# The world's biggest plothole, and other ridiculous scenes in movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718 "2006-03-02T03:19:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/41 "2006-03-02T16:49:21Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > In _Rudy_, we’re supposed to believe that some short clumsy kid from Smokestack Indiana, who nearly flunked out of high school, managed to wait four years and then pursue his dream, after his best friend died, of getting into Notre Dame University, securing a position on their football team as a walk-on test dummy, and then being put into a game at the insistence of his teammates, where he got an actual quarterback sack in the last seconds of the last game of the season against one of the best offensive teams in the country. > > Get real. As a Notre Dame alum what gets me about _Rudy_ was the liberty that they took with the facts. The game Rudy got into was portrayed as the season’s biggest game, but in reality it wasn’t exactly a clash of the titans. The Irish and Georgia Tech were both 6-2 heading into the game, which is nice but isn’t earth shattering. After the Rudy game the Irish played two more games that season. The Rudy game was the last HOME game of the year and was naturally a big deal to the seniors playing their final home game, but it wasn’t any big deal to anyone else. Calling Georgia Tech one of the best offensive teams in the country that year exaggerates the point too. GT averaged 24.5 points per game, which was good, but Oklahoma averaged 28.6 points a game and Ohio State averaged 32. It wasn’t even a close game, as Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 24-3. Source [College Football Data Warehouse](http://http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/index.php) ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/42 "2006-03-02T16:54:16Z")
My apologies. I screwed up the link. [Try this](http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/index.php) ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/43 "2006-03-02T17:00:40Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Perhaps taking a train as the first leg of a trip to Halifax where many convoys (of ships) originated. This is the first halfway reasonable explaination I’ve heard, but I still don’t buy it. Was it actually impossible to book passage from New York City to (say) Liverpool in mid-to-late 1941? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/44 "2006-03-02T17:03:54Z")
I’ve done these rants before, as they represent half of my Movie Shit List- _Jurassic Park III_- Ok, ok, we’ll bring you back out to the dinosaur-infested death-trap of an island. Wait, what do you mean you can’t pay us? Darn, maybe we should have checked on that beforehand. _The Day After Tomorrow_- So Dennis Quaid (or Harrison Ford on a bender, it’s hard to tell) risks his life, dragging himself through miles and miles of horrendous snow and unprecedented temperatures to reach his stranded son in the NYC library… _to do WHAT_?! What the hell was getting to his son going to accomplish, unless he had a blizzard-ready school bus hidden under his jacket? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/45 "2006-03-02T17:04:12Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Is Bruce Willis a plot hole attractor? No he is an attractive asshole. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/46 "2006-03-02T17:06:04Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Not a major hole, but an annoyance nonetheless. > > _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ > > So, this probe goes out among the stars (FTL or not?) and gets waylaid by the Machine Planet People (Borg? Ix?) And the Machine Planet People decide to help the probe, I mean REALLY help it. Okay, so far, my suspension of belief isn’t too hurt. It’s Trek, after all, not hard Sci-Fi. Trek-Fi, as I’ve often called it before on these here boards. > > But, “Veejer” ??? > > Yeah, it’s because of the wear and tear on the probe wiping oort certain letters and all (does anyone not know by now what Veejer was?)Voyager, the oya was worn away, leaving V\_\_\_GER. But, how would the Machine Planet People know the pronunciation of those four symbols? Some audio track buried in the probe’s programming? Another Carl Sagan Pioneer record? Bleah. > > Besides, Nomad had already done it, and better at that. Maybe V’Ger read itself… Ok STMP truly is Where Nomad has gone before… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/47 "2006-03-02T17:23:03Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > As a Notre Dame alum what gets me about _Rudy_ was the liberty that they took with the facts. The game Rudy got into was portrayed as the season’s biggest game, but in reality it wasn’t exactly a clash of the titans. The Irish and Georgia Tech were both 6-2 heading into the game, which is nice but isn’t earth shattering. After the Rudy game the Irish played two more games that season. The Rudy game was the last HOME game of the year and was naturally a big deal to the seniors playing their final home game, but it wasn’t any big deal to anyone else. Calling Georgia Tech one of the best offensive teams in the country that year exaggerates the point too. GT averaged 24.5 points per game, which was good, but Oklahoma averaged 28.6 points a game and Ohio State averaged 32. It wasn’t even a close game, as Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 24-3. Source [College Football Data Warehouse](http://http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/index.php) Ya know, if you had only one-_tenth_ the heart of Reuteger… ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/48 "2006-03-02T18:07:53Z")
