# Lets apply Occam's razor to fanwanking. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463 "2008-11-19T16:45:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 20, 2008, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/21 "2008-11-20T10:30:30Z")
A wizard did it. ETA: When the hey did I go over 5000 posts? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/22 "2008-11-20T10:44:10Z")
I do think the canon explanation for Solo’s comment makes sense. That said, another good one is that he was just tossing out deliberate nonsense to screw with the rubes. My explanation for how Batman is always overcoming all those superhuman enemies - he’s superpowered too. Yeah, yeah, he’s supposed to be just an athletic well trained human; he’s “prepared”, he’s trained, he’s clever - but that isn’t good enough. He’s a meta himself; either in denial or deliberately lying to throw people off. Probably at least some kind of precognitive; that would explain how he’s always prepared and has just the right oddball skill needed - he KNEW, not guessed that he’d need it. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/23 "2008-11-20T11:06:13Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I do think the canon explanation for Solo’s comment makes sense. That said, another good one is that he was just tossing out deliberate nonsense to screw with the rubes Fits in with his general flakiness. He won the ship, is still probably figuring out how to stop it falling apart in space and is suddenly desperate for paying passengers. Who, unlike crates of spice, ask questions. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/24 "2008-11-20T13:24:49Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Plus lots of people look sort-of-alike, and Kent speaks in a light tenor whereas Supes uses a bass-baritone. (Hey, if comics can be canon, why can’t radio be?) And he carries himself completely differently - Superman stands straight, his chest out, all confidence, looking people in the eye; Clark slouches, slightly awkward, making only brief eye contact. Note - I’m not talking about the wimpy klutz, completely lacking in confidence he was often portrayed as in the Silver Age - that takes it too far. It’s just ‘Superman’ presents as a perfect god, ‘Clark’ as a mortal, with the standard issue flaws. My favourite quote concerning the fact that Superman and Clark Kent kind of look alike is from Lois & Clark. Jimmy makes a comment about Clark looking kind of like Superman, and Perry looks at him. ‘Yeah, well people say I kind of look like Elvis, that doesn’t make me the King.’ (Would have been more amusing if Lane Smith actually looked anything like Elvis, of course, but the point holds - a lot of people look like famous people.) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/25 "2008-11-20T14:07:11Z")
My other favorite bit from Lois & Clark was when Clark was working undercover at a bar. His diguise? A different pair of glasses. Somebody from the bar came to visit him at home and he had to change glasses before he opened the door… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/26 "2008-11-20T14:18:21Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > Yes, a pair of glasses is a dumb disguise. Everyone new it was a dumb disguise. But, no one was stupid enough to tell a guy that could rip you in half with his pinky that his disguise was dumb. They just humored him. I remember one Silver Age story where Clark had a nightmare about a sudden emergency and he was looking for a place to change and everybody at the Daily Planet offices was yelling at him to switch to Superman, already – they’ve been humoring him for years, but there’s no time for that now… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/27 "2008-11-20T14:21:24Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I remember one Silver Age story where Clark had a nightmare about a sudden emergency and he was looking for a place to change and everybody at the Daily Planet offices was yelling at him to switch to Superman, already – they’ve been humoring him for years, but there’s no time for that now… Then in Green lantern, a police detective needed some info from GL so he just stopped by the flower shop and asked him. Oliver asked how he knew he was GL, and the cop was like, “Oh, I’m sorry; was that dumb little eyesocket mask-thing supposed to be a _disguise?_” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/28 "2008-11-20T14:28:35Z")
My two favorite bits on Clark, Superman and the glasses. The first was in the Thor comic, when Nick Fury gave Thor a civilian identity, but took one look and said “No one’s gonna mistake those shoulders ! Hey wait -” \* grabs a pair of glasses \* “- these always work for that other guy !” Then Thor leaves, and on the way out bumps into “Clark”, who glances after him and thinks “That almost looked like . . . nah !” The other was on _Lois and Clark_, when a time traveller mocked Lois about it. It went something like this : Traveller : “People learn about you in schools in the future you know.” Lois : “Oh, **really**?” \* sceptically \* Traveller : “And everyone asks the same question - how can \*\*one woman \*\*be so **galactically** stupid ? !” Lois : \* Taken aback \* Traveller : \* Puts on glasses \* “Hi, I’m Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter !” Traveller : \* Takes off glasses \* “I’m **Superman** , the \*\*Man of Steel \*\*!” Traveller : \* Puts on glasses \* “Hi, I’m Clark Kent !” Traveller : \* Takes off glasses \* “I’m Superman !” Traveller : "Clark. Kent. Is. Superman !: ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/29 "2008-11-20T14:37:23Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Then in Green lantern, a police detective needed some info from GL so he just stopped by the flower shop and asked him. Oliver asked how he knew he was GL, and the cop was like, “Oh, I’m sorry; was that dumb little eyesocket mask-thing supposed to be a _disguise?_” You mean Green _Arrow_, of course. Either he’s got a secret identity again, or the entire world has gone back to humouring him…even when he was mayor of Star City and the fact he was tolerating GA’s actions was being used against him. It’s kind of too bad…I liked the running gag about his secret ID being pretty much a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/30 "2008-11-20T17:20:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I remember one Silver Age story where Clark had a nightmare about a sudden emergency and he was looking for a place to change and everybody at the Daily Planet offices was yelling at him to switch to Superman, already – they’ve been humoring him for years, but there’s no time for that now… If we’re talking about the same story, Clark woke up and realized that eyeglasses really were a pretty weak disguise and wondered why they apparently worked. Then during the course of the story, it was revealed that the lens for his glasses had been made out of part of his Kryptonian ship and unbeknownst to him had hypnotic powers that made people think Clark Kent looked different from Superman. You can make fun of fanwankery all you want, but it doesn’t hold a candle to writerwankery. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/31 "2008-11-20T17:22:05Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Plus lots of people look sort-of-alike, and Kent speaks in a light tenor whereas Supes uses a bass-baritone. (Hey, if comics can be canon, why can’t radio be?) Or movies. Chris Reeve made Clark and Superman very distinct. The movies also, with shocking intelligence, make it seem that Lois is the only Planet staffer who sees him with any sort of regularity. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/32 "2008-11-20T17:27:03Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > I had a drunken idea the other night that the Kessel run was actually some kind of maneuver. Like speed up to hyperspace, do three loop-de-loops and back to a stop. Actually, George Lucas probably just overheard somebody bragging about doing the [Cresta Run](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresta_run) on holiday and shoehorned it into his narrative. The names are similar enough that I have little doubt that’s the origin. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463/33 "2008-11-20T19:06:21Z")
“I did the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs.” The explanation is obvious, Hans Solo is so totally freaking awesome that he breaks the laws of the space/time continuum. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-apply-occams-razor-to-fanwanking/473463.md?page=1)