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The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-06, 06:48 PM
I'm trying to gather up a list of psionic-type fellows from TV and movies.

Some of them I'll be requesting avatars for.

-=-=-=-=-

Film
Carrie - Carrie
Jean Grey - X-Men
Mimzy - The Last Mimzy
Professor Xavier - X-Men
Tommy Creo - The Fountain


Television
Deanna Troy - Star Trek: The Next Generation
Kes - Star Trek: Voyager
Lwuxana Troi - Star Trek: Next Generation
Heroes cast
- Claire
- D.L.
- Hiro
- Isaac
- Matt
- Micah
- Nathan
- Nikky/Jessica
- Peter
- Sylar
River Tam - Firefly

-=-=-=-=-

Mimzy from The Last Mimzy by drKarling (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?u=26297)
http://my.photosleeve.com/TheVorpalTribble-albums/album01/adl.png

ZeroNumerous
2007-07-06, 07:02 PM
Heres a list of telepaths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fictional_telepaths), if it helps.

kpenguin
2007-07-06, 07:03 PM
You forgot Force-users! How could you forget those guys?

Merlin the Tuna
2007-07-06, 07:51 PM
River Tam showed some vaguely psionic powers over the course of Firefly, even if Serenity pretty much ignored them.

Cybren
2007-07-06, 08:12 PM
i don't see how you can count every meta-human on Heroes as "psionic"

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-06, 08:20 PM
i don't see how you can count every meta-human on Heroes as "psionic"
Well, if we wish to go by the D&D definition soley...

Claire (psychometabolicist)
D.L. (psychometabolicist)
Hiro (psychoportationist)
Isaac (clairsentient)
Matt (telepath)
Micah (kineticist or telepath)
Nathan (psychoportationist or kineticist)
Nikky/Jessica (psychometabolicist)
Peter (psychometabolicist)
Sylar (psychometabolicist)


Each one of them has a supernatural ability that comes from their own bodies that has nothing to do with 'magic'. That pretty much makes them psionicists automatically.

Cybren
2007-07-06, 08:24 PM
That's stretching it all quite a bit I think, and denying the actual established concept of psi in fiction as a whole.

Besides, "supernatural but not magic" doesn't mean psi in D&D, there's plenty of other mechanics to regulate that.

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-06, 08:32 PM
That's stretching it all quite a bit I think, and denying the actual established concept of psi in fiction as a whole.

Besides, "supernatural but not magic" doesn't mean psi in D&D, there's plenty of other mechanics to regulate that.
Then what would you call the abilities the Heroes crew has?

Cybren
2007-07-06, 08:43 PM
Then what would you call the abilities the Heroes crew has?

Genetic mutations? In D&D parlance it would probably be best served by something akin to the old Red Curse from Mystara. The Savage Coast always was pretty neat!

de-trick
2007-07-06, 09:57 PM
Chris F****ing Angel

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-06, 10:00 PM
Genetic mutations? In D&D parlance it would probably be best served by something akin to the old Red Curse from Mystara. The Savage Coast always was pretty neat!
Ooookay... then what is your definition of psionics?



Chris F****ing Angel
Pffftt, I've seen so much of his stuff debunked where they'll even stop the camera and then replay it. Thats not even clever sleight of hand or a trick. Its like saying, 'I can lift a ton!' and then photoshopping a truck on your head.

kpenguin
2007-07-06, 10:01 PM
The near-Ascended characters from Stargate show some very clear psionic abilities. I'd say that the Priors are psions, but their fluff is very much like a cleric.

de-trick
2007-07-06, 10:03 PM
Then CHUCK NORRIS and don't bad mouth him or you'll get a phone call from him

kpenguin
2007-07-06, 10:06 PM
On the Heroes thing: Psionic abilities come from the mind, not the physical body. That said, some theorize that the abilities of the Heroes are brain-based, so it is possible that they are psionic in nature.

Anxe
2007-07-06, 10:10 PM
Donnie Darko from his movie? He's definitely psychic or something.

EntilZha
2007-07-06, 10:18 PM
Movies
Matilda Wormwood - "Matilda" (Telekinesis)
Charlie McGee - "Firestarter" (Pyrokinesis)
Ilia - "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (Empathy and Psychic Healing)

Television
Bennu - "The Phoenix" (Telekinesis, Photokinesis, several other powers granted by a medallion...ok this is an old series with Judson Scott of Wrath of Khan fame playing the lead role)
Matthew Star - "The Powers of Matthew Star" (Telekinesis, Telepathy, Animal Empathy, Astral Projection, to name a few)
Lyta Alexander, Talia Winters, Alfred Bester - "Babylon 5" (all telepaths)
Kes - "Star Trek Voyager" (Telepathy and Telekinesis)
Mr. Spock - "Star Trek" (Telepathy and Mind-Linking)
Dr. Wendy Smith - "SeaQuest DSV" (Telepathy and Empathy)
Alex Mack - "The Secret World of Alex Mack" (Telekinesis and Electrokinesis)
Uncle Martin (The Martian) - "My Favorite Martian" (Telekinesis, Telepathy, Animal Empathy)

Oh, and VT, it's Deanna Troi and Lwaxana Troi.

kpenguin
2007-07-06, 10:22 PM
All the cool Vulcans (Star Trek)

Umbral_Arcanist
2007-07-06, 10:24 PM
River Tam showed some vaguely psionic powers over the course of Firefly, even if Serenity pretty much ignored them.

