# The mundane unrealistic details that take you out of the batshit fantastically unrealistic setting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755 "2015-03-23T02:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/241 "2015-05-20T20:59:45Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Horses do the same thing. Always whinnying. Cats, too. Every time a cat appears onscreen, they have to overdub a “meow” just so you know that you are, in fact, looking at a cat. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/242 "2015-05-21T03:35:58Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > No, the unrealistic part is that we have a gigantic anti-zombie concrete wall that surrounds Israel. OK, that’s actually fine. Perfectly plausible to build hundreds of miles of 100 foot concrete walls around an entire country in a few days, just on the off-chance the rumors about zombies turn out to be true. No problem, that’s the can-do spirit Israelis are known for. > > But that there are no army guys patrolling the top of the wall? No towers with heavy weapons? No snipers on the wall taking out zaks one headshot after another? Seriously? Well, Israel believed the first reports, and was building it when the outbreak was just a few scattered Zacks. Although someone pointed out in the original _World War Z_ thread that the current Israeli border fortifications are better than the wall. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/243 "2015-05-21T03:50:26Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > And let’s not forget that horrible diner with Irish-American owner and dotty waitress cliché. Don’t forget the “sports bar” earlier in the movie that Anakin and Obiwan chase the shape shifting assassin into, with what looks like football being played by droids on big screens. I’m sure I’ve posted this before, but these were big thing that made me hate the prequels, total lack of imagination. Compare to one of the great scenes of all cinema, the cantina scene in the first Star Wars movie. It was so alien and intriguing and imaginative, like another reality where a bar exists that dozens of species frequent. ---
**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 21, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/244 "2015-05-21T04:50:47Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Compare to one of the great scenes of all cinema, the cantina scene in the first Star Wars movie. It was so alien and intriguing and imaginative, like another reality where a bar exists that dozens of species frequent. \ When the first (now #4) SW soundtrack album came out, the liner notes for the Cantina Band track had John Williams saying he and Lucas had the idea that these aliens found some Benny Goodman sheet music under a rock somewhere and this is how they interpreted it. And I thought that was super clever. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/245 "2015-05-21T05:57:43Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Also another thing that has been bothering me is when a whole lot of people somehow manage to sneak up on the hero. Like, he turns around, and the villain has brought his noisy ass army up. It was in Hobbit:Battle of the Five armies when the elves showed up at the door without anyone noticing. Um, elves might be quiet. 200+ elves showing up in full battle armor are not quiet. But, then, there was an awful lot that bothered me about that movie. Or the ambush which succeeds by lurking offscreen; we can’t see it, so the hero can’t either. That one particularly annoyed me in _Phantom Menace_, where Darth Maul bushwhacks our heroes as they traipse across the desert by riding up behind them on a noisy hoverbike. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/246 "2015-05-21T08:04:58Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > _Underworld_ comes to mind. Selene (Kate Beckinsdale) has a pair of automatic pistols with extended clips that can fire scores upon scores of bullets. The scene that really bothered me was her shooting out the floor underneath her in the hospital. The Mythbusters tried to replicate that stunt in one of their “movie myths” episodes. Needless to say, it didn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/247 "2015-05-21T08:22:59Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > …a scene where the snowman and the boy take flight, and proceed to fly over the town of Brighton. They continue onwards over the sea, and fly to the North Pole, where they meet Santa Claus and a bunch of other snowmen. On the way they pass various people, landscapes and animals, including some penguins. So did they go out to sea from the town of Brighton? Because that’s heading south, and the question is not about penguins and is more about whether Santa is in the South Pole… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/248 "2015-05-21T11:28:58Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > So did they go out to sea from the town of Brighton? Because that’s heading south, and the question is not about penguins and is more about whether Santa is in the South Pole… Yeah, I thought about that. They do go south from Brighton, but the thing is that they only pass over winter landscapes. So, as far as I can make out, they turn around at some point and swing back in over land heading north (possibly around Norway, judging by the terrain). It seems to make the most sense (for certain unusual values of “sense”) that way. A long-haul flight across the Atlantic all the way south is, I suppose, not something we can rule out, but it doesn’t seem to work from what we see. IMO, at least. Watch the clip, I think you’ll get what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/249 "2015-05-21T12:40:57Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > None of that bothered me. What did bother me, and pulled me out of the movie, was: _How did they get Kong off the island?