A nifty trick to get some of the traditional Science Fiction capabilities in a show that's set in the present. Rather than growing your own Phlebotinum, just have a passing Sufficiently Advanced Alien dump some on you. The biggest advantage of using imported phlebotinum is that it allows you to do a Science Fiction story with characters who are more like contemporary humans -- we don't need an enclave of scientists who are way smarter than anyone ought to be, and we don't need to set the show in The Future. John Q. Ordinary guy just gets some uber-technology dropped in his lap.