"The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. Recently, we've waded out a little way, and the water seems inviting."
Tropes relating to outer space, spaceships, space travel, and space colonies. Has nothing to do with tropes IN SPACE!
Before deciding to put a trope in this index, please check the sub-indexes and see if any of them are applicable.
Tropes:
Media index:
Trope indexes:
- Accidental Astronaut: A character either accidentally launches the spacecraft they are in or they became an unwilling "astronaut" by stowing away on the spacecraft.
- Ancient Astronauts: Aliens who developed space travel long before humans influenced ancient history by doing things like being mistaken for gods, building pyramids, etc.
- Apes in Space: Monkeys and apes as astronauts rather than humans.
- Arbitrary Weapon Range: Weapons in space have a minimum or maximum range.
- Artificial Gravity: Spaceships and space stations with artificial gravity systems.
- Artistic License – Space: Astronomy does something that, in the real world, it shouldn't do.
- Asteroid Miners: People who mine from asteroids.
- Asteroid Thicket: An area in space with a lot of dangerous asteroids.
- Astral Finale: The last episode takes place in space.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Characters who can breathe in space.
- Blind Jump: Usually, people have to calculate something before going into faster-than-light mode, but there's no time to do that, so they'll have to do it without calculating.
- Boarding Party: Boarding a ship.
- Born Under the Sail: A whole culture of sailors/skyship drivers/spaceship drivers.
- The Bridge: The bridge of a starship.
- Bridge Bunnies: Young women who control the spaceship from the bridge.
- Burial in Space: Someone dies in space and has a funeral ritual.
- But What About the Astronauts?: Everyone on Earth has something bad happen to them (they die, get infected etc) but there are astronauts who aren't affected and either survive in a post-apocalyptic world or save the other people.
- Came from the Sky: Something huge falls out of the sky and lands on Earth.
- Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: A parody of sci-fi heroes.
- Casual Interplanetary Travel: Interplanetary travel is no big deal.
- Casual Interstellar Travel: Interstellar travel is no big deal.
- Centrifugal Gravity: Scientifically accurate artificial gravity through rotation.
- Colonized Solar System: The solar system is settled by humanity.
- Colony Drop: The world is in danger because of something huge falling from the sky.
- Colony Ship: A spaceship with a whole colony on it.
- Continuous Decompression: Explosive decompression is way more powerful than scientifically possible and lasts for way longer.
- Cool Starship: A cool, unusual spaceship.
- Corralled Cosmos: People only hang out in a certain area of space.
- Cosmic Motifs: Space used as a motif.
- Cult Colony: A religious cult living in a colony in space.
- Cyborg Helmsman: Cybernetically-augmented spaceship pilots.
- Danger in the Galactic Core: The center of the galaxy.
- Dangerous Orbital Debris: Orbiting remains of dead satellites or destroyed spaceships.
- Deflector Shields: A force field.
- Dramatic Alien VTOL: Alien spaceships land slowly. Really slowly.
- Dramatic Space Drifting: A body or pieces of a body floating in space after a space battle.
- Drop Pod: A single-use military vehicle dropped from the sky.
- Drop Ship: A ship designed to carry people and/or supplies to and from a planet or moon.
- Dyson Sphere: A thing in space big enough for a whole solar system.
- Escape Pod: Like a lifeboat but for a spaceship.
- The Exact Center of Everything: In the very center of the galaxy or the universe(s), there is something really important waiting.
- Explosions in Space: Something explodes in space in an unrealistic way.
- Explosive Decompression: People explode in space.
- Exposed Starship Bridge: A starship or spaceship's design places the bridge (i.e. the most important part of ship) in a location that easily exposes it to danger.
- Everything in Space Is a Galaxy: Handfuls of stars and planets are treated as entire galaxies.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel: Spaceships that can move faster than light.
- Fishbowl Helmet: The usual accompaniment to a Latex Space Suit.
- FTL Travel Sickness: Traveling faster than light can do bad things to people who aren't properly protected.
- Flying Saucer: A spaceship shaped like a saucer.
- Galactic Conqueror: A villain who wants to conquer or destroy the whole universe.
- Galactic Superpower: Someone has political power over a large area of space.
- Generation Ships: A starship has several generations living and dying on it.
- Genetic Adaptation: Outsiders adapt to a hostile environment (such as that on other planets) by genetically modifying themselves.
- Gravity Sucks: Gravity is depicted as "catching" or "sucking" things.
- Heavyworlder: Someone from a planet with more gravity than Earth.
- Homeworld Evacuation: The planet is no longer inhabitable, forcing (a portion of) the populace to pack up and leave for elsewhere.
- Hurl It into the Sun: Throwing something into a star.
- Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: The dimension used for teleportation/warp speed is dangerous.
- Hyperspace Lanes: When travelling faster than the speed of light, you have to go certain places at certain times.