_ He’s as big as the freakin boat, so even if they could somehow muster the manpower to lift him (maybe with the villagers help?) the boat would immediately sink like a rock. It annoyed me to no end that the movie glossed over this problem. I suspect that’s an allusion, if that’s the word, to the original 1933 version of _King Kong_, which is equally glossed over. The '33 film does contain the line “We’ll build a raft and float him to the ship,” but that _really_ doesn’t cover the logistics of it. There is a fascinating interview with Merian C. Cooper, the producer-director of the original _Kong_. It’s found in Tom Weaver’s book [Earth Vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers](http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Vs-Sci-Fi-Filmmakers-Interviews/dp/0786495723/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432211479&sr=8-1&keywords=earth+vs.+the+sci+fi+filmmakers), even though Weaver did not conduct the interview. Cooper was asked about that, and about how they were able to sneak Kong into New York and onto the stage of a Broadway theater without anyone finding out about it. Charmingly enough, his response was basically, “Look, it’s a movie about a _giant ape_! You gotta give me a few unrealistic things.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/250 "2015-05-21T12:53:13Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > Everyone knows the only thing that can survive being frozen in a glacier is a [giant prehistoric praying mantis.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deadly_Mantis) That’s not true. Giant prehistoric Rhedosaurs can do it, too. And earlier: > **[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_from_20,000_Fathoms)** > > The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a 1953 American independent monster film directed by Eugène Lourié, with stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. It is partly based on Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story of the same name, which was later reprinted as "The Fog Horn". In the film, the Rhedosaurus, a giant dinosaur is released from its frozen state in the Arctic by an atomic bomb test. Paul Christian stars as Thomas Nesbitt, the foremost surviving witness of the creature before it causes havoc whil... So, for that matter, can unrealistic-looking T. Rexs (earlier still): > **[The Arctic Giant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arctic_Giant)** > > The Arctic Giant is the fourth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. This animated short was created by Fleischer Studios. The story runs nine minutes and covers Superman's adventures in defeating a giant monster that terrorizes the city. It was released on February 27, 1942. The short depicts a Godzilla-esque scenario while predating the 1954 film by 12 years. The actual Godzilla and Superman wou The s... ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/251 "2015-05-21T13:20:05Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Also another thing that has been bothering me is when a whole lot of people somehow manage to sneak up on the hero. Like, he turns around, and the villain has brought his noisy ass army up. It was in Hobbit:Battle of the Five armies when the elves showed up at the door without anyone noticing. Um, elves might be quiet. 200+ elves showing up in full battle armor are not quiet. But, then, there was an awful lot that bothered me about that movie. I’'m sure it’s been mentioned in other threads, but the ending of the Bond film _Goldeneye_ has the most egregious example of that I’ve ever seen, where a company of US Marines, including a squadron of Huey helicopters, are magically both invisible and completely silent until they actually appear on-camera. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/252 "2015-05-21T13:55:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > That’s not true. > > Giant prehistoric Rhedosaurs can do it, too. And earlier: > > [The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_from_20,000_Fathoms) > > So, for that matter, can unrealistic-looking T. Rexs (earlier still): > > [The Arctic Giant - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arctic_Giant) I must see these movies. ---
**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 21, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/253 "2015-05-21T14:06:29Z")
There’s also [Iceman](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087452/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4) And [The Thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/?ref_=nv_sr_1) ---
