History Main / SpheroidDropship

* The [[http://hollywoodjesus.com/movie/et/34.jpg alien spaceship]] in ''ETTheExtraTerrestrial''.

* [[{{Film/ptitlejg38r3xwzu8c}} The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] movie has [[strike: [[IncrediblyLamePun a ball]]]] tons of fun with this trope.

* The spaceship in ''AttackOfThe50FootWoman'', except the characters call it a satellite because the screenwriter DidNotDoTheResearch. (The 1993 remake uses a straight-up FlyingSaucer.)

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

* TheRemake of ''TheDayTheEarthStoodStill'' has spheroid energy vessel of some sort, instead of the classic Flying Saucer that landed on the Mall in the original.

* E.E. Smith favoured this shape in the ''Skylark'' universe (only ''Skylark Three'' was elongated) and for the FTL capital ships in the early part of the ''Lensman'' sequence. By the time of ''First Lensman'', however, the teardrop shape is becoming more prominent and the spheres are having trouble keeping up (literally). After the first space battle in that book, no more spheres are built and it's implied the ones which exist are phased out. By Kim Kinnison's era the ships are all teardrops.

* These are present in the ''Mechwarrior'' and ''Mechassault'' game series, which is based on ''BattleTech''.

* The [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucrehulk-class_Core_Ship Lucrehulk-class Core Ship]] in ''StarWars II: Attack of the Clones''. Dual purpose. They were the central "command" core of the Trade Federation ships, but could detach to serve as landing craft, or fly independently.
* The [[StarTrekFirstContact Borg Sphere]] hovers somewhere in the gray area between trope played straight and subversion.

* {{Spheroid Dropship}}: Dragylon the Imperial Fortress is a massive, invisible, sun-sphere and headquarters of Lucifer. Dragylon also contains the {{Library Of Babel}} and Lucifer's CoolChair.
* In ''[[StarWarsExpandedUniverse The Black Fleet Crisis]]'', the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yevetha]]'s thrustships are spherical, based on the surface area argument quoted above. Probably the only ''StarWars'' example that isn't somehow related to the Death Star.

** Spheres have been shown as an effective shape for atmospheric rentry, as demonstrated by the Soviet manned space program.

** Perhaps most imortantly of all, spheres are [[AlienGeometries alien]], [[ButNotTooForeign but not too alien]]. We instantly recognize a sphere as a familiar shape, but not one we're used to seeing in the sky. They've got SinisterGeometry, but still clearly leave open the possibility we could find that their crews are NotSoDifferent from us.

* The classic [[http://davidszondy.com/future/space/aries.htm Aries transorbital shuttle]] that takes Heywood Floyd from Station V to the Moon in ''[[TwoThousandOne 2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' fits this to a T.

* The [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucrehulk-class_Core_Ship Lucrehulk-class Core Ship]] in ''StarWars II: Attack of the Clones''. Dual purpose. They were the central "command" core of the Trade Federation ships, but could detatch to serve as landing craft, or fly independantly.

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

* ''{{Starman}}'' may be the TropeCodifier, as seen in the Trope Image.

* Peter F. Hamilton's famous ''[[TheNightsDawnTrilogy Night's Dawn]]'' trilogy features a lot of spherical spacecraft (e. g. ''[[CoolStarship The Lady Macbeth]]). They are mostly used by the Adamists, one of the two major factions of future humanity in that series.

* Peter F. Hamilton's famous ''[[TheNightsDawnTrilogy Night's Dawn]]'' trilogy features a lot of spherical spacecraft (e. g. The Lady Macbeth). They are mostly used by the Adamists, one of the two major factions of future humanity in that series.

* The vessel that takes Heywood Floyd to the Moon in ''[[TwoThousandOne 2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' is this to a T.

* The [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucrehulk-class_Core_Ship Lucrehulk-class Core Ship]] in Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. Dual purpose. They were the central "command" core of the Trade Federation ships, but could detatch to serve as landing craft, or fly independantly.

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

*** At a radius of 800m with a relatively thin shell, a sphere with an internal temperature a single degree Celcius higher than the external temperature will ''float'' in the atmosphere.
**** Depending on how thin "thin" is, and ignoring how much energy it would take to maintain a temperature difference in something that size, and implying that the sphere is of very low density, so not carrying any weapons, cargo, people, armor, oxygen, fuel, spaceship parts, etc...
*** In short, the statement makes no sense. Assuming standard pressure inside & out, 10 deg Celsius outside temperature, and a hull density of 1g/cm3, we get 1mm shell thickness. A giant balloon, in other words.

* ''{{Sphere}}''. Duh.

** Spheres are sleek, but not as stereotypical as a FlyingSaucer or RaygunGothic rocket.

* More importantly to [[MostWritersAreWriters writers]], spheres are ''cool''.

* These are present in the ''Mechwarrior'' and ''Mechassault'' game series, which is based on ''BattleTech'', SoYeah.

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 "antigravity generator" or "reactionless thruster".