History Main / AndSomeOtherStuff

* Parodied in strip during the ''Last Laugh'' CrisisCrossover in Franchise/TheDCU. The strip had a scientist explaining how to make [[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker venom]], but censored out the names of various ingredients, [[JackhammeredConversation only leaving comments]] like "You'll need to go to the hardware store for that".[[note]]The few legible items he holds up are a bleach-like jug, a can of roach spray, a bag of BBQ smoking woodchips, and -- for some reason -- frozen broccoli florets.[[/note]] The joke is, of course, being that you couldn't make the entirely fictitious Joker venom even if you did know what it contained.

* Parodied in strip during the ''Last Laugh'' CrisisCrossover in Franchise/TheDCU. The strip had ComicBook/TheJoker explaining how to make his lethal Joker venom but censored out the names of various ingredients [[JackhammeredConversation but left in comments]] like "You'll need to go to the hardware store for that". The joke, of course, being that you couldn't make the entirely fictitious Joker venom even if you did know what it contained.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E5FatManAndLittleBoy Fat Man and Little Boy]]", Homer looks up directions online for how to build a home nuclear reactor. The descriptions of the "other stuff" are obviously based on RuleOfFunny, while the single ''named'' ingredient is both the most dangerous and nigh-impossible to get hold of anyway.

* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', Mr. Wednesday manages to scam money out of a cashier by constantly switching between credit cards and cash. In his notes Creator/NeilGaiman says what Wednesday did ''is'' do-able, but he deliberately fuzzed the edges so that readers wouldn't be able to figure out exactly how he did it and thus pull their own scams. (Although that didn't stop someone from using another scam featured in the book to actually rob a bank.)

* Creator/MichaelCrichton's book ''Literature/ACaseOfNeed'' had a note indicating that the relatively simple synthesis of LSD from lysergic acid had been removed due to legal concerns.
* In ''Literature/CatchMeIfYouCan'', the book the film was based on, Frank Abagnale talks a lot about this and that detail he imitated to make his fake checks. However, he never specifically says ''how'' he put all the elements together to make such excellent fake checks, beyond "printing them himself" and "hiring a small-time printer in Europe to print them". ''Literature/TheArtOfTheSteal2002'' specifies he has no interest in sharing the exact details, either now or back when he was in prison.

-->People say the real thing was a rampant aphrodisiac, but I say there's not enough love in the world.
* The novelization of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]" actually goes into some detail of how Ace made her first nitro explosive, but naturally some ingredients are left out.
* The Creator/StephenKing short story ''[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Dolan's Cadillac]]'' includes instructions on how to hot wire a car, but as King mentions in his notes, he left out some steps.
* A variation is seen in Frederick Douglass' autobiography, in which, after describing the events leading up to his escape in great detail, he very deliberately skips over explaining how he actually did it. In his case, however, he wasn't trying to conceal the details from others who might seek to ''follow'' him, but rather from the pro-slavery factions who would take action to ''prevent'' others from doing the same. Douglass did eventually reveal the details after the end of the Civil War.
* In-universe in ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''. The titular doctor is deliberately vague about how he created the monster and "infused it with the spark of life". The sailor he's telling his story to tries to inquire further, but Frankenstein refuses because he doesn't want anyone else to replicate his experiment. All of the details popularity-associated with FrankensteinsMonster (being sew together from corpses or any kind of human flesh, use of electricity) [[LostInImitation originated in]] ''Film/Frankenstein1931''.

* Poked fun at in L. Frank Baum's ''[[Literature/LandOfOz The Magic of Oz]]'', in which one of the characters figures out how to pronounce the mysterious magical word, "pyrzqxgl". The narrator observes that he wouldn't dare write down the proper way to pronounce this word, lest it fall into the wrong hands, and advises the reader not to try to pronounce "pyrzqxgl" the right way, for fear of accidents.
* In ''Literature/MaximumRide'', the titular character narratively states that hotwiring a car doesn't take two wires being forced together, rather a few operations and other things. This is deliberate, as she doesn't want dedicated readers to become carjackers.
* Similarly, Diana Gabaldon's ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'' series is factually based but vague about abortifacents and penicillin, lest those playing along at home want to try, while perfectly candid about other medical subjects.

