Line #39 Main/SomethingNauts


1	[[quoteright:288:[[ComicBook/{{Micronauts\|MarvelComics}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/micronauts.png]]]]
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3	The advent of hot-air balloons allowed the first human beings to fulfill the ancient dream of venturing into the sky. The operators of these craft came to be known as "aeronauts", from Greek words meaning "air sailor", since the process was like to that of crewing a ship. But once airplanes came along and airships lost favor, the title of "pilot" became prominent and aeronauts were largely forgotten.
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5	Then, in the 1960s, humans venturing into the new frontier of space created a new category of explorer. These came to be known as astronauts, "star sailors", which is fitting because SpaceIsAnOcean in the public mind. Soviet spacefarers were given the separate name of cosmonauts ("universe sailor") to distinguish them during the heavy rivalry of early space exploration. As a result of these names, the suffix "naut" has become associated with space and scientific endeavor.
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7	Those of us on the ground have long admired astronauts, who undertake tremendous risk in the performance of their job, spend weeks or months in an inhospitable environment, and have a sense of international camaraderie unknown to almost any other pursuit. As such, the "nauts" suffix has been used for fictional organizations, especially of a scientific, exploratory, or paramilitary nature (because most astronauts are inducted from the military due to similar skills being required), and to indicate that these groups are heroic and elite. While the specifics vary considerably, especially along the continuum of military vs. scientific purpose, the connotations are almost always positive.
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9	The usage follows a specific format- a non-hyphenated compound word, which may or may not be capitalized, in which the first part has two syllables: somethingnauts. However, the trope title is Administrivia/{{Wiki Word}}ed for clarity.
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11	Compare {{Ranger}}. Not to be confused with TheJuggernaut.
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13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Comic Books]]
19	* ''ComicBook/{{Necronauts}}'': A mashup of 19th century celebrities fighting {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
20	[[/folder]]
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22	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
23	* ''Film/TheCore'': In this [[HollywoodScience "Science"]] Fiction film, a team of six people, who call themselves "Terranauts" at the suggestion of Creator/HilarySwank's character, have to prevent the loss of Earth's atmosphere due to the gradual stopping of the planet's rotation by going to the core to restart its spin.
24	[[/folder]]
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26	[[folder:Literature]]
27	* The ExpandedUniverse novels for ''Literature/RedDwarf'' refer to the explorers of humanity's early, disappointing, slower-than-light interstellar voyages as "stellarnauts".
28	* ''Les Thanatonautes'' by Creator/BernardWerber. It means "death sailors" and it describes an exploration of the afterlife through controlled [[NearDeathExperience near death experiences]].
29	* In ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', the Krullian explorers making the first foray off the edge of the Disc (or at least the first to be intentional and with a plan for coming back) are chelonauts (from "chelonian" meaning "turtle"). Presumably, the crew of the ''Kite'' in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' are also chelonauts, but the word doesn't come up.
30	* In the Creator/PhilipKDick story "A Little Something for Us Tempunauts" American and Soviet time explorers are known as "Tempunauts" and "Chrononauts" respectively, paralleling the "astronaut" and "cosmonaut" tags.
31	* In the 1970 young adult science fiction novel ''Journey of the Oceanauts'' by Louis Wolfe, the "oceanauts" of the title are a team of explorers who have been artificially modified to be able to survive underwater, and who set out to cross the Atlantic Ocean on foot by walking across the seafloor.
32	[[/folder]]
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34	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
35	* Chrononauts from Project Backstep in ''Series/SevenDays''; there are several individuals who carry the title during the course of the show. Parker is the main one, but throughout the series there's his friend Donovan who serves as "backup chrononaut" in case Parker can't be sent back for some reason (although he never actually goes on a mission). In one episode Parker comes across a hidden memorial to the chrononauts who came before him -- he was just the first one to survive. In anther episode Creator/RobertPicardo plays a future chrononaut who visits the series' present from a distant future when they can travel more than seven days back. Olga was married to a Russian chrononaut before their time travel experiments got shut down and she transferred to the US's.
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
39	* The Argonauts, whose myth inspired the epic poem "The Argonautica" and the film ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', among many others, are called that for a very literal and straight-ahead reason: they're sailors ("-nauts") who crew a ship called named ''Argo'' (Greek for "swift").
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42	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
43	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Chrononauts}}'', the players are time travelers tasked with strategically changing history to bring about their personal ideal timeline.
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46	[[folder:Toys]]
47	* The amusingly redundant Aquanauts and Hydronauts were two of several factions in the submarine-themed toy line "Toys/{{Aquazone}}" by Franchise/{{Lego}}. There were also the Aquaraiders, all three groups being oceanic explorers and deep-sea miners who were opposed by the Aquasharks and Stingrays, who were SubmarinePirates.
