created to counter them.

* In [[Peter F. Hamilton]]'s ''Fallen Dragon'' the mega-corporations on Earth which funded the establishment of interstellar colonies are beginning to decline, so they now make a profit by 'asset realization' -- [[Colony Drop|turning up in orbit and implying they'll blast the colony]] if the colonists don't hand over various manufactured goods, leaving information on the latest Earth technologies as compensation, then returning several years later to do the same thing again once the colonists have upgraded their technology and gotten back on their feet.

* The Fat Men in [[Daniel Pinkwater]]'s ''Fat Men from Space'' act as a variation on type 1, closer to a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]] in that they invade a planet, steal the junk food, then force the inhabitants to prepare more of it until the raw materials thereof are at dangerously low levels before they leave. They return in ''Slaves of Spiegel'', where they [[Alien Abduction|abduct]] the greatest junk food chefs of the galaxy to compete in a [[Cooking Duel]].

** The pirates' ''modus operandi'' deserves special mention here, too. Falcone, their de facto leader, was an ex [[Space Marine]]. He left because he thought the government of EarthHub was a little too civil, and saw a lot of opportunities to make his own empire out in deep space. He also believed absolute loyalty could be achieved by raising his "protégés" from early childhood. Of course, no one told him that ritualistic child abuse would maybe, possibly undermine what he was trying to do. In the end, {{spoiler|he dies at the hands of one of his ex proteges, and before this moment, spent much of his life on the run from a different protege. The man made his own enemies.}}

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has more than a few, most of them overlapping with information brokers and smugglers. Some Space Pirates are slavers. Since most interstellar travel in Star Wars has charted routes and it's considered dangerous to split away from them, and Space Pirates actually tend to strike planets and ships going to and from planets, it's basically justified. A merchant who had found a way to avoid the pirates lying in wait around a planet unfortunately bragged about this. By the way, if you're wondering why Han Solo wasn't able to use his reward for saving Leia to pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt? A space pirate stole the money from him.

** The [[X Wing Series|Wraiths]], aware that the [[Big Bad]] was hiring pirates to harass his enemies, succeeded at [[The Infiltration]] by posing as a pirate band called the Hawk-Bats which focused on a system in Imperial territory, doing things like breaking into a hangar to steal TIE fighters, preying on merchants, and, once, robbing a bank. They had so much fun doing so that Wedge felt it necessary to remind his men that they weren't, in fact, actual pirates.

** Some Star Wars pirates play more to the cliches than others. For example, the space pirate Raskar loves every swashbuckling trope there is, and even carries a "lightfoil" (a relatively low-quality, short-hilt lightsaber otherwise mostly popular among Sith-wannabe noblemen of the Tapani sector) despite unauthorized ownership of anything that could be seen as "Jedi paraphernalia" being a death penalty offense in the Empire.

* [[Stationery Voyagers|The Yehtzig Pirate League]]. But they're more like [[Religion of Evil|devil-worshiping]] space terrorists, who otherwise, seem to have as their [[Terrorists Without a Cause|only motive]] a fetish for [[Love Potion|date rape]] and [[Stuff Blowing Up|blowing stuff up]].

* Averted in Eric Frank Russell's "And Then There Were None": interstellar travel is so prohibitively expensive that a would-be pirate has to become a millionaire first.

* [[H. Beam Piper]] took this trope one step further in his book ''Space Viking''. That's right. Vikings, [[In Space]]!

* Type one shows up in the first part of [[Lensman|Triplanetary]], and have no qualms with filling the ventilation system of a passenger liner with nerve gas.

** As the [[Lensman]] series goes on, however, the Pirates of Boskone start to shift more and more toward the role of Type Two. At least, until the [[Lensman Arms Race]] wipes them out with faster-than-light antimatter planets.

* The Ben Bova novel Privateers had an interesting variation on this. Set in a future where the Soviet Union gained a "Star Wars" anti-ballistic-missile system first and nuked Paris, effectively dominating all the world except the United States (which is thrust into a massive recession by refusing to knuckle under) the novel revolves around American cosmonauts (all space travelers were called as such because the USSR dominated space travel) trying to restore American power and liberate Europe from their communist oppressors by highjacking soviet asteroid mining facilitis. Sadly Worse than it Sounds.