* It's not explosive, but it is dangerous: [[FantasyContraception "moon tea"]] in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is based on natural abortifacients such as tansy and pennyroyal, which were historically used, but produced nasty side effects at best and would straight-up kill a woman if the mixture was even slightly off. George R R Martin [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/A_Myriad_of_Questions/ "added a few fantasy touches"]] because he didn't want anybody trying this at home.\\
The Inn At the Crossroads ASOIAF cooking site made a recipe for tansy tea, noting that: "Nobody should drink this tea for its Westerosi purpose. In fact, nobody should drink this tea at all..."
* In the afterword to Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears'' ([[Literature/JackRyan book]], not movie), Clancy admits to fudging some details of the workings and construction of nuclear weapons, in an effort to not help anyone with unkind intentions involving nukes (though he also acknowledges, if somewhat cynically, it probably won't actually stop anything).

* Back in TheEighties, ''Series/MacGyver1985'' himself was omitting steps for his explosive solutions. In fact, this was a staple of the series, with Mac doing a realistic bit of home chemistry or engineering and strategically leaving out significant ingredients and steps so people couldn't replicate it at home.

* In-universe in ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''. The titular doctor is deliberately vague about how he created the monster and "infused it with the spark of life". The sailor he's telling his story to tries to inquire further, but Frankenstein refuses because he doesn't want anyone else to replicate his experiment. All of the details popularity-associated with FrankensteinsMonster (being sew together from corpses or any kind of human flesh, use electricity) [[LostInImitation originated in]] ''Film/Frankenstein1931''.

* In-universe in ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''. The titular doctor is deliberately vague about how he created the monster and "infused it with the spark of life". The sailor he's telling his story to tries to inquire further, but Frankenstein refuses because he doesn't want anyone else to replicate his experiment. PopCultureOsmosis notwithstanding, there is no confirmation from Victor himself that the monster was [[Franchise/{{Frankenstein}} sewed together from corpses, that electricity is used, or what role existing human flesh played in the creation, if any]].

* In ''Manga/SpyXFamily'', one surviving member of the Red Circus plans to build a bomb and kill Yor with it, thinking about how the ingredients can be found in the chic restaurant's storage. The actual ingredients are redacted with black (and bleeped out in the anime), to avoid the audience even attempting to replicate it, though the color found on the containers are overall left alone.

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-->-- ''Series/BurnNotice'', "Lesser Evil"

* The magic potion in the ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' comics is made from lobster, mistletoe, fish, petroleum, and an unspecified number of other ingredients Getafix refuses to name because the complete recipe is a druidic secret. The only reason he revealed the latter two ingredients was because he ran out and needed to send Asterix out to get more. The ingredients of the HorribleHangoverCure potion Asterix invents by accident in ''[[Recap/AsterixAndTheLaurelWreath Asterix and the Laurel Wreath]]'' is listed in full, however. Hopefully nobody ever tried to cure their hangover by drinking a soup made from (among other things) an unplucked chicken and soap.

** Earlier, a group of semi-possessed citizens are setting up an impromptu death cult/mass suicide by mixing chemicals in a bucket. When Madoka sees them doing this, she's reminded of a lecture from her mother about NOT mixing them. The bottles' label text is never shown.

* Completely averted in ''Manga/DrStone'': When Senku makes gunpowder, he says the exact ratio of ingredients needed and explains how to mix the ingredients together. The out-of-canon character [[RobotMe Mecha Senku]] appears to [[BreakingTheFourthWall warn the audience]] that this ''will'' actually make gunpowder, [[DontTryThisAtHome so don't try it]].

Not all writers think ViewersAreMorons. Still, they don't want to teach their audience how to make bombs. Something about "not wanting to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent souls." Wimps?

