io9
The awesome thing about science fiction is that anything can happen — including the occasional incredibly convenient miracle. Sometimes circumstances become so desperate and dire in a science fiction tale that even the "reset button" can't fix them — and that's when the "deus ex machina" shows up. The term, meaning "God from a machine," comes from classical theater, where a wheel-and-pulley deity would literally show up to sort everything out. And in science fiction, god literally can come out of a machine. Bow your head before our taxonomy of the most unlikely miracles in scifi history.
I. The Unexpected (But Basic) Weakness.
War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells. One of the earliest classic science fiction tales has one of the most ridiculous miracles as well. I remember when I read this book as a kid, I threw it across the room when I got to the "and then they all got the flu and died, kthxbai" ending. Even as a kid, I felt totally cheated. And the 2005 Spielberg film jettisoned almost everything about the book — except the ending. Trust Alan Moore to fix the problem by making the deadly disease into biological warfare in his second League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel. 
Signs. Along similar lines, we have the aliens whose one great weakness is water — so they invade a planet that's mostly water. It's just a tad convenient, but we've already ragged on this movie enough.
II. A Human Suddenly Touches The Soul Of The Machine.
Doctor Who, "The Parting Of The Ways." Almost every season of Russell T. Davies' Doctor Who series has ended with some kind of unlikely miracle fix, but the first one was by far the hardest to swallow. The Doctor is facing an army of 100 trillion Daleks, who are also religious fundamentalists (just to make them even scarier) and he's spent the whole episode building a weapon that he won't use because it'll kill everybody, even the nice humans. And then Rose sees some graffiti and figures out that if she looks into the heart of the TARDIS, something totally awesome will happen. Never mind that the last time someone looked into the heart of the TARDIS, she regressed into a baby. But this time, it totally turns Rose into a super-god! But only for about five minutes, just long enough for her to wipe out all the fundy Daleks, and resurrect the hunky Jack — but not the cute Lynda-with-a-Y, because Rose is glad she's dead. Rose is a mean God, sadly. And here's that video:
The Matrix: Revolutions. Is it still a deus ex machina if you call it "The Deus Ex Machina?" Mayyyybe. In the end of the third film, Neo journeys to the "machine city" and makes a deal with the personification of the meachines, which calls itself the Deus Ex Machina. Actually, this bit grows pretty logically out of the rest of the events in the film, so I'm inclined to give it a pass. If you think the Matrix sequels in general make sense, than this bit makes sense, too.
III. The Cavalry Arrives.
The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson. The world is totally shitfucked, and then John Percival Hackworth creates a multimedia AI book as a "primer" for young ladies. Nell gets a copy of the book, and it teaches her how to become a super-genius ninja mastermind. At the end of the book, just when you think everything is completely screwed, it suddenly turns out someone has pirated and mass-produced the book, and squillions of unwanted Chinese girls have all read it and turned into an army of super-ninjas, aka the Mouse Army. Suddenly, everything's going to be fantastic!
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. TK and his friends are psychic — which is an illegal mutation in this nasty post-nuclear Newfoundland, which persecutes mutants. It's basically like the X-Men, with less technology and better liquor. Just when all seems hopeless, one of the telepathic mutants manages to reach all the way to New Zealand, which turns out to be a technologically advanced, enlightened society where it's actually cool to be telepathic. The New Zealanders randomly show up and rescue our heroes just in the nick of time. Yay, New Zealand!
IV. God Actually Shows Up.
Babylon 5. Sheridan is killed at the end of the third season, and war is looming and everything seems lost and horrible... until the nice Lorien, who's the first being to have attained sentience in our galaxy and has a great skin-care routine, saves Sheridan by imbuing him with his own life-force... but only after Sheridan confronts his fear of death and has the specially mandated Near-Death Catharsis (TM).
Forever Free by Joe Haldeman. According to BookSlut, Haldeman's The Forever War used time dilation and "the cold immensity of the universe" as a metaphor for the Vietnam War. But in this quasi-sequel, the disruption of the universe's physical laws turns out to be "just the effects of a god messing about with his creation." Also, we discover that a reckless experiment could destroy the entire universe, and then a few pages later we learn that there's a way to make humans totally non-aggressive. "All the problems that are introduced are solved with a wave of the hand," says Evelyn Leeper.
