# 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:** 176
**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:** [February 11, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3502 "2020-02-11T14:45:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > It just now hit me why Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat uses an Elvis impersonator as Pharaoh, who sings The song of the King? > > Get it? Elvis the King? No cite, but I remember reading somewhere that Elvis wanted to play the part. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3503 "2020-02-11T15:41:06Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > There’s another type of Nickelodeon too. They were simular to player pianos except they were an amalgam of a bunch of different instruments. They had several working models on display at the Lightner Museum. Really neat to watch. I think these are also known as “orchestreons”. There’s an old-fashioned soda shop in Columbus, IN that has a few working models: Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor - [http://www.zaharakos.com/](http://www.zaharakos.com/) ---
**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:** [February 16, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3504 "2020-02-16T03:51:03Z")
I saw the Bugs Bunny cartoon _Rabbit Hood_ today. I’ve seen it a zillion times since I was a kid, but I think that I just sort of accepted many of the details, which I really noticed for the first time today. The cartoon is set in medieval England (presumably circa the 13th century, when Robin Hood was supposed to be active). Bugs tries to steal one of The King’s carrots, which has an alarm attached to it. This draws the attention of the Sheriff of Nottingham, who, instead of a shotgun, menaces Bugs with a bow and arrow. The Sheriff wears tights, a puffy set of pantaloons and a collar ruff. Not really appropriate for the period, but believable for later England. What I have tuned out all these years was that he wore a vest more suited to the Old West, complete with a five-pointed star, a set of cowboy boots, a cowboy hat (also with a star), and a handlebar moustache more suited to the 1880s than the 1280s. I guess that’s because he’s the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Old West Sheriff of Nottingham. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_Hood#/media/File:RabbHood.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_Hood#/media/File:RabbHood.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3505 "2020-02-29T05:28:44Z")
As my sig suggests, I’m fond of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s _Good Omens_; I’ve read it probably a dozen times over the last 25 years. One scene in the novel features a flying saucer landing in Oxfordshire, disgorging three aliens, two of whom stop a car to talk to the driver. The third one, which is described as looking “like a pepperpot”, rolls down the ramp and falls over, beeping frantically. Longtime Whovian that I am, I immediately recognized it a Dalek. TvTropes listed it as a Shout Out, and further noted that it was a twofer. I never though thought about the fact that Daleks don’t beep - their iconic vocalization is “EX-TER-MIN-ATE!” Only today, after literal decades, did I realize that there is another, even _more_ iconic robotic lifeform that’s shaped like a pepper shaker, and communicates in beeps. I can’t believe it’s taken me twenty-five years to recognize R2D2. SMDumbassH. :smack: This is as close as I’ve ever come to literally meeting the conditions of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3506 "2020-03-16T13:29:58Z")
Just watched “Bladerunner: Final Cut” with my son last night. When Roy dies, he releases a dove, which of course symbolizes death (departing soul). I only now just realized that this represents a strong (unambiguous) signal from film creators that they believe replicants HAVE souls. (Yes, I know it’s all pretty strongly messaged in other ways, but I’d always felt you could debate whether they really have souls or simply act like that. That goes for humans, too.) Or maybe that’s just Deckard’s view… ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3507 "2020-03-16T13:52:46Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Just watched “Bladerunner: Final Cut” with my son last night. > > When Roy dies, he releases a dove, which of course symbolizes death (departing soul). > > I only now just realized that this represents a strong (unambiguous) signal from film creators that they believe replicants HAVE souls. (Yes, I know it’s all pretty strongly messaged in other ways, but I’d always felt you could debate whether they really have souls or simply act like that. That goes for humans, too.) > > Or maybe that’s just Deckard’s view… Screw it, I take that back- Roy decides to carry a dove around for whatever reason, and of course he releases it as he dies, leaving Deckard (and audience) to interpret that as his soul departing. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3508 "2020-03-16T14:34:14Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Screw it, I take that back- Roy decides to carry a dove around for whatever reason, and of course he releases it as he dies, leaving Deckard (and audience) to interpret that as his soul departing. The dove also represents the Holy Spirit, and if you add fact that he drove a nail through his palm earlier in the scene, that pretty much implies that Roy is (or sees himself as) some sort of Christ figure. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3509 "2020-03-16T14:44:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The dove also represents the Holy Spirit, and if you add fact that he drove a nail through his palm earlier in the scene, that pretty much implies that Roy is (or sees himself as) some sort of Christ figure. Well, that’s an idea that never occurred to me. Thanks for suggesting it. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3510 "2020-03-16T15:10:48Z")
