keeping it...real

[Ziz]

One of the things that makes technobabble work is when, after rattling off some "tb", one of the characters, either the same one or another, comes up with some kind of "Mr. Wizard" comparison to explain it to the audience.

When technobabble doesn't work is when they don't do that, they just rattle off a bunch of mix-n-match terminology and continue on with the explosions. That's when the average viewer gets turned off because they think they have to understand the technobabble in order to understand the story.

 

[Captain X]

Ironically the simplified explanation is a cliche by itself, which an episode of Futurama actually makes fun of.

 

[BillJ]

dithlium crystals and intermix ratios go back to the days of tos.
not as much techno babel as tng but it was there.

Yes, but not the overuse of it that we got from the modern treks...and it isn't it strange how the more the technobabble spread, the more the ratings tanked and the DORK label went through the roof....

Rob

I've been a fan since '75 and the DORK label has always been there.

 

[Captain X]

And it probably always will be.

 

[Bill Morris]

Does that mean they should rein in the medical technobabble on House, as well?

 

[Eddie Roth]

^^^Oh yes they should! I find this show unwatchable because of that. They have a great lead character, but half of his dialogue per episode is implausible medical jargon. On ER, that worked because the medicine was always linked to some character development, but on House, that is mostly an afterthought. No one can tell me they actually understand what these doctors are talking about. Therefore, if the episode is about nothing else except this medical case, why bother?

I point to TNG's Force of Nature as a Trek example of that phenomenon.

 

[npsf3000]

If you remove the techno-babble where will the geek orphans go?

Seriously I think its good as long as they provide explanations for the uninformed, uninterested and ?unintelligent? people :P

A serious note here, what do you call techno babble, i mean most people would say that talking about a Pc's ram, Ghz, Gpu model and hdd size would be techno-bable, but to me its no-where near enough data to get an accurate idea of a pc's capabilities. Where do we draw the line in terms of trek-o-babble?

 

[SalvorHardin]

I'll be satisfied if they let the deflector dish be just a simple deflector dish ...It will be a start

 

[urbandk]

I never did understand how the flux capacitor worked.

I think technobabble is a waste of time. TOS was mercifully without any technobabble most of the time. Warp, transporters, phasers, and all these toys are basically sci-fi magic. Some of them have more plausible explanations than others, but plot points that revolve around some kind of technobabble solution are just flat-out lazy. In the episode, if the technobabble solution works, we're saved. If it fails, we're toast. Thank goodness O'Brien has just the trick up his sleeve to make the technobabble work just in time.

The actors all seemed to grimace when they were spouting off this nonsense. Scotty's "I'M GIVING HER ALL SHE'S GOT!" is much more effective.