# Works you wish you could un-see so you could see them again for the first time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673 "2011-10-24T20:12:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/1 "2011-10-24T20:12:47Z")
(Or un-read/un-hear/whatever.) This is prompted by one of the recent Doctor Who threads. I often wish that I could somehow magically un-see the episode “Blink” just so that I could have the experience of watching it for the first time again. It was so delightfully creepy and terrifying and awesome, and rewatching it is fun but not really the same. The other thing that occurs to me off the top of my head is the moment in Jurassic Park when they see the dinosaurs for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/2 "2011-10-24T20:56:41Z")
There’s lots of movies I’d love to see again for the first time, but if I had to pick, say, five, they would be Jaws E.T. Galaxy Quest A Man For All Seasons To Kill a Mockingbird ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/3 "2011-10-24T21:06:55Z")
I’d love to read _Gaudy Night_ for the first time again. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/4 "2011-10-25T01:01:13Z")
The only book I would really like to unread so I could once more read it for the first time is “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by, of course, A.C. Doyle. Has what I think is the most chilling single line in literature “…they were the foolprints of a gigantic hound.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/5 "2011-10-25T03:47:18Z")
God, I hate to do it but it’s _so funny_ to imagine a story where foolprints make your blood run cold. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/6 "2011-10-25T04:02:40Z")
The Prestige. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/7 "2011-10-25T04:54:50Z")
_Star Wars_, just for the arrival of the Star Destroyer. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/8 "2011-10-25T05:04:33Z")
The Nutcracker (ballet). ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/9 "2011-10-25T05:10:59Z")
I got some good responses when I asked a similar question years ago. [What song would you want to forget and hear again for the first time?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=503150) ---
**Author:** ![\_mostly\_Harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/9d8465/32.png) [@\_mostly\_Harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_mostly_Harmless)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/10 "2011-10-25T05:12:05Z")
What a great question! I was just talking about this with my friends last week. The episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer entitled: “Once More With Feeling” The series finale of Star Trek: TNG Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot Mariner’s Revenge Song by The Decemberists Engine 143 by The Kossoy Sisters ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/11 "2011-10-25T05:12:57Z")
Memento Primer ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/12 "2011-10-25T06:59:25Z")
2001: A Space Odyssey Of course, I would have to give myself the disclaimer that yes, it gets less boring. Hold on until the crew wakes up. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/13 "2011-10-25T08:18:26Z")
\*The Lives of Others. \* And not just because of the foolprints. Someone mentioned _Memento_, but I disagree…that’s just the kind of film I could see a dozen times, and still be discovering new things. (But maybe you have a point in that you can’t replicate the feeling of encountering its unusual structure for the first time.) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/14 "2011-10-25T11:31:34Z")
Most of the original \*Twilight Zone \*episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/15 "2011-10-25T12:54:59Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > (Or un-read/un-hear/whatever.) > > The other thing that occurs to me off the top of my head is the moment in Jurassic Park when they see the dinosaurs for the first time. This was going to be my main choice; I still remember the experience of being in the theater on opening day and how the entire audience was sitting there in stunned silence as the T.rex burst through the fence, and then I heard one guy a few rows in front of me blurt out, “holy shit!” Most of the other movies I would mention are movies with “twists”, like **Memento** and **The Usual Suspects**. In terms of books to un-read: _I Am The Cheese_ springs to mind. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/16 "2011-10-25T13:14:32Z")
Difficult choice, but I might go with The Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean Auel. I so enjoyed this book. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/17 "2011-10-25T13:34:25Z")
_Firefly_. Oh, for the thrill of hearing “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” again for the first time. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/18 "2011-10-25T13:44:19Z")
Blade Runner – for the whole movie experience. The Matrix - mostly because of that roof jumping scene where your suspension of belief is trying very hard to give up on you but the fact that Neo says “That’s impossible” keeps you in and then you’re in for a twist of a lifetime. American Beauty – for that moment where everything comes unhinged and starts when Lester Burnham undresses Mena Suvari’s character. From then on it is the most relentless finale in the movie history. I wanted also to add two David Lynch movies – Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire but these are always new to me when I watch them. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/19 "2011-10-25T15:21:43Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > American Beauty – for that moment where everything comes unhinged and starts when Lester Burnham undresses Mena Suvari’s character. From then on it is the most relentless finale in the movie history. This, as well as Rocky Horror Picture Show and Ouran High School host club. The latter is one of my favorite animes, but I know all the lines and plot twists, which makes watching it again kind of unsatisfying. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673/20 "2011-10-25T16:56:48Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > _Firefly_. > > Oh, for the thrill of hearing “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” again for the first time. ☹ Oh, me too! The first episode I saw was the one where the Simon and River are kidnapped by the hill people, and there’s something revealed in that storey that changes your perception of River. I’d love to be able to see them all from the beginning, without knowing what that episodes reveals. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-you-wish-you-could-un-see-so-you-could-see-them-again-for-the-first-time/600673.md?page=2)