Techno Babble: Difference between revisions

 

 

'''Buzz Lightyear:''' [[Captain Obvious|I don't believe that man's ever been to medical school.]]|''[[Toy Story]]''}}

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Played to death and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]''.

'''Kyon:''' It almost sounds like you're flipping through a dictionary, pulling out words at random. }}

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' and its derivative works are known for inventing whole new quasiscientific areas (e.g. [[Minovsky Physics]]) together with corresponding [[Techno Babble]]. Example from ''[[Gundam Seed]]'':

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is also quite infamous for its technobabble, which as with much of the content of this show is meant to be a [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] and a subversion. It doesn't just feature babble about actual technology but about ''meta-physics'' as well, straight down to talking about things like "ego barriers."

** Episode 20 had the best one when Shinji's been absorbed by Unit 01 and they're trying to get him out. Problem is, he doesn't want to come back.

'''Ritsuko:''' [[Status Quo Is God|Maintenance of the status quo is top priority]], prevent backflow!<br />

'''Maya:''' + 0.5... 0.8... It's odd, I can't stop it! }}

** Subverted in episode 24 as Kaworu starts rattling off [[Expospeak]] until Shinji interrupts him with "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

** Episode 13 is probably one of the best sources for this, as it focuses less on the pilots and more on the technicians, [[Bridge Bunnies]], and Ritsuko. During the Angel's first attack sequence, we hear all kinds of [[Techno Babble]], such as in this scene, just as the attack commences:

'''Shigeru:''' Trace completed! The hackers are in this building! It's under B-Wing...IN THE PRIBNOW BOX! }}

* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'': Subverted in the infamous "Mihoshi's Fairy Tale" episode of the original [[OVA|OVAs]],e in which Mihoshi claims the [[Big Bad]] in her story was stealing "ultra energy matter" for [[Evil Plan|nefarious purposes]]. Scientist Washū demands to know just what the hell "ultra energy matter" is, and Mihoshi nervously [[Hand Wave|handwaves]] it away with a [[Shaped Like Itself]] explanation that leaves Washū fuming.

* In ''[[Liar Game]]'', Akiyama uses this in the prelims to the fourth round to explain how he can tell who is "Infected" and who is "Normal". {{spoiler|He's actually faking the entire thing, but he does it convincingly enough that everyone believes him, allowing him to proceed with his plan.}}

* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'': Even [[Tsundere|Nagi]] is accused of doing this by Isumi:

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' referred to Kaiba doing a "quantum analysis" of his and Yugi's first duel. Because subatomic particles are so relevant to the world of card advantage.

* ''[[Guilty Crown]]'' takes after ''Evangelion'' in that it uses a lot of biology-themed [[Techno Babble]], most of it misapplied or completely nonsensical (intron-RAM, anyone?). Unlike in ''Evangelion'' it's uncertain if the trope was being subverted or parodied or played entirely straight.

* Terrible 90's family film Invisible Dad features a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rdsAvwFqiA kid who spouts out techno-talk that is obviously inaccurate,] in an example of this trope being used to disguise incompetence of the writer. Despite this, the kid also seems to think being able to plug things into the right slots is impressive.

* ''[[Event Horizon]]'' gives us this memorable exchange:

'''Cooper:''' Fuck "layman's terms", ''do you speak English?!'' }}

** Weir then uses a convenient piece of (''very attractive'') paper to physically demonstrate folding two points of space together -- once again making us wonder why he didn't just start with that one.

* ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]'' had Susan Calvin talk about how robotic brains work using a lot of this.

* The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' movie, according to [[Word of God]], deliberately tries to avoid the technobabble tendencies of its predecessors, in order to make it more accessible for newcomers. On the other hand, we have also learned that Scotty was often using technobabble to intentionally confuse Kirk, and Bones once used medical technobabble to bluff his way past a security guard.

"Cramps." }}

::And Sulu gets confused when Captain Pike ''doesn't'' use technobabble:

'''Spock:''' Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener? }}

* The ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' films have some of the best techno-babble ever. They lampshade it occasionally with the mayor remarking, "Does anybody here speak English?" or with Venkman's "important safety tip" line.

* In ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', the Scarecrow does this after receiving his "TH.D" diploma near the movie's end. It appears he's attempting to say the Pythagorean Theorem, but it does not come out right.

* If the Technobabble of ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension|Buckaroo Bonzai]]'' wasn't ludicrous enough, it became moreso in context of the ludicrous non-technobabble dialog and character names. [[Special Effects Failure|But the special effects]] [[Sarcasm Mode|more than made up for it]].

* ''[[And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird]]'', about kids making a fully sentient robot, has a lot of technobabble.

