History Main / PhlebotinumAnalogy

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', an interdimensional creature [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2013-01-23 communicates]] to Tedd that "in terms that [he] can comprehend [its kind] feed on excess magic energy in the environment". Its description leads Tedd to make the analogy of the creatures being like algae eaters but with magic, but the creature informs him that they prefer to be compared to [[SpaceWhale whales]].

With as much AppliedPhlebotinum flying around, there's just as much TechnoBabble around to explain it. However, when even TechnoBabble piles on too much, it too needs to be explained away. Thus, we have the Phlebotinum Analogy. It consists of using a simple simile to explain away something that is seemingly complex to the audience. Really, the only reason that it would be confusing to us is because nine-tenths of the time, whatever the character is explaining has been completely made up, anyway.

-->"I'm inside the Scourge, which is inside of my consciousness, which is inside of the Scourge, so if we detonate one it's like two Russian dolls eating each other!"

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. While explaining theories of FasterThanLightTravel to Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres uses a [[TechnologyMarchesOn slide rule]] to demonstrate [[FoldThePageFoldTheSpace folding space]], a squeeze-tube to [[RetroRocket represent Voyager]], and a bubble of illicit moonshine floating in zero-gravity to demonstrate a warp bubble.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] ''Literature/NewSeriesAdventures'': ''The Pirate Loop'' includes a great one of these (paraphrased):

* In Michael Crichton's ''Literature/{{Sphere}}'', a physicist character explains gravity and black holes to some of the other characters using fruit on a table.
* Onboard a wormhole-constructing spaceship, ship mechanic and resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Kizzy is giving newbie Rosemary in ''[[Literature/{{Wayfarers}} The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet]]'' a crash course on how they construct wormholes (or "tunnels") for the public to use in intergalactic travel, and how these tunnels make space-hopping functionally an average commute despite actual space being millions of light years apart. What follows is a lengthy description of the equipment and process required, along with a handy demonstration [[FoldThePageFoldTheSpace using a napkin]], before Kizzy sums up it up best as: "It's like a doorway connecting two rooms, only the rooms are on opposite sides of town." Rosemary, a mere ship clerk, still has to take a few moments to wrap her brain around it.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has fallen back on this one a few times. Not to anywhere near ''Franchise/StarTrek''[='s=] level, of course.
* During a government meeting in ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', Legasov explains how radiation affects people by comparing the particles to miniature bullets.

** A fine example occurs when the Fourth Doctor attempts to explain the transdimensional TARDIS to Leela by showing her two boxes and explaining that if the bigger box (which has been placed farther away and looks smaller than the actual smaller box) could be kept where it was and yet located where the small box is, it would fit inside the small box.

--->'''The Doctor:''' It's like, [[ObliviousToLove when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist!]]\\

** In recent years, especially, the Doctor has developed a tendency of telling his companions that their attempts at this trope are, in fact, completely inaccurate, but that they should keep up that line of thinking if it's what helps them understand. From "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]":

* In ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', the geniuses often use this to explain the Problem of the Week to Carter. The standard format is that one of the regulars gives a TechnoBabble explanation of what's happening, and then use the analogy when Carter admits he's no idea what they're talking about. Carter then proposes a solution based on the metaphor, which Henry or Alison translates ''back'' into TechnoBabble to provide the ''actual'' solution.

* This was parodied in ''Series/DeadRingers'', in which House asks his [[InsistentTerminology Entourage of Improbably Attractive Sidekicks]] to first describe a medical problem in an impenetrably TechnoBabble way, and then to come out with an overly emotive PhlebotinumAnalogy. "...''His brain is literally eating itself!!''"

* Happens often enough in ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' that in "Brutus", when Charlie explains his analysis of a directed graph then fails to explain, one of the FBI agents listening prompts him by saying "Which is just like..." An example of one of the times it's used: Internet Relay Chat, as used by hackers, is like a sea full of boats passing each other leaving nothing but water wakes passing cargo between them. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Greatest Hits", where Charlie starts to make an analogy, only for the agent he's working with to cut him off and circle it back to the original scenario.

::: When Zelenka does come up with an analogy, Sheppard proudly says "I understand that", only to be told that the analogy isn't at all an accurate depiction of what he's doing.

