The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés/Section II: Overused Settings and Characterizations

Section II: Overused Settings and Characterizations

 * 1) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Aliens whose thinking is so different from ours that no communication is possible.
 * 2) Pig icon 05.svg Alien races that find our women attractive, while we find theirs to be repulsive.
 * 3) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Alien races who differ from us only in skin color and/or facial features.
 * 4) Pig icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svgVraagteken.svg Aliens that are incomprehensible to humans but understand humans perfectly.
 * 5) Racism icon-fr.svgDelta-shield.svg Alien species depicted as having no ethnic, religious, cultural, philosophical or political variance, especially:
 * 6) Wise mystics
 * 7) Stoic warriors
 * 8) Pastoral innocents
 * 9) Cowardly sneaks
 * 10) Pig icon 05.svg Amazon babes
 * 11) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Alien species with personality traits or cultural mores that are treated as invariable laws of nature.
 * 12) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg Alien races whose names all have lots of hard consonants.
 * 13) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Lots of apostrophes are packed into alien words and phrases for no apparent reason.
 * 14) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Humans of the future have no ethnic, religious, cultural, philosophical or political variance.
 * 15) Green tick.svg Cities of future are depicted as though sanitation workers have been on strike from now until then.
 * 16) McCormick Sleep.svg The entire story setting is dominated by huge impersonal business conglomerates.
 * 17) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Planets with the same exact climate planet-wide (planets without atmosphere excepted).
 * 18) McCormick Sleep.svg Super-intelligent AIs that speak, behave, and act in a manner indistinguishable from the human characters.
 * 19) McCormick Sleep.svg The incredibly competent man-of-action with more skills/degrees than you can shake a blaster at.
 * 20) Pig icon 05.svg The incredibly competent woman-of-action with large breasts, no sexual inhibitions, and more skills/degrees than you can shake a blaster at.
 * 21) McCormick Sleep.svg Shadowy malevolent Pentagon officials.
 * 22) McCormick Sleep.svg Each and every character has a tainted history.
 * 23) McCormick Sleep.svg A society that manages to remain at a high technological level consists of:
 * 24) A handful of ultra-powerful ultra-rich;
 * 25) Criminal lords who control everything not controlled by the ultra-rich;
 * 26) Police whose only principle of operation is maintenance of the status quo;
 * 27) Hordes of poor people starving in the streets;
 * 28) Absolutely no middle class whatsoever.
 * Nonetheless, the society manages to remain at a high technological level.
 * 1) Bull icon 05.svg Societies where all technology has been destroyed except automobiles and their equivalents, which are still running yet there are no mechanics, workshops, or gas stations.
 * 2) Vraagteken.svg Heroes who are so emotionally stunted that they don't care about close friends/relatives that die as long as they complete some mission.
 * 3) Green x.svg Any character with a perpetual two-day growth of beard.
 * 4) Vraagteken.svg Futuristic societies where only the ultra-rich can afford quality healthcare, and everyone else is reduced to selling their bodily organs.
 * 5) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Beings of pure energy.
 * 6) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg A society in which everyone is required to die on his or her Nth birthday.
 * 7) Vraagteken.svg Creatures from our mythology (e.g., centaurs, dragons) occur among the wildlife native to an alien planet.
 * 8) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Aliens whose sociology, values and beliefs are indistinguishable from those of an Earth culture, e.g., feudal Japan.
 * 9) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg Eccentric scientists.
 * 10) McCormick Sleep.svg The assistant to the scientist who is either deformed or dating the scientist's daughter.
 * 11) Vraagteken.svg Future societies that have relapsed into feudalism.
 * 12) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg Alternative Earths where society is just like some society of the past, with some technodoodads added.
 * 13) Vraagteken.svg Palace guards who are ineffectual due to ineptitude or inattentiveness.
 * 14) Vraagteken.svg Fantastic but non-viable creatures (men with tortoiseshell backs, gigantic insects) made possible by high levels of radiation, and which don't suffer any ill effects from it.
 * 15) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Aliens that speak human languages without error, having taken no pains to learn how.
 * 16) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg An alien tongue is translated into perfect English; that is, except for profanity and units of measurement.
 * 17) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Aliens whose vocal apparatus is just like ours, so that they can speak human languages with only a slight accent.
 * 18) Vraagteken.svg Omnipotent pacifist aliens who impose their philosophy on us without bothering to protect us from the races they have left alone.
 * 19) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Men and women live in separate societies (and we're not talking Mars and Venus, either).
 * 20) Vraagteken.svg Clones are inexplicably different from regular people in a particular manner (mentally unstable, don't mind being used as cannon fodder, etc.).
 * 21) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg The vast majority of alien races consider 20°C to be room temperature.
 * 22) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg Societies that are utopian in every regard except for one serious drawback that completely outweighs the utopian aspects, such as having the death penalty for some really minor offence.