* This is how [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] and [[The Incredible Hulk|Bruce Banner]] first start to bond during ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'', much to everyone else's confusion:

'''Steve''':(mumbling to himself) Was that what just happened? }}

 

== Jokes ==

* An old electrical engineering joke is a fictional device called the "Turboencabulator". Here's a portion of its description:

** This was actually made into a video: "[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5125780462773187994 The Retro Encabulator]".

*** [http://www.break.com/index/understanding-the-turbo-encabulator.html Here's another one.]

** The French equivalent of this would be the sketch "[http://pierredac.free.fr/schmil.htm Le Schmilblick]" by humorist Pierre Dac.

* On [[Steve Martin]]'s ''Let's Get Small'' album, he announces that he's written a joke for the plumbers in the audience:

"Were the plumbers supposed to be here this show?" }}

 

** "And that's his sofa, is it?"

** Also played with in the first book and radio series:

"Going ‘round Hyde Park Corner on a moped." }}

* Legitimate [[Techno Babble]] makes a lot of [[Charles Stross]]'s appeal.

** What makes it especially amusing is that it's actually a ''perfect'' imitation of a peer-reviewed science paper, since Asimov wrote it as a warm-up exercise for getting back into academics. The only thing about it that marks it as a parody is that it's about a chemical substance that behaves in a completely impossible manner (specifically, a type of carbon molecule that is so soluble that it begins to dissolve ''before'' you pour water on it because it's so dense that some of its bonds get crowded out of normal three-dimensional space and ''into the future'').

* Lampshaded in ''[[Thursday Next|Lost in a Good Book]]'':

'''Wilbur:''' Ah! One of ''those''. }}

** Further lampshaded in ''One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing'', which reveals that any technological object in the Bookworld more advanced than a toaster is built by [[Techno Babble]] Industries.

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] combines this with [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]]. Constantly. A joke about lightbulbs becomes one about stormtroopers changing glowpanels. (And for the record, it just takes one blonde to change a glowpanel, but he doesn't even have to touch it.)

* Lampshaded by Q in the Star Trek book ''[[I, Q]]''. Q is visiting the Q Continuum, which is in a state of utter chaos. He describes it in technobabble, true to the tradition of Star Trek. After his lengthy, jargon-ny description of what the heck's going on, he proceeds to hang the lampshade:

* [[Aubrey-Maturin|Stephen Maturin]] invokes this trope, due to the highly technical nature of running large sailing ships: "Your mariner is a splendid fellow, none better, but he is sadly given to jargon."

 

** Scripts for ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' were usually written with "[Tech]" as a placeholder; a second set of writers would come in and replace the placeholders with actual [[Techno Babble]], referring to the right [[Applied Phlebotinum]] for the job.

** [[Lampshaded]] in the following exchange from the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Battle Lines":

'''O'Brien:''' I'll let you know as soon as I finish making one. }}

** Another ''Deep Space Nine'' episode, "Q-Less", plays it more blatantly. As they're busily attempting to solve the cause of repeating (and intensifying) power drains and graviton bursts, [[A God Am I|Q]] is harassing the crew, and pops in with the statement, "Picard and his lackeys would've solved all this technobabble hours ago!"

** Parodied on ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' "Message in a Bottle".

'''EMH2:''' I'm just reading what it says here! }}

*** For all its overuse of technobabble generally, ''Voyager'' did manage to have fun with this at times. From the season 3 finale:

That could just as easily have resulted in [[Nightmare Fuel|their bones being yanked out of their bodies]], come to think of it... }}

** And then, there is the episode "Rascals", where Riker plays with this trope in a very interesting way. He reads verbatim from the [[Real Life]] ''TNG Technical Manual'' to distract a hostile Ferengi while he secretly taps out a coded message. Just watch [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUVPd-tyQY this clip] from 2:00 onwards.

** Once O'Neill moves to Washington, Carter gets to ramble on a bit more than she's used to. The episode "Ripple Effect" has an impressive technobabble monologue that lasts at least 45 seconds during which a few characters glance at Daniel who just shakes his head as if to say "No, you aren't supposed to understand what she's saying, don't worry about it."

*** Inverted wonderfully with

'''O'Neill''' (to Teal'c after the two had walked ahead): "Not initially." }}

** In the [[Groundhog Day Loop|time loop episode]] "Window of Opportunity," after a few loops it is O'Neill's use of technobabble that helps convince Carter and Hammond that he knows what's going on.

'''Carter:''' And he actually used them correctly...for the most part. }}

* Parodied in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode 38 Minutes when Kavanagh states that they "Can't rule out a catastrophic feedback in the drive manifold!" Doctor Weir replies with "Without the technobabble please"

** [[Steven Moffat]] expressly hates technobabble, on the basis that only anoraks would enjoy watching it.

** Also subverted in several Fourth Doctor episodes, primarily focusing on the reason for the change in dimensions inside the TARDIS. Usually goes something like this:

"[[Shaped Like Itself|It means that it's bigger inside than out.]]" }}

** Lampshaded also in a number of Third Doctor episodes: Jon Pertwee had trouble dealing with technical talk of any sort, so eventually the writers threw in the towel and had ''everything'' come out "Reverse the polarity" (albeit not '[[Beam Me Up, Scotty|of the neutron flow]]').

