# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/81 "2012-03-01T00:36:59Z")
Is fading out the final scene with THE END ??? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/82 "2012-03-01T01:07:47Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Marvel Comics (does that count?) first had stories involving a “Counter-Earth” on the other side of the sun years after various Gor novels had come out. Marvel’s actually had multiple Counter Earths. I don’t know much about the first one, but the second one was where all that “Heroes Reborn” nonsense took place, back when Marvel killed off The Avengers and Fantastic Four so that Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld could reboot them. Later, after the reboot didn’t take and the status quo was restored, it turned out all the leftover characters the Image guys had come up with in the reboot were still hanging around on the new Counter Earth, which turned out to be going through some sort of global cataclysm. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/83 "2012-03-01T06:01:56Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > A couple years ago I watched the pilot episode of _Lost In Space_ on Hulu. I laughed out loud when, in the far future of 1997, the family set up shop on the planet where they’ve crashed, the father and son grabbed the guns and went exploring, while the wife and daughter stayed near the ship … and did laundry. I read a short story from the 1950s where a man and a woman, a couple, were both in competition with others to be part of a long term space mission. The woman did all the stereotypical woman things like cry when she was frustrated while the man did all the cool manly stuff like never show emotions. She made the team because her supervisors felt as though she demonstrated an ability to cope with disappointment whereas her boyfriend did not. So at least some writers were playing with gender stereotypes back the. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/84 "2012-03-01T07:15:08Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > A couple years ago I watched the pilot episode of _Lost In Space_ on Hulu. I laughed out loud when, in the far future of 1997, the family set up shop on the planet where they’ve crashed, the father and son grabbed the guns and went exploring, while the wife and daughter stayed near the ship … and did laundry. I remember that. IIRC all they had to to was put dirtly laundry in one end of the machine and clean laundy came out of the other, neatly folded & _wrapped in plastic_. It’s really fun watching the episodes where both Professor Robinson and Major West were absent [del]Mrs[/del] Robinson (yes, she did have a PhD in botany) was very much in command over Dr Smith. Actually I’m pretty sure everyone outranked him except Will & Penny (& possibly the monkey). ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/85 "2012-03-01T08:01:06Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I just re-read Asimov’s original _Foundation_ trilogy, 30 years after I read them the first time. Same thing there. 50,000 years from now, all of humanity is still smoking tobacco and using nuclear weapons and nuclear power for everything. To be fair there is nothing to say tobacco use won’t come back into style, drug use waxes and wanes like fashion. Even now in the modern day there is wide variation between countries on how socially acceptable tobacco is. People in the 1920s USA shown video of life 40 years in the future might have scoffed at the outrageous amount of alcohol consumed since everyone knows prohibition is here to stay 😉 Smoking on a space ship is pretty stupid though with the limited oxygen. And nuclear power is here to stay, unless it is replaced by fusion or anti-matter power generation. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/86 "2012-03-01T14:20:15Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > . . . Actually I’m pretty sure everyone outranked him except Will & Penny (& possibly the monkey). Technically, it was “Debbie the Bloop.” ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/87 "2012-03-01T14:51:00Z")
Not so much SciFi, but in those monster/horror movies…how come the mad scientist’s assistant is always named “Igor”? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/88 "2012-03-01T15:06:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Not so much SciFi, but in those monster/horror movies..how come the mad scientist’s assistant is always named “Igor”? Actually it’s pronounced “EYE-gore”. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/89 "2012-03-01T15:39:36Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Not so much SciFi, but in those monster/horror movies..how come the mad scientist’s assistant is always named “Igor”? 1.) It isn’t. In the 1931 _Frankenstein_, Dwight Frye’s character is “Fritz”. That’s the sorta “standard German name” (at least to the English and Americans at the time). It’s interesting that Frankenstein’s assistant in the first stage version, **Presumption** was _also_ named “Fritz” 2.) Even though Fritz got killed in the original, they brought Dwight Frye back in the sequel **Bride of Frankenstein** to play a virtually identical character , this time named “Karl” (another typical German name). 