Actually, as i recall she does a fair bit of mind reading in Serenity,

[Spoilers] In the opening heist she reads some minds and senses the Reavers, at the end she knows what Mal is going to say before he says it and during the show down with the Reavers she has a breakdown because the Reavers are all so angry/psycho and she can't not listen to their twisted thoughts. Not to mention the entire fact she can read minds was the reason for the plot. [Spoilers]

Peregrine
2007-07-06, 10:49 PM
Regardless of what the in-story source of their powers is, it seems pretty clear to my mind that the mishmash of psychiatry and supernatural, and new age crystal obsession and Ghostbusters ecto-goo and-- wait, I'm ranting.

It seems plain to me that the psionics system is heavily inspired by something at least close to X-Men. Not just the telepaths, but all of them would be 'psionic' in my book. Same goes for Heroes.

Here's one for you, though. The Matrix. Again, regardless of the in-story 'real' source of their powers, from the internal perspective of the Matrix world, they were psionic. And the 'cool manoeuvres' class of psionic feats suits perfectly (long jumps, running on walls...)

StickMan
2007-07-06, 10:57 PM
I have to say I think the Heroes cast has been very strongly mental ability's. It explains why Sylar cuts in to there heads. Even Claire who's abilities relate to her physical body stop if the link to her brain is cut off. This is good Science really as the mind has power over the body, and if one gene is creating a wide verity of effects then odds are it is effecting something mental not physical.

Honestly Marvel X-men type mutants are a good read but not very good science, you could never get that wide array of physical and metal powers with only one Gene, and have them be unrelated.

The Heroes abilities have all been psionic powers manifesting in different ways.

Ivius
2007-07-06, 10:58 PM
Would the abilities of everyone important in The Matrix count as psionics?

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-06, 11:03 PM
Thank you Peregrine, you put that quite well.


Oh, and VT, it's Deanna Troi and Lwaxana Troi.
D'oh. You'd think I'd know how to spell their names wouldn't you...



Would the abilities of everyone important in The Matrix count as psionics?
Neo definetely was. Technopathy I guess it was.

However, none of the other stuff was. It was just teaching your brain to interact with the computer differently. The others weren't doing anything really supernatural.

Peregrine
2007-07-06, 11:12 PM
However, none of the other stuff was. It was just teaching your brain to interact with the computer differently. The others weren't doing anything really supernatural.

When "the computer" = "the world", teaching your brain to interact with it differently is psionics, no? :smallsmile:

Sure, they never displayed the more supernatural aspects of the psionics system -- I'm not sure anyone but Neo (and even he's a border case) did anything that would necessarily be manifesting a power. But they're all over psionic focus and psionic feats. They're like soulknives, only with guns instead of mindblades.

Merlin the Tuna
2007-07-06, 11:18 PM
In the opening heist she reads some minds and senses the Reavers, at the end she knows what Mal is going to say before he says it and during the show down with the Reavers she has a breakdown because the Reavers are all so angry/psycho and she can't not listen to their twisted thoughts. Not to mention the entire fact she can read minds was the reason for the plot. Yeah, it was mentioned, but it wasn't really part of the explanation. In the end, I feel like we mostly got left with "And so, River was actually a ninja all along. Don't worry about that mind-ready stuff. Run along now." And even that retroactively makes "Safe" an even worse episode than it already was.

namo
2007-07-06, 11:23 PM
Heroes cast
- Claire
...
- Nathan


Claire: Regeneration ?
Nathan: Fly (Sp) or (Su) ? (I see Fly as more arcane than psionic, but perhaps it's just me. Yes, even in this case.)

Ramza00
2007-07-06, 11:31 PM
Then what would you call the abilities the Heroes crew has?

I haven't seen Heroes, but spell-like abilities have a very similar flavor to psionics and could explain it.

Zeful
2007-07-07, 12:00 AM
Nope, Heroes established the mind-body psionic link in the third(or fourth episode) where Claire had a bolt in her neck and couldn't regenerate, when it was removed she regrew all her organs.

