# Things I learned from 1980s scifi movies.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 3, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174 "2009-03-03T18:39:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/1 "2009-03-03T18:39:34Z")
This is of course the sequel to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508647):
1. You never f\*\*\* with a single mother, of any species. (Aliens)
2. After the nuclear holocaust, there will be a brisk trade in form-fitting, fetish-style black leather clothing. (Mad Max)
3. Yuppies are an alien parasitic species from an alternate universe who have covertly conquered our world. (They Live)
4. Flesh-eating zombies LOVE to go shopping! (Dawn of the Dead)
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### Author:  [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/2 "2009-03-03T18:43:31Z")
You did not accidentally delete that file. It was absorbed by the MCP.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/3 "2009-03-03T19:11:27Z")
Big Guns won’t actually destroy the menace but they will help you survive long enough to lure it into a trap.
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### Author:  [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/4 "2009-03-03T19:16:10Z")
Teenagers should never, under any circumstances, be allowed near computers.
In fact, computer should just be binned entirely. Even if left well enough alone, they do not have our best interests at heart.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/5 "2009-03-03T19:17:49Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> Big Guns won’t actually destroy the menace but they will help you survive long enough to lure it into a trap.
Speaking of which, the thing I learned most from 1980’s sci fi, applicable to most if not all situations…
IT’S A TRAP!!!
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/6 "2009-03-03T19:31:56Z")
Black sidekicks die first.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/7 "2009-03-03T19:47:42Z")
The justice system will work swiftly in the future once they’ve abolished all lawyers.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/8 "2009-03-03T20:43:11Z")
Japan will inevitably dominate American culture.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/9 "2009-03-03T20:47:58Z")
I learned that c-beams glitter in the dark. And that fear is the mind-killer.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/10 "2009-03-03T20:54:05Z")
Soldiers in body armor\* with rayguns are absolutely worthless.
(And since bad guys are English, I guess that should really be “armour”.)
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### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/11 "2009-03-03T20:56:51Z")
Rats taste best when you hold them by their tails and drop them into your mouth.
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/12 "2009-03-03T21:06:23Z")
The future is a grim dystopia where it rains all the time (Blade Runner, Escape from New York, RoboCop)
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/13 "2009-03-03T21:22:02Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#):
>
> The future is a grim dystopia where it rains all the time (Blade Runner, Escape from New York, RoboCop)
The future is Seattle?!
Apparently, pressing the wrong button on a computer will either manifest a hot female artificial intelligence with a very strange accent, or a magical bubble that will take you to a spaceship.
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/14 "2009-03-03T21:40:25Z")
The only way to be sure about anything is to nuke it from orbit. Unfortunately, this tactic is never attempted.
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/15 "2009-03-03T21:46:04Z")
The Future will be accompanied by synthesizer music. The more low-budget The Future looks, the lamer the synthesizer music will be.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/16 "2009-03-03T23:26:14Z")
Video games are actually recruiting offices for the space navies of alien civilizations.
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### Author:  [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/17 "2009-03-03T23:53:35Z")
Sweet silver sports cars are often actually _spaceships._ (Or occasionally time machines.)
(Beat me to it, **jayjay**!)
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### Author:  [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/18 "2009-03-04T00:20:59Z")
There are a couple ways to accomplish time travel:
1. You go naked. Something about the field generated by a living organism. Nothing dead will go.
2. With a flux capacitator & 7 gigavolts of electricity and a Delorean going 88 miles an hour.
The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human… sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
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### Author:  [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/19 "2009-03-04T00:31:36Z")
> [@BMax](#):
>
> There are a couple ways to accomplish time travel:
>
> 1. You go naked. Something about the field generated by a living organism. Nothing dead will go.
>
> 2. With a flux capacitator & 7 gigavolts of electricity and a Delorean going 88 miles an hour.
>
> The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human… sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
Okay, so I’m flaunting my nerdiness…but it was 1.21 gigawatts for the Delorean. 😃
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### Author:  [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-learned-from-1980s-scifi-movies/488174/20 "2009-03-04T00:35:04Z")
> [@Myrrajh](#):
>
> Okay, so I’m flaunting my nerdiness…but it was 1.21 gigawatts for the Delorean. 😃
It’s possible. I haven’t watched BTTF as many times as Terminator.
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