History Main / SpheroidDropship

** Spheres are BadAss. Nothing says "we mean business" like a MotherShip that looks like a wrecking ball with guns.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Films - Animated ]]

* The second KatyCaterpillar movie, ''Katy, Kiki & Koko'' had the shapeshifting alien use such a ship. It was not capable of taking off vertically and had to reach escape velocity by bouncing on the ground.

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[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC: Films - Animated]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

A SciFi plot calls for a vehicle that can land on an alien planet and be somewhat {{Badass}}. A SpacePlane would be cool, but you'd need a runway. So instead, you have a DropShip shaped roughly like a sphere that consists of a vertically mounted rocket engine surrounded by landing struts, fuel, cargo, a control room, and usually a ramp to offload personnel and cargo. The type of engine is unimportant. It can be an actual rocket or a HandWaved "[[DramaticAlienVTOL antigravity generator]]" or "[[PowerFloats reactionless thruster]]".

* The Didact's ship in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''.

* The derelict space craft from AndreNorton's ''Literature/TheTimeTraders'' series were giant spheres. In the second book, ''Galactic Derelict'', the heroes managed to find one intact.

* Peter F. Hamilton's famous ''[[TheNightsDawnTrilogy Night's Dawn]]'' trilogy features a lot of spherical spacecraft (e. g. ''[[CoolStarship The Lady Macbeth]]''), due to the FTL drives creating a spherical area for the travel - anything poking out is cut off. They are mostly used by the Adamists, one of the two major factions of future humanity in that series. While they are never shown to land on planets (instead preferring to ferry freight using a SpacePlane), they could presumably land on a planet vertically due to their huge fusion engines and fuel tanks.

* In the book ''IllegalAliens'' the starship All That Glitters and the copies of it that the Unified Earth Government makes after the All That Glitters is confiscated are spherical. The All That Glitters literally drops out of a sunny day into Central Park. Also in that book the Great Golden Ones, the Galaxy's defacto police force, use multiple centehedronal battle-platforms to blockade Earth.

* Bungie's new game ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}'' features The Traveller, a ''{{Sphere}}''-like being that uplifted Humanity, which got mysteriously smacked down a few decades later after exploring the Solar System. The Traveller's [[BlueAndOrangeMorality motives are unknown]], though it seems generally helpful.

* ''{{Sphere}}''. Technically not a drop ship, but still an alien "spacecraft".

* The alien "Gods" in ''PumaMan'' is also a round sphere.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'''s Sphereoid-type dropships are the TropeNamer. Sphereoids have superior cargo capacity over conventional [[SpacePlane Aerodyne dropships]] and do not require any runways to land or takeoff. However, they have no lift surfaces, making them totally dependent on their fusion rockets for ascent, descent, and directional control; if they fail, the ship drops like a rock, destroying anything on board and anything within [[ColonyDrop several hundred meters]]. They're not all "spheroid" either, a more apt descriptor for some of them would be "ovoid".

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'''s Sphereoid-type dropships are the TropeNamer. Sphereoids have superior cargo capacity over conventional [[SpacePlane Aerodyne dropships]] and do not require any runways to land or takeoff. However, they have no lift surfaces, making them totally dependent on their fusion rockets for ascent, descent, and directional control; if they fail, the ship drops like a rock, destroying anything on board and anything within [[ColonyDrop several hundred meters]]

* These are present in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'', ''VideoGame/MechAssault'', and ''Videogame/MechCommander'' game series, which is based on ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''. For the most part, they function as a StationaryBoss, with huge amounts of armor and high-powered weapons. ''Mechassault 1'' starts off with a ComingInHot landing by a sphereoid dropship after it was damaged by anti-air fire, causing it to smash into the ground and damage or destroy most of its [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]]. The ships' idiot technician cannibalizes parts from heavy battlemechs to repair a ''Cougar'' scout mech, much to the annoyance of the commander.

* These are present in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' and ''VideoGame/MechAssault'' game series, which is based on ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''. For the most part, they function as a StationaryBoss, with huge amounts of armor and high-powered weapons. ''Mechassault 1'' starts off with a ComingInHot landing by a sphereoid dropship after it was damaged by anti-air fire; the crash landing damaged most of the [[HumongousMecha battlemechs]] it was carrying. The ship's idiot technician uses parts from heavier battlemechs to repair a [[FragileSpeedster Cougar]].