So, to avoid liability issues and criminal charges, some critical ingredient for the explosive is removed, replaced (with something less volatile), or referred to [[UnusualEuphemism vaguely]] (as "stuff", "my secret ingredient", or similar).

SpeculativeFiction will usually make the "other stuff" {{Unobtanium}} or some real life substance that the average person is ''highly'' unlikely to ever come across (e.g. Uranium, {{Antimatter}}). See also DontTryThisAtHome.

This wasn't always the case. One educational TV show ''for kids'' that was about rock quarries and marble, mentioned that to break the rock apart they used an explosive made of diesel fuel and fertilizer, now commonly known as ANFO.

** Bringing the above two together, Mythbusters took a hack at some of the chemistry on Breaking Bad, proving in short order that hydrofluoric acid wasn't quite nasty enough to actually eat through a bathtub. What was? Sulfuric acid and "special sauce", which Adam and Jamie refused to elaborate on. Those who know a bit of chemistry trivia might suspect that the "special sauce" was actually reagent-grade hydrogen peroxide, which when combined with H[[subscript:2]]SO[[subscript:4]] produces a spectacularly violent glassware cleaning product called "piranha solution".

* InUniverse in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. In episode 2 of ''Brotherhood'', Ed exactingly lists the chemical composition of a human body (down to "silicon, 3 grams") just before his and Al's disastrous attempt at human transmutation. In the next episode, Ed rattles off the same list to Rose, but with everything less than 100 grams elided under "various other things".
* Completely averted in ''Manga/DrStone'': When Senku makes gunpowder, he says the exact ratio of ingredients needed and explains how to mix the ingredients together. The out-of-canon character [[RobotMe Mecha Senku]] appears to [[BreakingTheFourthWall warn the audience]] that this ''will'' actually make gunpowder, [[DontTryThisAtHome so don't try it]].

* The magic potion in the ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' comics is made from lobster, mistletoe, fish, petroleum, and an unspecified number of other ingredients Getafix refuses to name because the complete recipe is a druidic secret. The only reason he revealed the latter two ingredients was because he ran out and needed to send Asterix out to get more. The ingredients of the hangover cure potion Asterix invents by accident in ''Asterix and the Laurel Wreath'' is listed in full, however. Hopefully nobody ever tried to cure their hangover by drinking a soup made from (among other things) an unplucked chicken and soap.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* The drugs that Zeke makes in ''Film/TheFaculty'' are made from "caffeine pills and some other household shit." Given that the drugs dehydrate the aliens to the point of killing them, the Other Stuff in this case is likely [=NaCl=] and [[YourMindMakesItReal dehydrated Placebo]], unless it's a case of BizarreAlienBiology.
* ''Film/HollowMan'' has the [[{{Invisibility}} Invisible Man]] creating nitroglycerin in the matter of five minutes or so (when it's such a volatile liquid you have to measure both temperature and quantities so the nitro doesn't explode while you're mixing it). And the movie doesn't show '''nitr'''ic acid among the substances he gets for the nitro (the bold there was an indicative to how crucial it is).
* In the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'''s 'verse, apparently you can make plastic explosive from moth balls, corn syrup and ammonia.

* ''Film/TheAggressionScale'' very carefully doesn't show exactly what Owen mixes to create the gas trap he places in the freezer. He grabs two large bottles from the cleaning supplies, so it seems likely that bleach and ammonia (which will create chloramine gases) are among the primary ingredients, but anything else is a mystery.
* In ''Film/GhostTown1988'', Kate uses the leftover black powder to create a bomb. When she throws it and it detonates in the midst of the undead outlaws, it explodes with a much greater ferocity and effectiveness than Langley was expecting; devasting much of the gang.
-->'''Langley:''' What was in that thing?\\
'''Kate:''' ''(defensively)'' ...Leftovers.

