# Bioweapons in scifi!



## tecnowraith (Dec 22, 2005)

I have an odd request. Can one here list all the movies, tv show, books games and anime that have bioweapons or bio-items? The only thing I can think of right now is Guyver, bio-armor suite.


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## Rackhir (Dec 22, 2005)

Well, The Company in Alien/(s) wanted them for the bio-weapons division.

Bio-weapons popped up several times in B5. IIRC in season 1 there was a device that turned the person it was attached to into an "Ultimate" weapon, but was programed to preserve the "purity" of the race and therefore wiped out the race that created it since they weren't "pure" enough. There was also the Drahk plague that was used against earth in the TV movie "Call to Arms" leading to the series Crusade, where the goal was to find a cure for the plague. The Drahk also used a parasite creature as a monitor/controller for people. Of course there were the Shadow ships that used people as the controller/cpu for the ships, PSI's were used as especially effective controllers/cpus and some were modified where they would "take over" ships when woken up.


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## Roudi (Dec 22, 2005)

The New Jedi Order series of Star Wars novels introduced the Yuuzhan Vong, a species from beyond the galaxy that used biological entities in place of technology.  Everything was a creature or plant; their spaceships, armor, weapons, everything.

Star Trek often featured biotech, from the "Tin Man" living spaceship in The Next Generation to Xindi weapons that use creatures as a power source on Enterprise.


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## Arnwyn (Dec 22, 2005)

Adam Warren's _Dirty Pair_ comics/manga/graphic novels have a bunch of different bio-weapon type equipment.


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## Joshua Randall (Dec 22, 2005)

Another _Star Trek_ example: Species 8472, featured in several ST: Voyager episodes, used/were bioweapons. In a clever twist, the Voyager-ites used modified Borg nanoprobes to defeat Species 8472 -- technoweapons trumping bioweapons, at least in that particular show.


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## Krieg (Dec 22, 2005)

Pavel Chekov's friend the Ceti Eel...


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 22, 2005)

Babylon 5...Volons, Shadows, the dead race (it took over the guy in 1st season), even the Techno mages as they seems to have inplants to control their nano-magic. 

Farscape...Moya the ship, Cyberclone Harvey.


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## mmu1 (Dec 22, 2005)

Well, let's see...

There's the Shadowrun RPG (3rd edition all the way! Down with 4th edition!) that has tons of "bioware" - eyes modfied to see in low light, lungs with expanded volume and hearts with better aerobic performance, implantable venom sacs, muscle grafts, self-healing armor skin, reflex enhancers, you name it.

There's a series of books by Richard Morgan (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) in which it's possible to get entire synthetic/organic bodies custom-built, and consciousness transfer is common.

There's _Fallen Dragon_ by Peter Hamilton, which features organic powered armor called "skin" - which interfaces with the wearer's body to the point of sharing the blood supply.

I should be able to come up with more stuff once I get home and have the chance to scan my bookcases to refresh my memory...


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## Joshua Randall (Dec 22, 2005)

mmu1 said:
			
		

> There's the Shadowrun RPG



...which of course was inspired by the William Gibson books, _Neuromancer_, _Mona Lisa Overdrive_, and uh, some other ones whose names escape me right now. But they feature all the usual stuff: implants, drugs, consciousness transfers, you name it.

Y'know, we have bio-tech in real life: pacemakers, cochlear implants, artificial joints, insulin pumps... in only a few short years we'll be just like the Borg. Whee!


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## Sir Brennen (Dec 22, 2005)

_Earth: Final Conflict_ had a lot of bio-tech central to the story, IIRC, including the “wrist blasters” worn by the human companions to the aliens.


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## DreadPirateMurphy (Dec 22, 2005)

Don't forget "War Against the Chtorr" -- book series plus a good GURPS supplement.

The Cylons in the new Battlestar Galactica use both human-looking biological constructs and cyborg spaceships.

Anne McAffrey's "Ship Who Sang" is about ships run by human brains.  That was also a factor in a book called "The Biofab War," which also had genetically engineered "alien" warriors.

Star Trek, had Tinman, Xindi, and the Borg, plus the race that almost destroyed the Borg on Voyager.  Don't forget Khan and his genetic supermen.  The Dominion was run by shapeshifters who engineered their servants.

Stephen King's "The Stand" is about a genetically engineered superflu that wipes out most of Earth's population.  The movies "Outbreak" and "The Andromeda Strain" are also worth a look.

The various incarnations of "War of the Worlds" usually have some type of biowarfare aspect.  There are books, movies, TV series, radio broadcasts, etc.  In most, the aliens are defeated by germs.

David Brin's Uplift books feature almost any kind of weapon possible, and focus on the concept of uplift, or altering species to add sentience and breed them for specific abilities.

