# Not so inevitable movie plots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468 "2011-05-19T16:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/41 "2011-07-13T02:06:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Your pedanticism aside, I am reasonably confident that other posters get the gist of what I am looking for here. Obviously not. You have found something wrong with almost every response. Would you like to meet my ex-wife? Are you my ex-wife? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/42 "2011-07-13T02:14:53Z")
Oh come on. Obviously there aren’t any historically accurate movies, unless there was live footage of an event that only lasted about 2 hours. Did you read the part about the ‘big picture’ in the OP? Of course it’s almost as much fun to mess with him as it is with Skald. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/43 "2011-07-13T02:16:25Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > Obviously not. You have found something wrong with almost every response. > > Would you like to meet my ex-wife? > > Are you my ex-wife? In an alternate history, he is. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/44 "2011-07-13T02:19:50Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > Obviously not. You have found something wrong with almost every response. > > Would you like to meet my ex-wife? > > Are you my ex-wife? Did you see where I agreed that _Inglorious Basterds_ fits the bill? Look-If I go to a shoe store and request a pair of red shoes, and the clerks bring me everything _but_ a pair of red shoes, their bitching about how I just can’t be satisfied gets them no sympathy from me. If you are having problems understanding the OP, just let me know and I’ll try to reword it for you, o.k.? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/45 "2011-07-13T02:22:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Of course it’s almost as much fun to mess with him as it is with Skald. True dat…but it tends to guide those who are trying to honestly participate down the wrong path. But if that’s what it takes to get your giggles on, well… ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/46 "2011-07-13T02:23:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Has any movie dared to to defy written history by re-writing it? Special bonus points if it comes as a complete shock to the movie viewer. Well… it came as a complete shock to _this_ movie viewer to discover that the German _Enigma_ code machine was captured by Americans. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/47 "2011-07-13T02:26:14Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Well… it came as a complete shock to _this_ movie viewer to discover that the German _Enigma_ code machine was captured by Americans. 😛 Now _that’s_ what I’m talking about. And wasn’t there a submarine movie recently that stuck heroic Americans into the plot where they didn’t exist in real life? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/48 "2011-07-13T02:36:20Z")
It’s not historical, really, but I was amazed at **Troy** , which killed off charavcters from _The Iliad_ who were supposed to have lived. Watching that movie when you’re familiar with the myth, even ignoring the missing gods, is a real experience. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/49 "2011-07-13T02:45:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Now _that’s_ what I’m talking about. And wasn’t there a submarine movie recently that stuck heroic Americans into the plot where they didn’t exist in real life? A submarine movie other than [U-571](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_(film))? I don’t know – although there seem to have been a few WWII movies where US troops have been stuck in where they weren’t historically (or at least over-represented). It’s fine to a point (IMHO), have to appeal to the audience and all that… but U-571 was the first thing I though of on reading your OP – the real first Enigma machine was captured by the British 6 months before the US joined the war, so having a US crew do it seems to be taking more than a bit of an historical liberty. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/50 "2011-07-13T03:05:15Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Would you count _Watchmen_? How about _Planet of the Apes_ (kinda-sorta-maybe)? **Planet of the Apes** isn’t an (intentional) example of alternate history at all. It’s an example of science fiction set in the future being overtaken by the passage of time so that the future it predicted never happened. Ditto for Star Trek (I don’t recall the Eugenics Wars, do _you_?). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/51 "2011-07-13T03:26:47Z")
Well, _The Bridge on the River Kwai_ takes a number of liberties, the presence of the American played by William Holden being a relatively minor one. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/52 "2011-07-13T06:01:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Your pedanticism aside, I am reasonably confident that other posters get the gist of what I am looking for here. The word is “pedantry”. /pedant ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/53 "2011-07-13T06:11:55Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > The word is “pedantry”. > > /pedant How pedantish of you. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/54 "2011-07-13T07:00:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Yet another example of the _opposite_ of what the OP is asking for. So what? Chill out. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/55 "2011-07-13T10:16:22Z")
There were no elves at Helm’s Deep… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/56 "2011-07-13T11:35:37Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > The word is “pedantry”. > > /pedant Not to be pedantic, but “pedanticism” is legit the way it was used in that post. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/57 "2011-07-13T13:52:12Z")
Michner’s novel Space, and the miniseries made from it, posit a last Apollo mission to the moon. No problem there, adding a fictional mission similar to the real missions is a perfectly legitimate exercise of historical fiction. Oh, by the way, the astronauts die on the Moon. WHAT??? I’m sorry, but that goes waaaay beyond the boundaries of historical fiction. Astronauts dying on a Moon mission is a HUGE change in history. Had it happened, it would have had a 9/11-scale impact. It is possible that such a thing would have revitalized the space program, leading to permanent settlements. It is possible that it would have totally killed the space program, leading to drastically reduced technological spin-offs (no iPods!). Either way, introducing an event of this scale in historical fiction is breaking all the rules. And, aside from the literary violation, I wonder how many people are convinced that we lost astronauts in space, due to watching the miniseries… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/58 "2011-07-13T14:25:28Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > And, aside from the literary violation, I wonder how many people are convinced that we lost astronauts in space, due to watching the miniseries… I _was_ going to say not many…but then I remembered all the doofi that thought _Capricorn One_ was a docu-drama. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/59 "2011-07-13T14:56:58Z")
A pedant would know that the plural of “doofus” is “doofusi.” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468/60 "2011-07-13T14:59:09Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > A pedant would know that the plural of “doofus” is “doofusi.” It’s actually “doofodes”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-inevitable-movie-plots/582468.md?page=4)