# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/261 "2015-05-21T22:04:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > 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. Anecdote incoming, so take it for what its worth. I don’t have super sensitive hearing but my dog certainly did. A few years ago I was walking with her in an isolated rural area when a British army helicopter shot up out of a nearby valley and overhead at treetop height. I didn’t hear it until it was literally on top of us and by the reaction of my dog she didn’t hear it coming either, it scared the life out of both of us. It made me realise how utterly screwed I would have been if it had hostile intent! ---
**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 21, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/262 "2015-05-21T22:23:34Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > 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 Many years ago I saw a film about a boy who survives a plane crash and spends the next several weeks surviving alone in the wilderness. During all that time, his clothes never get dirty, his hair’s perfectly groomed and never grows longer, etc. Unfortunately it was so long ago, I can’t recall the movie’s title or who was in it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/263 "2015-05-21T22:30:22Z")
Ever so many decades ago, in the daily “Modesty Blaise” comic strip, Modesty and Willie get marooned in an African veldt for some time. They have to do everything from scratch: kill animals for food and hides, make tents out of fronds, and so on. The newspaper got several letters asking why Willie’s beard didn’t grow. ---
**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 21, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/264 "2015-05-21T22:40:41Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Unfortunately it was so long ago, I can’t recall the movie’s title or who was in it. Aha, found it: [A Cry in the Wild (1990)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099327/) ---
**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, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/265 "2015-05-21T23:04:56Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Ever so many decades ago, in the daily “Modesty Blaise” comic strip, Modesty and Willie get marooned in an African veldt for some time. They have to do everything from scratch: kill animals for food and hides, make tents out of fronds, and so on. > > The newspaper got several letters asking why Willie’s beard didn’t grow. What I love is in todays media, the mens beard _does_ grow- about half a inch\*- then magically stops. :dubious::rolleyes: - strangely, the exact same amount as shown on fashion models. 😛 ---
**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, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/266 "2015-05-21T23:28:32Z")
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” is one of my favorites, but the last shoot-out (before the Venezuelan army shows up), where Sundance scrags the entire police force of the town is done with TWO GUNSHOT SOUNDS! Excellently edited together, but if you’re listening, there’s no missing it! A lot of films of that time used the same “sound library,” it seems. Today? Can’t tell you; superheroes don’t use guns. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/267 "2015-05-22T15:53:00Z")
Any character that’s immortal but looks to be about late 30s, early 40s. I’m okay if there’s a specific reason why their aging STOPPED at that point, or even if they’re just really really slowly aging (a la Wolverine)… but there’s countless cannot-dies who inexplicably age… up to a certain point. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/268 "2015-05-22T17:20:22Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Any character that’s immortal but looks to be about late 30s, early 40s. > > I’m okay if there’s a specific reason why their aging STOPPED at that point, or even if they’re just really really slowly aging (a la Wolverine)… but there’s countless cannot-dies who inexplicably age… up to a certain point. Well, wouldn’t that make sense? That’s about the time we start to die, normally. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/269 "2015-05-23T10:27:43Z")
Nobody ever needs to go to the toilet. I’m happy to buy all sorts of ridiculous plotlines if they’re internally consistent, but unless they’re set in an alien world where excretion is done differently to on Earth, everyone needs to piss sometime. Eagle Eye, for example, tries to be fairly realistic and often succeeds (like one cop can tell that the main characters aren’t used to guns because they hold them like people in video games do rather than like someone who’s used to guns) but said characters also spend at least 12 hours in a cargo container only just big enough to hold them (but with some ventilation). They should emerge stinking of piss if not shit. A novel-specific one: in The Road the outcomes of a nuclearish war seem fairly realistic (it’s never stated that it’s a nuclear war but the repercussions are similar). There’s very little food around, most cars don’t have fuel, etc etc. But they also have to scavenge for clothes. Huh? Why? Everyone in America, where it’s set, has far, far more clothes than they need for purely practical purposes. And clothes can’t be eaten (you can sort of try with leather but not wool, cotton etc) and are terrible as replacements for firewood. The characters check out enough houses that they should be able to easily find even shoes to replace their worn-out ones or to fit the growing child. > [@Trinopus](#): > > Agreement. (And it’s often followed by the “Ow! Antiseptic spray stings!” farce. A guy can get pounded to meatloaf, but when his sweetie gently cleans his wounds, he winces and hisses.) I find that believable - adrenaline in a fight can make you not notice the pain from the blows, or at least not as much. Later, when being cleaned up, the adrenalin levels have plummeted and Our Hero is in a safe enough place to wince if he needs to. ---
**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 23, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/270 "2015-05-23T12:32:04Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Nobody ever needs to go to the toilet. I’m happy to buy all sorts of ridiculous plotlines if they’re internally consistent, but unless they’re set in an alien world where excretion is done differently to on Earth, everyone needs to piss sometime. In Anne McCaffrey & Jody Lynn Nye’s\* The Death of Sleep\* there’s a scene where the main character is looking for a restroom and notices all the other species’ restrooms on her way down the hall to the humans’ version. I always liked that little detail. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/271 "2015-05-23T12:38:57Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Eagle Eye, for example, tries to be fairly realistic and often succeeds (like one cop can tell that the main characters aren’t used to guns because they hold them like people in video games do rather than like someone who’s used to guns) but said characters also spend at least 12 hours in a cargo container only just big enough to hold them (but with some ventilation). They should emerge stinking of piss if not shit. Some people just don’t need to go that often - I’ve never been to the loo on a plane, but I’ve flown from Cape Town to Europe many times. That’s a 12-hour flight at least. And I don’t skimp on the free drinks while I’m up there, either. haven’t needed a midair piss yet. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/272 "2015-05-26T10:41:05Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Some people just don’t need to go that often - I’ve never been to the loo on a plane, but I’ve flown from Cape Town to Europe many times. That’s a 12-hour flight at least. And I don’t skimp on the free drinks while I’m up there, either. haven’t needed a midair piss yet. True that some people don’t. But this was two people, one male one female, and I can’t remember exactly how long the flight was but it was over 12 hours. They also didn’t piss for at least a couple of hours before or after that. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/273 "2015-05-26T13:20:05Z")
> [@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? Yeah, that giant wall was actually more useless than a medieval castle wall would have been. 😃 A better plot-point would have been some sort of automatic sentry weapons/detectors sabotaged or malfunctioning at some obscure point along the wall, allowing the zombies entry before the human guards could plug the breach … only, a real wall would not have been a single “wall” (breach it and you are through), but a set of defences. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755.md?page=13)