B5 has already been mentioned for regular use of ancient biotech.  Some of the supplements from Mongoose and the older Agents of Gaming "B5 Wars" line talk more about biotech.  The "Technomage Handbook" is probably the most readily available.  The B5 novels are also worth looking at.  One of the episodes of Crusade was about experimental super soldiers.

The Aliens of the movies weren't just coveted as bioweapons, they were apparently designed with that purpose in mind.

The Species films also posit an alien message broadcasting instructions for how to create a lethal alien creature (with some implausible science behind it).

There was a book or series of books called something like "Deathworld," where the planet itself was fighting colonists like an infection.  Also check out Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri computer game, and Anne McCaffrey's (again) "Powers That Be" series.

Asimov's Foundation series ultimately ended with the creation of a galaxy-wide consciousness as a defense mechanism...really.  If you consider group consciousness as biotech, you have the Borg, one of the League races in B5, plus the antagonists in Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game."  The sequels to that book also have much of interest.  The webcomic "Miracle of Science" has a Mars population that is a single group mind.

Larry Niven's "Known Space" books touch on the concept.  Check out "Protector" and the Ringworld novels.  He also wrote "The Mote in God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand" with Jerry Pournelle, which both feature an alien race with bio-engineered castes doomed to repetitive cycles of war due to overpopulation.

The T1000 Terminators were technically cyborgs.

"Brave New World" is a classic dystopian novel where humans are bred to specific roles through chemical manipulation of embryos.

Dan Simmons series starting with "Hyperion" have some interesting takes on biological technology -- including AIs exploiting the hyperactivity in human brains at the moment of death.

David Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" series has a plotline involving the souls of the dead taking over the bodies of the living.  They can change their appearance at will.  There is also a great deal of discussion of group consciousness shared with biological habitats and spaceships, e.g., voidhawks.  Also worthwhile for the discussion of human nano-enhancement and cyborg mercenaries.  Highly recommended.

Frank Herbert's Dune series talked much about biological manipulation of humanity in the form of Mentats, Facedancers, and others.  Largely, that was a result of a prohibition on computing technology dating back to a war between AIs and humans.

Check out the GURPS Transhuman Space line of books.  They are packed to the brim with all sorts of information.  They are a must-read if you are interested in the topic.  From more of a fantasy perspective, you can check out Chaositech from Malhavoc/Sword & Sorcery.  It has a cool technical/biological feel to it.  Green Ronin's race book "Plot and Poison" on the Drow has some interesting takes on "vermincraft" weapons.  Fiend Folio from WotC also talks about grafts (as do some other books).  The D20 Gamma World books also have some rules for mutations and bioweapons -- I assume all of the Gamma World books, plus many other post-apocalyptic settings have such.

Star Wars was already mentioned for their "New Jedi Era" setting.  There are plenty of novels describing that time period, plus a D20 Star Wars source book.

Do psychic powers count?  Check out "Akira."  Steven King's "Firestarter" is also interesting.  Both feature attempts to "weaponize" such abilities.  For that matter, the comic X-Factor is about a government team of mutants.  Between psychic powers and mutants, the comic book and anime references have to be in the THOUSANDS.

The whole Robotech saga also has a LOT of biotech, mostly on the side of the enemies, but even human mecha were powered by protoculture.

Well, that is what I can come up with off the top of my head.  I'm sure I could find more if I searched the Web.


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## Sushi (Dec 22, 2005)

How about Michael Crichton's "The Andromeda Strain"


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## Sir Brennen (Dec 22, 2005)

Hmmm… just thinking; maybe you, Tecnowraith, should clarify what you mean by “bio-weapons or bio-items”.  There’s a diversity of answers here which cover a lot of categories:

* Living things which, in their natural state, are dangerous: creature from _Alien_, anthrax, Ceti eel
* Living things which have been engineering to be dangerous or useful by themselves: living spaceships, genetically-engineered plague virus
* Living things which have been engineered to combine with natural creatures to improve their abilities (usually destructive): Guyver, most weapons that “attach” to their wielders
* Non-living technology designed to augment living things: most cybernetics, including the real-life examples Joshua mentioned


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## tecnowraith (Dec 22, 2005)

What I mean bioweapons or bio-tech, I mean technology out of organic materials or a mixature. Most of you got the right idea. i just could remember all of them.



> Living things which have been engineered to combine with natural creatures to improve their abilities (usually destructive): Guyver, most weapons that “attach” to their wielders




saw this after I wrote my reply .


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## tecnowraith (Dec 22, 2005)

dang, double post...


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## Krieg (Dec 22, 2005)

Sir Brennen said:
			
		

> Hmmm… just thinking; maybe you, Tecnowraith, should clarify what you mean by “bio-weapons or bio-items”.  There’s a diversity of answers here which cover a lot of categories:
> 
> * Living things which, in their natural state, are dangerous: creature from _Alien_, anthrax, Ceti eel
> * Living things which have been engineering to be dangerous or useful by themselves: living spaceships, genetically-engineered plague virus
> ...




