History Main / AllTheoriesAreTrue

-->'''Gohan''': I've been studying theoretical physics, although at this point I guess it's just physics
-->-- ''On Trunks proving time travel in WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, a number of fringe theories are quite true, including the Counter-Earth idea and the underlying explanation of nearly all non-magical superpowers deriving from Creator/JackKirby's use of AncientAstronauts in the 1970s series ''Comicbook/TheEternals''. Similarly, from the 1980s to TheNewTens, TimeTravel obeyed the rules of the many-worlds hypothesis as well.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston, liquid heat, was real then... despite having since been disproven as a theory. Tom even pointed out at the time that phlogiston's existence is pure conjecture, and doesn't seem to buy that Saveen has discovered it until it almost kills him. What was more disturbing was how the villain somehow managed to ''invent'' a way to create phlogiston, despite the idea being bunk.

* As part of its satirical use of ConspiracyTheory elements, ''[[Literature/FoucaultsPendulum Foucault's Pendulum]]'' employs a number of fringe theories, including the telluric currents idea. However, the novel is as much a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope (and the Conspiracy Theory and AllMythsAreTrue tropes) as anything, so it's ambiguous whether the theories are true or whether some of the characters are simply perceiving reality from an unusual angle.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has a lot of fun with fringe science. Most notably the way the word "quantum" can be used to justify anything, and the morphogenic field. (The ''TabletopGame/DiscworldRoleplayingGame'' notes that all theories of morphic resonance are true on the Disc, ''including the ones that contradict each other''). Not to mention the whole "the world is flat" thing, y'know?

* ''Other Songs'', a [[NoExportForYou not-yet-translated]] novel by Polish author Creator/JacekDukaj, is set on alternate Earth where Aristotle was right.[[note]]Well, not ''fully'' right; let's say as much as Newton was right in our world.[[/note]]
* Several short works by Hugo-winner Ted Chiang follow this formula, including one in which the tower of Babel does in fact reach the sky (Tower of Babylon), and another exploring the ultimate consequences in a world where the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preformationism preformationist]] hypothesis is accurate (Seventy-Two Letters).

* Kate Elliot's ''Crown of Stars'' series is set in a world in which the Peripatetic theory of a geocentric universe within a series of nested crystal spheres in which are contained the stars and the planets is true. It is still possible to go to the stars, although obviously the experience is a much different one. One character actually speculates on what, in the world of the story, is the fringe theory that the universe might be a heliocentric one in which the stars and planets float in a vacuum, but rejects it.

* A notable SpiritualSuccessor, ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' also uses this trope as its premise.
* Ditto the short-lived series ''Series/DarkSkies'', based on [=UFOlogy=] and other 1960s ConspiracyTheory lore.
* In ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', the existence of the Kromaggs (humanoid creatures that evolved instead of ''Homo sapiens'' in various parallel universes) is ascribed to "Killer Ape Theory," a controversial theory in the 1950s about early ''human'' evolution. Notably the real world, Killer Ape Theory tries to explain the divergence between humans and the other apes, while in the show the theory was appropriated to explain the divergence between Homo sapiens and Kromaggs from a common stock. And guess where the name "Kromagg" comes from?
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', Dr. Daniel Jackson became the laughingstock of the archeological community with his theories that aliens built the pyramids. The premise of the series is that he was, of course, right.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' setting for second edition TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, while fantasy, used such ideas as worlds being surrounded by crystal spheres and floating in phlogiston.
* A big part of the [[MadScientist Sons of Ether]] brand in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' is science that go beyond conventional ideas of the "possible".

* In ''RiseOfLegends'', helicopters follow Leonardo Da Vinci's "aerial screw" drawings, long since proven aerodynamically impossible.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston, liquid heat, was real then... despite having since been disproven as a theory. Tom even pointed out at the time that phlogiston's existence is pure conjecture, and doesn't seem to buy that Saveen has discovered it until it almost kills him.
** What was more disturbing was how the villain somehow managed to ''invent'' a way to create phlogiston, despite the idea being bunk.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has a lot of fun with fringe science. Most notably the way the word "quantum" can be used to justify anything, and the morphogenic field. (''TabletopGame/GURPSDiscworld'' notes that all theories of morphic resonance are true on the Disc, ''including the ones that contradict each other'').
** Not to mention the whole "the world is flat" thing, y'know?

* For its part, the Franchise/DCUniverse has long relied on the parallel-worlds theory, an inheritance from its prominence TheGoldenAgeOfScienceFiction. Writer Gardner Fox and editor Julius Schwartz were heavily involved in that industry before and while they worked in comics, explaining its use as the spine of the comics' cosmology.

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, a number of fringe theories are quite true, including the Counter-Earth idea and the underlying explanation of nearly all non-magical superpowers deriving from JackKirby's use of AncientAstronauts in the 1970s series ''Comicbook/TheEternals''. Similarly, from the 1980s to TheNewTens, TimeTravel obeyed the rules of the many-worlds hypothesis as well.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Dark Heart" gives us a working example of a Von Neumann machine, an unproven concept in engineering. Unsurprisingly, the episode was written by Warren Ellis, mentioned above in the comic book examples section.

