# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 150
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2982 "2018-04-17T00:24:50Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I was unaware that too. Incidentally, what was the Ford Prefect’s reputation in the UK?" If it was a lemon like the infamous Ford Edsel, that would add another level of humor that most Americans wouldn’t get. But I think the joke was about the ubiquity of the Prefect - Ford had picked what he thought was the equivalent of the name “John Smith” because of how many Prefects were on the road (which wouldn’t work if the car was widely known as a lemon that therefore wouldn’t have become that common on the road). ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2983 "2018-04-17T01:35:47Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Tom Baker’s Doctor rode around in a 1910 Stutz Bearcat. You would have to be a real auto enthusiast to recognize it. Tom Baker’s Doctor wasn’t really associated with a car: his Earthbound predecessor, played by Jon Pertwee, famously drove [Bessie](http://thenewswheel.com/meet-bessie-doctor-whos-hi-tech-yellow-edwardian-roadster/), an Edwardian roadster, in a number of stories, although Tom Baker did briefly use Bessie in his first story, _Robot_. It wasn’t a [Stutz Bearcat](https://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Stutz/15-Stutz-Bearcat-DV-10-RMM_001.jpg) either, however, although there are some minor resemblances: it was an early 70s fibreglass bodykit built on - and this I didn’t know - a Ford Prefect chassis. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2984 "2018-04-17T13:20:14Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Hannibal Lechter was created for the book _Red Dragon_, so I’m guessing inadvertent. - Red Dragon\* also joins phonetically in the middle. Maybe Thomas Harris has a thing for that. Of it could be an amazing coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2985 "2018-04-17T15:02:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’m not sure whether this counts, but I’m erring on the side of “yeah”. > > So: you know how a grocery store has meat and milk and fruits and bread? But if we’re talking about a truly colossal Wal-Mart, then it’s _also_ a sporting-goods store, with bats and balls and bullets and bicycles; and pharmacists work there, so it’s a fully-stocked drug store as well as a shoe store; and you can buy _televisions_ there, and you can buy _jewelry_ there, and you can buy _furniture_ there, and et cetera. Halloween costumes! Mystery novels! Power tools! Cell phones! Blue jeans! > > So I started hearing off-hand references in the media to The Internet Of Things… > [@furryman](#): > > Well, maybe it’s also a reference to the idea that you can find nearly everything on the Internet. Kinda makes you wonder what manner of unnatural abomination you’d find on Aisle 34… ---
**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:** [April 17, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2986 "2018-04-17T15:15:37Z")
Cthulu Flakes Yog-Sothoth pre-packaged gravy mix Diet Tab ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2987 "2018-04-18T06:45:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Similar to Ford Prefect being the make and model of a car sold in Britain but not the US, another joke that most Brits understood but not most Americans. In the latest BBC Radio installment of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, they have Arthur saying, “Ford! Focus!” which amused me no end. (I think the Ford Focus was sold in most English-speaking markets, so a more accessible reference than the Ford Prefect.) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2988 "2018-04-28T20:41:11Z")
Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang contains the line “Everybody go: Hotel, motel, holiday inn”. The last entry was probably just meant to fill up space. But now I realize that these days, Holiday Inns are sort of in between hotels and motels, occupying a third category, since they have built-in restaurants but are usually set up for easy parking (although some are probably built up like traditional hotels.) When they were originally created and for decades afterward they indeed were, along with Howard Johnson’s which also had an onsite restaurant, the epitome of the franchise motel, but these days it is getting harder to find a motel with a restaurant, and even some hotels do not have one. In the place of Howard Johnson, I’d offer Hilton Garden Inn as the new middle ground between a hotel and motel, since they have a drinks lounge as standard, and the lobby is roomily set up like a hotel, as opposed to some other chains that _sometimes_ have lounges or restaurants on the premises but are sometimes not in the same building and have smaller lobbies. But they usually don’t have a lot of space for conferences and do not have room service or a non-breakfast full restaurant, so I don’t count them as a full hotel. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2989 "2018-05-06T17:57:20Z")
George Lucas built Star Wars around his main character Luke Skywalker. Luke S. Lucas. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**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:** [May 6, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2990 "2018-05-06T20:31:35Z")
I was listening to a Star Trek podcast a while ago, and they were talking about the episode _All Our Yesterdays_. That’s the one where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet that’s about to be destroyed, so the people are escaping by going back to various eras of the planet’s history. It occurred to me that they’d have to neuter people going back so that they couldn’t have any children. Otherwise they’d have two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, etc., leading to God knows how many when the planet is ready to do the big kablooey. Every person they sent back in time would make the problem worse instead of better. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2991 "2018-05-06T20:46:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was listening to a Star Trek podcast a while ago, and they were talking about the episode _All Our Yesterdays_. That’s the one where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet that’s about to be destroyed, so the people are escaping by going back to various eras of the planet’s history. It occurred to me that they’d have to neuter people going back so that they couldn’t have any children. Otherwise they’d have two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, etc., leading to God knows how many when the planet is ready to do the big kablooey. Every person they sent back in time would make the problem worse instead of better. which Star Trek podcast would this be, please? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2992 "2018-05-06T20:49:44Z")
