View source for The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés/Section I: Overused Plots and Storylines

{{Just for Fun}}
{{examples|'''Note to Tropers: All of the original entries come from ''[http://www.geocities.ws/evilsnack/cliche.html The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés]''. The list item text and order should not be changed. Adding relevant links to tropes is encouraged, as long as they don't change the displayed text.'''}}

__TOC__

==Section I: Overused Plots and Storylines==

# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] [[After the End|Post-cataclysmic]] [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|rag-tag armies]] struggle to kick the [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|Rooskies]] out of the good ol' [[Eagle Land|US of A]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] [[After the End|Post-cataclysmic]] [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|rag-tag armies]] struggle to survive against gangs of bandits, [[Mutants]], [[Cyborg|cyberpunks]], [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|bikers]], etc.
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]] The rag-tag [[La Résistance|rebel army/fleet]] struggles valiantly to overthrow [[The Empire|the Evil Empire]].
# [[File:Bull icon 05.svg|15px]] The Good Guys [[Time Travel|travel through time]] to stop a historical Bad Guy, usually [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act|Hitler]].
# [[File:Bull icon 05.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] The Bad Guy [[Time Travel|travels through time]] to kill the Hero in his childhood, or to [[Ret-Gone|prevent him from ever being born]].
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Time Police|The Chronocops]] [[Time Travel|travel in time]] to catch a Bad Guy who escaped into some other era.
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] Scientists work feverishly to [[Find the Cure|develop a cure]] for the Supervirus or [[Forgotten Superweapon|a weapon]] to stop the [[The Juggernaut|Invincible Bad Guys]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] An alien:
## Is [[Trapped in Another World|stranded on Earth]];
## [[Morality Pet|Befriends a human child]] or [[Mars Needs Women|falls in love with an Earth gal]];
## [[We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill|Is pursued by shadowy malevolent Pentagon officials under the pretense of national security]];
## Uses his/her/its [[Bizarre Alien Biology|alien powers]] to defeat the shadowy malevolent Pentagon officials, making them look foolish without really harming them;
## [[But Now I Must Go|Makes teary farewell and returns to its home planet]].
# [[File:Bull icon 05.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] A virtual reality program is activated, and [[Your Mind Makes It Real|the distinction between reality and the program becomes confused or indistinguishable]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] People [[Neural Implanting|connect their brains directly to computers]] and get dependent on them.
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] [[Planet Looters|Aliens travel a zillion miles to loot the Earth of resources which exist in far greater and much more easily exploitable quantities on the many uninhabited bodies they pass on the way to Earth]].
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|A complex computer system spontaneously becomes self-aware]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] [[Population Control|A couple files an application to the government for permission to conceive a baby.]]
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] A human [[Replacement Goldfish|falls in love with a robot]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?|A robot falls in love with a human]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Alien Abduction|UFO abductions]].
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] [[Puppeteer Parasite|Brain-controlling parasites attempt to wrest control of human race]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Humanity on Trial|Aliens put someone on trial for the sins of humanity]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Amusement Park of Doom|A high-tech amusement park goes lethally berserk]].
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]] Death from old age turns out to be due to some [[Artistic License Biology|simple, single cause]], leading to an easy [[Immortality]] treatment, with [[Aesoptinum|consequent catastrophic social implications]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] [[Egomaniac Hunter|A great hunter]] decides that [[Intrigued by Humanity|humans are the most entertaining prey of all]], and visits Earth to [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game|bag a few]].
# [[File:Bull icon 05.svg|15px]] [[Mushroom Samba|Psychedelic drugs]] give somebody [[Reality Warper|magical power over space, time and reality]].
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]] [[Starfish Aliens|Aliens with completely incomprehensible motivations]] [[Alien Invasion|make war on the human race/invade Earth.]]
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|The bureaucratic/reactionary mindset]] stands in the way of scientific progress. A (young, maverick) researcher overcomes it through ability, purity of heart, and use of the scientific method. [[Hollywood Science|Or not]].
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] Two hostile factions colonize a planet [[It's a Small World After All|within walking distance of each other.]]
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] The government ships criminals off to other planets.
