History Main / WeirdScience

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', a distinction is made between real-world everyday science and "Super-Science", the kind of science that can be acquitted to superheroes, supervillains and other speculative science fiction-based parts of the world (advanced robotic technologies, superpower bestowal, mind-control gas, etc).

''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later ''Magazine/{{Analog}}''), ''Unknown'' (also known as ''Unknown Worlds''), and ''Galaxy'' published generally high quality fiction. ''Magazine/AmazingStories'', ''Magazine/WeirdTales'' and ''Startling Stories'' and others occupied the middle strata while ''Captain Future'', ''Planet Stories'' and many, many others published the more shamelessly trashy material. (''Unknown'' and ''Weird Tales'' actually published mostly fantasy and horror, though individual ScienceFiction stories and elements would get incorporated in the stories too.) They specialized in imaginative stories of ScienceFiction, with the less highbrow magazines in particular having a good deal more "Boys Own Adventure" flair. The actual name ''Weird Science'' comes from EC Comics ComicBook, which tended to use the KarmicTwistEnding or, more rarely, the CruelTwistEnding. (EC also published ''Weird Fantasy'', actually another ScienceFiction comic, and merged the two titles later.)

* As noted above, the TropeNamer, EC's ''Weird Science''. EC also published ''Weird Fantasy''. They later merged the two publications into ''Weird Science-Fantasy'' (because sales had flagged). Later on they published the short-lived ''Incredible Science Fiction''.

* ''ComicBook/BlackScience'' is a GenreDeconstruction of this, playing many of it’s conventions for drama and horror. It takes particular influence from shows like ''Series/LostInSpace'', complete with a Dr. Smith {{Expy}}.

* With the creation of "Lisa" being the cornerstone, ''Film/WeirdScience'' was naturally about this trope (which in turn named the film, in an {{inverted t|rope}}wist on TropeNamer parameters).

* Homaged in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Far Beyond The Stars" where Captain Sisko falls into a coma and dreams that he's a science fiction writer for the 1950s PulpMagazine "Incredible Tales". [[OrWasItADream Or is he sci-fi writer Benny Russel escaping into a delusion based on his own writing?]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' runs on the outrageous science of 50s sci-fi flicks. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' takes this trope and runs with it. The first {{NPC}}s you meet in the expansion are a group of scientists who sound like they just came out of a 50's sci-fi flick. One of them has NoIndoorVoice, claiming that people keep tampering with his volume knob. They also use BuffySpeak when trying to repeat the names of the gadgets that the others among them have invented, and the main threat is a MadScientist who is [[WorldOfHam just as Hammy as everyone else.]]
-->'''Dr. Borous: ''WHAT HORRORS AWAIT THE LOBOTOMITE IN BIG MOUNTAIN!??''''' ...... [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Really, anyone know? I'm at a loss here.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000''.
* TabletopGame/{{GURPS IOU}} had the skill, '''Science!'''
** So does ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'', a celebration of the 20s pulp era.
*** Weird Science and Mad Science are playable advantages in the game - the former allows you to make advanced gadgets that would be possible by modern technology while the latter covers pretty much anything you can come up with (although the GM ''can'' make a GameBreaker prohibitively expensive...)
** TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} 4e actually has a skill called "Weird Science" which lets you invent ridiculous devices. Whether you are believed or they work is entirely dependent on the setting.
*** GURPS 4e also has "Science!" as a Wildcard skill, which can be substituted for ANY science skill but costs a ton to buy.
* Gnomes in many ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' settings, including TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}} and TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}.
** The ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting takes influence from this, in contrast to the HighFantasy style of most DND settings.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation shared universe is this plus {{Horror}}. Particularly notable for deriving quite a bit of said horror by [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructing]] this trope in a CrapsackWorld. In a world where LostTechnology and [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifacts of Doom]] are dug up every time a parking lot gets built, {{Teen Genius}}es build {{Doomsday Device}}s because they [[{{Wangst}} got dumped]], [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday the new toy store]] is selling [[TomeOfEldritchLore weird books]], [[TheGamePlaysYou unusual games]], {{Happy Fun Ball}}s and {{Creepy Doll}}s, ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight are all too real, and everyone on the planet is constantly playing SuperpowerRussianRoulette, few artifacts are viewed with as much fear and suspicion as the portal to a universe ''[[RealLife where the rules make sense]]''.

