# Groundhog's Day - what's really happening? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549 "2011-08-21T17:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/41 "2011-08-22T16:32:45Z")
My theory: S**t happens. Even (especially) weird s**t. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/42 "2011-08-22T16:46:29Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Me too. There’s supposed to be a movie in the works. Hope they don’t screw it up. Please do not cast an SNL alum in the lead role. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The lavatory is down the hall and on the left. Actually, there is a bathroom on the _right_ ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/43 "2011-08-22T18:46:38Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Me too. There’s supposed to be a movie in the works. Hope they don’t screw it up. But don’t they always? I would almost rather they didn’t attempt it and just leave the book alone. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/44 "2011-08-22T18:57:10Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > All of you are wrong wrong wrong! > > Haven’t you ever owned a magical clock radio before? That’s the problem. The clock radio is a time looping device. Every time Phil wakes up he turns off the radio alarm. This activates the device which causes Phil to relive the previous 24 hours. If he would just let the local morning zoo team get on with their schtick, he’d break out of the cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/45 "2011-08-22T19:08:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Actually, there is a bathroom on the _right_ Why are we quoting _CCR_? They aren’t even in the movie soundtrack. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/46 "2011-08-22T19:18:33Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > Phil is actually a helicopter pilot whose last tour of duty was in Afghanistan… Nice. I wouldn’t have gotten this if I hadn’t watched the relevant movie just last weekend. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/47 "2011-08-22T19:32:41Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > It’s all in his mind. Bill Murray’s character is having a nightmare where he is trying to change the horrible decision he made in that town. Try as he might to escape the horrible truth, he is unable to. Instead the dream switches course and is reconstructed in a way to give him the impression that the decision isn’t a mistake, but a conscious choice. Something he had to work hard for, and that paradoxically changes the horror in some absurd ways into something positive. > > So when he wakes up, he might not feel so bad about sleeping with Andie MacDowell. But he only slept with her in the sense of “we fell asleep in the same bed, fully clothed”, not sexually. Is being asleep in the same room with Andie MacDowell _that bad_? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/48 "2011-08-22T20:07:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m fairly sure the director and screenwriter agreed that it worked better with no explanation, though. I agree. The quote is from the IMDB entry. The actor who played Ned the insurance salesman, Stephen Tobolowsky, does one of my favorite podcasts. He devoted an entire episode to the making of this moving and what decisions were made over the course of filming that affected the final product. If you like the movie it’s well worth the hour of your time to listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/49 "2011-08-22T20:16:23Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > But he only slept with her in the sense of “we fell asleep in the same bed, fully clothed”, not sexually. Is being asleep in the same room with Andie MacDowell _that bad_? :eek: And that is what broke the time loop! All he needed to do was go without sex for one 24 hour period. All this garbage about selflessly living a “perfect day” is just a bunch of BS. The only thing the “the perfect day” did was keep him occupied so he didn’t have time to even rub one out and it also had the effect of making him so tired that he fell asleep despite being next to a willing Andie MacDowell. You see, had he been cable of exercising a modicum of self control, he could have broken the loop on the first day. \ ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/50 "2011-08-22T20:39:57Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > The actor who played Ned the insurance salesman, Stephen Tobolowsky, does one of my favorite podcasts. He devoted an entire episode to the making of this moving and what decisions were made over the course of filming that affected the final product. If you like the movie it’s well worth the hour of your time to listen to it. Stephen also notes in this podcast (it’s called “The Classic”) that, because the weather was ever-changing when it was being filmed, individual scenes were shot multiple times. This was so that when the final cut was being made, the weather in all the chosen cuts would match. So in addition to all the multiple times each scene appears in the final cut of the movie, there are about four cuts standing in line behind it where the weather is sunny, snowing, or overcast! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/51 "2011-08-22T21:15:38Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > A wizard did it. > > Joe That or a trickster/Loki/Gabriel. ---
