History Main / TechnoBabble

* Craig Shaw Gardner's ''Bride of the Slime Monster'' uses a bit of it when Roger ends up on a world run on 50s SF movie tropes.

* Every commercial for shampoo, face creams, etc that make up any old scientific-sounding mumbo-jumbo to sound like they are terribly advanced and especially effective. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the shampoo commercial that points out "[[Creator/JenniferAniston Here comes the science]]."

* Energy drinks often brag about being a good source of electrolytes. Since salt is one naturally occurring electrolyte, it's safe to assume they just added salt.
** This particular one is a plot point in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}''. The simpleton citizens of the future have induced a dust bowl because they were watering their crops with the energy drink Brawndo, because "[[PhraseCatcher It has Electrolytes!]]", instead of water, which they use exclusively for toilets. They were literally [[SaltTheEarth Salting The Earth]], and were [[TooDumbToLive too stupid to realize it.]]

%%* ''Manga/AssassinClassroon'': The explanation for how Koro-sensei's body [[spoiler:produces antimatter]] is most assuredly 100% this.

* This trope is very prevalent in MechaShow series regardless they are SuperRobotGenre, RealRobotGenre or feature no HumongousMecha at all.
* ''Anime/CombattlerV'' had many blatant examples. In an episode, a court is judging Combattler is too dangerous to be controlled because it is made of super-alloy (chogokin) and powered with electro-magnetic energy.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': "Super-electro-magnetic-shrapnel cannon, FIRE!!"
-->proceeds to shot out little exploding pellets that in no way affect Suzaku's oncoming Nightmare-frame.

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' is quite fond of this trope, as well as the sister trope {{Magibabble}}. Most of the espers have a somewhat plausible explanation for their powers, but a lot of times when you look too close, the science starts to fall apart. That being said, the fact that every esper is explicitly a RealityWarper with a very limited skillset helps gloss over the physics goofs. And since the method to create espers was literally invented by an evil wizard, [[AWizardDidIt there's another explanation if it's ever needed]].
* In ''Manga/LiarGame'', Akiyama uses this in the prelims to the fourth round to explain how he can tell who is "Infected" and who is "Normal". [[spoiler: He's actually faking the entire thing, but he does it convincingly enough that everyone believes him, allowing him to proceed with his plan.]]
* ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'': Even [[{{Tsundere}} Nagi]] is accused of doing this by Isumi:
-->'''Isumi:''' Nagi uses such complicated words. When she's trying to deceive someone.

** Card games are ''very'' SeriousBusiness.
* ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'' uses a lot of biology-themed Techno Babble, most of it misapplied or completely nonsensical (intron-RAM, anyone?).
* ''Anime/SpaceDandy'''s explanation for how warping works is that the warpers mind is switched with another version of them from a different universe. Which sounds reasonable at first. But the more you think about it, the less sense it makes. If no motion is occuring, why would people use it. From their perspective, nothing happens. Either that, or the person disappears but never arrives anywhere since the incoming mind has no body to switch into. From the point of view of anyone watching, either it's a dud or it's lethal.
* In the first chapter of ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'', Eikichi makes up a bunch of medical-sounding terms to impress some girls who he lied about being a medical student to.

* An old electrical engineering joke is a fictional device called the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_encabulator Turboencabulator]]". Here's a portion of its description:
-->"The original machine had a base-plate of prefabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings were in a direct line with the pentametric fan, the latter consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marzelvanes, so fitted to the ambifacient lunar vaneshaft that side fumbling was effectively prevented. The main winding was of the normal lotus-o-delta type placed in panendermic semi-boloid slots in the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a nonreversible trem'e pipe to the differential girdlespring on the 'up' end of the grammeters."

%% Dead link: *** [[http://www.break.com/index/understanding-the-turbo-encabulator.html Here's another one.]]

* The titular ''Literature/BastardOperatorFromHell'' is a master of coming up with what an informed reader can tell is nonsense, but which the boss will consider to be very impressive.

* DanBrowned/DanBrown, in ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', describes a battery charger that would make anyone with the slightest knowledge of electronics cringe; its over-elaborate design includes '''servo-coils''', the part of a disc drive which moves the heads. And this from a character who's supposed to be a physicist? Why didn't she use a simple constant-current source like everyone else?
** In the same book, the assassin apparently makes his cell-phone untraceable by splaying a ferret over it. Let's hope the local animal protection society never got to hear of that.

* Subverted completely with the ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series. The abilities of espers and those who throw their consciousnesses through time could have easily been handwaved with vague explanations about telepathy and mental time travel. Instead, everything is explained in complete length, pulling from real world scientific theories and phenomena, such as morphegenetic field theory, Minkowski space, the many-worlds interpretation, and UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat, to name a few. In the end, everything in the series seems to have gone out of its way to purposefully avoid using technobabble at pretty much any point, despite it being very sci-fi-like in nature.

