# Old scifi tropes that have fallen out of use **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115 "2012-02-27T04:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/41 "2012-02-27T21:25:40Z")
Computers with [big displays of pointlessly flashing lights](http://movieclassics.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/deskset.jpg). The last one was probably [WOPR](http://www.zaalabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/WOPR-SideView.jpg) and people commented even then how silly it looked. Rockets that looked like missiles. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/42 "2012-02-27T21:31:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Computers with [big displays of pointlessly flashing lights](http://movieclassics.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/deskset.jpg). The last one was probably [WOPR](http://www.zaalabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/WOPR-SideView.jpg) and people commented even then how silly it looked. > > Rockets that looked like missiles. Interestingly, many of those computers from movies and TV were the very same **AN/FSQ7 SAGE** computer repurposed: [http://ripsaw.cac.psu.edu/~mloewen/Q7/](http://ripsaw.cac.psu.edu/~mloewen/Q7/) What killed the cigar-shaped rockets were the advent of our own space age, coupled with _Star Trek_\* and _2001_. \*which itself got input from the saucer C57-D from _Forbidden Planet_. Because of the re-use of props and footage from FP by _The Twilight Zone_, we had Earth people flying around in non-cigar-shaped ships on TV even before Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/43 "2012-02-27T21:39:59Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Some of these don’t seem like science fiction tropes so much as reflections of the era the stories were written in. Women being secretaries or housewives in space being a prime example I think. That doesn’t make them not sci-fi tropes. It just makes them unimaginative sci-fi tropes. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/44 "2012-02-27T21:46:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Mass Effect, which came out only a few years ago, had Mars as a colony world of an advanced race that died out 50,000 years ago, and Charon as a giant interstellar travel relay encased in ice. But in _Mass Effect_, the aliens weren’t \*native \*to our solar system, which is the discredited trope in question. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/45 "2012-02-27T21:53:56Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Advanced alien civilizations inhabiting planets in our solar system. Old scifi abounded with Martians, Venusians, Plutonians, etc. Sure, modern scifi will still sometimes give us exotic creatures in the atmosphere of Jupiter or some such but no Martian Princesses now. And then there’s Planet X, the planet in Earth’s orbit but on the opposite side of the Sun from us at all times. I don’t think you hear about that one anymore either. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/46 "2012-02-27T21:57:27Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That doesn’t make them not sci-fi tropes. It just makes them unimaginative sci-fi tropes. If you see the same gender roles in westerns, police procedurals and sitcoms from that era then I can’t really think of it as a science fiction trope. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/47 "2012-02-28T00:19:21Z")
“Hidden Race”/“Lost Civilization” stories. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/48 "2012-02-28T00:41:30Z")
Bug-eyed monsters. Especially ones who [kidnap Earth women.](http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/weird-tales/168-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/49 "2012-02-28T00:51:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Bug-eyed monsters. Especially ones who [kidnap Earth women.](http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/weird-tales/168-1.jpg) “Nobody steals our chicks … and lives!” – Duke Nukem ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/50 "2012-02-28T01:39:03Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > The Terminator gained humanity. not a dead trope > [@grude](#): > > In 1992? 😛 1992 wasn’t the end of the Terminator franchise [spoiler] T3 had a T-850 struggling against being taken over by the more advanced TX model to keep JC alive The Sarah Connor Chronicles had a T-1000 raising a human child, Cameron (unknown model) who despite being a Terminator was clearly in love with JC, and John Henry who was a T-888 hooked up to a supercomputer trying to figure out the whole humanity thing Terminator Salvation had a Terminator/clone hybrid literally rip his heart out for the sake of JC.[/spoiler] not sure if the spoiler tags are really needed, most people who care about the franchise have already seen it all, but just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/51 "2012-02-28T03:19:08Z")
Adam and Eve endings. “Looks like we’re the only survivors. What’s your name, by the way?” Atomic radiation can do absolutely anything from turn you into a blob of snot to make you a god, although, yeah, there’s still Fallout and Spiderman, et al. Computers that talk like vibrators in a tin can. CAP! TAIN! KIRK! WAR! NING! Computers the size of a battleship. Computers the size of a battleship that are really just some guy, Wizard of Oz style. OK, this one’s a little specific. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/52 "2012-02-28T03:44:05Z")
