Dan wrote:
] I have been thinking about the "living ship" or the
] "ship with a personality" used on Andromeda, Blake's
] Seven, and to a lesser extent on Farscape. It seems
] related to me to such characters as KITT, the Knightrider
] car, my Mother the Car, the talking figurehead of the
] Argo, and even Balaam's ass in the Bible. I am sure
] Brin-listers can think of other examples.
Michael Harney wrote:
] 3) From "Star Trek: The Next Generation" eppisode
] (IIRC) "Tin Man" they find an powerful organic ship
] that forms a symbyotic relationship with a pilot.
] The ship has personality, but it doesn't talk, so you
] only see it indirectly through the actions of the ship.
That ship was lifted directly from the Wild Cards book
series, which featured a race of telepaths piloting living
telepathic ships.
To add to the (now extensive) list:
Battle Beyond the Stars (IIRC), which had a talking
ship that looked like a flying uterus piloted by
TV's John Boy of the Waltons
Herbie the Love Bug
The ship's computer in Space Pirates, which consisted
of a comedian in a box with his head sticking out the top
Donovan's Brain from the Niven short stories, though
that is more a cyborg than a living ship
"Rammer", _A World Out Of Time_, and the Integral Trees
series by Larry Niven feature ships controlled by
an AI computer with a human personality
I'm not sure if the Niss counts, though it could probably
control a starship single-handedly.
Anywho, I should probably stop now before I get
egged for including Herbie.
-- Matt Grimaldi
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