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Mister Seahorse|A human male becomes pregnant]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|An android discovers emotions and loses control]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] A young researcher follows the following steps in roughly this order:
## Gets a job at a [[Mega Corp|Mega-huge Corporation]] or [[Government Agency of Fiction|Ultra-secret Government Agency]];
## Learns that the employer's latest discovery has a Nasty Side Effect or involves some obvious human rights abuses;
## Confronts the employer, who [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong|casually dismisses the researcher's concerns and chides her/him for not being a "team player"]];
## [[Ignored Expert|Tries to blow the whistle to avert disaster]];
## Gets hounded by [[The Men in Black|Shadowy Malevolent Goons]];
## Attempts to meet with inside sources, and finds them either dead or with [[Almost-Dead Guy|just enough life left to utter a cryptic clue]];
## Watches the disaster overtake the CEO;
## Testifies before Congress, or whatever the equivalent government body is;
## Enters the Witness Protection Program;
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] Aliens invade Earth in order [[To Serve Man|to eat humans]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Turned Against Their Masters|An AI turns on its creators]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Human Popsicle|A person from the past goes into suspended animation and wakes up in modern times]], or a person from modern times [[Cold Sleep, Cold Future|goes into suspended animation and wakes up in the future]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] A person [[Time Travel|travels back in time]] to meet a major historical personage and [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy|winds up either becoming that person or taking that person's place at a critical juncture]].
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]] [[Rightful King Returns|The rightful monarch or long-lost heir is restored to the throne]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] [[Gendercide|A sexually selective plague kills off or sterilizes almost all of the men, or almost all of the women]].
# [[File:Green tick.svg|12px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Tomato Surprise|A human discovers that the human race is being controlled by aliens]].
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] The [[Alien Invasion]] that [[How to Invade An Alien Planet|flounders]] because their technological advantage is [[Insufficiently Advanced Alien|perfectly]] [[Rock Beats Laser|neutralized]] by their lack of resources, compared to the humans.
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] Earth is [[Colony Drop|threatened by an asteroid]], and a space mission is mounted to save the planet.
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] Humans are seen as a menace to galactic society, having [[Humans Are Special|developed technology over a few short centuries compared with the thousands it took the other races.]]
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] [[Culture Police|The government bans music, painting, dancing, or some other art form]]; only the hero seems to care enough to do anything about it.
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]] [[Science Is Bad|A technological innovation prompts a large portion of society to violently suppress it]].
# [[File:Pig icon 05.svg|15px]] [[Interspecies Romance|"Single female monster ISO single human male. Object: Mating."]]
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] [[Deus Est Machina|An entire society is run by a computer]]. [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|Maybe]] it [[Turned Against Their Masters|goes berserk]].
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]] An alien being is sent to Earth on a mission of assassination or genocide; it [[Heel Face Turn|changes its mind]] after [[Becoming the Mask|getting to know]] (and perhaps [[Mars Needs Women|falling in love with]]) one or more humans.
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] The crew's [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|memories are wiped]]. As they recover, they discover that they are [[Unwitting Pawn]]s, helping the guy who did it to them.
# [[File:McCormick Sleep.svg|15px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] A man escapes a VR simulation, and later discovers that he has escaped [[Schrödinger's Butterfly|into another VR simulation]].
# [[File:Vraagteken.svg|9px]][[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] An alien that is [[Human Aliens|substantially like us]] [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?|doesn't understand love]], and visits humans in order to learn. The lesson is completed after the alien gets a Dose of Good Luvin'.
# [[File:Bull icon 05.svg|15px]] A Bad Guy [[Dude in Distress|captures the Hero]], and [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?|instead of killing him]], attempts to [[Brainwashed|brainwash]] him into thinking that [[Cuckoo Nest|his powers aren't real]].

==Tropers' additions to this list==
# Council never believe the protagonist (usually a commander of a starship), even when evidence is staring them at the face. If the first danger passes, the council will gain [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] and...not believe the protagonist about the second impending danger. They're either corrupted or carrying one massive [[Idiot Ball]].
# [[File:Delta-shield.svg|11px]] A human or crew of humans through some kind of experimental technology or wormhole become stranded in a new galaxy or undiscovered part of space and the plot centres around them trying desperately to get home.

{{The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés}}
{{worksubpagefooter}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés, The}}