Home ¤ Is Farscape Clichéd?: Section IV: Silly Science

Is Farscape Clichéd?

Introduction
Section 1: Overused Plots and Storylines
Section II: Overused Settings and Characterizations
Section III: Overused story events and plot devices
Section IV: Silly Science

Section IV: Silly Science
Intro ¤ Section 1 ¤ Section II ¤ Section III ¤ Section IV ¤ Send a Comment ¤

1. Super-intelligent computers blow up when the hero confuses them. ¤NA¤
2. Super-intelligent computers get confused when the hero says to them "everything I say is a lie" or some other paradoxical statement. ¤NA¤
3. Space vessels lack fuses, circuit breakers, and surge supressors, so that the control panels explode when some distant portion of the ship is damaged.
   Cliché alert! Stuff is always exploding. It's ridiculous, especially for a bio-mechanoid creature like Moya. The fake attack scene at the end of "A Clockwork Nebari" is one good example.
4. Computers get reprogrammed by someone who has no knowledge of the computer's operating system. ¤NA¤
5. Computer terminals display the current operation (e.g., "UPLOADING VIRUS") in huge, flashing letters. ¤NA¤
6. The patently obvious design flaws in a vehicle or weapon system go uncorrected during the entire life cycle of the system in question. ¤NA¤
7. A vehicles and/or weapon systems is deployed in an entirely impractical environment. ¤NA¤
8. Spacecraft features have been pointlessly carried over from water-borne designs. ¤NA¤
9. Untested medical treatment is used. It's 100% effective and has no side effects. ¤NA¤ I'm thinking I'm missing something here, though...
10. Someone acquires a medical condition that will be fatal in an amount of time expressed to the tenth significant digit; the cure is found and applied in the nick of time, enabling a 100% recovery. ¤NA¤ We came pretty close to this one with Aeryn in "Nerve", but we didn't have the degree of precision and nick-of-time-thing to make it a true cliché.
11. A robot is shot and bleeds oil. ¤NA¤
12. Spacecraft, when shot, blow up as if they had been packed with gasoline and liquid oxygen.
    Cliché alert! Again, this happens all the time, but I'm not gonna complain. CGI explosions are one of the cool things about this show. For an example, check out how Scorpius's transport exploded when shot by Talyn in "Season of Death."
13. Computers, when shot, explode as if they had been stuffed full of Roman candles. ¤NA¤ Hmmm. There were lots of sparks when Aeryn shot Furlow's computer in "Infinite Possiblities", but I don't recall an explosion.
14. An item of technology is quickly reverse-engineered by a far less advanced group of researchers. ¤NA¤
15. A group of aliens is smart enough to steal someone else's technology, but too stupid to make any improvements on it. ¤NA¤
16. A technological development progresses from half-baked theory to useful implementation in fifteen minutes instead of fifteen months. ¤NA¤
17. After twenty years of crew members being tossed around like rag dolls, the spacecraft still has no seatbelts.
    Cliché alert! Well, it hasn't been twenty years for our crew, but still... I think the transport pods have them, though. Anyone care to weigh in here?
18. Nuclear weapons have an effect well out of proportion for reasonable yields. ¤NA¤
19. Computer security protocols are overridden merely by saying "override" to the computer. ¤NA¤
20. A clone grows to match the cloned person's state of physiological development in a small fraction of the time.
    Cliché alert! The replicants in "Exodus from Genesis".
21. Clones think, act, and speak in a manner indistinguishable from that of the cloned person.
    Cliché alert! The replicants in "Exodus from Genesis", except they couldn't speak.
22. Clones come out of the cloning vat with the same haircut as the individual cloned.
    Cliché alert! The replicants in "Exodus from Genesis". I could never understand how they got the same clothes.
23. AI software has unique properties that prevent it from being copied or transmitted like any other data. ¤NA¤
24. AI software is able to bypass the security protocols of the operating system in which it runs. ¤NA¤
25. On-board computers always know exactly how long it will take for the malfunction to blow up the ship. ¤NA¤
26. Computers that exist in the far future or are alleged to be 'cutting edge,' will demonstrate less functionality than a Commodore 64. ¤NA¤
27. Two races which have never contacted each other, cannot speak each other's language, and cannot possibly have worked out compatible protocols for transmission of image and sound can nonetheless communicate over their ships viewscreens upon first contact.
    Cliché alert! The Nebari seem to fit this bill. When we first run into them in "Durka Returns", it's as if no one had ever heard of them before. Later, it seems they're not so uncommon after all.
28. Twentieth century firearms are abandoned, even though the high-tech replacement is significantly more complex to engineer, more costly to build, and is not appreciably deadlier, longer-ranged, or more accurate. ¤NA¤
