Forgotten Phlebotinum: Difference between revisions

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A situation, most common in [[Speculative Fiction]], where an amazingly useful power or device is revealed in one episode, and would be amazingly useful in later episodes, if it weren't for the fact that nobody seems to remember it. Sometimes the power or device is remembered under circumstances where it proves mostly useless, but not remembered when it would do any good.

This trope does not necessarily denote bad writing. It can be (as noted in the ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' example) convenient writing instead. If the protagonists have some piece of phlebotinum that makes them invincible or at least very hard to so much as injure that is both reliable and accessible, [[Drama-Preserving Handicap|vast numbers of plots have to be thrown out the window.]] Some would call this unwillingness to change the [[Status Quo Is God|Status Quo]] and then adapt to the new order of things "lazy", but when one is working on a regular series, changing the status quo (interesting though it can be dramatically) is not something to be done lightly. When it's a [[Shared Universe]] this is even more pronounced. In such cases, '''"Forgotten" Phlebotinum''' is a subtrope of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]].

 

 

When it's ''not'' forgotten and ''is'' used in a later episode because a writer wants to [[Continuity Nod|acknowledge continuity]], it is [[Chekhov's Boomerang]].

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': The Gurren Lagann is equipped with a powerful [[Deflector Shield]], which stops [[Combat Pragmatist]] enemies from attacking it in the middle of its formation, as well as stopping any powerful attacks thrown at it. It only appears in episode 3 and is promptly forgotten for the rest of the series, where it could have been very useful. (It reappears in the [[Compilation Movie]], however.)

* In ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', there were several instances in which Gomamon's Marching Fishes technique could have come in handy, especially since he was seen in the first episode carrying the entire group down a river on the fishes.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' uses it, but makes it even more useful by turning it into an effective (if short-term) spacesuit (Superman can survive in a vacuum, but can't breathe in one, in the animated series). It is, however, noticeably more fragile than Superman himself, so while he uses it often, he's not reliant on it.

** The suit reappeared for a story arc of ''Batman/Superman'' somewhat recently.

** In those days, Superman also collected all manner of exotic gadgets in his Fortress of Solitude, in addition to all the Kryptonian gizmos in the Bottle City of Kandor. Generally, [[DC Comics]]'s Superman continuity cop (and world's biggest Superman fanboy) E. Nelson Bridwell was the only writer who consistently remembered what a fantastic array of machines Superman had access to.

* Shows up in one of the many ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' stories (the relaunch with Kurt Busiek). Justice, sidelined with a broken leg, goes on an [[Archive Binge]] and realizes that the best way to defeat an Adamantium robot on a homicidal rampage is with Antarctic (type B) Vibranium, a metal that somehow destroys any other metal within range when it exposed to the air. Fortunately, the Avengers destroyed an AIM base with stocks of type B vibranium four or five issues previously; but in all the long history of Ultron's rampages, some of the finest minds (Stark, Pym et al) in the world never linked the "really tough metal" and "destroys metal on contact" dots together.

** The loathed ''[[One More Day]]'' storyline. Aunt May is dying (well, she's only been in her mid-80's for a few decades now, but she was actually injured). Subverting this trope, Peter scours half the mainstay Marvel cast looking for someone that can heal her. Playing this trope straight, ''nobody can''. There's very, VERY thinly implied instances where it's the fact that she's already so old and frail that conventional medicine can't heal her, but considering the fact that those who he approaches include the X-Men (who had no fewer than 3 people at the time whose powers could explicitly heal any wound), [[Reed Richards Is Useless|Reed Richards]], and Doctor Strange - who is both the Sorcerer Supreme and a former neurosurgeon, there's no reason that SOMEONE couldn't have helped him before he ended up [[Deal with the Devil|letting Mephistopheles wipe out the entire history of his marriage in exchange for Aunt May's life]].

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* At the end of ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', all the transporters on the Enterprise fail after Picard is beamed over. Their only recourse is to have Data ''jump'' over and use a never-before-seen one-person mini-transporter badge to get Picard back and them die with the enemy ship himself. Everyone seemed to forget ''the shuttles have their own independent transporters''.

