The science fiction genre is known for its heavy reliance on outlandish gadgetry.  However, the gadgets work best when they’re somewhat realistic.  If you stray too far from realism, into the realm of the farcically fantastic, then your audience response goes from “Oooh, neat, I want that!” to mocking laughter.  Unfortunately, as Io9 points out, there are a lot of bad gadgets in sci-fi.

Some of these bad gadgets are absolutely necessary.  Even though English is incredibly common internationally, and it is possible for aliens to learn English from watching terrestrial TV broadcast into space, it’s an easier necessary fiction to just invent universal translators.  If the aliens learned their English from Full House episodes, as my Japanese college roommate did, that just makes the already goofy into the incredibly goofy.  Especially if it’s true.

Trust me, there’s nothing funnier than a 28-year-old borderline alcoholic who learned to speak English from Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, especially when he’d start doing Michelle Tanner catch phrases.

Tags: science fiction, gadgets, movies, television, lists, inventions, goofy

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