I'm feeling the urge to write some fan-fic but never done any Trek before (mostly been Indiana Jones and Doctor Who) but I'm a little concerned about the amount of scientific gobbledegook employed. How can I get it right? Is there a guide?
Treknobabble - Getting It Right
- Thread starter DeepSpaceYorks
- Start date
It really depends on the story you want to tell, though I would say less is more. Unless the story is about a major engineering / medical / scientific incident (whether good or bad), then you won't really need much technobabble, just enough to slip in here and there about the ship and the mission it's on--unless it's a major part of the plot then you don't need to say about how Ensign Smith used a quantum-modulated hyperspanner to correct the phase imbalance of the port ODN matrix infuser.
Where at all possible focus more on the people facing the crisis/discovery, their reactions to it and how it will impact them. Though if you want some handy hints, keep Memory Alpha handy for previous examples. Whatever you do decide to use, make sure to do so consistently.
Hope that is of some help to you.
Where at all possible focus more on the people facing the crisis/discovery, their reactions to it and how it will impact them. Though if you want some handy hints, keep Memory Alpha handy for previous examples. Whatever you do decide to use, make sure to do so consistently.
Hope that is of some help to you.
It's not about getting it right. That would imply that treknobabble on the show actually means something. It doesn't. It's BS. It's a bunch of syllables tied together into words in a way that makes them sound scientific. Just figure out how to make up words like that without anybody calling BS and you're golden.
And they usually wont complain about the BS if your story is awesome.
And they usually wont complain about the BS if your story is awesome.
I think using technobabble is more of an art than a science (pun intended). I have often went back and watched old shows, and I used to print out the transcripts of scripts for particular episodes, and I've also made note of special terms in Trek Lit. novels. But as Bry recommended, Memory Alpha is a great resource. As is Memory Beta. Memory Alpha is a repository for canon Trek and Memory Beta is a repository for expanded universe (often officially licensed expanded universe) Trek.
I also agree with Bry regarding less is more. If you're writing it and it overwhelms or confuses you, it likely will do the same to your audience. One of the things I liked best about the Original Series is its lack of technobabble vis-a-vis the other Trek series. If you put your focus on characters and story, the technobabble isn't as important, you can use it to accent your work, to give it that Trek gloss.
I recommend writing some Trek stories with very little technobabble in them starting out, perhaps you and focus more on action, romance, or what not, and as you get more familiar with your characters, the universe your building, and writing, then you can just start adding more technobabble.
I also agree with Bry regarding less is more. If you're writing it and it overwhelms or confuses you, it likely will do the same to your audience. One of the things I liked best about the Original Series is its lack of technobabble vis-a-vis the other Trek series. If you put your focus on characters and story, the technobabble isn't as important, you can use it to accent your work, to give it that Trek gloss.
I recommend writing some Trek stories with very little technobabble in them starting out, perhaps you and focus more on action, romance, or what not, and as you get more familiar with your characters, the universe your building, and writing, then you can just start adding more technobabble.
Thanks, it was never going to be a major element of my story as I'm more interested in character but I could never quite work out how plausible what they say is! I happen to have been watching VOY lately and it's littered with scientific stuff. I guess the art is in making it 'sound' right.
VOY was pretty bad for piling on lots of important sounding nonsense, so if you're wanting some hard and fast advice: watch what they did on the show, then when writing go the opposite direction 
Also, you can write things and not explain them. Most Trek fans will know the basics behind warp drive, transporters, etc. whilst elements vital to your story can be left more enigmatic. Your crew may discover some great piece of unknown alien tech that proves to be a major threat to them, but after they deal with it they still don't know who built it or how it worked, so they have to pass the discovery along to Starfleet Science or the SCE to carry out a more thorough investigation, leaving your crew to wonder just what it was all about.
Also, you can write things and not explain them. Most Trek fans will know the basics behind warp drive, transporters, etc. whilst elements vital to your story can be left more enigmatic. Your crew may discover some great piece of unknown alien tech that proves to be a major threat to them, but after they deal with it they still don't know who built it or how it worked, so they have to pass the discovery along to Starfleet Science or the SCE to carry out a more thorough investigation, leaving your crew to wonder just what it was all about.
Thats not quite true...before Voyager there used to be a more or less consistant internal logic to treknobabble. See the "Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual"...