-->-- ''On Trunks proving time travel in DragonBallZAbridged''

* For its part, the DCUniverse has long relied on the parallel-worlds theory, an inheritance from its prominence TheGoldenAgeOfScienceFiction. Writer Gardner Fox and editor Julius Schwartz were heavily involved in that industry before and while they worked in comics, explaining its use as the spine of the comics' cosmology.

* In the MarvelUniverse, a number of fringe theories are quite true, including the Counter-Earth idea and the underlying explanation of nearly all non-magical superpowers deriving from JackKirby's use of AncientAstronauts in the 1970s series ''Comicbook/TheEternals''. Similarly, from the 1980s to TheNewTens, TimeTravel obeyed the rules of the many-worlds hypothesis as well.

* The uses of the ether theory in the CthulhuMythos is an example of this trope rather than ScienceMarchesOn, as the theory had been disproven some decades before and the Mythos elsewhere uses elements of the relativistic theories that displaced the assumptions behind the ether.

* In ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', the existence of the Kromaggs (humanoid creatures that evolved instead of ''Homo sapiens'' in various parallel universes) is ascribed to "Killer Ape Theory," which was a theory held by many 19th century naturalists about early ''human'' evolution. Notable in that in the real world, Killer Ape Theory tried (very inadequately) to explain the divergence between humans and the other apes, in the show the theory was appropriated to explain the divergence between Homo sapiens and Kromaggs from a common stock. And guess where the name "Kromagg" comes from?

---> Gohan remarking Trunks proving time travel in DragonBallZAbridged

* JamesJoyce frequently uses the archaic cosmological ideas of Giambattista Vico in his literary works; ''Literature/FinnegansWake in particular uses vico's version of eternal return as one of its basic structural principles.

* Creator/GrantMorrison loves treating fringe science claims as true in his comics, whether it's the "morphogenetic field" in ''Comicbook/AnimalMan'' or Masaru Emoto's theory that water has feelings coming true in a chapter of ''SevenSoldiers''.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has a lot of fun with fringe science. Most notably the way the word "quantum" can be used to justify anything, and the morphogenic field. (''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Discworld'' notes that all theories of morphic resonance are true on the Disc, ''including the ones that contradict each other'').

* The ''{{Spelljammer}}'' setting for second edition TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, while fantasy, used such ideas as worlds being surrounded by crystal spheres and floating in phlogiston.

** It's also how [[EldritchLocation Bardos]] work. A theory of the universe is proven to be untrue? Then it simply spins off into an alternate dimension where it is. Certain Bardos include a model of the universe where the planets are crystal spheres pushed through seas of aether by gigantic archangels, a dystopia that demonstrates both the failures and successes of Soviet totalitarianism, a [[JohnCarterOfMars Barsoom]]-like vision of Mars that came into existence when the Viking rover pictures came back, and the Hollow Earth, which is populated by both every sort of prehistoric creatures and Nazis.

* ''CommandAndConquer: Red Alert'' previously used Tesla Coils as {{death ray}}s. Though it used to be thought this was possible, it isn't.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortess2'' will occasionally slip on this, mostly since it relies on RuleOfFunny and could never, ''ever'' be considered serious. Specifically, the theory of phlogiston seems to hold some degree of truth in their universe.

The SciFiCounterpart of AllMythsAreTrue, this is when long-obsolete, fringe, or disproven scientific theories are considered true for the purposes of either RuleOfCool or [[ArtMajorPhysics Art Major Technology]]. Examples should be distinguished from ScienceMarchesOn, as in this trope's case the use of dodgy science is quite deliberate. This is sometimes a supertrope of AncientAstronauts, LamarckWasRight, GeneticMemory, PsychicDreamsForEveryone and many other tropes found right here on this wiki, and arguably underpins most modern uses of alchemy in SpeculativeFiction. It's also rampant in SteamPunk, which is often set in universes where, for example, the theory of the aether is true.

* The uses of the ether theory in the CthuluMythos is an example of this trope rather than ScienceMarchesOn, as the theory had been disproven some decades before and the Mythos elsewhere uses elements of the relativistic theories that displaced the assumptions behind the ether.

In purely scientific terms, the title of this trope is somewhat inaccurate. A Theory is actually something that has been proven and has been comprehensively explained. A Law is something that has been proven but has not been explained. This Trope refers to Hypotheses, predictions which are then tested to become Laws or be invalidated.

* As part of its satirical use of ConspiracyTheory elements, ''[[Literature/FoucaultsPendulum Fpoucault's Pendulum]] employs a number of fringe theories, including the telluric currents idea. However, the novel is as much a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope (and the Conspiracy Theory and AllMythsAreTrue tropes) as anything, so it's ambiguous whether the theories are true or whether some of the characters are simply perceiving reality from an unusual angle.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston, liquid heat, was real then... despite having since been disproven as a theory. Tom even pointed out at the time that phlogiston's existence is pure conjecture, and doesn't seem to buy that Saveen has discovered it until it almost kills him.

[[folder:WebComics]]
* GaslampFantasy ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is all about this, but then, at least one character states that a strong spark is actually a RealityWarper.