Bad Movie Logo
"A website to the detriment of good film"
Custom Search
HOMEB-MOVIE REVIEWSREADER REVIEWSFORUMINTERVIEWSUPDATESABOUT
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
April 19, 2024, 04:03:56 PM
 714241 Posts in 53092 Topics by 7736 Members
Latest Member: ShayneGree
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Why do scientific things usually have an "X" in them? « previous next »
Pages: [1] 2
Author Topic: Why do scientific things usually have an "X" in them?  (Read 3703 times)
The Burgomaster
Aggravating People Worldwide Since 1964
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 773
Posts: 9036
« on: May 25, 2004, 04:16:15 PM »
Did you ever notice (especially in movies, TV shows, etc., from the 1950s and 60s) that scientific things usually have an "X" in them?  For instance:

"Oh, my God!  He's been exposed to Radium-X!"

"This is our newest X-15 rocket!"

"That thing must be from Planet X!"

So, what is this infatuation with the letter X??????
Logged
"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."
BeyondTheGrave
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 70
Posts: 1386


Punks not Ded sez Rich
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2004, 04:29:53 PM »
i always thought that "X" meant mysterious, unknown or experimental. examples would be codenames like MR. X. since science cant figure it put a "X"  and thier you go.

"Dont be a fool for ur tool"
Logged
Most of all I hate dancing then work,exercise,people,stupidpeople
ulthar
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 368
Posts: 4168


I AM serious, and stop calling me Shirley


WWW
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2004, 04:43:29 PM »
X is the most common unknown used in mathematical equations, so it psychologically represents 'unknown.'  Just a SWAG.

Oh yeah, it sounds cool.

Q-15 rocket just does not sound as sleek and powerful.

Planet  J?  Nothing ominous about that.

Or, maybe I have just been ingrained with the 'X-ification' of sci fi speak for long ......
Logged
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor Hathaway:  I noticed you stopped stuttering.
Bodie:      I've been giving myself shock treatments.
Professor Hathaway: Up the voltage.

--Real Genius
trekgeezer
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 0
Posts: 4973


We're all just victims of circumstance
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2004, 04:48:20 PM »
I guess X-rays are still mysterious. That's scary!
Logged



And you thought Trek isn't cool.
BeyondTheGrave
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 70
Posts: 1386


Punks not Ded sez Rich
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2004, 06:28:21 PM »
ulthar wrote:

>
> Oh yeah, it sounds cool.
>
> Q-15 rocket just does not sound as sleek and powerful.
>
> Planet  J?  Nothing ominous about that.
>
> Or, maybe I have just been ingrained with the 'X-ification' of
> sci fi speak for long ......
>

yeah i couldnt imagine the X-Files being called something else like the K- Files

"Dont be a fool for ur tool"
Logged
Most of all I hate dancing then work,exercise,people,stupidpeople
daveblackeye15
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 25
Posts: 1538



WWW
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2004, 07:31:11 PM »
The X from Outer Space is The Unknown from Outer Space. Or it could stand for extra terrestrial,.The Extra Terrestrial from Space, no wait a minute...
Logged
Now it's time to sing the nation anthem IN AMERICA!!!

Bandit Keith from Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series (episode 12)
AndyC
Global Moderator
B-Movie Kraken
****

Karma: 1402
Posts: 11156
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2004, 09:23:51 AM »
Hmmm, the Q-15 rocket sounds like it could be a potent antioxidant. Or is that the Q-10?   :)
Logged
---------------------
"Join me in the abyss of savings."
Susan
Guest
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2004, 06:49:14 PM »
>>i always thought that "X" meant mysterious, unknown or experimental<<

X-rated isn't all that mysterious. Experimental...maybe
Logged
Max Gardner
Guest
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2004, 07:10:58 PM »
Because X represents an unknown quantity, and science is in the business of making unknown quantities known.  When things unknown are used before they're understood, it's generally a bad thing insofar as b-movies are concerned, hence the omnipresence of the letter X.  And people think it looks cooler than every other letter in the alphabet for some reason.  Except maybe Z.
Logged
MeAndMyMeatCleaver
Dedicated Viewer
**

Karma: 0
Posts: 12
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2004, 01:07:21 AM »
Because it just sounds cool... period.
Logged
<<Insert great, oversaid Evil Dead2/DeadAlive quote here>>
Gerry
B-Movie Site Webmaster
Bad Movie Lover
****

Karma: 49
Posts: 971


It's not what you say, it's how you say it.


WWW
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2004, 01:09:29 PM »
In the case of THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT, the unusual spelling of "X"periment came about when the British Board of Censors decided to slap the movie with an "X" rating (which was of course a much milder X than what we think of today).  It was also followed by the similar X THE UNKNOWN.
Logged
The Ghoul
Guest
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2004, 03:29:53 PM »
It's still used...example The X-Files!
Logged
Dunners
Bad Movie Lover
***

Karma: 2
Posts: 750
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2004, 04:49:59 PM »
"X" is in yo.
Logged
save the world, kill a politician or two.
dean
Guest
« Reply #13 on: May 27, 2004, 11:14:14 PM »
I remember watching an episode of Stargate SG1 where some guy started a TV show based on the Stargate program, and they called it like 'Star Force X' or something, and the guy just mentioned that producers added the X because 'tests' found that audiences respond better to Sci Fi shows if they have X in them.

But it does sound corny to me, when used in TV or Film [Notable exception, American History X]
Logged
JohnL
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 0
Posts: 2388
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2004, 09:42:46 PM »
>I remember watching an episode of Stargate SG1 where some guy started a TV
>show based on the Stargate program, and they called it like 'Star Force X' or
>something,

Wormhole Xtreme
Logged
Pages: [1] 2
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Why do scientific things usually have an "X" in them? « previous next »
    Jump to:  


    Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.20 | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
    RSS Feed Subscribe Subscribe by RSS
    Email Subscribe Subscribe by Email


    Popular Articles
    How To Find A Bad Movie

    The Champions of Justice

    Plan 9 from Outer Space

    Manos, The Hands of Fate

    Podcast: Todd the Convenience Store Clerk

    Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

    Dragonball: The Magic Begins

    Cool As Ice

    The Educational Archives: Driver's Ed

    Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

    Do you have a zombie plan?

    FROM THE BADMOVIES.ORG ARCHIVES
    ImageThe Giant Claw - Slime drop

    Earth is visited by a GIANT ANTIMATTER SPACE BUZZARD! Gawk at the amazingly bad bird puppet, or chuckle over the silly dialog. This is one of the greatest b-movies ever made.

    Lesson Learned:
    • Osmosis: os·mo·sis (oz-mo'sis, os-) n., 1. When a bird eats something.

    Subscribe to Badmovies.org and get updates by email:

    HOME B-Movie Reviews Reader Reviews Forum Interviews TV Shows Advertising Information Sideshows Links Contact

    Badmovies.org is owned and operated by Andrew Borntreger. All original content is © 1998 - 2014 by its respective author(s). Image, video, and audio files are used in accordance with the Fair Use Law, and are property of the film copyright holders. You may freely link to any page (.html or .php) on this website, but reproduction in any other form must be authorized by the copyright holder.