Cybernetic Monday: The Most Fascinating Sci-Fi Cyborgs
Locutus of Borg & Marvel's Nebula Fascinate As Powerful Cyborgs
We are the Borg. Resistance is futile - The Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation
They are the Borg. Actually, they are cyborgs, but somewhere along the way they dropped the cy and things just got so much cooler. Cyborgs are plentiful in science fiction literature, and with our own real world technology becoming more advanced all the time, cybernetic beings seem to be destined to be a part of everyday society,
There’s still some dispute as to what actually constitutes a cyborg. Let’s try to define exactly what a cyborg is or usually is.
Cyborg - a portmanteau of cybernetic and organism—is a being with both organic and bio-mechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.
Does that definition make things any more clear? I know, not so much. Can a person - right here and now - using a prosthetic limb be considered a cyborg? It’s safe to say they’ll never be as fast nor as strong as Colonel Steve Austin or Jamie Summers. They won’t perceive a visual world in the fantastic way Geordi Laforge does on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Keeping it simple: Cyborgs, to me anyway, possesses abilities - strength and speed - far beyond the basic, normal capability of humanity, courtesy of advanced technology.
Locutus - Formerly Captain Jean-Luc Picard
“Your life, as it has been, is over. From this day forward, you will service… us.” - Locutus of Borg, The Best of Both Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation
He’s the cyborg formerly of The United Federation of Planets, formerly Captain of one of the most powerful Starfleet Starships in the fleet, now he’s lecturing his former crew on their new life serving his Borg masters.
Resistance may actually be pretty futile in this case, after gazing at the emotionless Locutus, which chilled us all to the bone.
The 3rd season of Next Generation ended with a bang, or bodacious Borg whimper, after we saw our intrepid Jean-Luc Picard captured and morphed into a terrifying Borg drone. They call the process assimilation. What a neutral term for such a nightmarish gift.
Yes, he’s rescued in the season four opener and he returns to active duty, however, Picard’s haunted by his Borg past for the rest of his life. Official word on Star Trek: Picard, the Paramount + TV show, is the Borg Queen has been recast - previously played by the incredible Alice Krige in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Voyager’s Endgame - to no doubt haunt Picard’s dreams once again. Will she be able to reclaim her drone and have him rule by her side as an equal? We’ll all be watching to find out.
Nebula - Marvel Comics - Guardians of the Galaxy
She is a child of Thanos and she’s an advanced cyborg being capable of awesome destruction.
Played by actress Karen Gillan, Nebula hangs out with The Guardians of The Galaxy, and she’s committed to bringing her villainous father, Thanos, to final justice or to bring about his own beloved death - whatever is most convenient and permanent to get the job done. She clashes with her sister, Gamora, but down deep, there’s undeniable love between the two fiery siblings.
During the symphonic chaos of Avengers: Infinity War into Avengers: Endgame - the two feature films chronicling the apocalyptic plans of Thanos to reshape our universe by slaughtering half the population with the Infinity Power Stones - Nebula is forced to kill herself, an alternate, evil version of herself, so that the assembled forces of good and light can rightly win the day.
Col. Steve Austin & Jamie Summers - Bionic Powered from Six Million Dollar Man & The Bionic Woman
He was created first, she came later. Biblical much? In any case, Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner basically ruled over the adventure laden, sci-fi TV market in the 1970’s. He was custom built in the lab for six million bucks, while she was transformed for at least that much or more, considering her parts came later. You know, pesky inflation and all.
Col. Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive, was rebuilt to be better than he was before, better, stronger, faster. When Jamie suffered her tragic parachute jump accident, Steve begged his buddy, Dr. Rudy Wells - the man who invented bionics - and Oscar Goldman, the man who oversees the bionic budget and Austin’s spy boss, to save Jamie’s life and put her on the super secret payroll to go on missions as well.
After a bit of a struggle, Steve’s wish was granted, and they both went on to battle aliens, super strong Fembots and even Bigfoot (Andre The Giant) himself. The two would visit each other in crossover episodes, must see TV for sure. Many fans may not know that the creator of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer was a big fan of the bionic duo - naming his heroine, Buffy Summers, in honor of cyborg Jamie.
Like everything in life, these shows have aged - though gracefully - and rewatching a few recently, I came away with that same sense of pure adventure and sci-fi awe I enjoyed as a kid watching them in the 70’s.
Vampire Hunter D - Japanese Manga Comics and Anime
He fights and slays vampires. He’s also half vampire himself. All that and he is also a cyborg. Get it? Got it? Good!
Vampire Hunter D, or among us friendly friends, just call him plain D, burst upon the sci-fi and supernatural scene back in 1983 in a series of novels. Video games, anime and films followed and established D as one popular badass vamp terminator.
In 1985, the first animated feature was released and became a cult classic. So, what makes our devil killing D a cyborg? It’s all about his enigmatic hand.
His hand is a dynamic character all on its own. D’s left hand is a sort of cross between a prosthetic hand and a symbiotic creature. The hand doesn’t appear much to others, or interacts with anyone but D. He sort of does what he wants, when he wants, however, when he does his stuff, it’s breathtaking.
The wise cracking hand can summon up great energy vortexes to smash vamps back to the old boneyard. It can hypnotize people, absorb and manipulate matter, energy and also summon magic forces. The hand can even revive a ravaged D, hovering over the door of unnatural death. This handy hand even transforms D into a full fledged vampire manifestation with all its destructive powers, then dials him back down into his natural, hybrid state. So, let’s give a celebratory hand to D’s left, cybernetic hand, bridging the murky gap between the supernatural and scientific.
Cyborg - DC Comics
He’s the most tech savvy member of DC Comics’ Justice League and also one of the most powerful beings in the entire DC Comics universe.
In the DC feature films, Cyborg is played by actor Ray Fisher. His capabilities are incredibly impressive and operate over a vast range of action. Among these powers are; wielding superhuman strength, speed, stamina and the power of flight. He also can employ powerful laser weapons in his fingers and fire up a sonic cannon which can literally shatter rocks or deform nearly any metal.
Over time, Cyborg successfully adapted alien tech into his systems - a mother box - which has greatly furthered his abilities, including underwater sustainability and the power to absorb and manipulate almost any kind of computer or technology. Call on him for the ultimate in IT service tech, but, naturally, his fee would probably be fittingly, astronomical.
A few rando ramblings: it’s Sommers, not Summers. LOL! The original novel which was adapted to become The Six Million Dollar Man was entitled Cyborg. The Borg Queen was played by the aforementioned Alice Krieg (also of Stephen Kings’s Sleepwalkers) and Susanna Thompson, and they are indisguishable from each other. Honourable mention to Biff in Back To the Future III. CYBORGS ARE KEWL!!!