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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' had Schroedinger's Whales, which traverse the entire space-time continuum. They are an exceedingly rare treat to see, considering the chance of one existing could only happen in a ''near-infinite space''; naturally, they have a very hard time finding other Schroedinger's Whales with whom to breed.
* ''[[Macross 7|Macross Dynamite 7]]'' features space whales in a bizarre cross of [[Moby Dick]] and [[The Power of Rock]].
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* In "Seiketsu no Hagurama" the flying whales are actually steam-punk looking ships http://www.mangafox.com/manga/seiketsu_no_haguruma/v01/c001.1/16.html designed by a literal blue-blooded [[Gadgeteer Genius]] prince who, contrary to his intentions to use his machines for peaceful purposes, were being used to eradicate the remaining red-blooded people by his father.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* ''Abraxas and the Earthman'' by Rick Veitch (originally serialized in ''Epic Illustrated,'' later released as a graphic novel) is all about this trope: There are space whales (which look exactly like Earth's whales, and "swim" through space with their fins and tails), and space whalers. The whalers are from a civilization based on Organic Technology; they fly in ships which look like small asteroids covered with trees—the leaves serve as "sails" with which they can reach lightspeed. And everyone can breathe in space (no explanation is even attempted for that). The Great Red Whale Abraxas = Moby Dick, of course, and Captain Rotwang = Captain Ahab.
* Ultra Boy of the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' originally got his powers from being swallowed by a space whale. (To make it even better/worse, his real name is Jo Nah.)
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* In the French comic series ''Kookaburra'' has space Lamantines. They act a lot like whales though, and are hunted by whalers.
* In [[Recycled in Space|Space]] [[Usagi Yojimbo|Usagi]] there are space turtles. When they die, their shells are used as spacecraft hull. Not whales, but still impressive.
* ''[[PS238]]'' had a [http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/11012013/ cyborg space kraken thing].
== [[Film]] ==▼
* ''[[Star Trek IV: The
▲== Film ==
▲* ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'' didn't have whales floating through the void, but implied that they had a strong connection with space, when the probe blasted weaponized frequency-shifted humpback whalesong into the depths of space. It was explained that the reason for the probe using whalesong was because the last time it had visited the Earth, humans had not yet evolved and that whales were the most intelligent organism at the time. When the probe returned, it expected to be able to talk to the whales again. (Eventual backstory in a novel revealed that the probe was designed by a sentient cetacean species—dubbed "hyperdolphins"—on the other side of the galaxy, which might qualify as doubling the trope.)
* The 1965 Belgian animated movie ''Pinocchio in Outer Space'' was a [[Recycled in Space]] sequel to Disney's [[Pinocchio]] that had Astro, a Space Whale version of Monstro the Whale, complete with a jet nozzle replacing his blowhole.
* ''[[Treasure Planet]]'' - Wins bonus points for having [[Space Pirates|full-rigged sailing ships in space]] as well. Still, that was kind of the POINT.
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* [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] features a whale in space... [[Gravity Sucks|although only for short]].
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** The illustrated
** Discworld itself is carried through space on the back of [[Turtle Power|another enormous aquatic animal]].
* Terry Pratchett's ''[[The Dark Side of the Sun]]'' mentions several space-born species, and plot involves large creatures called "sundogs". They can be hired to perform [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|interstellar haulage]] service (thus falling into [[Living Ship]] category as well), usually carrying normal spaceship. That is, if this specific individual is not stupid enough to ''devour'' ship instead - fortunately, they have recognizable names.
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* Cassie could be called this, or the air whale variant, albeit briefly, in at least two ''[[Animorphs]]'' books, although perhaps it's more of a falling whale...
▲== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'' there was a kind of whale analogue. It looked more like a giant dragonfly, but its method of gathering oxygen and then [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|holding its breath while it flew to another planet]] was explicitly likened to whales.
** In series 5, {{spoiler|Spaceship UK's engine is in fact a captured Space Whale, almost literally (they call it a star-whale).}}
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* The [[Speculative Documentary]] ''Alien Worlds: Blue Moon'' features Sky Whales.
== [[Music]] ==▼
▲== Music ==
* The video for ''In The End'' by Linkin Park features a couple of space whales flying around.
* [[Skyclad]]'s album ''Silent Whales of Lunar Sea'', although this is actually a pun and the music features no whales.