During the cold war, the fictional future was going to be shitty because of war. Now the fictional future will be shitty because of pollution and a population too lazy to recycle. In the future, the fictional future will be shitty because there’s too many fat people, at least according to Hollywood. I say this as an obese person myself. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/53 "2012-02-28T03:48:06Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Adam and Eve endings. “Looks like we’re the only survivors. What’s your name, by the way?”. Used in a scifi film released in the last 5 years, well ok there were 1,000 human survivors give or take…hey wait a minute…was it Earth all along:eek: I’ll not put the title here as its a big spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/54 "2012-02-28T04:30:20Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And then there’s Planet X, the planet in Earth’s orbit but on the opposite side of the Sun from us at all times. I don’t think you hear about that one anymore either. Last year’s [Another Earth](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/another_earth/) is pretty much this. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/55 "2012-02-28T12:15:09Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Adam and Eve endings. “Looks like we’re the only survivors. What’s your name, by the way?” That’s because this one was so overused (probably by the second time it appeared) that it had people groaning with annoyance. People were making fun of this a _long_ time ago, with endings like “My name’s Adam. What’s yours?” “Louise”. Alfred Bester lampshaded the whole concept at the outset when he did his twist on it by titling his story “Adam but No Eve”. The problem, as usual, was that TV and movies were over a cdecade behind the literature, and kept this chestnut going long after it shoulda died. Heck, even _Twilight Zone_ did a variation on this one. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/56 "2012-02-28T12:32:02Z")
All that high-voltage stuff that insane scientists used to revive corpses…like the original Dr. Frankenstein. I always liked those tesla coils, VanDeGraaf generators, and jacobs ladder sprk gaps. Heck, you need lots of electricity to shock those corpses back to life. Note the heavy duty leather straps on the operating tables-can’t trust those zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/57 "2012-02-28T12:44:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Computers with [big displays of pointlessly flashing lights](http://movieclassics.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/deskset.jpg). The last one was probably [WOPR](http://www.zaalabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/WOPR-SideView.jpg) and people commented even then how silly it looked. Every time I see one of those in a film I want [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmSSIBjgjqE) to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/58 "2012-02-28T13:01:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Heck, even _Twilight Zone_ did a variation on this one. _TZ_ was what I was thinking of. I saw the promo Serling did for “Probe 7, Over and Out” and he was (totally seriously) talking about how the twist ending was going to blow everybody’s tiny minds. It combines Earth All Along and the Adam and Eve ending. Other than that, I only have only vague recollects of running into the Adam and Eve twist elsewhere, probably comic books. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probe\_7,\_Over\_and\_Out](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probe_7,_Over_and_Out) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/59 "2012-02-28T14:53:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That’s because this one was so overused (probably by the second time it appeared) that it had people groaning with annoyance. People were making fun of this a _long_ time ago, with endings like “My name’s Adam. What’s yours?” “Louise”. Alfred Bester lampshaded the whole concept at the outset when he did his twist on it by titling his story “Adam but No Eve”. Evidently he did a good job with it – it’s the only science fiction story that noted SF hater John Updike wrote of approvingly (in his book **Of the Farm** ), though Updike never indicated the story was real, nor did he mention Bester. Updike scholars are probably crediting the concept to him. As for lost tropes, there are the individual asteroid prospectors who crash their way through the asteroid belt. Waterlogged and swampy Venus. The immaculately clean cities of the future. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/60 "2012-02-28T17:09:39Z")
The military leadership coucil, consisting of many command officers wearing full dress uniforms complete with a chest full of medals, all arguing, all making dire predictions… …and all smoking cigarettes like mad. Oh, and for the super-advanced-mega-computers covered in flashing lights and containing big reels of tape, they also have walls full of meaningless gauges and consoles jammed with toggle switches. ~VOW [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115.md?page=4)