10 BEST SCI FI TROPES IN FICTION

One of the tropes i always hate is with Humans in the future always basically being America or the UN with Democracy reigning, when in reality a state like the UN would as soon as it has to deal with the problems with space would have the issue that ancient Rome did where their system was made for a city not an Empire which lead to the civil wars under Caesar and Augustus with it culminating in a radical change in Politics, such would happen to Humanity.

About the robot buddy, does an obviously robotic remote body count? Like character can't personally come with the main character and uses a remote body styled after like tin man or iron giant.

You know what’s interesting about the “robot/cyborg buddy” trope? Those characters are, nine times out of ten, very obviously autistic coded. If the characters themselves are treated as a sapient person, then they’re probably going to be autistic coded. If not? Usually they’re more treated as a pet or a joke. (Or the character is coded as some other neurological condition)

I just find it really interesting how writers often don’t realize what real-world effects tropes can have. And how some tropes come with some unintended messages. And how the robot companion “doesn’t really understand how humans work” and how that’s “funny” is a really big example of how insulting that can come off as to autistic people who identify with those characters. Often times the lack of understanding of humans mirrors actual autistic experiences with social difficulties. So it being somehow funny or cute is just kinda,,, demeaning, and odd.

BUT DON’T GET ME WRONG!! I love these kinds of tropes. I really enjoy those characters, they make me very happy. I just wish people were more mindful of what messages they could be unintentionally sending to their audience. If you want to write a autistic nonhuman character, then go for it. Just make sure you handle the character and your audience with respect.

Is that shrill voice for real or is it a schtick? I'm sorry but I couldn't watch more than a couple of minutes.

The zenon reference was nice

She has a squeaky voice, LOL!

If you like a robot companion that doesn't understand human behavior then I'd recommend Titanfall 2.
You play as Jack Cooper who pilots a giant, sentient robot named BT. They have a few "haha, robot doesn't understand a joke" moments but develop a strong connection. At one point they find a dead guy and BT says "Now we can complete the mission", disregarding the loss of human life. Cooper can say "That's cold, BT" and BT responds with something like "Correct. Scans show that his body is has reached 12 degrees Celsius"
It's a 4 hour campaign that's stuck with everyone that's played it.

You basically want a Fantasy story set in space/the future. That has nothing to do with Science Fiction. I felt like I was listening to a 12 yo watching this video.

This video is about such a specific type of sci-fi: soft sci-fi set in the far future that are easy to understand and not truly realistic and backed by science. It's more fiction than science. I prefer the opposite

Robot buddy, I love the cat in Lightyear

I was hoping for a serious view on Sci-Fi tropes.

Are you saying Hermes was a boring character? Space bureaucracy is enthralling.

Honestly, an administrative agent sounds like the most realistic depiction of a world of science fiction probably still riddled with bureaucracy and cyclical populistic politics. If written well, you CAN do lots of introspective narration and societal commentary that also has the chance at being hilarious. Think about it, I'm snapping up that arc for later use.

I happen to love the book with the filing system. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The problem with sci-fi/ space fantasy is that, in spite of being populated by millions of alien species, there are no Mexicans. Not even drug dealers nor murderers. Trump did build the wall and then shot it into space to keep me out. Pinche bato.

Love this!

If you watch scifi for "pew pew pew", then you don't even like scifi.
You like space operas.
I'd take Dick over Lucas or Roddenberry any day.

We had Teal'c first!

Honestly a comedy about sci fi administrative assistant is something I would eat up

I love Jenna, but today her voice is especially high-pitched and annoying

Readers are smart, but some enjoy the hard sci-fi with the science behind it.
Dune is hard sci-fi, Star Trek is soft sci-fi. One pays attention to science as well as the story, the other just wants to tell a story.

When your characters are off the clock what's their casual look like? (Cargo pants and a shirt, leggings & whatever was clean , pajama pants & underwear, nothing at all?) Does it clash with their environment? Nudist works poorly in a pressure hull, or where your neighbors aware of every time you break wind.
Or maybe it's a cultural development? No one cares what your wearing cause everyone has seen everyone else's stuff every time you jump anywhere cause cryo causes the blisters from hell if you're wearing anything. Battlestar Galactica did reasonably well with the whole hey these pilots live in a pressurized tube hurtling through space together any sense of privacy got jettisoned out an air lock years ago.

I'm currently writing a sci-fi novel for NaNoWriMo 2022, and I feel vindicated with the "the audience is smart" trope! Sometimes I worry that I'm using these made-up terms that no one will understand, but I also don't want to remove the realism of dialogue and internal monologuing. I just trust that my audience can understand that a "nix" is a unit of time that's longer than a day, spolla tubers and renadde berries are alien foods, and Sentarus and Crysola are planets the main character has been to. It feels stilted to stop and explain those things, so I'm putting faith in my audience that they're willing to infer some information and use their brains!

I honestly wonder if you have ever read actual science fiction like Philip K. Dick and not just young adult novels or thrillers set into a futuristic or whatever world. It is like the difference between Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. Star Trek explored new ideas and concepts, such as time travel, alternate dimensions and the simulation theory, while Battlestar Galactica is basically a soap set in the future.