* Jack Crow, the first-person protagonist in ''Armor'' by John Steakley.

* ''[[There and Back Again]]'' by Pat Murphy has a few different versions, including a ship whose crew explicitly call themselves pirates, and whose captain takes on the pseudonym "Blackbeard". The novel is set in a galaxy with a [[Portal Network]], and the pirates all tend to hang around the entrances of wormholes to avoid the scale problems mentioned in the trope description.

** The first kind of space pirates appear in the serial "The Space Pirates".

** The Captain of "The Pirate Planet" in the serial of the same name. Cybernetic eye and robot parrot (the Polyphase Aviatron).

** The ending of "Curse of the Black Spot" in which a crew of regular 17th century pirates end up taking over an abandoned space ship. We are never told if they remain pirates or use their new ship for legitimate purposes.

** ''[[Doctor Who S 17 E 5 The Horns Of Nimon|The Horns of Nimon]]'' sees the Doctor and Romana accused of this.

*** Captain Kaliko and her oil-rig raiders in the ''Totally Doctor Who'' animation "The Infinity Quest". Baltazar in the same story fits the trope to some extent, if only because he has a robot parrot.

*** The novel ''The Resurrection Casket'' features robotic space pirates, and some extremely reminiscent, not to say [[Recycled in Space|recycled]], names and/or characters. (Let's just say it involves a young lad named "Jimm" and "Captain Glint's treasure" and leave it there...)

* There is actually a children's TV show on [[The BBC]] called ''Space Pirates'', although the pirates in question are actually an unlicenced radio station. This doesn't stop them having a captain with a skull-and-crossbones hat and a robot parrot.

* The Reavers from ''[[Firefly]]'', whose typical method of raiding involves raping victims to death, eating their flesh, and sewing their skins to their clothing. The luckier ones get it in ''that'' order. Really, they are [[Space Romans|Space Vikings]] if all of the awful rumors about Medieval vikings had been true.

** As well, the crew of ''Serenity'' herself are referred to as pirates on occasion.

*** There are regular pirates as well, though they generally just let you come to them (with some prodding from/of an accomplice).

* ''[[Star Trek]]''

** The Nausicaans.

* Popular preschool kids show ''Space Pirates''. They run a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|pirate radio station]] from a space-travelling galleon. The captain and crew also wear pirate costumes.[[Ear Worm|"Naa Nana Na Na! SPACE PIRATES! Naa Nana Nana Na! SPACE PIRATES!"]]

* And who could forget [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLQLJF7FWU8 John Cleese] in ''[[The Muppet Show]]''?

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Ork Freebooter bands are type two space pirates, and like hats and bandanas and fly the Jolly Ork. Examples include flash git Kaptin Badrukk, while the most recent ''[[Dawn of War]] II'' expansion gives us Kaptin Bludflagg, who cuts through scores of Imperials and aliens, culminating in a battle with a daemon prince and an inquisitor on the same day, all so he can claim the inquisitor's [[Nice Hat]].

** In Graham McNeill's [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Nightbringer'', a Dark Eldar pirate is raiding the vessel carrying the Space Marines.

* Piracy is alive and well in the ''[[BattleTech]]'' universe due to the relative ease of capturing most recharging JumpShips, though actual independent pirate and bandit groups are seen more in the Periphery beyond the reach of either the Clans or the Great Houses. They don't so much attack civilian shipping as they raid poorly defended worlds directly, though.

* Piracy is part of the ''[[Traveller]]'' universe, and pirates vary widely. The most notable variety are the Vargr corsairs which have considerable force behind them and are considered a respectable profession by other Vargr who are willing to shelter them. This makes them kind of like Barbary Pirates in space.

* The Galactic Marauders from the ''[[Champions]]'' sourcebook ''Alien Enemies''.

* [[Star Fleet Battles]] has the Orion Pirates, a whole race (in a game where 'race' means a playable faction) of space pirates, of the first type (although the picture in the write-up shows a humanoid with a patch-like prosthetic eye, so some apparently affect elements of the second type). They also do mercenary work (particularly when prolonged war has stretched normal militaries thin, and convoys tend to be better protected) and have even been known to run cargo for actually legitimate businesses and governments on occasion.