3.) It wasn’t until the third film, **Son of Frankenstein** , that we got “Ygor” (note the weird spelling), played by Bela Lugosi. Previous assistants had been mean, but Ygor was _evil_. This film was made by different people and re-imagined things (for one thing, it wasn’t set in Ingolstadt, but in the town of Frankenstein) and was _highly_ artsy and stylized. 4.) Despite getting killed off, they brought back Bela as Ygor for another go at it in **Ghost of Frankenstein** (which featured yet _another_ Frankenstein son) 5.) **House of Frankenstein** gave us still another assistant – not named Ygor, but “Daniel”. Danny was the first _bona fide_ Hunchbacked Assistant. 6.) When people started characterizing the films in the 1950s and beyond, they obviously took the more memorable elements from the various Universal films. Assistants with twisted stature or almost-broken necks aren’t as picturesque as downright hunchbacks. “Fritz”, “Karl” and “Daniel” don’t sound anywhere as threatening as “Ygor”. Then they normalized the spelling to “Igor”, because nobody could remember that it started with “Y”. 7.) By the way, in Young Frankenstein, Marty Feldman’s character’s name clearly IS pronounced “EE-gore”. But he claims it’s “EYE-gore” because he’s responding to Frankenstein’s presumption in insisying on “FRAHN-kon-steen” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/90 "2012-03-01T16:05:47Z")
**Cal** , you’ve clearly given a lot of attention to The Igor Conundrum. Thanks! ---
**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:** [March 1, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/91 "2012-03-01T16:37:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **Cal** , you’ve clearly given a lot of attention to The Igor Conundrum. Thanks! I just watched every Frankenstein film I could lay my hands on a couple of months ago, because I was moderating a discussion on Frankenstein in Popular Culture at January;s Arisia. I watched a _lot_ of films (and read a lotta books – Frank is a popular topic.) Gotta do something with that pent-up knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/92 "2012-03-01T16:41:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …Gotta do something with that pent-up knowledge. Don’t be fool! There some things that man was not meant to meddle with. ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/93 "2012-03-01T17:49:47Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Overpopulation is mentioned in 2009’s [Pandorum](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1188729/). Overpopulation was also one of the two major reasons why people were going back in time in [Terra Nova](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_(TV_series)) from last fall (the other was “declining air quality”). ---
**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:** [March 1, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/94 "2012-03-01T23:22:52Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Actually I’m pretty sure everyone outranked him except Will & Penny (& possibly the monkey). Well, he was a stowaway, who had tried to kill them all. I’d say that’s justification for demotion at least. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/95 "2012-03-01T23:31:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > And quantum is the new genetic. There’s nothing modern SF won’t try to explain away with the judicious application of quantum mechanics. Or nannites, although I think those are sort-of phasing out, currently… So I guess they’re a dying trope. I know the ‘savage alien’ thing isn’t dying out, but the ‘savage alien that the civilized (white, male) human is intrinsically superior to’ thing seems to’ve gone the way of the dodo. I’m betting Disney’s version of John Carter won’t resurrect the trope (or if it does, it’s only the -bad guy- aliens that John is intrinsically superior to). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/96 "2012-03-01T23:53:00Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > I know the ‘savage alien’ thing isn’t dying out, but the ‘savage alien that the civilized (white, male) human is intrinsically superior to’ thing seems to’ve gone the way of the dodo. AVATAR came pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/97 "2012-03-02T06:02:05Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > AVATAR came pretty close. On the contrary. That was totally old school: “Noble savages teach civilized man how to get in touch with nature and his innermost self, leading him to turn his back on his own grasping, acquisitive, soulless culture.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115/98 "2012-03-02T06:24:31Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > On the contrary. That was totally old school: “Noble savages teach civilized man how to get in touch with nature and his innermost self, leading him to turn his back on his own grasping, acquisitive, soulless culture.” He doesn’t merely turn his back on that culture, though; he leads the _had-been-getting-their-asses-kicked_ natives to victory against it, after impressing said natives by swooping in like the chosen one on the great leonopteryx that none of the savages could tame since lo the long-ago days of our father’s father’s father’s father. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-scifi-tropes-that-have-fallen-out-of-use/614115.md?page=4)