**Author:** ![meanoldman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@meanoldman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meanoldman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/52 "2011-08-22T21:40:52Z")
My theory… a coronal mass ejection storm passes through 14 different Stargates simultaneously, activating an alien device originally built to circumvent the destruction of an ancient alien race. The device never worked properly, but instead sends everyone on the various connected 14 worlds into a repeating time loop. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/53 "2011-08-22T21:59:30Z")
> [@meanoldman](#): > > My theory… a coronal mass ejection storm passes through 14 different Stargates simultaneously, activating an alien device originally built to circumvent the destruction of an ancient alien race. The device never worked properly, but instead sends everyone on the various connected 14 worlds into a repeating time loop. That’s got to be some kind of record! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/54 "2011-08-23T02:06:41Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > The actor who played Ned the insurance salesman, Stephen Tobolowsky, does one of my favorite podcasts. He devoted an entire episode to the making of this moving and what decisions were made over the course of filming that affected the final product. If you like the movie it’s well worth the hour of your time to listen to it. Link, please? “Nancy. She works in the dress shop and makes chipmunk noises when she gets excited.” ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/55 "2011-08-23T14:07:52Z")
[The Tobolowsky Files](http://www.slashfilm.com/category/features/slashfilmcast/the-tobolowsky-files/). [The Classic](http://www.slashfilm.com/the-tobolowsky-files-ep-29-the-classic/) Here’s a really, really good episode, too: [A Good Day at Auschwitz](http://www.slashfilm.com/the-tobolowsky-files-ep-34-a-good-day-at-auschwitz/) ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/56 "2011-08-23T19:14:27Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > It’s all in his mind. Bill Murray’s character is having a nightmare where he is trying to change the horrible decision he made in that town. Try as he might to escape the horrible truth, he is unable to. Instead the dream switches course and is reconstructed in a way to give him the impression that the decision isn’t a mistake, but a conscious choice. Something he had to work hard for, and that paradoxically changes the horror in some absurd ways into something positive. > > So when he wakes up, he might not feel so bad about sleeping with Andie MacDowell. > [@JohnT](#): > > But he only slept with her in the sense of “we fell asleep in the same bed, fully clothed”, not sexually. Is being asleep in the same room with Andie MacDowell _that bad_? :eek: You mean, you’re asking if it’s that bad to have to put up with her whiny voice and smug smirks for a full day and night and _not even get some_? My mind would recoil in horror from that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/57 "2011-08-23T19:25:05Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > [The Tobolowsky Files](http://www.slashfilm.com/category/features/slashfilmcast/the-tobolowsky-files/). [The Classic](http://www.slashfilm.com/the-tobolowsky-files-ep-29-the-classic/) > > Here’s a really, really good episode, too: [A Good Day at Auschwitz](http://www.slashfilm.com/the-tobolowsky-files-ep-34-a-good-day-at-auschwitz/) Many thanks! I’ll check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/58 "2011-08-23T19:48:41Z")
I think Phil got hit in the head by a ladder or something either right before or right after he made that phone call (“I’m a celebrity in an emergency!”) and that got him stuck. How that explains everybody in town knowing him, at the end, I will never know. I mean sure, he figured out how to help everybody out, but still from their perspective it was always just one day. It was established that he could talk to someone one day and learn the secrets of their heart, only to have them forget entirely so he could use those secrets against them the next day. So how come at the end they all knew him? And also…well, never mind, it was only a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/59 "2011-08-23T20:37:05Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I think Phil got hit in the head by a ladder or something either right before or right after he made that phone call (“I’m a celebrity in an emergency!”) and that got him stuck. > > How that explains everybody in town knowing him, at the end, I will never know. I mean sure, he figured out how to help everybody out, but still from their perspective it was always just one day. It was established that he could talk to someone one day and learn the secrets of their heart, only to have them forget entirely so he could use those secrets against them the next day. So how come at the end they all knew him? > > And also…well, never mind, it was only a movie. It had been a very good day. He had, from the perspective of the townsfolk, met and made a difference in the lives of very many people. Only he, and we or course, know that it was through much repetition that he was able to get it right that one time. In other words, they’d met him earlier in the day, and he’s made a hell of an impression. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/60 "2011-08-23T20:49:01Z")
Remember he looked at his watch and had to run catch the kid falling out of the tree? By the end he’d scheduled himself so that he could help lots of people, all day long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549.md?page=4)