* ''[[Elite]]'', one of the earliest space trading games, featured pirates who would attack you between hyperspace jump-points and your destination. Or you could become a pirate yourself.

* ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' and its sequels has a lot of pirates. EV has straight up pirates, EVO has the Renegades and Strandless, Nova has pirates, marauders (weak pirates hated by everyone, including [[Even Evil Has Standards|other pirates]]), the Guild (a more organized group with a semi-legal veneer), the Association (technically; they are the Pirates mentioned below as being one of the major mission strings, only they aren't so much pirates as semi-legal free traders that [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]] with ''actual'' pirates and smuggle stuff because [[The Federation]]'s laws are blatantly [[Mega Corp]]-slanted) and Houseless (Auroran [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|Ronin]] pirates). It's also notable that you can ''be'' a pirate in any of the EV games. EVN even made it one of the possible primary mission strings. You could also attack, disable, board, steal from, and even ''hijack'' (basically everything the pirates themselves do) [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|the pirate's own ships]] without getting a bad rep for it. They had some serious cash, too...

** The primary reason for this is the practical impossibility of capturing ships in the game. The pirates are pretty much limited to blowing their prey up and then scavenging the debris for anything of value. Most of the valuable cargo is destroyed in the process. The only piracy is even viable in the game is because you have no fuel, maintenance or living costs so your only expense is cheap ammo.

** Hilariously enough, players seem to have no problem roleplaying themselves as either of the two varieties.

* In PS2 game ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'' the heroes are space pirates.

* In the 'Seasons' expansion pack for ''[[The Sims 2]]'', space pirates {{spoiler|are the highest position on the 'Adventurer' career track}}. And yes, they wear pirate hats.

** In the ''Diplomacy'' [[Expansion Pack]], you can offer missions to pirates outside of their normal "raiding schedule".

** There is a bit of a bug in the game. At the start of a raid, the pirates pick a colony belonging to a player with the highest bounty. If said colony is captured by another player while they're flying to it, they'll ''still'' attack it.

** The pirate ships are actually modified TEC frigates and cruisers (lacking special abilities and shields, but with the ability to steal money from their victims), which makes sense, given that the TEC, story-wise, is the largest and most diverse faction and the story has the war taking place entirely in their space. Luckily, they can't field capital ships.

* ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]: The Dark Brotherhood'' includes a sidequest involving Space Pirates, with Rouge [[Lampshade Hanging|mocking the guy]] for his [[Talk Like a Pirate|traditional piratey speech]].

* ''[[Spore]]''. Alert: Hostile UFOs are attacking planet Nortaxesir! Alert: Pirates are stealing your spice on planet Nortaxesir! And on planet Oremastiz! Planet Quaralax too! And guess what? Your allies with a much vaster empire than you need your help killing a half-dozen animals that are carrying a deadly disease!

* A little know (and proabaly for the best) [[Full Motion Video|FMV]] Light Gun game called... ''Space Pirates''.

* The Palm OS game ''[[wikipedia:Space Trader (Palm OS)|Space Trader]]'' has these in droves. The player can even become one, if they want, but it comes with some side effects (like losing 10% of your profits when you can no longer sell your goods in person).

* ''[[Star Trek Starfleet Command]]'' features occasional random encounters with the Orion Pirates, complete with [[Crowning Music of Awesome|awesome]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOSuFia9K2w pirate-y theme].

** Random nothing - those are ''other players''. They look like random encounter ships because ([[All There in the Manual|according to the fluff]]) raiding parties fly without colors to avoid diplomatic fallout (you can even harass AI allies and they won't figure it out, even if you're the only faction of a race in play). It also states that Humans and Zuul use regular relativity engines when trading and raiding as trade posts in a sector are guaranteed to be connected by node lines (and in the case of Zuul, a dedicated node ripper would be prohibitively expensive).

** The manual also takes pains to explain the logistics of space piracy: first, trade is conducted within one of a regular grid of sectors, so raiders know roughly where to look. And only a part of the attacking fleet will ever participate in a raid, as they spread out to catch something and only some can arrive in time; on the other hand, the entire defense fleet will naturally be present. Also, the Hivers cannot raid since they lack any FTL and will never catch anything, but their traders can only be intercept in orbit as they use hyperspace gates to get instantly from colony to colony.

