History Main / TheMothership

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has the Trinity Mothership.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]
* Disney's ''Film/TheCatFromOuterSpace'' creatively calls its mothership "Mother."

%%* ''Film/{{District 9}}''

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mothership.jpeg]]]]
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!!Examples

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE''
* ''Resolute'', ''Resolute II'', and the rest of the exocarriers in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad''.
** And let's not forget the Neosapien flagships ''Olympus Mons'' and ''Olympus Mons II''.
* The Massive from ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''.
* WesternAnimation/PixarShorts: "Thanks, Mrs. UFO!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]

Also [[IThoughtItMeant not to be confused with]] [[Music/GeorgeClinton The Mothership]].

* The arcade game ''Xain'D Sleena'' features as a space boss midway through the game a ship of this type, so big that cannot fit in the screen and scrolls through it.

Also [[IThoughtItMeant not to be confused with]] [[GeorgeClinton The Mothership]].

** As well as Sovereign, each race in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has dreadnoughts that are extremely few in number compared to other ships in the various fleets. They're similar in size to a human carrier, but otherwise are much bigger than the ships around them. They also carry kinetic weapons capable of impacting in the multiple-dozen-kiloton range, which is what makes them so special.

* The Harvester ships in ''{{Vandread}}''.

* PixarShorts: "Thanks, Mrs. UFO!"

* [[BigBad Bodolza]]'s flagship in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''. TheMovie ''Anime/MacrossDoYouRememberLove'' not only has an even bigger version, but TWO of them; although Bodolza quickly {{Wave Motion Gun}}s the other one on the grounds that it has [[AmazonBrigade Meltran]] crew, blowing away a chunk of his own fleet too who couldn't get away from the line of fire quickly enough.

* In Literature/''{{Animorphs}}'', while the (human) Animorphs refer to the main Yeerk ship as the Mothership, the Yeerks and Andalites refer to it as the Pool Ship. It acts as a command, heavy transport, and supply ship in contrast to the Blade Ship (a ship of war).

* Super Star Destroyer ''Executor'' from ''Franchise/StarWars'', a nineteen kilometre long command ship.

** And, of course, the Death Stars.

* Super Star Destroyer ''Executor'' from ''StarWars'', a nineteen kilometre long command ship.
** The prequels' droid control ships are a literal example of the "blow it up and the [[MechaMook (Mecha)]][[{{Mook}} Mooks]] will likely give up" aspect of this trope, as the droid armies can't function without them.

* Sovereign, from ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' [[spoiler:which is actually sentient, and one of the frighteningly powerful [[EldritchAbomination Re]][[AbusivePrecursors ap]][[SapientShip ers]].]]

* ''VideoGame/UFOAftershock'' has the Laputa[[note]]The name is taken from [[GulliversTravels]]. One wonders if the developers thought in Spanish ''Laputa'' means ''The whore''[[/note]], a flying city built by the Reticulans which has been converted into a mobile headquarters by the Commonwealth of Earth.

* ''Series/{{V}}'' features multiple alien Motherships throughout the show. The ''Series/{{V 2009}}'' reboot continues this trend and heavily featured them in the show's advertising.

* The Titan ships, again, from ''EveOnline''. All in excess of 15km, and all ridiculously costly to build.

* [[BigBad Bodolza]]'s flagship in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''. TheMovie not only has an even bigger version, but TWO of them; although Bodolza quickly {{Wave Motion Gun}}s the other one on the grounds that it has [[AmazonBrigade Meltran]] crew, blowing away a chunk of his own fleet too who couldn't get away from the line of fire quickly enough.

* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans''.

*** Legacy of the Void has the Spear of Adun, the game's equivalent of the Hyperion and Leviathan. But not only it can carry most of the protoss army, it can also carry the ''protoss fleet'', including several Carriers and Motherships.

* ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''
* ''Film/{{District 9}}''

* The Ko-Dan Command Ship in ''TheLastStarfighter''. (Since it controlled several fighter squadrons, it may also qualify as TheBattlestar.)
* A Chitauri mothership appears at the climax of ''Film/TheAvengers''. [[spoiler:Iron Man steers a nuke into it.]]

* ParliamentFunkadelic, especially in the seminal 1975 album ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothership_Connection Mothership Connection]],'' as well as subsequently throughout the Parliament/Funkadelic/George Clinton milieu; it is the spaceship of Dr. Funkenstein who comes to Earth to cure all man's ills with the P-Funk.

* The Ur-Quan Dreadnought in ''StarControlII'', that combines the ability to launch fighters with its powerful fusion blast.

* ''VideoGame/UFOAftershock'' has the Laputa, a flying city built by the Reticulans which has been converted into a mobile headquarters by the Commonwealth of Earth.

* ''{{Gundam 00}}'' has the Trinity Mothership.

* ''Anime/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' has many on both sides. The [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] mass-produces its own (five types have been observed: the phased-out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hard_Luck Hard Luck]]'' type, the more recent but mostly phased out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hyperion Hyperion]]'' type, the standard ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Ajax_class_flagship Ajax]]''-class, the experimental ship ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Airget_lamh Airget Lamh]]'' (that was supposed to be dismantled after the testing of the new technologies was completed but was pressed into fleet service due the losses at Astarte) and the prototype ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Triglav Triglav]]''), while the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] mostly produces [[SuperPrototype single ships with state-of-the-art technology]] that are gifted by the emperor to individual admirals (the closest thing to flagship mass-production are the ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Forseti Forseti]]'', produced in three exemplars (with the second and the third having some light differences from the class leader), and the three-ships ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Wilhelmina Wilhelmina]]''-class (with the ''Berlin'' modified with superior shielding, weaker weapons and large entertainment facilities due its owner being [[UpperClassTwit a nobleman too stupid to do anything but waste away, let alone actually fighting a war]])).