Sorry, I know next to nothing about 2001, except that the familiar "dun...dun...dun...dundun!" comes from it. (Right?)
If it wasn't for the midichlorians, I'd have put Star Wars into the softcore category. If the Force is explainable by "science," then everything is, and it's hardcore. For all we know, in Star Wars they can make a capsule of midichlorians suspended in plasma or something to make batteries akin to ZPMs.
Well, if you allow behind the scenes explanations, then Trek does deal with it. As the famous anecdote states, one day someone asked Richard Sternbach how Heisenberg Compensators work. His reply? "Very well, thank you."
Relabel them? Really have no idea what other names would work.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate.
Zeke: It comes
nateurally to him.
mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea.
Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity.
Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further.