# Just Saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the first time, and I've got an off the wall theory (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897 "2009-08-10T01:03:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/1 "2009-08-10T01:03:44Z")
You know how a lot of people think Harrison Ford’s character in Blade Runner was an android himself? Well, I think the PI in WFRR was a toon. For the bad guy was identified as a toon simply on the strength of the fact that he survived flattening by a bulldozer, going all stretchy instead of getting crushed. But something similar happened to the PI as well. In the elevator driven by Droopy, the PI got crushed against the ceiling and floor–_toon style_. Moreover, in the Acme building, the PI did the song and dance routine to amuse the weasels to death–and survived three direct hits to the head with giant ball bearings, to comedic effect–_toon style_! Eddie’s a toon, man! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/2 "2009-08-10T01:51:56Z")
But Eddie survived the flood of Dip, which melted all the toons it touched. It’s obvious Eddie was a Stooge. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/3 "2009-08-10T01:53:28Z")
No, Bob Hoskins is that funny looking naturally. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/4 "2009-08-10T01:55:46Z")
He was in Toon Town at the time, he was subject to their physics. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/5 "2009-08-10T02:22:39Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > He was in Toon Town at the time, he was subject to their physics. This. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/6 "2009-08-10T02:26:04Z")
Yeah, I think that’s _why_ he hated going to Toon Town so much: stuff like that happens to you there. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/7 "2009-08-10T02:35:01Z")
Even setting aside the fact that he was in Toon Town – Eddie’s whole character arc requires him to be a human. He starts out liking/helping toons until his brother is killed by one. (Which is itself proof that Eddie’s not a toon – his brother was killed via piano. No toon is killed via piano: a piano to the head would result in stars or birds, no death.) Throughout the film Eddie shows a lack of knowledge in exactly how toons work; f’rex, he doesn’t understand that Roger could’ve slipped out of the handcuffs “only when it was funny.” I suppose he could be “passing” as a nontoon, but then the touching nature of Eddie finally accepting Roger as a friend would lose its impact. (Was WFRR mentioned in that thread a few months ago, “films that seemed ripe for a sequel that never occurred”? Because I always hoped we’d see a sequel, though it’d be hard to top the original.) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/8 "2009-08-10T02:40:46Z")
> [@choie](#): > > (Was WFRR mentioned in that thread a few months ago, “films that seemed ripe for a sequel that never occurred”? Because I always hoped we’d see a sequel, though it’d be hard to top the original.) There have been thoughts of a sequel over the years, but the disputes between Disney and Spielberg over the character have put a kibosh on them. Robert Zemeckis has stated earlier this year that there are still sequel plans. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/9 "2009-08-10T03:07:10Z")
Yeah, I would think that the various agreements / legalities required to make the first movie would be very difficult to replicate for a subsequent film. It’s hard to believe they were able to get all those characters from different studios into one flick. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/10 "2009-08-10T03:30:46Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Throughout the film Eddie shows a lack of knowledge in exactly how toons work; f’rex, he doesn’t understand that Roger could’ve slipped out of the handcuffs “only when it was funny.” I suppose he could be “passing” as a nontoon, but then the touching nature of Eddie finally accepting Roger as a friend would lose its impact. It’s been a while since I last watched the movie, but I thought Eddie was unusually in tune with toons? Or is it just that while he’s knowledgeable for a human, he doesn’t know enough to plausibly be a toon? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/11 "2009-08-10T03:53:05Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Robert Zemeckis has stated earlier this year that there are still sequel plans. They better hurry up. Toons are immortal, but Eddie keeps getting older. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/12 "2009-08-10T04:25:11Z")