48	* The Astro-Viper from ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' is referred to as a "Cobranaut" as his specialty.
49	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}'' has the character Nurp-Naut. He is an Orbiton (a space and alien-based tribe), with the Naut half of him being a wise elder, compared to the baby Nurp side.
50	* There was a line of toys in the late '70s called Toys/{{Micronauts}}, which would literally mean something like "small sailors". They were little robots about 4 inches tall, with an assortment of vehicles and bases and so on.
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53	[[folder:Video Games]]
54	* In ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}'', the title characters are a group of mercenaries hired by two warring factions, the Ones and the Zeroes. Their task is to fight over drills on various planets excavating 'Solar', a precious liquid metal.
55	* In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', the agents of the Bureau of Control who delve into the astral plane to explore it are called Astralnauts.
56	* In ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'''s lore, there is a faction of Guardians who use their ResurrectiveImmortality by dying and reviving to try to receive visions and seek enlightenment. They are called Thanatonauts.
57	* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' lore, the Imperial Mananauts explored [[SpiritWorld Aetherius]] during the heyday of the Second Tamriellic Empire (under the Reman Dynasty) in the late 1st Era in a "space race" with the [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri]] [[TheEmpire Dominion]]. The Aldmeri used Sunbirds, ships somehow literally made from the Sun. (Which, in the ''ES'' universe, is [[AlienSky actually a portal]] to Aetherius through which magic flows into Mundus, the mortal realm.) The Empire, on the other hand, used "Mothships", [[LivingShip enormous Ancestor Moths]] bred, hollowed out, and flown into the void on strength of willpower alone. (Ancestor Moths have a special supernatural connection which also allows them to be used to somewhat protect mortal readers from the power of the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Elder Scrolls]], which is why the Scrolls are kept and read by the Cult of the Ancestor Moth.) The results of these expeditions have largely been lost to history.
58	* The space-exploring Kerbal aliens from ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'' are called kerbonauts. Which is [[FridgeLogic sort of bizarre]], because they're just alien astronauts; we don't call human spacefarers [[ShapedLikeItself "humanauts."]] As it turns out, [[IAmNotShazam the game never calls them kerbonauts]] (they live in an "astronaut complex.") The tropey term is a near-ubiquitous FanSpeak word derived from the game's tendency to put "kerb" in front of things (they live on a planet called Kerbin orbiting a star called Kerbol).
59	* The X-Nauts, the alien race from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''.
60	* The ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' are a group of highly trained psychics who travel the world having ''Film/JamesBond''-esque adventures and generally keeping civilization safe from psychic threats. At least, that's the subtext- the actual game takes place at a [[SuperheroSchool summer camp for kids]] that teaches them to control their latent psychic abilities.
61	** The [[VideoGame/Psychonauts2 sequel]] explores the organization's background as a think tank where psychics worked to [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind explore the depths and limits of their own minds]], expanding their psychic abilities in the process, with references to the [[HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs colloquial use of the term]] from the prevailing 70's aesthetic. One of the founders says that this is still the goal of the organization, with all the spywork being a means to secure funding to that end.
62	* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' is a title-only usage, there don't seem to be any people in the games actually called "scribblenauts", except for a [[https://scribblenauts.fandom.com/wiki/Scribblenaut humanoid creature]]. The "scribble" part references the main character's notebook, which summons anything written into it.
63	* ''VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep'' gives your soldiers naval rankings and calls them Aquanauts.
64	* ''VideoGame/{{Xenonauts}}'' are an international military unit formed to counter the threat of alien invasion on earth.
65	[[/folder]]
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67	[[folder:Visual Novel]]
68	* ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'' is about a handful of police officers picked to keep the peace in an orbital colony.
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71	[[folder:Web Comics]]
72	* Parodied in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' with Dr. Disaster's simulation games, which cast the students as "Spacemonauts" acting out a cheesy pulp sci-fi storyline.
73	[[/folder]]
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75	[[folder:Web Videos]]
76	* On his Atari 5200 video, the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd wonders if the system's controller was meant to contact "fuckernauts".
77	[[/folder]]
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79	[[folder:Western Animation]]
80	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfMarkTwain'', Literature/TomSawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher stow away on Twain's airship. Tom calls themselves "aeronorts", with Becky correcting him as "aeronauts".
81	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOctonauts'' is an EdutainmentShow (and a children book series) following the adventures of FunnyAnimals protecting sea-life. It got its name from their UnderwaterBase shaped like an octopus: the Octopod.
82	* The Canadian animated series ''WesternAnimation/ThreeAmigonauts'' stars a ComicTrio of students attending an academy in outer space.
83	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SomethingNauts