*** Well, except for [[Doctor Who/Recap/S9 E3 The Sea Devils|that one time]] when it ''was'' the polarity of the neutron flow ... the Master was suitably shocked at the suggestion. Perhaps he had no idea what it was, either.

** Also this from The Doctor's Wife:

** Phillip Hinchcliffe called it ''bafflegab.''

* "The scransoms above your head are now ready to flange. Please unfasten your safety belts and press the emergency photoscamps on the back of the seats behind you." John Cleese is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRRDDn5Akvc a great pilot.]

* Generous helpings of technobabble are prevalent in every episode of the Sci-Fi Channel series ''[[Eureka]]'', where the down-to-earth Sheriff Carter often finds himself bewildered by the advanced thinking of virtually everyone else in the town of super-geniuses where he resides. This often leads to scenes in which other characters rattle off long, pseudo-scientific explanations of things before having to stop and translate everything into layman's terms for Carter. Carter often [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on the situation by wondering aloud why no one ever starts with the explanation that makes sense.

* ''[[Torchwood]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|Hangs A Lampshade]] on it to the extent of even using the word:

'''Jack:''' Hey! Sometimes a little technobabble is good for the soul. }}

* Anytime Angela's doing her job on ''[[Bones]]'', expect prolific amounts of this. And all of it will be made-up. Which is, itself, an inversion, as she's the artist in a cast of geeks.

** Invoked deliberately by Brennan in "Proof in the Pudding", bordering on a [[Wall of Blather]] in order to convince a [[The Men in Black|Secret Service agent (?)]] to allow an [[Who Shot JFK?|"experiment"]] involving firearms.

* In ''[[The Weird Al Show]],'' The Hooded Avenger uses technobabble to explain why Hanson taking flash photography of giant Harvey will make him go back to his normal size.

* Two characters in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' were devoted to [[Techno Babble]]. Billy (the Blue Ranger and resident Genius who built a [[Flying Car]] simply because he could) would rattle off big sounding words leaving the rest of the team to wait for him to finish speaking so they could turn Trini, the Yellow Ranger, who used nice bite sized words to explain everything.

** Billy stopped using technobabble in season 2. Apparently none of the new Rangers could understand him. But they still have [[The Smart Guy]] use it regularly.

* Subverted on ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' when Liz and Pete make their presentation about taking the team to Miami -- Liz just says a few Buzz Words and nothing else while Pete holds up a sign that says "Miami = Synergy." Jack says it's the best presentation he's ever seen.

* The ''[[Farscape]]'' episode "Nerve" name-drops this trope.

'''Chiana:''' "Spare me the [[Techno Babble]], Gadget Girl, let's just get on with it." }}

** Like most other things in ''[[Farscape]]'' technobabble is not only lamp-shaded and name-dropped more than once, but is even deconstructed by [[Genre Savvy]] John Crichton.

== Radio ==

* Parodied on ''[[Nebulous]]'':

'''Nebulous:''' Honestly, McQuasar, which part of anti-veritaneous actuality inversion don't you understand? }}

 

== Theatre ==

* In ''[[Theater/The Rainmaker|The Rainmaker]]'', Starbuck first tries to explain how he can bring rain in terms of [[Techno Babble]]. Since Lizzie isn't buying it, he quickly changes his approach:

'''Starbuck''': Lady, you're right! You know why that sounds like bunk? Because it is bunk! Bunk and hokey pokey! And I tell you, I'd be ashamed to use any of those methods! }}

 

** Even more so would be [[Deadly Doctor|Mordin]] [[Badass Bookworm|Solus]], who combines this with being a [[Motor Mouth]] and a [[Terse Talker]].

* This is done ''once'' in the first ''[[Command and Conquer]]'', when Dr. Moebius giddily explains what [[Green Rocks|Tiberium]] is:

*** This would translate to "It's not carbon, it is ironish, and it kills people." Plus it's at least partly antimatter, even if the positrons are "inconsequent". (At least they're not ''incontinent''; it's so annoying when your sole resource leaves little puddles of antimatter pee everywhere.)

** For ''Command and Conquer 3'', EA took things up a notch and commissioned scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to "provide a white paper describing the biophysics of Tiberium, its atomic structure, its method of transmutation, the form of the radiation that it emits, and the way to harness it for powering machinery and weapons -- giving it the same treatment as would be suitable for a scientific journal article on a real substance." Actually, an [http://pc.ign.com/articles/721/721138p1.html interesting read.]