 * 23) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Disembodied live brains living in tanks.
 * 24) Green x.svgDelta-shield.svg Eyes that glow (sometimes accompanied by minor-key chords in TV and film).
 * 25) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Sentient artificial intelligences that wish to eliminate the human race.
 * 26) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Sentient artificial intelligences that select a human figure to holographically represent themselves.
 * 27) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Computers with voice synthesizers either use a sensuous female contralto, a threatening male baritone, or a nasally tinny neutral voice.
 * 28) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Bad guys who miss everything they shoot at.
 * 29) Vraagteken.svg Beginning warriors who hit everything they shoot at.
 * 30) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Characters who are always ready for intimate relations.
 * 31) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg All genetically superior humans have an innate drive to rule, conquer, or kill everyone else.
 * 32) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Alien vampires that feed on brainwaves/life-force/exotic biochemicals/psychic energies that can only be obtained from sentient life forms.
 * 33) McCormick Sleep.svg Post-cataclysmic societies that treat items of the Lost Technology as holy relics.
 * 34) Vraagteken.svg Alien monsters that find humans edible, tasty, and non-toxic.
 * 35) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg The evil duplicate of the hero, sidekick, universe, etc.
 * 36) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg The grammatical differences between the languages used by humans and aliens are cited as conclusive proof of radically different ways of thinking.
 * 37) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Sentient AIs that communicate with other sentient AIs via their voice synthesizer.
 * 38) Pig icon 05.svg The intelligent and confident woman who can be bribed with a dress.
 * 39) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Androids with intelligence equal to an IQ of around 1000 who can't seem to figure out human emotions, humor, or verbal contractions.
 * 40) McCormick Sleep.svg Everyone in the post-catastrophic future dresses like heavy metal musicians.
 * 41) McCormick Sleep.svg A common proverb gets "translated" into more generic terms, resulting in obfuscation of the meaning.
 * 42) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg An alien race has a trait that greatly complicates interacting with them, but even after centuries of contact with humans they still manage to keep it secret.
 * 43) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg The ancient spacefaring alien race that:
 * 44) Has existed for zillions of years;
 * 45) Went into hiding, left this universe/dimension, or went extinct so long ago that no current spacefaring race has ever met them;
 * 46) Is known solely through legends, ancient artifacts of amazing technological advancement, and/or evidence that they created one or more (sometimes all) currently living races.
 * 47) Vraagteken.svg Aliens whose language is not pronounceable by humans, but who can still speak human languages with relative ease.
 * 48) Vraagteken.svg The villain who can infallibly predict how the protagonists will react to a given turn of events.
 * 49) Racism icon-fr.svgDelta-shield.svg All religious figures are:
 * 50) Intolerant hatemongers who make Hitler look like Jesus;
 * 51) All-tolerant lovemongers who make Jesus look like Hitler;
 * 52) Ignorant, unwashed rabble.
 * 53) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg A society of aliens and/or villains that are amazingly similar to an infamous human political movement.
 * 54) Pig icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Societies wherein gender roles and attitudes are completely reversed.
 * 55) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg Whiz kids.
 * 56) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Most aliens breathe oxygen, just like humans do.
 * 57) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg Bored, omnipotent, immortal beings.
 * 58) McCormick Sleep.svgDelta-shield.svg An immortal being that wants to die.
 * 59) Vraagteken.svg People with cyborg implants will needlessly exhibit the benefits of this hardware just to relieve boredom or show off.
 * 60) Bull icon 05.svg Children with access to the highest levels of military planning, scientific research, and governmental decision-making.
 * 61) Bull icon 05.svg A smart, courageous, gorgeously attractive woman who is rarely if ever asked out.
 * 62) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Every planet seems to have a surface gravity of 9.8 meters per second squared and rotates around its axis in about 24 hours, just like Earth.
 * 63) Vraagteken.svg All of the spacefaring races have roughly the same level of technology.
 * 64) McCormick Sleep.svg Aliens that transform into a colorful puddle when they die.
 * 65) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg The Free Love Utopia, populated only by fabulously good-looking people, that somehow remains free of sexually transmitted diseases, has no relationship turmoil, and is not inundated with hordes of people looking for easy sex.
 * 66) Vraagteken.svg The untrained, average Joe who can take on and defeat highly trained and well-equipped operatives.
 * 67) Green tick.svg The Wise Race of Ancients who do nothing for the protagonists except offer advice.
 * 68) Green tick.svg The Wise Race of Ancients that secretly supports the protagonists.
 * 69) McCormick Sleep.svg The former Great Man of Action who is now just a washed-up drunk.
 * 70) McCormick Sleep.svg An interstellar realm is ruled by a handful of powerful families, each scheming to eliminate the rest, instead of forming alliances.
 * 71) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Except for the distinguishing marks on aliens and bad guys, everyone has perfect skin.
