Welcome citizen to a generic science fiction utopia
September 15, 2014 1:32 AM Subscribe
You how there's always a scene in science fiction movies where a character enters some futuristic utopia and a robotic voice starts talking to them, saying something like "Welcome to Futureville, where all your needs are met" ? Is there a name for this trope? Can you think of some good examples?
I ask because I'm writing an essay and trying to think of what to call this thing that happens--the utopian introduction. I think it is based on the announcements in airports.
I ask because I'm writing an essay and trying to think of what to call this thing that happens--the utopian introduction. I think it is based on the announcements in airports.
Good examples are Star Trek (Next Gen and subsequent series) - society has supposedly moved beyond the pursuit of money, replicators can produce most food and other goods, energy is virtually unlimited. Slate argues that it's only mostly post-scarcity.
Iain M Banks' Culture novels are another good example (TV Tropes link). The Culture is a society run by Strong AIs, the human citizens have all their needs met by those same AIs, there is no money, people dedicate their lives to their personal pursuits.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 1:47 AM on September 15, 2014
Iain M Banks' Culture novels are another good example (TV Tropes link). The Culture is a society run by Strong AIs, the human citizens have all their needs met by those same AIs, there is no money, people dedicate their lives to their personal pursuits.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 1:47 AM on September 15, 2014
Damn, I have totally misunderstood your question. You are asking about the introductory spiel only. Sorry.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 1:50 AM on September 15, 2014
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 1:50 AM on September 15, 2014
Response by poster: Dear HTWRT,
That is still very cool information. But I am focusing on the spiel. The spiel is almost always an ironic promotion for the utopian city. The more I think of it, the more it seems to be a partial spoof of airport announcements.
posted by craniac at 1:54 AM on September 15, 2014
That is still very cool information. But I am focusing on the spiel. The spiel is almost always an ironic promotion for the utopian city. The more I think of it, the more it seems to be a partial spoof of airport announcements.
posted by craniac at 1:54 AM on September 15, 2014
OK, I shall redeem myself.
An example of this spiel - in cstross's Accelerando, Chapter 8 - Elector includes an FAQ for people who have just been revived or reembodied (after being entirely virtual) in a seemingly post-scarcity society. Here is the HTML version - search for 'Welcome to Saturn'.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:07 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
An example of this spiel - in cstross's Accelerando, Chapter 8 - Elector includes an FAQ for people who have just been revived or reembodied (after being entirely virtual) in a seemingly post-scarcity society. Here is the HTML version - search for 'Welcome to Saturn'.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:07 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'm going to posit that it's not specific to science fiction at all, and many examples are directly inspired by The Wizard of Oz. See the horse of a different color in "The Merry Old Land of Oz". I'd maybe call what you're talking about a "welcome song".
posted by Mizu at 2:21 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Mizu at 2:21 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
And a Star Trek Next Gen example. In the episode The Neutral Zone, the Enterprise comes across a satellite containing cryonically frozen people from the 20th century, and revives them. Picard finds himself in the position of having to deliver the 'welcome to the post-scarcity society' spiel:
Capt. Picard: A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We've grown out of our infancy.posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:21 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Ralph Offenhouse: You've got it all wrong. It has never been about possessions. It's about power.
Capt. Picard: Power to do what?
Ralph Offenhouse: To control your life, your destiny.
Capt. Picard: That kind of control is an illusion.
Ralph Offenhouse: Really? I'm here, aren't I? I should be dead. But I'm not.
...
Capt. Picard: This is the 24th century. Material needs no longer exist.
Ralph Offenhouse: Then what's the challenge?
Capt. Picard: The challenge, Mr. Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.
I'm going to posit that it's not specific to science fiction at all
Excellent point; this kind of 'welcome to your new context' expository speech is common to any 'fish out of water' story.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:23 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Excellent point; this kind of 'welcome to your new context' expository speech is common to any 'fish out of water' story.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:23 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Well, the need it's filling - to provide the protagonist (AND the audience) with the exposition - is often called an Infodump.
(...And the extreme case of the infodump is called "As you know, Bob"-ing.)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 2:32 AM on September 15, 2014 [6 favorites]
(...And the extreme case of the infodump is called "As you know, Bob"-ing.)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 2:32 AM on September 15, 2014 [6 favorites]
I think the TVTropes page Naive Newcomer is possibly the closest match.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:33 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Happy Dave at 2:33 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: These are great examples! I think I'm looking for something too narrow--that calm, robotic, usually female voice that does the exposition, often in a city. The thing is, there are variants: like the advertisements for moving off-world in Bladerunner, that are very similar.
posted by craniac at 2:53 AM on September 15, 2014
posted by craniac at 2:53 AM on September 15, 2014
I agree with AsYouKnowBob: it's a variety of infodump. Specifically, an infodump disguised as an introduction for a protagonist, with the unstated implication that the reader/audience is going to stick fairly close to that protagonists' point of view (at least until we understand the world a bit better).
posted by Tara-dactyl at 2:59 AM on September 15, 2014
posted by Tara-dactyl at 2:59 AM on September 15, 2014
It's from a game, specifically Star Trek Online, and it's not a female voice. In the "Temporal Ambassador" mission, you travel to a different timeline, where the Tholians took over. You dock at a base and are welcomed by a robotic voice saying "The Tholian Assembly cares about your well-being". This is repeated frequently as you move around in the base, along with other lines like that.
