# Why does Nedry say "no menthol" when Dodgson shows him the shaving cream can (Jurassic Park) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906 "2013-08-22T20:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [August 23, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/41 "2013-08-23T22:00:06Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It’s quite 20. 20 exactly, actually. June 11, 1993. Huh. I thought it was '94. But now that you mention it, I was 16 when I saw it, so it must have been '93, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/42 "2013-08-23T23:02:44Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Oh, okay, I’m sorry I don’t worry about the same irrelevant shit as the rest of you on the Smartest Message Board on the Internet. I won’t darken your doorsteps with my presence ever again. Lighten up, Francis. 😉 I am totally missing the JP reference though. I can’t even vaguely recall the scene you’re talking about. I suspect my problem may be too much age, rather than not enough. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/43 "2013-08-23T23:39:52Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Lighten up, Francis. 😉 > > I am totally missing the JP reference though. I can’t even vaguely recall the scene you’re talking about. I suspect my problem may be too much age, rather than not enough. Me too… I watched it the first week it came out and have seen it a few times over the years, and the Dodgson reference would have flown right over my head. After all, it isn’t like it is Caddyshack or some classic like that (like Stripes). ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/44 "2013-08-24T00:05:51Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Me too… I watched it the first week it came out and have seen it a few times over the years, and the Dodgson reference would have flown right over my head. > > After all, it isn’t like it is Caddyshack or some classic like that (like Stripes). That’s the fact, Jack. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/45 "2013-08-24T20:34:45Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > See, to me, the effects in _Jurassic Park_ actually do still hold up. Sure, they’re not flashy like current movies, but as far as being a completely fabricated animal stuck in live action scenes, they look pretty damn good. Jurassic Park was smart enough to not draw attention to the many weaknesses of that period of CGI, and it’s also very notable that it used CGI pretty sparingly in general. While it’s seen by many as the movie that ushered in the CGI era (perhaps correctly), the cleverness of JP was that they used practical effects for most of the heavy lifting, and CGI was used to create make some otherwise impossible sequences really pop. Combine the two, and you get movie magic. Overdo the CGI, and you get something that looks like a cheesy videogame. Like half the movies that followed in the next ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/46 "2013-08-25T00:17:20Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > All I know is that when I sat down in the theater to see JP in 1993, I felt like I was seeing real-ass dinosaurs. Me, too. And a lot of those dinosaurs were real effects, not CGI. I had no idea that the raptors in the kitchen were mainly guys in suits. [We thought the whole thing was computers.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jAzQr3Ml0UI#t=71) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/47 "2013-08-25T01:52:17Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Oh, okay, I’m sorry I don’t worry about the same irrelevant shit as the rest of you on the Smartest Message Board on the Internet. I won’t darken your doorsteps with my presence ever again. You’ll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/48 "2013-08-25T02:20:46Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Jurassic Park was smart enough to not draw attention to the many weaknesses of that period of CGI, and it’s also very notable that it used CGI pretty sparingly in general. While it’s seen by many as the movie that ushered in the CGI era (perhaps correctly), the cleverness of JP was that they used practical effects for most of the heavy lifting, and CGI was used to create make some otherwise impossible sequences really pop. Combine the two, and you get movie magic. Overdo the CGI, and you get something that looks like a cheesy videogame. Like half the movies that followed in the next ten years. Independence Day was the same way. The White House explosion looked so good because they built a mini White House and actually packed it full of explosives. [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/pl\_miniatures/](http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/pl_miniatures/) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/49 "2013-08-25T21:12:45Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Jurassic Park was smart enough to not draw attention to the many weaknesses of that period of CGI, and it’s also very notable that it used CGI pretty sparingly in general. While it’s seen by many as the movie that ushered in the CGI era (perhaps correctly), the cleverness of JP was that they used practical effects for most of the heavy lifting, and CGI was used to create make some otherwise impossible sequences really pop. Combine the two, and you get movie magic. Overdo the CGI, and you get something that looks like a cheesy videogame. Like half the movies that followed in the next ten years. \*next _twenty_ years. 😛 (and half is probably generous too, more like 90%) :smack: > [@Chronos](#): > > Hey, college freshmen are nothing. A few weeks ago, I had a fifth grader who kept on catching 30- and 40-year-old references. Whenever we’d ask him “How do you know about that?”, he’d just shrug and say “Doesn’t everyone?”, or something similar. Considering 30-40 years includes stuff like Star Wars, I find this less astonishing than I might otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/50 "2013-08-25T21:40:02Z")
Put it this way: He was catching more of the references than the high-school-aged assistants were. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/51 "2013-08-25T22:01:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hey, college freshmen are nothing. A few weeks ago, I had a fifth grader who kept on catching 30- and 40-year-old references. Whenever we’d ask him “How do you know about that?”, he’d just shrug and say “Doesn’t everyone?”, or something similar. Growing up in the '50s, I became aware of many references from the '30s and '40s through Bugs Bunny and other cartoons. Considering that the Simpsons and other cartoons have lots of cultural references, it’s not too surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/52 "2013-08-25T22:15:33Z")