29. When an extra or a minor character is shot, they fall over immediately dead; when a major character is shot, they either survive with a nasty-looking wound, or they linger long enough to utter some parting words.
    Cliché alert! None of the major characters have actually died from being shot. Yet.
30. Lasers are visible when travelling through the vacuum of outer space.
    Cliché alert? I'm not sure, but they sure looked like laser-type weapons during Crichton's space walk in "Look at the Princess, part 2." Crichton's weapon was a pulse rifle, but those on-board weapons weren't.
31. A robot that can't climb stairs is deployed in an aread where stairs are common. ¤NA¤
32. A tactical system that can only deal with targets visible to the naked eye is still considered worthwhile. ¤NA¤
33. "Reversing the polarity" is the solution to virtually every engineering problem.
    Cliché alert? Close... the "reverse starburst" got them out of "Through the Looking Glass", as did a similar maneuver in "The Locket".
34. Laser beams travel about as quickly as an arrow.
    Cliché alert! They may not be "laser beams", but those "little yellow bolts of light" still are slow enough to be dodged, in numerous episodes.
35. Heroes/ships can dodge laser beams because the beams travel about as quickly as an arrow.
    Cliché alert! See above.
36. Alien artifacts still work after being abandoned for a million years. ¤NA¤
37. Spaceships make a whoosh as they go by. ¤NA¤
38. Huge, expensive spacecraft are used to transport inexpensive goods in tiny quantities.
    Cliché alert! We've seen it couple of times now: leviathans used to transport a few (Moya) or just one prisoner (the leviathan in "Eat Me"). What gives?
39. Stars go shooting past the spaceship as it flies through space. ¤NA¤
40. A large dose of radiation results in super powers instead of super tumors. ¤NA¤
41. A large dose of radiation causes an individual creature to "evolve" into a more advanced form. ¤NA¤
42. The solution for a problem solved four weeks ago is thrown away and never seen again.
    Cliché alert? Whatever happened to that invisibility shield they got in "Crackers Don't Matter?" Not to mention the defense screen, last seen in "Out of Their Minds", I believe.
43. When a character is aged prematurely, or cured of premature aging, hair that has already grown changes color to match. ¤NA¤
44. A space vessel is sent out on missions before its systems are fully operational. ¤NA¤
45. The Hero knows how to defuse the bomb, but can't remember which of two wires to cut. ¤NA¤
46. When a computer is working on a difficult problem, the increased power requirements cause the room lights to dim or flicker. ¤NA¤
47. Robots that despite their size and function are designed with exactly the same features as a human (two arms and legs, ten fingers, two eyes, same joint system, etc.) ¤NA¤
48. Somebody lifts a car (or some other heavy object) with his bionic arm, even though the rest of his body is normal flesh and bone and couldn't possibly support the load. ¤NA¤
49. The plans for a complicated device can be downloaded onto a 1.44 Meg floppy. ¤NA¤
50. Increasing a computer beyond a certain level of speed, memory capacity, or complexity causes it to become self-aware. ¤NA¤
51. Creatures capable of changing their shapes can also alter their mass while they're at it.
    Cliché alert! The Corlatas in "Thanks for Sharing" and "Relativity".
52. A hole the size of a barn is made in the hull of a space ship; decompression of the ship's atmosphere takes a half minute or so.
    Cliché alert! "Durka Returns". Why isn't Crichton immediately sucked out into space?
53. A hole the size of a dime is made in the hull of a space ship; decompression of the ship's atmosphere takes a half minute or so. ¤NA¤
54. A large nuclear explosion can be obtained by putting several smaller devices together. ¤NA¤
55. The same energy beam which causes rocks, buildings and robots to violently explode produces only a puff of smoke and a bit of burnt flesh and clothing when used on a living being. ¤NA¤
56. The sewers/ventilation ducts provide easy access throughout the city/ship/castle.
    Cliché alert! They use Moya's crawl spaces in several episodes: "Exodus from Genesis," "A Bug's Life", "The Way We Weren't" are just some of them.
57. All computers have madly whirling tape drives. ¤NA¤
58. When something explodes in space, the shock wave is ring-shaped. ¤NA¤
59. When an orbiting space vessel is crippled or otherwise put out of action, it immediately starts falling out of orbit. ¤NA¤
60. A shape-shifter whose natural form is homogenous can be knocked out with a blow to the head when in humanoid form. ¤NA¤
61. The narrow energy beam disintegrates the entire person it hits, and his clothing and possessions, but doesn't leave so much as a stain on the chair he is sitting in or the ground he is standing on. ¤NA¤

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