# 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:** 8
**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 30, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/141 "2014-01-30T20:02:31Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > 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. Which is avoided in the theory that the head office deliberately placed the colonists in harm’s way by situating the colony near the downed space ship. > [@](#): > > 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. I don’t see how either of these are plot holes. > [@](#): > > Or when their first plan isn’t to bring down the drop ship when the other one crashes. Isn’t that their first plan? What other plan do they try first? > [@](#): > > Or when the only radio antenna for terraforming station’s complex isn’t on the command center. Why would it be? > [@](#): > > Or how NONE of the colonists thought to flee the station when it was clear that the Xenomorphs were taking over. Flee where? > [@](#): > > 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. I’m not sure what you’re referring to, here. > [@](#): > > 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 I don’t think you’ve made a good case for that conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/142 "2014-01-30T20:51:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 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. \*Come ride the little train that is rollin’ down the tracks to the Junction. **Forget about your cares, it is time to relax at the Junction.** **Lotsa curves, you bet** , ‘n’ even more when you get to the Junction. (Petticoat Junction!) There’s a little hotel called the **Shady Rest** at the Junction. **It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the Junction.** And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-movin’ kinda slow at the Junction. (Petticoat Junction!)\* My God, how much more obvious could it **be**?!? :smack: If I ever open a brothel, I’ll be sure to call it “Petticoat Junction.” What a great name! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/143 "2014-01-30T21:11:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My God, how much more obvious could it **be**?!? :smack: And in the final season: _There’s a little hotel called the Shady Rest at the Junction. **It is run by Joe, come and be his guest** at the Junction. **Here’s a lady MD** , she’s as pretty as can be at the Junction._ OMG! :eek: ---
**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, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/144 "2014-01-30T21:11:47Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*Come ride the little train that is rollin’ down the tracks to the Junction. > **Forget about your cares, it is time to relax at the Junction.** > **Lotsa curves, you bet** , ‘n’ even more when you get to the Junction. > > (Petticoat Junction!) > > There’s a little hotel called the **Shady Rest** at the Junction. > **It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the Junction.** > And that’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-movin’ kinda slow at the Junction. > > (Petticoat Junction!)\* > > My God, how much more obvious could it **be**?!? :smack: > > If I ever open a brothel, I’ll be sure to call it “Petticoat Junction.” What a great name! Come on. Next you’re going to tell me that Mr. Drucker had set up a “barter” system with Kate, so the Shady Rest didn’t have to pay (cash) for their supplies… ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/145 "2014-01-30T21:22:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > (My God, how much more obvious could it **be**?!? :smack: > > If I ever open a brothel, I’ll be sure to call it “Petticoat Junction.” What a great name! Customer: I’d like a “date” with Bobbie Jo. Uncle Joe: Sure, she’s right over there. Customer: Um, that’s not the same Bobbie Jo that was here last time. Uncle Joe: Well, this time that one’s Bobbie Jo. We’ve had 3 Billie Jo’s as well. Girls come and go. It’s easier for me to just give 'em the same names. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/146 "2014-01-30T23:00:29Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > Come on. Next you’re going to tell me that Mr. Drucker had set up a “barter” system with Kate, so the Shady Rest didn’t have to pay (cash) for their supplies… Did you ever see Kate or “Uncle” Joe pay cash for anything? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/147 "2014-01-30T23:05:27Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > From the Bronx. Coney Island is in Brooklyn. > > My favorite part was near the beginning, where they showed each Warrior en route to the powwow dutifully pay his subway fare before boarding the system. I was a young teen when the movie came out, and I remember hearing (false, I assume) rumors of stabbings and such occurring in theatres where the movie played. I was surprised when I finally saw it and how silly it all was. Was it the Warriors paying their fares? One of gangs had a member depositing tokens in the turnstiles for their crew, but I remember it being one of the other gangs. –just checked. It’s the Punks (I think that’s their name) the stripe shirt gang they fight in the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/148 "2014-01-30T23:42:35Z")
There’s a deleted scene (available on the director’s cut video, and somewhere on the web, I’m sure) where Cleon essentially introduces the nine delegates. One of them – I want to say Vermin – is the “money man.” Actually, found it on YouTube, [“Vermin, you’re the bearer … you carry the tokens and the bread.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV1M1X1M42o&oq=warriors%20deleted&gs_l=youtube..0.5j0j0i5l4.131.2183.0.3393.14.14.0.0.0.0.170.1482.8j6.14.0.eytns%2Cpt%3D-30%2Cn%3D2%2Cui%3Dtr.1.0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.PGzvrW8Qpeg) ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/149 "2014-01-30T23:48:01Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t think you’ve made a good case for that conclusion. Agreed; kinda like my SW gripe, there’s a lot about the Alien’s universe (the structure of Earth’s government[s], their relationships with corporations like W-Y, what advances in sciences like planetology might make LV-426 prime real estate, etc) that we don’t know that might very well make certain “plot holes” non-issues. It’s been a long time since I read the novel, but IIRC, either Dallas, Kane, or Lambert turned off the alien ship’s distress beacon. So there’s no signal to warn potential colonists or other ships. But this is not supported on-screen, so did no one else ever pick up the alien ship’s distress signal? Let’s assume that, after the Nostromo was declared overdue, then missing, that the original Nostromo conspirators at W-Y wiped the computers to cover their back trail and wrote off the “Xenomorph Project” as too dangerous. They retire, then maybe die of old age, etc. In the mean time, the original LV-426 crash site is partially buried under a rock slide (supported by the extended edition/director’s cut), and missed on the planetary survey before the terraforming colony is established. It’s feasible the rock slide damaged the alien ship’s transmitter, and, since we don’t know when that rock slide occured, it’s feasible that the planetary survey didn’t see the ship and/or pick up the alien ship’s distress/warning signal Ripley shows up 5 decades later, with an incredible story. No one wants to believe her. After all, there’s no real evidence to back her up, and no one on LV-426 has seen a single hint of what she’s obviously raving about. But Burke, being the slimy weasel that he is, decides it’s worth a look. Instead of asking for/sending a fully equipped and trained Xeno-contact team, he sends a routine memo to have someone on LV-426 check out a set of coordinates. Hilarity ensues. The real problem is this: did no one on LV-426 send out a distress call when things started going pear-shaped? (After Newt’s dad came back with a face-hugger, torso’s started getting all 'splodey, nasty xeno’s are running around snatching people up, etc). If they did, is it feasible/plausible that Burke managed to quash that communique when it came into W-Y’s communication’s center? Did he pay off the duty techs in the Comm Center to ignore what they saw heard? Did they even see the message? Or did they just see the recipient’s name (Burke) and forward it without reading it? Would scared/panicked colonists send the message just to Burke’s attention, or do a “Send To ALL” distress message? Or did things go so bad so quick that no one on LV-426 got a message out at all? I would find this difficult to believe. The human portion of the Alien-verse does seem to be a partially dystopian, corporate-ruled-crap-sack, where corporate weasels are always trying to do stuff on the cheap, like sending “crew expendable” space-truckers to make first contact with a potentially hostile species. Or making military transports partially automated to cut down on crew costs/overhead. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/150 "2014-01-31T01:18:42Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Was it the Warriors paying their fares? One of gangs had a member depositing tokens in the turnstiles for their crew, but I remember it being one of the other gangs. > –just checked. It’s the Punks (I think that’s their name) the stripe shirt gang they fight in the bathroom. Wow. I’ve been defending the Warriors all these years as tough but noble of spirit, and now I learn they were a lousy bunch of fare-beaters. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/151 "2014-01-31T03:31:23Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > From the Bronx. Coney Island is in Brooklyn. > > My favorite part was near the beginning, where they showed each Warrior en route to the powwow dutifully pay his subway fare before boarding the system. I was a young teen when the movie came out, and I remember hearing (false, I assume) rumors of stabbings and such occurring in theatres where the movie played. I was surprised when I finally saw it and how silly it all was. 1979 _People Magazine_ article about violence that was associated with the film. I found some of the dated language used in the article to be interesting. [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20073115,00.html?v=desktop](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20073115,00.html?v=desktop) ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/152 "2014-01-31T07:51:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Remmington Steele. Nobody will use a female private investigator, so she invents a male name to use and then subs for him. A guy walks in claiming to be Remmington Steele, and she works with him, despite knowing nothing about who he really is. > > You’re a private eye, lady. Can’t you find out who this joker is??? I wouldn’t hire you either if you couldn’t. [ol] [li]The guy didn’t intend to assume Remington Steele’s identity; it just happened through a plot convenience. Laura, the female P.I. was assigned to guard some jewels, he was out to steal them. He also had some other bad guys on his back, so he needed a way to hide out from them, and once he figured out there was no RS…[/li][li]She was rather attracted to him (and he to her) from the moment they met. Through several seasons we see them growing slowly closer (despite maintaining their “it’s just business” facade) so having him around is definitely desirable to her. Plus, he makes a nice figurehead to trot out to prospective clients, even if he can’t keep his mouth shut. And he even becomes a better investigator as time goes on.[/li][li]After a few seasons, RS confesses that he really doesn’t know who he really is. Tracing his actual background is complicated by the elaborate facades and false identities he had created in his shady past.[/li][/ol] > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > End of ROTJ: > > Luke: “Oh, look! It’s the two assholes who didn’t tell me about Force Lightning!” You’d think that might have been mentioned in the “Jedi for Dummies” book Luke read in Kenobi’s hut between ESB and ROTJ. :smack: > [@nevadaexile](#): > > The colonists REALLY should have found the Xenomorphs prior to Burke letting them know that they were there. They also should have been smart enough 58 years into the future to be able to handle them without killing off everyone at the complex. My question is: who in the blue hell assigned an inexperienced dickhead like Gorman to that mission? I mean, somebody was taking it seriously enough to send a whole platoon, armed to the teeth, to rescue the colonists – didn’t they think to assign a lieutenant who had more than a dozen practice drops under his belt? And before they went traipsing off to explore in the fusion-powered terraforming tower, don’t you think somebody (Gorman, Apone, Ripley) would have sat Burke down and said “Tell me everything you know about that place, what’s it do, what’s it made of, what can we expect in there…” Basically, the Marines should have known _before they went in there_ that it was not a place to bring armor-piercing ammo. Which brings me to my next point: the Marines should have had a different type of ammunition available, something that would not have shredded the cooling system of the reactor. The equivalent of Glaser safety slugs, basically. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/153 "2014-01-31T09:11:39Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > 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. It wasn’t that close. The colonists traveled to it at Berk’s request. But even then, sometimes coincidences happen. I’m more than happy to assume that either it was coincidence, or the crash site was a hospitable place to land, and the terraformers chose a nearby site for similar reasons. > [@](#): > > 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. The survey could easily miss a single ship. I would assume that a typical terraforming survey wouldn’t involve searching every square inch of a planet. Especially a corporate job where costs are paramount. > [@](#): > > Like the one where everybody goes down to the planet and no one is left on board the Sulaco. Again, they are trying to be as cheap as possible. > [@](#): > > 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. Can you ask a taped interview a question? > [@](#): > > Or when their first plan isn’t to bring down the drop ship when the other one crashes. That is their plan. 😕 > [@](#): > > Or when the only radio antenna for terraforming station’s complex isn’t on the command center. It’s hardly weird to put a large satellite dish away from a building. > [@](#): > > Or how NONE of the colonists thought to flee the station when it was clear that the Xenomorphs were taking over. I think trying to barricade yourself in somewhere is as reasonable as fleeing in unarmored vehicles. > [@](#): > > 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 More like, everyone would have to be human. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/154 "2014-01-31T09:18:14Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > I love _The Warriors_ so I try very hard when I watch it not to think about the premise. “Every gang in NYC is looking for us, so we have to bop our way on foot and by subway all the way back from Brooklyn to Coney wearing our colors.” God God, that’s the last thing you should do! Steal a couple of cars! You’re the delegates of a much larger gang, have the one guy with a shirt take his vest off, find a payphone, and make a collect call for someone to come pick you up! Get a flophouse hotel room! Run the opposite direction! Mug people for their shirts, split up, wait until the next day and go home individually! Anything! I think Swan wants to get home without losing face. They could get home by taking off their colors, but that’s something a not-on-the-map gang like the Orphans would do. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/155 "2014-01-31T14:40:31Z")
It’s been a long time since I watched _The Warriors_, but do we see **anyone** at night who isn’t a gang member or a cop? Any cabbies, any all-night convenience store clerks, any civvies at all? My take on _The Warriors_ is that it’s basically a fantasy world, where at night the mundane world goes into hibernation and the vampires and ghouls come out. ---
**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 31, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/156 "2014-01-31T14:56:13Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/157 "2014-01-31T14:58:16Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s been a long time since I watched _The Warriors_, but do we see **anyone** at night who isn’t a gang member or a cop? Any cabbies, any all-night convenience store clerks, any civvies at all? My take on _The Warriors_ is that it’s basically a fantasy world, where at night the mundane world goes into hibernation and the vampires and ghouls come out. More than that… notice that all the gangs are multiracial? No all-Chinese gangs, no all-Italian gangs, no all-Puerto Rican gangs, no all-black gangs. Every gang is a rainbow coalition! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/158 "2014-01-31T14:58:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s been a long time since I watched _The Warriors_, but do we see **anyone** at night who isn’t a gang member or a cop? Any cabbies, any all-night convenience store clerks, any civvies at all? My take on _The Warriors_ is that it’s basically a fantasy world, where at night the mundane world goes into hibernation and the vampires and ghouls come out. There are a few. Off the top of my head, there’s the chick at the candy shop, where Luther throws a candy bar at her: “Where’s the money you owe?” “For what?” And then there’s the prom-goers on the subway toward the end of the film. And, if I’m not mistaken, there are a few random people on some of the subway platforms when they’re running from various gangs and/or cops. But you’re essentially on the mark. The director (Walter Hill) has stated that it was basically a comic-book film. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/159 "2014-01-31T15:32:07Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > It wasn’t that close. The colonists traveled to it at Berk’s request. But even then, sometimes coincidences happen. > > I’m more than happy to assume that either it was coincidence, or the crash site was a hospitable place to land, and the terraformers chose a nearby site for similar reasons. > > The survey could easily miss a single ship. I would assume that a typical terraforming survey wouldn’t involve searching every square inch of a planet. Especially a corporate job where costs are paramount. > > Again, they are trying to be as cheap as possible. > > Can you ask a taped interview a question? > > That is their plan. 😕 > > It’s hardly weird to put a large satellite dish away from a building. > > I think trying to barricade yourself in somewhere is as reasonable as fleeing in unarmored vehicles. > > More like, everyone would have to be human. I’ll just hit the salient points: [ol] [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][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][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][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] [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][/ol] You may be easily entertained, but some of us expect them to work a little harder. I enjoyed the film the first time I saw it. But watching it again and using my brain, it really is a plot hole filled mess. ---
**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, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855/160 "2014-01-31T15:42:44Z")
> [@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. 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. Also remember that Yoda tried to take on the Emperor and got his ass kicked. And that was before the Emperor had built up a bunch of protections around him (which is what happens in the direct aftermath of Episode III). It took the might of an organized rebellion (and another Jedi or two) to topple them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-out-logic-plausibility-flaws-in-classic-movies-and-tv-shows/679855.md?page=9)