Applied Phlebotinum

""Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device""

- David Langford, "A Gadget Too Far", as a corollary to Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law

Phlebotinum is the versatile substance that may be rubbed on almost anything to cause an effect needed by a plot.

Some examples: nanotechnology, magic crystal emanations, pixie dust, a sonic screwdriver, or even just some Green Rocks. In essence, it is the stuff that makes the plot go. Without it, the story would grind to an abrupt halt. It's science, it's magic, it's strange things unknown to science or magic. The reader does not know how Phlebotinum would work and the creators hope nobody cares.

According to Joss Whedon, during the DVD commentary for the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the term "phlebotinum" originates from Buffy writer (and Angel co-creator) David Greenwalt's sudden outburst: "Don't touch the phlebotinum!" apropos of nothing.

If the phlebotinum in question is simply a physical substance with unusual/extreme properties you are almost certainly dealing with the element Unobtainium.

A.K.A. Handwavium. Compare MacGuffin, A Wizard Did It, Hand Wave, and Deus Ex Machina.

Tropes
Categories:
 * Forensic Phlebotinum
 * Futuristic Tech Index
 * Hyperspace Index
 * Insecurity System
 * Magic and Powers
 * Magical Computer
 * This Index Has Magic Properties


 * Aesoptinum
 * Abnormal Ammo
 * Agony Beam
 * Ambiguous Disorder
 * Amplifier Artifact
 * Amulet of Concentrated Awesome
 * Amulet of Dependency
 * Ancient Artifact
 * Antimatter
 * Are These Wires Important
 * Artifact of Doom
 * Artificial Gravity
 * Art Initiates Life
 * Artistic License Chemistry
 * Automated Automobiles
 * Background Magic Field
 * Bamboo Technology
 * Big Red Button
 * Bio Augmentation
 * Black Box
 * Blind Jump
 * Blood Bath
 * Body to Jewel
 * By the Power of Greyskull
 * Caffeine Bullet Time
 * Came From the Sky
 * Can't Have Sex Ever
 * Carrying the Antidote
 * Chemistry Can Do Anything
 * Clarke's Third Law
 * Clingy Costume
 * Clingy MacGuffin
 * Cloning Blues
 * Cold Iron
 * Collapsing Lair
 * Comm Links
 * Containment Field
 * Correspondence Course
 * Cure for Cancer
 * The Dark Side
 * Deflector Shields
 * Depleted Phlebotinum Shells
 * Detachable Lower Half
 * Devolution Device
 * Deus Ex Nukina
 * Disability Superpower
 * Disco Tech
 * Do-Anything Robot
 * Doomsday Device
 * Duct Tape for Everything
 * Electric Instant Gratification
 * Electric Torture
 * Elemental Absorption
 * EMP
 * Energy Absorption
 * Every Car Is a Pinto
 * Everything Sensor
 * Exact Time to Failure
 * Explosive Instrumentation
 * Explosive Overclocking
 * Exposition Beam
 * Failsafe Failure
 * Faster-Than-Light Travel
 * Fertile Feet
 * Fountain of Youth
 * Forgotten Phlebotinum
 * Forgotten Superweapon
 * Functional Magic
 * Going to Give It More Energy
 * Grappling Hook Pistol
 * Gravity Sucks
 * Great Big Book of Everything
 * Green Lantern Ring
 * Green Rocks
 * Hard Light
 * Harmful to Touch
 * Handy Remote Control
 * Healing Potion
 * Helping Hands
 * Hidden Wire
 * Holding Back the Phlebotinum
 * Hologram Projection Imperfection
 * Hulking Out
 * Human Popsicle
 * Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball
 * Hyperspace Lanes
 * Hypno Ray
 * I Know Your True Name
 * Implausible Synchrony
 * Imported Alien Phlebotinum
 * Incredibly Obvious Bug
 * Inertial Dampening
 * Infinite Supplies
 * Infrared X Ray Camera
 * Inventional Wisdom
 * Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality
 * Invisibility Cloak
 * Involuntary Shapeshifting
