# Point out logic/plausibility flaws in classic movies and TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855 "2014-01-27T16:44:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/181 "2014-01-31T19:40:40Z")
> [@Roundabout](#): > > **The Dark Knight** - The Joker blows up an entire police station, yet he and Lao were the only ones unharmed. Worse yet, The Joker was within the bomb’s immediate blast radius. At the very least, he’d be knocked down by the shock wave. Forget that. How about, the police catch a guy who has been terrorizing the city, is extremely dangerous and has tremendous resources at his disposal. They get him into custody and leave him chained up to a bench for however long. But no one can be bothered to wipe a rag over his face to take some photos and try to get some real ID on the guy. Just let him sit there for hours in his face paint because, hey, who cares? Ain’t like he’s anyone worth anything. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/182 "2014-01-31T19:47:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > But no one can be bothered to wipe a rag over his face to take some photos and try to get some real ID on the guy. Just let him sit there for hours in his face paint because, hey, who cares? Ain’t like he’s anyone worth anything. It’s shown earlier that Batman has been running a facial ID program on him almost non-stop since he killed a Copybat. Presumably, he didn’t come up with anything. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/183 "2014-01-31T19:54:39Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > The film then shows an incompetent group of military members then get housed by a life form for which they have no respect Um, no the military members _housed_ the alien life forms, not the other way 'round… [sub]Pretty sure you meant to say hosed, but the errant pun was too good to pass up[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/184 "2014-01-31T20:08:36Z")
[quote=“nevadaexile, post:159, topic:679855”] [LIST=1] [li]It’s a moon, not a planet. Therefore its surface area is far smaller than a planet making it easier to survey. And that would have to be done by satellite, not by a spacecraft, unless they planned on a survey taking years. Also the gravity would be lower than Earth-normal because of its smaller size.[/li][/quote] False assumption. The fact that it’s a moon doesn’t necessarily mean it’s small–it just means that it would have to be orbiting a very big planet. Its primary is Calpamos, a gas giant, which qualifies. The fact that they’re trying to terraform it means that it has enough gravity to hold an Earth-like atmosphere, and there’s no obvious indication in the films that the gravity is much lower than Earth’s. In essence, practical considerations indicate that the moon has to be pretty big or incredibly dense. Other secondary canon material on the setting (the [_Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual_](http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Aliens:_Colonial_Marines_Technical_Manual)) establishes LV-426 as having an average diameter of 12201 km (vs 12742 km for Earth) and a gravity of 0.86g. That doesn’t seem out of line with what we see, though it’s quite big even for a gas giant’s moon. I believe there was some mention in secondary materials that it was a relatively recent capture–it may have actually been a lone planet at one point, and is only called a moon because it’s been captured by the much larger planet. [quote] [li]Again…the colonists had no aircraft or spaceships. To get anywhere in a wheeled vehicle (even on a small moon) would take hours or days. The site obviously had to be close or they would have missed it. Or the story would have unfolded over the span of a t least a year, rather than the several months or so that it did.[/li][/quote] The Jorden’s vehicle allegedly has a top on-road speed of 110 km/hr (~69mph). Modern ATVs generally have top speeds between 40 and 60 mph, so it’s not implausible. Even if it’s restricted to less than half that under off-road conditions, one long day’s drive could put the distance at ~200-300 miles. In the director’s cut, a discussion between the colony ops manager and his assistant mentioned sending them “out past the Ilium range a couple of days ago” when the Jordens call in to report that they’ve found something. So, call it two days travel to reach the Derelict–that puts it maybe 400 to 600 miles away, apparently on the far side of a low mountain range. (Which would account for it surviving the explosion of the processing plant, but that’s another matter.) So, it was hardly in their backyard, but it wasn’t so far away that the timeline (Russ Jorden getting facehugged and getting back to the colony base before the chestburster popped out) is unreasonable. [quote] [li]The satellite dish wasn’t that large. And why would there only be ONE? Is redundancy no longer a valid concept in the future?[/li][/quote] The dish itself is just a big piece of metal; there’s not much to go wrong with it short of something big hitting it really hard. They probably had or could fabricate spare parts for it, but there was really no reason to have redundant dishes, just spares for the equipment in the feed assembly. Given a two-week communications delay, they weren’t going to get realtime responses from the company, anyway, so a few hours of repair time if it were damaged would not make that much difference. [quote] [li] The alien ship (actually the Space Jockey/Engineer’s ship) is shown to be the size of a football arena. Hardly small. And it’s in the open. It’s not hidden.