History Main / TractorBeam

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': BigBad Syndrome has one built into his gauntlets that allows him to immobilize its targets and throw them around.

* ''Rocketship Voyager''. The initial reaction of the crew to an [[OutsideContextProblem alien spacecraft]] 'switching on' a gravity well and focusing it like a beam on ''Voyager'' is ThisCannotBe. This later gives B'Elanna Torres a EurekaMoment that the aliens might be able to do [[GravityMaster other things with such technology]], like fold space for FasterThanLightTravel.

** On the [[EarlyEpisodeWeirdness somewhat notorious]] early ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Naked Now", the ''Enterprise's'' engines end up disabled while a derelict ship is under tow via tractor beam. To buy them some time to escape the catastrophe of the week, Wesley Crusher figures out how to ReverseThePolarity and turn it into a ''repulsor'' beam, allowing them to shove off from the other ship and gain some distance and time.

* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' has a "tractor beam" that pulls in any nearby items. It actually ''[[TeleportersAndTransporters teleports]]'' them into your cargo hold. No explanation is offered why its still called a tractor beam.

* A joke on ''Series/MockTheWeek'' by Hugh Dennis, for a Scenes We'd Like To See: Unlikely Things to Hear in a Sci-Fi Show, went: "There's something in the tractor beam! Ed?" This was in reference to Creator/EdByrne, who in the week that ''Videogame/GrandTheftAutoV'' came out had been playing ''Videogame/FarmingSimulator'' instead.

'''Crichton:''' Graviton field, attracto ray, [[TheTriple superglue]]. Whatever it is you yanked me aboard with.\\

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Modern Homeworld technology includes one not dissimilar to [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Syndrome's]] that can immobilize its target. Peridot had one in her [[ArtificialLimbs limb enhancers]] that she uses on Pearl in [{Recap/StevenUniverseS2E21CatchAndRelease "Catch and Release"]], and Aquamarine has a ''very'' powerful one in the form of a wand that she uses repeatedly throughout [[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E23AreYouMyDad "Are You My Dad?"]]/[[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E24IAmMyMom "I Am My Mom"]].

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

[[folder:Film]]

*** At the beginning, the ''Devastator'' pulls Princess Leia's ship, the ''Tantive IV'' into its docking bay with one.

** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. At the end of the movie, Vader's Super Star Destroyer is about to grab the ''Millennium Falcon'' with one when the ''Falcon's'' hyperdrive finally starts working.

* Lois [=McMaster=] Bujold's Literature/VorkosiganSaga features tractor beams at military scale, including on starships, but also in civilian use at smaller scale - 'hand tractors' are used for cargo manipulation, and 'medical hand tractors' are used for delicate surgical work - ideal for battlefield medicine as they're fundamentally sterile, never physically touching the patient.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Tractor Beam abduction is spoofed to heck and back in the Pixar short film ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Lifted]]''.

* UpToEleven in TheEighties RadioDrama ''Series/{{Earthsearch}} II''. The ''Challenger'' and its crew are drawn into a massive black hole, only to find it's an artificial construct littered with derelict spacecraft. This is ''Spaceguard Six'', used to defend Earth from potentially hostile aliens.

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* Crypto's flying saucer in ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' has the Abducto Beam, which you can use to pick up tanks, smash them against buildings, drain them of their energy, and fling them out to sea; or you can use it to, you know, [[CaptainObvious abduct people]].

* Grappler-archetype ships in ''{{VideoGame/RingRunnerFlightOfTheSages}}'' can mount tractor beams, which were originally used by AsteroidMiners to grab rocks, but are now being used by you to grab opponents and pull them close enough for your ship's melee abilities.

* ''[[VideoGame/XCom X-COM: Interceptor]]'' has a ship mountable tractor beam. Using it disables the energy weapons, but not the missiles. Of course the effort of the ship trying to fight loose would damage both ships. They could also be mounted to stations, which would slow attacking alien ships for weapon turrets and defending fighters.

* ''VieoGame/StarControlII'': The Chmmr Avatar has a tractor beam as special ability.

'''Crichton:''' Graviton field, attracto ray, superglue. Whatever it is you yanked me aboard with.\\

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' has the team invent portable tractor beams that only work on ghosts, anything material gets [[DestructiveSavior burned and/or irradiated]]. Also, be careful not to cross the streams.

-> '''John Crichton''': Pilot, get a tractor beam on that shuttle.
-> '''Pilot''': Tractor beam? What's that?
-> '''Crichton''': Graviton field, attracto ray, superglue. Whatever it is you yanked me aboard with.
-> '''Pilot''': You mean the docking web?

Many stories with {{Alien Abduction}}s use this as the means of abduction--a small tractor beam just big enough to pull one human. Of course, that kind tends to run in reverse as well.

** ''Film/ANewHope'': Vader's Star Destroyer pulls Princess Leia's consular ship into the Star Destroyer at the beginning and the Millennium Falcon is pulled into the Death Star with one after it reaches the Alderaan system.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit "The Satan Pit"]] reveals the TARDIS has one, which the Doctor uses to tow the rocket ship free of the gravitational pull of the UnrealisticBlackHole.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': The Flax, a tractor net designed to capture ships for destruction and salvage by pirates.

* A joke on ''Series/MockTheWeek'' by Hugh Dennis, for a Scenes We'd Like To See: Unlikely Things to Hear in a Sci-Fi Show, went: "There's something in the tractor beam! Ed?" This was in reference to Creator/EdByrne, who in the week that ''Videogame/GrandTheftAutoV'' came out had been playing ''Videogame/FarmingSimulator'' instead.

-->All are irresistibly directed by the suction
-->Of the hypnotizing tractor beam presenting a production...

Not to be confused with WeaponsThatSuck.

-> '''Pilot''': You mean the docking web.

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