I did. I read it cover to cover. It was bullshit. It was filled with terms the authors just made up out of whole cloth... just like TNG. Whether or not the bullshit is consistent doesn't stop it from being bullshit.
Well...then you should go watching "hard" sci-fi, I guess...I can't watch it...it bores me to death.
I watch sci-fi for the 'fi' not the 'sci'.
I watched all seven seasons of TNG, Fred. You and Bry are missing the point. The OP asked how to get the treknobabble right. My answer, again, is it ain't about getting it "right." It's about making your bullshit read plausible enough that nobody cares that its bullshit, the way you two don't care.
@DeepSpaceYorks Hey. I see you're more interested in the characters than the science.
I would recommend researching thoroughly all aspects of your story. If you have combat, consult real vets. If you have an alien lifeform, look up biology, eco-systems, evolutionary pressures and so on. Even if you only end up presenting a fraction of that information to your reader in the story, it's comforting to have that information "hiding" behind the plot. And you get to learn lots of cool new stuff.
On Trek, you've got the wonderful Memory Alpha to look up anything on (I just looked up binoculars!). Plus, you've got a golden resource right here... I've found the ubertrekkies here to be very knowledgeable and helpful. There's even a Trek Tech subforum to ask/discuss specific questions.
In the end how large, or small, a part the tech plays in your story is a command decision only you can make. That's a matter of taste. Similarly, how much (or little) effort you put into getting it right is in the end only up to you.
About getting "technobabble" right: I'd say a key thing to consider is WHO is doing the babbling. How a character communicates is a vital part of their... well... character.
One person might say, "I am compelled to inform you, Captain, that the warp core is under considerable stress and a catastrophic anti-matter rupture is imminent."
Another might say, "She cannae take anymore, Cap'n! She's gonna blow!"
Hope that helps.
I would recommend researching thoroughly all aspects of your story. If you have combat, consult real vets. If you have an alien lifeform, look up biology, eco-systems, evolutionary pressures and so on. Even if you only end up presenting a fraction of that information to your reader in the story, it's comforting to have that information "hiding" behind the plot. And you get to learn lots of cool new stuff.
On Trek, you've got the wonderful Memory Alpha to look up anything on (I just looked up binoculars!). Plus, you've got a golden resource right here... I've found the ubertrekkies here to be very knowledgeable and helpful. There's even a Trek Tech subforum to ask/discuss specific questions.
In the end how large, or small, a part the tech plays in your story is a command decision only you can make. That's a matter of taste. Similarly, how much (or little) effort you put into getting it right is in the end only up to you.
About getting "technobabble" right: I'd say a key thing to consider is WHO is doing the babbling. How a character communicates is a vital part of their... well... character.
One person might say, "I am compelled to inform you, Captain, that the warp core is under considerable stress and a catastrophic anti-matter rupture is imminent."
Another might say, "She cannae take anymore, Cap'n! She's gonna blow!"
Hope that helps.
I suppose, and since I want to get it right, it's also important to make sure I get the right technology for the right time period.
"We call these 'isolinear' chips because the are straight and equal. And over here is the isoendothermic annular chip, which is a ring that has something to do with its own internal heat, equally. Now what Starfleet engi-weenies have done is take a whole bunch of prefixes and suffixes and turned them into technology. Pretty freaking amazing. No idea what any of it actually does, but when it fails, let me tell you, the plot thickens."
My fanfic "Biohazard" has a bit of treknobabble as a main plot point: a multi-crystalline lens defractor.
You generally don't need it unless you're absolutely out of ideas.
Technobabble is stuff you put into a scene that sounds sciencey but is ultimately just greek salad.
The technology of Trek itself, however, is something else entirely, and if you come up with a new bit of tech for your story you have to establish the terms for everything with that, of course. IE: Photon Torpedos generally use "variable yield" M/AM warheads. Meaning that you can adjust their strength via their matter/anti-matter interaction.
What's most important is just having a good story. The techbabble really isn't needed most of the time.
Technobabble is stuff you put into a scene that sounds sciencey but is ultimately just greek salad.
The technology of Trek itself, however, is something else entirely, and if you come up with a new bit of tech for your story you have to establish the terms for everything with that, of course. IE: Photon Torpedos generally use "variable yield" M/AM warheads. Meaning that you can adjust their strength via their matter/anti-matter interaction.
What's most important is just having a good story. The techbabble really isn't needed most of the time.
