# Everyone gets this wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [June 3, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166 "2025-06-03T15:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/118 "2025-06-05T16:23:27Z")
> [@Time Travel in fiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-in-fiction/1019240/19): > > He is “George”. He accidentally killed George and took his place (in this reality, they look much more alike.) He’s his own father! Talk about zombies… Roswell that ends well, as they say. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/120 "2025-06-05T16:24:44Z")
They should check George for the Delta brain wave. Doing the nasty in the pasty! eta: I just say a youtube link wink out of existence in the post above. It was there, then it poofed! Time travel, people! I’ve seen it! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/131 "2025-06-05T17:54:34Z")
> [@Time Travel in fiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-in-fiction/1019240/19): > > The biggest unsolved mystery is, what happened to “other Marty”? The one that grew up with cool parents, had a Toyota in his garage, and probably knew how to drive? He probably didn’t wreck the Delorean by driving into a barn. So, where (when?) is he?\* And can he return? Did Doc have extra plutonium in the car? He knew what was coming. Bringing it back to the OP, this is a common criticism of BTTF that, fittingly, a lot of people get wrong. There’s only one Marty in the movie. When Marty changed the past so his parents didn’t get together, it took “time” (somehow) for the change to propagate all the way down the timeline and erase him from existence. When he fixes things, it sets off another change propagating down the timeline. It will, eventually, catch up to Marty, rewriting his memories so that he remembers “always” having the cool family. But there’s never a “second” Marty - there’s just the one that hasn’t been acclimated to the revised timeline yet. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/132 "2025-06-05T18:02:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > There’s only one Marty in the movie. When Marty changed the past so his parents didn’t get together, it took “time” (somehow) for the change to propagate all the way down the timeline and erase him from existence. When he fixes things, it sets off another change propagating down the timeline. It will, eventually, catch up to Marty, rewriting his memories so that he remembers “always” having the cool family. But there’s never a “second” Marty - there’s just the one that hasn’t been acclimated to the revised timeline yet. But part of @Just_Asking_Questions’ point, I think, is not just ‘there should be two Martys, where did the other one go?’, but the fact that ‘cool family Marty’ probably never befriended a much older recluse scientist and never traveled to the past. But if no version of Marty ever traveled to the past, ‘cool family Marty’ would not exist. Paradox. OK, time travel paradoxes are starting to get exhausting. TIme for me to time out from this thread for awhile… ETA: posted before I saw the split topic. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/133 "2025-06-05T18:03:46Z")
Moderating: There was a long hijack about how time travel might work that was mostly linked to BTTF. I have moved it to its own thread. Hopefully, I didn’t break too much. It seemed like mostly a clean split, though. > [@Time Travel in fiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-in-fiction/1019240): > > A thread on “stuff people get wrong in movies” engendered an enthusiastic discussion of time travel, which didn’t belong there, but seemed like it might want to continue. So I’m moving it here. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/134 "2025-06-05T18:22:00Z")
Her last name is Rosenberg. In an episode where they perform a ritual to revoke Angel’s permission to enter her house, they put up a bunch of large crosses. Willow says that her father, Ira Rosenberg, would have a fit if he saw that. It always bugged me that when she gets mystical, she turns to the gods of other people. I think there were occasional invocations of the Greek and Roman gods. I know that when she raised some one from the dead, she called on Osiris. Why not just have her use Jewish magical practices? Yes, the standard image of a Kabbalist is not a college aged lesbian. I think the kind of people who would complain about that are not watching Buffy to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/135 "2025-06-05T18:24:09Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I believe this was definitively addressed in _The Fearless Vampire Killers_. Oy, have you got the wrong vampire! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/136 "2025-06-05T18:25:53Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > It always bugged me that when she gets mystical, she turns to the gods of other people. I think there were occasional invocations of the Greek and Roman gods. I know that when she raised some one from the dead, she called on Osiris. Yes, this is the “fix” to the problem of the Christian god existing: apparently, all gods (or at least most) actually exist. But then, that just raises the question: Why is the Christian cross effective against vampires, but not other religious symbols? The Star of David, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/137 "2025-06-05T18:26:31Z")
> [@solost](#): > > But part of @Just_Asking_Questions’ point, I think… [Responded to in the time travel thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-in-fiction/1019240/36) ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/138 "2025-06-05T18:31:24Z")
