I am endlessly amused by the fact that everyone thinks of Xander, of the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as being just a normal guy, with no superpowers. Au contraire! He is a perfectly normal guy who has been magically imbued with all the knowledge of a generic American soldier, due to the fact that he was dressed as one when the whole town got turned into their own Halloween costumes. (Willow also has all the knowledge and skills of a ghost, but she isn’t dead, so it will not help her. ) This was referred too once or twice later in the series, but really, referring back to it in threads has no point, save to show the shows silly side. Super!
In a similar vein, it seems that this girl wasn’t kidding when she explained away how disorganized she was. I have not read the entire archive, but hopefully, the series will never contradict this, but instead allow trivial pursuit fans to recall that it is indeed just what her (adopted?) parent look like. It also add a little superfluity/sureality. I love the mental image of her friend trying to assimilate this fact into her view of reality, despite the fact it makes no sense. Good people of the jury, does this make sense?
Btw, I have already covered much the same topic in an earlier thread, but I am tickled pink about the later example, and wanted to include it, and also, I felt this is not quite the same question as my prior thread about canon. It was asking for examples of canon the fans ignore, but I am looking for examples of pointless things that amuse the authors to include, or/or the fans.
I would also love to see any examples of things that don’t make any sense, but are dismissed by everyone, save for one character, and was played for laughs. Any takers?
It’s a bit pointless to talk about logical continuity in what appears to be an absurdist comic strip. This is one of those threads that just depresses me.
Well, there’s the classic Clark Kent/Superman deal, where nobody can recognize Supes if he’s got his disguise on. In Lois & Clark, there was a guy who came back in time and pointed out how galactically stupid Lois was for not figuring it out…
Star Wars, Return of the Jedi: The bounty hunter and Jabba the Hutt negotiate for Chewbacca, using C3PO as an interpreter. They speak in their respective native languages, which 3PO translates into English, then states the replies in English. Therefore, they both understand English. Why not just conduct the negotiation in English and leave 3PO out of it? Nobody sees anything wrong with this.
glasses on “I’m Clark Kent!” glasses off “No, I’m Superman!” glasses on “Mild-mannered reporter!” glasses off “Superhero!” looks at Lois “Duh!!!”
That is one of my favorite scenes ever. But that was the problem with Lois & Clark–Dean Cain was a fantastic Clark and a pretty good Superman … but there just wasn’t enough difference between the two to buy that nobody ever noticed.
And I especially loved the episode of SNL that Teri Hatcher hosted during the show’s run. In her opening monologue, she kept not recognizing regular cast members because they were wearing glasses.
It was always weird when they brought it up too. They never gave any context.
Someone would say “Is that left over from your army training?” making new viewers think Xander had been in the army.
Added to this was Moore Action Collectibles who used to do the Buffy figures came out with an army Xander figure and the print ads for it said “When his friends went off to college, Xander joined the army.” Totally confusing and wrong.
I’m almost ashamed I think I know this, but I recall when the movie came out that it was said that Jabba knew English, but considered it such an ugly language that he wouldn’t speak it. Not that that’s not just as silly (and it doesn’t explain why Boushh wouldn’t speak to Jabba in English).
I always thought it was similar to CHewbacca. He can understand English just fine, but can’t speak it. His vocal cords cannot make the sounds needed for our language, so he can hear, read, and write it just fine, but can only speak Wookie. Like a very smart chimp. No matter how many phrases in English he learns, he will never be able to speak it.
Second, Hutts are incredibly xenophobic, and believe themselves to be above everyone else. So unless they have to, they generally will only speak Huttese, because to them, it’s the perfect language-anything else is beneath them.
It’s all for show and vanity.
And the reason why “Boushh” doesn’t speak Basic, well, Leia’s playing someone who is NOT human, but Ubese, (I think that’s the species), so she wants to sound authentic.
IIRC, there was a Golden Age Superman comic that revealed that Supes had a hiterto-unknown power of super-hypnosis, which he was subconsciously using while disguised as Clark to make everyone see him as a pauchy, forty-something, balding guy.
Anybody remember the line from the Batman Superman cartoon where Clark Kent is explaining (with heavy doses of what Lois presumes to be irony in his voice) to Lois how he manages to miss all the action but allways gets the story? Went something like this:
“Well, I’m actually Superman, secretly posing as a mild-mannered reporter, allowing me to save the day and beat you to the byline every time.”
Having rented the Superman Animated Series, Vol. One, from Netflix recently, I do remember that. The line’s just slightly different, but that’s close.
From IMDB:
Lois Lane: I’m confused, Kent. See, I’ve lived in Metropolis most of my life and I can’t figure out how some yokel from Smallville is suddenly getting every hot story in town. Clark Kent: Well, Lois, the truth is I’m actually Superman in disguise, and I only pretend to be a journalist in order to hear about disasters as they happen and then squeeze you out of the byline. Lois Lane: You’re a sick man, Kent.
But that was the problem with Lois & Clark–Dean Cain was a fantastic Clark and a pretty good Superman … but there just wasn’t enough difference between the two to buy that nobody ever noticed.