Spaceship Girl: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A walking, talking female avatar of a [[Sapient Ship]].

 

{{examples}}

* [[Arpeggio of Blue Steel]]

* ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'': the ship [[media:1143698982844.jpg|Jan-puu]], who crashes into Hazumu, is the ditzy and affectionate type. She considers the crash that killed Hazumu and set the series in motion to be her first kiss.

* Kate Rose from [[Trinity Blood]] she is the basically the AI of the [[Flying Ship]] "The Iron maiden", although she's also a [[Wetware CPU]] whose body is commatose, she's been inside the ship for so long that she often refers to the parts of the ship as if they were her own appendages

 

* In the [[Cross Gen]] title ''Sigil'', a female character remains a hologram tied to the ship's computer throughout the series.

* In [[Runaways]], when the group gets back together after {{spoiler|the death of the Pride}}, Chase insists that the Leapfrog is a he, as there is enough estrogen on the team already, thank you very much.

** In the ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' strip "A Life of Matter and Death", the TARDIS manifests a mental projection of herself in the form of a veiled grey lady.

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* [[Older Than They Think]]; the Harryhausen version of ''[[Jason and the Argonauts]]'' has the Argo's figurehead of Hera speak to Jason to give him advice. This detail wasn't in the original story, however.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** ''The Ship Who Searched'' by [[Mercedes Lackey]] {{spoiler|featured a brainship who financed the creation of a remote-operated android accessory so she could be her human partner's... [[Robosexual|partner]]}}.

** Another book from that series has a brainship who had gone through a terrible traumatic event; in [[There Are No Therapists|therapy]] a counselor had her channel her emotions and frustrations into art, and eventually had her create a self portrait. He expected her to paint a projection of herself as a human, if she hadn't had the genetic defects that landed her in a brainship, but she painted her shipself with some anthropomorphic elements.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novels, ultra-advanced TARDISes from the future could use their chameleon circuits to take human form. The one we meet appears as an attractive young woman (in an amusing [[Continuity Nod]] we're told she was once stuck as a 1960s policewoman). The Doctor's cyborg companion Compassion later takes on characteristics of the TARDIS and became the prototype for the class.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier]]'' portion of the [[Expanded Universe]]:

** Xyon's ship is controlled by a female personality that was apparently a criminal before her death.

* Perhonen, Mieli's [[Cool Ship]] in Hannu Rajaniemi's ''[[The Quantum Thief]]'' manifests as [[Bilingual Bonus|holographic butterflies]], but her voice and personality are distinctly female. The protagonist even assumes that [[Les Yay|she and Mieli]] [[Cargo Ship|are lovers]], but Perhonen explains that they are just good friends.

 

* ''[[Andromeda]]'' and the titular starship, with her holographic and robotic avatars: Rommie, the ship's AI given an android body. The ship's AI also looks like Rommie, though the two became separate characters to a degree. Most of the High Guard ships of her class seen in the series had female avatars (with the explanation being that humans and a number of other species prefer female avatars), though we have had several on-screen examples of male AIs, usually portrayed by someone who appeared on [[Stargate SG-1]] or [[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]].

** The only real difference between Rommie and the ship was that the android avatar experienced emotions. When Rommie is destroyed, Harper creates a new Android named Doyle from the leftover parts, who thus has the same access codes as Rommie. She and Andromeda get into a fight over who should control the ship, thus proving their completely separate identities.

** "Alice" in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. [[Clingy Jealous Girl|To]] [[Stalker with a Crush|a]] very uncomfortable [[Ax Crazy|extent]].

*** There was a similar episode where B'Elanna had to persuade a rogue Interplanetary Missile Girl that it was [[Colony Drop|targeting a noncombatant world]]. It wasn't just any girl, either - she'd reprogrammed it herself, and given it her own voice (the old voice was a Cardassian male which annoyed her).

* ''Moya'' on ''[[Farscape]]'' is a Leviathan, one of a race of [[Organic Technology|living ships]]. She even gives birth to a bouncing baby spaceship. Other Leviathans, of both genders, (with mixed-gender pilots, sometimes) also showed up.

** Except Moya isn't an "avatar" of herself—if anything, Pilot should serve this role, since he generally is the channel through which the crew interacts with Moya. He's also about as far as you can get from a cute girl...

* Gypsy from [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]], who was directly wired into the Satellite of Love and controlled its higher functions. A more literal example was the Magic Voice.

* Sandstrom from [[Hyperdrive]].

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

*** Given that the VI is voiced by [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1065454/ Tricia Helfer], it's understandable.

*** Oddly enough, though, the simple avatar avoids the [[Uncanny Valley]] issue and instead becomes [[Moe Moe]].

** In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', EDI is {{spoiler|[[Ascended Extra|promoted to full squad status]] by virtue of taking over an experimental Cerberus robot form. Shepard can play matchmaker with her and Joker, if the player likes.}}

* [[EVE Online]] gives us AURA, the universal AI that acts as the (feminine) voice for your ship. Or rather, every ship, regardless of who is flying it. It's a bit disconcerting to have any ship from a harmless shuttle to a fleet-destroying Titan talk to you in the same calm, female voice.

** While we're on the subject of [[Other M]], we have {{spoiler|MB, the Mother Brain [[Expy]].}} She built an android body for herself, and she looks exactly like a normal human. {{spoiler|She manages to fool both Samus and the player into thinking that she's Madeline Bergman, the head scientist.}}

* [[Air Rivals]] has the Akron First Fleet Flagship, which can be owned by the brigade of a certain nation after a war that takes place every 6 days. The main computer of the battleship manifests itself as a hologram of a seemingly female robotic head. The hologram itself doesn't interact with you apart from giving you management options for the base you own, though. Although one has to admit, according to the storyline, the Akron was built by Barkians, and Bark city was destroyed around 140 years prior to the player's timeline, [[Fridge Logic|which means that the poor hologram girl has been trapped alone for 140 years]], maintaining an abandoned ship that gets some nasty wars between ANI and BCU every 6 days and then it has to cope with brigade members that are possibly not nice people ''over and over again''. I would probably not enjoy it very much.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' starships have embedded AIs that assist in the running and maintenance of the ship, that normally has a hologram avatar, to give the meatbags inside the ship [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-03-03 something to focus on] when they're [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-03-09 trying to talk]. Evidently, "I don't feel comfortable arguing with a disembodied voice" is a common trait that applies to all the sophont species we have seen controlling spaceships so far.

** Most of these are actually ''male'', probably to instill respect in a male-heavy military environment, but the ''Athens'' had Athena, a [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-06-09 blue-skinned, red haired human girl]. When the characters reunite with Petey and discover that his ears have become prodigious, he informs them that the algorithms determining an AI's hologram avatar are outside the AI's control, but the bigger ears indicate moving up in station, as it were.

* Sheila the tank (later transferred into various other vehicles and structures) from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''.

* In the [[Bollywood Halo]] IGN April Fools parody Cortana is presented as a more literal and straight version of this trope as she is shown as a living human controlling the ship not a hologram. It is also implied in the parody that she has a (possibly) romantic relationship with Master Chief.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Only tangentially related, but too funny not to mention: Captain Star of ''Captain Star'' insists that his ship the ''Boiling Hell'' is a he.

* A.L.E.X., the ''Xcalibur's'' AI hologram from [[The Xtacles]], who is constantly fending off advances from her dim-witted crew.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:All the Tropes Superhero Team]]

[[Category:Always Female]]