Technobabble - Revision history

Joe Beaudoin Jr. at 18:46, 17 August 2025

2025-08-17T18:46:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:46, 17 August 2025
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	'''Technobabble''' refers to language so full of technical jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words used. Usually comprised of random tech-sounding words strung together in a ''syntactically'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way, it is a science fiction plot device used to "explain" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble often falls apart under close scrutiny, especially if the jargon is completely fictional.		'''Technobabble''' refers to language so full of technical jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words used. Usually comprised of random tech-sounding words strung together in a ''syntactically'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way, it is a science fiction plot device used to "explain" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble often falls apart under close scrutiny, especially if the jargon is completely fictional.

	Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, some consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.		Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, some consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.

	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]]. The show's co-creator, [[Ronald D. Moore]], stated that he wanted to avoid "high-tech ships with touch screens and talking computers" because they "tend to take human beings out of the dramatic equation."<ref group="Book">{{Cite book\|author=David Bassom\|title=[[Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion]]\|year=2005\|publisher=Titan Books\|isbn=1845760972\|page=18}}</ref>

	Technobabble in action:		Technobabble in action:
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	Question:		Question:

	:"Having watched Star Trek for many years, and now an avid Galactica watcher; I have noticed unlike the Star Trek shows of the past...we know little about how Galactica works. We don't know much about her engines at all, what powers the ship..weapons. Is this an intentional effort to steer Battlestar Galactica away from the technobabble Star Trek would often be muddled in and focus time exclusively on the characters of the show? Will we learn and see more of Galactica in the future?"		:"Having watched ''[[List of Former Star Trek Cast and Crew (TRS)\|Star Trek]]'' for many years, and now an avid ''Galactica'' watcher; I have noticed unlike the ''Star Trek'' shows of the past...we know little about how ''[[Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I\|Galactica]]'' works. We don't know much about her [[Propulsion in the Re-imagined Series\|engines]] at all, what [[Tylium (RDM)\|powers the ship]]..[[Weapons in the Re-imagined Series\|weapons]]. Is this an intentional effort to steer ''Battlestar Galactica'' away from the technobabble ''Star Trek'' would often be muddled in and focus time exclusively on the characters of the show? Will we learn and see more of ''Galactica'' in the future?"

	Moore's Answer:		Moore's Answer:

	:"I did want to stay away from the technobabble that I felt sometimes swamped the characters in Trek, and so I have intentionally avoided discussion of the technical workings of Galactica. Bit by bit, however, small windows into the inner workings do come to light and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. Also, in all honesty, the writing staff often felt that the technological detail of the Enterprise was as limiting on Trek as it was helpful. We'd established so much about the way the engines worked and didn't work that we sometimes found ourselves discarding perfectly good story ideas or scenes because it contradicted some bit of jargon we'd tossed out two seasons before. There was always the option to write around those kind of details, of course, but inevitably, the thought of yet more tech-talk to justify doing what we wanted to do became a real irritant and we'd usually just try a different approach."		:"I did want to stay away from the technobabble that I felt sometimes swamped the characters in Trek, and so I have intentionally avoided discussion of the technical workings of ''Galactica''. Bit by bit, however, small windows into the inner workings do come to light and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. Also, in all honesty, the writing staff often felt that the technological detail of the ''[[Memoryalpha:Enterprise\|Enterprise]]'' was as limiting on ''Trek'' as it was helpful. We'd established so much about the way the engines worked and didn't work that we sometimes found ourselves discarding perfectly good story ideas or scenes because it contradicted some bit of jargon we'd tossed out two seasons before. There was always the option to write around those kind of details, of course, but inevitably, the thought of yet more tech-talk to justify doing what we wanted to do became a real irritant and we'd usually just try a different approach."

