Space marines are fictional soldiers that operate in outer space. Space marines are common in military science fiction-themed action movies and action games. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defense, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments. By extension, space marines defend spaceships, land on planets and satellites, and fulfill rapid deployment throughout space.
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History
The first space marine unit, the Galactic Marines, was used in E. E. Smith's Lensman series, published starting in 1937.[citation needed]
The phrase "space marines" first appears in Robert A. Heinlein's "Misfit"[1] (1939) and is again used in "The Long Watch"[2] (1941). Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is considered the defining work for the concept; for example, the actors playing the Colonial Marines in Aliens (1986) were required to read Starship Troopers as part of their training prior to filming.[3] Heinlein intended for the capsule troopers of the Mobile Infantry to be an amalgam of the shipborne aspect of the US Marine Corps relocated to space and coupled with the battlefield delivery and mission profile of US Army paratroopers.
As a gaming concept, space marines play a major role in the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures wargame, in which they are genetically altered super-soldiers and the most powerful fighting forces available to the Imperium of Man. In computer games, playing a space marine in action games was popularized by id Software's Doom series, first published in 1993. It is a convenient game back-story as it excuses the presence of the character on a hostile alien world with little support and heavy weaponry. Some critics have suggested it has been overused to the point of being an action game cliché.[4]
Characteristics
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In film and television space marines often appear in squads, while in action games the protagonist marine is often alone (although this is more due to game limitations) or transferred between different units as the game progresses. In their amphibious role, marines are usually transported by "drop ships" and/or "drop pods", and are supported on the ground by infantry fighting vehicles or lighter vehicles.
Marines are usually equipped with a science fiction assault rifle, similar to a modern firearm only superior in some manner, or some form of fictional portable laser rifle. Fireteams often include an automatic rifle, such as a smartgun. Flamethrowers may be deployed against aliens with a susceptibility to fire. Sniper rifles are seen more rarely.
Clothing ranges from spacesuits and powered exoskeletons to battledress similar to that worn by contemporary armed forces.
Non-fiction aspects
The United States Marine Corps's Project Hot Eagle considers the use of spacecraft to deliver marines to a target on the ground. "Within minutes of bursting into the atmosphere beyond the speed of sound – and dispatching that ominous sonic boom – a small squad of Marines could be on the ground and ready to take care of business within 2 hours."[5]
Appearances in fiction
- Aliens Series (1986-1997) - United States Colonial Marines
- Babylon 5 (1994-1998) - EarthForce Marine Corps (also known as "Gropos" or "GROund POunderS")
- Dead Space (video game) - refered as USM Marine Corps. They are seen during the game when the ship USM Valor crashes on the USG Ishimura and the player must board the crash site to recover a singularity core.
- Doctor Who serial Death to the Daleks (1973-1974) - Marine Space Corps
- Battlestar Galactica (2004) - Colonial Marine Corps, Colonial Marine Corps Reserve
- Command & Conquer series(1995-present) Global Defense Initiative
- Doom series (1993 - present) - the United States Space Marine Corps
- Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (2009)
- Falkenberg's Legion series (1976-1993) - The CoDominium Marines
- Ground Control (2000) - Crayven Corporation's Marines unit.
- Halo series (2001-Present) - UNSC Marine Corps and the subordinate Orbital Drop Shock Trooper divisions.
- Heritage Trilogy, Legacy Trilogy, Inheritance Trilogy (1998-present) - United States Marines Corps, United Star Marine Corps
- Honor Harrington series (1994-present) - Royal Manticoran Marine Corps (RMMC) of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, et cetera
- Killzone series (2003-present) Interplanetary Strategic Alliance Marines
- Lensman series (1937) - Galactic Marines
- Metroid (1986-present) - the Galactic Federation Marine Corps
- Moonraker (1979) - US Marine Corps on a space shuttle armed with lasers
- Outwars (1998) - Colonial Marines
- Quake Series (1996-present)
- Rolling Thunder - (2008) - Martian Naval Corps
- Space: Above and Beyond (1995) - United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry
- Space Marines (1996) - United Planets Marines
- Starblazers (1972) - Ground combat units found on the 11th planet are known as "Space Marines"
- StarCraft (1998-present) - Confederate Marine Corps, the Dominion Marine Corps, the Alliance Marine Corps, the Alpha Corps, the United Earth Directorate Powered Infantry and numerous more
- Starfire series - Federation Navy Marine Corps
- StarFist series - Confederation Marine Corps
- Stargate Atlantis - US Marines attached to the Atlantis Expedition
- Starship Troopers - Known as the Mobile Infantry
- Star Wars - Galactic Marines of the Grand Army of the Republic, originally known as the 21st Nova Corps
- The Mote in God's Eye (1975) and related novels - Imperial Marines
- TimeSplitters 2 (2002) - Space Marines (Sergeant Cortez & Corporal Hart)
- TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (2005) - Space Marines (Sergeant Cortez)
- Traveller (1977) - Star Marines, Imperial Marine Force, Solomani Marine Corps, Zhodani Consular Guard
- Turok (video game) (2008)
- Warhammer 40,000 (1987-present) - Imperial Space Marine Chapters, and also, to an extent, Chaos Space Marines. Some forces from other armies - noteably the Stormtroopers of the Imperial Guard, Eldar Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders, and Grey Knights operate in this manner.
- Wing Commander Franchise (1990-1999) - Terran Confederation Marine Corps
See also
References
- ^ "The parade ground voice of a First Sergeant of Space Marines cut through the fog and drizzle..."
- ^ "Space marines, arms reversed and heads bowed, stood guard around [the coffin]..."
- ^ "Internet Movie Database: Aliens Trivia". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/trivia. Retrieved 2006-03-04.
- ^ Adams, Ernest (February 2001). "Dogma 2001: A Challenge to Game Designers". Gamasutra. http://www.designersnotebook.com/Columns/037_Dogma_2001/037_dogma_2001.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-13. "4. There shall be no...space marines".
- ^ "Marines in Spaaaaaace!". Defence Tech.org. September 19, 2005. http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001815.html. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
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