# your favorite fan theory to explain for a fictional universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614 "2015-09-18T00:01:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/21 "2015-09-18T22:07:46Z")
I like Farmer’s take that Tarzan and most of the heroes of action literature of that era were related. And they got their various powers from a meteorite. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/22 "2015-09-18T22:17:19Z")
Kevin from Home Alone [grew up to be](http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/did-kevin-from-home-alone-grow-up-to-be-jigsaw-a-deadly-serious-investigation/) Jigsaw from Saw. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/23 "2015-09-18T23:19:31Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Not a real theory, but one I made up one day and that pleases me for some dumb reason: > > Jerry Seinfeld’s dentist got sick of living in New York and moved to California in the early aughts to start a large family and work an office job, and then got so sick of his misbehaving kids and browbeating wife and boss that he skipped town and moved to Albuquerque where he became a chemistry teacher who moonlighted as a car wash flunky. Then he got cancer, and started moonlighting as a meth cook instead… OMGosh, that must mean that Elaine ruined one of her boyfriends so badly that after he finally passed his licensing exams (due to Elaine withholding sex), he stopped being a doctor, gave it up and moved to Albequerque, where he changed his name to Jimmy, then Saul, and became a lawyer instead. This is one deep rabbit hole. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/24 "2015-09-19T02:30:38Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > “Oz” is actually in Iowa somewhere. Gotta be. You can get there by balloon, and it isn’t Kansas. My theory is that since Oz is surrounded by desert, it’s somewhere in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/25 "2015-09-19T16:58:05Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Up until it was contradicted in the most recent movie, that “James Bond” is a code name for whoever fills the role of 007, rather than a personal name, and the different actors who played him were actually different "James Bond"s. It’s the same James Bond all right. He’s just a [Time Lord](http://www.tharrin.co.nz/drwho/jamesbond.html). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/26 "2015-09-19T17:06:38Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Up until it was contradicted in the most recent movie, that “James Bond” is a code name for whoever fills the role of 007, rather than a personal name, and the different actors who played him were actually different "James Bond"s. This. It explains so much. Had any of the rumors about Idris Elba being the next Bond been true (too late; he’s too old), it would have been the perfect time to deftly weave this bit into the mythos. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/27 "2015-09-19T17:17:22Z")
One I heard somewhere and like: _Star Trek_ and _Blake’s 7_ are both ficticious contemporary shows set in the same universe by writers who have very different feelings about the Federation they’re living in. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/28 "2015-09-19T17:48:28Z")
> [@ccccalc](#): > > anyone care to share their favorite non-traditional explanation for a fictional universe? --fully supported (or at least not contradicted) by the work’s “canon” but not the generally accepted explanation of the storyline. > > an example: all the Pixar movies can be strung together in one universe in which animals gain sentience starting with “Brave.” Not only animals, also objects (Cars) and even ideas and concepts (Monsters or Inside Out) No wonder people left Earth. It wasn’t environmental causes, it was all the sentient things flying around. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/29 "2015-09-19T23:30:50Z")
> **[台湾游戏基地站点详情数据-网站导航](http://millersportupdate.com/2011/03/14/gilligans-island/)** > > 台湾游戏基地网站导航大全收集站点详情数据是针对上网用户开发的免费网站导航、分类网站导航平台，一键查找网站，台湾游戏基地让找站变得简单。 The voyage of the Minnow (Gilligans Island) was a drug deal gone bad. There are several versions out there. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/30 "2015-09-19T23:47:22Z")
The movie Pulp Fiction is part of the Marvel Universe. Nick Fury infiltrated Marsellus Wallace’s gang as Jules Winnfield, to retrieve the tesseract that was found by chance by Marsellus but not even he was aware of what exactly it was, only that it was very important. The Marvel movies also noted and seem to favor this theory: > **[Nick Fury](https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Nick_Fury)** > > Director Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is an American spy, the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the founder of the Avengers. Fury began his career of serving his nation within the United States Army, rising to the rank of Colonel before becoming a... > [@](#): > > In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the epitaph on Nick Fury’s grave says: “THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN… Ezekiel 25:17”. That is a reference to Samuel L. Jackson’s other role as Jules Winnfield from the movie Pulp Fiction.[37][38] ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/31 "2015-09-20T19:13:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It’s an alternate Earth. All positions/jobs have a codename. > 😃 This one, I like! > [@GIGObuster](#): > > The movie Pulp Fiction is part of the Marvel Universe. > > Nick Fury infiltrated Marsellus Wallace’s gang as Jules Winnfield, to retrieve the tesseract that was found by chance by Marsellus but not even he was aware of what exactly it was, only that it was very important. > > The Marvel movies also noted and seem to favor this theory: > > [Nick Fury | Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki | Fandom](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Nick_Fury) Do they allow characters to smoke in the MCU? It’s not the Tarrantinoverse unless someone smokes Red Apple cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/32 "2015-09-20T19:48:16Z")