 * 72) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Upon arrival in a distant epoch, the time travelers can speak the local language without accent.
 * 73) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg The city's main computer can be accessed from any of a number of public-access terminals located conveniently throughout the city.
 * 74) Racism icon-fr.svgDelta-shield.svg The less technologically advanced a culture is, the more spiritually advanced it is.
 * 75) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg The modification of one custom, law, or common belief would transform Western society into Utopia.
 * 76) Pig icon 05.svg All female scientists are good-looking; male scientists are average-looking.
 * 77) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Except for full-blown dictatorships, government officials of the future never abuse their powers.
 * 78) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Not even the soldiers or marines make vulgar jokes.
 * 79) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg In the future, everyone's taste in music and literature extends solely to the classics.
 * 80) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Immortals who assume many identities over the course of human history.
 * 81) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg Everyone's counterpart in the parallel universe has, as his/her associates, the counterparts of the same people that the primary knows in this universe.
 * 82) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Whenever The Captain walks onto The Bridge, the same people are always on duty.
 * 83) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Superheroes wear primary colors (red, blue, and yellow).
 * 84) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Supervillains wear secondary colors (green, purple, and orange).
 * 85) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Only bad guys have goatees.
 * 86) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg In the future, everyone is good in bed.
 * 87) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Entire cities whose buildings use the same architectural design.
 * 88) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg World governments are enlightened and efficient; nation-states are backward and primitive.
 * 89) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg In the future, everyone either supports their government fully, or is engaged in a terrorist campaign to overthrow it.
 * 90) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg In the future, government corruption has been eradicated.
 * 91) Green x.svg The tribal chieftain's eldest child is a defiant free-spirited youth, and if female is the sexiest member of the tribe.
 * 92) Vraagteken.svg The alien's superpowers become manifest when he/she/it is exposed to Terran conditions.
 * 93) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svgPig icon 05.svg All alien females, galaxy-wide, use cosmetics the same way that Western women do.
 * 94) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Although humans still have multiple languages, each alien race has only one language.
 * 95) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Kindly enlightened races are native to beautiful planets with congenial climate; cruel, benighted races arise on ugly planets with brutal weather.
 * 96) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg The ship's computer is programmed to track the location of each and every person aboard, but is never programmed to report personnel in unauthorized areas, or those who suddenly disappear.
 * 97) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg Among the intelligent creatures, man-sized beings predominate.
 * 98) Racism icon-fr.svgDelta-shield.svg The token black guy is the muscular scion of a Noble Warrior culture.
 * 99) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg The entire population of the planet lives in one city.
 * 100) Green tick.svgDelta-shield.svg The Energy Being takes the form of a mass of flickering lights.
 * 101) Vraagteken.svgDelta-shield.svg Military spacecraft have a light-colored exterior, making them easy to see. Only the Bad Guys ever appreciate the danger of this.
 * 102) Bull icon 05.svgDelta-shield.svg The time traveler meets an ancestor who looks so much like him that the same actor can play both characters.
 * 103) Vraagteken.svg In the future, all that remains of Earth's flora is a small garden, or even just one plant.
 * 104) Pig icon 05.svg All girlfriends are hotties.

Tropers' additions to this list

 * 1) Regardless of who else is in the room, the scientist will give the explanation of what happened/will happen as though talking to kindergarteners, even though everybody else listening are also scientists. If they are actually talking to kindergarteners/mooks/Phillip J. Fry, they will use an easily understood metaphor, usually involving balloons.
 * 2) To trigger the childish explanation, one character will always say, "In English, Doc."
 * 3) Regardless of how advanced the civilization is, the assistant or the scientist will carry a clipboard and/or wear a lab coat. To show rank, the lead scientist will sign something on the clipboard.
 * 4) A male wearing glasses always indicates intelligence.
 * 5) Pig icon 05.svg A female wearing glasses will usually result in a dramatic and/or sexual scene later that involves taking them off.
 * 6) Spaceships that are always named after what they are used for or what they look like, instead of people or places like seagoing vessels are.
 * 7) Having any experience, ever, of being "a pilot" means you can fly any spaceship ever made, but you have to say, "It's just like my " first.
 * 8) The proper response to "Let's use the X Maneuver!" is "Like we did at the Battle/Planet of Y?"
 * 9) All climactic space battles must have more ships involved than previous battles.
 * 10) Delta-shield.svg If the situation appears hopeless, fire a beam at it. Frequency adjustment might be necessary.
 * 11) Racism icon-fr.svg Aliens with a Hive Mind are exempt from the "no genocide" rule.
 * 12) Delta-shield.svg Flashing, unlabeled buttons on a flat console always indicate a more advanced technology. Conversely, anything made out of dirt, wood or stone indicate a primitive technology. Computers inside caves indicate a lost civilization.