Most of the fictional work regarding biotechnology typically presents it as using living material (typically modified) as a replacement for standard "mechanical" technology.

Example one is definitely arguable as merely using an already existing creature without modfications doesn't really constitute "technology"...although FWIW most of the fiction regarding the Alien universe states that the Aliens/Xenomorphs were biologically engineered by the Predators so they should fall into category two.

IMO two & three clearly fit most definitions of biotech (although perhaps not Technowraith's).

However category four does not constitute biotech going by most definitions.

Edit: Oops looks like Techno slipped in his own answer while I was wasting time typing. lol


Techno...you might want to take a look at Monte Cook's Chaositech book for D20. While not presented as "biotech" per se, from a descriptive and mechanical standpoint it certainly fits the bill. 

There's also Rifts Wormwood, GURPS Bio-Tech & the Starcluster 2 Biotechnology Guide as well.

Not to mention some of the Migo toys from the Cthulhu mythos...

I wonder what happens when you stick a Ceti Eel in one ear and a babelfish in the other?

Hmmm...


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## frankthedm (Dec 22, 2005)

The Migo in the Call of cthulhu game living armor webbing akin to humaniod body armour and scads of other less pleasant inventions.

In lovecraft's work



Spoiler



The Elder things made


 Shoggoths.

In the Dark Conspiracy RPG had a bucket of evil alien biotech powered by excess meat the user must consume, lest the biotech consume him!

The Resident evil 1&2's main Viruses were designed to make bioweapon creatures.

In real life gene-hacked goats are making spider silk protiens in thier milk for super fabrics.

Did not half life have a tounge /barnacle gun?

The bracer from earth:Final confict get mentioned yet?

The Iczer, escaflone and evangelion anime and possibly _many_ more had biomechs that weilders linked minds with.


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## Dagger75 (Dec 22, 2005)

Spawn and Whitchblade


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## Krieg (Dec 22, 2005)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> Did not half life have a tounge /barnacle gun?




Nope but it DID have the Hornet gun & Snarks! 


Which reminds me of the symbiotes used by Cobra La forces in the GI Joe animated movie.


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## frankthedm (Dec 22, 2005)

Dagger75 said:
			
		

> Spawn and Whitchblade



They have had friends and foes in their comic with things like that, but are not those particular two character benefiting from supernatural, not sci fi upgrades? Some bio-weapons stuff intrudes on supernatural turf, but normally it is credited to super science, those two are a devil soul suit and a magic gauntlet that covers nipples and crevases in armor last time i checked.


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## Black Omega (Dec 22, 2005)

Dirty Pair:  Biohazards and Dirty Pair: Project Eden both featured bioweapons of different types.  Nasty enough to a destroy a planet in each.


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## tecnowraith (Dec 22, 2005)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> Did not half life have a tounge /barnacle gun?




Your right they did, I forgot about that so did Unreal.


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## tecnowraith (Dec 22, 2005)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> They have had friends and foes in their comic with things like that, but are not those particular two character benefiting from supernatural, not sci fi upgrades? Some bio-weapons stuff intrudes on supernatural turf, but normally it is credited to super science, those two are a devil soul suit and a magic gauntlet that covers nipples and crevases in armor last time i checked.




Hey I do not mind the supernatual or magical stuff for this topic.


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## frankthedm (Dec 22, 2005)

so you making this list for a website or a PDF?


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## tecnowraith (Dec 22, 2005)

For ideas for character and possibly a new race.


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## bodhi (Dec 23, 2005)

Harry Harrison's _West of Eden_. Imagine having to feed your *clothes*.


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## redhawk (Dec 23, 2005)

tecnowraith said:
			
		

> I have an odd request. Can one here list all the movies, tv show, books games and anime that have bioweapons or bio-items? The only thing I can think of right now is Guyver, bio-armor suite.




OK, here goes.

Over in comics, you've got the Techno-Organic virus as represented by Cable and Warlock. (RIP)

In TV-land, you've got the B5 spinoff Crusade, which dealt with a Drakh plague that was infecting Earth. It was T-O in nature and would adapt to kill everything that lived inside of five years unless a cure could be found.

Anime I loathe so I'll let someone who actually likes the art-form answer for it.

That's about it for now. There's more - much more - but I'm tired and I haven't read through this thread yet.

Redhawk


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## redhawk (Dec 23, 2005)

Dagger75 said:
			
		

> Spawn and Whitchblade




I don't think so. The Witchblade is a mystical artifact, and Spawn is techncially a corpse powered by soul-magic.

Redhawk


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