# 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:** 245
**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:** [May 26, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4885 "2022-05-26T21:15:44Z")
In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, Earth is actually quite important, and is relevant (to more than just the Earthlings) at multiple points in the story. In addition to being the Ultimate Computer, of course, it’s also where the President of the Galaxy ends up, it’s the planet of origin of the greatest lounge singer in the Galaxy, most of The Whole Truth ends up being about frogs, an Earthling animal, and so on. And yet, the entry in the Guide consists entirely of “Harmless”, soon to be amended to “Mostly Harmless”. The logical conclusion, which I only just realized yesterday? The entire planet is under the effect of a Somebody Else’s Problem field. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4886 "2022-05-27T08:50:08Z")
**The Godfather** : The horrific scene in which Carlo beats up Connie ends with the bathroom door closing. When it swings shut, a mirror on the door reflects a small teddy bear in the background. Cut to the scene in which Connie calls her mother, who’s holding a screaming baby. It could easily be coincidence and/or my imagination, but it looks to me like the teddy bear was placed carefully to serve as a nexus between the two scenes, as the reflection appears at just about the same place onscreen as the screaming baby. Here’s the scene: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5WakoNtBNEk/maxresdefault.jpg "Santino death trap The God father Movie") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WakoNtBNEk) ---
**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:** [May 27, 2022, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4887 "2022-05-27T09:10:26Z")
Good catch! That, and how her screams became baby cries in the cut to Mama Corleone. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4888 "2022-05-28T14:49:52Z")
Finally noticed the connection between “Help me Obi-wan, you’re our only hope” and “A New Hope.” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4889 "2022-05-28T18:53:22Z")
I always thought that the new hope was Luke. Ben calls him “our last hope” in ESB. And I think Leia says “MY only hope, not OUR”. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4890 "2022-05-30T14:57:49Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Finally noticed the connection between “Help me Obi-wan, you’re our only hope” and “A New Hope.” > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I always thought that the new hope was Luke. Ben calls him “our last hope” in ESB. > > And I think Leia says “MY only hope, not OUR”. And of course _Rogue One_, which leads straight into ANH, hammers on the theme for all your retcon needs: > [@](#): > > Jyn Erso: We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope! And ending with: > [@](#): > > Blockade Runner Pilot: Your Highness. The transmissions we received. > > [hands her the data drive] > > Blockade Runner Pilot: What is it that they’ve sent us? > > Princess Leia: Hope. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4891 "2022-07-03T19:45:28Z")
In Paul Simeon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,” _she_’s about to leave _him_. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4892 "2022-07-03T20:07:41Z")
In Paul _Simon’s_ “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” I think she’s telling him how easy it would be for _him_ to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4893 "2022-07-03T22:49:45Z")
Furthermore, ‘she’ isn’t his lover, she’s a friend telling him how to leave his lover. Possibly she is saying , leave your lover and come to me instead. > [@](#): > > The problem is all inside your head", she said to me > “The answer is easy if you take it logically > I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free > There must be fifty ways to leave your lover” ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4894 "2022-07-04T02:25:23Z")
Um, I think the ‘she’ that’s telling him this is his now-ex. “She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain. I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again.” But there isn’t, because she knows she’s already emotionally gone and isn’t turning back. He and she know each other well enough to know what the other means by what they say, and he does appreciate that she’s trying to make this as easy as she can – “and I realized she probably was right.” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4895 "2022-07-04T02:40:32Z")
“She said ‘Why don’t we both just sleep on it tonight And I believe that in the morning you’ll begin to see the light.’” I think she’s grown tired of waiting for him to break it off with his main lover to be with her, and he’ll see the light in the morning because _she won’t be there._ (And yeah, I know it’s Paul Simon. Not sure where that e came from.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4896 "2022-07-04T03:06:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Furthermore, ‘she’ isn’t his lover, she’s a friend telling him how to leave his lover. Possibly she is saying , leave your lover and come to me instead. Yep. _And then she kissed me, and I realized she probably was right_ Seems to me, she is helping him leave his lover, and suggesting maybe she could be his new lover. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4897 "2022-07-04T05:58:46Z")
“Instant Karma” - 1970 _Jesus Christ Superstar_ soundtrack - 1970 (“Superstar” (song from JCS) recorded 1969.) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4898 "2022-07-04T18:12:25Z")
From Wikipedia: > Superstar" is a 1969 song written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell with a songwriting credit also given to Delaney Bramlett that has been a hit for many artists in different genres and interpretations in the years since; the best-known versions are by the Carpenters in 1971, and by Luther Vandross in 1983. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4899 "2022-07-11T23:30:21Z")
I was watching _Top Gun_ again the other day and I finally realized the “enemy” is never actually named. All we really know for certain about them is they fly Mig-28s, which don’t exist IRL. Of course it’s implied that they’re Soviet or Soviet-adjacent, simply from the time it was made, but they’re never explicitly named. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4900 "2022-07-11T23:53:03Z")
AND the logos on the “MiGs” is the same as on the Su-72s in the new movie. So Maverick is 5 - 1 against them on the road. Not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4901 "2022-07-24T03:03:23Z")
So to me this is astonishing…its a deep cut Star Trek thing so non-trekkies cut out In Shore Leave…when Angela Martine and Rodriguez are strafed, Martine is suppossed to have been hit and killed. I thought she ran into a tree and knocked herself out. It never occurred to me that they showed a woman being machine gunned down in the back. Man, i saw TOS eps in first run. Ive seen them all a million times. To learn something new about an ep is astonishing. And about Martine?? Ive had a crush on that actress forever. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4902 "2022-07-24T14:19:52Z")
OK, I just made a quick scan of the episode, and Angela is back at the end with Rodriguez. However, since he didn’t lug her corpse all the way back to the glade, maybe she was taken underground and “repaired” like McCoy. She didn’t seem to have a huge goose egg on her forehead or obvious signs of concussion (or worse). But, yeah, I thought she ran into the tree head first and just woke up and stumbled her way back to the glade. Thanks for bringing that up. An aside: On this new “Strange New Worlds” show, an episode recently was “re-booting” the original series “Balance of Terror.” Unless I’m very much mistaken, Angela dies at the end instead of Tomlinson. Nifty twist. I’m sitting there reciting dialogue from TOS along with the cast and my wife says **What’s going on? How do you know the lines before the cast?** “Balance of Terror” is one of my faves and after watching it 22,000 times, I have a lot of the dialogue stuck in my head. **Writers fell asleep!** I tell her and let it drop. She sits there, puzzled. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4903 "2022-07-24T20:58:02Z")
I was reciting the dialogue too. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/4904 "2022-07-29T13:46:03Z")
Watching the final scene of the Sopranos on YouTube and had the shocking realization that Tony Soprano was killed by future Ukranian President Zelenskyy: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52248174407_162765ee6d_z.jpg "20220728\_213559") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68782016@N08/52248174407/) [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=244) [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=246)