# Petty rants against well liked movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550 "2009-02-05T11:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/161 "2009-02-12T15:11:08Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Now, there’s my petty rant about _Star Wars_. There are, what four planets named in the first movie? Yavin, Alderaan, Tatooine, and Dantooine. > > Four planets over a two hour movie, and two of them end in “-tooine”? :rolleyes: Maybe it’s a Galactic Standard suffix meaning “extreme climate.” ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/162 "2009-02-12T15:19:34Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Now, there’s my petty rant about _Star Wars_. There are, what four planets named in the first movie? Yavin, Alderaan, Tatooine, and Dantooine. > > Four planets over a two hour movie, and two of them end in “-tooine”? :rolleyes: Ooh, ooh, Mr. Kotter, I can fanwank that one! How about “-tooine” is the rundown remainder of a word that means ‘planet’? Just like if you took four or five random town names in the U.S., there’s a decent chance that two of them would end in “-ton” (or “-ville”); or four or five random countries in Asia would end in “-stan”. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/163 "2009-02-12T15:30:16Z")
> [@KneadTo Know](#): > > Now, there’s my petty rant about Star Wars. There are, what four planets named in the first movie? Yavin, Alderaan, Tatooine, and Dantooine. > > Four planets over a two hour movie, and two of them end in “-tooine”? [SW Geek mode On] Also mentioned is Kessel, as in Spice Mines of Kessel.[SW Geek mode Off] ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/164 "2009-02-12T15:41:07Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > The show would have been so much more powerful if she had stayed a hot babe at the end and chose Shrek. But no…can’t have that…that would be stupid. I’m not sure I entirely understand that. She’s beautiful to him, because she’s a beautiful ogre. I mean, the whole interspecies thing would be… odd? ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/165 "2009-02-12T15:42:11Z")
> [@straight\_man](#): > > I’m not sure I entirely understand that. She’s beautiful to him, because she’s a beautiful ogre. I mean, the whole interspecies thing would be… odd? But haven’t ogres been known to be attracted to humans? At least in fairy tale land? Plus, if you want interspecies, how about Donkey and Dragon? ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/166 "2009-02-12T18:02:18Z")
> [@](#): > > I can kinda sorta see the rationale in The Matrix: the cops were, albeit unwittingly Slaves Of The Machine who were abetting the enslavement of humanity. I just think there could have been a moment where Neo or Trinity or Morpheus expressed a hint of regret for all of the slaves they had to sacrifice so they could save the rest. Or even a scene where they say “Let’s do it this way instead because we’ll encounter fewer enslaved guards so we can avoid killing them.” But they always attacked the most direct way possible and killed as many people as possible and their only apparent concern was how cool they looked while doing it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/167 "2009-02-12T18:27:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I just think there could have been a moment where Neo or Trinity or Morpheus expressed a hint of regret for all of the slaves they had to sacrifice so they could save the rest. Or even a scene where they say “Let’s do it this way instead because we’ll encounter fewer enslaved guards so we can avoid killing them.” But they always attacked the most direct way possible and killed as many people as possible and their only apparent concern was how cool they looked while doing it. Well, [this scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxm9sxQByos) does address that issue. Essentially, if any person can instantly transform into a sentient hunter/killer program, self-preservation for a freed mind has to take priority over an enslaved one. The movie doesn’t gloss over this either (we repeatedly see, after an agent is killed, that the corpse transforms back into a civilian), but I think with the scale of the struggle against them, they can’t afford to do excessive hand-wringing about “collateral damage”. And except for the rescue of Morpheus, we never see them engage in any combat. Their goal is to be as inconspicuous as possible (designer duds, notwithstanding). The reason they go over-the-top with the assault on the building was exactly to get the agents’ attention. My $0.02. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/168 "2009-02-12T19:15:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I had a different problem with that scene. It showed that the toys were voluntarily acting like toys and could “break the rules” if they chose and reveal themselves to people. > > So why did Buzz, who didn’t admit he was a toy, follow the toy rules? He thought he was a regular person so why didn’t he act like a regular person? It would have been in character for him to talk to Andy and say “Hello, giant alien, my name is Buzz Lightyear and I’ve come to your planet to meet your leaders.” Perhaps in Buzz’s ignorance of being a toy he also did not know how to break the toy rules, but that still leaves Woody. He claims to be Andy’s friend, and goes into a catatonic state and ignores him whenever he’s around. If Andy likes a lifeless cowboy doll with a pull string, how much would he love a sentient cowboy that he could interact with? But Woody gives him the ultimate cold shoulder, the bastard. > [@Dob](#): > > - Toy Story \* - Loved the movie, but it always bugged me that Woody comes alive for the bully next door neighboor and uses all the mutilated toys to scare the shit out of him. I mean, that poor kid!! He is going to spend the rest of his life with panic attacks everytime he sees a toy! Isn’t stuff like this how serial killers are born?? How can you mutilate toys? They’re hunks of plastic, at least as far as Sid knows. It’s clear he’s a bully, because of how he treats his sister and dog, but the stuff with the toys is actually pretty cool. To Andy, a cowboy is just a cowboy, a spaceman is a spaceman; everything is what it is and always shall be. Sid is the creative one, the inventor; the kind of kid who (sentient toys aside) would grow up to found a company like Pixar, to do something the world has never seen before. Andy will grow up to be an accountant. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/169 "2009-02-12T23:48:16Z")
