# Easy Answers for Fictional Dilemmas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080 "2025-04-15T20:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/41 "2025-04-16T12:49:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > The Cold Equations > > There are plenty of solutions that are worth trying. The protagonist doesn’t try _anything_. As has been pointed out before, a simple pre flight check would have avoided the situation in the first place. IIRC The emergency ship was dispatched with a vaccine to save the lives of something like ten colonists. So, they will go to all that trouble for a handful of colonists who volunteered to be in danger on the frontier but nobody even tries to save the life of an innocent who is in peril because of the lack of a pre flight check, the lack of proper saftey precuations, and the lack of proper signs? I like to point out that this trope long predates _The Cold Equations_. In fact, it predates Tom Godwin himself. Exactly the same plot appears in Robert Cromie’s 1890 novel **A Plunge into Space**. Just as in Godwin’s story, a girl stows away aboard the interplanetary vessel and has to be jettisoned because circumstances won’t allow everyone aboard to survive otherwise. Cromie’s novel is interesting in other ways, too. The interplanetary vessel is a sphere with anti-gravity shutters, just as in H.G. Wells’ _First Men in the Moon_, but over a decade earlier. It also has a preface by Jules Verne, but Verne couldn’t read English, so how could he comment on this book? Also, Verne excoriated Wells later for using an anti-gravity sphere in HIS book, but praised Cromie. A lot of critics think Verne didn’t actually write the preface. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/42 "2025-04-16T12:59:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > There’s always one easy answer: Nuke it from orbit. Sophie’s Choice: Nuke it from orbit? 😱 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/43 "2025-04-16T13:14:50Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I’ll pick “Whom Gods Destroy” when Spock is faced with a real Kirk and a fake one. He can’t think of a question to ask that only the real Kirk would know (in fact, he asks a question that is too easy), and then lets himself get hit by the fake Kirk. Hello! You’re holding a phasor with a stun setting! There are a number of Star Trek episodes in both TOS and TNG where the dilemma could be solved by not giving complete strangers access to the entire ship, including the bridge. You don’t have to keep them locked in the brig, but at least confine them to quarters! And don’t give them full access to the ship’s computer either. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/44 "2025-04-16T13:22:33Z")
From the video game _Final Fantasy_, the original version. To make a long story short, there’s a time loop that starts when you kill a weak version of the main villain at the beginning of the game after he kidnaps the princess and the king sends you to rescue her. You’re forced to do this first because there’s a broken bridge preventing you from accessing the rest of the world, which the king will have his workers repair once you rescue the princess. The whole thing could be avoided if the king would just repair the damn bridge to start with, let you do the main adventure while the princess is still in captivity, and then rescue her as the final step in the quest. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/45 "2025-04-16T13:32:54Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I thought of an alternate solution to the scene in _Men in Black_ where the applicants are taking the written test. Instead of dragging the table over to his chair, like Will Smith’s character did, I would have just laid on the floor and completed the test. > **[Rule of Funny - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfFunny)** > > The limit of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to its funniness. Any violation of continuity, logic, physics, or common sense is permissible if the result gets enough of a laugh. This is the comedy … ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/46 "2025-04-16T13:44:47Z")
I saw the [end of one of the Mad Max movies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQRqqvQWce8) when I was a kid, and it messed me up. Briefly, Max shackles a guy by the ankles to a truck and turns the truck into an improvised bomb. He hands the guy a hacksaw, tells him that it’ll take ten minutes to hack through the handcuff’s “high tensile steel,” and just five minutes to hack through his ankle, and then walks off. Some time later, the truck explodes behind Max. It was super-dark–I just read that it inspired the _Saw_ franchise–and I super disliked the scene for years, until I realized something: the _truck_ wasn’t made from “high tensile steel.” I figure the shackled dude took three minutes to hack through the truck part he was shackled to and escaped. Hey you: I see you there, coming in to WELLACSHWALLY about the specific truck piece he was shackled to and its density compared to ankles and how long it would ACSHWALLY take to saw through that truck piece. Nope. Shh. Sit down. He hacked through the truck part and that’s the end of it. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/47 "2025-04-16T13:52:19Z")
