# 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:** 25
**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 11, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/481 "2025-05-11T15:55:09Z")
[https://y.yarn.co/df59c0ca-9f5d-4354-a8ef-c32cd5b11861.mp4](https://y.yarn.co/df59c0ca-9f5d-4354-a8ef-c32cd5b11861.mp4) ---
**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 11, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/482 "2025-05-11T15:56:43Z")
You’ve got me stumped. “End Of The World, Part II”? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/483 "2025-05-11T16:10:35Z")
I forgot to add a reference: > **[Could Godzilla or King Kong exist in real life? One law of physics has the...](https://en.as.com/meristation/news/could-godzilla-or-king-kong-exist-in-real-life-one-law-of-physics-has-the-answer-n/)** > > Cinema has shown us plenty of giant monsters that tower over cities, like Godzilla or King Kong. But could creatures of that size be possible? ---
**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 11, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/484 "2025-05-11T16:18:28Z")
At the end of King Kong, the authorities had a variety of options how to deal with him, ranging from leaving him to come down when he’s hungry, to raining the whole dense neighborhood with aerial machine gun bullets. Denham must’ve forgotten all about the gas bombs he used to capture him in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/485 "2025-05-12T02:22:56Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And when they finally present him to the audience, what happens next? Everyone just sits there and watches him be a giant ape for two hours? Maybe a little song and dance, like in Young Frankenstein. Of course, that didn’t work out so well either. ---
**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 12, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/486 "2025-05-12T14:02:05Z")
[![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6Xa4WZk3bOUqKOHkNmm3FnRiEfq-6zfFbeyvjgoKqKuMehF4meYumSD4sk0osL3npNxJA4r9ZOXjFLYkztadT6qsbVWO8AOlKM-2PHbmevKwS-kIQvYlK7xQL5T6NfmfIoJf/s1600/MAD94-46.jpg) ](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6Xa4WZk3bOUqKOHkNmm3FnRiEfq-6zfFbeyvjgoKqKuMehF4meYumSD4sk0osL3npNxJA4r9ZOXjFLYkztadT6qsbVWO8AOlKM-2PHbmevKwS-kIQvYlK7xQL5T6NfmfIoJf/s1600/MAD94-46.jpg) ---
**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 12, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/487 "2025-05-12T19:23:17Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > **HAW-HAW-HAW!!!** 🤣 This I think perfectly encapsules the logical contradictions of zombies. > > I guess the answer is, only if zombies are made possible by what amounts to magic or the supernatural turning corpses into externally animated puppets. Any kind of quasi-scientific explanation like a virus, forget it. Hell, the fact that zombies can walk at all is highly improbable. Do you know how complicated it is for humans to even stand upright? Do you know how many tubes, fluids, muscles and delicate sensory organs are involved? There’s no way that a half-rotted/half-desiccated zombie has a functional vestibular system. No, those guys are slithering on the ground at best. There’s no way a non-magic zombie can walk. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/488 "2025-05-16T13:06:39Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > How would a Romero zombie outbreak destroy the world and leave only a few thousand survivors? Its certainly not gonna be cause those shamblers killed everyone. But if civilaztion broke down, like everyone freaking out and refusing to go to work, Then most of society would die. > [@Lumpy](#): > > I like _World War Z_ over _The Walking Dead_ precisely because _Z_ depicts the breakdown as being far more protracted A ‘Walking Dead’ style zombie pandemic could not really happen. At least, not if you removed the ‘everybody becomes a zombie upon death’ part. That’s probably why they added it. TWD zombies ate people if given a chance. Rick’s wife was completely consumed by zombies. Let’s say the classic ‘Romero’ style zombies that shamble and eat people. Early on in a zombie outbreak, people get bit, manage to get away, then turn into zombies. So it starts to spread. But as soon as survivors figure out how to kill zombies, while it’s not too widespread, it would be relatively simple to wipe out the zombies and stop the spread. But if they couldn’t stop it right away, and zombies did become more widespread, victims would get overwhelmed by hordes of zombies and would simply get eaten. So no more spread of zombies. There’s a self-limiting factor. The World War Z zombies (in the movie at least; I read the book but don’t really remember it) made more sense, transmission-wise, since they only bit humans in order to spread the virus. They left their victims intact. And zombification was quick (like 11 seconds if I recall). So not much time to mercy-kill an infected victim. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/489 "2026-04-01T00:11:42Z")
1. On the original Flintstones cartoon, did they ever explain just how a Stone Age television set works? 2. Do Kryptonians ever get cancer? Sure they have super-invulnerability, but wouldn’t the cancer have it too? ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/490 "2026-04-01T00:28:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > On the original Flintstones cartoon, did they ever explain just how a Stone Age television set works? They never explained how a vehicle with massive granite wheels could be propelled by Fred’s two feet either. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/491 "2026-04-01T00:32:26Z")
One of the Mythbuster offshoots checked into that one, with terrible results. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/492 "2026-04-01T00:32:34Z")
Hey, those people were STRONG! A daintily built car hop carried a platter of giant ribs heavy enough to overbalance Fred’s car. And a news boy could throw a slab of carved stone several yards. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/493 "2026-04-01T00:56:24Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Sure they have super-invulnerability, but wouldn’t the cancer have it too? Doesn’t Deadpool have something like that? And he is fine… sort of. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/494 "2026-04-01T01:31:05Z")
What good is a sign that says, “To: New Jersey” in the middle of the bridge? ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/495 "2026-04-01T01:47:44Z")
Maybe it’s meant to inform drivers that they’ve made a wrong turn? 🤔 ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/496 "2026-04-01T01:51:34Z")
Once they’ve reached that sign there’s nothing they can do about it unless they “pull a Lou” (I made that up). ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/497 "2026-04-01T02:04:48Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Early on in a zombie outbreak, people get bit, manage to get away, then turn into zombies. So it starts to spread. But as soon as survivors figure out how to kill zombies, while it’s not too widespread, it would be relatively simple to wipe out the zombies and stop the spread. I once did a comic series on “The Real Zombie Apocalypse”, in which the premise was that it was an apocalypse _for the zombies_. In the initial outbreak, people killed all the zombies almost immediately, and afterwards, we developed procedures for dealing with potential zombiefication. Like the ZKG, the Zombie Cardiogram. Ambulance crews would put it on a patient, and if it detected them dying, it immediately destroyed the brain, so the zombie wouldn’t get a chance to bite anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/498 "2026-04-01T02:09:33Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Do Kryptonians ever get cancer? Sure they have super-invulnerability, but wouldn’t the cancer have it too? Yes. Also the entire suite of Kryptonian powers. [Kancer](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Kancer_(New_Earth)) is a supervillain in fact, made from cancer removed from Superman. I suppose it makes dianosis easier. “Your cancer is highly aggressive.” “Yeah, I can tell since it keeps swearing eternal vengeance and punching me in the face.” ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/499 "2026-04-01T16:19:29Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Wouldn’t stewing him lose all the flavor? You’d think they’d bury in a charcoal pit under wet leaves, luau style. Soup > [@solost](#): > > The World War Z zombies (in the movie at least; I read the book but don’t really remember it) made more sense, transmission-wise, since they only bit humans in order to spread the virus. However, the premise as shown in the movie is absurd. If you started displaying zombie behavior within a minute or two of being bitten, it would get noticed and you’d get stopped - it would not have spread worldwide that fast. To go worldwide, an illness has to have a long enough incubation period that you have a chance to travel and spread it. As in COVID: it has a few days to incubate. You get exposed, 3 days later you’re on another continent and you’re shedding viruses. The whole transmission by biting is suspect also. I mean, most people KNOW if they’ve been bitten. In TWD, at least the TV series, you get the sense that something airborne happened which caused everyone to become infected. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/500 "2026-04-01T19:02:20Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Wouldn’t stewing him lose all the flavor? You can’t boil a friar. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=26)