* ''[[Terminal Velocity]]'' and its [[Spiritual Successor|spiritual successors]] ''[[Fury 3]]'' and ''Hellbender'' use quite a bit of technobabble, especially in the descriptions of your ship's weapons. See the description of the "Quark Bomb" at the [[Big Bulky Bomb]] entry in the ''[[Terminal Velocity]]'' page for an example.

* [[Ratchet and Clank]] lampshades this in the first game, in Metropolis, when the duo enter Big Al's Roboshack. Al babbles for some time, then we get this gem:

 

== Web Comics ==

* Parody: [http://starslip.com/2005/05/25/starslip-number-3/ this] ''[[Starslip Crisis]]'' strip.

* Parodied as well in [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1503.html this] ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' strip; see also the notes at the bottom.

* Parodied in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', [http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=971008 here].

* ''[[Intragalactic]]'' did a parody of technobabble in a footnote [http://intragalacticcomic.com/2008/11/21/021-magic-2d-space-map/ here]: "It wouldn't seem like you could chart space on a two-dimensional screen like this. Until you remember that at large distances space functions as a flat surface due to the exponentially increasing effects of gravity as we near the Planck time. Subspace anomaly nanoprobes wormhole."

* Lampshaded in [http://wayofthemetagamer.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/32150 this] [[The Way of the Metagamer]] comic.

* Done hilariously in [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20100613.html this] [[Exterminatus Now]]. Even better, the ''multiple'' [[Wall of Text|walls of text]] can be summarized thus:

** And [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20100926.html here], where they use some of the more well known ones. Don't miss the labels on the other switches.

* ''[[Far Out There]]'' does this [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1030261/page-111-show-your-work all] [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1071120/page-211-and-its-not-just-because-its-angry the] [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1071137/page-213-get-on-with-it/ freaking] [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1080531/page-274-and-the-technobabble-flowed-forth time], though there's usually at least a little [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1080537/page-279-just-let-them-play-with-their-toys lampshading] going on.

* The writers at ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' put a lot of work into producing plausible technobabble, the effect of this is that determining what parts they made up is pretty hard.

* ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]'', episode 31:

'''Artemis''': I think this bitch is just making shit up now.<br />

'''Amy:''': You guys never listen to me anyway! }}

== Western Animation ==

* Excellently parodied in the "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" episode of ''[[Futurama]]''.

** Also, from "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch:"

'''Zap Brannigan:''' Spare me your space-age techno-babble, Attila the Hun! }}

** Really, they use (and [[Parody]]) this all the time, in a variety of different ways.

'''[[Genius Ditz|Amy]]:''' ''[[Future Slang|Guh]]!'' Stop patronizing us. }}

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' is also chock full of it. Suffice to say it's never a good idea to let Jérémie explain how his newest program works. Or let Aelita answer questions about simple mathematic concepts.

* One of the most famous examples is the line uttered by the Comic Book Guy in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' in the episode "Das Bus". Notable for being actually clear, logical and transparent to a trained networking engineer: in layman terms, he has a dial-up modem, he wants broadband access, and in order to do that, he needs a router that can fit inside his private network. Here's the full quote:

* ''[[Megas XLR]]'' has a running gag of having [[Future Badass]] Kiva saying some sort of technobabble, only to have it shrugged off by lazy bum Coop.

'''Coop:''' ... That must be some grim future you have! }}

** She's [[Expospeak Gag|describing Gatorade]].

** Aviation likes to use technobabble, and if you talk to a pilot about their daily flying routines, they will play this trope up to the hilt. For example, a pilot might tell you they need to check the OAT in order to find their Density Altitude in order to turn currently indicated KIAS into a KTAS value, on an E6B, in order to accurately report their ETA to the nearest FIC in order to remain legal based upon guidelines set forth by the ICAO and detailed in the AIM and FARs/CARs. All they're doing is calculating their airspeed in order to see if they'll get to where they want to be in time.

* Many [[Troll|troll posts]] found on various Internet forums have a good dose of this. One of the most famous is the legendary FLAC vs. MP3 copypasta from [[Image Boards|/mu/]]:

I started collecting MP3s in about 2001, and if I try to play any of the tracks I downloaded back then, even the stuff I grabbed at 320kbps, they just sound like crap. The bass is terrible, the midrange...well don't get me started. Some of those albums have degraded down to 32 or even 16kbps. FLAC rips from the same period still sound great, even if they weren't stored correctly, in a cool, dry place. Seriously, stick to FLAC, you may not be able to hear the difference now, but in a year or two, you'll be glad you did. }}

* Physicist Alan Sokal wrote an article in the journal ''Social Text'' that was essentially this, emphasis on "babble". He did so to prove that the humanities division would accept anything.