Return of the Jedi: C3PO becomes the translator bot for Jabba the Hut. The bounty hunter shows up with Chewbacca in chains. The bounty hunter speaks his native buzzing language to C3PO. C3PO tells Jabba what the bounty hunter said in English. Jabba responds in his native slug language. C3PO tells the bounty hunter what Jabba said in English. And so on. If both parties can understand English, why do they need a translator bot? Just speak English to each other. You can still make your snide remarks in your native language. Yes, I understand the possibility that Lucas had C3PO there for audience members who couldn’t read the subtitles, but I’m talking real-world context here. No blackmarket negotiator worth his weight in slug drippings is going to let it be known that he understands the bridge language. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/49 "2006-03-02T18:11:48Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > One of my all-time favorites just got a mate! In _Pearl Harbor_ directed by The Great Satan Michael Bay (see also _Armageddeon_), Ben Affleck decides to go fly for the RAF in England. He is seen departing New York City on a train. To go to London. On a train. From New York City. > > I recently reviewed Dame Judy Dench in _Mrs. Henderson Presents_, which is probably the most boring movie ever to prominently feature naked female breasts (with the possible exception of _Showgirls_, a movie which is best not to even mention on the SDMB). In it, Mrs. Henderson, a native of London, has her driver take her to a military cemetary–in France. Presumably, the touring car she took was actually Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I have a bigger problem with Affleck’s character. Ok there were some Americans who went to the RAF or the RCAF. Some returned after America entered the war to join the American army. Some stayed with the RAF for the duration. However the character in the movie is so improbable that it’s silly. Some how we are to believe that some American joined the RAF and became a hero in the Battle of Britain, then returned to the US Army Aircorps _before_ we entered the war, gets stationed in Pearl Harbor, manages to get a P40 in the air during the raid, shoots down Zeros left and right, immediately gets picked to go on the Doolittle raid, somehow is rated to fly both P40s and B-25s and again is the hero of the day. And somehow this guy is not a household name. Someone who did that would have been the most famous hero of the war. ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/50 "2006-03-02T18:11:52Z")
**Resident Evil: Apocalypse**. Yeah, I know. Fertile ground for plotholes and ridiculous scenes. But there is one exchange that was really bad. Peyton Wells: We find the building with the thickest walls and strongest doors and we barricade ourselfs in, sit tight, wait for help. Alice: There won’t be any help. According to Ashford, Umbrella know they can’t contain the infection. So at sunrise this morning, Raccoon City will be completely sanitized. Terri Morales: What do you mean by “sanitized”? Alice: A precision tactical nuclear device. Jill Valentine: What yield? Alice: Five kilotons. Jill Valentine: [scoffs] Fuck me. When you or I are about to get hit with a nuclear weapon, we don’t really worry about yield, but not Jill Valentine! Makes you wonder what she would have said if it was only say… 2 kilotons? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/51 "2006-03-02T18:15:02Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > This is the first halfway reasonable explaination I’ve heard, but I still don’t buy it. Was it actually impossible to book passage from New York City to (say) Liverpool in mid-to-late 1941? I’ve actually dissected this little error before and the problem is one of exposition and counts, not as a plothole _per se_, but as a gaffe. Had Affleck said “I gotta get on the train that’s taking me to the airport” or had he gotten on a plane/ship itself, the scene wouldn’t beg the question. Perhaps the more persnickety among us would wonder about taking a flight to London during the Blitz, but the question of how he took the _train_ to _London_ would have never come up. Me, I just assumed he was going to [London, Ontario](http://www.london.ca/). Though I was surprised at the amount of German war activity when he got there - it’s amazing what the history books leave out! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/52 "2006-03-02T18:16:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I have a bigger problem with Affleck’s character. Ok there were some Americans who went to the RAF or the RCAF. Some returned after America entered the war to join the American army. Some stayed with the RAF for the duration. However the character in the movie is so improbable that it’s silly. Some how we are to believe that some American joined the RAF and became a hero in the Battle of Britain, then returned to the US Army Aircorps _before_ we entered the war, gets stationed in Pearl Harbor, manages to get a P40 in the air during the raid, shoots down Zeros left and right, immediately gets picked to go on the Doolittle raid, somehow is rated to fly both P40s and B-25s and again is the hero of the day. And somehow this guy is not a household name. Someone who did that would have been the most famous hero of the war. His “aw-shucks” demeanor is what kept the press off him. Sorta like the WW2 Forrest Gump, if you will… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/53 "2006-03-02T18:22:24Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > As a Notre Dame alum what gets me about _Rudy_ was the liberty that they took with the facts. The game Rudy got into was portrayed as the season’s biggest game, but in reality it wasn’t exactly a clash of the titans. The Irish and Georgia Tech were both 6-2 heading into the game, which is nice but isn’t earth shattering. After the Rudy game the Irish played two more games that season. The Rudy game was the last HOME game of the year and was naturally a big deal to the seniors playing their final home game, but it wasn’t any big deal to anyone else. Calling Georgia Tech one of the best offensive teams in the country that year exaggerates the point too. GT averaged 24.5 points per game, which was good, but Oklahoma averaged 28.6 points a game and Ohio State averaged 32. It wasn’t even a close game, as Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 24-3. Source [College Football Data Warehouse](http://http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/index.php) Makes you wonder what they’re are going to do with the story of the [autistic player scoring 20pts](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/highschoolsports/2002835857_hollywood01.html). I’m thinking Matt Damon as the autistic kid. Jessica Alba as the love interest (or terminally ill sister), to whom he makes a promise he’ll score 20pts in the game. And digital copies of Manute Bol as undefeated (and possibly EVIL) opposing team. ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/54 "2006-03-02T18:30:16Z")
> [@archmichael](#): > > Makes you wonder what they’re are going to do with the story of the [autistic player scoring 20pts](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/highschoolsports/2002835857_hollywood01.html). I’m thinking Matt Damon as the autistic kid. Jessica Alba as the love interest (or terminally ill sister), to whom he makes a promise he’ll score 20pts in the game. And digital copies of Manute Bol as undefeated (and possibly EVIL) opposing team. and Bugs Bunny as point guard ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/55 "2006-03-02T18:47:46Z")
> [@archmichael](#): > > **Resident Evil: Apocalypse**. Yeah, I know. Fertile ground for plotholes and ridiculous scenes. But there is one exchange that was really bad. > > Peyton Wells: We find the building with the thickest walls and strongest doors and we barricade ourselfs in, sit tight, wait for help. > Alice: There won’t be any help. According to Ashford, Umbrella know they can’t contain the infection. So at sunrise this morning, Raccoon City will be completely sanitized. > Terri Morales: What do you mean by “sanitized”? > Alice: A precision tactical nuclear device. > Jill Valentine: What yield? > Alice: Five kilotons. > Jill Valentine: [scoffs] Fuck me. > > When you or I are about to get hit with a nuclear weapon, we don’t really worry about yield, but not Jill Valentine! > > Makes you wonder what she would have said if it was only say… 2 kilotons? My favorite plothole: Umbrella Nukes Racoon City. Their cover story is: A nuclear plant melted down. Yeah, I’m sure that’ll fool anyone who has the slightest idea what the functional difference is between a nuclear bomb and a nuclear reactor, like say the NRC(Nuclear Regulatory Commission). And I don’t care how powerful Umbrella is. A lot of people are going to be asking questions about a city that has just become a big radioactive hole in the ground. Such as: -Why was this “Nuclear Power Plant” right in the center of town? Normally those things are out in the boonies(because Nuclear plants tend to cause nearby Real Estate values to drop tremendously). -Why does this “Nuclear Power Plant” have a meltdown similar to a nuclear explosion? -Why didn’t anyone know there was a “Nuclear Power Plant” in the middle of Raccoon city just before it melted down? Doesn’t the NRC keep an eye on these things? How about the Department of Energy? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/56 "2006-03-02T18:50:13Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I have a bigger problem with Affleck’s character. Ok there were some Americans who went to the RAF or the RCAF. Some returned after America entered the war to join the American army. Some stayed with the RAF for the duration. However the character in the movie is so improbable that it’s silly. Some how we are to believe that some American joined the RAF and became a hero in the Battle of Britain, then returned to the US Army Aircorps _before_ we entered the war, gets stationed in Pearl Harbor, manages to get a P40 in the air during the raid, shoots down Zeros left and right, immediately gets picked to go on the Doolittle raid, somehow is rated to fly both P40s and B-25s and again is the hero of the day. And somehow this guy is not a household name. Someone who did that would have been the most famous hero of the war. Actually, shouldn’t Affleck have been a Navy Pilot? He seemed to pal around with Naval personal all the time? I wonder how he managed to pass flight school if he couldn’t pass a vision test. Or did he just sleep with all of his instructors? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/57 "2006-03-02T18:51:48Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Martin Riggs. Would ANY police force actually let such such a disturbed and deranged person stay on active street duty? Recall, he was diagnosed by the department’s own shrink. Forced paid leave, followed by unarmed desk duty would be more likely, wouldn’t it? Because it’s not presented as some sudden break with reality, but rather as a long term, very noticable psychosis. > > The first _Lethal Weapon_ for those not catching up quick enough. Governmnet and Law Enforcement agencies in movies routinely employ psychos. Nobody else can get the job done. Without Jack Bauer, LA would be gone 5 times over by now. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/58 "2006-03-02T18:55:32Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > gets picked to go on the Doolittle raid, So, was he captured, did he ditch, make it to China or just fly the B-25 to Paris? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/59 "2006-03-02T18:59:48Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Ya know, if you had only one-_tenth_ the heart of Reuteger… Amen to that. I’ve always said that Rueteger’s biggest victory wasn’t getting into the tail end of one meaningless game, but was getting Hollywood to make a movie out of of it which enabled him to become famous. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718/60 "2006-03-02T19:00:44Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I’ve never seen the movie, but can’t we just assume he was taking a train to an airport? An airport in 1941? How about a train to the docks to catch a ship. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-biggest-plothole-and-other-ridiculous-scenes-in-movies/346718.md?page=4)