Line #3 Radio/Nebulous


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nebulous.jpg]]
2
3	->''And so in conclusion there is only one thing of which we can be absolutely certain: the spaceship was already blowing up when I got there.''
4
5	Imagine ''Series/DoctorWho'' starring an underfunded ObstructiveBureaucrat, and you have ''Nebulous'': a BBC Radio 4 AfterTheEnd comedy series which parodies much of British Science Fiction, in particular ''Franchise/{{Quatermass}}'' and the aforementioned ''Series/DoctorWho''. ''Nebulous'' follows the adventures of Professor Nebulous, leader of K.E.N.T.: the Key Environmental Non-judgemental Taskforce, which just happens to be based in a London launderette. K.E.N.T. is tasked with picking up the pieces after an environmental disaster known as "The Withering": a CosyCatastrophe that has led to the extinction of most knowledge, vegetarians, daffodils, tarts[[labelnote:*]]the British slang for lower-class promiscuous women, not the fruit-preserve-filled pastry[[/labelnote]] and white dog-doings. The series exists almost solely to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] SpeculativeFictionTropes, and many episodes are [[AffectionateParody Affectionate Parodies]] of other shows.
6	----
7	!!This show provides examples of:
8	* AirVentPassageway: Used by Nebulous and Paula in the pilot episode to escape the room they have been locked in by the vegetarian colonists.
9	* AliensNeverInventedTheWheel: Or rather, Parallel Universes Never Invented the Fluff Filter for a Zanussi 370 tumble dryer.
10	* BaitAndSwitchComment: Nebulous is watching his OldFlame Dr. Erica Flazenby fly away in a helicopter when he makes this comment to Paula:
11	--> '''Nebulous''': She's beautiful, she's smart, and she's perfectly proportioned. You know, Paula, I think there's a part of me that will always love [[spoiler: black helicopters]].
12	* BBCQuarry: Referenced a couple of times. When Harry and Paula are thrown back through to time to the era of the dinosaurs, Paula states that she isn't so sure they are in the past, as it looks like a modern-day quarry.
13	-->'''Nebulous''': The Withered Zone itself poses no threat, sir. It is merely a sterile wasteland. To the untrained eye, it might as well be a quarry.
14	* BeleagueredBureaucrat: Nebulous is the head of a government department so underfunded it has its grand total of 4 employees running a ''laundry service'' to keep it afloat, and their scientific equipment is largely outdated and prone to breaking. Much to Professor Nebulous's annoyance, their superiors in the government seem more inclined to buy equipment for the laundry than for eco-troubleshooting operations.
15	* BigWordShout: Harry loves these and has probably done just about every sub-trope, too.
16	-->'''Guy''': Excuse me, would you like to sign up for the University Dramatics Society?
17	--> '''Harry''': [[PunctuatedForEmphasis NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! THAAAAAAAAAAANK! YOOOOOOOOU!]]
18	* BlackHelicopter: L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. maintain a fleet of them, which is one of the reasons Rory considers joining. [[spoiler: Nebulous loves them too]].
19	* BodyHorror: While it is left ambiguous exactly how much of Harry's original body is left after the original accident, it clearly isn't a pleasant physical appearance for any of the concerned parties.
20	-->'''Nebulous''': How ''dare'' you talk to Harry like that? He may look like an overcooked Christmas pudding in a Bath chair, but he is easily your equal.
21	* BrownNote: The new colour "Garrow" causes all who look at it to go crazy and begin [[EatTheDog eating dogs]]
22	* ButtMonkey: Although Professor Nebulous has prevented potential invasions and neutralized major threats (accidentally or intentionally), elsewhere, he can't catch a break. No one will ever forget his destruction of the Isle of Wight, and he is constantly reminded that he will NEVER live it down. This is why his fortunes are often extremely low, he's frequently obstructed from attaining better resources, and his department is given a shoestring (no, aglet) budget.
23	** When Professor Nebulous encounters an alternate dimension version of himself, he discovers that the alternate Professor had also destroyed the Isle of Wight, but ''he became phenomenally popular and esteemed because of it.'' That has to be a blow to the ego.
24	* TheCameo: Creator/PeterDavison as Professor Diplodocus. Creator/KateOMara (who played the Rani) as the Lindaviduals. Creator/DavidTennant as MadScientist Dr. Beep.
25	* CasanovaWannabe: Rory claims to be the team's ladies' man. There is absolutely no evidence for this. When he asks GEMINI to tell him his future sexual history, it apparently consists of six years of nothing, capped off with one "disappointing weekend".
