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Phlebotinum Analogy: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|'''Egon''': I'm worried. It's getting crowded in there and all my data points to something big on the horizon.
'''Winston''' What do you mean, big?
'''Egon''': Well, let's say this twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's sample, it would be a twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
'''Winston''': That's a big twinkie.
|'''[[Ghostbusters]]'''}}
With as much [[Applied Phlebotinum]] flying around, there's just as much [[Techno Babble]] around to explain it. However, when even [[Techno Babble]] piles on too much, it too needs to be explained away. Thus, we have the
Expect [[Lies to Children]] to show up in the examples a lot.
{{examples}}
== [[Film]] ==
* There was such an analogy in ''[[Apollo 13]]'', spoken in Mission Control. In this case what it referred to wasn't totally made up. (That part of the script was written by John Sayles, to raise money for his own projects.)
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*** Well, to be fair, Omoc is doing the exact same analogy as the previous examples but with a twig. Sam might have understood, but Daniel's only an archaeologist.
** The analogy was also used by [[William Shatner]] on "How [[Star Trek]] Changed the World", but using pizza dough to illustrate the concept.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Parodied in the [[Discworld]] book ''[[
** There's also the scene in ''[[
** And in ''[[
* In Michael Crichton's [[Sphere]], a physicist character explains gravity and black holes to some of the other characters using fruit on a table.
== [[Live
* The quintessential example is, to no one's surprise, ''[[Star Trek]]''
** One of the few times it fit was in a ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' episode, where a [[Space Whale|larva space creature]] is feeding on the Enterprise, both because the ship's energy is compatible, and because it thinks the Enterprise is its mother. So they change the form of the energy to something incompatible, which they call, "sour the milk".
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**** That would be the "busy signal" one.
{{quote|'''Daniel excitedly turns to Teal'c:''' What do you get when you dial your own phone number?
[[Beat|*Teal'c stares blankly at him*]]
'''Daniel:''' Wrong person.
*Turn to Gen. Hammond and repeat the question* }}
** Also in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', a scientist back at SGC explains his intent to relay a transmission with an analogy to ''101 Dalmatians'' (specifically the "twilight bark" scene), as his kids love that movie. The audience completely fails to understand, so he falls back to the [[Gondor Calls for Aid]] sequence of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' instead.
*** Whereby they all [[Crowning Moment of Funny|visibly understand]].
** Fantastically toyed with in one conversation between Zelenka and Sheppard. Zelenka is trying to track a device so they can find kidnapped Daniel and Rodney.
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* Despite being pretty realistic in terms of medical jargon, ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' uses this about [[Once an Episode]]; apparently it's part of House's process.
{{quote|'''House''': We think you have a tumour, easily removed surgically. We're going to poke it with a stick.}}
** This was parodied in ''[[Dead Ringers (TV series)|Dead Ringers]]'', in which House asks his [[Insistent Terminology|Entourage of Improbably Attractive Sidekicks]] to first describe a medical problem in an impenetrably [[Techno Babble]] way, and then to come out with an overly emotive
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' has fallen back on this one a few times. Not to anywhere near [[Star Trek]]'s level, of course.
* ''[[Farscape]]'' does this on occasion, hindered (sometimes hilariously) by mutual cross-cultural ignorance.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Adventurers!]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20100628234249/http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20060512.html here]:
{{quote|'''Drecker''': We gave the ball of death a giant cavity and now it's past the enamel! There! Fine! Okay?
[[Beat Panel|(pause)]]
'''Drecker''': Oh, like I'm the only one who took a correspondence course in apt metaphors. Sheesh. }}
* An explanation of Deep Time's [https://web.archive.org/web/20100607043649/http://starslip.com/2008/10/31/starslip-number-904/ plan for ending the time war] in [[Starslip Crisis]]:
{{quote|'''High Agent Blank''': Put another way: the future as we know it was ''chiseled'' over billions of years from a stone block. We ''know'' what the finished statue looks like. So let's make a mold of that and pour ''the universe'' into it. Then we don't have to worry about whether or not it gets chiseled right.}}
* In ''[[Digger]]'', the statue eventually explains how Digger came to the story's setting by saying that Digger's home and the temple she emerged from were like two pieces of fabric, sewn together by {{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gun|the fossil she brought through with her]], aka the "bones of the sea"}}.
* ''[[Drive (webcomic)|Drive]]'': The first emperor of La Familia uses this to explain how he ''thinks'' the Ring Drive works in a letter to his grandson.
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has it now and then, ending with something along the line "...also, X usually is not [[Incendiary Exponent|on fire]]. [[Dissimile|Okay, so Y is not like X]]."
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Futurama]]'', ''Where No Fan Has Gone Before'':
{{quote|'''Fry:''' Usually on
'''Leela:''' Hmm, if we can re-route engine power through the primary weapons and configure them to Melllvar's frequency, that should overload his electro-quantum structure.
'''Bender:''' Like putting too much air into a balloon!
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
▲[[Category:Phlebotinum Analogy]]
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