Alternate History: The Series: Difference between revisions

[[File:Tvtropestitleimage.jpg|frame|This happens a lot... Artwork by [[All Manner of Bad|Alex Claw]] ]]

 

 

 

The basic setting is that the ragbag crew of the MES AH.com travel between parallel Earth [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]], or timelines, exploring them for no better reason than to find booze and porn. Occasionally these timelines are serious, plausible scenarios, but more commonly they are jokey, unrealistic, magical or parodic situations, such as alternate Earths overrun by psychopathic lesbians or Charlton Heston film characters.

 

 

 

Has a [[Alternate History: The Series/Characters|character page]].

 

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* [[Affectionate Parody]] : Many episodes use one of these as the basis of their setting.

* [[Alien Space Bats]] : Recurring antagonists of the crew.

* [[Author Avatar]] : Most of the authors of episodes are also characters on the ship. Some of them write themselves in a balanced way or don't mention their own character much at all. Rather more are subject to [[Mary Sue]] syndrome, or as it is known on the Board, Characterwank.

* [[Berserk Button]] : Several characters have these, most notably Flocculencio's tendency to go [[Ax Crazy]] whenever anyone mentions the name of his nemesis Justin Pickard.

* [[Big No]]: after the crew saves the Multiverse in "Hair Today, Gotterdammerung Tomorrow", Doctor What asks Leo to bring the ship to an universe where all men are dead and all women are desperate for sex. Leo reveals that, due to the emergency they were in, he had to dump the data, including the address to that universe. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Cue the Big No]].

* [[Britain Is Only London]] : Even though some of the writers are British, for a while the only episodes set in Britain were by non-Britons, thus leading to this being played straight.

* [[Butt Monkey]] : The recurring characters Chingo360 and Alt. Luakel, who are constantly trying to get their old ship back, failing, and returning to dead-end jobs in a mall on the Hub of the Multiverse.

* [[The Captain]] : Subverted; the AH.com Ship's captain, Doctor What, is a goofy screwball who leads the crew more through charisma and imagination than command ability.

** Doctor What: "I find that strangely arousing,"; Ward: "Get your head out of your ass, boy!"; Thande: "Daring Commando Raid??"; GBW: "Sorry, logic and reason, I know..."; etc.

* [[Characterisation Marches On]]: Typically with the more minor characters. Also, everyone has tended to become less [[Ax Crazy]] over time.

* [[Second Law, My Ass]]: Leo Caesius to some extent, especially after he gets infected with a virus in the episode "Leo Atrox".

* [[Shout-Out]]: The stories make frequent references to stuff that takes place on the AH.com discussion board.

* [[Stalker with a Crush]] : Psychomeltdown with Alyson Hannigan. Later brought to high levels of squickery when {{spoiler|Psycho's [[Gender Bender|GenderBendered]] [[Mirror Universe]] counterpart went insane and declared s/he WAS Alyson Hannigan - especially since s/he continued to maintain this even after partly changing back to a man}}. In later episodes, also used with several characters - both crewmen and recurring villains - with Keira Knightley.

* [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] : The ASB s (Alien Space Bats).

* [[Take a Third Option]]: In "The Cult of the Swamp God", after a few members of the crew are forced to compete in a LARP due to a computer glitch, they are given the option to take one item from the LARP world. Dave Howery has to choose between a Bag of Holding and Keira Knightley. In the end, he chooses to put Keira in the Bag of Holding and take the Bag.

* [[Take That]] : Common targets are [[Alternate History]] authors [[Harry Turtledove]] and [[S.M. Stirling]], and of course [[The Other Wiki]].

* [[Techno Babble]] : Used ironically. Notably, a powerful enemy weapon is said to use 'technobabblyon particle beams'.

* [[Teleporter Accident]]: All the time, but usually played for laughs. There is the odd exception, such as "To A Theatre Near You", where it is used for drama.

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Hermanubis and Imajin on the Hub, Shadow Knight and Scarecrow on the ''Mercator'', and Flocculencio and Michael on the AH.com.

* [[2-D Space]] : Averted quite well in the space battles depicted. Of course it helps that the special effects budget consists of the reader's imagination.

* [[Unobtainium]] : Used as the actual name of the fuel that the Shift drive runs on, lampshaded mercilessly. Usually to be found in asteroid field mazes haunted by an entire race of psychopathic Pac-Men.

* [[Villain Episode]]: The "Counterfactual" miniseries and the later episode "Whatever Happened to the CF.netters?"

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Pretty much everyone on the AH.com, but particular vitriolic pairings are Flocculencio and Michael, Psychomeltdown and Michael, and Matt and Weapon M.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Science Fiction Web Originals]]

[[Category:Script]]

[[Category:Alternate History: The Series]]