Those Magnificent Flying Machines: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
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{{quote|''It's a Falling Machine. I'm so '''[[Sarcasm Mode|impressed]]'''.''|''[[Girl Genius]]''}}
Once upon a time [[Flight|Flying]] was not the relatively mundane commute that it is today, but an adventure into an unexplored realm, a victory over gravity that was long thought to be impossible. Flying machines were not the shiny, high-technology [[Cool Plane
This trope is for all Flying Machines that reflect this aesthetic, and this romantic way of looking at [[Flight|human flight]]. It is most usually found in [[Steampunk]] and [[Raygun Gothic]] works, but may also have a place in [[Fantasy]] and even [[Historical Fiction]].
In more fantasy-oriented works, [[Sky Pirates]] may make use of
Generally, a Magnificent Flying Machine will have one or several of the following features:
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** ''[[Phlebotinum Breakdown|Mostly]]''.
Large examples may be [[Cool Airship
Or ''cool'', necessarily. While usually these craft will be treated as impressive feats of
[[Truth in Television|Actual]] aircraft in the early days of aviation, as well as many early unsuccessful attempts to build flying machines, may well fit here. [[Leonardo da Vinci]] deserves special mention for dreaming up many fanciful aircraft in the early 16th century (several examples below were inspired by his work). The trope likely stopped applying to [[Real Life]] sometime after [[World War I]] as airplanes gradually became more streamlined, less improbable-looking, and more mundane.
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* The film ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines|Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes]]'' (the [[Trope Namer]], as you might guess) opens with a brief "history of flight," featuring plenty of improbable and amusing contraptions. The opening credits feature a flotilla of humorous animated examples. The racing airplanes in the movie itself are also examples, and, notably, are all fairly faithful reproductions of actual early aircraft.
** The "History of Flight" sequence was apparently a compilation that somebody had put together back in the 1920s, saving the movie's producers the job of making it themselves.
* In ''[[The Great Race]]''
* ''[[Master Of The World]]'' featured the propeller-studded ''Albatross''.
* ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]'' was an old-timey race car fitted with little wings and propellers. {{spoiler|Though its flying power was [[All Just a Dream]]... or was it?}}
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* ''[[Project 0]]'', because they know that Owen [[Came From the Sky|fell from the sky]] the kids try to build one of these thinking it's the best way to get him home.
** They have blueprints for a model helicopter, but the machine is a mix between a helicopter and a hovercraft. Considering Owen is a [[Reality Warper]] it's probably [[Fridge Brilliance|an easy mistake to make for a group of kids.]]
* Gil's bat-wing flyer in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' counts (and provides the page quote, [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030623 here]). The numerous [[Cool Airship
** And [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040526 lifegliders]. Can't forget lifegliders. If the survival equipment looks like [[Improbable Species Compatibility|offspring of a bat and a blimp]], this tells something about the world.
* KK's steam helicopter in ''[[Freak Angels]].''
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Futurama]]'', despite being set in the 31st century, occasionally shows flying machines that fit this trope right alongside [[Flying Car
** Leonardo's spaceship in "The Duh-Vinci Code" is probably an example, though, and there are more on the planet Vinci.
* Parodied in a 1995 episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' that featured a fortune-teller predicting Lisa's life in the far-off future year of [[The New Tens|2010]]. We see [[Not Allowed to Grow Up|eight-year-old]]- er, ''twenty-three-year-old'' Lisa travel in a "futuristic" airliner that looks like the [[Improbable Species Compatibility|illegitimate child of a modern jumbo-jet and the Wright Flyer]], with numerous fragile-looking canvas wings attached to a modern-looking fuselage.
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* The ''St. George'' from ''[[Dragon Hunters]]''.
* The [[Disney]] [[Wartime Cartoon]] ''Victory Through Air Power'' starts off with a humorous review of the progress of the airplane from the [[Magnificent Flying Machines]] of the early days of aviation to the deadly warplanes of [[World War II]].
* The 1972 [[Scooby Doo]] episode "The Ghost Of The Red Baron" (crossover with [[the Three Stooges]]) had bi-planes all over the place, one of which, airborne, had Velma in the
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