			==Notes and references==
			{{reflist\|group="Book"}}

	==See Also==		==See Also==

Joe Beaudoin Jr.: Text replacement - "(Resistance)" to "{{TRS|Resistance (episode)}}"

2020-09-07T04:51:36Z

Text replacement - "(Resistance)" to "{{TRS|Resistance (episode)}}"

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:51, 7 September 2020
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	Technobabble in action:		Technobabble in action:
	:Colonel [[Saul Tigh\|Tigh]] accuses Doctor [[Gaius Baltar\|Baltar]] of spouting off useless technobabble when Baltar attempts to bluff his way out of the [[Cylon detector]]'s apparent failure to detect the sleeper agent [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ~~([[~~Resistance (episode)~~\|Resistance]])~~.		:Colonel [[Saul Tigh\|Tigh]] accuses Doctor [[Gaius Baltar\|Baltar]] of spouting off useless technobabble when Baltar attempts to bluff his way out of the [[Cylon detector]]'s apparent failure to detect the sleeper agent [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] {{TRS\|Resistance (episode)}}.

	==Ron Moore on Technobabble==		==Ron Moore on Technobabble==

Thwidra at 11:58, 10 August 2007

2007-08-10T11:58:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:58, 10 August 2007
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	[[Category:Terminology]]		[[Category:Terminology]]
	[[Category:RDM]]		[[Category:RDM]]

			[[de:Technobabble]]

Serenity: There are actually cases of technobabble that make sense. It's bad storytelling but not always completely nonsense. Depends on how it's done

2007-08-04T10:31:23Z

There are actually cases of technobabble that make sense. It's bad storytelling but not always completely nonsense. Depends on how it's done

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:31, 4 August 2007
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	'''Technobabble''' refers to language so full of technical jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words used. Usually comprised of random tech-sounding words strung together in a ''syntactically'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way, it is a science fiction plot device used to "explain" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble falls apart under close scrutiny, especially if the jargon is completely fictional.		'''Technobabble''' refers to language so full of technical jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words used. Usually comprised of random tech-sounding words strung together in a ''syntactically'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way, it is a science fiction plot device used to "explain" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble often falls apart under close scrutiny, especially if the jargon is completely fictional.

	Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, some consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.		Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, some consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.

Fredmdbud: spelling correction of syntatically -> syntactically, adjusted style to be more "active voice"

2007-08-04T02:40:08Z

spelling correction of syntatically -> syntactically, adjusted style to be more "active voice"

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:40, 4 August 2007
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	'''Technobabble''' is language so full of technical ~~terms or~~ jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words ~~being~~ used. ~~It usually sounds like~~ random ~~technical~~ words strung together in a ''~~syntatically~~'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way~~. It~~ is ~~sometimes employed as~~ a plot device ~~in science fiction,~~ "~~explaining~~" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble ~~is often meaningless if examined closely~~, especially if the ~~employed~~ jargon is completely fictional.		'''Technobabble''' refers to language so full of technical jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words used. Usually comprised of random tech-sounding words strung together in a ''syntactically'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way, it is a science fiction plot device used to "explain" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble falls apart under close scrutiny, especially if the jargon is completely fictional.

	Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, ~~others~~ consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and ~~still~~ [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.		Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, some consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.

	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].

	Colonel [[Saul Tigh\|Tigh]] accuses Doctor [[Gaius Baltar\|Baltar]] of spouting off useless technobabble when ~~attempting~~ to bluff his way out ~~of the apparent failure~~ of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the ~~infiltrator~~ [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).		Technobabble in action:
			:Colonel [[Saul Tigh\|Tigh]] accuses Doctor [[Gaius Baltar\|Baltar]] of spouting off useless technobabble when Baltar attempts to bluff his way out of the [[Cylon detector]]'s apparent failure to detect the sleeper agent [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).

	==Ron Moore on Technobabble==		==Ron Moore on Technobabble==
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	Question:		Question:

	"Having watched Star Trek for many years, and now an avid Galactica watcher; I have noticed unlike the Star Trek shows of the past...we know little about how Galactica works. We don't know much about her engines at all, what powers the ship..weapons. Is this an intentional effort to steer Battlestar Galactica away from the technobabble Star Trek would often be muddled in and focus time exclusively on the characters of the show? Will we learn and see more of Galactica in the future?"		:"Having watched Star Trek for many years, and now an avid Galactica watcher; I have noticed unlike the Star Trek shows of the past...we know little about how Galactica works. We don't know much about her engines at all, what powers the ship..weapons. Is this an intentional effort to steer Battlestar Galactica away from the technobabble Star Trek would often be muddled in and focus time exclusively on the characters of the show? Will we learn and see more of Galactica in the future?"