I saw one just today that I thought was pretty cool and was apparently incorporated into the show’s canon: the word “Doctor” came to mean healers and academics because of early history’s interactions with Doctor Who. His name led to the word and not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/33 "2015-09-20T19:57:26Z")
That the cartoon character Frazz is Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes grown up. That the Star Trek: Enterprise was actually how the Mirror, Mirror universe got started. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/34 "2015-09-20T20:40:32Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I saw one just today that I thought was pretty cool and was apparently incorporated into the show’s canon: the word “Doctor” came to mean healers and academics because of early history’s interactions with Doctor Who. His name led to the word and not the other way around. That one really bugged me. We know the etymology of “doctor” pretty thoroughly. It comes from the Latin for “to teach.” Which raises the question: Do people in other languages hear the Doctor’s name in their own language, or do they hear the sounds of the English word “doctor”? If the former, do they hear the word meaning physician or the title of their highest academic degree? And if the latter, isn’t it amazing that the Doctor, the Master, the Rani, the Corvair, and I’m not sure how many other Time Lords chose names that make words in English. Unless we get all those words from the Time Lords. In which case it makes sense that “master” means “someone who has some significant academic achievements but hasn’t shown himself clever enough to be called ‘doctor’ yet,” but makes less sense that it also means “schoolteacher” and not “evil bastard who shrinks people.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/35 "2015-09-20T22:37:32Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Up until it was contradicted in the most recent movie, that “James Bond” is a code name for whoever fills the role of 007, rather than a personal name, and the different actors who played him were actually different "James Bond"s. In the first Casino Royale, that was a given. I always thought the the new Klingons were the result of a allergic reaction to Tribbles. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/36 "2015-09-21T00:05:16Z")
Neo never left the Matrix. The events of _The Matrix_ were just “Level 1.” By the end of _Matrix Revolutions_, when he went to the machine city and got the super-duper jack-in link in order to fight the “viral” Smith(s) is when his “code” got returned to The Source. Zion, Trinity, Link, etc., are all just programs written to assist The One. Ignore the final conversation between The Architect and The Oracle, and it works. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/37 "2015-09-21T00:51:02Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Neo never left the Matrix. > The events of _The Matrix_ were just “Level 1.” > By the end of _Matrix Revolutions_, when he went to the machine city and got the super-duper jack-in link in order to fight the “viral” Smith(s) is when his “code” got returned to The Source. > > Zion, Trinity, Link, etc., are all just programs written to assist The One. > > Ignore the final conversation between The Architect and The Oracle, and it works. And fittingly, there is a second level theory based on this theory. It’s that this isn’t just a fan theory; this was supposed to be the actual plot of the Matrix sequels. But when the first movie came out, some fans guessed this theory. The Wachowskis wanted to surprise the audience so they threw out the original plot and made up a new one. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/38 "2015-09-21T13:53:00Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I saw one just today that I thought was pretty cool and was apparently incorporated into the show’s canon: the word “Doctor” came to mean healers and academics because of early history’s interactions with Doctor Who. His name led to the word and not the other way around. Interestingly this fan theory was covered in [Cracked](http://www.cracked.com/article_22990_7-fan-works-so-good-they-were-adopted-by-creators_p2.html) yesterday. The fan who suggested the theory was a young Steven Moffat. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/39 "2015-09-21T16:58:51Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > Kevin from Home Alone [grew up to be](http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/did-kevin-from-home-alone-grow-up-to-be-jigsaw-a-deadly-serious-investigation/) Jigsaw from Saw. That’s pretty funny. Love the breakdown of Harry’s reaction to a blowtorch to the scalp. I just saw one this morning that Batman is all in Bruce Wayne’s head. Wayne is in Arkham Asylum and the villains are all employees or other patients. I think it’s stupid but someone put some thought into it. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614/40 "2015-09-21T19:14:56Z")
I like the idea that, in the last Star Trek film, Benedict Cumberbatch’s character was actually [this guy](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/headhuntersholosuite/images/a/a5/Joachim_Weiss.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110710170312), Khan’s second-in-command, who was pretending to be Khan to protect his leader from Star Fleet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-fan-theory-to-explain-for-a-fictional-universe/731614.md?page=3)