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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.)
* ''[[Event Horizon]]'' (1997): The eponymous ship features a prototype graviton drive, a kind of [[Faster
** Nearly the same analogy (using the edge of a skirt rather than a sheet of paper) is used to describe tessering in [[Madeleine L
*** Another similar example in ''[[A Happy Accident]]'', using a leg bending to explain a way that time travel is possible.
*** ''[[
*** And [[Older Than They Think|lest we forget]] the originator of said analogy, Albert Einstein.
** Subverted in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. A member of a super advanced humans planet tries to explain a piece of their technology to Daniel, and Daniel thinks he's talking about the "folding the universe to jump anywhere" theory, so he finishes the other guy's sentence to show that he understands. And the other guy looks at him deeply disapointed and says "no, absolutely not".
*** 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:
*** Later, when LaForge is retelling this incident to Scotty, Scotty uses the exact that phrase, despite LaForge (presumably) using only [[Techno Babble]] in his explanation.
* ''[[
** This was subverted in the ''[[
** The novel ''The Pirate Loop'' includes a great one of these (paraphrased):
{{quote|
'''The Doctor:''' Good analogy! I wish I'd said it. Can we just pretend I did? }}
** In recent years, especially, the Doctor has developed a tendency of telling his companions that their attempts at this trope are, in fact, completely inaccurate, but that they should keep up that line of thinking if it's what helps them understand.
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** For that matter, almost any abnormality of the Stargate system is explained in terms of telephones; dialing your own gate gives you a "busy signal", etc.
*** At one point Jackson starts to make one of these telephone analogies, realizes he's talking to Teal'c, and turns to General Hammond.
**** That would be the "busy signal" one.
{{quote|
[[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.
{{quote|
'''Sheppard''': Try.
When Zelenka does come up with an analogy, Sheppard proudly says "I understand that" only to be told that the analogy isn't at all an accurate depiction of what he's doing. }}
** Fails in the episode that introduced the Tollan. When Daniel takes Omoc outside to send a FTL transmission to the [[Technical Pacifist|Nox]], he asks Omoc to explain how his message can cross interstellar distances in an instant. At first reluctant (due to the Tollan rule about not giving technology to younger races), Omoc takes a branch and bends it, so that the ends touch, explaining that the distances seem to be far away, until you merge the points together (paraphrasing). Daniel assumes he's talking about space folding, causing Omoc to shake his head in disappointment and shut up on the subject.
* In ''[[
{{quote|
'''Rimmer''': It's a rent in the space-time continuum.
'''Cat''': So what is it?
'''Lister''': The stasis room freezes time, you know, makes time stand still. So whenever you have a leak, it must preserve whatever it's leaked into, and it's leaked into this room.
'''Cat''': So what is it??
'''Rimmer''': It's singularity, a point in the universe where the normal laws of time and space don't apply.
'''Cat''': So what is it?!?
'''Lister''': It's a hole back into the past.
'''Cat''': Oh, a magic door! Well why didn't you say? }}
* 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|
** 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
* ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Lost]]'', Ben tells Locke that there is a "box on this island that can contain anything you want." And when Locke takes it [[Sidetracked
== [[Radio]] ==
* Happens regularly in ''[[Nebulous]]'', where the eponymous professor's analogies get twisted beyond the point of [[Metaphorgotten]].
* In the ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Adventurers
{{quote|
[[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|
* In ''[[
* ''[[Drive (
* ''[[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|
'''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!
'''Fry:''' Of course! It's all so simple!
Later
'''Leela:''' It's not working! He's gaining strength from our weapons!
'''Fry:''' Like a balloon and...[[Buffy-Speak|something bad happens!]] }}
* ''[[
** And the original ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' movie, as seen above. ("Tell him about the twinkie.")
*** What about the twinkie?
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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