Magical Database: Difference between revisions

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A special [[Applied Phlebotinum]] used primarily in [[Police Procedural]] dramas.

No matter what sort of clue the Crime Scene lab has found (blood, wire, rope, oil, perfume, etc), ''somebody'' has manufactured a database designed to search through them all. Not only that, our heroes at the crime lab have purchased a copy of this software, the interface devices to input the data in question and have acquired the expertise to use this software (which has so far never been used in another one of their cases) with 100% accuracy on the first attempt.

It should be noted that some of these "[[Magical Database|magical databases]]" actually exist, and ''are'' in use by various agencies, though they aren't quite as stunningly accurate or omniscient as the [[Police Procedural]] suggests. In real life, "Data Mining" is a time-consuming task that has to be practiced. Does each agency host a different server? Which ones pull from each other? Are all servers identical? Are there delays in updating the databases? These are all questions the searcher needs to be aware of, and there is no single database that stores 100% of the information.

A key aspect of this trope is that there must be a pre-existing compendium of all possible samples of whatever is being identified. In [[Real Life]], forensics can indeed match samples of, say, paint or glass not only down to manufacturer but even to a specific batch, but this requires two samples: one sample from evidence, and another sample to compare against. This also means that in real forensics, the implications of this evidence are different; while crime dramas typically use the [[Magical Database]] to find a new lead from trace evidence, real forensics usually confirms identity after the police have already gotten a lead (i.e. the police already suspect the glass came from the suspect's house or workplace and can prove it by comparing them, as opposed to identifying where the suspect lives with no prior knowledge just from the glass sample).

Forensics labs also have an [[Hand Wave|out]] for many of these [[Magical Database|magical databases]], since it's generally believable that they would have a database of common murder weapons or components of weapons.

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** Death's library in sometimes functions like a [[Magical Database]], instantly delivering books on very obscure subjects when he requests them, or writing out fresh text if his query doesn't require a long answer (the "some of the sheep" response from ''The Last Continent'').

** Hex does this as well since he is basically a sentient, magical computer. As long as he has his teddy bear he'll find out what you want to know.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''

** The Archive in is a being that holds the knowledge of everything ever written down, ever, in the history of mankind.

** There's also Bob, Harry's knowledge spirit in a skull. Bob doesn't have the extensive knowledge of the Archive, but he is Dresden's go-to guy for magical knowledge, and he instinctively knows the current rules of magic.

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** This trope was lampshaded with:

{{quote|"Can you believe someone put together a database of grille dimensions?"}}

* ''[[Torchwood]]'''s main characters are a secret organization with nationwide database records sorted by an ancient alien computer system. The team is capable of literally [[Retcon|retconning]] anything by changing the database.

** ''Torchwood'' also subverted it once - just as Jack and Toshiko are getting ready to search every database they have, Owen announces that he's already found the man they're looking for. He was listed in the phone book.

* On ''[[Angel]]'', Wolfram & Hart has access to several databases which actually ''are'' magical. Before Angel's team got access to these they used "Demons, Demons, Demons: The Demon Database".

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* And similar to John Doe, there's Kyle, from ''[[Kyle XY]]'', who didn't know ''every'' trivial fact, only things like mathematical formulas. Well, until he spent a single day reading the World Book.

** More literally, it is revealed that {{spoiler|Kyle possesses the entire Zzyzx database in his mind}}.

* ''[[Blake's ~~Seven~~|Blakes Seven]]'': Orac, the super computer, who can read any computer with "tarial cells" and is therefore able to find any data the characters can possibly want. Whether he then tells them what he finds out is another story.....

* ''[[Blake's 7|Blakes Seven]]'': Orac, the super computer, who can read any computer with "tarial cells" and is therefore able to find any data the characters can possibly want. Whether he then tells them what he finds out is another story.....

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':

** The Doctor is a living [[Magical Database]]. For more recent incarnations, there isn't a single episode in the new or old series where he met an alien, visited a planet, or saw a piece of technology he hadn't seen, invented, or met previously. In the new series, when a bunch of alien cops threaten him and Donna in a language not even the mighty TARDIS can translate he easily understands and berates them in the same language. The man is awesome. But then who knows what anybody might know after traveling the universe for a thousand years...

