1. Post-cataclysmic rag-tag armies struggle to kick the Russkies out of
the good ol' US of A
2. Post-cataclysmic rag-tag armies struggle to survive against gangs of
bandits, mutants, cyberpunks, bikers, etc.
3. Rag-tag rebel army/fleet struggles valiantly to overthrow the Evil
Empire
4. Time travel by Good Guys to stop a historical Bad Guy, usually Hitler
5. Time travel by Bad Guy to stop Good Guy from ever being born
6. Time travel by Temporal Policeman to catch a Bad Guy who escaped into
the past
7. The race to develop a cure for the Supervirus or a weapon to stop the
Invincible Bad Guys
8. An alien who:
Is stranded on earth
Befriends a human child or falls in love with an earth gal
Is pursued by shadowy malevolent Pentagon officials under the pretense
of national security
Uses alien powers to defeat the shadowy malevolent Pentagon officials,
making them look foolish without really harming them
Makes teary farewell and returns to home planet
9. A virtual reality program is activated, and the distinction between
reality and the program becomes confused or indistinguishable
10. People connect their brains directly to computers and get dependent
on them
11. Aliens travel a zillion miles to loot the earth of resources which
exist in far greater and much more easily recoverable quantities on the
many uninhabited bodies they pass on the way to earth
12. Gang of cute and/or misfit kids rescue the universe, where a large
group of competent, organized and well-armed adults failed
13. A complex computer system spontaneously becomes self-aware
14. A couple files an application to the government for permission to
conceive a baby
15. A human developing a romantic attachment to a robot
16. UFO abductions
17. Brain-controlling parasites attempt to wrest control of human race
18. Aliens put someone on trial for the sins of humanity
19. A high-tech amusement park goes lethally berserk
20. Death from old age turns out to be due to some simple, single cause,
leading to an easy immortality treatment, with consequent catastrophic
social implications
21. A great hunter decides that humans are the most entertaining prey of
all, and visits Earth to bag a few
22. Psychedelic drugs give somebody magical power over space, time and
reality
23. Aliens with completely incomprehensible motivations make war on the
human race/invade earth
24. The bureaucratic/reactionary mindset stands in the way of scientific
progress, but is overcome by the researcher through ability, purity of
heart, and use of the scientific method
25. Two hostile factions colonize a planet within walking distance of
each other
26. The government ships criminals off to other planets
27. A crass sexist male becomes pregnant
28. An android discovers emotions and goes beserk
29. A young researcher who:
a) Gets a job at a Mega-huge Corporation or Ultra-secret Government
Agency
b) Learns that the employer's latest discovery has a Nasty Side Effect
or c) involves some obvious human rights abuses, but the employer is
moving ahead with it anyway
d) Confronts the employer, who casually dismisses the researcher's
concerns
e) Tries to blow the whistle to avert disaster
f) Gets hounded by Shadowy Malevolent Goons
g) Watches the disaster overtake the CEO
h) Testifies before Congress and enters the Witness Protection program
30. Aliens invade earth in order to eat humans
31. An android turns on its creators
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