26	* CataclysmBackstory: The Withering apparently occurred many years ago, but within the characters lifetimes (Rory and Paula mention having both lost their fathers to the Withering), but appears to have caused mass amnesia - Nebulous is ecstatic at the opportunity to discover what life was like before the Withering, and the knowledge of how to make '' fire'' was temporarily lost.
27	* CatchPhrase:
28	** Sir Ronald Rowland: "I'd like to do what I can, but I'm afraid I can't."
29	** Rory: "Bollocks ... Sir."
30	** Nebulous: "I'm drifting."
31	** General catch phrase: "K.E.N.T. can do."
32	** Harry: "UNLIKE YOU, PROFESSOR, I NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF A [body part]."
33	* ChasteHero: Nebulous remains oblivious to his assistant Paula's obvious and blatant attraction to him. In fact she is somewhat beyond blatant, frequently disrobing, placing his hand on her and molesting him while unconscious.
34	* ChalkOutline: Paula attempts to draw one, makes one of the legs too long, and 'just makes the other one longer to match'.
35	* ContrivedCoincidence: Dr. Donald [=McQuasar's=] Coincidence Machine is supposed to detect these, but instead ''causes'' them. If it isn't stopped, within a week every occurrence everywhere will be coincidentally linked to every other occurrence everywhere.
36	* CreatorProvincialism: Parodied, when one of the villains claims that there are so many alien invasions of the UK "for tax reasons".
37	* DetonationMoon: Ultimately averted as the plan is abandoned, but the government does plan to blow up the Moon, citing the benefits to moths and the nightlight industry.
38	* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Oh, ''Harry''. One especially clear moment is when he goes into the future to a time when there are no humans, just body parts with mouths. They are all very happy with their situations, but consider him the most perfect human being they have ever seen, and they even worship him. Harry is completely unable to deal with this and when he returns to the present informs Paula that the lesson he learned was that 'the secret to true happiness is having a completely perfect body'.
39	* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Nebulous isn't saying that a [[ContrivedCoincidence coinci]]-[[ApocalypseHow clasm]] will be ''deadly''; but they ''are'' lethal, and they ''can'' kill.
40	* DoesntLikeGuns: Nebulous is staunchly against the use of violence, and was appalled when the military began using his 'baser' invention as a weapon.
41	--> '''Nebulous''': Weapons are the last resort of the unarmed man.
42	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Professor Nebulous's first name is [[spoiler:Boffo]].
43	* EvilCripple: Harry is a played with variation in that he's not particularly evil - he does betray Nebulous to try and cook the world with a miniature sun at one point, but is really just bitter and annoying.
44	* EvilTwin: One episode introduced Nebulous's evil twin brother, Professor ''Spiffo'' Nebulous, who looks almost exactly like the Nebulous we know except that he's fatter and lost both thumbs in a "freak Game Boy accident".
45	* {{Expy}}: The Worserons at the end of "The Lovely Invasion" are described as 'an amphibious race that used to walk the Earth at the time of the dinosaurs, roused from centuries of hibernation by mining work in East Anglia', a description extremely similar to that of the Silurians in ''Series/DoctorWho''.
46	* Fiction500: Jack Winslow, CEO of [=GlobalCorp=], is so rich he could buy his own body weight in diamonds. Every hour on the hour. For a whole week. [[EscalatingPunchline Every year, for the rest of his life. As a treat]].
47	* FlashbackBackBack: Nebulous has frequent flashbacks to his childhood, triggered by variants of the word "Clown".
48	* ForScience: Nebulous has shown a lack of foresight regarding some of his inventions.
49	-->'''Nebulous''': You're looking at the man who invented basers, as a recycling tool for cutting up scrap metal. The baser: a hyper-caustic acid beam housed in a handy gun shaped dispenser. How could I have possibly known that the military would turn it into a weapon?
50	* FunWithAcronyms: K.E.N.T.'s biggest rival is L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. - the Legitimate Organisation Undertaking General Humanitarian Business Operations Requiring Optimum Unconditional Global Harmony. Apparently, people from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Kent K.E.N.T.]] have always hated people from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughborough_University L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H.]].
51	** For our non-british readers: L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H is supposed to be said 'Luffburrah' the same as the English town of the same name. Paula thinks you say it as it's written - Loogahboroogah.
52	* FutureFoodIsArtificial: Parodied, as no-one has any issues with cannibalism, but the idea of eating soya-based Soylent Beige makes people retch in horror.
53	** A colony of rogue vegetarians is treated with absolute scorn by the main cast:
54	-->'''Rory''': Why wouldn't you eat meat ? Meat's lovely.
