# 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:** 24
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/461 "2009-09-22T15:26:24Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > I had seen _4 Weddings and a Funeral_ several times before someone told me the two men weren’t just close friends, but a couple. Woosh. I hadn’t really picked up on it until he read the poem. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/462 "2009-09-22T17:33:05Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > When I started reading these I looked back on the SDMB to read some threads - there’s a whole thread on “stuff I was too dim a bulb to catch” that makes me kind of wonder about some of you people. People didn’t realise that whatshername Stark died in childbirth? > > For extra points, what happened to Princess Rhaenys’ kitten? It’s been a while, and there’s so many details in these books, but I imagine it was raped. Or got its head smashed in by whoever was coming for Dany. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/463 "2009-09-22T17:36:13Z")
Who the hell is Princess Rhaeny and who is raping her kittens?! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/464 "2009-09-22T17:56:48Z")
It was like that when I found it. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/465 "2009-09-22T18:10:12Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Who the hell is Princess Rhaeny and who is raping her kittens?! From the context, I gather someone from The Song of Ice and Fire. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/466 "2009-09-22T18:15:37Z")
I’m sure Dany had a kitten before she left Westeros. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/467 "2009-09-22T19:46:40Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It looks to me from the Wikipedia entry that there has never really been any consistent decision about where Smallville is. It has been consistently placed in Kansas since Byrne’s post-Crisis reboot. The contradictory mentions given in the wiki article predate that era. That’s 23 years and counting. I think they’ve finally settled the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/468 "2009-09-22T20:27:38Z")
My youngest sister is a big Superman fan, and she got ahold of that book that came out a few years ago that reprinted a bunch of the old, original Superman comics from way back when. She was extremely surprised to discover, in one of those old stories, Clark Kent’s human parents being called something other than “Jonathan” and “Martha”. So I asked my local comic book guy, who is something of an expert on Superman, about it. He explained that, in the early years of comic books, they were a) written for kids, who they assumed wouldn’t notice stuff like that; b) written with no expectation that people would be collecting the whole run and thus without continuity in mind; c) assigned to whichever writer was available this month, with little expectation that he had read any of the previous stories. Of course, as we know now, kids _did_ notice that stuff and started writing letters asking, “Why…”, and of course people _did_ start collecting extended runs. Thus the scenario we all remember from the '80s, where, after decades of explaining inconsistencies and contradictions via “multiple Earths”, DC had to stage the Crisis to straighten everything out. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/469 "2009-09-22T20:36:35Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Clark Kent’s human parents being called something other than “Jonathan” and “Martha”. John and Mary, specifically. Interestingly, also the first names of the Graysons (they seem to be pretty consistent with them). Whereas Martha is the name of Bruce Wayne’s mother. Not sure if it’s meaningful, but it’s interesting. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/470 "2009-09-22T23:08:57Z")
And don’t forget the Daily Planet started as the Daily Star. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/471 "2009-09-23T00:37:53Z")
And Smallville will continue to be in Kansas right up to the point that they do another reboot and it moves to some other place. I don’t consider the post-_Crisis_ Superman to be the definitive Superman. It’s just a minor side trip in the history of Superman. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/472 "2009-09-23T01:29:22Z")
Smallville has been in Kansas ever since I started reading _Action_ and _Superman_, late 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/473 "2009-09-23T01:43:09Z")
Not true. Read the article linked to in post #455. As recently as 1984 it was somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/474 "2009-09-29T16:29:27Z")
Does this count as a zombie yet? Sorry if it does. Anyway, one of the main characters in Starcraft was named Fenix. Halfway through the main story SPOILERS he dies, and is then revived into a Dragoon\* SPOILERS. Took me a couple years to realize Fenix -\> Phoneix -\> rebirth \*A unit made from the corpse of a Protoss Zealot ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/475 "2009-09-29T17:51:08Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Does this count as a zombie yet? Sorry if it does. > > Anyway, one of the main characters in Starcraft was named Fenix. > > Halfway through the main story SPOILERS he dies, and is then revived into a Dragoon\* SPOILERS. > > Took me a couple years to realize Fenix -\> Phoneix -\> rebirth > > \*A unit made from the corpse of a Protoss Zealot Isn’t there also a resurrection spell in at least some of the Final Fantasy games called “Fenix Down”, or something like that? ---
**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:** [September 29, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/476 "2009-09-29T18:18:09Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Isn’t there also a resurrection spell in at least some of the Final Fantasy games called “Fenix Down”, or something like that? It’s an item, and it first showed up in…IIe, IIRC. It was still Fenix Down in III. I can’t remember if they took advantage of the larger name fields to bring it back to Phoenix Down in VII or VIII (that it to say, it was one of them, but I can’t remember which), though. IX-XII have had it as Phoenix. ---
**Author:** ![Aquilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aquilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquilla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/477 "2009-09-29T18:27:24Z")
Disney’s The Lion King = Hamlet. A professor of mine pointed that out, and it just makes sense. Not that I would’ve ever caught on it, and I’ve seen it several times o.x I grew up with disney movies. We saw The Hunchback of Notre dame when it came out and twice or so afterwards, and it wasn’t until this year that the connotation of what Frollo wants with Esmeralda really hit me o.x; ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/478 "2009-09-29T20:48:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Disney’s The Lion King = Hamlet. A professor of mine pointed that out, and it just makes sense. Not that I would’ve ever caught on it, and I’ve seen it several times o.x Well, other than the whole “everyone dying” thing, and the goofball duo helping the prince instead of conspiring against him, and the girlfriend not being off-the-deep-end crazy, and the old advisor actually being wise instead of senile, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/479 "2009-09-29T20:50:47Z")
Also, the whole “girlfriend being your half-sister” thing. That’s new. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/480 "2009-09-29T22:31:57Z")
And the villain utilizing Nazi imagery as he collaborates with an outside enemy. [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=23) [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=25)