** ''Insurrection'' and ''Nemesis'' also subverted this with the Captain's Yacht, a large auxillary starship (attached to the underside of capital ships) that was designed for both ''The Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'', but was never used in either series. Despite many situations where a craft like this could be useful (as it could carry more crew members, have a larger cargo area and generate tachyon bursts), the craft wasn't utilized until ''Insurrection'' (where the main cast go down in the yacht to deliver weapons to the Ba'ku) and ''Nemesis'' (where Picard arbitrarily decides to take it down to the planet where B4-4's parts are located).

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* A very subtle version of this happens in L. E. Modesitt's ''Spellsong Sorceress'' cycle. In the first chapters of the first book, a spell is cast that teleports the main character in from Earth. It's implied that although the lady casting this spell isn't a very strong sorceress, she can still send people to locations halfway across the continent with a bit of help. This use of magic is never mentioned again, despite the fact that it would be tremendously useful in a variety of circumstances.

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': Sirius' two-way mirror, which is basically a magical walkie-talkie. In Harry's defense, he was never told exactly what it was, and swore never to use it for fear it would cause Sirius to come to Hogwarts and get arrested and/or killed. It still qualifies as forgotten phlebotinum, however, because even after Harry has gone through great risk to speak to Sirius through Umbridge's fire, it didn't occur to Sirius to tell him "Next time, use the mirror I gave you." which would have {{spoiler|saved his life}}.

* Science Fiction author [[Larry Niven]] coined "Niven's Law," which states that once a technology is introduced into a setting, it must continue to be present in all later stories in that same setting.

** Civilization-wide Forgotten Phlebotinum can be somewhat justified if there are [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]], or if the civilization enters a Dark Age when lots of stuff is forgotten, but Niven's Law is still a good rule of thumb. At any event, once the technology has been proven to work once, then the natural laws which permitted it to happen must remain consistent from then on, regardless of whether the tech is ever rediscovered.

*** Also, its original sponsor (Vice Admiral Hemphill) is not only well back into favor, but has just teamed up with the series' ''other'' mad scientist of space warfare, Shannon Foraker, who has already displayed a willingness to reach back into R&D history for 'obsolete' and 'unworkable' designs and find new ways to use them to devastating effect. (Moriarty, anyone?)

 

* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' was notorious for this. When the Enterprise crew discovered kironide, a [[Aesoptinum|drug that gives people psychic powers]] (in "Plato's Stepchildren"), why wasn't this made a standard part of the medical kit, even if it is too dangerous to use all the time?

** Then there was the subcutaneous transponder, which gave the ship the ability to lock onto and beam up the landing party if they were out of contact. Its actual purpose in the plot was to give Kirk and Spock a Cool Escape, rather than pull the whole trick-the-one-inept-guard bit again. Despite the number of times they were separated from their communicators, the thing was never seen before or since. You'd think it would be standard issue.

** The movies introduce the Genesis device (a form of instant terraforming that may bring people back to life as a side effect), which is so much further advanced than anything the Federation possesses before or since that [[Clarke's Third Law|it might as well be magic]]. The planet it creates disintegrates within a couple weeks, but surely there would be a way to work the kinks out within the next century, and the research that went into it could at least be applied to other projects. But in ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine'' terraforming is a long and arduous process that yields modest results. Not to mention it would have made a handy-dandy anti-Borg weapon.

*** A Justified example of [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]. The research facility developing the Genesis Device deliberately destroyed all copies of their notes in an attempt to avoid capture when their facility was raided by Khan. Khan then killed most of the research team and used up the only existing Genesis prototype model in his attempt to kill Kirk. In the immediately following movie, the one surviving scientist capable of recreating the Genesis device is killed before he has a chance to write down the formula. And so, lost technology.

