Black Box: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

An elaboration on [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]].

* This is a main plot point in ''[[Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles]]''. The Haydonites provide humans with shadow technology which greatly aids them in fighting Invid. But {{spoiler|the technological information supplied by Haydonites is incomplete}}, so even though the shadow devices were built by humans themselves, they still have flaws which {{spoiler|Haydonites}} exploit when they attack humans.

* In the American release of ''[[Voltron]]'' (which combined the separate series ''[[GoLion]]'' and ''[[Dairugger XV]]''), it's established that the Vehicle Voltron was built as an ''imitation'' of the original Lion Voltron built by the late King Alfor of Arus. Since the original Voltron is semi-mystical in nature and the magic was not copyable, the duplicate can only stay [[Combining Mecha|unified]] in giant robot form for five minutes at a time.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': Despite going around creating [[Magical Girl]]s, Kyuubey doesn't entirely understand how magic works.

* A scientist in ''[[Yozakura Quartet]]'' equates the workings of youkai and supernatural powers to Black Box technology. He makes the comparison that just as we don't understand how magic works, most people don't understand how a computer turns on apart from pushing the "on" button.

 

*** In [[Ultimate Marvel]] and the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]], the serum itself was quickly replicated, but an army of Captain Americas is still impossible because the ''recipient'' is the key factor; In Ultimate, it only works on subjects with [[The Determinator|superhuman willpower]], keeping the successes at a minimum. In the MCU, it grants [[Personality Powers]], meaning unless the government is willing to stick needles in a card-carrying ''saint''(who would thus never perform deniable operations), all they would get is more [[Red Skull]]s.

* [[Foolkiller]]'s "purification gun". Nobody knows how it works, who made it, or how Ross G. Everbest (the original Foolkiller) got it. A [[Disintegrator Ray]] the size of a pistol, it never seems to need recharging or any sort of fuel. This may have been intentional on the part of Steve Gerber, who designed the character.

*** It was mentioned in show, that [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|kinetic weapons]] make better infantry weapons because staff weapons are self-cauterizing and less accurate. As for space weapons, they probably never actually captured a ship class staff weapon. The infantry ones they have are much less powerful the the F-302 railguns.

*** While never utilized in the show, that idea is one of the first uses Humanity finds for all the extra Staff Weapons in the Fan-Fic series '[[XSGCOM]]', among other things...

** The Goa'uld, on the other hand, make very little effort to study the Ancient technology they use. They've based their empire on things like the Stargates and ring transporters, but they really have no idea how any of it works.

* The Jump Gates in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' - nobody knows who built the first gates or what principle they operate on, and every spacefaring race in the universe simply produces replicas thereof without understanding how they work.

** Other leftover First One technology likewise. For example, Shadow devices that allow for remote control of ships. Like Sheridan says, the younger races don't understand them and can't build them, but are sure willing to use them.

* The positronic brain that makes Data a [[Ridiculously Human Robot]] serves as his black box in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. While Starfleet has a pretty good idea of how the rest of his body works, the technology that actually makes him sentient is a complete mystery to them, especially since the genius inventor who built him is dead. They're understandably reluctant to take Data apart to figure it out, since they don't know if they'd be able to put him back together afterwards, and after a particularly overzealous researcher [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|took the issue to court]], Data gained the legal right to refuse such a dismantling anyway. His own attempt to replicate the technology seemed to succeed when he built a "daughter", Lal, but her positronic brain became unstable and she [[Tear Jerker|only lived for a few weeks]]. Nobody's tried to build another one since.

** Also, the risk of creating another Lore (Data's dangerously flawed older brother) highlights the risks of building anything less than a flawless brain on the first attempt.

* Finch and his partner invoke this trope in ''[[Person of Interest]]'' when questioned by the CIA on how the Machine provides intel. Finch feels the Machine is too powerful for any person to have access, and so encrypts it so heavily even he will never be able to access it again.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==