[/li][/quote] Well, a football field, anyway. It’s settled in what appears to be a crater, or at least a ruggedly rocky area, not entirely in the open, and its curved structure and textured surface give it a superficial resemblance to a kind of odd rock formation. Between that and the perpetually murky, dusty atmosphere, it would be pretty hard to spot. The surface area of LV-426 is ~468 million km[sup]2[/sup]. If we take you literally, and say that the Derelict is the size of the Superdome, we’re looking at it covering an area of ~0.2 km[sup]2[/sup]. Put another way, here’s a pretty good [satellite image](http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/US/05/27/louisiana.flooding/t1larg.mississippi.river.plumes.nasa.jpg) of South Louisiana. Can you spot the Superdome? [quote] [li] You hardly be “saving money” if you attempt to terraform a moon with a supervolcano on it or a large mass of a naturally occurring, but unstable element. How would you find that out? Oh wait…you’d SURVEY THE ENTIRE MOON TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE WASN"T ANYTHING LIKE THAT THERE.[/li][/quote] They probably did. A supervolcano is pretty noticeable, what with massive heat signatures and the like. Large masses of unstable elements (by which I presume you mean radioactive) would be easily detectable by their emissions (and probably make the W-Y execs drool, not back off). A survey ship could spot those much more easily than a (relatively) small, passive, rock-looking structure in the middle of a rock formation. They probably landed a survey team on the surface, too, but the Derelict’s location doesn’t look like a good landing site, even if they happened to look at it. The survey team found no life, of course. Apparently not even microbes. No microbes in your survey area is a pretty good indication there’s no native life on the planet–or, as one of the W-Y reps said, “It’s a rock. No indigenous life.” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/185 "2014-01-31T20:11:36Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > [The truth](http://www.sff.net/people/adam-troy/random/theories.htm) is more sinister. Sorry. An entertaining read, but not authored by anyone who knows the show. In “The Postman Cometh,” (Season 2, Episode 18) Mary Ann says she has a boyfriend – not a fiance. (Horace Higgenbotham, to be precise). Later, however, she admits she made it up – Horace is not even really her boyfriend. So the supposed reason to doubt Mary Ann’s travelling alone is itself false. Now, it’s true that in “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island,” the 1978 movie that reunited the cast – except Tina Louise – we see that Mary Ann actually did have a fiance. But since the other events of that movie also give lie to the claims that she was an undercover federal operative, either way the author is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/186 "2014-01-31T20:13:52Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > The reason that I introduced the aerial survey of the planet is to ascertain why on a relatively small astral body an alien ship (which according information introduced in the “prequel” Prometheus may not be the only one) was not discovered prior to the planet being terraformed. Because even a relatively small moon is still really, really, really, really fucking big. So big that you would not be able to spot something the size of a football field from orbit. The idea of them finding a derelict spaceship during an orbital survey is actually more ridiculous than the idea of them not bothering to even look for one. > [@](#): > > A character states that the colonists have been on the moon for years and have never discovered the Xenomorphs. That’s not something that I made up; it’s part of the screenplay. Again, so what? There’s less than two hundred colonists on the entire moon, it’s only recently that it’s been possible to go outside the colony without suffocating, and even with it’s new atmosphere, the environment is extremely hostile. I absolutely would not expect the colonists to find the derelict ship on their own. It would be highly unrealistic if they did. > [@](#): > > The film’s narrative is that W-Y, for reasons unexplained, constructed a massive terraforming reactor on a distant moon for reasons that are only supported by the plot, not by common sense or any “business” perspectives. Just to be clear, are you arguing that the concept of terraforming _in general_ doesn’t make sense? Or are you arguing that terraforming _this particular planet_ doesn’t make sense? If the later, why not? What makes this particular moon a bad choice for terraforming? > [@](#): > > In doing so, they were completely oblivious to the fact that life already existed on the planet, which is mistake so basic that it again could only exist to advance the plot. Life doesn’t really “exist” on the planet, in the sense that there’s any sort of biosphere native to the LV-426. There’s some life in the cargo hold of a single crashed space ship that no one knows exists, or could reasonably locate. It’s not like there were herds of wild xenomorphs roaming the plains. > [@](#): > > In the director’s cut of the film, the colonists are shown traveling to the Alien ship at Carter Burke’s direction ( whose coordinates they somehow received) and bringing Xenomorphs eggs back to their compound. Since this violates the “Quarantine” policies established as being the 'reason" for the rather byzantine plan in the first film, how these life forms escaped yet again also relies upon (yet again) the plot requiring it. The quarantine policies were for getting stuff back to Earth, not into the colony. > [@](#): > > The film then shows an incompetent group of military members then get housed by a life form for which they have no respect and still later has those incompetent members (well, the survivors that is) think that sealing themselves inside of a command center which has already been breached by those same Xenomorphs as being a sound strategic (or even tactical) battle plan. It was breached when it was defended by largely unarmed and