V. It's All A Test
Space: 1999. I've been searching and searching for this episode I saw when I was a kid, where Moonbase Alpha hurtles into a weird void where everything goes strobeadelic and regular characters start dying randomly, and everybody keeps seeing freaky ghosts, and a bunch of their Eagle scoutships crash onto a mossy planet whose atmosphere is pure LSD. And just when Commander Koenig cant stand this trippy-ass shit any longer, it turns out it was all just a godlike entity yanking on the waistband of his poly-blend pajama bottoms, just to see how he'd handle it. And now that he's shown he's not going to put up with this shit, the Moonbase can go on its merry way. (I can't find this episode in any episode guides. Did it exist? Or did I invent it?) I feel as though there are twenty episodes of the original Star Trek that follow this formula, too. But since O.G. Trek is full of godlike entities anyway, it's not as if the gods on Trek come out of nowhere — they come out of the show's limitless supply of gods. It would be surprising if a godlike entity didn't randomly show up.
Comments
Forever Free, not Forever Peace.
Can you really ding a story for Dues Ex Machina if that is, in fact, what it's about?
And the Babylon 5 example really doesn't qualify. Lorien != God.
The Diamond Age by Stephenson rocked! The Primer was one of the best tech devices ever created in sci-fi literature.
Wouldn't a better Matrix deus ex machina be the first one when he gets up after being shot and is "The One", the sequels make 'sense' in neo = jesus/computer error type way.
@ CJA: You've got two novels mixed up in the Forever Peace bit.
Forever Peace was the semi-sequel that was sequel in tone only, and ended with the non-aggressive humans. There was a bit of Enders Game style war-game stuff tool, but it was kinda lame.
Forever Free is the actual sequel that has god showing up in the last act to kind of undo everything, point out that the whole thing was a setup to test a theory, then buggers off just after setting things back to the way they were before he wiped everyone out. There's also a shape changing alien and some other stupid stuff. I tossed the book across the room when I got to that copout ending.
I thought that the whole "killed by the flu" worked in "War of the Worlds" because, well... How many people died during the various colonization efforts in our own history because of a lack of immunity to decease? I mean, small-pox blankets anyone?
Sure, it's a bit far fetched, but I always thought it made sense.
The less said about Bad Wolf, the better. I was okay with her getting God Powers from the Vortex, but the explanation of how Bad Wolf got spread everywhere was just bullocks. "I create myself"?
Still, it was better than Floaty Jesus Doctor.
Yo Charlie,
I think you've been tripping. Crashing eagles? That could be ALL of the Space 1999's eps.
The "best" Space 1999 It's a Test Ep was and is War Games. The Alphans have to make a choice and the aliens play it out for them in a giant mind fuck. The Alphans sort of "win" the war by causing the planet to blows up and everyone dies in the end.
Can someone loan me a close italics tag? I seem to have misplaced mine.
I love the Deus Ex Machina scene at the end of Matrix Revolutions. I'm sure the fact that Neo was blind when he was "talking to God" was some Biblical reference that passed over my head, but I don't care. That machine looked bad-ass.
@Dunny0: And god came out of the machine and closed the italics... and lo it was good...
I would say that the Diamond age isn't that bad...
If there is an explanation, it makes it less of a Deus Ex Machina
Forgive me - I can't help myself... Title says 6 - only 5 are listed. Is the 6th some sort of strange meta thing or did something ust get fucked up?
Jurassic Park III, perfect example of "The Cavalry Arrives."
"Crap, we're being chased through the jungle by a bunch of dinosaurs and we're sure to die horrible dea...oh, hey! The Marines! Hai Guyz!"
I submitted by email as well.. but it just to clarify, it was the end of Season 3/start of Season 4 with the whole Lorien and Sheridan thing.
I just re-watched it. =D
Yeah okay, the Bad Wolf thing was incredibly dumb, but it still looked better and played better than the Deus Ex Doctor last season.
[not a spoiler, I don't read spoilers, just my own speculation]
Plus, you know, I can't wait for the Doctor to see BAD WOLF written somewhere that he knows he never went with Rose and then he'll be all "whaaa?" and then Rose will show up and it will be fantastic.
Also, does the Buffy season 7 cavalry of newbie Slayers count?
@Im a people person. Who drinks.: The Matrix Revolutions went unnumbered for some reason. Best forgotten...
@Ed Grabianowski: And for that matter, "Lord of the Flies."
You forget the most classic use of the Deus Ex Machina of all time: the "it's all been a dream" on Dallas.
What? Not Sci-Fi, you say? Well, then how else would you explain Patrick Duffy's hair? That stuff defies physics!
