# Question about Signs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846 "2003-07-11T23:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/41 "2003-07-14T02:50:40Z")
Wait-so the entire planet had been destroyed? Everyone was dead except Gibson and family? Now I REALLY hate this movie! ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/42 "2003-07-14T03:07:30Z")
no ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/43 "2003-07-14T05:04:34Z")
Either way, _I_ hate this movie. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/44 "2003-07-14T05:18:54Z")
No, the entire world wasn’t killed. Not even close. Not even to the point of civilization collapsing, as by the end of the movie the radio is working again and rebuilding efforts are already underway. ---
**Author:** ![7\_up\_yours](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/7/919ad9/32.png) [@7\_up\_yours](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_up_yours)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/45 "2003-07-14T06:02:59Z")
Just to add my two cents The whole water concept was too forced. They try to slip it in. The daughter could never finish a glass of water therefore glasses of water are everywhere. I could just see where _that_ was going. So, I was not impressed in the end when “ooooohh… the glass of water was knocked over and it killed the alien”. I saw it coming. It wasn’t faith. It was just the little girl being weird. Also, I’m sure this has been beaten to death before, but when the aliens landed, they were all over the world. Didn’t it **rain** ANYWHERE?! And what about the water vapours? What about the dew on the crops? What about – _head explodes_ ---
**Author:** ![HumanStromboli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@HumanStromboli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HumanStromboli)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/46 "2003-07-14T12:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 7 up yours \* > \*\*So, I was not impressed in the end when “ooooohh… the glass of water was knocked over and it killed the alien”. I saw it coming. It wasn’t faith. It was just the little girl being weird. \*\* I think you might have missed the point. “Faith” didn’t put the glasses of water there; “fate” did. As in, per Gibson’s conversation with the petulant Roman emperor, there are people who believe in coincidences and people who don’t. Gibson discovers the glasses of water lying around, which he originally ascribed to the little girl just being weird, to be part of an interconnecting series of items/events that fate/God’s will/whatever bring about to save his family. It may be an overly simplistic plot twist, but it is what it is. > [@](#): > > \*\* Also, I’m sure this has been beaten to death before, but when the aliens landed, they were all over the world. Didn’t it **rain** ANYWHERE?! And what about the water vapours? What about the dew on the crops? What about – _head explodes_ \*\* You’d think. But I honestly don’t think the writer/director guy thought much about this, or cared much about this kind of stuff. Maybe he should have, considering it _was_ a global invasion, but he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/47 "2003-07-16T06:29:31Z")
Well the way I reason it is that since the aliens were not invading the planet but were in fact raiding it (according to what was said over the radio at the end of the movie), then they probably executed their attacks in places were it wasn’t raining and where it wasn’t very wet. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/48 "2003-07-23T06:16:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuperNelson \* > **I never worried too much about these inconsistencies. How about this: The aliens we saw weren’t the aliens in charge, but instead were instant aliens, kind of like Marvin the Martian had. They were disposable, and not too bright, since all they had to do was live long enough for a fair percentage of them to make it back to the mother ship with snacks.** This actually makes a lot of sense, since it not only supposes that the REAL aliens knew full well about Earth’s biosphere, but also makes it interesting that they genetically engineered BIODEGRADEABLE green alien shock troops. Hey cool, environmentally friendly aliens, I can live with that, even if they did harvest about a billion humans. But I still don’t get the ending: Ok, what was the alien doing to Mel’s son at the end? Was he really trying to save his life, or was he trying to kill him, and Mel stopped him in time? ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/49 "2003-07-23T19:37:46Z")
I had numerous problems with the film, most of which have been covered here and in other threads, but I’ll throw in a could more. I’m not in the “faith” camp. But **Tijuana\_Golds** , the alien that appeared on TV in the “Bigfoot” home movie homage was near Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazil is kind of a humid, wet area. Just a lone alien? A dumb one? A lost one? The little girl wasn’t finishing glasses of water for whatever reason, but why would the father keep letting the glasses pile up? If they had no prior knowledge of needing the water, wouldn’t the dad want the glasses back at some point, or did they have such a massive supply of glasses in the house that they would never need to get the old glasses and wash them out? A minor point, but another small hole in the “swiss cheese” plot mentioned earlier. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/50 "2003-07-24T09:20:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KGS \* > \*\* > But I still don’t get the ending: > > Ok, what was the alien doing to Mel’s son at the end? Was he really trying to save his life, or was he trying to kill him, and Mel stopped him in time? > \*\* The alien was trying to kill him with poison gas, but he had an asthma attack. You see, God had let him have disfunctional lungs all of his life for a reason… ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/51 "2003-07-24T12:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SenorBeef \* > \*\*The alien was trying to kill him with poison gas, but he had an asthma attack. You see, God had let him have disfunctional lungs all of his life for a reason… > \*\* Yeeeeesh. :rolleyes: (If that’s really what Shalawhatshisname was trying to say.) I mean…everything happens for a reason, but 99.9% of the time, it’s a sign of the Universe telling you that everything is completely random and there really is no God. 😉 I think I need to watch that movie again and look closer at the so-called “deeper meanings”. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846/52 "2003-07-24T12:11:41Z")
Yes, that’s how it was meant. It was just another one of those odd coincidences that was meant to be taken as a sign of fate. The little girl kept leaving water around, the kid’s lungs seized up at just the right time to save his life, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-signs/187846.md?page=2)