I perked up when you said fashion is cyclical, because I imagined the main character in my sci-fi story being dressed like a 1920s/inspector gadget looking dude XD

I think as far as sci-fi goes, cyberpunk tends to show a better exploration of social and cultural shifts brought on by advancing technology in comparison to, say, space opera, that tends to be more dated in spite of supposedly taking place a lot later. I can't count how many space operas and westerns that basically seem like they're taking place in the early 2000s / when they were produced, rather than in the future. The people even talk exactly like we do, all wear leather for some reason, and carry current day firearms. Whereas I've encountered "near future" sci-fi stories that feel far more alien, because they not only show a progression in technology but of culture and society as well. We must never forget that technology impacts culture, but culture impacts technology and its use as well.

You talk like Grace Randolph, no offense

The Universe is ending. (No one had time to pack) Jan Burston the space equivilent of a pizza guy was recovering from a hangover when they saw a vision. Not the usual drunken s*** This was the holy kind. The kind you kind of paid attention to. The pantheon of gods are being targeted. She needs to find them quick before they get massacared. Gemini the twins of out there woo woo socialites are first. Tropes...

hmmm Truman Show meets Matrix. A person whom is socially awkward and a borderline sociopath. They live thier lives but have conspiracy theories when thier ideas keep appearing. They begin to suspect that they are being spied upon. Society changes about them and they see what they predict come to pass.
By the end, they are actually an AI. An intelligence designed as a predictive algorythm. It became self aware and so was designed to live out a person continuously living out a benal existance to keep it occupied but it's ideas fuelled progress. Tropes.
An alternate take on Truman show actually. If Truman was an AI... Everyone watched his "fantasies" True ... man. If you applied this idea to the existing movie and cut out a few scenes. Bookend the Story Truman's first scene is him opening the door to the Bathroom, his last scene is him opening a door.
There. If you force an exceptional person to live an exceptional life, you learn nothing. If you force an expeptional person into a drab mundane, you get nuggets of ideas. Repeat over?

Disagree with #6. Cant take the science out of scify.

ignore comment







DONE

Well, sci-fi doesn’t need to be in the future tho

So most people in the future wouldn't be using modern slang or past slang, but hear me out: What if ONE person used it? And the other characters cringed? But they kept doing it?

get to the point

I'm taking a bit of ever sci Fi book and movie iv seen and make it a bit realistic
everyone is the bad guys you just get to decide who is the good guys to you .
ever empier is suffering economy depression of sorts ( don't say it not realistic because oh doy it very real proof look at your country before the Russian Ukraine war then look at how there effected after .)
plamza based weapon are very expensive so they mostly use projectial based weapons.
space ships are very costly the o.d.i.n ship and it two fleets ( there named after Odin's crows ) do cause the cytrogenis empier to have a bit of money problems . there will be a few war crimes laws ( Wich no country but a few will following) there will be 20 different languages ( don't worry I will make a translation book for it ) and the future well its not so good planets so spread out cloths are based off the soilders bodysuits Because a comman person who has been trained can be called into action and after a minute of them getting there gear on they can get into action ( very is trained in the amry on most planets due to how the war is effecting the world )
sciences stuff ( I'll make a book that talks about the Galaxy so if you want to learn about the science and shit you can find that ).
some gods exist ( there all asshole in there own ways)
and because why not we have a zombie like virus Wich is basically a fungus that evolved to effect humans .( we have one that effects ants in real life I forget it name thought)
gay people aren't in my book since the people are to focused on having children ( someone already got pissy about it I may make a gay character in the future just to make your guys happy )
there will be forms of racism in my story like this race hates this race for some reason that I'll smoke in the future . iv been making this universe since the pandemic started.

(Hahaha, I like you! You are straight-raw! Gratitude sharing of your knowledge.)

In Stargate we had Ronin? Ronin? Seriously? Teal'c had nearly a decade on that watery edgelord and a much better character arc and overall storyline. Otherwise, a great video and advice. Thank you very much.

I must admit that the Artificial Being buddy also is one of my favourite tropes too! Not only in science-fiction! In fantasy, for example, you can have a golem or something like the Creature of Frankenstein.
Tackling humans' culture and shenanigans is always funny. It also can bring you (the author) some interesting thoughts about our kind as you analyse and put in perspective what you know.

I think it’s interesting to have a “buff warrior” who isn’t from the “buff warrior” species. That’s what I did lol. My buff warrior is form a planet of dwarves

I am not sure how I got here but I am staying! This channel is amazing!!!!!!!

Multiverse and time travel are top 1 and 2 for me

changing the slang doesn't really make sense bc u wont understand it anyway
the language will also change but it wouldn't make any sense changing it bc you won't understand it

You're so funny

Hey, thanks for that world anvil thing. I’m checking it out now and I’m going to stop because it’s time to put my head down and dream about my new world where everything is romance and love and the people are softer than Persian cats.

I hope this world building site will be able to give me some ideas. Thanks for plugging this one. I think I will give at least anyway the free version a try.