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** One episode has Hal using Ziggy to help Sam set up an ambush on a man walking around a corner, complete with a precise countdown. Apparently Ziggy has recordings of every human being's movements everywhere ever down to the second.

* ''E-Ring'' had an example in the episode ''The General''. Said general is kidnapped in Spain. In order to identify his kidnapper, the main character asks to consult the ''Voice'' Database of the Spanish Government (which apparently includes voice samples of each of the [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|40 million citizens of the country]] and is [[Fridge Logic|regularly updated]] to match voice changes due to aging, disease or plain mood swings), and then uses an experimental, [[America Saves the Day|American exclusive application]] to compare its files with the record of the kidnapper's voice he has. This leads to the obvious question of why on Earth would a government keep a voice database of all its citizens if it had no way of consulting it.

* In an episode of ''[[Judging Amy]]'', the DNA identifying computer with a database of known criminals returned a result of... ''cat DNA''! Which actually justified. Its not that uncommon to stumble upon Animal DNA (Pets, Strays etc.) on a Crimescene so checking for the right number of chromosomes and some markers makes sense before you go onto a useless orgy of comparing datasets to a nonsensical sample.

* ''[[Dexter]]''

** An episode had Dexter identifying an STD in some bloodwork, then going into the Florida STD Database to find the names of people afflicted with that particular -- and, of course, extremely rare--strain. It is implied that he never leaves the building during all of this, so Dexter's miraculous set of databases even cover what you might be doing with your genitals.

** Subverted with Trinity. His DNA is collected halfway through the season but it can't be used to identify him because he has no criminal record and isn't in the database.

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** It's memorably subverted in a first season episode, when Beckett says they'll need to look someone up in the missing persons' database- a bunch of paper folders.

** The man from [[The Men in Black]] in one episode has a database in a suitcase. It ''instantly'' pinpoints a man's location by using his cellphone then automatically finds a [[Magical Security Camera]] in the area and maps a small part of the man's face onto a model, extrapolates the rest of his face from that, and pops up with an identity. Castle and Beckett as surprisingly unphased by the technology.

* David of ''[[Wishbone]]'' apparently has access to a database of dog breeds that includes things like their jaw measurements, for some reason. It has a very '90s aesthetic to it, like an over-the-top hacker-movie interface run on an old Macintosh OS.

* Alcatraz has a database in their Bat Cave that can find, in seconds, a complete map of all private bomb shelters built in the 1960s by a company that went out of business decades ago.

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* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', the criminal dispatching minigame starts by looking up a perp from a stolen cop car's laptop. This gives an exact, updating location of the criminal for you to chase down.

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] 2'', Sora seems to think that Ansem's computer is one of these. Because the computer belonging to the guy you killed last year will have info on where your friends are right now, right?

* Patchouli Knowledge (It's ''[[Meaningful Name|in her name]]'', duh!) of ''[[Touhou]]'' fame is an effective Human([[Witch Species|oid]]) Magical Database, thanks to her centuries of study and self-made [[Library of Babel]]. In ''Subterranean Animism'', she is capable of spilling out the histories and powers of every [[Youkai]] Marisa meets in her adventure... with the slight problem of taking until ''after'' the yokai was defeated to look up any relevant information.

** She also applied her knowledge to other tasks, such as constructing a spaceship from plywood, [[Duct Tape for Everything|duct tape]], and a whole lot of [[Functional Magic]].

** To push the point home, the only character who probably trumps her in intelligence might be Eirin Yagokoro, the Brain of the Moon. Very few humans know anything significant about the advanced Lunarian society and their technology (for their own protection, to some extent). In ''Silent Sinner In Blue'', Patchouli not only makes remarkably accurate predictions regarding the timing of their rocket's flight to get to the Lunar Capital but she also immediately identifies the Lunar Veil, a Lunarian device that allows flawless travel between the Earth and Moon, that Eirin had covertly attached to the rocket. The ever-collected Eirin's first thought is ''stab this person now''.