- Hyperspeed Ambush: Using hyperspace to attack.
- Hyperspeed Escape: Using faster-than-light travel to escape.
- Improvised Microgravity Maneuvering: Using thrust to push oneself through space.
- Industrialized Mercury: The planet Mercury is used as an industrial hub for a Colonized Solar System.
- Inexplicable Cultural Ties: Aliens with pretty Earth-like cultures.
- In Space, Everyone Can See Your Face: Somebody's face is visible through a space helmet.
- Interplanetary Voyage: A story that focuses on the difficulties of a space voyage.
- Interstellar Weapon: A weapon that will hit something light-years away.
- Kill Sat: A satellite designed to kill.
- Latex Space Suit: A very tight spacesuit.
- Libertarians IN SPACE!: A setting where Earth has become narrow-minded and nonconformists are sent to live in space.
- Life in Zero G: Lifeforms that have evolved to live in the gravityless void.
- Lightspeed Leapfrog: A spaceship that can't travel faster than light is beaten by one that can.
- Lightworlder: Someone from a low-gravity planet.
- Lost Colony: A human colony in space that's lost contact with Earth.
- Male Sun, Female Moon: The sun portrayed as male and the moon as female.
- Mega-Maw Maneuver: A huge spaceship uses its door to "swallow" a smaller one.
- Mental Space Travel: "Teleporting" people to other planets by uploading their brains to their destination.
- The Milky Way Is the Only Way: Nobody can go beyond the Milky Way.
- The Mothership: The flagship of an alien army.
- Negative Space Wedgie: A strange, dangerous event in space.
- No Endor Holocaust: Something huge explodes but leaves little to no collateral damage.
- No Gravity for You: A villain whose weakness is they can't fight in zero-gravity.
- No Seat Belts: Spaceships don't have safety belts.
- No Such Thing as Space Jesus: Never seeing a godlike alien as an actual deity.
- No Warping Zone: An area where travelling faster than light is not allowed.
- Nuclear Torch Rocket: Amp up your piddly little chemical rockets by heating the propellant with nuclear power.
- Old-School Dogfight: Planes and spaceships fighting like pre-Cold War planes even when they logically shouldn't.
- Only Electric Sheep Are Cheap: Natural things are more expensive than an artificial version of it.
- Orbital Bombardment: Shooting from orbit.
- Orion Drive: Using nukes to travel through space.
- Our Dark Matter Is Mysterious: Dark matter makes up as much as 4/5 of the visible universe. Nobody knows what it actually is, so writers fill in the gaps.
- Our Wormholes Are Different: Exploiting wormholes.
- Planar Shockwave: When something explodes in space, there's a ring of... stuff.
- Planetary Relocation: Relocating planets.
- Portal Network: Space travel via portals.
- Powered by a Black Hole: Harnessing a black hole as a power source.
- Psychic Starship Pilot: Psychics are the ideal pilots for faster-than-light travel.
- Ramming Always Works: Ramming a spaceship with another always destroys one of them.
- Ram Scoop: A spaceship that fuels itself by collecting hydrogen directly from space.
- Reentry Scare: While someone reenters the atmosphere, it goes quiet for dramatic effect.
- Rocketless Reentry: Going back to Earth from space without using rockets.
- Rogue Planet: Planets not in orbit around (a) star(s)
- Salvage Pirates: Being saved and endangered at the same time by pirates.
- Save Sat: A satellite crashing down has a beneficial/defensive effect.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Sci-fi writers make distances in space seem smaller than in reality.
- Sci-Fi Flyby: Used as an establishing shoot to tell the audience that what they're seeing is a Cool Ship.
- Shiny-Looking Spaceships: A spaceship that looks shiny.
- Silent Running Mode: A vessel going silent to avoid detection. Often used by spaceships.
- Sleeper Starship: A slow spacecraft that puts the passengers in hibernation until they arrive at their destination.
- Small Universe After All: Easily travelling to other galaxies.
- Solar Sail: Spaceships that run with a device like a sail but that uses the sun's power.
- Space Amish: Space travelers who use more primitive technology.
- Space Base: The villain's space station.
- Space Battle: Fighting in space.
- Space BrasÃlia: An alien species with only one form of architecture.
- Space Cadet: Kind of like a police officer but in space.
- Space Cadet Academy: Where you learn to be a space cadet.
- Space Clothes: People wear wacky clothes in space.
- Space Clouds: Nebulae that seem like clouds.
- Space Cold War: A war in space that's sort of like the Cold War.
- Space Cossacks: A rugged group of outlaws lost in space.
- Space Elevator: An elevator or similar that takes people to space.
- Space Elves: Elvish, smug, possibly superior aliens.
- Space Episode: An episode of a normally Earth-set series is set in space.
