History Main / CrewOfOne

[[folder: Naval Vehicles]]

-->"Where's the captain?"
-->"You're looking at her."
-->"Okay then, where's the crew?"
-->"You're looking at her."

** Played with - the Doctor's ([[spoiler:and The Master's in "Utopia"]]) frantic dashing from one control to another while driving the TARDIS led many to theorize that it wasn't designed to be operated by a single Time Lord (though the Doctor does manage it pretty well. Most of the time.) This was confirmed in the commentary of one episode of the first series: the Doctor's TARDIS was designed to have 6 operators.

** In "Journey's End", the Tenth Doctor outright says that the reason he DrivesLikeCrazy is because he's trying to do a six-person job. Thanks to the episode's CrisisCrossover nature, he has more than enough companions to fly the ship perfectly smoothly, despite it [[spoiler: towing an entire PLANET]] at the time.

* The cargo freighters in ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}''. Partly justified because they come across as trailer trucks [[AC:[[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE!]]]]
** Also, although capital ships are implied to have a full crew, there's several third party mod where you can pilot one of these by yourself.
* Spacecraft in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' can be controlled by a single person, assuming that said single person is a 'capsuleer', or 'pod pilot' and the ship is designed to accept a pod. Otherwise it takes a full crew to fly a ship. Only a small fraction of humanity has the potential to be pod pilots, and those people are considered a valuable resource, to the point that capsuleers are assured access to clones and that no empire can lay claim to them.
* Derek Smart's ''Battlecruiser 3000AD'' series is this trope taken to the ridiculous extreme. Of course, in-universe, there are crews, but it's actually one man, the player, doing EVERYTHING.

** The missions in the ''VideoGame/Battlefield3'' campaign where you play as Sgt. Miller zig-zag this. On the one hand, he's explicitly referred to as the ''driver'' of his M1 Abrams; there are multiple shots showing the rest of the crew, particularly the loader, at work doing their own jobs within the tank, and in one section of gameplay where you're forced to dismount, the tank is left holding where you parked it and only supporting you with its gun. On the other, despite being the driver, when you ''are'' driving, thanks to gameplay mechanics you are also in full control of the turret, doing the actual aiming and firing to take out enemy tanks. Plus, there are multiple sections where you, the driver, for no reason whatsoever, pop out of one of the top hatches to man the .50-cal machine gun on top while ''someone else'' drives.
** ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' plays with this a bit. The driver of the bigger tanks can load and fire their own gun, but as the tanks don't have turrets they can only fire on targets in front of them - the driver is reliant on having a crew to guard their flanks. The landship in particular, as the driver only has access to a machine gun or rifle and the actual cannons are in crew-operated sponsons on the sides. Played straight with the light tank, though.

* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore: For Answer''. The megacorporations in the game world used to rely on HumongousMecha which played this trope straight, until they figured out that [[PhlebotinumRebel it was too dangerous to leave that kind of firepower in the hands of a single pilot]]. Consequently they started building {{Military Mashup Machine}}s with hundreds of crew instead.

* ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'' has the player character operate a Cyclops submarine, a vessel designed to be operated by a three person crew[[labelnote:*]]One pilots the vessel, one loads creature decoys, and one manages engineering[[/labelnote]], alone. Though it's extremely Justified, on account of you being the SoleSurvivor of a ship crash.

* ''Franchise/CallOfDuty''
** In two missions in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'', the player is in control of all of a Crusader tank's functions, but it is understood that the tank has a proper crew, as they repeatedly talk to you across the mission, and the machine gun works without the player's input. The same is true of the original ''Call of Duty'''s brief tank segment near the end of the Soviet campaign. The HandWave is that you're the tank commander, and this is gameplay shorthand for you playing spotter and telling the crew what to do.
** Also averted in ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warfare 3]]'', as your [[PlayerCharacter character]] mans the [[GatlingGood minigun]] turret on an M1 Abrams tank to keep [=RPG=]-wielding infantry and helicopters at bay, while the [[NonPlayerCharacter tank gunner]] destroys Russian tanks.

** The [[CoolCar Hellbender]] has a driver, one gunner shooting a skymine launcher and another gunner manning a back-mounted laser turret. Surprisingly, this actually has a purpose as the rear gunner is completely exposed and vulnerable to snipers while the other gunner is even harder to snipe than the driver. The driver himself can do nothing but honk the horn; on the other hand, the bots in ''2004'' are scripted to automatically board a honking Hellbender.