 * It Runs On Nonsensoleum
 * Jack Up With Phlebotinum
 * Jet Pack
 * Lego Genetics
 * Ley Line
 * Lightning Can Do Anything
 * The Little Detecto
 * Living Battery
 * Losing Your Head
 * Lost Technology
 * Lotus Eater Machine
 * Love Potion
 * Loyal Phlebotinum
 * Made of Explodium
 * Made of Indestructium
 * Made of Phlebotinum
 * Magi Babble
 * Magically-Binding Contract
 * Magical Particle Accelerator
 * Magic Antidote
 * Magic A Is Magic A
 * Magic From Technology
 * Magic Meteor
 * Magic Music
 * Magic Plastic Surgery
 * Surgical Impersonation
 * Magic Powered Pseudoscience
 * Magic Tool
 * Make a Wish
 * Matter Replicator
 * May Contain Evil
 * Medieval Stasis
 * Menstrual Menace
 * Mental Picture Projector
 * Mind Control Device
 * Mind Probe
 * Minovsky Physics
 * Mirror Morality Machine
 * Misapplied Phlebotinum
 * Mithril
 * Mobile Suit Human
 * Mutagenic Goo
 * My Car Hates Me
 * Nanomachines
 * No Blood for Phlebotinum
 * No Off Button
 * Not of This Earth
 * No Waterproofing in The Future
 * The Nudifier
 * Obfuscated Interface
 * Offscreen Villain Dark Matter
 * Orichalcum
 * Our Clones Are Identical
 * Overclocking Attack
 * Override Command
 * Panacea
 * Percussive Maintenance
 * Perpetual Motion Machine
 * Philosopher's Stone
 * Phlebotinum Analogy
 * Phlebotinum Battery
 * Phlebotinum Bomb
 * Phlebotinum Breakdown
 * Phlebotinum Du Jour
 * Phlebotinum Girl
 * Phlebotinum Handling Equipment
 * Phlebotinum-Induced Stupidity
 * Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs
 * Phlebotinum Muncher
 * Phlebotinum Overdose
 * Phlebotinum Overload
 * Phlebotinum Pills
 * Phlebotinum Rebel
 * Placebotinum Effect
 * Plot Sensitive Button
 * Plot-Sensitive Items
 * Portal Book
 * Portal Picture
 * Portal Pool
 * Powered By a Forsaken Child
 * Power Source
 * Power-Up Food
 * Pressure Sensitive Interface
 * Professor Guinea Pig
 * Projected Man
 * Psychic Nosebleed
 * Public Domain Artifact
 * Pure Energy
 * Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything
 * Reactionless Drive
 * Readings Are Off the Scale
 * Readings Blew Up the Scale
 * Reinventing the Telephone
 * Restraining Bolt
 * Reverse Polarity
 * Rewriting Reality
 * Rube Goldberg Device
 * Saved By the Phlebotinum
 * Screw Learning, I Have Phlebotinum
 * Screwball Serum
 * Secret Project Refugee Family
 * Self-Defenseless
 * Self-Destruct Mechanism
 * Self Guarding Phlebotinum
 * Sentient Cosmic Force
 * Sentient Phlebotinum
 * Sharpened to A Single Atom
 * Shoe Phone
 * Showing Off the Perilous Power Source
 * Shrink Ray
 * Silver Bullet
 * Single Phlebotinum Limit
 * Soul Fragment
 * Soul-Powered Engine
 * Space Is Magic
 * Spy Satellites
 * States of Phlebotinum
 * Super Wrist Gadget
 * Swirly Energy Thingy
 * Techno Babble
 * Thirty Second Blackout
 * Thunderbolt Iron
 * Those Magnificent Flying Machines
 * Tim Taylor Technology
 * Time Stands Still
 * Time Travel
 * Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth
 * Toxic Phlebotinum
 * Tracking Device
 * Transformation Causes
 * Transformation Ray
 * Transformation Trinket
 * Translator Microbes
 * Truth Serums
 * Unobtainium
 * Upgrade Artifact
 * Utility Belt
 * Utility Magic
 * Virgin Power
 * Virgin Sacrifice
 * Virtual Ghost
 * Weapon of Mass Destruction
 * Weather Control Machine
 * We Have Forgotten the Phlebotinum
 * What Do You Mean Its Phlebotinum
 * Wheel of Pain
 * When Things Spin Science Happens
 * Wire Dilemma
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
 * Within Parameters
 * Words Can Break My Bones
 * World Healing Wave
 * Zillion-Dollar Bill

Applied Phlebotinum is among the Tropes of Legend.