55	* FutureImperfect: '' Good Bod, yes''. A lot of knowledge was lost in the Withering: [[LostTechnology how to make vacuum cleaners & fire]] ("though thankfully, that last one came back pretty quickly"); people remember great scholars of the past - [[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci Da Vinci]], [[UsefulNotes/GalileoGalilei Galileo]], [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]]; "What exactly ''was'' the [[Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords Guinness Book of Freckles]]?"; Paula wishes to meet famous historical figures [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon Brandy]] and [[Music/BritneySpears Broccoli Spears]]; and modern theologians believe there to have been four true deities - the evil twins Yin & Yang, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui/ Feng Shui the Destroyer]], and of course, [[WesternAnimation/{{Bod}} Merciful Bod]].
56	* IstanbulNotConstantinople: The Withering means that the Empire of Luxembourg is now a superpower, while The Midlands is now an exotic sounding old name for The Withered Zone.
57	* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Wonderfully parodied in the final episode of Season 1, where Nebulous is held at gunpoint by his arch-nemesis.
58	-->'''Nebulous:''' Surely you're going to outline your brilliant plan?
59	-->'''Dr. Klench:''' Why should I? The information's no use to you.
60	-->'''Nebulous:''' To...satisfy my curiosity?
61	-->'''Dr. Klench:''' It's irrelevant. Any minute now you're going to be a dead body.
62	** Ultimately Klench yields, but won't give him a justification.
63	* KidsAreCruel: "Nobulous".
64	* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: Paula and Rory agree to never mention their drunken kiss. Rory goes as far as having his memory wiped and his lips replaced.
65	* LostTechnology: Parodied, since the lost technologies include the vacuum cleaner and fire (although luckily, that one came back pretty quickly).
66	* MeatVersusVeggies: Taken to extremes, parodying the fact that there were more than a couple of ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories [[AuthorTract promoting vegetarianism obsessively]].
67	* MercyKill: Harry at one point begs Nebulous for this. Nebulous does not provide.
68	-->'''Harry''': No! [''gack''] Please [''gack''] - kill me!
69	-->'''Nebulous''': [''cheerfully''] That's not ''you'' talking, Harry - that's the sheer agony talking!
70	* MissingEpisode: Parodied in the liner notes for the first series, which claims that there were at least 11 series of ''Nebulous'', but almost all the episodes were lost. Many of the examples given are spoofs of famous ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes - many of which are themselves missing.
71	* {{Metaphorgotten}}: a RunningGag is that Professor Nebulous frequently takes metaphors too far until they break:
72	-->'''Nebulous''': These people have had their [[{{Brainwashing}} brains washed]], rinsed, conditioned, and then put through some kind of mangle, then ironed, and folded, and then put in some kind of airing cupboard: an airing cupboard of the mind - I'm drifting.
73	* MonsterClown: Sort of: Nebulous has terrifying (to him) flashbacks about ''being'' a clown. Both his parents were clowns, and being clowns was the family business. He bucked the trend by becoming an underpaid scientist, which his parents refused to accept.
74	* MyGreatestFailure: Nebulous blew up the Isle of Wight while trying to move it to the left a bit. It ruined his career, [[spoiler:[[YouAlreadyChangedThePast his subsequent attempt to avert the disaster failed,]]]] and nobody lets him forget it.
75	* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: Apparently, it's perfectly fine for you to meet your child self in the past, as long as you are not formally introduced.
76	* NoEndorHolocaust: Spoofed in "The Deptford Wives" when Nebulous decides to blow up the whole island with a nuclear device, killing Professor Diplodocus to save the world. Paula and Rory dedicate the final scene to casually speculating that the infrastructure of the island meant it must have had at least five hundred innocent employees who were just doing their jobs who surely also must have been killed, to which Nebulous insists that it was only the professor and there ''was minimal loss of life''.
77	* NoIndoorVoice: Harry is fitted with a voice synthesiser which is constantly too loud, even on its quietest setting.
78	* [[OhMyGods Oh, My Bod!]]: As part of the FutureImperfect causing most knowledge of all religion to be lost, all character swear by Bod, rather than God.
79	* OnceAnEpisode: Every single episode contains an instance of someone saying "clown" to send Nebulous spiralling into a flashback to his traumatic clown childhood, no matter how contrived. On one occasion, Nebulous' boss says "clown", then corrects himself to "crowd"; on another occasion, Nebulous misheard someone saying "cloud"; on yet another another occasion, ''Nebulous himself'' says it and immediately passes out.
80	* ParodyEpisode: Many episodes are fairly close parodies of classic sci-fi series.
81	* PerkyFemaleMinion: The aptly-named Paula Breeze, who takes perkiness to the point of mental illness.
82	* RoboSpeak: Parodied a couple of times:
83	** Harry has a robotic voice synthesiser that he constantly has turned up far too loud (while the electronic treatment is different, the line delivery is reminiscent of the Daleks from ''Doctor Who''). Everyone around him finds this extremely irritating but feels bad complaining due to his extensive disabilities that force him to use an artificial voice in the first place.
