Prosthetics in fiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prosthetics often play a role in fiction, particularly science fiction. Numerous works of literature, television, and movies will feature certain characters who have had prosthetics attached.
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[edit] Science fiction
Science fiction literature, television, and movies often feature characters with prosthetics.
[edit] Star Trek
- Geordi La Forge - Blind from birth, La Forge received prosthetics that allowed him to see. During the television series and Star Trek: Generations he had bio-implants along with an external VISOR prosthetic. During and after the events of Star Trek: First Contact the VISOR was replaced with implants fashioned to look like human eyes.
- Jean-Luc Picard - Early in his career, Picard was stabbed through the heart during a fight. His heart, beyond repair, was replaced by an artificial heart. This heart was recalled in 2365 because it was defective. During the operation to replace his heart, he nearly died on the table. Later his heart was damaged when Picard was ambushed and shot at a diplomatic function. At the end of the third season, Picard was abducted and assimilated by the Borg. The Borg attached numerous prosthetics to Captain Picard against his will. These prosthetics allowed the Borg to use Picard as their mouthpiece Locutus, and let them use all of Captain Picard's knowledge against the Federation. After his rescue, Dr. Crusher removed all of the Borg prosthetics.
- Seven of Nine - Originally a young human female known as Annika Hansen, she and her parents were captured by the Borg when Annika was six. She was also assimilated into the Borg Collective, where numerous prosthetics were attached to her. Later, Seven of Nine would encounter the starship USS Voyager. After combining forces to defeat Species 8472, Seven was disconnected from the Borg. The Doctor removed most of the prosthetics. A few were left in to maintain her body, afterwards she outwardly appeared as a human female. Over the next few years she would become part of the Voyager crew, and rediscover her human heritage.
- Nog - the Ferengi Ensign, the first of his kind in Starfleet, lost his leg during hostilities with the Dominion; an artificial leg was later installed and Nog had a prolonged psychological recovery.
[edit] Star Wars
- Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader - Anakin Skywalker lost his right arm during the Battle of Geonosis when he dueled with Count Dooku. Afterwards he received a replacement arm and hand. After becoming Darth Vader, Vader fought with Obi-Wan Kenobi which resulted in his losing both legs and his other arm. He also suffered severe burns in the aftermath of the battle - his lungs, eyes, and ear drums were seriously damaged. Vader was forced to wear a breathing mask and monitor to compensate for his heavily damaged lungs, and was fitted with prosthetic limbs to replace those lost. His right hand was cut off again in Return of the Jedi. Shortly afterwards, Anakin Skywalker returned to the light side. Anakin had his son Luke remove his mask so he could gaze upon Luke with his own eyes. Within moments of the mask being removed, Anakin died.
- Luke Skywalker - Anakin's son Luke Skywalker would - in a sort of family tradition - lose his right hand as well when he dueled Darth Vader at Cloud City. Luke was rescued by his friends, and was then fitted with a prosthetic hand. After defeating Vader at the Battle of Endor - Luke renounced the Dark Side after realizing that he was starting to become Vader.
- General Grievous - Formerly a Kaleesh general, he was fatally wounded in a shuttle accident. He was later reconstructed by the Intergalactic Banking Clan as a cyborg, with his only organic remains encased inside a synthflesh sack within his durasteel skeleton.
- Boba Fett - Due to natural clone degradation and following the ordeal in the Sarlacc, Fett's right leg was prosthetically replaced.[citation needed]
[edit] Babylon 5
- G'Kar - While being held by Centauri forces, G'Kar lost his left eye after a Centauri guard cut it out. After being freed by Londo Mollari in the wake of the insane Emperor Cartagia's death, G'Kar was fitted with a replacement eye by Dr. Franklin. Initially, he had a human blue eye, this was later replaced with a red eye that looked like a natural Narn eye.
[edit] RoboCop
- In the first movie, Detroit police officer Alex Murphy was shot numerous times by a group of criminals. He would apparently die shortly afterwards. His body was taken by OCP scientists - who then took his brain, eyes, face, and other portions of his body - and added numerous prosthetic enhancements - including new artificial limbs. As a result, he became the cyborg Robocop.
[edit] Other Fiction
In the myriad of Peter Pan stories and franchises, Captain Hook has a hook replacing a hand which was eaten by a crocodile.
In The Fugitive television series and subsequent movie, the fugitive Dr. Kimble searches for the one armed man who killed his wife - which Kimball would be mistakenly convicted of. In the movie version, the one armed man also received a transplant - who was played by Andreas Katsulas. As a result, this would be another role in addition to his Babylon 5 role in which he received a prosthetic device.
During the course of the movie Forrest Gump the character of Lt. Dan Taylor would lose both of his legs due to injuries he sustained in Vietnam. Towards the end of the movie, Taylor would receive prosthetic legs, which he noted were made out of titanium.
In the novel Moby Dick, as well as various productions based on the novel, Captain Ahab is a man who loses one of his legs to the great sperm whale Moby Dick. After losing his leg, a replacement of sorts is fashioned. This replacement, consisting of a wood log attached to his leg allowed him to walk with minimal difficulty. The loss of this leg would fuel Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick, which cost him his ship, crew, and his life.
In the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric loses his left leg below the knee and his entire right arm and has them replaced with metal limbs called automail.
In the Manga/Anime Ghost In The Shell, people who have had their bodies damaged or people who can simply afford it have their normal bodies replaced with a full prosthetic replacement. This is usually done because the user needs it for personal purposes such as work or convenience. Usually, going full prosthetic increases a person's physical strength and sometimes even their mentality, it all depends on the money. The main character, Motoko Kusanagi, is fully prosthetic with the best technology any company could offer.
The television series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff The Bionic Woman both featured main characters whose replacement parts gave them abilities above those of normal people.
In the Harry Potter novel series, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody has an artificial eye (able to see through solids) and a wooden leg to compensate for wounds he received during his career as an Auror. The exact events that caused these wounds are unknown.
In the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, Dr. Eli Vance uses a prosthetic leg after losing his own leg below the knee helping his colleague Dr. Isaac Kleiner over a wall while escaping Black Mesa in the original "Half Life" game.
In the real-time strategy computer game Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, one of the characters - General Carlini has a prosthetic right leg after having his real one blown off in some unmentioned ordeal.
The character Rotwang from the film Metropolis has a black mechnical right hand after losing it for unknown reasons. Because Rotwang is an early "mad scientist" archetype, it is believed that this influenced other characters, such as Dr. Strangelove and Dr. Julius No.
In the Akira manga and anime Tetsuo Shima, one of the main characters, loses his right arm and has it replaced by a mechanical limb. In the anime he's seen assembling the arm from pieces of junk using his supernatural powers, while in the manga the origin of the mechanical arm is unknown.
A running gag in the film Hot Shots! and its sequel is Lloyd Bridges's character, Thomas 'Tug' Bensen, featuring various prosthetics that replace parts he had lost in earlier battles.
