Did it ever occur to anyone, that this film defines a new oxymoron? " Warrior scientest". Goes from lab coat to camos in seconds! Can use a slide rule (pre 70's) or Calculator (Post 70's) as a deadly wepon! "Here, choke on higher math, mutant scum!". Sure, its possable......but ya' better set the scene for it, or the audience can't be blaimed for yelling "Baloney!". Sure, Spock can fight,....hummmm..how many "Battle scientest" can you name? And what new Oxymorons do you think belong in the B-movie hall of fame?
Buckaroo Banzai
A little off-topic, but there was a comic that came out a few years back called TWO-FISTED SCIENCE. It was actually about Richard Feynman, but, man, what a great title.
I for one would like to see more warrior-scientists. Sure, there was quite an upsurgence of scientist heros in the eighties. REAL GENIUS, GHOSTBUSTERS, etc. But there hasn't been any scientists that really kick ass.
Maybe Herbert West, Re-animator, but he was a villain.
Some of the 50's sci-fi movies featured a rugged, he-man variety of scientist, although they weren't really warriors. Dr. Cal Meecham, from This Island Earth, would be one of the better examples.
Cartoons and comics have many examples of scientists and engineers who actually duke it out with the bad guys when necessary. Guys like Reed Richards and Tony Stark immediately spring to mind.
The true warrior scientist: Doc Savage!
'how many "Battle scientest" can you name?'
Start by counting the field technicians in the military, of which I was one. It's an awesome career choice when you get to use basic electronic engineering principles to accomplish an emergency repair on a circuit board by fabricating on the spot components like inductors AND you get to shoot people when they're bad.
regards,
Apostic
In Flange's defense I have to say that the movie never once mentioned that Brad had any sort of military or police background. Had they paid some lip service to that (then backed it up here and there) I would have been more forgiving.
Once again, scientists and doctors running around long after I am dead...
Andrew
"In Flange's defense I have to say that the movie never once mentioned that Brad had any sort of military or police background."
With respect, I must note that even if the HAD mentioned such a background, it still be as credible as JAG.
OK, combat lawyers. THAT srikes me as amusing.
regards,
Apostic (who doesn't have to hide laughing at officers anymore)
"Don't thank me...thank the Earth's gravitational pull!"
--McGyver, on "The Simpsons"
I diden't mean real guys, Apostic! I ment movie types who just don't look/act the part. A guy in our office was a Navy Comm tech on U.S.S. Whidby Island,( LSD-41), so i know what you ment. I ment, as Andrew said, guys who don't set some foundation for advanced asskicking. S.E.A.L.s and S.A.S. ect, are smart guys,and it shows. When it dosen't show, then my suspension of disbelief takes a hard chop to the windpipe. AH, an almost Battle Scientest, Artimus Gordon on the REAL Wild,Wild,West! Thats what i ment! :)
"...guys who don't set some foundation for advanced asskicking."
I suppose in the realm of cinematic stereotyping, that would be people like the machinegun accountant in The Untouchables. Could that also be a supposition that people who look like nerds aren't expected to do well in a fight? In the real world, I think a lot of people have made that miscalculation. :) And given how character stereotypes (as opposed to real characters) are often used in movies, it's a common standard.
Aside from shallow movies like Urban Warriors and Stealth Fighter, wouldn't it be nice to see credible characters with unexpected combat potential, like the machinegun accoutant above, that actually seems to fit the character and doesn't seem so much like a dichotomy? In other words, something a tad more realistic? After all, a few years ago, running a website was an activity for a defenseless milksop. Or so anyone who believed in stereotypes could tell you.
But then, a "foundation for advanced asskicking" usually isn't revealed until the moment of truth.
regards,
Apostic
What are some examples of the reverse of all of this? Say, a football jock who also looks for cures for diseases ... or even knits sweaters. Or a Ninja Master who does advanced particle physics (wait a minute ... Buck Bonzai comes to mind...).
How about Sly Stallone in DEMOLITION MAN--He knits sweaters!!!!
My DEMOLITION MAN Review
...or a commando extraordinaire who likes to do needlepoint and favors cats. Just plain old ffolkes.
Or the mild mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper who is...oh, you know that one already.
You want to talk about the really surprising dichotomies, both reel and real? It ain't the whimp who can level a biker bar on a Saturday night. It ain't the mountainoid with the intelectual career. It's the nice guy who turns out to be a serial killer. "He seemed like such a nice boy. Who knew he was sodomizing those corpses in his basemen while chopping those women into tiny pieces." (More recent examples about nice guys wuth a surprising secret come to mind, ya know.)
regards,
Apostic (who seems like a nice guy....)
Hummmm....This is an intresting thought. I've read TO HELL AND BACK, and Audie Murphy's combat reality versis his apperiance does live up to Apostic's thought. This kid, like many, became a tiger in circumstances that would make most of us cower in our foxholes. Yet...who would have known? He dosen't LOOK like the "Type". The type being, as Terry Pratchett wrote.."Those men who,when asked their name, are given a pass on the third try." Richard Ira Bong...silly name...Great american Fighter ace. 40 kills, useing the P-38 aginst Japan. same thing...he diden't LOOK the type.....Hummm...how much does apperance decieve us, and throw off our expectations?
Real: Ed Wood fought in WWII with ladies' knickers under his fatigues (or is that baloney?).
Hollywood: the opening credit sequence of Commando.
See also: Sean Penn in Taps.