If anybody is interested… > **[Goodbye, Farewell and Amen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye,_Farewell_and_Amen)** > > "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" is a television film that served as the series finale of the American television series M\*A\*S\*H. The 2½-hour episode first aired on CBS on February 28, 1983, ending the series' original run. The episode was written by eight collaborators, including series star Alan Alda, who also directed. As of 2025, it remains the most-watched single episode of any television series in U.S. history, and for twenty-seven years was the most-watched single broadcast in television hi... ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/48 "2025-04-16T13:54:06Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Sophie’s Choice: Nuke it from orbit? That would solve the dilemma of whether to make an uninteresting [sequel to _Sophie’s Choice_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBQls3Wx2Zc). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/49 "2025-04-16T14:20:20Z")
One of my favorite memes is “Just eat Gilligan.” Get off the island in no time. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/50 "2025-04-16T14:22:49Z")
No, the Professor arranges a series of “accidents” where the Howells, Gilligan and the Skipper all get killed, and he spends the rest of his life never having to answer the question “Ginger or MaryAnne?” in anyway other than “both”. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/51 "2025-04-16T14:47:30Z")
I know it’s meta but Tolkien said that the number one complaint he received was that LOTR wasn’t long enough. So which would you rather have: a short story or a 1000 page novel? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/52 "2025-04-16T14:49:25Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Why don’t you just kill him? You just don’t get it Scott. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/53 "2025-04-16T15:07:06Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I know it’s meta but Tolkien said that the number one complaint he received was that LOTR wasn’t long enough. I would’ve thought it was “Why didn’t they just use the Eagles to get the One Ring to Mount Doom?” He probably wanted to drop people who asked that into the Crack of Doom ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/54 "2025-04-16T15:39:49Z")
The Eye has the sky covered and I like the Nazgûl’s chances against large birds. It isn’t like evil is running from Gandalf and his crop of nobodies, they just hide well. The fact that Hobbits are disregarded is the only thing the gang has going for them and the well known fact one does not simply walk into Mount Doom…until it happens. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/55 "2025-04-16T15:40:32Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Hawkeye didn’t know it was a baby. He thought it was a chicken. I’m pretty sure he knew at the time it was a baby. His mind made it into a chicken so he could live with the experience. His sessions with Sidney forced him to face the truth. ETA: Ninja’d! ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/56 "2025-04-16T15:45:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It’s been years since I saw that episode but I think everyone was out on a pleasure outing, so yes, it’s _possible_ that no one had medical supplies. Possible, but how likely? These are supposed to be crack doctors, the “pros from Dover.” It never occurs to any of them that someone on the excursion might suffer an injury and need medical attention? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/57 "2025-04-16T15:46:43Z")
Some bandages and such in a first aid kit perhaps but sedatives? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/58 "2025-04-16T15:46:56Z")
Re The Eagles First, in case anybody doesn’t know they are not just large birds. They are sentient beings. Their leader goes by Gwaihir the wind lord. There is a big question on how quickly one of the eagles would be corruped by the One Ring. As noted, giant eagles flying to Mount Doom would be noticed. Besides the fell beasts, Sauron has corrupted crows and other things that fly. So, using the Eagles would be a race- can they get to Mount Doom before being corrupted? Can they get to Mount Doom before Sauron stops them? IMO It is a very chancy thing. Having the Fellowship sneak the Ring to Mount Doom would have taken a lot longer. But it had much better odds of success. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/59 "2025-04-16T15:49:14Z")
**Black Mirror** episodes are all variations on _The Monkey’s Paw_, but in reality human beings can make unconventional moves and affect other human beings. Every one I have seen would lead me to riot against the society that caused this harm to me. Not protest, I would start smashing. Maybe I would be arrested, tried and executed but BM results are all different versions of worse and I wouldn’t be alone in this future hellscape. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080/60 "2025-04-16T15:52:04Z")
> [@anny\_m](#): > > The docs are on a bus with some locals. The Chinese are going to kill them if the find them, so they have to be quiet. A woman has a baby who will not stop crying. Woman kills baby to keep everyone safe. BTW, Googling, one producer/writer/director [described](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/mash-oral-history-untold-stories-one-tvs-important-shows-1086322/) the real life incident behind that. > When I went to Korea, a man told me that during the war, a North Korean patrol was crossing across a bridge. Hiding underneath were 40 or 50 South Koreans trying to escape south to avoid being imprisoned or killed by the invading soldiers. A mother’s baby in the group started to cry, and she smothered it to avoid the group’s detection. It became the focal point of the whole opening of the show with Hawkeye in the psychiatric ward under the care of Dr. Sydney. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-answers-for-fictional-dilemmas/1017080.md?page=4)