Maybe that was part of the “adjustment” that Mr. Atoz was talking about. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2993 "2018-05-06T22:18:50Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > which Star Trek podcast would this be, please? It’s called “Mission Log”. Rod Roddenberry is the executive producer, so they have support from the Roddenberry estate. Most of the shows are recaps of individual episodes. Be warned, they do each episode, in order, and they’ve already finished TOS and NextGen, so there’s massive archive if you get hooked. They’ve also done episodes with some cast members and writers, too. [http://www.missionlogpodcast.com/](http://www.missionlogpodcast.com/) or wherever you get your podcasts. > [@silenus](#): > > Maybe that was part of the “adjustment” that Mr. Atoz was talking about. Yeah, I thought of that, and I can’t really blame the writers for not working that into the show, but it seems like one of those logical loopholes that isn’t a problem until you start thinking about it a bit. Even if it is 50 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2994 "2018-05-07T19:21:50Z")
Well, unless their being in the past is already part of history in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2995 "2018-05-09T14:09:49Z")
Hawaii Five O --the numbers refer to Hawaii being the fiftieth state. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2996 "2018-05-09T14:55:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was listening to a Star Trek podcast a while ago, and they were talking about the episode _All Our Yesterdays_. That’s the one where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet that’s about to be destroyed, so the people are escaping by going back to various eras of the planet’s history. It occurred to me that they’d have to neuter people going back so that they couldn’t have any children. Otherwise they’d have two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, etc., leading to God knows how many when the planet is ready to do the big kablooey. Every person they sent back in time would make the problem worse instead of better. Doesn’t work. Thats similar to the “Why arnt we kneedeep in flies conundrum” ---
**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:** [May 9, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2997 "2018-05-09T15:38:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was listening to a Star Trek podcast a while ago, and they were talking about the episode _All Our Yesterdays_. That’s the one where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet that’s about to be destroyed, so the people are escaping by going back to various eras of the planet’s history. It occurred to me that they’d have to neuter people going back so that they couldn’t have any children. Otherwise they’d have two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, etc., leading to God knows how many when the planet is ready to do the big kablooey. Every person they sent back in time would make the problem worse instead of better. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Doesn’t work. Thats similar to the “Why arnt we kneedeep in flies conundrum” It would depend on the society, wouldn’t it? If I understand the “why aren’t we knee deep in flies” thing, flies reproduce like crazy, but they also get eaten like crazy. They’ve reached an equilibrium in their environment. It may not be a steady-state (populations may rise and fall as the populations that prey on them rise and fall), but there’s no long-term growth trend. If you sent today’s generation of flies back into the past, the critters back then that ate flies would be very well fed. That’s not the case with humans. At least, it hasn’t been on Earth, so far. The number of humans has been pretty steadily increasing. Take today’s humans and send them into our past and you’re just feeding that increase. All you’d do is force the population to grow until it hit whatever our naturally-constrained limit is. We couldn’t grow enough food, or disease outbreaks would be more common; whatever it is that naturally keeps us in check. Then our lives become like the flies’; nasty, brutish, and short. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2998 "2018-05-09T15:39:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was listening to a Star Trek podcast a while ago, and they were talking about the episode _All Our Yesterdays_. That’s the one where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet that’s about to be destroyed, so the people are escaping by going back to various eras of the planet’s history. It occurred to me that they’d have to neuter people going back so that they couldn’t have any children. Otherwise they’d have two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, etc., leading to God knows how many when the planet is ready to do the big kablooey. Every person they sent back in time would make the problem worse instead of better. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Doesn’t work. Thats similar to the “Why arnt we kneedeep in flies conundrum” Maybe. It certainly puts a disturbing spin on the “kneedeep in flies” conundrum, which is solved by the fact that in each generation of flies the individual flies are subject to fly-killing factors that cause the actual fly population to maintain a certain equilibrium. In the case of sending people back, there’s always the potential for even neutered people to disrupt the reproductive results that their actual histories achieved. For instance: Alexander Hamilton was survived by several of his own offspring, and has a significant number of living descendants today. But were I to travel back to 1777 and Elizabeth Schuyler were to become smitten with me and my dashing good looks, she might have been a married woman in 1778 when Alexander came to dine with the Schuylers. With no Hamilton-Schuyler pairing, none of those descendants happen. Just to forestall any objections about likelihood of Philip Schuyler forbidding the marriage of a younger daughter while her older sister remained unmarried, I have just conjured an equally dashing twin brother, who sweeps Angelica off her feet. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2999 "2018-05-09T15:42:32Z")
Geekiest. Simulpost. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3000 "2018-05-09T15:54:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Geekiest. Simulpost. Ever. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3001 "2018-05-12T04:20:45Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Hawaii Five O --the numbers refer to Hawaii being the fiftieth state. To those of us who remember the original series that started in the late 1960s, that was made exceptionally clear. But I’ve noticed in recent years that a lot of people not only didn’t realize it but openly scoff that it could mean any such thing. The mind boggles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=149) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=151)