# 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:** 7
**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 30, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/121 "2014-01-30T13:17:12Z")
> [@Roundabout](#): > > The first part of your sentence is true. The second is where the problem emerges, as in both rooms (one with Lao, one with The Joker) all other people inside were either killed or knocked out. So they had to be within a close proximity to the bomb. Lau was alone. The Joker killed the cop that was in the interrogation room with him. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/122 "2014-01-30T13:18:21Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > From the Bronx. Coney Island is in Brooklyn. :smack: I knew that, believe it or not. I even knew that Cyrus’s meeting was specifically in Van Cortland park, so I’m not sure why I typed that. ---
**Author:** ![Roundabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dec6dc/32.png) [@Roundabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roundabout)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/123 "2014-01-30T13:45:29Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Lau was alone. > The Joker killed the cop that was in the interrogation room with him. I think you may need to rewatch the scene. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w\_gawHgA0-k&list=WLBNOaZ6rpkDlWUeBPMp0NtFqKqT7mDvzB](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_gawHgA0-k&list=WLBNOaZ6rpkDlWUeBPMp0NtFqKqT7mDvzB) From 1:05 - 1:50, you can clearly see that The Joker was surrounded by 3-4 cops. All farther away from the explosion than he, yet he’s the only one unaffected. From 3:07 - 3:15, you can see that Lao was not alone. There was a dead cop in the clearly devastated room he was held in. The Joker even tugs at his badge. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/124 "2014-01-30T13:50:02Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Regardless of what W-Y thought of HUMAN life, it is clear that sentient life exists elsewhere in the galaxy. While we know that’s true because we saw the ship in the first movie, does the company know it? My impression was that the explored galaxy in those movies was mostly lifeless and humans hadn’t encountered much in the way of complex life and nothing that was sentient. > [@](#): > > Again, a football stadium-sized ship full alien life would have been detected during the survey that would have to be performed prior to any terraforming efforts. And since the film forget to show that the colonists had spaceships or even aircraft available (if they did then they could have flow away from the eventual facility blast), the ship also had to be in relatively close proximity to the terraforming station. I don’t see why it must be the case that the ship would have been detected. I can imagine several ways of surveying a cloud-covered planet to be sure it’s suitable for terraforming that don’t involve taking detailed photographs of every inch of its surface. On that note, it was hard for the marine pilot to find where she was intending to land at the colony even though she knew exactly what she was looking for and where. Based on that, I’d say that the technology to easily find the ship didn’t exist. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/125 "2014-01-30T14:49:35Z")
And all this assumption about the surveying efforts of W-Y are irrelevant if you merely assume that the colony was put down as bait. Expensive bait, but yes: bait. ---
**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 30, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/126 "2014-01-30T14:51:55Z")
Near the end of **Silver Streak** , the FBI finally catches George (Gene Wilder) and the agent in charge asks him about Devereau’s plans. Then he makes plans to stop the train, invites George along, and gives him a gun and ammunition. I’m pretty sure the real FBI isn’t in the habit of arming book publishers and bringing them along when they go to arrest someone. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/127 "2014-01-30T14:59:37Z")
_Victory_ 1. They tie. 2. Putting aside that these are POW’s who would have very little stamina, the idea of a 47-year old Michael Caine going the full 90 is larffable. One thing that is very realistic…Stallone looks and plays EXACTLY like a 5’6" American who’s never played goalkeeper. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/128 "2014-01-30T15:38:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Near the end of **Silver Streak** , the FBI finally catches George (Gene Wilder) and the agent in charge asks him about Devereau’s plans. Then he makes plans to stop the train, invites George along, and gives him a gun and ammunition. I’m pretty sure the real FBI isn’t in the habit of arming book publishers and bringing them along when they go to arrest someone. That was the legal precedent for giving Harry a gun and bulletproof vest in Dumb & Dumber. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/129 "2014-01-30T15:41:56Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > And all this assumption about the surveying efforts of W-Y are irrelevant if you merely assume that the colony was put down as bait. Expensive bait, but yes: bait. Since the colonists possessed neither spaceships nor aircraft what would have been the odds of placing the terraforming facility within close proximity of the alien ship? Throw a quarter out of an airplane over Brazil and then find that quarter. Not going to happen. W-Y obviously had to survey the moon to see if it would even work. If they are that incompetent, then that makes the _ **Alien** _ universe even more sad and inept than it already appears to be (“Let’s fly light years away and throw a terraforming station on any old moon.”) Sorry…it’s a plot hole. Like the one where everybody goes down to the planet and no one is left on board the Sulaco. Or when Ripley basically tells them that they don’t need her to go and then Gorman reiterates that statement when he tells his people that her entire briefing is on tape for them to study. Or when their first plan isn’t to bring down the drop ship when the other one crashes. Or when the only radio antenna for terraforming station’s complex isn’t on the command center. Or how NONE of the colonists thought to flee the station when it was clear that the Xenomorphs were taking over. Or how Ripley seems to have forgotten that she was surprised by Alien in the first film and then gets “surprised” again in the second one. It was a good film in 1986 when it came out. However, when you look at it for more than a few seconds you realize that everyone would have to be a idiot for the plot to succeed ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/130 "2014-01-30T16:16:15Z")
Here’s one my young son came up with: I was reading him **Stanley–Flat Again!** , a sequel to **Flat Stanley** , in which the hero is flattened to paper thickness by a bulletin board that falls on him in his bed, but not otherwise harmed. He’s eventually restored with a bicycle pump. In **Stanley–Flat Again!** the bulletin board once more squashes Stanley. My son’s reaction: “Why did they \*still \*have the bulletin board up in his room?” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/131 "2014-01-30T16:23:19Z")
In Dumb & Dumber, why would Mary be so happy that Lloyd returned the briefcase? The money therein was supposed to ransom her kidnapped husband. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/132 "2014-01-30T16:36:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Nah, _Gilligan’s Island_ takes place in what I call “The Wacky Hijinks Universe”, where the repeated use of supernatural power (_My Favorite Martian, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie_) has weakened the fabric of reality so that while almost any impossibly absurd thing can happen (_The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction_), in balance anything really seriously wrong or evil almost never happens. This. Especially “Petticoat Junction”. Three hot babe daughters working at the only hotel at the stop of the major transportation route (utilized by all the travelling salesmen of the day), and not one of them gets knocked up ! (Uncle Joe wasn’t just a good-for-nothing after all !) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/133 "2014-01-30T17:40:14Z")
In the ST: TNG episode _Cause and Effect_, the crew realizes they are stuck in a time loop. Someone suggests reversing course to avoid the impending collision, and the idea is shot down because, “For all we know, reversing course leads to the accident”… uhm…no. You had no reason to reverse course the first time it happened, therefore the accident isn’t behind you. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/134 "2014-01-30T17:45:09Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > This. Especially “Petticoat Junction”. Three hot babe daughters working at the only hotel at the stop of the major transportation route (utilized by all the travelling salesmen of the day), and not one of them gets knocked up ! > (Uncle Joe wasn’t just a good-for-nothing after all !) It has been well-established by several rabid fans with much too much time of their collective hands, that the Shady Rest was, in fact, a brothel, and the girls are ‘managed’ by Uncle Joe. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/135 "2014-01-30T17:46:49Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > In the ST: TNG episode _Cause and Effect_, the crew realizes they are stuck in a time loop. Someone suggests reversing course to avoid the impending collision, and the idea is shot down because, “For all we know, reversing course leads to the accident”… > > uhm…no. You had no reason to reverse course the first time it happened, therefore the accident isn’t behind you. That’s very true. Also, they could have used both Riker’s plan (decompressing the shuttle bay) and Data’s plan (using the tractor beam) at the same time. The combination of the two would have also avoided the incident., ---
**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 30, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/136 "2014-01-30T18:31:26Z")
> [@Roundabout](#): > > I think you may need to rewatch the scene. You’re right, I thought The Joker was still in the interrogation room when the bomb went off. He wasn’t, BUT… he was the only one who knew the blast was coming so he got the hell down before the blast hit. Plot hole averted! ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/137 "2014-01-30T19:15:57Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > It has been well-established by several rabid fans with much too much time of their collective hands, that the Shady Rest was, in fact, a brothel, and the girls are ‘managed’ by Uncle Joe. > 😃 So the actual use of petticoats was just a ruse to throw off the vice squad ? 😉 ---
**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 30, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/138 "2014-01-30T19:41:40Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > You’re right, I thought The Joker was still in the interrogation room when the bomb went off. He wasn’t, BUT… > > he was the only one who knew the blast was coming so he got the hell down before the blast hit. > > Plot hole averted! Yeah, I don’t think the blast killed anybody except for the cops treating the guy with the bomb inside him. But it was enough to knock everyone down long enough for the Joker to get out. There were obviously other baddies in play, since someone drives the Joker out of there in the police car. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/139 "2014-01-30T19:44:02Z")
Advertising. If the petticoats were on the water tower, they were open for business. Notice how, when the train whistles that it has customers aboard, the girls grab the petticoats and head to work. ---
**Author:** ![Roundabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dec6dc/32.png) [@Roundabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roundabout)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/140 "2014-01-30T19:48:42Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > You’re right, I thought The Joker was still in the interrogation room when the bomb went off. He wasn’t, BUT… > > he was the only one who knew the blast was coming so he got the hell down before the blast hit. > > Plot hole averted! His head still got caught in the gust of wind from the explosion. Being much closer to the window than the other cops, he should’ve been knocked out just as they were, if not worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855.md?page=8)