List of Overused Science Fiction Cliches

Dave

Dave

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The Grand List of Overused Science Fiction Clichés:

This is an interesting list to look at:


Those of us who have read or seen a lot of science fiction have seen certain story elements pop up over and over and over. Some of these elements were actually pretty good ideas, and when handled well make for a pretty entertaining story, but have become hackneyed from overuse by the unimaginative. Others came into being through the deliberate effort to avoid another cliché. Still other ideas were lame from the get-go, and should have been dismissed from the author's thinking.....
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The author of the webpage gives ticks and crossed depending on what kind of cliché it is. They also mark some with a Starfleet sign if they have been used in 'Star Trek'. I disagree with them on that point though, I think more like about 90% of them have been used in 'Star Trek'. And it we are talking TV and films about 50% of them are in 'Stargate' and 'Star Wars' too. :D

© 2002 by John VanSickle. Permission to quote for non-commercial use is granted, provided that this copyright notice is included. Permission to link from non-commercial Web pages is granted. All other rights reserved. If you translate this page for publication on the Web elsewhere, please let me know and I'll put a link to it here.
 
LMAO!

Been having a rubbish day, and that cheered me right up!

Still reading through them...



[edit: "A human male becomes pregnant." - he lists this as being a cliche star trek has used. WHen? I don't remember this, but then, my TOS knowledge is a bit shaky]
 
these aren't only SF cliches -

b/c even MacGyver did this one: Super-intelligent computers blow up when the hero confuses them.


well, okay - it didn't really so much as blow up, so much as lock down the building and try to kill Mac - but you get the idea --


I didn't read the whole list - but those are pretty good - and we've seen a lot of 'em -- of course -- ;)
 
I kinda liked the title of the linked page. Overused cliches - it's like the people who wrote the page sorta thought everything in SF nowadays is already cliched. That it's just a matter of degree.

I haven't read enough SF yet, to come to the point where everything I read seems done before. I hope I don't get there anytime soon...
 
Originally posted by greyhorse
I haven't read enough SF yet, to come to the point where everything I read seems done before. I hope I don't get there anytime soon...
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People often say that there are only a certain number of basic plots in all of literature, and that any story is really just a variation on these plots. Read this site for more information: Basic Plots in Literature

Also, we have been discussing the Star Wars saga and it's origins: Origins of the Star Wars Saga. Maybe those themes were not conciously 'stolen' it's just that there are only so many stories you can tell. The skill is in picking the best ones, putting on a slightly different spin, and weaving them all together seamlessly.

Star Trek used to take scripts written by fans and sent in by post. They had to stop because they had too many lawsuits. Everytime they wrote a new episode, somebody somewhere would say that they had sent in that idea x years previously.

I also read about another TV series (I can't remember now which one), but throughout it's run it never ever used a particular story, even though different fans repeatedly, but independently, sent in the same story on an almost weekly basis.

That list is just for fun. I don't think it should be looked at too seriously, it's fun to pick out plots and match them to books that you've read.
 
Cliche become overused when writers hit the out new ideas dry spell . It happens, but it doesn't last forever.
 
I would argue that the clichés are not overused, but rather must be delivered effectively, where effectively means interesting to the reader, as in keeps the reader interested.

I refer my fellow Chrons to visit here.
 
Ashley R said:
I would argue that the cliches are not overused, but rather must be delivered effectively, where effectively means interesting to the reader, as in keeps the reader interested.

I refer my fellow Chrons to visit here.
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I would agree. A lot of what's complained about as being cliché are just classic plot devices done badly or too same-same. They're used a lot for a reason, people enjoy them when done well. It's the same with any other trope. If there weren't enough people out there that liked that plot device, there wouldn't be so many authors using them.
 
In the future, I'm going to take that list and ENSURE every single one of those is used in the (a single) story...even if they contradict one another.

My protagonist always looks the same as it is. Consistency is key ;)

K2
 
Last edited:
Astro Pen said:
17 years later, after a return trip to Alpha Centauri, the reply finally landed in Dave's in tray.....
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But the engines didn't make it apparently!

Brian cleaned up the link (surprised the webpage still exists, even on the Wayback Machine.) I'll go and clean up that messed up broken unicode.
BAYLOR said:
I do resurrect old topics form time to time.
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Really? I'd never noticed @BAYLOR :rolleyes:
 
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