# The line that should have been said, but wasn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041 "2013-01-04T08:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/1 "2013-01-04T08:21:43Z")
The other day I watched the _West Wing_ episode with Penn and Teller. After a trick in which they (apparently) burned an American flag, Penn had this exchange with the staff: > [@](#): > > Josh (about Teller): Doesn’t talk like Harpo Marx, or really doesn’t talk? > Penn: What’s the difference? > … > Penn: You tell me, Charlie, did we burn a flag or did we just vanish a flag in a patriotic flash of fireworks? > Charlie: I don’t know. > Penn: What’s the difference? > Josh: There’s a big difference politically. > Penn: Why? I mean, what if we burned a flag not in protest but in celebration of the very freedoms that allow us to burn a flag, the freedoms that everyone in this building has pledged to preserve and protect? > Josh: Did you go to law school? > Penn: No, clown school. I was sooo expecting the next line to be, “What’s the difference?” Could have been any of them except Penn, though it would have been best coming from Teller (with a quizzical look on his face). But the line wasn’t there despite my anticipation. Can you think of examples of scenes that seemed to lead up to a line that you delivered in your own head, but didn’t actually get put on the screen? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/2 "2013-01-04T08:39:44Z")
At the end of the movie _Kiss The Girls_ (from about 15 years ago), Morgan Freeman’s character faces off with the killer in the kitchen of a house. The gas from the oven/stove has been turned on, and is beginning to fill the room. Freeman has his gun drawn, but if he fires the muzzle flash could ignite the gas and blow everyone up, including himself and the killer’s intended victim (Ashley Judd). But Freeman thinks quickly and makes use of a handy carton of milk on the kitchen table. He puts the muzzle of his gun up against the carton and fires through it to take out the killer without igniting the gas. I halfway expected Freeman to turn to the camera, smile, and say Got Milk? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/3 "2013-01-04T08:46:49Z")
Pretty sure the whole point of that scene, and writing the dialogue that way, was for “What’s the difference ?” to immediately pop in the viewer’s head. It’s clever, not missing. Although I do agree with you - Teller saying it and making one of his faces would have been another kind of perfect. As an aside, in their own act the whole flag burning discussion is addressed in more depth, in their habitual way of re-doing the same trick twice and showing you exactly how they did it the second time around (which often happens to be even more flabbergasting than the first time - _that_’s the real trick) - and indeed they show that the flag is vanished into a special pocket sewed into Penn’s jacket flap as soon as the Constitution gets rolled up. Oddly enough, I thought _that_ was a bit of a cop out. Seems to me you don’t get to speechify about the wonderful freedom to burn the flag, and brag about having it, if you don’t burn the fucking thing (and in fact make it a point to reassure your brave, free and patriotic audience that it was all just pretend and they can calm down now). ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/4 "2013-01-04T13:49:02Z")
“Hey everyone, just to be absolutely clear… Greedo shot at me first.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/5 "2013-01-04T14:24:27Z")
Minor example, but in the Babylon 5 episode “View from the Gallery,” the two maintenance men interact like an old married couple (and make a joke about another unlikely married pair). Since JMS had already pushed the boundaries of relationships a few times in the show’s run, I always feel that there’s one missing line at the end, indicating the pair ARE married. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/6 "2013-01-04T14:27:32Z")
Sue me but I always LIKED _Tomorrow Never Dies_–except for one line which I thought could have been better. Right as the villain is about to be chewed up by machinery, Bond sneers, “You forgot the first rule of journalism, Elliot–give the people what they want!” I thought “if it bleeds, it leads” would have been a MUCH better death quip. (It’s a common proverb among the journalism world referring to the tendency of violent news to make the front page.) ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/7 "2013-01-04T15:03:44Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Can you think of examples of scenes that seemed to lead up to a line that you delivered in your own head, but didn’t actually get put on the screen? The first thing that comes to me is the season two episode of Reba’s first show when she put her wedding ring up on Ebay in order to have money to pay for the work that needed doing on her car and when Brock said to her at the end that he still cared about the ring, I was like, “Well you should have thought about that before you cheated on her!!!” God bless you always!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Holly ---