untrained civilians. It’s not unreasonable for a heavily armed and experienced team of marines to expect to succeed in the same situation where a bunch of civvies failed. > [@](#): > > The film is a plot hole ridden mess. It relies on loud explosions, lots of shooting,smartass comments and a wailing little kid to cover up its rather convoluted logic processes. Some people like that as it makes the film seem cool; some people think an Etch-A-Sketch is amazing. It’s not really a particularly confusing plot, and (particularly relative to most other movie sci-fi) requires very, very little fanwanking to sort out the few kinks. If you think the plot to this movie is a mess, I can’t imagine that you like very much in the way of science fiction to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/187 "2014-01-31T20:29:16Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > It’s shown earlier that Batman has been running a facial ID program on him almost non-stop since he killed a Copybat. Presumably, he didn’t come up with anything. I doubt the average cops knew that and it’s still no excuse for not cleaning the guy up for photos. This wasn’t someone arrested for jaywalking; I’d think getting getting as much info on him as possible would be something of a priority. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/188 "2014-01-31T20:55:48Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I doubt the average cops knew that and it’s still no excuse for not cleaning the guy up for photos. This wasn’t someone arrested for jaywalking; I’d think getting getting as much info on him as possible would be something of a priority. Gordon had to know and Gordon was running the Joker arrest. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/189 "2014-01-31T21:29:15Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Gordon had to know and Gordon was running the Joker arrest. Still not a plausible reason to NOT do the obvious and wipe the guy’s face. Honestly, there is no plausible reason – it was only because “Joker wears makeup” which is what made it so annoying. “Oh, hey, Batman says his supercomputer didn’t identify this homicidal maniac who has been terrorizing the city so let’s just leave him wearing his identity-obscuring makeup until the end of time. No reason to wipe that off, you know. Who wants coffee?” ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/190 "2014-01-31T21:55:56Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > The “not killing people” part wouldn’t be the issue. > Losing your terraforming equipment due to a massive explosion WOULD be. > And everyone only wants to undertake projects that have high probabilities of success. The point is that the end game for W-Y is getting the Xenomorph. The cost of sacrificing the Nostromo and a terraforming site worth hundreds of millions is piddling compared to the Billions to Trillions that having the Xeonomorph could mean to the company. And if the terrafomers can get them the Xenomorph without losing the site, even better. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/191 "2014-01-31T22:35:44Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > By the way…why did Obi-Wan and Yoda go into hiding? Either one of them should have been able to kick Vader’s ass seven different ways with their eyes closed after Vader is stuck in his outfit. > > After that, you go after the Emperor. Speaking of which, there’s that bit just before Obi-Wan hacks Anakin’s legs off (known, in certain circles, as a “flesh wound”) where he says “give it up, I have the high ground.” Dude, you’ve been leaping through the air on conference tables, climbing on towering scaffolding as it collapses, and then floating on wreckage down a river of lava, and suddenly you think it’s all over because you’re slightly uphill from the guy. Seriously? ---
**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:** [January 31, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/192 "2014-01-31T23:34:41Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > They didn’t go into hiding, the went into exile. Yoda and Obi-Wan thought they were the only two Jedi left in existence. Yoda went to sulk and be miserable for failing the galaxy and Obi-Wan went to Tatooine to protect Luke. Another plot hole out of the hundreds on the Star Wars saga: why did Obi-Wan and Yoda decide to protect Luke and not Leia? They were both infants and there was no reason to assume one was more vulnerable than the other. Two surviving Jedis - two children that needed protection. The math seems pretty obvious. But for some reason Luke got a personal Jedi guardian angel and Leia was just sent off with a wish of good luck. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/193 "2014-01-31T23:39:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Another plot hole out of the hundreds on the Star Wars saga: why did Obi-Wan and Yoda decide to protect Luke and not Leia? They were both infants and there was no reason to assume one was more vulnerable than the other. Two surviving Jedis - two children that needed protection. The math seems pretty obvious. But for some reason Luke got a personal Jedi guardian angel and Leia was just sent off with a wish of good luck. That one actually kinda makes sense. Leia is adopted into a powerful political family, who will be near & around Palpatine & Vader - therefore Obi-Wan or Yoda can’t hang around because Vader will just feel his presence, just like he does on the Death Star. Luke is on a backwater planet (but really, Lucas, the same planet Anakin was from originally? Isn’t there a whole galaxy to choose from?) so Obi-Wan can hang near Luke with no-one the wiser. Obi-Wan just has to stay near Luke and hope the Organas and their political power can protect Leia (he turned out to be wrong on that one, not foreseeing the eventual dissolution of the Senate.