About: Imported Alien Phlebotinum   Sponge Permalink

An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

A nifty trick to get some of the traditional Science Fiction capabilities in a show that's set in the present. Rather than growing your own Phlebotinum, just have a passing Sufficiently Advanced Alien dump some on you. The biggest advantage of using imported phlebotinum is that it allows you to do a Science Fiction story with characters who are more like contemporary humans -- we don't need an enclave of scientists who are way smarter than anyone ought to be, and we don't need to set the show in The Future. John Q. Ordinary guy just gets some uber-technology dropped in his lap.

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  • Imported Alien Phlebotinum
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  • A nifty trick to get some of the traditional Science Fiction capabilities in a show that's set in the present. Rather than growing your own Phlebotinum, just have a passing Sufficiently Advanced Alien dump some on you. The biggest advantage of using imported phlebotinum is that it allows you to do a Science Fiction story with characters who are more like contemporary humans -- we don't need an enclave of scientists who are way smarter than anyone ought to be, and we don't need to set the show in The Future. John Q. Ordinary guy just gets some uber-technology dropped in his lap.
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  • A nifty trick to get some of the traditional Science Fiction capabilities in a show that's set in the present. Rather than growing your own Phlebotinum, just have a passing Sufficiently Advanced Alien dump some on you. The biggest advantage of using imported phlebotinum is that it allows you to do a Science Fiction story with characters who are more like contemporary humans -- we don't need an enclave of scientists who are way smarter than anyone ought to be, and we don't need to set the show in The Future. John Q. Ordinary guy just gets some uber-technology dropped in his lap. Allows for even more Phlebotinum Breakdown than usual, since our heroes often have only a passing understanding of how it works. You can also fuse your Imported Alien Phlebotinum with the home-grown variety to produce hybrid devices which do wacky things. The process of contriving such devices leads to a good MacGyvering-style plot. Additionally, we get a reasonable explanation for No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup and Disposable Superhero Maker if the Imported Alien Phlebotinum is something that can't be reproduced with Earth technology. Sometimes the aliens do this on purpose, to lend us humans a helping hand. Sometimes, it's an accident. In the latter case, they might show up later and want it back. Violently. Does not cover natural resources which are extra-terrestrial in origin, such as super-alloys from meteors; those are Green Rocks. If the technology is not fully understood, and has side effects that didn't show up in testing, then it's an example of the Black Box. On the other hand, if we manage to reverse-engineer it to the point of making it part of everyday technology, then ET Gave Us Wi Fi is in effect. See also Lost Technology, which is inherited from advanced beings of the same planet, but a different time. See Spice of Life when it is an edible resource with some use in space. Examples of Imported Alien Phlebotinum include:
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