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This Ain't Rocket Surgery
- 317 statements
- 60 feature instances
- 23 referencing feature instances
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | type |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | page |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | comment |
The brain surgeon and rocket scientist are often held as the benchmark for careers that require highly intelligent, skilled, and successful people. They get this accolade not only for their obviously complicated and specialized jobs but also for the importance of their roles. The brain surgeon spends hours with a scalpel to the body's most vital organ, where even just the tiniest mistake can cause serious damage, which can also mean countless lawsuits if not going to jail for the rest of your life. The rocket scientist deals with sending multibillion-dollar projects into the loftiest frontier — and, as amply demonstrated by the U.S.'s earliest space rockets, as well as more recent interplanetary probes, one mistake can result in disaster. A high standard of success is applied to anyone who becomes one of these two roles. Their intellect is not associated with absent-mindedness nor cold villainy using science with malicious intent. They are obviously able to accomplish great feats. So the level of rocket surgeon or brain scientist can leave a big empty gap when one fails to live up to it. As a benchmark, then, they become a synecdoche for all smart, difficult jobs. If something is to be implied to be easy, it will be unfavourably compared to them. "It's not like it's rocket science." may be muttered, while "You're hardly a brain surgeon." may be used to break the bad news to The Ditz that they didn't get into Harvard's med school. This doesn't mean the job is easy. For instance, being President of the United States is generally agreed to be quite difficult, only forty-five mennote Grover Cleveland was President twice. have managed to get the job at all, but it ain't rocket surgery. Now Mr. President may be able to console himself, but in general, if there is a surgeonnote Note that this refers specifically to the brain surgery or similar, for not all surgery branches are made equal: orthopedic surgery, for example, has long been stereotyped within the medical profession as a province of brutes with far more brawn and bloodlust than brains. or aeronautical engineer in the family, the shadow can loom over a younger member's head — especially if they have a Jewish Mother. A common punchline is for the user to realize or be reminded immediately after saying the phrase that what he's describing actually is Rocket Surgery. A variant is to claim that an instance of rocket science "isn't brain surgery", or vice versa, with obligatory Lampshade Hanging. Sadly, this trope is about two different things — Rocket Science or Brain Surgery, and has nothing at all to do with the actual combination of Rocket Surgery, which is either performing surgery while upon a rocket or performing surgery with rockets, either of which would be intensely more cool than either alone. As such, the scenarios where one is used will usually differ. Brain surgery will usually be brought up when a character is performing a task that requires exceptionally precise control of your actions; rocket science will more often than not be brought when a character is either designing or making something that includes egregious amounts of math and a complicated layout. |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | isPartOf |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_14f9297e | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_14f9297e | comment |
One The Far Side cartoon showed a group of people in lab coats looking at a cracked, misshapen rocket, with the caption, "Gentlemen, I think we should face the fact that we're not exactly rocket scientists." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_14f9297e | featureApplicability |
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The Far Side (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_14f9297e | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1a262ab5 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1a262ab5 | comment |
In a Get Fuzzy Bucky the cat tries to make a trap for their neighbor's ferret. This trap required blueprints on several sheets of paper. Bucky claims this is not rocket science. Rob claims that figure six dares one to say otherwise. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1a262ab5 | featureApplicability |
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Get Fuzzy (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1a262ab5 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1b9abae6 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1b9abae6 | comment |
A Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego level set in The Space Race has the player trying to help the first cosmonaut get into orbit on schedule. The cosmonaut claims fixing the ship is rather simple and "not rocket science", leaving the helper character to point out that yeah, it is rocket science. | |
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Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1b9abae6 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c34acd2 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c34acd2 | comment |
In Rocketship Voyager, B'Elanna Torres finds herself up against the all-male clique of Voyager's engineering crew and gripes, "I've got a Master's degree in rocket science, and your Acting-Chief Engineer had me stripping asbestos off the heat vents because he says it's not safe to work on the Cochrane Drive!" | |
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Rocketship Voyager (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c34acd2 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c5e55fc | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c5e55fc | comment |
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension: Buckaroo Banzai, when he's not playing at a concert or fighting off the Red Lectroids, has to test the rocket car he helped engineer - just after completing brain surgery on an Eskimo. | |
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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c5e55fc | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c7b4c37 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c7b4c37 | comment |
Inverted in Ender's Game, where the child proteges are chewed out because only three of them solved an orbital slingshot problem, described as basic rocket science. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c7b4c37 | featureApplicability |