@Im a people person. Who drinks.: It's deeply metaphysical and brilliant... actually I was hoping a miraculous divine intervention would make me think of a sixth example, but then I forgot. Fixed it now. Thanks!
[pedantic_fanboy]
In Babylon 5, Sheridan dies at the end of the third season, not fourth.
[/pedantic_fanboy]
@Dunny0: Fixed "Forever Peace" to "Forever Free". Thanks!
@Lizzie24601:
Possibly. Though I still think Buffy should have died then. I didn't like s7 all the much except for the start of it with Spike gone crazy.
Look, there's a lot of things to criticize about Signs. But your argument is backwards.
It's not, "The aliens weakness is so they decide to invade a planet that's mostly water."
It's, "The aliens need slaves, so they invade a planet that's mostly water, despite their weakness to it."
This is not a logical inconsistency unless you apply a priori information to the situation.
Ditto the Forevers confusion: Peace was innocuous, if unsatisfying; Free was carp, pure and unadulterated, from the moment HIMSELF showed.
B-5 had lots of dxm situations, though ... the arrival of the Mindbari fleet; the arrival of Kosh's folks; the White Star Fleet that's been built off-screen from purest phlogiston, you name it.
But it's a legitimate, if mildly lazy, plot device: take the tension/danger higher than can be resolved given everything known about the universe in the book, then resolve it anyway just after the reader/viewer has started to hyperventilate, even if that means using the arrival of God.
Ahh, the classics.
@The_Real_Quiet_Desperation: Besides, that was just really a cool episode. Does it count if you actually like the book/episode/movie in question?
@Lizzie24601: Re: Buffy - I don't think so - wasn't the whole point of the season to get as many potentials as possible?
@Charlie Jane Anders: That awesomely balls-out Space:1999 episode of yours is how they should've done it, but sadly, it actually sounds like three or four ep mashup your imagination edited together. And you know what that means: it's Final Cut Pro time!
@braak: You don't think the aliens knew that?
They don't do like.. a life science scan?
"This planet is perfect, primate biped for our slaves.. oh except this one thing.."
-Yes?
"Well their planet is covered by acid"
-How do they live, these bipeds?
"Apparently, they are unaffected, in fact they themselves are 80% acid..."
-Mehh, you subjugate the planet you find, not the planet you wish to find...
It sounds a little like humans invading a planet of Aliens (yes from Aliens) for slaves...
C'mon, how about Serenity? I'm a loyal browncoat, but even I had trouble swallowing that last sequence.
I mean, sure, we knew River could shoot people around corners using only math, but to suddenly have her turn into... well, a terminator, and puree a whole room full of Reavers?
That was pushing it a little.
"but not the cute Lynda-with-a-Y, because Rose is glad she's dead. Rose is a mean God, sadly."
Mean Gods are more fun. Fickle Gods one can reason with or manipulate. Omnipotent, fair, benevolent Gods are boring and can't be good scapegoats.
I like my Gods with thunderbolts coming out their arses and lasers out their eyes!
@DocGratis: Now I'd pay good money to see THAT movie.
@wka: Yeah! The deus ex machina is when Old Guy shows up and says to the implacable enemies of the the prior almost-four seasons, "Hey... you guys wanna get out of here?"
And the Shadows and the Vorlons shrug and say, "Sure. Why not."
I have hated B5 ever since.
@DocGratis: Well, again, it's only a bad idea if you're assuming that they had a lot of other options.
You missed Star Trek: The Motion Picture!!! "Oh so wait, all we need to do is take the dad from Seventh Heaven, have him make out with Persis Khambata in front of a bigazz NASA probe and everything just melts away into the light? FUCK YEAH LET'S DO THIS THING!"
As for the Matrix Trilogy -- nothing says "great ending!" like sacrificing the love of your life in order to achieve détente!
@eris404: Yes, it would only count if they'd all run in fully activated at the final battle in the nick of time. Since the entire arc of that season was about how they were tracked down, trained, and ultimately activated thanks to a plan by Buffy & her Scoobs, then, no. Not a deus ex machina.
The Diamond Age doesn't count. The AI primer is woven into the plot, and conclusion of the book is a result of that plot device. Stephenson is only guilty of not fully addressing the mass production of the books, which is only a hole in the storyline.
@Im a people person. Who drinks.: I see you aren't a topfive.com subscriber...
Inspiring post, Charlie Jane!
