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A Miracle of Science: Difference between revisions
removed the joke "trope" that was deleted years ago
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Webcomic.AMiracleOfScience 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Webcomic.AMiracleOfScience, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
(removed the joke "trope" that was deleted years ago) |
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{{quote| ''"When you're a recovering mad scientist, you're always afraid you'll lose control and wake up some morning with a half-built time machine in the living room and a plan to go back in time and pants [[Hitler]]."''}}
'''''[http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/ A Miracle of Science]''''' is a [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/World of Phlebotinum|science fiction]] [[Web Comic]] written by Jon Kilgannon and drawn by Mark Sachs. It ran for 435 strips from 2002 to 2007.
▲''[http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/ A Miracle of Science]'' is a [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/World of Phlebotinum|science fiction]] [[Web Comic]] written by Jon Kilgannon and drawn by Mark Sachs. It ran from 2002 to 2007 and was set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|in the year 2148]], when humanity has spread across the solar system from Venus to Ganymede, and robotics and artificial intelligence are well developed, advanced sciences. Also of note is the science of memetics, which can be used to treat (or cause) psychological issues. Of key importance in the story is one specific meme, [[Science Related Memetic Disorder]] (or, more colloquially, [[Mad Scientist|mad science]]).
Key characters include Benjamin Prester, a field agent of the Vorstellen Police, a law-enforcement agency specializing in SRMD; Caprice Quevillion, a Martian forensic psychiatrist assigned as his partner; and Virgil Haas, the [[Mad Scientist]] they attempt to capture. The story opens not long after Mars, a [[Crystal Spires and Togas|utopian]] [[Hive Mind|group intelligence]], has ended a century of self-imposed isolation.
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Given its Mad Scientist motif, one should expect that a significant number of tropes appear as important plot points in the comic. In fact, given the science of memetics, the characters themselves use tropes (common examples being the [[Chase Scene]] and the [[Denouement]]) as psychological aids when dealing with mad scientists.
Kilgannon and Sachs went on to collaborate on a second
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Science
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absent Aliens]]: Mars' version of SETI turns up with lots of aliens... {{spoiler|but they're all dead. By at least a thousand years. "You've got to love existential angst on a planetary level..."}}
* [[Anti
* [[America Takes Over the World]]: Well, not exactly the world, but they seem to have taken over Canada. And there's a space colony that's nominally in the US, contravening present-day treaties.
** Annexing nearby countries isn't just a US thing in the AMoS-verse, either; Peru has been absorbed into Brazil.
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* [[Badass Boast]] "Oh come on! I've plunged down from orbit on ''wings of fire''... so don't ''even'' think ''you'' can scare me!" Benjamin has a longer version of this boast as well.
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Benjamin wears one most of the time.
*
* [[Big Guy, Little Guy]]: Dryden and Chaucer, respectively, are a robotic version and thus able to take the trope to new heights.: Chaucer is the size and shape of a hamster ball; Dryden is several times bigger than a human.
* [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: Minus the "evil" part. See the [[Voice of the Legion]] entry below.
* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: {{spoiler|Caprice Quevillion was disconnected from Mars.}} [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]].
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* [[Crystal Spires and Togas]]: Mars.
* [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check]]: [[Justified Trope|Justified]] as actual insanity, but also subverted as mad scientists' inventions are quickly turned into useful technology for everyone. It's implied that [[The Government]]'s willingness to cut those checks is what led to the advanced society depicted in the comic.
* [[Cyberpunk
* [[Da Chief]]: Agent Nyerere.
* [[Detached Sleeves]]: Caprice.
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* [[Evil Laugh]]: Mad scientists do this ''a lot''
** If you get a group of them together in one place, {{spoiler|though Benjamin is so far the only known example of an SRMD sufferer who sought out allies}}, they will apparently hold ''contests''.
* [[For Science!]]!
* [[Genki Girl]]: Wei Quevillion, as the protagonists comment on [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos166.html this page].
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: The Pindars, which [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos393.html gets on Chaucer's nerves at one point]:
{{quote|
'''Pindar-Two''': I'm going to take that as a compliment. }}
* [[Genius Loci]]: The Martian people form a collective consciousness.
{{quote|
'''Benjamin''': That's like saying "''Brazil'' has decided you're ''cute''." }}
* [[Genre Savvy]]: The entire science of memetics relies on this. {{spoiler|The Vorstellen Police catches mad scientists by knowing exactly how they will react to certain situations.}}
** Virgil also appears to have read [[The Evil Overlord List]] and avoids falling into several of the pitfalls outlined in it.
* [[A God Am I]]: Averted; Mars is quick to [http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos023.html point out] that it isn't omnipotent; merely extremely powerful.
* [[Good Cop, Bad Cop]]: Caprice being the good cop to Benjamin's bad cop. [http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos266.html Lampshaded.]
** A more dramatic example comes after [http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos278.html they drop in on Dr. Beatriz Juruna.]
* [[Good Hair, Evil Hair]]: In addition to [[Scary Shiny Glasses|his glasses]] as noted below, one sign that Haas has developed [[Science
** {{spoiler|Benjamin}} also has a different hairstyle when he's in mad science mode. Notably, he messes his hair back into this style when he relapses.
*** Maybe everyone has "normal" hair and "Mad Science" hair
* [[Graceful Loser]]: Most mad scientists end up being pretty relieved that they're stopped.
* [[Ground
* [[Guns Do Not Work That Way]]: Robots can be seen firing entire rounds, as opposed to just the bullet. The case stays in the weapon until extracted in real guns.
* [[Hive Mind]]: Mars again, if you couldn't tell.
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* [[Insistent Terminology]]: It is a thing mad scientists do. Special mention, though, goes to Beatriz "That's ''Doctor''" Juruna.
** Also of note: {{spoiler|Benjamin Prester insists on not being called Ben.}}
* [[Instant AI, Just Add Water]]: "Any device complex enough to detect Martians is going to eventually become self-aware."
** Though this may be an intentional ploy on the Martians' part, since they built the machine in the first place. And [http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos395.html Caprice does admit] that they had to do a bit of bribery to make sure all the parts got installed.
* [[Lens Flare]]: Used in the epilogue [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos426.html here] and [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos432.html here].
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* [[Mental Fusion]]: See [[Hive Mind]], above.
* [[Nanomachines]]: The main source of the Martians' advanced technology.
* [[
* [[Plot Technology]]: subverted. When mad scientists are captured, their inventions and research are used for the benefit of society as a whole.
* [[The Rant]]: Reading Jon and Mark's columns is strictly optional, but they offer a bit more insight into the comic's world and also occasional scientific lectures.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Benjamin.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Fabula and Syuzhet, color-coded little ball-shaped robots from the Martian Constabulary -- or rather, AIs seen operating a swarm of color-coded robots.
{{quote|'''Prester''': Um... which one of you guys is ''Fabula''?
* [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun]]: See [[Badass Boast]] above.▼
'''Six red robots''': Officer Fabula, at your service.
* [[Ridiculously Human Robots]]: Robots with sentience will talk to themselves out loud; in fact, Benjamin points out that ''only'' sentient AI's are known to do this: suggesting it's actually rather common amongst them.▼
'''Prester''': And which is ''Syuzhet''?
'''Six blue robots''': Yo.
'''Prester''': I've been on Mars for five minutes, and already my brain hurts.}}
▲* [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?]]: See [[Badass Boast]] above.
▲* [[Ridiculously
** Also averted insofar as the robots are rarely, if ever humanoid, being shaped to their purposes.
* [[Sanity Slippage]] Noticeable in {{spoiler|Benjamin}} if you know what you're looking for, though thankfully {{spoiler|he gets better.}}
* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: The only time Dr. Haas doesn't have these is in the prologue, just before he catches SRMD
* [[Sex
* [["Shut Up" Kiss]]: {{spoiler|on the [[Last
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Solidly Idealist.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Kilgannon and Sachs are both computer professionals and science geeks, and it shows, making ''[[
* [[Star
* [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]]: subverted with the Martians, which are Sufficiently Advanced but actually human.
* [[Take Over the World]]: A seemingly common compulsion among mad scientists. Unusually for a [[Mad Scientist]] story, we get several hints as to ''how'', exactly, the various loonies in the story intend to "improve" the solar system once they're in charge of it.
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* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Benjamin Prester, Caprice Quevillion, and even Virgil Haas are or become unwilling to kill innocents. How well they stick by this rule during a disaster tells quite a bit about their resistance to [[Villainous Breakdown|Breakdown]], and in Prester's case, [[Character Development]].
* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]. While not mentioned directly in the plotline, it's mentioned in the site's glossary that the book ''Crank Theories of Robotics'' is a known cause of SRMD; effectively, one can become a [[Mad Scientist]] simply by reading it. Doctor Haas is seen with it in the prologue.
* [[Voice of the Legion]]: Whenever the Martian group mind speaks through one of its members. Said member simultaneously acquires [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: minus the "evil" part.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Caprice immediately calls Benjamin out on his plan to escape Haas' attack on their ship by blasting up five civilian ships and killing a few hundred people. {{spoiler|This may or may not have been foreshadowing.}}
* [[Wig, Dress, Accent]], subverted in [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos304.html this page] by having a poorly-disguised version of the protagonists going through customs... and then having the ''actual'' protagonists enter the scene in the next page.
* [[Wrecked Weapon]]: Benjamin has a gun {{spoiler|that he just built with his mad science abilities}} [[Blasting It Out of Their Hands|shot out of his hand]]. Twice.
{{quote| ['''Ben:''': somewhat hysterically [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"He shot my gun!]] He ''shot'' my ''gun!'' ''Why are you negotiating with the man who '''shot my gun'''?!"''}}
* [[You Can Barely Stand]]: Word for word, in the final Chase Scene.
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Blue hair runs in Caprice's family, presumably on her mother's side; her dad has brown hair, but every other Quevillion we see has some shade of blue hair. There's a smattering of extras with oddly colored hair, either flat-out unnatural or just [[Dark
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Make My Index Live]]▼
[[Category:Sci Fi Webcomics]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Web Comics of the 2000s]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle of Science, A}}
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