How Convenient

[AndyC]

What would you say are some of the most surprising objects characters just happened to have with them at the right time?

One that I get a chuckle out of is the scene in War of the Worlds, when the characters are at a dance, and everything becomes magnetized. The hero, to test this, asks if anyone has a compass, and a guy right next to him produces one from his pocket. Who brings a compass to a dance?

Other examples?

[Rob Phillips]

AndyC Wrote:
"Who brings a compass to a dance?"

For our ex military guys and gals (and active duty like Andrew), we had a saying about some guys couldn't find his third point of contact (that's arse for non military people) with both hands. Perhaps he was one of these folks!

 Other Examples? How about Ashe in AOD having high school chemistry & metalurgy books and, of course, a Fangoria magazine in his car's trunk!

:-)

Rob

[Scott0]

Any time during the Music Man when they start dancing, oh how convenient for everyone to be wearing tap shoes.

Scottie

[The Burgomaster]

As for WAR OF THE WORLDS, the fact that the guy had a compass didn't bother me so much. Remember, it was a square dance was in a rural community surrounded by forests (remember the scene at the ranger station . . . or the scientists on the fishing trip by the stream?) People in that area might be likely to have compasses to avoid getting lost in the wilderness . . . maybe he was a hunter or something.

If it had taken place in New York City, I might have been more suspicious . . .

[Brother Ragnarok]

What's that?  Bomb about to destroy Earth?  Dalek invasion?  Yeti in the sewers?  Well let me just grab my trusty sonic screwdriver...blast, the Terileptils destroyed it.  Well, then, REVERSE THE POLARITY OF THE NEUTRON FLOW!

Brother R

[Scott0]

Oh god, reversing the polarity on anything is like the Maguyver solution to hi-tech problems. What the heck does that even mean, anyways? Reversing polarity literally means turing something from a positive to a negative or vice versa. How can that turn missles around in mid air, or throw off entire guidance systems or space ships? Surely the most advanced technology doesn't still depend on a magnetic compass to determine direction!!

And not only that, but it are the protons that flow in an electric current. Stupid mindless jibba jabba.

Scottie

[Conrad]

*** 60 seconds respectful silence for the sonic screwdriver ***

Equally excellent at dismantling revolvers (The War Games), detonating mines (The Sea Devils) and crippling hostile robots (The Sontaran Experiment).  No errant Time Lord should be without one!

[AndyC]

Actually, it's the electrons that flow.

Funny, I was just hoping for some ordinary, yet highly unlikely objects characters just happened to have at the right time. This is good too though.

Of course, we can't forget the fix-all solutions of Star Trek TNG. How many things can be solved by a tachyon beam, neutrino beam or some generic energy beam produced by modifying the deflector dish?

Then there is the idea that you can increase the performance of a piece of equipment substantially, simply by diverting more power to it. I'll have to try plugging my computer into a 220-volt circuit and see if it works better :)

[Neville]

I used to smile whenever I saw John Crichton on "Farscape" keeping a diary on tape using his walkman. How many tapes do you need to cover three years of space adventures? It could be that he was using the same blank tape over and over, but where did he bought the batteries?

[Fearless Freep]

I used to smile whenever I saw John Crichton on "Farscape" keeping a diary on tape using his walkman.

I assumed he thought he would make it home sooner because it used it less and less as time went by.

[Brother Ragnarok]

"Actually, it's the electrons that flow."
Hey man, don't tell me, tell Jon Pertwee ;)

Brother R

[Evan3]

The best weapon to have seems to be Silent Bob, he has everything in that coat of his....

[spikesangel]

maybe not an object, but why is it that in bad movies every hacker can get into any system which always has a groovy user interface and makes lots of irritating beeping noises as the person types?

this was put to good (bad?) use in Spiders

[Damien01]

Here is some Old TV classics...

The Dukes of Hazzard being chased and finds a ramp on there path that helps for there escape...

The A-Team has the best luck in finding these 3 items... A blow torch, sheet metal, and an air-compressor...

Maguyver not as lucky as the A-Team (with blow torch, sheet metal or even an air-compressor) but he does have best luck in finding... Duct Tape... (He invented 1,001 uses for Duct Tape)