**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:** [January 4, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/8 "2013-01-04T15:16:01Z")
Movie: _Alien_ Scene: Crew eating dinner Missing line: “You seem upset for some reason, Kane. What’s eating you?” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/9 "2013-01-04T15:21:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Movie: _Alien_ > Scene: Crew eating dinner > Missing line: “You seem upset for some reason, Kane. What’s eating you?” Good, but I like: Dallas: “Okay, ship’s council. Anything anyone wants to bring to the table?” ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/10 "2013-01-04T15:46:15Z")
Luke: “From a certain point of view? When did you become a trail lawyer?” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/11 "2013-01-04T15:52:41Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I was sooo expecting the next line to be, “What’s the difference?” Could have been any of them except Penn, though it would have been best coming from Teller (with a quizzical look on his face). But the line wasn’t there despite my anticipation. Did Teller break character in the episode at all? (I imagine not, since I think he remains silent whenever working with Penn… Though he can talk your ear off when he’s off stage, or working alone, from what I understand.) (I can’t decide whether it would have made the line funnier for him to break character for it, or just make it incongruous in an unfunny way.) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/12 "2013-01-04T17:03:38Z")
Star Trek First Contact OK, We have to have Data swear. It’s a new rule. But instead of doing it early in the movie. “To hell with our orders” it should have been when he breaks the coolant pipe to kill the Borg. Instead of saying “Resistance is futile” should have been “Resistance is futile, Bitch!” ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/13 "2013-01-05T17:30:25Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > Sue me but I always LIKED _Tomorrow Never Dies_–except for one line which I thought could have been better. > > Right as the villain is about to be chewed up by machinery, Bond sneers, “You forgot the first rule of journalism, Elliot–give the people what they want!” > > I thought “if it bleeds, it leads” would have been a MUCH better death quip. (It’s a common proverb among the journalism world referring to the tendency of violent news to make the front page.) No, no no… given that the villain’s name was Elliot Carver, the line should have been “What a carve up!” delivered immediately after he gets… carved up. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/14 "2013-01-05T17:47:18Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Did Teller break character in the episode at all? (I imagine not, since I think he remains silent whenever working with Penn… Though he can talk your ear off when he’s off stage, or working alone, from what I understand.) > > (I can’t decide whether it would have made the line funnier for him to break character for it, or just make it incongruous in an unfunny way.) What they should’ve done is have Teller say it while the camera was showing only Penn’s face. That way he still maintains his schtick, at least partially, and it would reward viewers who were paying attention, since only they would realize that the voice wasn’t any of the regular cast members, and must’ve been Teller’s. Plus it fits well into what’s being said. The plausible deniability of it having been Teller that actually spoke the line provided by not showing him saying it seems vaguely lawyerly. ---
**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:** [January 7, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/15 "2013-01-07T13:41:14Z")
As ever, I marvel at the scene in LES MISERABLES where the fugitive with ‘24601’ on his chest strides into court and tears open his shirt like Superman to vindicate an innocent accused of being the fugitive with a ‘24601’ on his chest: _“That man bears no more guilt than you; who am I? TWO! FOUR! SIX! OH! ONE!”_ The line should’ve been: _“That man bears no more guilt than you; remove his shirt; does it say TWO-FOUR-SIX-OH-ONE on his chest? No? The defense rests.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/16 "2013-01-07T13:57:07Z")
A scene in NCIS where someone mentioned Ted Bundy. I so wanted Mark Harmon to say something like “I know all about Ted Bundy.” He played Bundy in the mini-series. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/17 "2013-01-07T15:04:53Z")
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a fucking rat’s ass.” ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/18 "2013-01-07T21:01:56Z")
Clearly, history prefers the phrasing, “Luke, I am your father.” ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/19 "2013-01-07T21:28:05Z")
Towards the end of The American President, the sitting president goes before the White House Press Corps to (finally) answer some of the campaign mud that Senator Bob Rumsen has been slinging at him. The speech ends with “My name is Andrew Sheppard, and I AM the President.” Missing from that has always been “So FUCK YOU, Bob.” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041/20 "2013-01-07T21:47:32Z")
From the moment I saw it, I felt that when Liam Neeson in Taken is about to walk out the door and leave the slimeball to be shocked until he dies, he should have said: “There’s actually a bright side to this. When you finally die, and it WILL, eventually, kill you, at least Hell will hold no surprises”. I knew you’d agree. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-that-should-have-been-said-but-wasnt/646041.md?page=2)