* In ''Literature/MaximumRide'', the titular character narratively states that hotwiring a car doesn't take two wires being forced together, rather a few operations and other things. This is deliberate, as she doesn't want dedicated readers to become carjackers.
* In-universe in ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''. The titular doctor is deliberately vague about how he created the monster and "infused it with the spark of life". The sailor he's telling his story to tries to inquire further, but Frankenstein refuses because he doesn't want anyone else to replicate his experiment. PopCultureOsmosis notwithstanding, there is no confirmation from Victor himself that the monster was [[Franchise/{{Frankenstein}} sewed together from corpses, that electricity is used, or what role existing human flesh played in the creation, if any]].
* In ''Literature/PeterPan'', the explanation that the children need to be sprinkled with "fairy dust" in order to fly was added by Barrie so that children would not jump out of windows thinking that they could fly if they believe they could.
* In the afterword to Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/TheSumOfAllFears'' ([[Literature/JackRyan book]], not movie), Clancy admits to fudging some details of the workings and construction of nuclear weapons, in an effort to not help anyone with unkind intentions involving nukes (though he also acknowledges, if somewhat cynically, it probably won't actually stop anything).
* It's not explosive, but it is dangerous: [[FantasyContraception "moon tea"]] in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is based on natural abortifacients such as tansy and pennyroyal, which were historically used, but produced nasty side effects at best and would straight-up kill a woman if the mixture was even slightly off. George R R Martin [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/A_Myriad_of_Questions/ "added a few fantasy touches"]] because he didn't want anybody trying this at home.\\
The Inn At the Crossroads ASOIAF cooking site made a recipe for tansy tea, noting that: "Nobody should drink this tea for its Westerosi purpose. In fact, nobody should drink this tea at all..."
* Similarly, Diana Gabaldon's ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'' series is factually based but vague about abortifacents and penicillin, lest those playing along at home want to try, while perfectly candid about other medical subjects.

* Poked fun at in L. Frank Baum's ''[[Literature/LandOfOz The Magic of Oz]]'', in which one of the characters figures out how to pronounce the mysterious magical word, "pyrzqxgl". The narrator observes that he wouldn't dare write down the proper way to pronounce this word, lest it fall into the wrong hands, and advices the reader not to try to pronounce "pyrzqxgl" the right way, for fear of accidents.

* In ''Armadale'' by Creator/WilkieCollins, the chemicals used to create a poisonous gas (probably carbon monoxide) are described only as 'Our Stout Friend' and 'a certain mineral Substance'.
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', Mr. Wednesday manages to scam money out of a cashier by constantly switching between credit cards and cash. In his notes Creator/NeilGaiman says what Wednesday did ''is'' do-able, but he deliberately fuzzed the edges so that readers wouldn't be able to figure out exactly how he did it and thus pull their own scams. (Although that didn't stop someone from using another scam featured in the book to actually rob a bank.)
* Amusingly lampshaded in ''The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History'', which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Throughout the book, there are obviously sarcastic suggestions for "activities," such as hanging someone upside down by the ankle or tarring and feathering someone. Then, in the World War One section, they have what they claim is a recipe for mustard gas. At the end of the recipe, the author admits it's a recipe for fudge, since, in spite of all the ''other'' "activities" in the book, ''this'' is the one the publisher made them take out, since someone might actually make mustard gas. "We assume you all are smarter than that, [[ThinkOfTheCensors but the publisher said we could get sued]]. So make some fudge! Everyone loves fudge."
* In ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', Lanyon recognizes a few of the ingredients used to make the potion (salt, phosphorous, blood-red liquor, ether), but the rest are unidentified. Even ''Jekyll himself'' doesn't know all the ingredients in the potion. He's almost certain that the original potion [[MiraculousMalfunction only worked because of some unknown impurity in one of the mineral salts]], but he never figured out what that impurity was.
* In ''Literature/CatchMeIfYouCan'', the book the film was based on, Frank Abagnale talks a lot about this and that detail he imitated to make his fake checks. However, he never specifically says ''how'' he put all the elements together to make such excellent fake checks, beyond "printing them himself" and "hiring a small-time printer in Europe to print them". ''Literature/TheArtOfTheSteal2002'' specifies he has no interest in sharing the exact details, either now or back when he was in prison.
* Averted in ''Literature/GeorgesMarvellousMedicine'', in which every ingredient is named as it is added. They still add a warning at the beginning though.
* The novelization of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Remembrance of the Daleks" actually goes into some detail of how Ace made her first nitro explosive, but naturally some ingredients are left out.

* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', there was the time in "Family Business" when Fiona made homemade explosives that looked and acted like C-4 using "spackle, petroleum jelly, and a bunch of other things I don't even wanna know about."
* Back in TheEighties, ''Series/MacGyver1985'' himself was omitting steps for his explosive solutions. In fact, this was a staple of the series, with Michael doing a realistic bit of home chemistry or engineering and strategically leaving out significant ingredients and steps so people couldn't replicate it at home.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** The creators had a real live DEA agent come in to teach the writers how to actually cook meth, so that they could then carefully (and invisibly) subvert the processes shown on screen, retaining verisimilitude while actually offering directions on how to produce pseudoephedrine, an over-the-counter nasal decongestant. Also, the difficulty of procuring the raw materials (which include some of the most highly DEA-controlled chemicals there are) means that anyone who tries to copy the TV show (presumably because [[ComicallyMissingThePoint they have a stuffy nose]])[[note]]Many of the ingredients in meth are actually legal to buy, though doing so in bulk quantities may cause the police to investigate you to make sure you aren't planning to use them to make meth, as most people wouldn't have a use for large quantities of said chemicals if they weren't going to turn them into narcotics[[/note]] will be facing down the police in fairly short order.
** Bringing the above two together, Mythbusters took a hack at some of the chemistry on Breaking Bad, proving in short order that hydrofluoric acid wasn't quite nasty enough to actually eat through a bathtub. What was? Sulfuric acid and "special sauce", which Adam and Jamie refused to elaborate on. Those who know a bit of chemistry trivia might suspect that the "special sauce" was actually reagent-grade hydrogen peroxide, which when combined with H[[subscript:2]]SO[[subscript:4]] produces a spectacularly violent glassware cleaning product called "piranha solution".

* Parodied as a ShoutOut in Music/LadyGaga's video for "Telephone", where a poison recipe requires the use of [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquer Tiberium]], [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Meta-cyanide]], and [[Franchise/StarWars Fex-M3]].
* Leslie Fish's ''Black Powder and Alcohol'' is a survivalist song about how to make, well, what it says. The details are probably too vague to be helpful, but she is honestly trying.

* ''Frog Detective: The Haunted Island'' goes the silly route, with Larry claiming he needs toothpaste, wool, a chunk of pure gold, and pasta to make an explosive. The detective replies, "Ah, so the standard explosive ingredients, then." It straddles the line between this trope and NoodleImplements, but it's made clear Larry is creating a bomb, so ingredients are basically just Noodle versions of And Some Other Stuff.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HfnWns8Gtc This]] ''WebAnimation/CivilProtection'' video parodies, then subverts, this trope. One of the characters is very careful not to say anything about how to build bombs, and the other says DontTryThisAtHome whilst explaining ''exactly'' what not to do. When asked why he's explaining how to make napalm, he says that he doesn't want people to do it [[ComicallyMissingThePoint by accident.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SitDownShutUp'', when [[ItMakesSenseInContext the school's meth lab]] got its own [[NoFourthWall semi-out-of-universe]] cooking show, the dub translator for the [[TheUnintelligible wacky foreign janitor]] refused to translate the instructions.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' did an episode about drugs where, instead of using real drugs, the drug-of-choice was having a cat pee in your face. One wonders if anyone in the real world attempted to use this technique, with hilarious failure (Though it should be noted there are other episodes where they just use real drugs). Trey and Matt were making fun of the panic over kids trying to get high on things that wouldn't be considered obviously dangerous (like cough syrup, prescription medication, or aerosol spray).
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Bobby gets a LoveInterest (voiced by Creator/LucyLiu) who tricks him into building a meth lab for his science fair project. All of the ingredients are explicitly shown, but the procedure is different than real meth preparation.