** In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' it's a plot point. In fact, the ''central'' plot point to the second book of the trilogy. Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers usually need a crew complement of sixteen thousand people, but one fleet - called the [[KatanasAreJustBetter Katana Fleet]] or the Dark Force - was fitted with [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Slave_circuit slave circuitry]] which reduced the needed crew to 2200 each. And meant that when the crewers on the flagship caught a hive virus, went insane, and programmed a random jump, the entire fleet was lost in the depths of interstellar space, at least until they were accidentally found many years later. At which point, the race is on between two rather evenly-matched navies to get the ships first and tip the balance in their favor.

* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' it's implied that the crew of the Edelweiss consists of just Welkin and Isara. The Edelweiss is based on a King Tiger, with five crew positions; it even conspicuously has an access hatch for the radio operator it apparently doesn't have. Later entries sometimes only have a single named person for an entire vehicle.

* In two missions in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'', the player is in control of all of a Crusader tank's functions, but it is understood that the tank has a proper crew, as they repeatedly talk to you across the mission.
** The same is true of the original ''Call of Duty'''s brief tank segment near the end of the Soviet campaign. The HandWave is that you're the tank commander, and this is gameplay shorthand for you playing spotter and telling the crew what to do.
** Also averted in ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warafare 3]]'', as your [[PlayerCharacter character]] mans the [[GatlingGood minigun]] turret on an M1 Abrams tank to keep [=RPG=]-wielding infantry and helicopters at bay, while the [[NonPlayerCharacter tank gunner]] destroys Russian tanks.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Commandos}}'' series averts this, at least with tanks -- the Driver can drive tanks, but the Sapper must be on-board to fire the cannon.

** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals Generals]]'' made it possible to neutralize vehicle crews and take over the vehicle by ordering a single infantry unit into it. [[UniversalDriversLicense And they all know how to drive anything, too]].
*** But only American vehicles have the ability to eject a soldier out of their machines and in spirit of the ''C&C'' games before it, only eject one soldier per vehicle. But it's not just any soldier, either; it's a ''trained'' Pilot, and for very good reason, too: a Pilot carries his experience with him. If he manages to get onto a friendly vehicle, he'll pass his battle experience down to the crew riding that vehicle.

* Interestingly zigzagged in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault''. Stealing an enemy tank in the original game requires escorting a specially trained crew to the tank, but in the ''Spearhead'' and ''Breakthrough'' expansions, both Barnes and Baker manage to singlehandedly operate both German guns and tanks without any problem whatsoever.

->'''Blackadder''': I was under the impression that it was common maritime practice for a ship to have a crew.\\
'''[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Redbeard Rum]]''': Opinion is divided on the subject. Yerrs; all the other captains say it is, I say it isn't!

** Also averted in [[''VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warafare 3'', as your [[PlayerCharacter character]] mans the [[GatlingGood minigun]] turret on an M1 Abrams tank to keep [=RPG=]-wielding infantry and helicopters at bay, while the [[NonPlayerCharacter tank gunner]] destroys Russian tanks.

** Also averted in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'', as your [[PlayerCharacter character]] mans the [[GatlingGood minigun]] turret on an M1 Abrams tank to keep [=RPG=]-wielding infantry and helicopters at bay, while the [[NonPlayerCharacter tank gunner]] destroys Russian tanks.

* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'' the player is in control of all of the tank's functions, but it is understood that the tank has a proper crew.
** The same is true of the original ''Call of Duty'''s brief tank segment. The HandWave is that you're the tank commander, and this is gameplay shorthand for you playing spotter and telling the crew what to do.
** Also averted in [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Modern Warfare 3]], as your [[PlayerCharacter character]] mans the [[GatlingGood minigun]] turret on an M1 Abrams tank to keep [=RPG=]-wielding infantry and helicopters at bay, while the [[NonPlayerCharacter tank gunner]] destroys Russian tanks.

** Some vehicles (such as the BTR-60 in Battlefield Vietnam) were in fact kinda useless without two people, one to drive and one to shoot. Other vehicles, such as the helicopters in Battlefield Vietnam and Battlefield 2 became significantly more effective with a second crewman to fire more guns, but didn't necessarily require them. But the tanks were pretty much always one-crew killing machines.

** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberium Renegade]]'', in all its gameplay simplicity, although one can set the game so when a second character embarks, he's the gunner. But not only is it optional, it's ''never'' enabled on any server. There is nothing to stop you from operating a Mammoth Tank all by yourself.

* The Landmaster in ''VideoGame/StarFox''. Probably justified due to the advanced tech of the races in the Lylat system.
** This one does seems to be hardly larger than an Arwing (at most), and just about as complex.

** Though in the film, he mostly just drives the tank, with apparently limited manoeverability. When he ''does'' fire it, it is completely stationary (implying that he moved about in it) and is being fired at an oncoming train.

** ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' plays with this a bit. The driver of the bigger tanks can load and fire their own gun, but as the tanks don't have turrets they can only fire directly in front of the tank - the driver is reliant on having a crew to guard their flanks. The landship in particular, as the driver only has access to a machine gun or rifle and the actual cannons are in crew-operated sponsons on the sides. Played straight with the light tank, though.

[[folder: Tanks]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}}'' (The game, not PrivateMilitaryContractors)

** The Edelweiss specifically [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] this: it's heavily modified with automated ammo loaders, combined systems, and so on so it can be operated by one commander and one driver/engineer. However, these extra systems require the driver to be specially trained, make the tank far too expensive to be mass-produced, and are implied to require a hideous number of man-hours in maintenance (again, with an overseer familiar with the tank's unique systems) so only the prototype model exists.

[[folder: Spaceships]]

*** The Falcon can actually be operated entirely by one person, but firing the main guns from the cockpit with any kind of accuracy is damn near impossible (Luke's ability to do so in the above novel, even with the Force on his side, was considered a mighty achievement). And if something breaks down (like the hyperdrive did in ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack TESB]]'') there's no way to fix it without leaving the pilot's seat.

[[folder: Other]]

** In "Journey's End", the Tenth Doctor outright says that he spends so much time dashing around the console because he's trying to do a six-person job. Thanks to the episode's CrisisCrossover nature, he has more than enough companions to fly the ship perfectly smoothly, despite it [[spoiler: towing an entire PLANET]] at the time.

* Played with in ''Series/DoctorWho'': the Doctor's ([[spoiler:and The Master's in "Utopia"]]) frantic dashing from one control to another while driving the TARDIS led many to theorize that it wasn't designed to be operated by a single Time Lord (though the Doctor does manage it pretty well. Most of the time.) This was confirmed in the commentary of one episode of the first series: the Doctor's TARDIS was designed to have 6 operators.

** There's also the fact that when you consider how many times the TARDIS malfunctions or is otherwise inaccurate in arriving at its destination, it seems that the Doctor is just barely able to maintain the thing. It is also occasionally implied that even he is not quite sure how it works, and leaves a certain degree of its operation to chance or trial and error. It helps that this particular TARDIS was a banged-up, obsolete model when the Doctor originally stole it. [[spoiler:And also that it's so old that it's [[SapientShip become sentient]]]].
** In "Journey's End", [[spoiler:the TARDIS is finally fully crewed, and with some to spare as well.]]

* Almost all fighter aircraft have a one-man crew, who both flies the aircraft and operates the weapons. Some, however, have two crew members with one performing each task, such as the F/A-18E Super Hornet, F-15E Strike Eagle, and MiG-35.

* The nature of [[CastFromHitPoints crew as damage points]] in ''VideoGame/StarControl'' means that at the end just one crewman (assumed to be her [[TheCaptain captain]]) can be controlling the entire ship. This becomes odd in some ships such as the Earthling Cruiser or the Spathi Eluder that show in the animations two crewmen, and continue so even in that cae.

** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', the ''Vengeance'' was designed to need a much smaller crew than its predecessors and could be operated by one person if necessary. [[spoiler: This is quite fortunate for Kirk, Scotty, and Harrison when they board it to capture the ship from Marcus then again for Harrison when he truly does have to pilot it by himself later. The novelization also makes it clear that Harrison's ability to fly the ship solo into combat in an effective manner is also largely due to his superhuman mental abilities and reflexes]].
** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' we meet the terrifying Species 8472 and their bio-ships. Each ship requires only a pilot and the ship itself is extremely formidable, being able to destroy multiple Borg cubes in seconds. The pilot themselves is no slouch, able to resist assimilation, have psychic powers and their cells are extremely virulent, meaning a slash can poison the victim and kill them if left untreated.

[[caption-width-right:350: Notice how there's no loaders or spotters? This is just the tip of the iceberg...[[note]]The PlayerCharacter in a later level here manages to operate a ''tank'' without the need of additional crew members]]

* Singlehanded oceanic sailing in the RealLife. The first transatlantic singlehanded crossing must have occurred already in the 18th century. The first person to sail singlehandedly around the world was Joshua Slocum in 1895-1898 on his two-masted 36'9" ketch ''Spray''. This feat has been [[http://www.joshuaslocumsocietyintl.org/solo/solotable.htm repeated many times]]-- nowadays, there are even solo circumnavigation [[EpicRace ''races'']].

** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' has [[spoiler:Admiral Holdo]] singlehandedly fly a Rebel cruiser and [[spoiler:use it to ram the First Order command ship]]. Earlier, during [[spoiler:Poe's attempted mutiny against Admiral Holdo]], the bridges is similarly deserted, with only a couple others present and [[spoiler:Poe]] handling nearly all of the bridge tasks.