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* Speaking of 1971, [[Pink Floyd]]'s "Echoes" has lyrics that were originally space-themed (and later changed to ocean-themed,) plus a nice [[Progressive Rock|four-minute interlude]] in which David Gilmour makes his guitar sound like whalesong.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
== Other ==▼
* During the pre-release online hype for ''Cloverfield'', numerous [[Epileptic Trees]] abounded about what the monster would look like and where it had come from. One sketch of a multi-fluked whale with legs, which would've stood several times ''taller'' than the actual creature from the film, was widely circulated as "the ''real'' Cloverfield monster"; this spawned its own flood of debate over whether it was an unknown sea creature, a ''mutated'' sea creature, or a Space Whale.▼
* In [[The Nineties]] a popular art-style for folders and binders was a dolphin or whale swimming through symmetrically-arranged coral and star clusters and sparkly purple nebulae? They were marginally darker and less [[Tastes Like Diabetes|diabetes-flavored]] than the Lisa Frank rainbow-and-unicorn kind.▼
* ''[http://rodneymatthews.com/stopslaughter.htm Stop the Slaughter]'' painting by Rodney Matthews shows [[Space Sailing]] whalers.▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
▲* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' got some.
** Space-themed [[Spelljammer]] setting had the Kindori, your basic mouthless blue whale with many eyes/headlights. Delphinids are Space Dolphins. The godlike Great Dreamers aren't quite Space Whales proper, but rather space-traveling whales, as they float in water envelopes the size of a little moon (they are up to 20 miles long themselves).
*** And, of course, ''the Spelljammer'' itself basically is a giant space manta ray.
*** Esthetics are mildly shapeshifting giant space mollusks. Usually encountered already tamed and used as [[Living Ship]]s by the Reigar, but they revert to feral existence if the owner dies or goes from "[[Mad Artist]]" to plain "stark raving mad".
** Pelins, from bestiary in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' magazine #52, were air whales, although they didn't look all that much like whales.
** Air Whales appear in a 3e supplement book, too. And they're used as blimps.
** Balaenas (later re-named "elsewhales"), an intelligent species of magical whale, can take people on trips in pockets of air it creates in its mouth.
** One old ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' article featured a species of large whale that could use astral projection as an inherent ability, making ''the Astral Plane'' home to [[Space Whales]].
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'':
** There were mentions of something called a "Void Whale". In the 5th edition rulebook, there's a picture of one. It looks like a combination of whale and an anglerfish. In SPACE. The Space Wolves codex has a short story about a mutated Void Whale. It was 12,000 miles long. The little picture of the whale using a small moon to lure stuff into its mouth is pretty much to scale.
** The "[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Void-dragon Void-dragon]", some sort of beasts fought by the Salamanders (in one meaning of that, anyway).
** Tyranid spaceships are [[Living Ship|living organisms]] controlled by the [[Hive Mind]], among the other things.
** Void Kraken, mentioned in ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' and fully introduced in ''[[Rogue Trader|The Koronus Bestiary]]'' (picture is [https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/ffg_blog/20881/original_content here]). It [[Silicon-Based Life|feeds on stony asteroids and consists of a similar substance]], which means usually it has no business to float in empty void, but rather lurks among the true asteroids, and that at long range it's not easily detectable as something other than one more asteroid, right until it starts moving -- giving kraken a good chance to ambush spaceships unlucky enough to approach one.
*** Also, it has smaller spiky tentacles capable of scratching itself or swatting the small craft, which implies existence of smaller vacuum-dwelling creatures that otherwise could be a problem for it. Though in the series there seems to be only Void-Fluke from ''[[Dark Heresy|The Lathe Worlds]]''.
* ''[[Star Fleet Battles]]'' has a race called the Alunda, which are space whales with bioelectric batteries and little plasma-enabled tentacles all over them. They really hate the Branthodon, who ride around on cybernetically-enhanced Space Dragons.
* ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'' includes a variety of whales that are members of transhumanist society. Suryas, a genetically engineered variety, live in the corona of the sun, with light-up skin. Other uplifted types of whales can be seen in spacesuits in the vacuum of space, others in low-grav environs. The recent splatbook, Panopticon, describes cetaceans' unique 3D sensibility as an advantage for moving around in space.
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** In ''[[Transhuman Space]]'' there ''probably'' aren't Space Whales. There are, however, "Whalers" or "Beyonders", a group of spacers-turned-cryptozoologists who say they encountered ''something'' massive and blue-black in the Deep Beyond. They're the butt of jokes in the inner system, but taken more seriously the further out you go.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* [[X (video game)|X3: Terran Conflict]] has spaceflies, which are basically tiny Space Whales, except in bug form.
** Which the Split [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|utilize as fuel]].
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* Guppy from ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]''.
* Comorro in [[OtherSpace]], who also acts as a massive living ship. Characters reside in various internal ducts and passages, and park their ships in her [[Is That What They're Calling It Now?|landing bay]].