	:Moore's Answer:		Moore's Answer:

	:"I did want to stay away from the technobabble that I felt sometimes swamped the characters in Trek, and so I have intentionally avoided discussion of the technical workings of Galactica. Bit by bit, however, small windows into the inner workings do come to light and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. Also, in all honesty, the writing staff often felt that the technological detail of the Enterprise was as limiting on Trek as it was helpful. We'd established so much about the way the engines worked and didn't work that we sometimes found ourselves discarding perfectly good story ideas or scenes because it contradicted some bit of jargon we'd tossed out two seasons before. There was always the option to write around those kind of details, of course, but inevitably, the thought of yet more tech-talk to justify doing what we wanted to do became a real irritant and we'd usually just try a different approach."		:"I did want to stay away from the technobabble that I felt sometimes swamped the characters in Trek, and so I have intentionally avoided discussion of the technical workings of Galactica. Bit by bit, however, small windows into the inner workings do come to light and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. Also, in all honesty, the writing staff often felt that the technological detail of the Enterprise was as limiting on Trek as it was helpful. We'd established so much about the way the engines worked and didn't work that we sometimes found ourselves discarding perfectly good story ideas or scenes because it contradicted some bit of jargon we'd tossed out two seasons before. There was always the option to write around those kind of details, of course, but inevitably, the thought of yet more tech-talk to justify doing what we wanted to do became a real irritant and we'd usually just try a different approach."

Serenity: /* Ron Moore on Technobabble */

2007-07-31T22:24:18Z

Ron Moore on Technobabble

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:24, 31 July 2007
Line 15:		Line 15:
	"Having watched Star Trek for many years, and now an avid Galactica watcher; I have noticed unlike the Star Trek shows of the past...we know little about how Galactica works. We don't know much about her engines at all, what powers the ship..weapons. Is this an intentional effort to steer Battlestar Galactica away from the technobabble Star Trek would often be muddled in and focus time exclusively on the characters of the show? Will we learn and see more of Galactica in the future?"		"Having watched Star Trek for many years, and now an avid Galactica watcher; I have noticed unlike the Star Trek shows of the past...we know little about how Galactica works. We don't know much about her engines at all, what powers the ship..weapons. Is this an intentional effort to steer Battlestar Galactica away from the technobabble Star Trek would often be muddled in and focus time exclusively on the characters of the show? Will we learn and see more of Galactica in the future?"

	:~~Ron~~'s Answer:		:Moore's Answer:

	:"I did want to stay away from the technobabble that I felt sometimes swamped the characters in Trek, and so I have intentionally avoided discussion of the technical workings of Galactica. Bit by bit, however, small windows into the inner workings do come to light and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. Also, in all honesty, the writing staff often felt that the technological detail of the Enterprise was as limiting on Trek as it was helpful. We'd established so much about the way the engines worked and didn't work that we sometimes found ourselves discarding perfectly good story ideas or scenes because it contradicted some bit of jargon we'd tossed out two seasons before. There was always the option to write around those kind of details, of course, but inevitably, the thought of yet more tech-talk to justify doing what we wanted to do became a real irritant and we'd usually just try a different approach."		:"I did want to stay away from the technobabble that I felt sometimes swamped the characters in Trek, and so I have intentionally avoided discussion of the technical workings of Galactica. Bit by bit, however, small windows into the inner workings do come to light and I'm sure will continue to do so in the future. Also, in all honesty, the writing staff often felt that the technological detail of the Enterprise was as limiting on Trek as it was helpful. We'd established so much about the way the engines worked and didn't work that we sometimes found ourselves discarding perfectly good story ideas or scenes because it contradicted some bit of jargon we'd tossed out two seasons before. There was always the option to write around those kind of details, of course, but inevitably, the thought of yet more tech-talk to justify doing what we wanted to do became a real irritant and we'd usually just try a different approach."

Serenity at 22:22, 31 July 2007

2007-07-31T22:22:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:22, 31 July 2007
Line 1:		Line 1:
	'''Technobabble''' is language so full of technical terms or jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words being used. It usually sounds like random technical words strung together in a ~~<i>~~syntatically~~</i>~~ correct but ~~<i>~~semantically~~</i>~~ meaningless way. It is sometimes employed as a plot device in science fiction, "explaining" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble is ~~usually~~ meaningless, if examined closely.		'''Technobabble''' is language so full of technical terms or jargon that it is incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the words being used. It usually sounds like random technical words strung together in a ''syntatically'' correct but ''semantically'' meaningless way. It is sometimes employed as a plot device in science fiction, "explaining" some technical difficulty which puts the characters in danger. Technobabble is often meaningless if examined closely, especially if the employed jargon is completely fictional.

	Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, others consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and still [[Special:listusers\|others have fun trying to "make sense" of it]].		Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, others consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and still [[Special:listusers\|others]] have fun trying to "make sense" of it.

	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].

	~~Doctor~~ [[~~Gaius Baltar~~]] ~~was accused by Colonel~~ [[~~Saul Tigh~~]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).		Colonel [[Saul Tigh\|Tigh]] accuses Doctor [[Gaius Baltar\|Baltar]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).

	==~~RDM~~ on Technobabble==		==Ron Moore on Technobabble==

	[[Ronald ~~D. Moore\|Ron~~ D. Moore]] answers a question pertaining to the technical workings of ''Galactica'' and how technobabble can affect a good script (credit: Sci-Fi.com):		[[Ronald D. Moore]] answers a question pertaining to the technical workings of ''Galactica'' and how technobabble can affect a good script (credit: Sci-Fi.com):

	Question:		Question:
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	==See Also==		==See Also==

	*~~Article on~~ [[Science in the Re-imagined Series]]		*[[Science in the Re-imagined Series]]
	*[[Naturalistic science fiction]]		*[[Naturalistic science fiction]]
	*Wikipedia's contrasting article on the principles of [[Wikipedia:Hard science fiction\|hard science fiction]]		*Wikipedia's contrasting article on the principles of [[Wikipedia:Hard science fiction\|hard science fiction]]
	*Rockwell's [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5125780462773187994&q=retro+encabulator "Retroencabulator"], a ~~perfect, very~~ humorous example by actual engineers of how technobabble can create something almost comprehensible. (This is a video link.)		*Rockwell's [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5125780462773187994&q=retro+encabulator "Retroencabulator"], a humorous example by actual engineers of how technobabble can create something almost comprehensible. (This is a video link.)

Veepz at 22:16, 31 July 2007

2007-07-31T22:16:40Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:16, 31 July 2007
Line 5:		Line 5:
	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].

	~~Dr.~~ [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by ~~Col.~~ [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).		Doctor [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Colonel [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).

	==RDM on Technobabble==		==RDM on Technobabble==

Spencerian: Updated.

2006-09-06T16:30:48Z

Updated.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:30, 6 September 2006
Line 3:		Line 3:
	Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, others consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and still [[Special:listusers\|others have fun trying to "make sense" of it]].		Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, others consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and still [[Special:listusers\|others have fun trying to "make sense" of it]].

	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the ~~show~~.		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].

	Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Col. [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).		Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Col. [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).

The Merovingian at 01:15, 17 August 2006

2006-08-17T01:15:40Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:15, 17 August 2006
Line 5:		Line 5:
	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the show.		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the show.

	Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Col. [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[~~The Farm~~]]).		Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Col. [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).

	==RDM on Technobabble==		==RDM on Technobabble==

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:30, 6 September 2006
Line 3:		Line 3:
	Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, others consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and still [[Special:listusers\|others have fun trying to "make sense" of it]].		Fan opinions on technobabble vary; some think it is a necessary evil, others consider it pretentious and unacceptable, and still [[Special:listusers\|others have fun trying to "make sense" of it]].

	Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the ~~show~~.		Technobabble is generally against the [[Naturalistic science fiction\|writing principles]] of the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)\|Re-imagined Series]].

	Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Col. [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).		Dr. [[Gaius Baltar]] was accused by Col. [[Saul Tigh]] of spouting off useless technobabble when attempting to bluff his way out of the apparent failure of the [[Cylon detector]] to detect the infiltrator [[Sharon Valerii (Galactica copy)\|Sharon Valerii]] ([[Resistance (episode)\|Resistance]]).