Hand Wave: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Handwaving}}

'''Jeff:''' Probably. But that's [[Hand Wave|an easy fix.]] One line of dialogue. "[[As You Know|Thank God we invented]] the, you know, [[Buffy-Speak|whatever]] [[Phlebotinum|device.]]"|''[[Thank You for Smoking]]'', discussing cigarette [[Product Placement]] in a [[Sci Fi]] movie.}}

 

** The letter that [[Write Back to the Future|Doc Brown sent in 1885]] to Marty. The idea that anyone would follow through with instructions to send a letter to someone 70 years in the future with exact location and time is a little tough to swallow; the guy just explains that they were taking bets down at the Western Union whether Marty would be there or not.

* This trope is referenced by a movie executive in ''[[Thank You for Smoking]]''. They are discussing the idea of [[Product Placement|having two actors smoke in a movie]] that's set on a space station.

'''Jeff:''' ''Probably. But that's [[Hand Wave|an easy fix.]] One line of dialogue. "[[As You Know|Thank God we invented]] the, you know, [[Phlebotinum|whatever device.]]"''<br />

'''Nick:''' ''Of course.'' }}

* In the book ''[[Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince]]'', in order to travel to a plot-important location, Harry and Dumbledore must sneak out of the school to a completely deserted street in a nearby village, from which they can then [[Teleporters and Transporters|Apparate]]. In [[Harry Potter (film)|the film]], the following time-saving exchange occurs:

'''Harry:''' ''Sir, I thought you couldn't Apparate [[Magic A Is Magic A|within Hogwarts]].''<br />

'''Dumbledore:''' ''Well… being me has its privileges.'' }}

* In one of Harlan Ellison's short stories, he has the protagonist trapped in a situation that, judging by the description, there is absolutely no way he could logically escape. The author then stops the story to tell us that the protagonist remembers a time he once bought a pulp novel that ended with a [[Cliff Hanger]] in which its hero was likewise trapped in a seemingly inescapable situation. When the next chapter finally arrived, he very eagerly snapped it up, only to discover that it tied up all the stuff left hanging in the last episode in ''the first sentence'' by turning the hero into an action figure and having him punch his way out of the trap. Getting back to the story, the author then tells us the protagonist was still thinking of how cheated he'd felt about that pulp novel's hand-wave--[[Hypocritical Humor|when he finally escaped]].

* In Jack Finney's short story "Behind the News", a newspaper man uses a melted-down meteor [[Unobtanium|made of an unknown metal]] to make his news come true (kind of like the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "Printer's Devil"), and when his secretary doesn't understand how it's happening, he gives the following explanation:

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* In the original ''[[Street Fighter]]'', players fought an enemy named Birdie, who was a white punk with a mohawk. When the character returned in ''Street Fighter Alpha'', he was a huge, hulking, ''black'' punk with an even bigger mohawk. In ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', he claims in one of his win quotes, "I looked pale because I was sick."

* Due to lazy programming in the first two ''[[The Legend of Zelda CDI Games]]'', you interact with all objects in the game world by hitting them with your sword. This also includes the [[NPC|NPCs]] which you can start a conversation with by stabbing them. This is hand-waved in the in-game tutorial:

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' pulls a bit of one in the justification for why the Gnomes had failed to retake Gnomeregan for four years and the Darkspear Trolls had failed to recapture the Echo Isles, despite each being held by an elite boss [[Easily-Conquered World|capable of being killed by low-level players]]. Apparently, the thousands of Thermaplugg's and Zalazane's heads turned in by players over the years were all from fakes, not the real deal.

* ''[[Remnants of Skystone]]'' vaguely attempts to justify why the player missions [[It's Up to You|could surely be done by the Rooks, Nidaria's standing army]] (who are even just dressed better to take on monsters than you), with a description that says they employ freelancers when they can't wait for the Rooks' ponderous command structure to swing into action, and with individual Rooks in the levels telling you that they wish they could accompany you, but they have orders to remain at their post.

* "[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]" has a particularly funny hand wave regarding Pit not wanting to take his clothes off in the Hot Spring, as seen in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WGR8wXl4QTM#t=258s trailer].

** Not to mention, in Chapter 5:

Pandora: Hard work and determination. }}

* ''[[Dark Souls]]'''s explanation for [[Co-Op Multiplayer]] and [[PvP]]: "Uh...The flow of time is convoluted. Yeah that's it."

* The webcomic ''[[Harkovast]]'' does this with the explanation for why the female reptilian humanoids have [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|breasts]].