I had no idea that some of the kitchen-scene velociraptors were Men in Suits…!!! Also, and apropos of nothing: It’s impossible to read “I won’t darken your doorsteps with my presence ever again” without a mental audio-clip of Groucho Marx saying _ **Go, and never darken my towels again!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/53 "2013-08-25T22:59:43Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > I love when I see this on a message board, because it shows an hilarious lack of self awareness. Every single one of us on the SDMB has better things to worry about than whatever is said on a message board. It’s like they’re mad that someone is wasting their time-wasting time. This made me laugh harder than the “before they kill Guy” reference 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/54 "2013-08-25T23:35:30Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > See, to me, the effects in _Jurassic Park_ actually do still hold up. Sure, they’re not flashy like current movies, but as far as being a completely fabricated animal stuck in live action scenes, they look pretty damn good. Absolutely. We’re in the uncanny valley - not JP. You can’t tell me the dinsoaurs looked more fake than the beasts on Pandora. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/55 "2013-08-26T03:53:02Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I also watched the first episode of ‘The Man from Uncle’, and can tell you (without using the World Wide Web) not only what U.N.C.L.E. stands for - but also T.H.R.U.S.H. :eek: > > United Network Command for Law Enforcement and Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and Subjugation of Humanity. I thought it was Technological Hierarchy for the Repression and Ultimate Subjugation of Humanity.\* :dubious: \*No, I haven’t looked on the Web either. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/56 "2013-08-26T04:09:19Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You’ll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life. Here’s looking at you, kid. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/57 "2013-08-26T05:41:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Growing up in the '50s, I became aware of many references from the '30s and '40s through Bugs Bunny and other cartoons. Having grown up in the '90s, I can say exactly the same thing. Early Cartoon Network was, for a while, old cartoons from the 1930s onwards on a 24/7 loop or close to it. After you see a few chickens gasp “Frankie!” before fainting, you begin to want to figure out who they’re referring to. Add to that getting basic cable with Comedy Central for MST3K and, later, digital satellite TV with TCM, and you can see a lot of where I come from. For people my age and younger, second-run movies have never been in seedy theaters in the bad part of town; they’ve always been right in my home. > [@](#): > > Considering that the Simpsons and other cartoons have lots of cultural references, it’s not too surprising. And, of course, message boards and Facebook and so on, where they’ll see older kids and young adults discussing the Canon, which includes _Pulp Fiction_, _Ghostbusters_, _The Shining_, and most of the other more-quotable films, via image macros and other in-jokey methods, and Netflix is only a few rooms away for most of them. (The Pirate Bay also has a huge library.) ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/58 "2013-08-26T20:27:07Z")
I find it interesting that a relatively minor character in a movie 20 years ago is still so memorable. At the same time, I agree, he was probably the most interesting character in the movie. I think we’ve all felt overworked, unappreciated, and underpaid at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/59 "2013-08-26T21:34:48Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > All I know is that when I sat down in the theater to see JP in 1993, I felt like I was seeing real-ass dinosaurs. > > Also, the theater was near some train tracks and a big train passed by right during a T-Rex scene and shook the entire building. It was quite the Sensurround experience. I’m trying to remember back. Not succeeding. Oh, well. When I saw it, the theater had a new (to me, at least) souped up sound system. I halfway remember it coming out with the movie, but wouldn’t bet money on it after this much time. I remember seeing the sonic rings in the coffee cup on screen. You know the ones. The ones that were evidence that the T-Rex was walking up. And I swear I looked down and could see similar rings in my coke. The CGI was great, I don’t deny that. But the sound from that movie reached inside you and rattled your bones. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906/60 "2013-08-26T21:40:16Z")
> [@](#): > > At the same time, I agree, he was probably the most interesting character in the movie. Well, the most interesting human character, anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-nedry-say-no-menthol-when-dodgson-shows-him-the-shaving-cream-can-jurassic-park/666906.md?page=4)