* ''[[Tachyon the Fringe]]'' has many pirate groups, most of them located in the lawless Fringe (which makes up everything outside of Sol). The most famous of these are the Blood Clan pirates, led by Redship Rory, famous for painting their ships with the blood of their enemies. The Scavs are pirates but tend to be friendly with the [[La Résistance|Bora]], as they hate [[Mega Corp|MegaCorps]]. The Void Runners are more mercenaries than pirates and frequently work for GalSpan, although they don't shy away from piracy. The Demon Pirates are pirates [[In Name Only]], as they are crazed religious fanatics living in the strange fog of the Twilight region, killing any passerby.

* [[The Babylon Project]] expands on the raiders of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' mentioned above, allowing you to play a campaign where you're warring against them, or play a campaign where you're one of them.

* Karlina and Jayson in ''[[Warp Force]]'', who freeze a planet in order to store more water as ice and sell it for profit, killing most of the animals designed for warm-climate while doing so. They speak in [[Talk Like a Pirate|pirate accents]].

* ''[[Star Ruler]]'' has these. They pop up from nowhere and raid your systems, blockading them if you enable that option.

* In ''[[Halo]]'', although it hasn't been shown in-game, the Kig-Yar<ref>a.k.a. Jackals</ref> are said to have been space pirates before joining The Covenant. Part of the novel ''[[Contact Harvest]]'' takes place aboard a Kig-Yar pirate vessel.

* The pirate clans in the ''[[X Universe]]'' have gotten to the point where they've become [[NGO Superpower|N.G.O. Superpowers]], with capital ships and space stations constructed out of kitbashed derelicts. Rather than trying to exterminate them (they respawn at their home base), advanced players generally work to befriend them by selling them [[Fantastic Drug|spaceweed and space fuel]]. Ditto the Yaki, who are space pirates for all intents and purposes, though they use a motif of [[Yakuza]] <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small>

 

 

** Not to mention that they were kidnapping people and sticking them in their hold for ''time''. It's also made clear that there are about a million easier ways to do it, but 1) pirates are anti-social, so they don't want live in the villages necessary to survive normally, and 2) {{spoiler|they're all a bunch of nerds acting out pirate fantasies.}}

*** What's made clear is that there are ''two'' ways to do it, neither of which are necessarily easy as both have their problems. Even the ones who choose the community-building method aren't above piracy on those not with the in-group.

** Cutter Edgewise himself was a former Pirate Science officer. These man the Rum Sensors.

* The Webcomic ''[[I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space]]'' features a girl who was... well, just that.

* The webcomic ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' has the Pirates of Ipecac, who resemble giant lobsters.

* The webcomic [http://zeera.comicgenesis.com ''Zeera The Space Pirate''] is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

** Except for the fact {{spoiler|she never quite gets around to committing any acts of piracy.}}

* Type 1 space pirates are said to have occurred in ''[[SSDD]]'', and is why there was an ancient CORE station orbiting Uranus at the start of the SSDF arc. But once the mineral resources of the outer system dried up piracy ceased to become profitable.

* King Hippo relates a story to ''[[Captain SNES]]'' about the time he raided the space pirates who built Mother Brain... the ''[[Captain N]]'' version. They came complete with Space Booty and Space-Yarrs.

* In ''[[Far From Home]]'', they capture the heroes of the [[Show Within a Show]].

 

== Web Originals ==

* The browser game ''[[Star Pirates]]'' is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]], from digging through orbital debris to attacking other players and everything between.

* ''Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers'', a fan parody of ''[[Power Rangers]]'' and emo culture, has an episode where the Emo Rangers battle the Rave Pirates from outer space, who have come to infect earth teenagers with their "New Rave"

== Western Animation ==

* Long John Silver the 23rd in the ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' episode "Shiver Me Dodgers".

* ''[[Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors]]'' had [[Amazon Brigade|an all-female crew]] of the second type in one episode, but they decided to [[Heel Face Turn|go good]] at the end.

* The Pirate Clans of ''[[Exo Squad]]''

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]