Prosthetics, the artificial replacement of organic limbs or organs, often play a role in fiction, particularly science fiction, as either plot points or to give a character a beyond normal appearance. Numerous works of literature, television, and films feature characters who have prosthetics attached. Prosthetics are used, in a narrative sense, to either, provide a plot point in the characters back-story, a plot point to give to character a disability (or more often in science fiction, an advantage), or just to distinguish the character in some way. Having a character in a story with a prostheses, can sometimes be the whole point of the story (e.g. Robocop is a full-body cyborg of police officer Alex Murphy, in essence he is a human/robot police officer, which is the basic premise for the film). The following are examples from Star Trek, an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry and began in 1966 with the television series Star Trek later referred to as “Star Trek: The Original Series": Geordi La Forge: Blind from birth, La Forge received prosthetics that allowed him to see. During the television series and Star Trek Generations, he had bio-implants along with an external VISOR prosthetic. Jean-Luc Picard: Early in his career, Picard was stabbed through the heart during a fight. His heart, beyond repair, was replaced by an artificial heart. At the end of the third season, Picard was abducted and assimilated by the Borg. The Borg attached numerous prosthetics to Captain Picard against his will. Seven of Nine: Originally a young human female known as Annika Hansen, she and her parents were captured by the Borg when Annika was six. She was also assimilated into the Borg Collective, where numerous prosthetics were attached to her. Nog: the Ferengi Ensign, the first of his kind in Starfleet, lost his leg during hostilities with the Dominion; an artificial leg was later installed. Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise consisting of a film series created by George Lucas. The film series has spawned a media franchise outside the film series called the Expanded Universe including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books. These supplements to the film trilogies have resulted in significant development of the series' fictional universe. The following are examples of prosthetics in Star Wars: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: - Anakin Skywalker lost his right arm during the Battle of Geonosis when he dueled with Count Dooku. Afterwards, he received a replacement arm and hand. After becoming Darth Vader, Vader fought with Obi-Wan Kenobi which resulted in his losing both legs and his other arm. He also suffered severe burns in the aftermath of the battle – his lungs, and ear drums were seriously damaged. Vader was forced to wear a breathing mask and monitor to compensate for his heavily damaged lungs, and was fitted with prosthetic limbs to replace those lost. His right hand was cut off again in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker: Anakin's son Luke Skywalker would lose his right hand as well when he dueled Darth Vader at Cloud City. Luke was rescued by his friends, and was then fitted with a prosthetic hand. General Grievous: Formerly a Kaleesh general, he was fatally wounded in a shuttle accident. He was later reconstructed by the Intergalactic Banking Clan as a cyborg, with his only organic remains encased inside a synthflesh sack within his durasteel skeleton. Dear Egyptian Mail readers, Your comments and/or contributions are welcome. We promise to publish whatever is deemed publishable at the end of each series of articles. [email protected]