* While [[SmarterThanYouLook Okabe]] can mostly keep up with [[TeenGenius Kurisu]]'s explanations on Kerr black holes and theoretical physics in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', Daru and [[TheDitz Mayuri]] don't quite manage to do the same. Thus, Kurisu and Okabe end up explaining physics with {{Magical Girl}}s and video games respectively.
* Happens a lot in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'s due to its FunctionalMagic. Much more expanded upon in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' due to the protagonist being an amateur magus himself.

* An explanation of Deep Time's [[http://starslip.com/2008/10/31/starslip-number-904/ plan for ending the time war]] in ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'':
-->'''High Agent Blank:''' Put another way: the future as we know it was ''chiseled'' over billions of years from a stone block. We ''know'' what the finished statue looks like. So let's make a mold of that and pour ''the universe'' into it. Then we don't have to worry about whether or not it gets chiseled right.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', an interdimensional creature [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2013-01-23 communicates]] to Tedd that "in terms that [he] can comprehend [its kind] feed on excess magic energy in the environment". Its description leads Tedd to make the analogy of the creatures being like algae eaters but with magic but the creature informs him that they prefer to be compared to [[SpaceWhale whales]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''
** Lampshaded in "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", when the Planet Express crew faces an {{Energy Being|s}} who is holding the cast of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' hostage:

* ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' made use of this. One episode followed up such an analogy with the LaymansTerms explanation "It's gonna blow up real good."
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In "My New Wand!", Glossaryck tries to explain to Star how she can "dip down" and cast magic without her wand by comparing magic to a cauldron of stew and her wand to a spoon. Star promptly gets SidetrackedByTheAnalogy.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds The Best Of Both Worlds: Part I]]", an away team beams aboard to the Borg cube to rescue Picard and also to try to stop the Cube. Dr. Crusher suggests destroying the Borg's power distribution nodes by way of "The mosquito's point of view: If we sting them in a tender spot, they might stop for a minute to scratch."

** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E16GalaxysChild Galaxy's Child]]", a [[SpaceWhale larva space creature]] is feeding on the ''Enterprise'', both because the ship's energy is compatible, and because it thinks the Enterprise is its mother. So they change the form of the energy to something incompatible, which they call "souring the milk".
** Later, in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics Relics]]", [[CallBack when LaForge is retelling this incident to Scotty]], Scotty uses this exact phrase, despite [=LaForge=] (presumably) using only {{Technobabble}} in his explanation.

-->-- ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}''

* In ''Film/{{The Fly|1958}}'', Andre Delambre takes it one step further. Not only does he use the way televisions transmit pictures through the air as an analogy for how his {{teleport|ation}}er transmits matter, he insists that since a television isn't all that fantastic or impressive, ''a teleporter isn't either''.
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' has the scene where Egon points out to Winston just how much the levels of psychokinetic energy in New York City have risen. Using an ordinary Twinkie as a baseline, he says the current levels would be represented by "a Twinkie thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds."

* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'': In "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E2Paradox Paradox]]", Jay Garrick explains to Barry Allen that no matter how many times you try to fix things with time travel, the best you'll get is a CloseEnoughTimeline. Jay illustrates this by breaking a coffee cup. No matter how well you try to put it back together, there will always be cracks.

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'' there's a famous example that goes as follows:

'''Cat:''' So what is it??\\

'''Cat:''' So what is it?!?\\
'''Lister:''' It's a hole back into the past.\\
'''Cat:''' Oh, a magic door! Well why didn't you say?

* One of the times it fit in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' was in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E16GalaxysChild Galaxy's Child]]", where a [[SpaceWhale larva space creature]] is feeding on the Enterprise, both because the ship's energy is compatible, and because it thinks the Enterprise is its mother. So they change the form of the energy to something incompatible, which they call "souring the milk".
** Later, in "Relics", [[CallBack when LaForge is retelling this incident to Scotty]], Scotty uses that exact phrase, despite [=LaForge=] (presumably) using only TechnoBabble in his explanation.

* While [[SmarterThanYouLook Okabe]] can mostly keep up with [[TeenGenius Kurisu]]'s explanations on Kerr black holes and theoretical physics in ''[[VisualNovel/SteinsGate Steins;Gate]]'', Daru and [[TheDitz Mayuri]] don't quite manage to do the same. Thus, Kurisu and Okabe end up explaining physics with {{Magical Girl}}s and video games respectively.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/DriveDaveKellet'': The first emperor of La Familia uses this to explain how he ''thinks'' the Ring Drive works in a letter to his grandson.

* Onboard a wormhole-constructing spaceship, ship mechanic and resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Kizzy is giving newbie Rosemary in ''Literature/TheLongWayToASmallAngryPlanet'' a crash course on how they construct wormholes (or "tunnels") for the public to use in intergalactic travel, and how these tunnels make space-hopping functionally an average commute despite actual space being millions of light years apart. What follows is a lengthy description of the equipment and process required, along with a handy demonstration [[FoldThePageFoldTheSpace using a napkin]], before Kizzy sums up it up best as: "It's like a doorway connecting two rooms, only the rooms are on opposite sides of town." Rosemary, a mere ship clerk, still has to take a few moments to wrap her brain around it.

* In ''Film/{{Concussion}}'', Dr. Omalu explains to his wife how brain trauma manifests itself in football players by explaining that, unlike animals with built-in "shock absorbers" around their brain, human brains are disconnected from the skull and susceptible to irreparable damage from repeated impacts. To illustrate, he violently rattles an eyeball inside a jar of fluid, with the eyeball slamming violently into the sides of the jar, mimicking what happens to the brain when rattled by a violent hit.

* In ''Film/{{Concussion}}, Dr. Omalu explains to his wife how brain trauma manifests itself in football players by explaining that, unlike animals with built-in "shock absorbers" around their brain, human brains are disconnected from the skull and susceptible to irreparable damage from repeated impacts. To illustrate, he violently rattles an eyeball inside a jar of fluid, with the eyeball slamming violently into the sides of the jar, mimicking what happens to the brain when rattled by a violent hit.

* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'': In "Paxadox", Jay Garrick explains to Barry Allen that no matter how many times you try to fix things with time travel, the best you'll get is a CloseEnoughTimeline. Jay illustrates this by breaking a coffee cup. No matter how well you try to put it back together, there will always be cracks.

* ''Webcomic/{{Drive}}'': The first emperor of La Familia uses this to explain how he ''thinks'' the Ring Drive works in a letter to his grandson.

* In ''Film/{{The Fly|1958}}'', Andre Delambre takes it one step further. Not only does he use the way televisions transmit pictures through the air as an analogy for how his {{teleport|ation}}er transmits matter, he insists that since a television isn't all that fantastic or impressive ''a teleporter isn't either''.

'''Star:''' No, it's a wand.

* Happens often enough in ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' that in "Brutus", when Charlie explains his analysis of a directed graph then fails to explain, one of the FBI agents listening prompts him by saying "Which is just like..." An example of one of the times it's used: Internet Relay Chat, as used by hackers, is like a sea full of boats passing each other leaving nothing but water wakes passing cargo between them. Uh?

-->-- ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}''

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/TheFly1958'', Andre Delambre takes it one step further. Not only does he use the way televisions transmit pictures through the air as an analogy for how his {{teleport|ation}}er transmits matter, he insists that since a television isn't all that fantastic or impressive ''a teleporter isn't either''.

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':
** Parodied in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', where Lu Tze's explanation of why it's easier to get Vimes back to the present than it was to make sure the time loop that has been formed by Carcer killing his mentor before he met him was stabilized, (It's like climbing up, and then jumping off, a mountain) is satisfactory to Vimes. Then Qu starts to point out that that's [[LiesToChildren not how it works at all]] and Lu Tze tells him to shut up because it'll prevent too many further questions.

** In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', [[spoiler: Lobsang]] explains how he's putting time back by comparing it to a jigsaw (in which the peices are scattered across the universe, moving, and mixed up with other jigsaws), before adding "Everything I have just said is nonsense. It bears no resemblence to the truth of the matter in any way at all." Sir Pterry, who co-created the phrase "LiesToChildren", is fond of this gag.

--> '''Rosemary:''' So the only place the distance between those two points has been changed is...within the tunnel?\\
'''Kizzy:''' ''(Grins)'' Physics is a bitch, right?

** This is subverted in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]], in which Donna resolutely fails to understand what the Doctor's talking about ("I'm a pencil inside a mug?"), and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink "Blink"]], where the Doctor's [[BuffySpeak inability to explain to Sally Sparrow the way time works]] (because of [[StableTimeLoop a transcript he's locked into saying]]) led to the TropeNamer example for TimeyWimeyBall.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]]: The Doctor uses a strangely appropriate analogy to describe the way a PerceptionFilter works.