It's clearly a dystopia (no-one there is happy, you only get the very basics like generic food, bunk beds,...), but the robotic introduction is there.
posted by MinusCelsius at 3:14 AM on September 15, 2014
It's clearly a dystopia (no-one there is happy, you only get the very basics like generic food, bunk beds,...), but the robotic introduction is there.
posted by MinusCelsius at 3:14 AM on September 15, 2014
Wall E -- there's a scene when Wall E is exploring the generation ship and you see all the Buy N Large propaganda
posted by spunweb at 3:16 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by spunweb at 3:16 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
I think it's a thing in "you'll like it here, everyone does" which is a YA book.
To me it's very Cold War/1950s Americana Vibe and less airports
posted by spunweb at 3:22 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
To me it's very Cold War/1950s Americana Vibe and less airports
posted by spunweb at 3:22 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yup. You might want to check out the NY world fair in 1964. Here's some scratchy Disneyland audio of Tomorrowland. There's more from both Tomorrowland and the Worlds Fair on Archive.
Personally, I'd use Carousel of Progress because the spiel is a moving tour where you can look but not touch, because if you get too close you see it's not real.
posted by spunweb at 3:39 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Personally, I'd use Carousel of Progress because the spiel is a moving tour where you can look but not touch, because if you get too close you see it's not real.
posted by spunweb at 3:39 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: In Minority Report all of the ads are personalized by retinal scan. After Tom Cruise gets new eyeballs he walks into a mall and the advertisements all start talking to him, welcoming him to the mall, except they're retinal scanning his new eyes. He walks into the gap and this hologram lady says something like, "Hi, Mr Yakimora! How are those flat front chinos working out for you?"
It's the first time the viewer gets a taste of this crazy future, it introduces Tom Cruise to his new eyeball identity, and it's both really cool (such technology wow) and horrifying (real life is an inescapable autoplaying pop up ad).
It's not what you're asking about specifically but it's certainly a riff on the trope.
posted by phunniemee at 4:27 AM on September 15, 2014
It's the first time the viewer gets a taste of this crazy future, it introduces Tom Cruise to his new eyeball identity, and it's both really cool (such technology wow) and horrifying (real life is an inescapable autoplaying pop up ad).
It's not what you're asking about specifically but it's certainly a riff on the trope.
posted by phunniemee at 4:27 AM on September 15, 2014
Best answer: The first minute of the trailer for Logan's Run.
posted by fairmettle at 4:52 AM on September 15, 2014
posted by fairmettle at 4:52 AM on September 15, 2014
The Who's Tommy:
I'm your uncle Ernie and I welcome you to Tommy's holiday camp!
The camp with the difference, never mind the weather
When you come to Tommy's the holiday's forever!
(Recalled from memory, probably not quite right.)
I think the source predates airports and goes back to carnivals and circuses.
posted by alms at 4:53 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm your uncle Ernie and I welcome you to Tommy's holiday camp!
The camp with the difference, never mind the weather
When you come to Tommy's the holiday's forever!
(Recalled from memory, probably not quite right.)
I think the source predates airports and goes back to carnivals and circuses.
posted by alms at 4:53 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
I associate it with the sign in 1984, though I'm sure the trope pre-dates this. It is also seen in Brazil. It's a form of narrative exposition; were I writing about it I might be tempted to call it Utopian Exposition. (I actually think it's also demonstrated by GLaDOS and Aperture Science but I couldn't defend a dissertation about that or anything.)
posted by DarlingBri at 5:03 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by DarlingBri at 5:03 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'd say this is related to the dystopic trope Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:30 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:30 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
that calm, robotic, usually female voice that does the exposition, often in a city.
I know exactly what you mean. In my mind I have heard this a thousand times, always female, Always calm and soothingly robotic ,always welcoming the newcomer to the shiny white crystal city.
I cannot think of a single example!
(I googled it and got this question back, which is a great sign that google loves metafilter again, but otherwise not great)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:31 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
I know exactly what you mean. In my mind I have heard this a thousand times, always female, Always calm and soothingly robotic ,always welcoming the newcomer to the shiny white crystal city.
I cannot think of a single example!