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': Agatha builds a "mechanical taxidermist and tailor" in a forest [[Memetic Mutation|without even]] [[Iron Man|a box of scraps]]. How? She completely fails to explain:

** Best part? The Foglios are making fun of this trope. It's not actually Agatha who's pulling that stunt, but a fictional Agatha on a radio show broadcast by the in-universe Foglios. And each of these segments is cut short by the "real" Agatha smashing her way into their studio to have a few words with them.

** Later on, Othar Trygvassen, '''[[Gentleman Adventurer]]''' gets what appears to be a back-breaking injury from a Jagermonster. Not a comic late,r he is back on his feet and punching said Jagermonster like nothing happened. He explains his recovery with "Special trousers. ''Very'' heroic."

* Parodied by [[The Onion]]: "[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sci_fi_writer_attributes Sci-Fi Writer Attributes Everything Mysterious To 'Quantum Flux']"

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/38215 Keegan's Truck 5]'', when Commander Canada repeatedly dodges Keegan's questions on how the former is alive despite being killed years ago (repeatedly insisting that it is irrelevant), culminating with this exchange:

'''Commander Canada:''' Now, back to the damn story. }}

* ''[[Project Million]]'': Spazz tries to figure out how The Wire escaped her TV. She throws several explanations at him such as she's not there and that he's in a dream within a dream, before claiming she "crawled through a river of shit and came out the other side clean".

* [[Word of God|Creator example]]: writers for the ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "Epilogue" state that part of the reason they wrote the episode's events - {{spoiler|revealing [[Batman Beyond|Terry McGinnis]] to be Bruce Wayne's biological son}} - was them realizing both him and his brother Matt have black hair, which looking at their parents (Mary is a redhead while Warren has light brown hair) is genetically improbable, a very clever way of handwaving any inconsistencies said reveal may create.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' likes to lampshade its hand waves, since it makes no secret of operating on the [[Rule of Funny]].

'''Brian''': You know what, Stewie? If you don't like it, go on the internet and complain. }}

** And again:

'''Stewie''': How about we not pull at that thread anymore? }}

* A few ''[[The Simpsons|Simpsons]]'' episodes use this trope. In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", after Homer tells Bart and Lisa about [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|his barbershop quartet]], the kids have some questions about why they'd never heard about it until now, where all the money went, and so forth. Homer assures them that "there are perfectly logical answers to all those questions, but they'll have to wait for another day".

** One of their questions ("When did you write a song?") was answered in the 11th season episode "That '90s Show".

** One is made explaining the appearance of Frank Grimes, Jr.:

'''Junior'''. He had a fondness for hookers, okay? }}

* The ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Rebirth features a premise where everyone except for [[The Professor|Professor Farnsworth]] died, leading to Farnsworth attempting to resurrect them. Complications in the plot led to the existance of [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]] [[Robot Me|robot versions of Fry and Leela]]. Once everything is cleared up between them and the real ones, the robot [[Doppelganger|doppelgangers]] leave with this exchange:

'''Farnsworth:''' That's the one thing we'll never truly understand. }}

** One funny example is from the episode "The Deep South". Dr. Zoidberg makes a new home inside a giant conch shell in the ocean. Later on, hilarity ensues when it is destroyed through likewise impossible means.

'''Hermes:''' That just raises further questions!!! }}

** A great deal of ''Futurama'''s plot points are hand waved. Usually done through Professor Farnsworth, usually played for laughs, and usually raising way, ''way'' more questions than they answer. Of special note is the episode ''Clone of My Own''.

'''Professor''': Of course not. That's why scientists increased the speed of light in 2206. }}

* In ''[[Evil Con Carne]]'', [[It Makes Sense in Context|Hector Con Carne, Major Doctor Ghastly, and General Skarr visit an island and meet their currently elderly future selves.]] Eventually, we learn that Hector and Ghastly settled down and bore a son which Hector, [[It Makes Sense in Context|being only a brain and a (sentient) stomach attached to a bear,]] naturally lampshades this. Ghastly [[Hand Wave|handwaves]] this by being caused by "the miracle of love".

* In ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius]]'' episode "The Junk Man", Sheen asks Jimmy several questions as they are flying to and from the Moon, like why the voyage takes only a few minutes and why the boys don't need space suits and helmets. However, both times Jimmy starts to answer Sheen's questions, the camera cuts to Carl on the other side of the rocket singing an off-key, made-up song about the Moon. Both times Carl finishes singing, the camera cuts to Jimmy asking Sheen if he understands his answer and Sheen responding that he is still confused.

* In the ''[[Invader Zim]]'' episode "The Frycook What Came From All That Space", Sizz-Lorr's very appearance is lampshaded by Zim of all people. The handwave comes in with Sizz-Lorr's response.

'''Zim:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|Twenty years?]] But I haven't been gone that long.<br />

'''Sizz-Lorr:''' [[Hand Wave|There's a time warp involved or something.]] }}