''[He runs off, Martha looks frustrated]''\\

** In recent years, especially, the Doctor has developed a tendency of telling his companions that their attempts at this trope are, in fact, completely inaccurate, but that they should keep up that line of thinking if it's what helps them understand. From [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]]:

* In ''{{Series/Eureka}}'', the geniuses often use this to explain the Problem of the Week to Carter. The standard format is that one of the regulars gives a TechnoBabble explanation of what's happening, and then use the analogy when Carter admits he's no idea what they're talking about. Carter then proposes a solution based on the metaphor, which Henry or Alison translates ''back'' into TechnoBabble to provide the ''actual'' solution.

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': In "Paxadox", Jay Garrick explains to Barry Allen that no matter how many times you try to fix things with time travel, the best you'll get is a CloseEnoughTimeline. Jay illustrates this by breaking a coffee cup. No matter how well you try to put it back together, there will always be cracks.

-->'''House''': We think you have a tumour, easily removed surgically. We're going to poke it with a stick.
** This was parodied in ''Series/DeadRingers'', in which House asks his [[InsistentTerminology Entourage of Improbably Attractive Sidekicks]] to first describe a medical problem in an impenetrably TechnoBabble way, and then to come out with an overly emotive PhlebotinumAnalogy. "...''His brain is literally eating itself!!''"

* Happens often enough in ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' that in "Brutus", when Charlie explains his analysis of a directed graph then fails to explain, one of the FBI agents listening prompts him by saying "Which is just like..."
** An example of one of the times it's used: Internet Relay Chat, as used by hackers, is like a sea full of boats passing each other leaving nothing but water wakes passing cargo between them. Uh?

-->'''Cat''': What is it?\\
'''Rimmer''': It's a rent in the space-time continuum.\\
'''Cat''': So what is it?\\
'''Lister''': The stasis room freezes time, you know, makes time stand still. So whenever you have a leak, it must preserve whatever it's leaked into, and it's leaked into this room.\\
'''Cat''': So what is it??\\
'''Rimmer''': It's singularity, a point in the universe where the normal laws of time and space don't apply.\\
'''Cat''': So what is it?!?\\
'''Lister''': It's a hole back into the past.\\
'''Cat''': Oh, a magic door! Well why didn't you say?
* Constantly used in ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. "It's like a miniature universe in a bottle," says [=McKay=], talking about a ZPM.

''[Turn to Gen. Hammond and repeat the question]''\\

--->'''Zelenka''': No offense, but the math I'm using is so complicated I don't know if I can dumb it down enough for it to make sense.\\
'''Sheppard''': Try.\\
When Zelenka does come up with an analogy, Sheppard proudly says "I understand that", only to be told that the analogy isn't at all an accurate depiction of what he's doing.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

-->'''Drecker''': We gave the ball of death a giant cavity and now it's past the enamel! There! Fine! Okay?\\
[[BeatPanel (pause)]]\\
'''Drecker''': Oh, like I'm the only one who took a correspondence course in apt metaphors. Sheesh.

-->'''High Agent Blank''': Put another way: the future as we know it was ''chiseled'' over billions of years from a stone block. We ''know'' what the finished statue looks like. So let's make a mold of that and pour ''the universe'' into it. Then we don't have to worry about whether or not it gets chiseled right.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', the statue eventually explains how Digger came to the story's setting by saying that Digger's home and the temple she emerged from were like two pieces of fabric, sewn together by [[spoiler:[[ChekhovsGun the fossil she brought through with her]], aka the "bones of the sea"]].

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' parodies the original twinkie analogy from ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'':
-->'''Tease:''' His brain is still downloading vast amounts of information from somewhere.
-->'''Sage:''' How much information?
-->'''Block:''' (referring to the hot dog Sage is eating) Enough to make that wiener of yours twice the size of Chicago and three times the height of Mount Everest.
-->'''Luke:''' Wow, you are hung!
-->...
-->'''Snob:''' (walking into the room) How's Spoony holding up?
-->'''Luke:''' Not good. [[ItMakesSenseinContext Ask Sage about his wiener.]]
-->'''Snob:''' ...No.

--->'''Fry:''' Usually on Franchise/StarTrek, they came up with a complicated plan and explained it with a simple analogy.\\

Later\\

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. While explaining theories of FasterThanLightTravel to Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres uses a [[TechnologyMarchesOn slide rule]] to demonstrate [[FoldThePageFoldTheSpace folding space]] and a bubble of alcohol floating in zero-gravity (from a squeeze-tube of illicit moonshine) to demonstrate a warp bubble.