In the role playing game Vampire The Masquerade, any holy symbol works- but only if the person holding it truly believes. Whether the power comes fro A person’s faith or whether it comes from any deity is deliberately left up to the Story Teller. In the occasionally good Greenberg The Vampire graphic novel, any holy symbol works. The title character gives his brother a big hug and is burned by a Star Of David. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/139 "2025-06-05T18:40:06Z")
There are a number of ways that fiction treats the crosses and vampires thing: 1: It doesn’t exist. Vampires just aren’t vulnerable to holy symbols at all. 1a: It doesn’t exist, but vampires promote the rumor that it does, because making vampire hunters waste time on fake weaknesses distracts them from actually fighting vampires. 2: Christianity is true, and because of that, it’s specifically Christian holy symbols that work. 3: All religions are true (at least in part), and because of that, all religious symbols work. 4: Any religious symbol works, if the wielder believes in it. 5: Any religious symbol works, if the vampire believes in it. 6: Any religious symbol works, if there’s a significant number of people somewhere, anywhere, believe in it. 7: Crosses (and maybe some other symbols) work, due to their significance to some true ancient religion, and Christianity co-opted it as their main symbol because they could tell it had power. 8: Crosses work, but the religious significance is completely irrelevant, and there’s just some reason why that particular shape messes up vampires. 9: Crosses work, and the author of the work never put any particular thought or effort into why or how. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/140 "2025-06-05T18:45:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 9: Crosses work, and the author of the work never put any particular thought or effort into why or how. In _Son of Dracula_, the Van Helsing substitute is telling the Jonathan Harker substitute about crucifixes: “It would take too long to explain why they fear it, but they do.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/141 "2025-06-05T18:47:27Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > But then, that just raises the question: Why is the Christian cross effective against vampires, but not other religious symbols? The Star of David, for instance. One possible explanation: the effect of the crucifix on vampires isn’t because it’s a Christian symbol. Rather, it became a Christian symbol because of the effect it had on vampires. That said, I don’t think we were ever shown that other religious symbols didn’t work, just nobody ever tried. > [@DocCathode](#): > > Why not just have her use Jewish magical practices? Yes, the standard image of a Kabbalist is not a college aged lesbian. I think the kind of people who would complain about that are not watching Buffy to begin with. FWIW, “college aged lesbian” is almost exactly what I picture when I imagine someone getting into Kabbalah. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/142 "2025-06-05T18:48:01Z")
That’s the thing there you’re correcting, and not the character name? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/143 "2025-06-05T18:51:54Z")
It’s discussed in “The Making of Star Trek.” Gene and co. knew that Metric was the way to go, but decided on Imperial units for the audience’s sake. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/144 "2025-06-05T19:27:25Z")
Fair enough ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/145 "2025-06-05T19:45:30Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Having already witnessed proof of God’s existence and the power of a Biblical relic in the first film, why doesn’t Indy just let his father die? Indy has again seen proof. If his father dies, he will be rewarded for a virtuous life. Except, as a good son, letting his father die would be a mortal sin. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Henry Jones also slept with a Nazi: Not Adultery . > [@CalMeacham](#): > > He views the coyote in the coyote vs. Bugs cartoons as the same character in the Road Runner cartoons, Because the characters go back and forth. Roadrunner appeared in a cartoon with Taz, for example. Bugs showed up in one Roadrunner vs Coyote cartoon, taking the place of the roadrunner once. And there was the “The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie”, where the universe was clearly shown to have all the characters. Back to the OP- another one is trivia questions like :how many states are there?" where the zinger is - “46 states and 4 commonwealths”. 🙄 But this is false. Only states in the Union- the US Constitution over rides what states might call themselves. Of course some non-states have other titles. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/146 "2025-06-05T19:51:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not Adultery . Who said “adultery?” Henry Sr. was not married to the Nazi when they had sex, which makes it a sin, even if neither of them were married to anyone else at the time. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/147 "2025-06-05T19:56:00Z")
Sean Connery has special dispensation. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166/148 "2025-06-05T20:00:45Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Gene and co. knew that Metric was the way to go, but decided on Imperial units for the audience’s sake. When they time-travel back to the 20th century, they don’t seem to have any trouble communicating. Does that mean that, in the future, people still speak English in a way that’s not appreciably different from the 20th century version? And would that include an understanding of 20th-century units of measurement? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyone-gets-this-wrong/1019166.md?page=7)