History Main / BrainInAJar

* ''Film/RoboCop2'' (even after it's put inside the titular robot).
** Apparently the original Robocop is also a brain-in-a-jar-in-a-robot, with only the face being additionally transplanted into the robotic head. And even that is debatable (''Film/RoboCop3'' states that it's the original face, while the original script contained a removed scene where Murphy's "terminator-like" skull would be shown).
*** And let's not forget Cain whose brain is about to be transferred into a robot as well. His brain is LITERALLY in a jar with his [[EyeScream Eyes STILL ATTACHED]]. He, also, sees his [[BodyHorror FACE]] that's been cut off of his head.

Compare with PeopleJars and ManInTheMachine; pretty much the same thing, but with complete bodies instead of just a brain. Compare also SoulJar, in which the more immaterial essence of one's self, is preserved. Compare HeartDrive, for a robotic (and sometimes biological) equivalent. Compare with OracularHead when the head may be preserved by other means and used for answering questions of a divinatory nature. WetwareCPU is a version used as a computer.

->''"We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism?"'' - '''[[ParanoiaFuel Project]] [[GeniusBonus PYRRHO,]] [[ParanoiaFuel Specimen 46, Vat 7]] [Subject termination advised]'''

* ''{{Robocop}} 2'' (even after it's put inside the titular robot).
** Apparently the original Robocop is also a brain-in-a-jar-in-a-robot, with only the face being additionally transplanted into the robotic head. And even that is debatable (R3 states that it's the original face, while the original script contained a removed scene where Murphy's "terminator-like" skull would be shown).

* In the MarvelUniverse, ''Invaders'' and ''AlphaFlight'' villain Brain Drain.

* LarryNiven's short story "Becalmed In Hell" has a ''sans corpus'' fellow running a probe to the surface of Venus, and contains a ShoutOut to the above book by naming the bodiless chap Donovan.

* In ''NoMoreHeroes'', the #5 ranked Letz Shake controls what looks like a SuperCollider powered by a brain in a jar.
** In ''Desperate Struggle'', [[spoiler: when Dr. Letz Shake comes back for the 10th ranked battle, it is revealed that he is the brain-powered earthquake generator. No word on who the punk rocker in the first game was.]]
*** [[WildMassGuess Some of the fans think]] that [[spoiler: since there was the human Letz Shake and the machine Dr Shake in the first game, and the machine Dr Letz Shake in the sequel, chances are the brain from the first machine was destroyed, and the punk rocker Letz Shake himself became the BrainInAJar.]]

* The Conjoiners in AlastairReynolds's ''Revelation Space'' series tend to opt for a brain-in-jar form of treatment when they're very old. However, their "jars" are mobile, crab like devices. The Demarchists also use this for their outer system police; a pilot joins up, his brain and spinal cord is removed and inserted into a small space craft, with a remote controlled drone for them to use when inspecting ships. When they're done with their term, their brain is inserted back into their body.

* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, specifically the short story anthology ''TalesFromJabbasPalace,'' reveals that the spiderlike droids seen in Jabba's palace in ''Return of the Jedi'' are mechanisms used for getting around by a group of monks who have chosen life as brains-in-jars. (You can actually see the jars on the undersides in the film if you know to look for them.)
** [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bib_Fortuna Bib Fortuna]], when a fellow Twi'lek and associate of his was slated to be fed to the Rancor, had the man's brain removed and stuck in one of the spider droids first. Bib believed that without a body Nat was going insane. The epilogue reveals that [[spoiler:Bib Fortuna]] eventually joined him. The [[XWingSeries X-Wing comics]] reveal that [[spoiler: Bib]] was still able to plot and get messages out; eventually yet another Twi'lek came to carry [[spoiler: Bib]] off, heaping a lot of verbal abuse and using electric torture on the brain walker in the process. Later the other Twi'lek tried to ditch the walker, but [[spoiler: Bib]] stowed away and, after the other Twi'lek was stabbed, managed to drag him back to the palace and the monks. Cut to the Twi'lek rising out of a bacta tank, and the attendant droid remarking on the loyalty of the brain droid, how it had insisted on having a restraining bolt fitted to it, and that the scars on the Twi'lek's head seemed to indicate a brain transfer. Devious, [[spoiler: Bib]]. For someone with a "weak will", that's rather [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent]].

* In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', the gang runs into a room with several flying brains in jars while fighting their way through the Hall of Mysteries. Ron (who's [[IntoxicationEnsues punch drunk]] at the time) starts playing with them and they begin to attack everyone...with tentacles made of ''thoughts''. The Department of Mysteries is a very strange place.

* ''TheBrainThatWouldntDie'' (Actually a head in a pan, but close enough)

* The protagonist of ''DeadHeadFred'' is killed and reanimated in this form at the beginning of the game, though he is at least attached to his original body. His... Predicament lets him switch his head with other things, each with their own gameplay uses.

* ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' villain The Brain in TheDCU. In one continuity he finally does manage to get a body--only to die in an explosion a few minutes later, moments before kissing his long-time boyfriend Mallah.

** Once Jabba dies, the monks went batshit with brain spider-ing, doing it to anyone who stayed in the palace. Most didn't want to, but one criminal, as revealed in the epilogue for "Tales From Jabba's Palace", went willingly because he was tired of living in the heat and didn't want to leave the palace/monastery behind.

* [[spoiler:Teitoku Kakine]] of ''ToAruMajutsuNoIndex'' has been reduced to this after Accelerator horribly dismembers him. It's also forced to create a constant stream of [[spoiler:Dark Matter]] for the use of Academy City's soldiers. [[spoiler: He eventually manages to create a new body out of Dark Matter and escape.]]

* ''TheOuterLimits'': "The Brain of Colonel Barham"

* The MadScientist [[Film/DrNo Dr. No]][[PunnyName Body]] from Apogee's shareware game ''Secret Agent'' is [[http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/secret-agent/screenshots/gameShotId,594604/ one of these]], on top of a robotic body.

* An album of ''{Sillage}'' features this being repeatedly used by an assassin on his marks. After defeating a target, he slices his head open and teleports his brain away in a previously prepared jar. This is intended as a way to both imprison and interrogate them, since most of them are rather powerful and rich people. All of these persons being non-humans of various species, some with a [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] like [[spoiler: an alien with an X-shaped head and four small brains]] require quite specific jars.