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Ender's Game | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1c7b4c37 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1f0fe64e | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1f0fe64e | comment |
Completely averted in Monster, despite the protagonist being a brain surgeon. Apart from referencing his skill as a doctor, there is no mention of his intelligence. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1f0fe64e | featureApplicability |
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Monster | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_1f0fe64e | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_261c8d3f | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons In a Halloween special, Smithers is initially startled when Mr. Burns plans to remove Homer's brain using an ice cream scoop. Mr. Burns retorts, "This isn't rocket science. It's brain surgery." Then, in "Viva Ned Flanders", Homer agrees to take part in a Lance Murdoch stunt. Lance tells Homer that it's dangerous... |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
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The Simpsons | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_261c8d3f | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3436775c | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3436775c | comment |
Averted on Medium, where Joe IS a rocket scientist (ie, an aerospace engineer), but never calls attention to it. | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3436775c | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_375e8f14 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_375e8f14 | comment |
In The Last Hero, Ponder Stibbons is drawn wearing a shirt with the words "Actually, I Am A Rocket Wizard" on it. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_375e8f14 | featureApplicability |
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The Last Hero | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_375e8f14 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3d8baf13 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3d8baf13 | comment |
Sarcastically employed in RoboCop 3. A thug tries to rob a donut shop but forgets about the stereotypical customer of late-night donut shops and gets several dozen laser sight dots painted on him. The store clerk smugly puts icing on the donut by asking the hood, "What's it like, being a rocket scientist?" | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3fbd173e | comment |
An exchange from Freefall: | |
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Freefall (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_3fbd173e | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4617a9f2 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4617a9f2 | comment |
Married... with Children has Kelly masquerading as a scientist from "the National Aeronautics and Space Administration". Upon being told that it's impressive that someone as young as her is working there, she replies, "Well, you know, it isn't exactly rocket science." | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_468bebb0 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_468bebb0 | comment |
Discworld: Archchancellor Ridcully once commented that something should be quite simple. "It's not rocket magic." In The Last Hero, Ponder Stibbons is drawn wearing a shirt with the words "Actually, I Am A Rocket Wizard" on it. |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4e45b093 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4e45b093 | comment |
In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon gets insulted when his sister says that she proudly tells everyone he's a rocket scientist. He's a theoretical physicist, and looks on rocket science as no different than mindless manual labor. Another character, Howard Wolowitz, is an aeronautical engineer who has designed components for the International Space Station, which makes him the closest to an actual rocket scientist, but other characters look down on him as "inferior" because he only has a Masters and not a Doctoratenote a Masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, mind you. | |
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The Big Bang Theory | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4e45b093 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4fc4dc7a | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4fc4dc7a | comment |
In The Sims 4, the achievement for maximizing the Rocket Science skill is named "It's Not Brain Surgery". | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4fc4dc7a | featureApplicability |
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The Sims 4 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_4fc4dc7a | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_55ef2655 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_55ef2655 | comment |
Kel's unseen parents in Kenan & Kel are a Rocket Scientist and a Brain Surgeon despite him being an apparent moron. According to a later episode's IQ test, Kel is also apparently categorized as a genius. |
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Kenan & Kel | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_55ef2655 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_5c897f4a | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_5c897f4a | comment |
An example from Schlock Mercenary, when two non-medics contemplate performing battlefield brain surgery: And later in the same arc, when two non-pilots contemplate performing a complex spacecraft rendezvous: |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_5c897f4a | featureApplicability |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_5e033e45 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_5e033e45 | comment |
In Roxanne, Chris remarks about the titular love interest, regarding her approachability, that "It's not like she's a rocket scientist!" C.D. responds that actually, that's exactly what she is. | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_64341267 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_64341267 | comment |
Herman's Head. When Herman and Jay appear on a TV dating show, Jay enters Herman as "unemployed" because he says it makes him more realistic, but enters himself as a "racing car driver and brain surgeon". | |
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Herman's Head | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_64341267 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_654eafeb | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_654eafeb | comment |
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman gets annoyed at being demanded to deliver results quickly. | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_654eafeb | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_664b5d51 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_664b5d51 | comment |