(I googled it and got this question back, which is a great sign that google loves metafilter again, but otherwise not great)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:31 AM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Dystopias have them too-- the first example that came to mind was "Welcome to City 17" (YTL; 45 sec) from the game Half-Life 2. That's actor Robert Culp voicing the part of Dr. Wallace Breen, the head collaborator with the Combine ('our benefactors'), the interdimensional alien aggressors who conquered Earth, essentially administrating the enslavement of mankind. This speech can be seen at the very start of the game after the player arrives by train.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:09 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Sunburnt at 7:09 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's clearly a trope, but I think you get to give it a name. I'm thinking of something like "the dulcet announcement of great foreboding."
posted by adamrice at 7:26 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by adamrice at 7:26 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
At a higher level, you're talking about a key element of the mythic story structure as described by Joseph Campbell and then adapted for use in Hollywood by Christopher Vogler.
There's a point in every story at which a hero crosses a threshold from his or her ordinary world into the special world where the real action takes place. What you're describing is the hero being welcomed into the special world.
From Vogler's famous 1985 memo, which spawned his book The Writer's Journey:
5.) The hero passes the first threshold. (CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.)
The hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure gets going. The balloon goes up, the romance begins, the spaceship blasts off, the wagon train gets rolling. Dorothy sets out on the Yellow Brick Road. The hero is now committed to his/her journey and there’s no turning back.
posted by bassomatic at 7:29 AM on September 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
There's a point in every story at which a hero crosses a threshold from his or her ordinary world into the special world where the real action takes place. What you're describing is the hero being welcomed into the special world.
From Vogler's famous 1985 memo, which spawned his book The Writer's Journey:
5.) The hero passes the first threshold. (CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.)
The hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure gets going. The balloon goes up, the romance begins, the spaceship blasts off, the wagon train gets rolling. Dorothy sets out on the Yellow Brick Road. The hero is now committed to his/her journey and there’s no turning back.
posted by bassomatic at 7:29 AM on September 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
Another example: Check out the trailer for "The Congress." Based on Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress, it features a first half that's live-action, before jumping forward in time a few years to see the outcome of the ball set rolling in the first half: a new reality that's been produced by a hollywood megaconglomerate, and they're hosting a "Futurist Congress" to discuss the future of their industry, and of the new human reality. At about 1:20 you'll hear exactly what you are looking for.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:33 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Sunburnt at 8:33 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: So glad Sunburnt found a couple of examples. It's such a familiar trope, and yet I can't remember a single specific instance. The same kind of speech is also sometimes given as a kind of audio users manual with the introduction of some crazy new technology that will eventually go horribly wrong - robotic grandmother, smart house, your new life in a clone body. But again, no examples.
Here's the closest I could get
"Welcome to the Future" from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Total Recall "Welcome to Rekall" . I think it's spoken by an actual person in the movie, but it sounds just like the kind of thing you're looking for.
Princess Irulan in Dune
Several examples of voice-overs describing the state of the future - Not "welcome visitor" speeches, but the same kind of exposition to someone being introduced to the universe.
And not even close, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read your question - "Welcome to Duloc"
posted by Dojie at 8:48 AM on September 15, 2014
Here's the closest I could get
"Welcome to the Future" from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Total Recall "Welcome to Rekall" . I think it's spoken by an actual person in the movie, but it sounds just like the kind of thing you're looking for.
Princess Irulan in Dune
Several examples of voice-overs describing the state of the future - Not "welcome visitor" speeches, but the same kind of exposition to someone being introduced to the universe.
And not even close, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read your question - "Welcome to Duloc"
posted by Dojie at 8:48 AM on September 15, 2014
1989's "Millennium." The voice can be heard about 20 seconds into the trailer. An agency 1000 years in the future is pulling from the past people who are going to imminently die in airline accidents, swapping them for inert bodies. I forget how the rest of their plan worked, but I think the people went into storage, and ultimately were sent forward into a new and unknown future.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:01 AM on September 15, 2014
posted by Sunburnt at 11:01 AM on September 15, 2014
Male example: The Librarian from the 2002 version of The Time Machine
posted by sparklemotion at 2:10 PM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by sparklemotion at 2:10 PM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
BioShock plays on this trope. The game begins in the welcoming area of a Utopian city, the spot where you would be greeted by these announcements. The city has obviously been destroyed, however, so by the time you visit it the welcoming messages are merely ironic.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:30 PM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:30 PM on September 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
tofu_crouton: "BioShock plays on this trope. The game begins in the welcoming area of a Utopian city, the spot where you would be greeted by these announcements. The city has obviously been destroyed, however, so by the time you visit it the welcoming messages are merely ironic."
AKA the Scenic Tour Level.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:36 PM on September 15, 2014
AKA the Scenic Tour Level.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:36 PM on September 15, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 1:38 AM on September 15, 2014