Nanotechnology in Fiction - Notable Examples - Film and Television

Film and Television

In the Star Trek universe, from Star Trek: The Next Generation onward, the Borg use nanomachines, referred to as nanoprobes, to assimilate individuals into their collective.

On the television show Red Dwarf, nanobots played a notable role in series VII to IX. Nanobots are nanotechnology created to be a self-repair system for androids like Kryten as they can also change anything into anything else. Kryten's nanobots grow bored of their duties and take over the ship Red Dwarf, leaving the crew to try and recapture it aboard the smaller Starbug. In the end the ship they are chasing is actually a smaller Red Dwarf built by the nanobots (which evaded their scanners in the end by coming aboard Starbug), with the rest being changed into a planet. Once the crew discover this and find the nanobots, they force them to rebuild Red Dwarf (as well as Dave Lister's then-missing arm). In the end the nanobots build an enhanced Red Dwarf based on the original design plans. They also resurrect the original full crew killed in the first episode, thus setting out the plot for the last series.

The episode The New Breed of the show Outer Limits featured nanobots.

Nanobots were also featured during the Sci-Fi Channel era of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where they were known as "nanites". They were depicted on the show as microscopic, bug-like, freestanding robots with distinct personalities.

Nanotechnology appeared several times in the TV series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, in the form of the replicators and the Asurans, respectively. A "nanovirus" is also seen in Stargate Atlantis.

In Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001), a criminal blows up a tanker trunk containing a nanobot virus that instantly kills thousands.

In the 2003 film Agent Cody Banks, a scientist creates nanobots programmed to clean up oil spills.

In the 2004 film I, Robot, nanites are used to wipe out artificial intelligence in the event of a malfunction and are depicted as a liquid containing tiny silver objects.

In the 2008 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, the alien robot "GORT" disintegrates into a swarm of self-replicating nanobots shaped like bugs that cover Earth and destroy all lifeforms and artificial structures by seemingly devouring them within seconds.

The revamped Knight Rider television series and TV movie incorporate nanotechnology into the Knight Industries Three Thousand (KITT), allowing it to change color and shape, as well as providing abilities such as self-regeneration.

In the 2009 film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the main plot is to save the world from a warhead containing deadly nanobots called the "Nanomites", which if detonated over a city could destroy it in hours.