**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 21, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/254 "2015-05-21T14:13:44Z")
This sums up the whole thread for me (from “Gilligan’s Island”): Skipper - “That’s Hollywood for you. Any fool knows that wolfsbane is only used against werewolves.” Mary Ann - “But it was a very good picture.” Skipper - “Well, maybe so, but a glaring mistake like that makes the whole picture unbelievable.” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/255 "2015-05-21T15:48:12Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I’'m sure it’s been mentioned in other threads, but the ending of the Bond film _Goldeneye_ has the most egregious example of that I’ve ever seen, where a company of US Marines, including a squadron of Huey helicopters, are magically both invisible and completely silent until they actually appear on-camera. I don’t know if you watch **Grimm** , but they had a particularly absurd example of that kind of thing in the season finale last week. Nick did his “spidey-sense” thing and heard a helicopter coming, and then not 2 seconds later, it appeared over the treetops. I looked at my wife and said “They’d all have been able to hear that thing coming for miles.” If Nick really did have spidey-senses, he’d have heard the helicopter coming for minutes before it showed up, changing (I suspect) the entire resolution of the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/256 "2015-05-21T15:52:55Z")
Apologies if I’ve mentioned this but… In high school we watched _Saving Private Ryan_ and there was some character building scene where Matt Damon is talking (maybe the scene with his farting brother or soemthing) and they were grisled WW2 vets, in the field, covered in mud, with BRIGHT ASS WHITE TEETH! Took me right out of the scene ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/257 "2015-05-21T16:50:35Z")
> [@dogbutler](#): > > Well, Israel believed the first reports, and was building it when the outbreak was just a few scattered Zacks. Although someone pointed out in the original _World War Z_ thread that the current Israeli border fortifications are better than the wall. Again, like I said, perfectly plausible that Israel could build a 100 foot high concrete wall around the country in a few days, just in case, on the say-so of one guy. No problem for me there. They built a wall, it’s easy to believe because there’s the wall. I can believe the wall. The wall is not the issue here. I can’t believe that they build the wall and don’t put any soldiers on the wall. The wall they build is supposed to be entirely passive. It keeps out zombies because it’s a 100 foot high concrete wall, not because it’s a safe place from which to blast zaks to smithereens from 100 feet up. It’s as bad as in Pacific Rim, where to “explain” why conventional weapons like fighter jets are useless against kaiju, the jets fly within a few feet of the kaiju and get swatted. Maybe the pilot could have stayed back a few hundred meters? I mean, if I’m flying an F-15 firing missiles at a gigantic city-destroying monster, maybe I don’t try to fly between his legs? Again, it’s not that I don’t believe that the best way to fight giant monsters is to build giant robots to punch them. It is perfectly obvious that is the best way to fight giant monsters. Any other method clearly won’t work. Giant monsters need to be punched by giant robots, end of conversation. But you don’t establish this obvious truth–that we need giant robots controlled by the power of friendship to punch the monsters–by showing an infomercial-level incompetence by the conventional forces. Wow, It’s so hard dumping pasta into a bowl, it goes all over and half ends up in the sink! Blankets are so confusing! I’m so tired of accidentally dropping my phone in the toilet! I keep flying my F-15 within arm’s distance of the kaiju, and he keeps swatting me! There’s got to be a better way! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/258 "2015-05-21T17:13:17Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/259 "2015-05-21T17:58:19Z")
In _ **The Avengers, Age of Ultron** _, I’m OK with all the super powers. What bothered me is Quicksilver (the really fast guy) moving people out of the way at super fast speed would be just as injurious to them as getting hit by the train they’re about to get hit by. Grabbing someone with your arms at that speed should basically rip them in half. In _ **Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter** _, my son was most bothered by the notion you could walk from Washington, DC to Gettysburg in one night. ---
**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 21, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/260 "2015-05-21T21:01:20Z")
This may not be as prominent any more, but used to be no matter what a car skidded on, it sounded like rubber on asphalt. Tires on ice? Tires on sand (in the desert)? Tires on gravel? Hydroplane? All the same sound. Same for “tearing out.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755.md?page=14)