In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Scotty hands Bones some very important parts from the Starship Excelsior's warp drive with the words "From one surgeon to another". | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_664b5d51 | featureApplicability |
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Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_664b5d51 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_677fd618 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_677fd618 | comment |
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! includes a side mission called "It Ain't Rocket Surgery". In it, you fulfill a brief quest to obtain body parts and brains, which you then install into several rockets as guidance systems, under the instruction of a rather ebullient Dr. Spara. Hilarity ensues. | |
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Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (Video Game) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_677fd618 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_6c3c2216 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_6c3c2216 | comment |
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Sheen asks Jimmy a question while they're all working on spaceships to pursue the Yolkians. | |
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Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius | hasFeature |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_6c9193a1 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_6c9193a1 | comment |
The Venture Brothers: When Dr. Venture is showing off his Walking Eye: | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_6e91edcb | comment |
One episode of Bounty Hamster revolved around Marion the hamster being split into varying personalities aligned with the Seven Dwarves. The "Dopey" specimen said both "it isn't rocket science" and "it's not brain surgery" at varying times. And yes, he said "it's not brain surgery" two seconds before finding out it was. Ditto with rocket science. | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_6e91edcb | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_71ac2098 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_71ac2098 | comment |
This exact quote appeared in the 1999 film Mystery, Alaska: | |
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Mystery, Alaska | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_71ac2098 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_74fb542e | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_74fb542e | comment |
A sketch on That Mitchell and Webb Look provides the page quote - an obnoxious brain surgeon at a party shoots down everyone's job descriptions with "well... it's not exactly brain surgery, is it? And I would know!" Until he meets "a scientist" who "works mainly with rockets"... | |
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That Mitchell and Webb Look | hasFeature |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_7698b31d | comment |
What If? has a variant—"Hitting a comet" compares remotely landing a probe with remote laser surgery. | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_79a548b4 | comment |
Forgotten Weapons' video about the AN-94, a very complex rifle, has the title Rocket Surgery: Inside the Russian Nikonov AN-94 | |
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For All Mankind. NASA runs into a snag with the female astronaut program because the piss tube on the lunar module has only been made for men. When they suggest that Molly Cobb wear a diaper the entire trip, Ed Baldwin is not impressed and orders them to come up with a better idea. "You're NASA, you're rocket scientists. Figure it out." | |
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A The Simpsons comic B-plot has Lisa and Homer discover people faking footage of the Mars rover. A government lady explains that two-thirds of all space missions fail horribly, and because people don't like to see a billion-dollar project their taxes paid for go up in smoke, they just film fake footage of what should have happened to please everyone. Lisa asks why they can't simply make probes and ships that work, and a scientist exclaims "Oh right! It's that easy! You know why they say "it isn't rocket science"? This is rocket science!" The government lady apologizes on the scientist's behalf, explaining that he's been grumpy ever since he lost a big probe on Uranus, which he's been understandably mocked for. | |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_7df661c5 | comment |
Brought up in No Straight Roads when DJ Subatomic Supernova is berating an NSR employee over the phone how to launch a satellite. It should be noted that DJ Supernova was an astrophysics professor before taking up music, so of course he'd know a good amount about space and such. | |
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No Straight Roads (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_7e88ac08 | comment |
The Equalizer. The leader of a race hate group is pitching to several radical right-wing organizations for support. They sneer over the fact that he's a refrigerator salesman. He mentions the rocket scientist trope when pointing out that the other members of his group are all blue-collar workers, so he's entirely qualified to lead them. | |
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The Equalizer | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_7e88ac08 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_81692f99 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_81692f99 | comment |
Star Trek: In both Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek Into Darkness, Bones actually performs surgery on a rocket. Repeatedly. (Technically it's a torpedo, but still..) In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Scotty hands Bones some very important parts from the Starship Excelsior's warp drive with the words "From one surgeon to another". |
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1.0 | |
Star Trek (Franchise) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_81692f99 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_85c41bc6 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_85c41bc6 | comment |
Lampshaded during Peter David's run on The Incredible Hulk, when "Professor" Hulk comments, "It's not rocket science. Of course, I am a rocket scientist..." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_85c41bc6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_85c41bc6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Incredible Hulk (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_85c41bc6 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_87b55b5d | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_87b55b5d | comment |