- Space Fighter: A little spaceship designed for combat.
- Space Friction: If a spaceship breaks, it will slow down and eventually stop.
- Space Is Air: Spaceships are like planes.
- Space Is an Ocean: Space is compared to the ocean.
- Space Is Cold: Things freeze in space.
- Space Is Magic: Space is incomprehensible.
- Space Is Noisy: You can hear noises in space.
- Space Is Slow Motion: Things move slowly in zero-gravity.
- Space Isolation Horror: Horror derived from the emptiness and loneliness of space.
- Space Jews: An alien that has traits associated with a racial/religious stereotype.
- Space Madness: Being in space makes you insane.
- Space Marine: Troops in spaceships that are sort of like marines.
- Space Mask: Face or head protection that's somehow a substitute for a full space suit.
- Space Master: Characters who have the ability to control the fabric of space and spatial dimensions.
- Space Mines: Like Sea Mines but in space.
- Space Navy: A military fleet of spaceships.
- Space Nomads: People who live in space and don't really have a place to call home.
- Space Opera: An epic adventure story set in space.
- Space Orcs: Brutish, violent and primitive aliens.
- Space People: People who live in space.
- Space Pirates: Pirates in space.
- Space Plane: A spacecraft that looks and can take off and land like an airplane.
- Space Police: An organization of peacekeepers in space.
- Space Romans: An alien culture that resembles a historical Earth culture.
- Space Sailing: Spaceships that look like sea ships.
- Space Sector: Specific regions in space are described as "the Something Sector" or "Sector Something".
- Space Station: An artificial structure in space.
- Space Suits Are SCUBA Gear: Space suits with visible air tubes.
- Space Travel Veto: Opposition, restrictions or bans on space travel.
- Space Trucker: People who haul cargo from one planet to another.
- Space Western: A cowboyish story set in space.
- Space Whale: Creatures on space that resemble whales.
- Space "X": An alien creature has the word "space" somewhere in its name.
- Space Zone: Unrealistic video game space.
- Spaceship Slingshot Stunt: Heading towards an item with heavy gravity in space so that they'd get flung back into space like a slingshot.
- Spy Satellites: Satellites that watch you from space.
- Standard Alien Spaceship: Alien ships are smooth and colorful.
- Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot: The spaceship entering the screen to establish how cool it is.
- Standard Human Spaceship: Spaceships piloted by humans all look the same.
- Standardized Space Views: Stock space scenes.
- Standard Sci-Fi Fleet: Spaceship classification similar to the navy.
- Standard Starship Scuffle: Spaceships fighting.
- Standard Time Units: A group of planets that have one way of measuring time.
- Starship Luxurious: A spaceship with very large rooms.
- Stealth in Space: A spaceship can turn itself invisible.
- Stellar Station: A type of space station in close orbit around the Sun or other stars.
- Sub-Lightspeed Setting: A setting with space travel at strictly slower-than-light speeds.
- Subspace Ansible: Faster-than-light space communication.
- Subspace or Hyperspace: Areas of space that can do things that are impossible in regular space.
- Sublight Subterfuge: Normally, you would use FTL to travel interstellar distances. But your situation isn't normal.
- Superheroes in Space: Superheroes whose missions commonly take place beyond Earth.
- Teleportation: Disappearing from one location and reappearing in another.
- Terraform: A planet's enviroment is artificially changed to better suit a species, human-like or otherwise.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Someone gets thrown out of a spaceship's airlock without a spacesuit on.
- Time Dilation: Time passes slower in space.
- Tractor Beam: A beam of light that can pull things through space.
- Transhumans in Space: Humans in space who have been augmented.
- Transplanted Humans: Humans that came from space because their ancestors were taken from space.
- Two of Your Earth Minutes: Aliens specify that they're talking about our time, not their time.
- Ungovernable Galaxy: It's impossible for a whole galaxy to have a government.
- United Space of America: Interstellar travel programs work in a similar way to American culture.
- Universal Universe Time: The whole universe uses the same measurements of time.
- Unnecessarily Large Vessel: A ship is way bigger than it needs to be.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: A black hole that doesn't work like a real black hole.
- Wagon Train to the Stars: A series takes place on a ship.
- The War of Earthly Aggression: The Earth is the leader of an interplanetary group, but some of the planets start a revolution.
- Weaponized Exhaust: A spaceship's exhaust fumes are used as a weapon.
- What Other Galaxies?: Dialogue that suggests this is the only galaxy.
- Wizards from Outer Space: Fantasy stuff happens in space.
- Zero-G Spot: Sex in space.
- Zodiac Motifs: Constellations that are used as a motif.
Useful Notes:
- Black Holes
- The Milky Way Galaxy
- Planets
- The Solar System
- The Sun
- Solar System Planets:
- Natural Satellites / Moons:
