History Main / ExpositionIntuition

As you know, SpeculativeFiction often relies on large quantities of {{Expospeak}} in order to deliver enough information to the audience that they can work out what is going on. When the hero is TrappedInAnotherWorld or some other sort of FishOutOfWater, he will often be provided with a companion almost immediately who is of this strange world, and therefore can serve as MrExposition. On the other hand, when the series is based around ImportedAlienPhlebotinum, it may come with a comprehensive user's manual, or an alien visitor (in alien invasion series, especially an alien defector) who can reasonably act as a source of information.

But if he doesn't have the special backstory to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] his insider knowledge of aliens, monsters, interdimensional beings, vampires or mole people, how would MrExposition be able to explain what the bad guys want here or how they work?

Well, let's just declare that he's a [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Scientist]]. We all know that being a scientist is basically just science fiction speak for being a wizard, and it means you have magical foreknowledge. We'll say that because he's a scientist, he can tell, just by looking, that the twenty-story tall monster must gain his great power from a form of fusion energy, and is obviously weak against low temperatures, and will be attracted by the soothing sounds of John Tesh music.

Note that this trope does not apply to characters who are able to exposit based on performing ''actual'' scientific research (such as [[Franchise/StarTrek Mr. Spock]]).

See also: {{Namedar}}

AsYouKnow, SpeculativeFiction often relies on large quantities of {{Expospeak}} in order to deliver enough information to the audience that they can work out what is going on. When the hero is TrappedInAnotherWorld or some other sort of FishOutOfWater, he will often be provided with a companion almost immediately who is of this strange world, and therefore can serve as MrExposition. On the other hand, when the series is based around ImportedAlienPhlebotinum, it may come with a comprehensive user's manual, or an alien visitor (in alien invasion series, especially an alien defector) who can reasonably act as a source of information.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* Tetsuo Segawa from ''Guyver'' may be the patron saint of ExpositionIntuition: thanks to ''being a science fiction fan'', he is able to make numerous, highly specific, and perfectly accurate "guesses" about how the Guyver suit works, the nature of the Zoanoids, that they are being controlled by a major corporation, the various details of the Cronos corporation, the [[{{Namedar}} names of individual Zoanoids]], and so forth.

[[AC: Fanfiction]]
* In ''Fanfic/KnowledgeIsPower'' Harry and Hermione seem to know what Horcruxes are despite having gone back in time ''before'' the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''. In fact James and Lily explain it to them in the afterlife, but you could blink and miss it.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Doctor Forrester in ''Film/{{The War Of The Worlds|1953}}''. He's able to deduce how the Martian heat ray works, how the war machines levitate, and even determines ''based on nothing more than seeing what we do'' that an alien weapon which causes its victims to light up with XRaySparks then fade to nothing works by "cutting across the lines of electromagnetic force" that holds matter together.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Samantha Carter in ''Series/StargateSG1'' frequently exhibits this trope early in the series, able to deduce the purpose of alien devices and the nature of various supersciences. As the series progresses, she shifts out of this trope and toward a more realistic "Able to exposit on the basis of training and experience".

* At the beginning of the final episode of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''The Armageddon Factor'', two characters conveniently recap for us some recent events and the predicament the Doctor is in. Which is strange because these events happened on ''a different planet'' and no one present has been in communication with them.
* In a minor example, the kids on ''Land Of The Lost'', who've become fair experts on giant reptilian beasts by this point, are threatened by a two-headed snake in the first episode of season three. Having escaped, they name it "[=LuLu=]", one "Lu" for each head. How does this fit this trope? It fits, because the two-headed snake's body is ''completely underwater'', out of view, when they run into it. So how did they instantly catch on that it was a multi-headed creature, rather than two big snakes?

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Liara pulls this on the Shadow Broker.

** She admits to you afterward that she was guessing.

** This is parodied in the episode "200" with absurdly detailed examples of this trope.

* In a minor example, the kids on ''Land Of The Lost'', who've become fair experts on giant reptilian beasts by this point, are threatened by a two-headed snake in the first episode of season three. Having escaped, they name it "LuLu", one "Lu" for each head. How does this fit this trope? It fits, because the two-headed snake's body is ''completely underwater'', out of view, when they run into it. So how did they instantly catch on that it was a multi-headed creature, rather than two big snakes?

* In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for VideoGame/MassEffect2, Liara pulls this on the Shadow Broker.

Examples:

** She admits to you afterward that she was guessing.

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* In ''Literature/TheLangoliers'', StephenKing's AuthorAvatar author character, played by Dean Stockwell, manages to ''guess'' exactly what's happening just by a deserted airport with stale food. Oh, did we mention this guessing includes that they've traveled into the past by going through a circular rainbow, that traveling into the past melts everyone who's not asleep, and that as soon as a time period becomes the past it's devoured by a swarm of temporal monsters? And that they can use the bit of time-space inside their jet to fly back through the circular rainbow to get back to the future? And '''it works'''.

* In TheLangoliers, StephenKing's AuthorAvatar author character, played by Dean Stockwell, manages to ''guess'' exactly what's happening just by a deserted airport with stale food. Oh, did we mention this guessing includes that they've traveled into the past by going through a circular rainbow, that traveling into the past melts everyone who's not asleep, and that as soon as a time period becomes the past it's devoured by a swarm of temporal monsters? And that they can use the bit of time-space inside their jet to fly back through the circular rainbow to get back to the future? And '''it works'''.

And then on the ''other'' other hand, some shows just, well, don't care. But we're still going to need that {{Expospeak}}. If the audience doesn't have it clearly explained to them what the aliens' plot is and how their AppliedPhlebotinum works, they might not realize how clever the writers were -- what do you think this is, ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}''?

* Samantha Carter in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' frequently exhibits this trope early in the series, able to deduce the purpose of alien devices and the nature of various supersciences. As the series progresses, she shifts out of this trope and toward a more realistic "Able to exposit on the basis of training and experience".
** This is parodied in the episode ''200'' with absurdly detailed examples of this trope.
** [=McKay=] in ''StargateAtlantis'' often avoids this trope -- despite his stated arrogance, he is frequently unwilling to exposit a theory until he has given some piece of technology a thorough examination under laboratory conditions. When circumstances force him to postulate anyway, he's frequently wrong.

* In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC for MassEffect2, Liara pulls this on the Shadow Broker.

* Doctor Forrester in ''WarOfTheWorlds''. He's able to deduce how the Martian heat ray works, how the war machines levitate, and even determines ''based on nothing more than seeing what we do'' that an alien weapon which causes its victims to light up with XRaySparks then fade to nothing works by "cutting across the lines of electromagnetic force" that holds matter together.

And then on the ''other'' other hand, some shows just, well, don't care. But we're still going to need that {{Expospeak}}. If the audience doesn't have it clearly explained to them what the aliens' plot is and how their AppliedPhlebotinum works, they might not realize how clever the writers were -- what do you think this is, ''BattlestarGalactica''?

* Likewise, Meme Oshino in ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'' can tell what supernatural phenomena that affected each girl.

* Ginko in ''{{Mushishi}}'' almost always seems to know exactly what mushi he's dealing with and how to deal with it.

Note that this trope does not apply to characters who are able to exposit based on performing ''actual'' scientific research (such as [[StarTrek Mr. Spock]]).

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

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* Likewise, Meme Oshino in ''Literature/{{Bakemonogatari}}'' can tell what supernatural phenomena that affected each girl.

* Likewise, Meme Oshino in ''{{Bakemonogatari}}'' can tell what supernatural phenomena that affected each girl.

And then on the other hand, some shows just, well, don't care. But we're still going to need that {{Expospeak}}. If the audience doesn't have it clearly explained to them what the aliens' plot is and how their AppliedPhlebotinum works, they might not realize how clever the writers were -- what do you think this is, ''BattlestarGalactica''?

* At the beginning of the final episode of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "The Armageddon Factor", two characters conveniently recap for us some recent events and the predicament the Doctor is in. Which is strange because these events happened on ''a different planet'' and no one present has been in communication with them.

* At the beginning of the final episode of the ''DoctorWho'' serial "The Armageddon Factor", two characters conveniently recap for us some recent events and the predicament the Doctor is in. Which is strange because these events happened on ''a different planet'' and no one present has been in communication with them.

Well, let's just declare that he's a [[HollywoodScientist Scientist]]. We all know that being a scientist is basically just science fiction speak for being a wizard, and it means you have magical foreknowledge. We'll say that because he's a scientist, he can tell, just by looking, that the twenty-story tall monster must gain his great power from a form of fusion energy, and is obviously weak against low temperatures, and will be attracted by the soothing sounds of John Tesh music.