*** This was justified in the FASA RPG by having them very vulnerable to damage - one good hit could deactivate them leading to "messy" results.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' also indulged in this far too often. One example is the "dimensional transporter", that could transport things straight through even a Galaxy-class starship's shields (or any other shields) without trouble, but had a cumulative and lethal side effect on people who used it repeatedly. And while that's obviously a sane reason not to use it in normal service, it does ''nothing'' to explain why they didn't use it for, oh, one-way trips by inanimate objects straight through enemy starship shields... objects like armed anti-matter warheads, for example. (Or as a Plan B for when crew members are in danger on the planet but can't be beamed up due to an attack on the ship that requires them to keep their shields up or a [[Negative Space Wedgie]] that blocks the beam.)

** Or the episode "Lonely Among Us" where the transporter ''brought the dead back to life!'' Although it's possible that this was only feasible in that one case, since the person's consciousness had been converted into energy by the being that had possessed him. Still, the episode seems to imply that they can always rematerialize a previously saved version of a crewmember.

** The Galaxy class has Saucer Separation capability because the Saucer section contains the civilians, laboratories, families, etc., while the lower section contains the warp drive. It allows the civilians to be moved out of harm's way if the ship has to go into a firefight. Saucer separation was used often in the first season of the show, but after that it was forgotten and only sometimes referred to, just to drop the idea afterwards.

* In ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', the crew conveniently forgot several gadgets that could have gotten them home, or at least closer to it:

** Borg warp coils, in a season-five episode, allowed the crew to jump hundreds of thousands of light years, cutting several years off the journey. For the rest of the series, however, the crew never bother to get any of these warp coils, despite coming across several opportunities to obtain some (most notably in an episode where the crew come across an entire graveyard of half-destroyed Borg ships).

** In "Threshold", where the otherwise successful test of an experimental transwarp engine turns Janeway and Paris into newts. An imposing side-effect, to be sure, but one which they have cured by episode's end, leaving them in possession of a magic new transportation technology which could get them back to Earth almost immediately, '''and''' a cure for its inevitable side-effect. So rather than using it to return to Earth, or even send a ''message'' back to the Federation (this was before the Federation discovered that ''Voyager'' and her crew had survived), they roll end credits and never mention it again. [[Canon Discontinuity|Even the producers try to forget that episode]], so it's no surprise the characters forget it too.

*** Even ignoring the lizard-fication, "Threshold" mentions that the experimental shuttle's computers were jam-packed with helpful navigation aids and maps—which are never mentioned up again.

** Seven of Nine once brought Neelix back from the freakin' dead after ''several hours'' via (what else?) nanoprobes. Apparently, the technology must only work on main cast members. And even then, only that one time...

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': One episode had the minion of the First Evil falsely claim he had kidnapped a proto-Slayer. Nobody thought of using the "detect proto-Slayer" spell discovered a few episodes before.

** The issue of the Adjoining Spell from the end of Season Four. Arguably the most powerful spell seen in the entire series, although with the drawback of {{spoiler|causing the spirit of the First Slayer to try to kill everyone involved in their dreams}}. It is never mentioned again.

** At the end of Season 5, Buffy uses a hammer that ([[Hand Wave|somehow]]) allows her to ''pulverise'' Glorificus, a literal [[Physical God]] that had [[Won't Work On Me|shrugged off absolutely everything that was thrown at her before]]. Said hammer is never seen or mentioned again, despite how useful it would have been against, say, the Turok-Han or Caleb.

** Kull Warrior Armor. That stuff shrugs off ''claymore'' explosions, and is light enough to wear, yet while [[Classy Cat Burglar|Vala]] is able to get her hands on a suit and capture a ''starship''—a ''United States'' starship, no less, so you'd think they learn—with it, the US military doesn't even seem ''interested'' in it. Plus it looks ''really'' [[Badass]].

** Season 3, "Past and Present": They discover a drug that reverses the effects of aging. Next episode, it's forgotten.

** Supposedly [[Voodoo Shark|they tried it again offscreen. It just didn't work]].

** The Blackbird would be another example. Admittedly, they have to scrounge up a lot of supplies and spares to assemble it together but considering that Pegasus had Viper production facilities, it would not be impossible to construct additional stealth ships once the original was destroyed. It would have come in handy during New Caprica or the battle of The Hub.