The Onion had a headline that was, "Suborbital Ballistic-Propulsion Engineer not exactly a rocket scientist." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_87b55b5d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_87b55b5d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Onion (Website) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_87b55b5d | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_8ee65bc | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_8ee65bc | comment |
Averted in Space Cadet (Heinlein) when the protagonist it told that astrogation is actually an easy subject because like all knowledge-based subjects it can be taught via Sleep Learning. Applying that information is the hard part. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_8ee65bc | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_8ee65bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Space Cadet (Heinlein) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_8ee65bc | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_90a3a7f4 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_90a3a7f4 | comment |
In Kim Possible, the titular character is the daughter of a rocket scientist (her father) and a board-certified neurosurgeon (her mother). In one episode, where her parents come up with the idea of a summer job at a fast-food place to ease her money issues, she remarks: Also, on the subject of her annoying younger twin brothers, at that moment firing a rocket of their own invention through the house (in So the Drama): And in another episode, Kim's father is struggling with his tax forms and trying to call an accountant to help him. |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_90a3a7f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_90a3a7f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kim Possible | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_90a3a7f4 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_924bb56e | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_924bb56e | comment |
Dollhouse. On one engagement, Echo's Neural Implanting gives her the personality of a ditzy college student. The man who created the persona quips: "So, not exactly a rocket scientist. Normally that would be irony, but here one never knows." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_924bb56e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_924bb56e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dollhouse | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_924bb56e | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_9e375bf6 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_9e375bf6 | comment |
Played for laughs in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, where Sherman, whose mind is decaying rapidly and is just about to meet Denise's parents, assures himself that he won't make a fool of himself because Denise's parents are probably not rocket scientists. Turns out that's exactly what they are. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_9e375bf6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_9e375bf6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_9e375bf6 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a068f8a1 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a068f8a1 | comment |
Doctor Strange is one of the seven most intelligent people in the Marvel Universe, and he was a brain surgeon before he became a wizard. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a068f8a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a068f8a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doctor Strange (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a068f8a1 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a2482670 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a2482670 | comment |
On a comedy edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Jack Black was unsure of an answer, so he called his rocket scientist parents. He wound up walking, not wanting to risk the $125K he had won for charity. However, since this wasn't exactly rocket science, it was revealed that his mom had given him the correct answer. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a2482670 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a2482670 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a2482670 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a32b6a64 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a32b6a64 | comment |
The West Wing. A Jewish Mother joke from Bradley Whitford. She points at a picture of the president, "See that guy? The guy standing next to him is a doctor." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a32b6a64 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a32b6a64 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The West Wing | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a32b6a64 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a52def46 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a52def46 | comment |
A webcomic based off of Kerbal Space Program is actually called It's Hardly Rocket Science. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a52def46 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a52def46 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kerbal Space Program (Video Game) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_a52def46 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_aa88317d | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_aa88317d | comment |
Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys in reference to an easy task: "It's not rocket appliances." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_aa88317d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_aa88317d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Trailer Park Boys | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_aa88317d | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ac67074d | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ac67074d | comment |
Teen Titans: A dismembered Cyborg loses his temper over Beast Boy's inability to follow his instructions to rebuild their rocket: | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ac67074d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ac67074d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Teen Titans | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ac67074d | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_af7de67f | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_af7de67f | comment |