* [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally]]'s ''Pinball/DrDude'', which uses a Molecular Mixmaster and an E'''X'''cellent Ray to turn {{Nerd}}s into winners.

* WeekendInventor

Weird Science is the name for the style of storytelling made famous by the ScienceFiction "pulp" (named after the poor quality paper on which they got printed) magazines of the [[TheThirties 1930s]] and [[TheForties 1940s]]. By the [[TheFifties 1950s]], sales fell off, probably because of the advent of television. A few of these magazines had covers far trashier than the contents, others reveled in cheese with the writers entertaining no delusions that they created great art.

* As mentioned above this was a staple of the 30s and 40s pulps. Franchise/DocSavage lived off this in particular.

* ''The Chinatown Death Cloud'' and its sequel ''The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown'' by Paul Malmont pay homage to this era with a couple of yarns in which [[Franchise/DocSavage Lester Dent]], [[Literature/TheShadow Walter Gibson]], Creator/RobertAHeinlein, Creator/IsaacAsimov, Creator/LRonHubbard and other pulp writers investigate (and sometimes create) StockUnsolvedMysteries -- despite their very real flaws in comparison to the perfect straight-jawed heroes they churn out for a living.

** Careful with this one... while it certainly applies to the Lens itself and the principles it uses, the straightforward physics is harder than it looks. Most of the basic concepts, although [[UpToEleven taken to spectacular extremes]], are pretty sound according to the general understanding of physics and cosmology at the time the books were written. It's mainly a combination of the scale and spectacle, the way many of the ideas have been hit hard by ScienceMarchesOn, and certain persistent and oft-repeated misconceptions among the insufficiently-careful readership, which makes things look like this trope. Smith was a scientist himself, and in most of his works did mostly try to stick to what was more or less plausible at the time (with the exception of the ''Skylark'' series, where he did [[WordOfGod explicitly]] [[HollywoodScience abandon realism in the cause of spectacle]]).

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation shared universe is this plus {{Horror}} taken UpToEleven. Particularly notable for deriving quite a bit of said horror by [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructing]] this trope in a CrapsackWorld. In a world where LostTechnology and [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifacts of Doom]] are dug up every time a parking lot gets built, {{Teen Genius}}es build {{Doomsday Device}}s because they [[{{Wangst}} got dumped]], [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday the new toy store]] is selling [[TomeOfEldritchLore weird books]], [[TheGamePlaysYou unusual games]], {{Happy Fun Ball}}s and {{Creepy Doll}}s, ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight are all too real, and everyone on the planet is constantly playing SuperpowerRussianRoulette, few artifacts are viewed with as much fear and suspicion as the portal to a universe ''[[RealLife where the rules make sense]]''.

->''"From my heart and from my hand''\\
''Why don't people understand''\\
''My intentions..."''
-->-- '''Music/OingoBoingo'''

* ''The Chinatown Death Cloud'' and its sequel ''The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown'' by Paul Malmont pay homage to this era with a couple of yarns in which [[Franchise/DocSavage Lester Dent]], [[Radio/TheShadow Walter Gibson]], Creator/RobertAHeinlein, Creator/IsaacAsimov, Creator/LRonHubbard and other pulp writers investigate (and sometimes create) StockUnsolvedMysteries -- despite their very real flaws in comparison to the perfect straight-jawed heroes they churn out for a living.

** Careful with this one... while it certainly applies to the Lens itself and the principles it uses, the straightforward physics is [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness harder]] than it looks. Most of the basic concepts, although [[UpToEleven taken to spectacular extremes]], are pretty sound according to the general understanding of physics and cosmology at the time the books were written. It's mainly a combination of the scale and spectacle, the way many of the ideas have been hit hard by ScienceMarchesOn, and certain persistent and oft-repeated misconceptions among the insufficiently-careful readership, which makes things look like this trope. Smith was a scientist himself, and in most of his works did mostly try to stick to what was more or less plausible at the time (with the exception of the ''Skylark'' series, where he did [[WordOfGod explicitly]] [[HollywoodScience abandon realism in the cause of spectacle]]).

* AliensAndMonsters

-->-- '''Music/OingoBoingo''' [[InvokedTrope tells it like it is]]

* PowerRangers occasionally falls into this in its technology-based seasons.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''.