I finally noticed that George Harrison’s _My Sweet Lord_ has the Hare Krishna mantra in the backup vocals. It’s not subtle or anything, I just never noticed it before. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3511 "2020-03-16T16:05:18Z")
Stan Lee played a mailman who delivered a package to “Tony Stank” in _Captain America: Civil War_. It’s a funny line but I just realized it’s also a callback to Lee’s cameos in the first two _Iron Man_ movies, where Stark mistook Lee (playing himself) for Hugh Hefner and Larry King. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3512 "2020-03-20T19:07:49Z")
I was talking to my kids last night about vaccines. I was mentioning the possibility of building viral antigens into vaccinia (the virus used to prevent smallpox). This devolved into a discussion of Jenner, smallpox, and cowpox; and how “vaccinate” used to mean “inoculate with vaccinia (cowpox)”, which ultimately got “nouned” to vaccine for any generic preventative inoculation. As I was saying it, I realized that the “vac” in vaccine stands for “cow”. Then I heard it all again on Science Friday this afternoon! ---
**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:** [March 21, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3513 "2020-03-21T00:41:46Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > I was talking to my kids last night about vaccines. I was mentioning the possibility of building viral antigens into vaccinia (the virus used to prevent smallpox). This devolved into a discussion of Jenner, smallpox, and cowpox; and how “vaccinate” used to mean “inoculate with vaccinia (cowpox)”, which ultimately got “nouned” to vaccine for any generic preventative inoculation. > > As I was saying it, I realized that the “vac” in vaccine stands for “cow”. > > Then I heard it all again on Science Friday this afternoon! Many years ago I similarly had an epiphany when I realized that they called cowboys “Buckaroos” because the word is an Anglicized corruption of the Spanish word _vaceros_ (“cattle herder”). ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3514 "2020-03-21T01:27:33Z")
This has probably been mentioned in this thread before, but _ **I** _ just noticed it so that makes it repeatable. At the end of the intro song to Two and a Half Men, Jake (Angus Jones) morphs from the kid he was at the beginning to whatever he looks like this season. I’m not sure when I first noticed it, but lately I’ve realized watching reruns that it must have been going on all along, but it wasn’t very noticeable when he was still young. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3515 "2020-03-21T07:47:55Z")
> [@](#): > > …the word is an Anglicized corruption of the Spanish word vaceros _Vaquero_, with q. > [@](#): > > At the end of the intro song to Two and a Half Men, Jake (Angus Jones) morphs from the kid he was at the beginning to whatever he looks like this season. I’m not sure when I first noticed it, but lately I’ve realized watching reruns that it must have been going on all along, but it wasn’t very noticeable when he was still young. I was surprised by that, too. I stopped watching shortly after Sheen was fired, and some time later I noticed the kid was much bigger. A wild guess: Maybe not all the seasons were sold in the same syndication package, or maybe Angus Jones wasn’t featured as much during a season or two. I recall seeing that his character had returned from military service but I don’t remember any episodes that led up to that or showed him or the others during his service. Or maybe he just grew up very quickly. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2020, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3516 "2020-03-21T13:24:11Z")
At the end of _Caddyshack_, the grudge match between Judge Smails and Al Czervik is tied as they’re playing the final hole. Smails sinks his putt, and it’s Danny’s turn. Ty tells him that if he misses it, they lose. Doesn’t that mean that if he sinks it, the match will be tied? If Danny makes the putt, either the wager is a tie or they keep playing. I’m not an expert on golf, but is there any scoring system in which one putt can change a loss to a win? But then something happens. Al says “double-or-nothing he makes it,” and the judge agrees. Now the wager really does depend on this one putt. Smails went from a situation where he had nothing to lose to one where he could lose the whole bet. What an idiot! ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3517 "2020-03-21T14:16:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Many years ago I similarly had an epiphany when I realized that they called cowboys “Buckaroos” because the word is an Anglicized corruption of the Spanish word _vaceros_ (“cattle herder”). Huh! Cows will rule after we are gone. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3518 "2020-03-21T14:31:39Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Huh! > > Cows will rule after we are gone. The “milk” will inherit the Earth. Or the " ‘Moo’ "k will inherit the Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3519 "2020-03-24T22:51:53Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > The “milk” will inherit the Earth. Or the " ‘Moo’ "k will inherit the Earth. “Blessed are the cheese makers” ---
**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:** [March 25, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3520 "2020-03-25T00:26:26Z")
[quote=“jerez, post:3515, topic:504117”] _Vaquero_, with q. I knew that, but for some reason, my hands typed it with a “c”. Probably because of the stuff about “vaccine” ---
**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:** [March 25, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/3521 "2020-03-25T00:31:29Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Huh! > > Cows will rule after we are gone. I believe they’re after the birds and before the slugs. [cite](https://vimeo.com/245612590) [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=175) [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=177)