[[caption-width-right:340:Note the HumongousMecha[[labelnote:*]]Approximate Timberwolf height is 12 meters[[/labelnote]] and the large turrets.]]

* In ''{{Magnus}}'', Dragylon the Imperial Fortress is a massive, invisible, sun-sphere and headquarters of Lucifer. Dragylon also contains the GreatBigLibraryOfEverything and Lucifer's CoolChair.

* The derelict space craft from AndreNorton's ''TheTimeTraders'' series were giant spheres. In the second book, ''Galactic Derelict'', the heroes managed to find one intact.

* The spaceship in ''Film/AttackOfThe50FootWoman'', except the characters call it a satellite because the screenwriter goofed. (It was made when Sputnik had just made 'satellite' the latest buzzword. The 1993 remake uses a straight-up FlyingSaucer.)

* These are present in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' and ''VideoGame/MechAssault'' game series, which is based on ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''. For the most part, they function as a StationaryBoss, with huge amounts of armor and high-powered weapons.

* These are present in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' and ''VideoGame/MechAssault'' game series, which is based on ''BattleTech''.

[[caption-width-right:340:Note the HumongousMecha and the large turrets.]]

* The lifepod in ''[[Film/StarshipTroopers Starship Troopers 3: Marauder]]''.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'''s Sphereoid-type dropships are the TropeNamer. Sphereoids can carry superior cargo capacity over conventional [[SpacePlane Aerodyne dropships]] and do not require any runways. However, they have no lift surfaces making them totally dependent on their fusion rockets for landing, descending, and steering - if they fail, the ship drops like a rock, destroying anything on board and anything within [[ColonyDrop several hundred meters]]

* The trope was named for Spheroid Dropships in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. See [[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/File:Outpost_(DropShip).jpg here]] for an example design. Note the HumongousMecha on the lower right.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Starman}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starman_sphere.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hi! We're here to pick up Creator/JeffBridges.]]

* ''DragonBallZ'': Frieza's Saiyan Pods are of the sufficiently advanced variety. There's also the larger ones adapted from that technology.

* The classic [[http://davidszondy.com/future/space/aries.htm Aries trans-orbital shuttle]] that takes Heywood Floyd from Station V to the Moon in ''[[TwoThousandOne 2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' fits this to a T.
* ''Film/{{Starman}}'' may be the TropeCodifier, as seen in the Trope Image.

* The trope was named for Spheroid Dropships in ''BattleTech''. See [[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/File:Outpost_(DropShip).jpg here]] for an example design. Note the HumongousMecha on the lower right.

* In the ''KnownSpace'' series by LarryNiven, the General Products Corporation makes two standard hulls for starships (the Type 1 and the Type 4) which are perfectly spherical. The Type 1 is about the size of a basketball and is typically used to make space probes. The Type 4 is a kilometer in diameter and is generally used to move entire colonies all at once.

* M78 Space Garrison Commander Zoffy arrives in a bright red energy sphere as ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' [[spoiler:lies unconscious after Zetton damaged his Color Timer in the last episode.]] They both leave Earth soon after.
** This is a Callback to the first episode, as Ultraman himself was travelling in one of those when he accidentally collided with Hayata's ship.

* The ''Broadsword'' class mercenary cruiser in ''{{Traveller}}''. Oddly, though its description says it can't land on planets with atmospheres, one does exactly that in ''Adventure 7 Broadsword''.
* The Kroot of Warhammer40K are known to have space-capable "warspheres".

* M78 Space Garrison Commander Zoffy arrives in a bright red sphere as ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' [[spoiler:lies unconscious after Zetton damaged his Color Timer in the last episode.]] They both leave Earth soon after.

* The [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucrehulk-class_Core_Ship Lucrehulk-class Core Ship]] in ''StarWars II: AttackOfTheClones'' are dual purpose ships. They're the central "command" core of the Trade Federation ships (with large crescent sections surrounding them as seen in Episode I), but as those cannot enter the atmosphere in their entirety, they may also detach to be used as landing craft, or fly independently.

* The spaceship in ''AttackOfThe50FootWoman'', except the characters call it a satellite because the screenwriter goofed. (It was made when Sputnik had just made 'satellite' the latest buzzword. The 1993 remake uses a straight-up FlyingSaucer.)

* M78 Space Garrison Commander Zoffy arrives in a bright red sphere as ''{{Ultraman}}'' [[spoiler:lies unconscious after Zetton damaged his Color Timer in the last episode.]] They both leave Earth soon after.