DOLPHINS IN SPAAAAAACE.

January 7, 2013 12:48 AM

Media featuring future dolphins?

So, I really like the future/cyborg/space cetacean trope. I'd like to see some more of it. Can you recommend some? I'm not too fussed about what type of media this is. Anything's a solid addition. Examples off the top of my head:

David Brin's Uplift series (scientifically and mechnically augmented dolphins in starships, sometimes)

The Ecco video game series (less augmentation; more mysticism and time travel and saving the future I think)

New-agey art along these lines.

New-agey -music- that seeks to represent this sort of thing. Weird warped field recordings are good (the titular Dolphins Into The Future, who inspired this AskMe).

posted by solarion to media & arts (23 answers total)

Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson - both the short story and movie had a hacker/dolphin/cyborg in it. The story has a bit more background but the movie has great dialogue "We're gonna hack your brain...".
posted by ninazer0 at 12:54 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]

Came to "recommend" the movie Johnny Mnemonic too, but only for the dolphin interest. OK, and the Dolph Lundgren interest. And Henry Rollins. And am I hallucinating or was Ice-T also there?

But mainly for the dolphin.
posted by zippy at 1:14 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

There's a Rodney Matthews album cover that has dolphins in space....ah, here it is.
posted by Life at Boulton Wynfevers at 1:21 AM on January 7

Larry Niven's Known Space universe has sentient dolphins in space.

These might help - 10 of the most epic science fictional dolphins and Sapient Cetaceans (Warning: TVTropes)
posted by Gordafarin at 1:24 AM on January 7

Mentioned in Gordafarin's links, but it deserves to be highlighted on its own: SeaQuest DSV
posted by radwolf76 at 1:47 AM on January 7

The Judas Rose
by feminist linguist and scifi-author Suzette Haden Elgin
has a bit about humans trying to learn whale language and the whales refusing to cooperate
posted by runincircles at 1:48 AM on January 7

Via TV Tropes:
Sapient Cetaceans
Space Whale
posted by Jorus at 2:37 AM on January 7

Hmm...enhanced dolphins show up in the later Pern books by Anne McCaffrey (aka "shipfish") but mostly it's a language/telepathic enhancement and it's mostly incidental to the story. I think they start appearing in DragonFall and pop up now and again from there.
posted by ninazer0 at 2:58 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Weren't there super dolphins in SeaQuest?
posted by postel's law at 3:40 AM on January 7

Psychotic space-traveling dolphins appear in Alistair Reynolds's Chasm City
posted by kovacs at 3:44 AM on January 7

The Blue Planet RPG setting contains uplifted cetaceans.
posted by selfnoise at 5:40 AM on January 7

Yeah, Pern. Particularly The Dolphins of Pern.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:41 AM on January 7

The dolphins in Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's series were the second most intelligent species on earth (after mice).
posted by merocet at 5:54 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

The starship in Robert J. Sawyer's novel Starplex is crewed by a variety of species, including dolphins.
posted by audi alteram partem at 6:00 AM on January 7

Grant Morrison's The Filth features tattooed post-apocalyptic cyborg dolphins.
posted by griphus at 6:31 AM on January 7

Halo Jones
posted by Artw at 6:55 AM on January 7

Alan Dean Foster's Cachalot, maybe. Sentient whales for sure, dolphins maybe.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:09 AM on January 7

A Deeper Sea, by Alexander Jablokov.
posted by BeeDo at 11:25 AM on January 7

This may be a stretch but Snorky organized all the dolphins in the world against humans in the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror short "Night of the Dolphins". And they talk!
posted by AloneOssifer at 11:41 AM on January 7

The Illuminatus! Trilogy isn't about the dolphins but it does feature... speculative dolphin culture and at least one talking dolphin.
posted by cmoj at 12:37 PM on January 7

Kjwalll'kje'k'koothai'lll'kje'k, a short story by Roger Zelazny
posted by celare at 2:34 PM on January 7

You might be interested in the Everything is Dolphins RPG game (link goes to online shop, PDF available). You play a talking dolphin. It's more of an art project, and has lots of dolphin-related art.
posted by The River Ivel at 3:35 PM on January 7

Slipped off the main page now, so I think I can give a response.

Some of these I've heard of but don't fancy stylistically. (Anne Mccaffrey, anyone?) But both the China Meiville in the 10 Best link and Alexander Jablokov (who I've never heard of) look right up my alley. Plus that RPG looks straight up bizarre. Thanks.
posted by solarion at 8:25 PM on January 7