* Excellently parodied in the "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''.
-->'''Bender:''' I'm done reconfoobling the energymotron... or whatever.
** Inverted in "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch:"
-->'''UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun:''' Stop! Don't shoot fire stick in space canoe! Cause explosive decompression!\\

** Or how about "The Honking:"
-->'''Farnsworth:''' Just as I suspected. These robots were buried in improperly-shielded coffins. Their programming leaked into the castle's wiring through this old, abandoned modem allowing them to project themselves as holograms.\\

** Really, they use (and {{parody}}) this all the time, in a variety of different ways.
-->'''[[TheProfessor Professor Farnsworth]]:''' [[AsYouKnow I'm sure I don't need to explain]] that all dark matter in the universe is linked in the form of a single non-local meta-particle.
-->'''[[GeniusDitz Amy]]:''' ''[[FutureSlang Guh]]!'' Stop patronizing us.

* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has a running gag of having FutureBadass Kiva saying some sort of technobabble, only to have it shrugged off by lazy bum Coop.

** She's [[ExpospeakGag describing Gatorade]].

-->'''Superman:''' How can we stop it?\\

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' has lots of techno babble, especially from Pidge and any character with a science background.
** In one episode, a stage show that Coran has the Paladins participate in (long story) features Pidge using ''fake'' technobabble, much to her irritation. She complains that, since all the science is fake, the audience won't understand her, to which Koran points out that nobody would understand her if she used "real" technobabble.

--> '''Morty:''' Oh boy, what's wrong, Rick, is it the quantum carburetor or something?\\

--> '''Rick''': Here [Froopyland] is; you know, I collapsed a quantum tesseract to-

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': A card from the Future Sight set modified how the player assembles contraptions. Contraptions don't exist. You can't assemble them. There are no rules pertaining to "assembling" or "contraptions" anywhere in the game... at least until ''Unstable'', several years later, which gave them rules and actual Contraption cards. This was originally a reference to a past card, Great Wall, which made it possible to block creatures with plainswalk even if you had a plains; at the time, only one creature with plainswalk existed, and even today, with [[OverNineThousand over a hundred thousand cards]], less than twenty have or grant plainswalk.

* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' Tabletop {{RPG}} featured a table that allowed the GM to randomly generate damage to the players' ship. It had two columns, one for technobabble, and one for what this actually meant. They were rolled separately, and therefore one had no correlation to each other whatsoever.
** The technobabble column itself came in three parts: the part prefix (Primary/Hydraulic/etc), the part (Stabilizer/Vent/Feed/etc) and what happened to it (Cracked/Jammed/Exploded/etc) requiring three rolls to describe what went wrong when all anyone wants to know is the fourth, which is what it means.
* The Adeptus Mechanicus of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Lingua Technis, a language devoted to Techno Babble. It lets them maintain their monopoly on technical knowledge.
* ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': Actually represented in the rules, and known as Jabir. A [[MadScientist Genius]] who tries to talk about any kind of science (mad science especially, but mundane sciences are included) will sound like they're trying to recite the script for Timecube backward and while drunk. The ScienceHero merit allows Genii to mitigate Jabir penalties to some extent, but in general your Inspiration is inversely proportional to the amount of sense you make.
** {{Deconstructed|Trope}}/PlayedForDrama in this case; Jabir is described as a disturbing thing to witness and suffer from, especially if you (like many Inspired) happened to be a scientist before Catalyzing. You're going to find it difficult to impossible to continue doing what you love, because even your completely legitimate scientific research is going to come out looking as ridiculous as your Wonders, and your colleagues ''will'' notice.
** On the flipside, the ability of Technomancers to produce plausible sounding technobabble to justify your MagicPoweredPseudoscience is an absolute necessity in Genius's thematic predecessor, ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension''. The more convincing and comprehensible the babble, the less risk of [[GoneHorriblyWrong Paradox]].
* ''Tabletopgame/SpiritOfTheCentury'' allows players to make declarations about scientific facts their characters know which can help in whatever situation they find themselves in. Since ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'' runs on the rules of [[TwoFistedTales pulp narrative]], both players and {{Game Master}}s are encouraged to make such situations less about "realistic science" and more about "impressive sounding technobabble."

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', a card from the Future Sight set modified how the player assembles contraptions. Contraptions don't exist. You can't assemble them. There are no rules pertaining to 'assembling' or 'contraptions' anywhere in the game... At least until ''Unstable'' which finally gave them rules and actual Contraption cards.
** This is actually a reference to a past card, Great Wall, which made it possible to block creatures with plainswalk even if you had a plains; at the time, only one creature with plainswalk existed, and even today, with [[OverNineThousand over a hundred thousand cards]], less than twenty have or grant plainswalk.
* According to ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' [[AllThereInTheManual Master Guide 4]], the advanced technology of the Mecha Phantom Beast archetype includes quantum-output machines. The decoys created by these machines are nearly indistinguishable from the original on radar and are said to be so efficient at drawing away fire, that as long as a single decoy has been deployed, the original machine cannot be shot down.

* OlderThanSteam. In Ben Jonson's ''Theatre/TheAlchemist'', a couple of con artists are trying to fool some rubes into thinking they're alchemists. Part of the show includes a long, babbling speech about the state of the Philosopher's Stone. Jonson was an obsessive researcher and much of the nonsense is based on contemporary alchemical jargon, but in a way to come across as nonsensical to even the contemporary audience: