# Silly, weird, perhaps unanswerable questions about movies and TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401 "2013-03-31T03:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/401 "2024-05-01T15:36:38Z")
That’s what was used in the 1975 movie _Mandigo_, and, perhaps as a practical matter, the basin wasn’t a big globular cauldron but more like a giant iron contact lens. In the Cornel Wilde movie _The Naked Prey_, the spit-roasting method was employed, but the victim was first covered in clay to seal in the juices. (Dad thought it would “toughen us up” to let us stay up and watch that movie. Such nightmare fuel!) ---
**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:** [May 1, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/402 "2024-05-01T15:48:50Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is the pot necessarily metal? Might be clay. Clay pots are sealed and baked in ovens until the meat is falling off the bones. [![](https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.8Z0FXXgHn7R-wWlJDsEK7QHaHa?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain) ](https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.8Z0FXXgHn7R-wWlJDsEK7QHaHa?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/403 "2024-05-01T17:54:49Z")
Basically Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, then The Shadow, and even Doc Savage but since none of these characters had actual super powers can they be considered “Superheroes”. Hercules and simular characters were definitely superpowered but didn’t have a secret identity. Actually now that I think about it does Popeye count either? After all we never see the story of mild mannered Peter Poopdeck. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/404 "2024-05-01T18:26:32Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > Bluto observed Popeye eating spinach and then kicking the crap out of him more than once. Why didn’t Bluto get a clue and go buy himself multiple cans of spinach? It wasn’t like it was expensive or hard to find. Imagine the titanic fights between **two** spinach-fueled mugs! Would either ever win? One of the color Popeye cartoons from the '50s has Popeye force-feeding spinach to Bluto, who goes into some sort of uncontrollable rage where he just starts throwing punches randomly. I think there were two instances in the original black & white cartoons where someone besides Popeye ate spinach. In “Never Kick a Woman,” Popeye takes Olive to a gym to learn self-defense, but the teacher is a female bombshell who has eyes for Popeye, until Olive eats some spinach and beats her senseless. In “Lost and Foundry,” Popeye and Olive are working at a foundry, and take Swee’pea with them for some reason; Popeye and Olive get their feet stuck in a machine that’s about to press them flat, and just as Popeye is about to eat his spinach, the machine knocks it out of his hand, right in front of Swee’pea, who eats it and manages to crawl under the press and lift it out of the way. They might be online (say, on YouTube). ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/405 "2024-05-01T20:06:47Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > In the Cornel Wilde movie _The Naked Prey_, the spit-roasting method was employed, but the victim was first covered in clay to seal in the juices. (Dad thought it would “toughen us up” to let us stay up and watch that movie. Such nightmare fuel!) Tell me about it. My folks went to see it at a drive-in, and took nine-year-old me with them. It was not a movie for a little kid to see, and I was sickened to the extent that I threw up my popcorn and soda out onto the asphalt. In his defense, my dad thought the movie was going to be about wild animal hunting in Africa. The thought of it _still_ squicks me out, fifty-seven years later. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/406 "2024-05-01T21:17:17Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Yeah. I grew up thinking spinach was green slime in a can, It sint? 🤪 I hate cooked spinach. Raw in a salad is fine. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Depending on the game show, they may be encouraged not to answer immediately. The current big winner on jeopardy is getting flack for being slow. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/407 "2024-05-01T21:22:20Z")
Canning is a horrible thing to do to spinach. Even in the few dishes where it’s (barely) acceptable, fresh is still far, far better. > [@furryman](#): > > Basically Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, then The Shadow, and even Doc Savage but since none of these characters had actual super powers can they be considered “Superheroes”. You mean, like Batman? ---
**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:** [May 1, 2024, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/408 "2024-05-01T21:27:26Z")
Yeah, when I say I “like” canned spinach it’s only in other dishes and when nothing else is available. If I have a choice, I’ll take either fresh or frozen. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/409 "2024-05-01T21:50:04Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I wonder who first popularized the big pot? I’m gonna guess a cartoonist for something like Puck. It’s been in every media. Apparently, [they were a real thing](https://youtu.be/5HJMqIpYZ8c?t=666). In castles, that is, not for cannibal tribes. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > Who put Michigan J. Frog in the cornerstone originally? Where did he come from? > > And does he know any other songs? See the sequel cartoon _[Another Froggy Evening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocelMXOHJeE)._ ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/410 "2024-05-01T22:08:34Z")
here ya go they have different varieties: > **[Popeye Spinach](https://popeyespinach.com/)** > > When you think spinach, you think Popeye! ---
**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:** [May 1, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/411 "2024-05-01T22:24:38Z")
Written and produced by Chuck Jones himself, so I guess that’s as canonical as it gets. ETA: I’m always impressed by how cavemen were brawny enough to handle giant slabs of rock. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/412 "2024-05-01T22:37:30Z")
perhaps he’d been eating spinach. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/413 "2024-05-02T01:19:59Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Basically Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, then The Shadow, and even Doc Savage but since none of these characters had actual super powers can they be considered “Superheroes”. Interestingly, the portrayal of Zorro by Fairbanks back in 1920 involved having one we heck of an in-story mystery-man reputation (_“This Zorro comes upon you like a graveyard ghost and like a ghost he disappears”_), to the point where they start saying that _“Zorro knows the deeds you do before you think them — takes any shape he wills — appears through keyholes!”_ Sure, they’re wrong; they’re even, if you like, a cowardly and superstitious lot. But the fictional superhero they’re describing _in the fiction_ is who Don Diego is passing himself off as when he puts on the mask and battles injustice; and, at some point, that’d count, right? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/414 "2024-05-02T02:15:07Z")
The Shadow had the power to cloud men’s minds. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/415 "2024-05-02T03:00:09Z")
I trace my love of superheroes to some of my earliest memories: late nights at my grandma’s cabin, listening to a huge old radio. And I was captivated by those old radio dramas: The Mask of Zorro, followed by The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet… and then, _Who knows what evil lurrrks in the hearts of men?_ _The Shadow knows…_ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/416 "2024-05-02T09:37:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It sint? 🤪 I hate cooked spinach. Raw in a salad is fine. Spoken by someone who’s probably never eaten a proper spanakopita. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2024, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/417 "2024-05-02T10:28:33Z")
I can see the script now. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! LOL!” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/418 "2024-05-02T14:21:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The Shadow had the power to cloud men’s minds. …the power to what? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/419 "2024-05-02T15:58:35Z")
Shouldn’t it be The Cloud that shadows men’s minds? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/420 "2024-05-02T20:45:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Spoken by someone who’s probably never eaten a proper spanakopita. Is that something that is work safe?? 🤪 🤪 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=22)