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/194 "2014-01-31T23:46:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Speaking of which, there’s that bit just before Obi-Wan hacks Anakin’s legs off (known, in certain circles, as a “flesh wound”) where he says “give it up, I have the high ground.” Dude, you’ve been leaping through the air on conference tables, climbing on towering scaffolding as it collapses, and then floating on wreckage down a river of lava, and suddenly you think it’s all over because you’re slightly uphill from the guy. Seriously? In fairness, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, who beat Darth Maul, who had the high ground. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/195 "2014-01-31T23:58:09Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Still not a plausible reason to NOT do the obvious and wipe the guy’s face. Honestly, there is no plausible reason – it was only because “Joker wears makeup” which is what made it so annoying. > > “Oh, hey, Batman says his supercomputer didn’t identify this homicidal maniac who has been terrorizing the city so let’s just leave him wearing his identity-obscuring makeup until the end of time. No reason to wipe that off, you know. Who wants coffee?” They justify this in the movie. They already ran his prints and got nothing back. Gordon says to leave him alone and let him sit because he’s worried his mob lawyers will find any technicality to get him off. This is actually one of my favorite parts about the Dark Knight. Pretty much until the Joker escapes, they underestimate him the entire time and worry a lot more about the mob. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/196 "2014-02-01T00:08:16Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > They justify this in the movie. They already ran his prints and got nothing back. Gordon says to leave him alone and let him sit because he’s worried his mob lawyers will find any technicality to get him off. A bit of a shame, really. It may be just me, but I think a scene with the Joker in an orange jumpsuit and no makeup, with nothing left of the Joker look except the scars, would have been pretty cool, somehow. Then again, I also absolutely hated the way they did Two-Face. Instead of the ridiculously CGI-ed burned face, I wanted his face wrapped up in bandages, which would make a hell of a lot more sense for a burns victim (and evoke [his look in The Dark Knight Returns](http://media.dcentertainment.com/sites/default/files/galleries/file/ajax/field_galleryimages/und/form-2qVMXrakEpw5pPLErZud1h-ZtF3b8WMQz3Cax0E6eY8/Harvey%20Dent-TwoFace.jpg)), and maybe have him reveal his messed-up face by peeling the bandages off in his final scene. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/197 "2014-02-01T00:12:09Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Speaking of which, there’s that bit just before Obi-Wan hacks Anakin’s legs off (known, in certain circles, as a “flesh wound”) where he says “give it up, I have the high ground.” Dude, you’ve been leaping through the air on conference tables, climbing on towering scaffolding as it collapses, and then floating on wreckage down a river of lava, and suddenly you think it’s all over because you’re slightly uphill from the guy. Seriously? My all-time favorite fan-wank concerns this scene. Clearly, it should NOT just be over because of higher ground. Anakin could just hop off on the other side of the river, or float 10 feet downstream, or any of a variety of other things. The point of Obi-Wan’s comment is not to accurately analyze the situation. Rather, it’s to taunt Anakin into doing just about the stupidest possible thing, namely, jumping all the way over Obi-Wan to try to get to the other side, thus leaving himself vulnerable. It’s Obi-Wan taking advantage of Anakin’s hubris. (I have zero evidence that any of that was what George Lucas intended, sadly.) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/198 "2014-02-01T00:15:11Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > They justify this in the movie. They already ran his prints and got nothing back. Gordon says to leave him alone and let him sit because he’s worried his mob lawyers will find any technicality to get him off. That’s a terrible reason. While I’ll grant that they “explain” it, it’s certainly not logical or plausible (per the thread title). ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/199 "2014-02-03T08:10:12Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I would think that guarding a naked Mathilda May would be the sort of task one would fight for, regardless of rank. > > “Why is the captain, chief of police, _and_ the commissioner guarding that one prisoner? _Ohhh_…” Off topic, but I just noticed that _Lifeforce_ was on and here’s the online TV Guide description: > [@](#): > > A space commander and a Scotland Yard inspector search for a naked space vampire loose in London. I guess if it were 1955 instead of 1985 it would be a clothed space vampire. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/200 "2014-02-03T08:49:28Z")
I’d like to see a thread about which logic/plausibility flaws _matter_ and which _don’t_. Many flaws don’t detract at all from my enjoyment of a movie. For example, the letters of transit had no more relevance to the romantic themes of _Casablanca_ than the bottle is relevant to the “game” of Spin the Bottle! Some logic errors _do_ ruin a movie. _Basic_ with John Travolta is an intriguing mystery thriller, spoiled when one learns the “solution” has severe inconsistencies with the plot. BTW, a few confusions (“How did he know …?”) have been cleared up by watching Deleted Scenes with Director’s Commentary: scenes necessary for logical plot development may be deleted because they delay the action. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855.md?page=11)