Gold Rush!: One eighth season episode has Parker's mechanic mention this trope by name while repairing a loose battery connection on a water pump. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_af7de67f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_af7de67f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gold Rush! | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_af7de67f | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b1f4c403 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b1f4c403 | comment |
Extreme Prejudice. Two of the black ops team fake a racist confrontation at an unemployment office as a Get into Jail Free ploy. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b1f4c403 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b1f4c403 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Extreme Prejudice | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b1f4c403 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b3f687d1 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b3f687d1 | comment |
In FoxTrot, Roger explains in one of his Must Have Caffeine scenes that anything one does before 8:00 AM qualifies as brain surgery. In a story arc where Roger gets the flu, he asks a busy Andy to make him some chicken soup: |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b3f687d1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b3f687d1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
FoxTrot (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b3f687d1 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b8b584cf | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b8b584cf | comment |
In Zits, Jeremy's dad Walt names this trope exactly while being congratulated. The congrats die down quickly. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b8b584cf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b8b584cf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Zits (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_b8b584cf | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bc3e398b | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bc3e398b | comment |
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had a funny example where John compliments Cameron on getting better at using eyeliner before pointing out that it isn't exactly brain surgery. Cameron being Cameron states that it would have to be a lot sharper for brain surgery. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bc3e398b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bc3e398b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bc3e398b | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bddc4ebe | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bddc4ebe | comment |
Subverted in an exchange from Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, where Hayley states about Tommy "A rocket scientist, he ain't." "And you are? "Among other things, yes." | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bddc4ebe | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bddc4ebe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_bddc4ebe | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c43df4d8 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
Doctor Who. In "The Girl Who Waited", the Doctor Motor Mouths some complex instructions to Rory on how to rewire a console. When he looks confused, the Doctor says, "Come on Rory, it's not rocket science, it's basic quantum physics!" | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c43df4d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doctor Who | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c43df4d8 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c9633211 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c9633211 | comment |
Interesting example, the final boss of No More Heroes (a really hard fight and a freaking ton of crazy plot twists) has a kickass battle theme called, appropriately: "Rocket Surgeon". | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c9633211 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c9633211 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
No More Heroes (Video Game) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_c9633211 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ca5d97f1 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ca5d97f1 | comment |
Monty Python's Flying Circus - Mr. Gumby sees Dr. Gumby: | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ca5d97f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ca5d97f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Monty Python's Flying Circus | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ca5d97f1 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_dc25de3f | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_dc25de3f | comment |
Portal: "We're not banging rocks together over here!" | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_dc25de3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_dc25de3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Portal / Videogame | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_dc25de3f | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_e4732abc | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_e4732abc | comment |
Stargate Atlantis used the "actually it kind of is" variant at least once, when Dr. Keller is trying to remove a parasite from McKay's brain. | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_e4732abc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_e4732abc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Stargate Atlantis | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_e4732abc | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_eb611766 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_eb611766 | comment |
Referenced by Kerbal Space Program's tagline: "How hard can rocket science be, anyway?" And when you go into the VAB for the first time in a save, the help dialog contains: "It's not like we're rocket sc... er" |
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This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_eb611766 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_eb611766 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kerbal Space Program (Video Game) | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_eb611766 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ed0803a7 | type |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ed0803a7 | comment |
In both Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek Into Darkness, Bones actually performs surgery on a rocket. Repeatedly. (Technically it's a torpedo, but still..) | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ed0803a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ed0803a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | hasFeature |
This Ain't Rocket Surgery / int_ed0803a7 |
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