Universal Driver's License: Difference between revisions

* [[Lupin III]] himself, as well as the members of his gang, can handle anything from a car to a helicopter to an experimental fighter jet. And on one occasion, the ''space shuttle''.

** His latest{{when}} TV incarnation, in the first episode of ''[[Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna]]'', was able to adeptly pilot ''a [[Beyond the Impossible|rocked-propelled stolen Buddha statue]]''. Well, until Fujiko shot down its balloon-cum-float.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Though most of the Alien crafts piloted by Sheppard (ie: Puddle Jumpers, The Orion and Atlantis) are controlled by thought, you simply need to think what you want the ship to do, and it does it. Doesn't explain why they all have control sticks though.

*** Having something to do with their hands helps the pilots to focus their thoughts better.

** Lampshaded when a frustrated Chief Tyrol is totally flummoxed as to how Starbuck could even get the gods-damn frakking thing to ''move''.

* This trope is used in ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' to introduce Al's role as observer in the pilot episode: he can show Sam which switches to flick and 'guides' his control inputs but admits that there's no way Sam can land a 1950s supersonic test plane even with holographic assistance, so Sam bails out. A later episode set in a plane above the Bermuda Triangle also showed that when 'The Triangle' (possibly) causes Al to disappear, then Sam still can't fly a plane without help.

* The three hosts of ''[[Top Gear]]'', Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, probably hold a collective Universal Driver's License, since between the three of them they can operate anything from light aircraft to earthmoving equipment (see the note on Real Life, below)

** Averted in the farming episode when it takes the hosts several minutes just to figure out how to start their new tractors.

* It seems like [[Doctor Who|The Doctor]] has one of these; he'll ride anything from horses, cars (any time period), space-cruise liners and spaceships. It should be mentioned that he needed to take a test to learn how to fly the TARDIS, and he failed. This is all partly justified because in 900 years of life, you probably get the hang of these things.

** It's not just the Doctor. In {{spoiler|''The Curse of the Black Spot'', a 17-century pirate crew}} are flying an alien starship by the end of the episode. Earlier, when {{spoiler|the pirate captain}} first came aboard the TARDIS, he was able to figure out almost instantly what many of the controls were. When the Doctor looked at him in a bit of surprise, he shrugged and said, "A ship's a ship."

* Averted in the ''[[Modern Family]]'' episode "Express Christmas". Cameron insists that having grown up on a farm and knowing how to drive heavy equipment like tractors gives him expertise in driving a rented moving truck, but it grows apparent that it does not.

 

== Radio ==