84	** Dr Klench in "The Man Who Polished The Sun" has a RobotMe "mandroid" plant in a maximum security prism. He speaks with an obvious electronic effect on his voice but everyone is fooled by it.
85	* SeriesContinuityError: In the first series, Nebulous is stated in conver with his mentor Dr. Donald [=McQuasar=] to have graduated in the class of 2069. However, in the third series, Nebulous' accidental destruction of the Isle of Wight is stated to have taken place in that year, while Nebulous' is stated to have already been an established and respected scientist at the time.
86	* ShoutOut: Aplenty, largely to Series/DoctorWho and other British sci-fi:
87	** While [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] is known as "The Oncoming Storm", Nebulous is merely "The Oncoming Drizzle". The episode which refers to this coincidentally features Creator/DavidTennant as the special guest villain.
88	** "The Buzzing" has an insect revolution-fixated MadScientist named Taron who has a delusional belief that he is somehow an insect (referencing Taren, a robot revolution-fixated MadScientist from the ''Doctor Who'' story "The Robots of Death" who has a delusional belief that he is somehow a robot). The same episode offhandedly mentions the head of the UN having the first name "Mavic" (referencing PresidentEvil ''Who'' villain Mavic Chen from "The Daleks' Master Plan").
89	** Nebulous has a 'sonic crowbar'. He uses it exclusively as a blunt instrument. He also has several sonic screws.
90	** In "The Girl with the Liquid Face", Nebulous orders the launch of the K.E.N.T. submarine 'Blingray', whose launch is ordered in a manner similar to the introduction of ''[[Series/Stingray1964 Stingray]]''.
91	* SickEpisode: Third series episode "Us and Phlegm". Rory, Paula, Harry and ninety-nine percent of the nation's workforce come down with every serious illness in the world, one after another. Eventually Nebulous discovers that [[spoiler:aliens were behind it.]]
92	* SpaceColdWar: Earth was involved in one with Venus, but the two planets are on friendly trading terms by the time of the series.
93	* TakeOurWordForIt: Due to audio drama being what it is, the hints of what exactly the hideously mutilated Harry must look like and which parts of his body may still exist get more and more outrageous. Such is the nature of his appearance that the animated pilot only ever showed his scanners looking out rather than any character looking at him. The only thing he definitely still has is an inner ear. That is now an outer ear. On his neck, [[MindScrew which he has lost.]] Over the course of the series, Harry has stated that he has lost his:
94	** Hands (he initially claimed to retain one but more recently stated that he only has a mechanical grabber)
95	** Fingers
96	** Toes (all ten, which he now keeps in a jar)
97	** Legs
98	** Feet
99	** Upper lip (although he retains the lower one)
100	** Chin
101	** Mouth
102	** Nose
103	** Brain (replaced with a chip, that apparently causes him headaches)
104	** Head (although Nebulous notes that Harry retains ''most'' of his head)
105	** Neck
106	** ''Torso''
107	** Back (although he does have a hunch)
108	** Arse (he mentioned that he has rented one from an unidentified source)
109	** Spleen
110	** Heart
111	** Eyes (with his optical scanners processing the information and presenting it as a pie chart for some reason)
112	** Teeth
113	** [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Eyeteeth]]
114	** Feelings
115	** Nerves
116	* TakeThat: "I suppose now you've become sentient, you'll want to move out of Edgeware."
117	* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: Sir Ronald Rowlands has left a note informing the monk taking care of him during spell of AxeCrazy that he has chosen to escape:
118	--> '''Rowlands' note''': I want to live - live! - [[AxeCrazy so that others might die.]]\
119	'''Monk Ninety-Nine''':What do you mean by that?\
120	'''Rowlands' note''': I'm not entering into a discourse! I'm a letter!
121	* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Rory's ideal woman is genetically modified twins.
122	--> '''Rory''': [[BuxomBeautyStandard Four big scoops]].
123	* UnifiedNamingSystem: K.E.N.T. and L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. are both named after British universities.
124	* WholePlotReference:
125	** The episode "The Lovely Invasion" is a very close parody of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos The Claws of Axos]].
126	** "The Deptford Wives" is a mashup of ''Film/JurassicPark'' and ''Film/TheStepfordWives''.
127	** "Destiny of the Destinoyd" combines ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories "The Moonbase" (a multinational team of people stuck on a moonbase full of dangerous equipment) and "Image of the Fendahl" (a ghost EldritchAbomination that makes people commit suicide).
128	* WorldWarWhatever: By 2099, the world is up to the Tenth World War 2: Jamaica Strikes Back.

Context Radio / Nebulous