# Plot Holes in World War II **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463 "2012-03-22T02:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/41 "2012-03-22T15:52:55Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I thought it was rather juvenile that the bad guys had uniforms and weapons designed to be evil looking. I mean, things like that “Luger” pistol? Coal-scuttle helmets? It’s like stuff from a comic book aimed at 6-year olds… Storm Troopers? Really! ---
**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 22, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/42 "2012-03-22T16:30:23Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They had to write him out after the actor quit the series. There was supposed to be a subplot about how the Missouri replacement was the tool of a political machine, but they didn’t follow up on that. The Vice President wasn’t an important role so they apparently didn’t bother casting a regular in it. If you pay attention you can see three different people playing Roosevelt’s Vice President. ---
**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 22, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/43 "2012-03-22T16:32:43Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > To be honest, considering the time period, I just assumed “she” was a really ugly broad with English teeth. Another continuity blooper. If you watch the credits, you’ll see they have her last name listed as Roosevelt even before she got married. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/44 "2012-03-22T16:41:46Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > (Snip)You tell me that this guy Stauffenberg will plant a bomb next to Hitler but it will be moved by an unsuspecting aide who stumbles over it. Placed at the other side of the table, the blast is muted. Force of blast is also reduced because the meeting is not in regular bunker with thick walls to keep blast in. Meanwhile this plot fails because these military people spend time listening to radio for reports on Hitler while philosophy PhD propaganda minister rallies key members to convince them that Hitler is still in charge. They made Hitler a very unbelievable character IMHO. Really, _how_ many times did he survive an assassination attempt because a bomb \*just didn’t work \*for some reason, or because he \*just happened \*to change his plans? I wouldn’t be surprised to find out in some “Making Of” special that he offed himself with a silver bullet or a solution made from unobtainium. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/45 "2012-03-22T16:47:53Z")
That whole North Africa campaign was just an excuse to introduce a desert setting. I think merchandising was pushing them to include one so kids could recreate it in their sandboxes. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/46 "2012-03-22T17:19:18Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > That whole North Africa campaign was just an excuse to introduce a desert setting. I think merchandising was pushing them to include one so kids could recreate it in their sandboxes. It was a set-up for the spin off series, The Rat Patrol. > **[The Rat Patrol (TV Series 1966–1968) ⭐ 7.4 | Action, Adventure, Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060018/)** > > 30m ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/47 "2012-03-22T17:39:10Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > They totally stole that rocket footage from all those 50’s sci-fi b-movies. True. But they introduced the concept, and then threw it away. The bad guys secret weapon has no effect, and the good guys secret weapon wins the war. Very bad writing. And did you notice how the scientists on the bad guys side are all conflicted? One slows up their atomic bomb secret weapon program and the other becomes a good guy in the sequel. But I did like the comic release sequence where the high official of the bad guys flies to the good guys side, under their noses. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/48 "2012-03-22T17:42:03Z")
I dunno. I really like the use of the “shaky cam” footage. If I hadn’t know better I would say all that footage was taken during an actual war. I also like how they didn’t bow down to modern sensibilities and shot most of the movie in black and white for artistic effect (and the obvious moral implications of course). And all the smoking going on throughout the show. I loved it. Fuck all those health nuts and “smoking is bad for you…mmkay?” There’s a war on, fuck you and your worries about second hand smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/49 "2012-03-22T17:46:05Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Only good song is from the Nazis..“Lily Marlene”? Original songs, yes. There’s also at least two Pink Floyd cover songs. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/50 "2012-03-22T18:06:27Z")
Then there’s the biblical metaphor at the end. When the Eastern and Western sides of the Alliance can’t decide who owns Germany, they cut the baby in half. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/51 "2012-03-22T18:27:05Z")
(Fade In: Pitch meeting for new mini - series, World War Two: Electric Boogaloo. Less Grossman is pitching his episode.) LG: OK. We’ll give the bad guys an ‘unsinkable’ battleship, the most powerful in the world . Name it after a former leader that unified the country. Act 1 - ship engages the good guys and sinks a battlecruiser with one shell - no survivors. Anonymous exec: C’mon! LG: OK - 3 survivors. Act 2. Cat and mouse in the North Atlantic. Skirmishes with the good guys then the ship heads for safe harbor AE: C’mon. The good guys have the most powerful navy in the world, and radar. And the bad guy’s codes! LG: Still, the BB is heading for safe harbor - one day out. The good guys laucnch obsolete planes against it. I know - let’s make 'em biplanes to show how obsolete they are… AE: C’mon! LG: … and inexperienced crews. Let’s show 'em attacking one of their own ships by mistake… AE: C’mon! LG: … to show how inexperienced they are. Then, on the last possible sortie… AE: C’mon! LG: … before the ship is safe, one of the airplanes launches its torpedo. The ship turns away, dramatic tension ensues. Can the ship turn in time? Will the torpedo hit? Dum, dum, dum …BAM! The torpedo hits the rudder … AE: C’mon! LG: … as the ship just barely fails to turn completely in time. Now that the ship is disabled the good guy’s navy can come in and finish it off. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/52 "2012-03-22T18:29:54Z")
C’mon! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/53 "2012-03-22T18:41:02Z")
I’ll give the WW2 producers one thumbs up. No freaking vampires or zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/54 "2012-03-22T18:42:55Z")
And can you believe the scene where the Americans have just gotten in the war, and the British say, “Umm, you might want to start convoying your ships on the Eastern Seaboard. We’ve had two years experience in this war and we remember almost losing WW I.” and the US admirals blow them off? Like that would really happen. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/55 "2012-03-22T18:45:55Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I’ll give the WW2 producers one thumbs up. No freaking vampires or zombies. They’re saving that for WW3. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/56 "2012-03-22T18:47:26Z")
and they lost me when they threw in the token black guys from Tuskegee and the token Indians creating an unbreakable code. c’mon. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/57 "2012-03-22T19:03:29Z")
Wasn’t there some over the top scene where a bomb was dropped right down a ship’s smokestack? Common now, the only thing missing there to take it totally over the top was a womp rat reference (preferably referencing Texas). And the whole “going green” angle bugged me. You have massive industrial powers fighting and if folks recycle, car pool, turn in used pantyhose, and start backyard gardens thats gonna help you win the war? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/58 "2012-03-22T20:14:02Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > and they lost me when they threw in the token black guys from Tuskegee and the token Indians creating an unbreakable code. c’mon. Don’t forget the token Japanese-Americans. They start out by getting blamed for what those other Japanese did, and are put in camps out in the desert. Then a few of them are let out so they can fight for the good guys, and they respond by being some of the fiercest fighters and winning a bunch of medals and stuff. As a reward. . . well, there isn’t really a reward. Their relatives still have to sit in camps out in the desert until the war ends. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/59 "2012-03-22T20:20:32Z")
You guys all missed the original series (“The Great War” - later renumbered (Lucas-style) into “WWI”), which had all those slapstick moments - starting with the assassination attempt that succeeds only because the Grand Duke’s motorcade takes a wrong turn and happens to drive right past the guy who had been trying to assassinate him all day long, and gets one last chance The fighter-pilots were also pretty broad comedy - throwing bricks at each other mid-flight, (trying) shooting through the propellers only to shoot the propellers off, or accidentally kill themselves with ricochets, etc. If you watch carefully, you’ll see the villain of the sequel has a bit part as a corporal in the prequel. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/60 "2012-03-22T20:35:26Z")
And that bit with the evil Germans, as the war is winding down, using their limited rail capacity to continue their genocidal work of shipping victims to the concentration camps rather than, you know, railing reinforcements to the front? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463.md?page=4)