Line #20 Main/GibberingGenius


1	->''"I am Creator/JeffGoldblum, and [[TypeCasting I am in and of myself, uh, a stereotype]]."''
2	-->-- ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic''
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4	When the only person who gets to speak with [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic realistic diction]] is the brilliant but quirky scientist. Maybe you want to show that the character in question thinks so fast they they have to MotorMouth to try to keep up. To be less charitable to the actors and writers, maybe it's what perfectly sensible Clever Stuff sounds like when you don't understand most of the words.
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6	This character may also use characteristic phrases of BuffySpeak. The reason that most characters don't speak like this is because RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic.
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8	If they're using a lot of big words, it's SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. If they're tossing out [[HollywoodTourettes swear words]] or slang just as frequently, they're SophisticatedAsHell. The opposite of this, where a character speaks in highly-calculated terms, is SpockSpeak.
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10	----
11	!!Examples:
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13	[[foldercontrol]]
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15	[[folder:The Actor Everyone Associates with This Trope]]
16	* The page quote references the fact that Creator/JeffGoldblum has this as his CharacteristicTrope, in part because he played the TropeCodifier. He's often a MotorMouth whether he's playing a scientist or not -- but when he ''is'' playing someone who works in the sciences it's virtually guaranteed. The first character of that type he played was the developer of an artificial heart in 1981's ''Threshold'', but the TropeCodifier is his StarMakingRole: Seth Brundle, the DoomedProtagonist of ''Film/TheFly1986'' -- a reclusive quantum physicist who has created teleportation technology. (This film also plays with the trope in that the character becomes even gabbier once he starts mutating into a HalfHumanHybrid of human and housefly.) Once he played "chaotician" Dr. Ian Malcolm in the ''Film/JurassicPark'' franchise, the trope became straight-up popularized. Nowadays, it's easier to list significant roles in which he ''isn't'' this:
17	** ''Film/{{Nashville}}'', only his third film, in which he plays a silent motorcyclist who appears periodically in the background and in transitions between scenes.
18	** In ''Film/IntoTheNight'', his character is an aerospace engineer but that is not important to the plot; moreover, he is suffering from chronic insomnia. Thus, his dialogue is delivered at a normal pace or slower.
19	** ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy'', arguably because his character LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision and doesn't have much dialogue!
20	** ''Film/TheLifeAquatic'', ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel'', and ''WesternAnimation/IsleOfDogs'', in keeping with the general performance aesthetic of Creator/WesAnderson films. It especially applies to the second, in which he plays a lawyer with a very precise method of speaking.
21	** ''Film/ManOfTheYear'', where he portrays a ''very'' fast-talking corrupt CEO's assistant. No stuttering, no tripping over words, and he's speaking about twice as quickly as he does anywhere else!
22	** In ''Film/TheMountain'', he plays a traveling doctor who performs lobotomies (the film is set in TheFifties). He has a normally-paced, outright soothing manner of speech most of the time. When he's off the clock, unwinding and hitting on women, the pace picks up a bit and there are verbal pauses, suggesting he might have ''been'' this trope but old age and going to seed slowed him down.
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25	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
26	* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': Fred, though she's good-natured enough to backpedal a bit in her speeches. Even when describing how she's about to kill someone!
27	* Daniel Faraday on ''Series/{{Lost}}''.
28	* Abby Sciuto on ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has a serious case of motor-mouth.
29	* Phoebe's scientist boyfriend David (played by Hank Azaria) on ''Series/{{Friends}}''.
30	** Ross, the most intellectual member of the main cast, also tends towards this (and is [[ButtMonkey mocked mercilessly]] for it).
31	* On ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[TheNthDoctor The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors]] both do this a lot. Ten is more of the gibbery type, while Eleven does a variant where he very calmly rattles off his thoughts as he goes, with the occasional apparent non-sequitur thrown in.
32	** The First Doctor tended to do this, especially when William Hartnell, who was getting on in years, forgot his lines and had to adlib.
33	* Arguably Murdock from ''Series/TheATeam''. Much of his [[ObfuscatingInsanity craziness]] is laced with some genuinely brilliant stuff. He frequently gets the rest of the team out of tight spots by singlehandedly performing impossible rescues, and all the while he's babbling on unintelligibly.....[[OmniGlot and not always in English.]]
34	* Gaius Baltar of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''. The SanitySlippage didn't help.
35	* Many characters on AMC's ''Series/{{Rubicon}},'' especially Will, Miles, and Ed.
36	* Ladies and Gentlemen, from ''Series/CriminalMinds'', may I present to you, Dr. Spencer Reid and his amazing rapid-fire statistics! Generally, though, he has a bit of a stammer in his speech when he tries to be social, like talking to a girl.
37	* Dr. Daniel Jackson of ''Series/StargateSG1''. This is {{Lampshaded}} in the pilot to ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' when Daniel is starting to explain something to Jack, and Jack asks if this is the part where Daniel gets excited and starts talking real fast.
38	* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Dr. Rodney [=McKay=] is prone to this, being an InsufferableGenius.
39	* The pilot episode of ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' gave everyone realistic diction, but the rest of the series usually reserved it for Dr. Rosen.
40	* Reginald Barclay of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is almost always stuttering, both because he's naturally a ShrinkingViolet and because his brain typically functions faster than his mouth.
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44	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
45	* In ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'', higher Inspiration (i.e. stronger mad science) has a detriment in the form of Jabir, an effect that makes it harder for Geniuses to ''talk'' to mere mortals or even fellow Geniuses.
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49	[[folder:Video Games]]
50	* Professor Mordin Solus does this constantly in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' to the point where, at times, the player is given the option to interrupt him (two Paragon interrupts and a Renegade one in his first appearance).
51	** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Mordin's patient calls him out on his rambling tendencies because they're interfering with her sleep.
52	* Johnny Powell, the not-all-together supernatural expert in ''VideoGame/TheDarkness 2''.
53	* Royce of the Camerata in ''VideoGame/{{Transistor}}''. Brilliant scientist, knows more about the Transistor than anyone alive, managed to temporarily control [[EldritchAbomination the Process]], but also tends to trail off in the middle of sentences and awkwardly pause to find words.
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57	[[folder:Western Animation]]
58	* Delbert in ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' is an astrophysicist and constantly stammers. Considering he's played by David Hyde-Pierce that's unsurprising, though (apparently the role was written for him).
59	* Rick from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''. Granted, that show makes a point of averting RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic in general, but even ''then'', Rick gibbers a lot more than anyone else, often stopping only in order to belch, drink or fall asleep.
60	* Mumbles on ''WesternAnimation/TheDickTracyShow'' sounds like he swallowed a malfunctioning vocoder but he's quite the sharpie. He and Stooge Viller are holding the Retouchables (Hemlock Holmes' charges) for ransom, and he comes up with the idea to collect the ransom ''and'' rub them out. Stooge loves the idea.
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Context Main / GibberingGenius