Thinking about it, Sherdian must be God's favored amongst mortals.
How many times has he been saved by divine intervention? (or nigh-devine..)
Angelic Vorlons, plucking him out of free-fall, Delen, coming to his rescue like a pissed-off Valkyrie with a fleet of superior ships...
Really, talk about a charmed life..
@BadUncle:
I thought the production had been alluded to? Hmmm. I must read it again.
(like I need an excuse)
I'm not averse to the God in the Machine when it requires the hero/heroine to endure remarkable suffering or reach a new level of thinking in order to achieve it.
Rose in Parting of the Ways is a good example, or what Martha and her family endured at the end of Season 3. The bad Gods in the Machine are when they can just flick a button or do one specific thing, which I don't think was the case in B5. The God in the Machine took 13 episodes to unfold, and it was instigated by the "lesser races" taking a stand against the virtually omnipotent "older races," so I don't think it should deserve your contempt.
Also, it's not like the series ended there. They still had to solve two civil wars and a couple other rebellions.
@aspiringexpatriate: I agree that these were both interesting ways to use the sudden rescue -- there are horrific consequences for those involved even though they survive and overcome the bad guys:
Rose loses her Doctor though her entire focus was on saving him as he'd saved her so often; Martha and her family (and the Doctor) will never forget their terrible year though they saved everyone else from it...
I found the bit at the end of RTD's second series of Doctor Who to be more improbable than Rose absorbing the time vortex. The TARDIS and Doctor have a tendency towards magical miracles - so I can forgive that.
@draconismoi: do you mean the third series? the 2nd was Rose getting stuck in another timeline.
@Charlie Jane Anders: "The awesome thing about science fiction is that anything can happen - including the occasional incredibly convenient miracle."
That's the awesome thing about fantasy. Science Fiction ought to at least have some plausible science as a device to explain things. A genre with "science" as a descriptor has no room for miracles.
Parting of the Ways doesn't count as a deus ex. All the Bad Wolf references were there from the start. Add a little "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey" and you have an ending that works.
Unlike the "save the Doctor" singalong from season 3. Just typing that makes me ill.
Oh, Babylon 5... you made my youth much more interesting indeed. I miss you.
@avidreader514: So just having some random graffiti on the walls in earlier episodes means that ANYTHING is plausible in the final episode?
@DocGratis: When you explain Signs that way, it makes sense.
Who better to enslave than a race that is immune to your one greatest weakness?
We make machines to do things that would kill us... They enslave races for the same reason.
Tada!
Although, I haven't actually seen Signs, so this is entirely based on what you've said. If I'm wrong, it's your fault.
Hey, Rose becoming a god was pretty groovy. Plus, you can't forget that it gave the writers a reason to kill off Chris Eccleston and bring in the far superior David Tennant. So like, it was at least a multitasking deus ex machina.
Space:1999 did that a lot. It was one of the weaknesses of the show. Well, that and it's scientific impossibility. I loved it anyway.
"What does God need with a starship?"
Sometimes "God's" appearance is more of a complication than a solution.
I'll give Babylon 5 a pass on the Lorien thing. For one thing, he wasn't a god. More importantly, he did not wham-bam resurrect Sheridan. He managed to extend Sheridan's life, giving him 20 years, no more.
"I cannot create life, but I can breathe on the remaining embers."
@Charlie Jane Anders: No, it means that the resolution had been set up from the outset, and not invented during a moment of writer's room panic.
@JennaW: The DXM in Buffy S7 was Spike's amulet. That was DXM, but DXM in the service of the viewer. I mean as cool as some of the fights were did you really want to see the Slayers slog through all of those Uber-vamps?
The ending of H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds" was the entire point. The book was a commentary on British colonialism and how despite the massive technological advantage of the British empire, in Africa and elsewhere they were still defenseless against microbes the local population were resistent to. That's why the aliens in his book invade England. It's an irony thing.
@braak: I hate to bring the level of discourse down to the snark level but I think buying a rain coat for each trooper before invading would have been one of many better possible options.
it's really not hard at all to waterproof something, humanity's long history of attempting to keep dry stands in testament to this fact. it is even demonstrably easier to waterproof something than to, say, make a large solid object invisable.
My comment didn't show up. WTF?
@Carrespondent: *looks at you askance*
Oh, yeah. That's *way* different.
Lorien wasn't a god, he was just god-like; and he didn't resurrect Sheridan, 'cause he was only mostly dead...
;)