* One mission in ''[[Haegemonia]]: Legions of Iron'' involves defending your colonies against ship-sized space jellyfish, which can shoot back. They are [[
* ''[[Nexus the Jupiter Incident]]'' has the Locust Queen, a massive spaceborne creature capable of "launching" waves of insect-like drones.
* The second stage of ''[[Child of Eden]]'' has space whales as well as space manta rays and a space phoenix.
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* The Wahrk in ''[[Myst|Uru]]'' is a strange, [[I'm a Humanitarian|man-eating]] [[Heinz Hybrid|whale-shark-walrus hybrid thing]] that falls to Earth through the star fissure from Riven.
== [[Web Animation]] ==▼
▲== Web Animation ==
* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' had a recent Strong Bad Email that reveals Strong Bad's ideal career choice as "2nd 2nd Assistant Space Whale Scrubber". In an earlier email, he put up a motivational poster of "some kinda whale...in space...".
** And the last thing the Drive-Thru Whale does in the cartoon [http://www.homestarrunner.com/drivethru.html "Drive-Thru"] is blast off into orbit after eating a Europa-pean Space Lobster. ''"Sever your leg, please. It's the greatest day."''
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20170412070618/http://www.kukuburi.com/2007/08/09/one/ Kukuburi]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20170514055009/http://www.kukuburi.com/2007/08/21/ten
▲== Web Comics ==
* The Magical Flying Fetus Whale of Josh Lesnick's ''Girly'' (introduced [https://web.archive.org/web/20130530202826/http://girlyyy.com/go/516 here]) might qualify. Who knows? Maybe space is where the whale returns to. In any case, it can definitely fly in earth's atmosphere.▼
▲* ''[http://www.kukuburi.com/2007/08/09/one/ Kukuburi]'': [http://www.kukuburi.com/2007/08/21/ten/ Airwhales!] [http://www.kukuburi.com/2008/02/12/fiftynine/ Battlewhale!] Why aren't you reading [[Rule of Cool|this]] already?
▲* The Magical Flying Fetus Whale of Josh Lesnick's ''Girly'' (introduced [http://girlyyy.com/go/516 here]) might qualify. Who knows? Maybe space is where the whale returns to. In any case, it can definitely fly in earth's atmosphere.
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies had a peculiar shortage of Space Whales in the movies that ''[[Darths and Droids]]''' [[The Loonie|Sally]] tried to amend [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0263.html in this strip].
* Mentioned in one ''[[Far Out There]]'' strip. Apparently, they can have [https://web.archive.org/web/20110911135144/http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1090124/page-295-i-have-no-idea-where-claires-gun-went/ mommy issues].
* Mentioned in ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' as a reference to ''[[Beowulf]]'': the poem calls the sea "the whale road", so space is "the space-whale road".
* ''Science and Ink'' got "[https://web.archive.org/web/20190418151638/http://www.lab-initio.com/c.html Cosmic rays]" (not to be confused with "Cosmic Ray's" or "Cosmic Ray").
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* "Space Moby", an episode of the [[Space Western]] cartoon series ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'', featured a species of space-whales that was being hunted to extinction. And an environmental group with the [[anvilicious]] name of "Greenspace" that was trying to save them.
* The animated series ''[[Bounty Hamster]]'' has enormous purple space whales that act as long-haul truckers, carrying cargo from planet to planet.
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* The 1983 British animated short, Skywhales.
▲== Other Media ==
▲* During the pre-release online hype for ''[[Cloverfield]]'', numerous [[Epileptic Trees]] abounded about what the monster would look like and where it had come from. One sketch of a multi-fluked whale with legs, which would've stood several times ''taller'' than the actual creature from the film, was widely circulated as "the ''real'' Cloverfield monster"; this spawned its own flood of debate over whether it was an unknown sea creature, a ''mutated'' sea creature, or a Space Whale.
▲* In [[The Nineties]] a popular art-style for folders and binders was a dolphin or whale swimming through symmetrically-arranged coral and star clusters and sparkly purple nebulae? They were marginally darker and less [[Tastes Like Diabetes|diabetes-flavored]] than the Lisa Frank rainbow-and-unicorn kind.
▲* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140209085328/http://www.rodneymatthews.com/stopslaughter.htm Stop the Slaughter]'' painting by Rodney Matthews shows [[Space Sailing]] whalers.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[wikipedia:Cetus|The constellation Cetus]] is the closest thing you can get to a [[Real Life]] Space Whale. Originally described as a "sea monster" constellation, it's now referred to as "the whale" today.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Tropes in Space]]
[[Category:Aquatic Animal Tropes]]
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[[Category:Flying Tropes]]
[[Category:Dolphins, Dolphins, Everywhere]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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