Every time I see this thread title, I misread it as “Richard Petty rants against against well liked movies.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/170 "2009-02-13T00:10:11Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > [SW Geek mode On] Also mentioned is Kessel, as in Spice Mines of Kessel.[SW Geek mode Off] I stand corrected. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Maybe it’s a Galactic Standard suffix meaning “extreme climate.” > [@Quercus](#): > > How about “-tooine” is the rundown remainder of a word that means ‘planet’? > Just like if you took four or five random town names in the U.S., there’s a decent chance that two of them would end in “-ton” (or “-ville”); or four or five random countries in Asia would end in “-stan”. Fine fanwanks, to be sure, but a fine fanwank is nothing more than an acknowledgement of a kludgy original story. Lucas’s doing this without providing a context for it is simply a crude storytelling mistake. Like having an Imperial officer named “Larkin” wandering around in the same story as Tarkin would have been. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/171 "2009-02-13T08:27:38Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I stand corrected. > > Fine fanwanks, to be sure, but a fine fanwank is nothing more than an acknowledgement of a kludgy original story. Lucas’s doing this without providing a context for it is simply a crude storytelling mistake. Like having an Imperial officer named “Larkin” wandering around in the same story as Tarkin would have been. I disagree - it’s quite realistic that places would have similar names, and Lucas recognizing this is a nice touch. Take, for instance: Uruguay vs. Paraguay North Dakota vs. South Dakota Iraq vs. Iran Switzerland vs. Swaziland Kansas vs. Arkansas London vs. Londonderry India vs. Indiana. Slovakia vs. Slovenia If I even invented a world I’d make sure that some of the names were similar, and I’d never explain it. That’s because worlds are messy, disorganized places places. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/172 "2009-02-13T14:42:30Z")
North Virginia vs South Virginia 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/173 "2009-02-13T16:07:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I disagree - it’s quite realistic that places would have similar names, and Lucas recognizing this is a nice touch. Take, for instance: > > Uruguay vs. Paraguay > > North Dakota vs. South Dakota > > Iraq vs. Iran > > Switzerland vs. Swaziland > > Kansas vs. Arkansas > > London vs. Londonderry > > India vs. Indiana. > > Slovakia vs. Slovenia > > If I even invented a world I’d make sure that some of the names were similar, and I’d never explain it. That’s because worlds are messy, disorganized places places. Then Lucas picked a really odd element to use to shove “realism” in our faces, I’d say. It’s a poor storyteller who decides to put a stumbling block to understanding what’s being said right in the middle of one of the tenser scenes in his story. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/174 "2009-02-13T17:21:34Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Then Lucas picked a really odd element to use to shove “realism” in our faces, I’d say. It’s a poor storyteller who decides to put a stumbling block to understanding what’s being said right in the middle of one of the tenser scenes in his story. Oh, come on. Four of the the planets in our solar system end in “-nus” in their original latinate form. You’d think the Romans would be more inventive with the names for their greater deities, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/175 "2009-02-13T17:31:14Z")
Again, it’s about context. When you learn the names of the planets in our solar system, you can ask “what’s up with that?” Lucas is telling a story in a way that doesn’t permit such queries, and that’s poor storytelling. Besides which, he’s not working with a mythology that existed before he used it to tell his story. He’s making his story up as he goes along. But before this degenerates, let’s not forget that the thread title calls for “petty rants.” I’m just picking at a loose thread in his tapestry here, folks. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/176 "2009-02-13T18:48:49Z")
The thing is, I hear ‘Dantooine’ and think, “hey, that sounds a lot like ‘Tatooine.’ I wonder why that is? There’s got to be a story there.” In world-building terms, giving the impression that there are more stories than one in the universe is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/177 "2009-02-13T19:17:21Z")
What is this Londonderry of which you speak? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/178 "2009-02-13T19:18:44Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > HAY-ted it. A classic, gungho, pro-war movie, hypocritically dressed up as an anti-war movie. Nothing wrong with a pro-war movie, especially if the war in question is WWII, just be honest about it, Shlomo. What bugged me about the movie was the German they releases was somehow made out to be more evil when then discovered he was fighting them again. Er…what exactly was he supposed to do? Hide in France? Surrender to the French resistance? Go back to his platoon and tell them that since the Americans had let him go he couldn’t fight anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/179 "2009-02-13T19:20:36Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > What is this Londonderry of which you speak? 🙂 I woulnd’t add the smiley…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550/180 "2009-02-13T19:28:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No, **Lissener**. It’s up to \*us \*to decide whether one of ours is an anti-semite. You mind your own business. > > . that’s one of the most awful things I have ever read on this message board. Honestly, I don’t even agree with Lissner’s view but this comment is miserable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petty-rants-against-well-liked-movies/484550.md?page=10)