Peter once he had something stabbed into his brainstem all of the powers he obtained (invisibility was active) shut off. If it were a spell-like or arcane ability he would have stayed invisible, he didn't so: Heroes powers=Psionics

Leon
2007-07-07, 04:14 AM
Then CHUCK NORRIS and don't bad mouth him or you'll get a phone call from him

Good then i could tell him what a wanker he is

Neek
2007-07-07, 09:47 AM
Nope, Heroes established the mind-body psionic link in the third(or fourth episode) where Claire had a bolt in her neck and couldn't regenerate, when it was removed she regrew all her organs.

Peter once he had something stabbed into his brainstem all of the powers he obtained (invisibility was active) shut off. If it were a spell-like or arcane ability he would have stayed invisible, he didn't so: Heroes powers=Psionics

I was curious about this. If Claire lost her brain, would it just regrow? Didn't see that episode, so at least that answers my question. :)

Star Trek features a lot of psionic-like creatures, but tends to stick with the telepathy & co. ideas, rather than the some of the weirder things psionics can do.

And how can you deny Babylon 5? Psi Corps, anyone?

MegasquidMan
2007-07-07, 09:57 AM
Animated movie

The cast of Galerians: Rion-

Rion (Psychokinetics, Pyrokinetics)
Lilia (Telepathy)
Birdman (Psychokinetics, Psychoportation)
Rainheart (Psychokinetics, Psychoportation, Illusion-concentrated Telepathy)
Rita (Psychokinetics)
Cain (Psychokinetics, Energy-concentrated Pyrokinetics)

Tallis
2007-07-07, 11:59 AM
When "the computer" = "the world", teaching your brain to interact with it differently is psionics, no? :smallsmile:

Sure, they never displayed the more supernatural aspects of the psionics system -- I'm not sure anyone but Neo (and even he's a border case) did anything that would necessarily be manifesting a power. But they're all over psionic focus and psionic feats. They're like soulknives, only with guns instead of mindblades.

But the computer was not the real world, and they knew it. Neo is the only one that had powers in the real world.

The Shadow from the movie of the same name
Temugin from The Shadow
Cordelia from the TV show Angel. Also the guy she got the powers from and the nightclub owner who's names I can't remember.
Poison Ivy from Batman Forever (so glad they fixed the franchise with Batman Begins)
Quadro(sp?) from Total Recall
Yulaw from The One (he could sense when his dopplegangers were close)
Annie Wilson- The Gift
The kid from the Sixth Sense
Elizabeth - Hellboy
Abe Sapien - Hellboy
Aki Ross - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
The prisoner from The Green Mile
Frank from the TV show Millenium
The psychic trio from Minority Report
Half the characters in Dune
Nick Marshall - What Women Want
Spider-Man (spider sense)

Peregrine
2007-07-07, 12:12 PM
But the computer was not the real world, and they knew it. Neo is the only one that had powers in the real world.

So? Imagine a game setting like the Matrix. Not a computer, maybe, but a dream, or an exercise in imagination by fickle gods, or something. And psionic characters are those who have learnt to perceive this nature of the world, and benefit from that interaction. It still fits the psionics mechanic just fine, and so why shouldn't The Matrix be seen the same way? From an in-Matrix perspective anyway. We can just overlook the 'real world' for the minute. :smalltongue:

Tallis
2007-07-11, 02:17 PM
So? Imagine a game setting like the Matrix. Not a computer, maybe, but a dream, or an exercise in imagination by fickle gods, or something. And psionic characters are those who have learnt to perceive this nature of the world, and benefit from that interaction. It still fits the psionics mechanic just fine, and so why shouldn't The Matrix be seen the same way? From an in-Matrix perspective anyway. We can just overlook the 'real world' for the minute. :smalltongue:

Well I'd have to say that the real (D&D) world is an exercise in imagination by fickle gods.

By your explanation, yes, you could use psionics to duplicate what the heroes in The Matrix did. However the question, as I understood it, was what characters are psionic, not what what characters could be approximated with the psionics rules. Of course only VT knows if my interpretation is correct.

Tellah
2007-07-11, 03:02 PM
Movie: Paul-Muad'dib Atreides, from Dune (as well as all other Bene Gesarit). Spice must flow.

TV: Ms. Cleo.

Belteshazzar
2007-07-11, 03:16 PM
Na Ms. Cleo is some kind of divination specialist or perhaps an alternate casting class like binder. Or she may just be a Bard with Max ranks Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Profession(Acting) and Accent (Jamaican)

Citizen Joe
2007-07-11, 03:38 PM
Two movies based on psionics:
Scanners, 1981... most of the cast
Dreamscape, 1984. Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid), Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly)

Yuki Akuma
2007-07-11, 05:30 PM
I was curious about this. If Claire lost her brain, would it just regrow? Didn't see that episode, so at least that answers my question. :)

No, it wouldn't. It's heavily implied that if Sylar were to take her brain, she'd be dead permanently.

Heck, it's overtly stated in Five Years Gone.

TheThan
2007-07-11, 08:42 PM
You’re forgetting those pet psychics you see on TV and the people from those psychic hotlines.