History Main / SpacePirates

# The other version does a JustForFun/RecycledInSPACE on [[APirate400YearsTooLate every eighteenth century pirate cliche ever]]. Reasons for including this version will typically be along the lines of "Because SpaceIsAnOcean, it has to have {{Pirate}}s" rather than making any meaningful attempt at justifying their existence. They have Cornish accents and [[TalkLikeAPirate say "Arr!" a lot]]. They have [[PirateParrot parrots]] (probably robotic or alien), and they're DressedToPlunder with [[ArtificialLimbs false limbs]] (probably cybernetic), beards, tricorn hats, and eyepatches (or cybernetic eyes). They may even have ships shaped like [[SpaceSailing boats]], and instead of making their victims WalkThePlank, they set them adrift in [[EscapePod escape pods]] waiting for the oxygen tanks to run out or just [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throw them out the airlock]] without any protective gear. Lacking ropes, they'll beam a BoardingParty over to their victim's ship, or send out a shuttle, or use a TractorBeam. And if the space pirate is an alien or even lives in a universe where Earth doesn't exist, that's no obstacle to them acting like the stereotype of an Earth pirate in the age of sail.

** Type 1 space pirates had the misfortune of encountering them: in the series ''Captain Harlock SSX'' a group of space pirates calling themselves the Space Wolves attacked a small colony ship and murdered almost everyone on board only to have Harlock ''[[OneManArmy board the ship and slaughter them all alone]]'', while the ''Manga/QueenEmeraldas'' OVA features the Alfress fleet engaging in acts of piracy only to be attacked by Emeraldas because they [[FelonyMisdemeanor dared flying a red JollyRoger (her own flag)]] (the first time she let them go with a warning and a pained butt, but the second time she unveiled [[MoreDakka the ludicrous amount of hidden weapons of her ship]], including [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill multiple]] {{Wave Motion Gun}}s and exterminated them).

* Reaching Andromeda in ''VideoGame/EvolveIdle'' unlocks multiple star systems, all of which are dealing with pirate activity. This activity will negatively impact your resource income in those systems, but can be mitigated by building [[StandardSciFiFleet various ships]] and stationing them in the various systems. There's even an achievement for eliminating all pirate activity.
* Pirates in ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' fly hijacked ships painted with purple stripes and a JollyRoger best described as an "octopus skull". Sometimes, they'll carry slaves; damaging the pirates can lead to them offering to free a slave to get you to leave them alone. Some other pirates will bribe you with goods to get you to avoid attacking them, although you can attack them and get a better offer in response, or kill them outright and steal their goods. Additionally, there are sectors that are controlled by pirates, and thus have a high pirate encounter rate compared to other sectors. The player can also engage in piracy of their own. For example, you can steal supplies from civilians, attack mercenaries who offer their services or even ships who made the sin of insulting you. [[WellIntentionedExtremist Of course these actions could be seen as necessary to save the federation.]]
* ''{{VideoGame/Flinthook}}'' is a proud celebration of Type 2 in every form, as a {{Roguelike}}.

* Showed up just ''once'' in the ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' series. However, every user-made campaign now has ''hordes'' of ''utterly suicidal'' space pirates who will ''[[AttackAttackAttack just keep coming]]'' despite the fact that you've already killed the dozens which came before, and the cargo you're protecting ''probably wouldn't tally up'' to the cost of replacing their really expensive destroyed fighters. Also, those space fighters they were flying? Better quality than a full-fledged ''rebellion'' could afford to procure.
** Lampshaded in ''Derelict.'' The Tau Ceti pirates are able to field a Deimos-class corvette (this would be the equivalent of Somali pirates having a US Navy Destroyer) and Mackie immediately exclaims, "Where are they ''getting'' this equipment?" [[spoiler: It turns out the well-equipped pirates are actually mercenaries funded by the [[MegaCorp Morgan Mining Company]] to stir up trouble in Tau Ceti. When the Shivans start killing everyone, the ''actual'' local pirates, who have been almost entirely inactive in the wake of the mercenaries stirring things up, are recruited by the GTVA to help with the manpower shortage. The alternative makes them more than happy to go along with it.]]

** This was basically Terra-Man's schtick in UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks. Aliens kidnapped Tobias "Toby" Manning as a boy from the 19th century American West. He eventually broke free and became a pirate in the aliens' own society. When he finally returned to Earth, he found that spending years traveling at relativistic speeds had let 100 years pass him by, so that his 19th century mannerisms made him a literal space cowboy. As Superman once observed, Earth wasn't really of much logical interest to a planet-hopping thief like TM, but TM took offense to an alien being called Earth's greatest hero, and so christened himself ''Terra''-Man and kept returning just to pick fights with Supes.

** There's also the gang of Enfis Nest in ''Film/{{Solo}}'', which appears to be this at first, until it's revealed they're a rebel cell fighting the Galaxy's crime syndicates.
* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' sees recurring Franchise/JamesBond villain Ernst Stravo Blofeld become one of these, of the RuthlessModernPirates variety. His spacecraft, the ''Bird One'', is used to steal American and Soviet space ships in hopes of provoking a war between the two superpowers so that China (for whom SPECTRE is working on contract) can rule over what remains.

* ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' has Captain Kraken, a space pirate who crashes on Earth. [[JustifiedTrope Thanks to his translation matrix latching onto Earth pirate culture,]] he speaks and dresses like a stereotypical pirate.

** In ''[[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy I, Jedi]]'', a former Imperial Moff with a [[TheBattlestar Star Destroyer]] (something far beyond the resources of most pirates in the EU) unifies several pirate gangs under her command and terrorizes New Republic shipping. The Star Destroyer gives the pirates enough firepower to raid even the largest ships and crush most opposition. This means the only potential threat is a concerted attack by the New Republican Navy itself--and she's got a group of Force-sensitive advisers who give advance warning whenever such an ambush is being planned.

* Popular preschool kids show ''Space Pirates''. They run a [[IncrediblyLamePun pirate radio station]] from a space-travelling galleon. The captain and crew also wear pirate costumes. "Naa Nana Na Na! SPACE PIRATES! Naa Nana Nana Na! SPACE PIRATES!"

** The ''40k'' spin-off RPG ''TabletopGame/RogueTrader'' has space pirates (human or otherwise) as one of the most common enemies, and the rules let you go pirate if you wish. The Rogue Traders count to some extent as well, being {{privateer}}s able and expected to launch full-scale planetary invasions. One of the supplements to the gameline, Hostile Acquisitions, explicitly gives the players the option to become a Reaver or a Swashbuckler archetype.

* ''WesternAnimation/LavenderCastle'' featured Short Fred Ledd, whose ship travelled on aether streams through space, which, given how much of the art design came from Creator/RodneyMatthews, unsurprisingly comes from his painting [[https://w-dog.net/wallpapers/1/88/328967406221746/rodney-matthews-the-ether-stream-river-travel-worlds-ship-world-star.jpg The Ether Stream]]. Fred even has an annoying robot parrot.

* The impossibility of space piracy and the trick Julian Forward uses to make it work is central to the plot of Creator/LarryNiven's "Literature/TheBorderlandOfSol".

* The first ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' DLC, "Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty" deals with "Sand Pirates" who are more or less a Type 2. You ally with the titular Captain Scarlett to find the lost treasure of Captain Blade, guarded by a beast known as The Leviathan.

** Type 1 space pirates had the misfortune of encountering them: in the series ''Captain Harlock SSX'' a group of space pirates calling themselves the Space Wolves attacked a small colony ship and murdered almost everyone on board only to have Harlock ''[[OneManArmy board the ship and slaughter them all alone]]'', while the ''Anime/QueenEmeraldas'' OVA features the Alfress fleet engaging in acts of piracy only to be attacked by Emeraldas because they [[FelonyMisdemeanor dared flying a red JollyRoger (her own flag)]] (the first time she let them go with a warning and a pained butt, but the second time she unveiled [[MoreDakka the ludicrous amount of hidden weapons of her ship]], including [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill multiple]] {{Wave Motion Gun}}s and exterminated them).

* ''Literature/BodaciousSpacePirates'' (a.k.a. ''Mōrestu Pirates''), as might be deduced from the title. The anime is definitely of the second variety, with the tons of {{Shout Out}}s to other similar shows, including ''Anime/CaptainHarlock''. Then you read the light novel, the original story, and figured it is probably one of the most, if not the most, hard sci-fi space opera in anime, manga, Japanese game, light novel history. Not surprising, it is from an author that is in the group of "Space authors group" and is involved in building a real life rocket that went to space.

* ''Anime/CaptainHarlock'', a LovableRogue space pirate who has also appeared in other works of Creator/LeijiMatsumoto. The second version. His ship is a MilitaryMashupMachine with a submarine prow, a battleship body and a galleon rear. The Anime/{{Leijiverse}} also has Emeraldas, who sails the Sea of Stars in a frigate attached to a dirigible.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' episode "Space Booty" (yes, that is the actual title) had a group of Space Pirates led by a Anime/CaptainHarlock expy. This being Megas they also had a buttload of HumongousMecha for Coop to smash.

** The Captain of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet "The Pirate Planet"]] in the serial of the same name. Cybernetic eye and robot parrot (the Polyphase Aviatron). Slightly subverts the second type, as it turns out that he's deliberately trying to invoke BewareTheSillyOnes. He's an unusual type as he has an entire HollowWorld that {{Mass Teleport}}s around other planets to loot them. He also turns out to unwillingly be TheDragon, and is using the remains from the looting in a long-term plan to eliminate his (almost hidden) boss.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon "The Horns of Nimon"]] sees the Doctor and Romana accused of this.
** The privateer in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warriors Gate"]] is a slaver ship, kidnapping members of a time-sensitive species. In a subversion, except for TheCaptain the crew lack the expected LargeHam of this trope, being presented as apathetic [[PunchClockVillain Punch-Clock Villains]].
** Kari and Olvir in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E4Terminus "Terminus"]], who board what is [[ThePlague seriously the wrong vessel to attack]].
** Captain Wrack of the Eternals in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E5Enlightenment "Enlightenment"]] is a bored alien god impersonating a Type Two space pirate.
** The ending of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot "The Curse of the Black Spot"]] has a crew of regular 17th century pirates who end up taking over an abandoned alien space ship. We are never told if they remain pirates or use their new ship for legitimate purposes.