Was Roger’s reaction to the drink in the exec’s office (and later) a feature of all toons? If Eddie reacted to alcohol the same way Roger did every time he took a drink… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/13 "2009-08-10T09:05:13Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > It’s been a while since I last watched the movie, but I thought Eddie was unusually in tune with toons? Or is it just that while he’s knowledgeable for a human, he doesn’t know enough to plausibly be a toon? He and his brother used to work in ToonTown a lot, for toons. After his brother died, Eddie commenced to pickling his brain while it was still in his skull. > [@](#): > > he doesn’t understand that Roger could’ve slipped out of the handcuffs “only when it was funny.” This, to me, shows the brilliance of the movie. It’s self-consistent. It explains why toons act as they do, and what affects them. I read the book _Who Censored Roger Rabbit?_, which the film was based on. The book was all right, but the movie was better. And I usually don’t say that. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/14 "2009-08-10T09:28:30Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I read the book _Who Censored Roger Rabbit?_, which the film was based on. The book was all right, but the movie was better. And I usually don’t say that. True, but the book made good use of text, combining the manic frivolity of cartoons with the hard-boiled, Chandleresque style. I still remember the description of Roger’s psychiatrist; a cartoon beaver who waxed his whiskers into a handlebar moustache and kept his tail tucked into a pocket in his jacket. In the dark, he could be mistaken for a Harley Davidson. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/15 "2009-08-10T09:34:33Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Was Roger’s reaction to the drink in the exec’s office (and later) a feature of all toons? If Eddie reacted to alcohol the same way Roger did every time he took a drink… I think this is the best argument against Eddie being a toon, especially given Eddie’s drinking problem in the first part of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/16 "2009-08-10T09:34:41Z")
How does the photo of Eddie and his brother clowning it up at the police academy graduating ceremony fit into all this? I’d taken it to mean they’d specialized in toonwork as part of their training. Furthermore, there’s a scene that was cut from the movie (and which I’ve only seen once while almost blind drunk, so I thought for a while I’d hallucinated it) where Eddie is ‘toonarooned’ - abducted by the weasels and inked with a piggie head. (It comes just before the scene where Eddie’s in his office taking a shower and - either Jessica or Baby Herman, I don’t remember which - comes in. How could Eddie be toonarooned if he’s already a toon? ---
**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:** [August 10, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/17 "2009-08-10T09:54:45Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > There have been thoughts of a sequel over the years, but the disputes between Disney and Spielberg over the character have put a kibosh on them. Robert Zemeckis has stated earlier this year that there are still sequel plans. I’m holding out hope now that Pixar basically is Disney. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/18 "2009-08-10T14:18:58Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > He was in Toon Town at the time, he was subject to their physics. Not when he survived the three ball bearings to the head–that was just outside of toontown IIRC, in the Acme building. But someone else already mentioned he survived a dousing with the dip, which I guess does establish the falsity of my wild-ass hypothesis. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/19 "2009-08-10T14:24:11Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Not when he survived the three ball bearings to the head–that was just outside of toontown IIRC, in the Acme building. > > But someone else already mentioned he survived a dousing with the dip, which I guess does establish the falsity of my wild-ass hypothesis. I was going by memory and it’s been a while. Maybe they were toon ball bearings. (Or are they bowling balls?) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897/20 "2009-08-10T14:48:40Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Furthermore, there’s a scene that was cut from the movie (and which I’ve only seen once while almost blind drunk, so I thought for a while I’d hallucinated it) where Eddie is ‘toonarooned’ - abducted by the weasels and inked with a piggie head. (It comes just before the scene where Eddie’s in his office taking a shower and - either Jessica or Baby Herman, I don’t remember which - comes in. It’s Jessica who comes in. He stepped into the shower to get the pig head off. In the actual film, his absence from the office is explained by having a toilet flush sound effect play at the start of the scene. > [@choie](#): > > Yeah, I would think that the various agreements / legalities required to make the first movie would be very difficult to replicate for a subsequent film. It’s hard to believe they were able to get all those characters from different studios into one flick. Surprisingly, Disney couldn’t get every outside character they wanted- King Features demanded too much money for Popeye, for example. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-saw-who-framed-roger-rabbit-for-the-first-time-and-ive-got-an-off-the-wall-theory-spoilers/505897.md?page=2)