 

== [[Toys]] ==

* The ability of various ''[[Bionicle]]'' characters to [[Fusion Dance|form a Kaita or a Nui]] has been all but forgotten, and had only ever been used a handful of times early on in the series. This can be attributed to the set designers not coming up with combinations for the later sets, though a couple of already existing combinations still didn't get to be used, even when they would have come in really handy. There is no in-story explanation for this: the writer simply doesn't want to use them.

** Another seemingly forgotten "power" is the ability for a character to rebuild itself (since they're [[Built With Lego]]). Granted, this ability apparently requires the character to have an amount of secret knowledge, have pieces lying around and having strong enough muscles to support a new body, but still... the ability ''exists'' and ''has'' been used to make the characters stronger, but only on one occasion (because [[Merchandise-Driven|the toys said so]]).

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The [[Wave Motion Gun|Phase Transit Cannon]] from ''Wing Commander II'' is never mentioned again outside of a brief note in the manual for the ''Kilrathi Saga'' compilation mentioning that it was discontinued due to technical problems, and the [[Kill It with Fire|flash-packs]] from ''Wing Commander IV'' isn't mentioned anywhere at all in later ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' games, as if the tech has vanished.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' could be said to have this. When questing it is not uncommon to be given an incredibly powerful item to help with the quest, for example a crystal that can fire a beam to shrink down giants, making them much easier to fight, to never be used again.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In the first episode of ''[[Chad Vader]]'', he is shown to have the ability to force choke people, and he uses it on a guy who annoys him. In later episodes, his nemesis repeatedly humiliates him, and he just fumes impotently.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', an early [[Story Arc]] had Riff and Dr. Schlock work together to build a time machine. After the machine is destroyed by a potato chip (it was balloon based), neither of them ever tries building one again, despite [[Time Travel]] having more [[Deus Ex Machina]] potential than just about anything else.

** Though considering how much trouble they get into dealing with [[Alternate Dimensions]] and how big a mess they caused with the last time-travel jaunt, even [[Mad Scientist|Riff]] would hesitate to use it.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Also in ''Alien Force'', the DNAliens are all [[The Virus|infected humans]], but Ben finds out the Omnitrix is capable of curing the people and is able to help Gwen's brother this way. He then proceeds to forget that he can do this until the [[Season Finale]].

** Incredibly, ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien|Ultimate Alien]]'' appears to have forgotten about the Ultimate forms, which ''give the new show its title'' in one of its first episodes.

* ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]''. The episode "Snatch" has a segment that is pseudo-satirical of this trope. Although the device in that case is a mind erasing device, so at least it is feasible that the device is never remembered.

* An episode of ''[[Winx Club]]'' has a double dip of this: A segment of a season 3 episode opens with Icy boasting about a new fire power Valtor gave her. In the Trix's battles against the Winx, including the one just a few minutes later, she doesn't use it (and in fact, it's ''Darcy'' who sets a library on fire in a later episode, not Icy). And during the battle in the same episode, Layla sneaks up behind Darcy and Stormy to tie them up, even though way back in the second ever episode, she sensed Bloom's presence behind a garbage can, even though Bloom was well out of her view. (It should be noted, however, that the non-4K version does mitigate the stupidity in both cases somewhat.)

* ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]''. The "life support belts" were clearly introduced to save on animation costs, but they're certainly a handy device. They never show up in the rest of ''Trek''.

* [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]: In the ''Fast Forward'' season, the Turtles and Splinter are stranded a hundred years in the future with no way of returning to their own time... not one mention is made of their time-traveling friend Renet, who is supposed to keep an eye on the time stream and would almost certainly have noticed if the Turtles were suddenly in a different time period than they were supposed to. Possibly justified if the Turtles and Splinter ''were'' supposed to spend some time in the future.

 

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