observation

[Funk, E.]

There was a joke or maybe it was just a saying that arose in the early days of political correctness, it goes something like this:

Q: What’s the difference between sexual harassment and flirting?
A: Whether or not they’re attractive

The same seems to hold true for movie reviews. More specifically we are more likely to overlook the incongruities in a film that we enjoy than we would otherwise. When a movie falls on the wrong side of the like/dislike scale all of it’s plot holes, inconsistencies, continuity errors and breaches of internal and real world logic are dragged out and aired to the public with unflinching brutality. Yet if we like a movie some of the stupidest things are calmly and pleasantly accepted.

My favorite example of the “all is forgiven” phenomenon is in the X-Men movie. There is a scene in that film where the villain, Magneto, walks out of a train station to be confronted by a small army of police officers. Now for those who have not seen the movie nor know anything about the comic book series (yes, both of you) Magneto’s special mutant power (if you couldn’t guess by his name) is the ability to manipulate metal via their magnetic fields. Upon facing all of these police officers he lifts two police cars into the air and drops them on two others. Very dramatic and within reason as far as the movies internal mechanics are concerned. Professor Xavier, a telepath, mind controls a henchmen of Magneto’s who in turn grabs Magneto by the throat and demands the release of hostages. Magneto retaliates by telekinetically yanking all of the guns out of the police officer’s hands and turning them on the officers all of them hovering mere feet from the officers’ faces. As the situation progresses Magneto cocks one of the hand guns and fires it magnetically catching the slug right at the point of impact with the officer’s forehead. The situation become more grave as Magneto starts cocking ALL of the guns. Xavier relents, releases control of the henchmen and Magneto makes his escape.

As a piece of cinematic eye candy and comic book drama this scene is magnificent and fun to watch if however it had been preceded by a poorer movie the following objections would have been justifiably raised:

a) Do police office not chamber rounds in their weapons when pointing them at a known felon? They must not because when Magneto starts cocking all of those guns in mid air not one shell is expelled from any of the guns.

b) Not all metals are magnetic especially lead slugs so how is it that Magneto is able to “catch” the slug fired at the police officer’s head?

c) Once the slug is stopped then it is no longer moving under it’s own power. Magneto must provide all of the force to slowly continue the advance of the fired slug. In which case why fire it at all?

d) Gun powder and it’s resulting hot, rapidly expanding gases, are not magnetic at all so why is it that when the police officer’s hand gun is fired less than a yard from his face does he not double over, blind and deaf, in extreme agony with powder burns all over his face?

A more direct example would be to compare the scene in Superman 4 where the Solar powered bad guy takes the obligatory damsel in distress into space. She has no atmospheric suit yet is unharmed by this none too native environment. Just about every review I’ve ever read about this film picks this bone yet in the original Christopher Reeves Superman the hero takes Lois Lane on a flying tour of metropolis. She also is not exactly dressed for high speed flight, but suffers no ill effects nor is she struggling with wind resistance trying desperately to keep hold as Superman provides all of the power for both their flight. She’s right beside him, hand in hand, floating effortlessly along arms stretched like a bird. No one, not one reviewer has ever balked at that sceen in print. Had Superman 1 been as bad as Superman 4 there would have surely been some harsh words written about that scene, yet the film's over all quality makes it exempt.

Star Trek has made a career out of convincing it’s dedicated audience not to peer too closely at it’s internal mechanics. There was an episode where La Forge and Ro Laren are phased out of normal space which makes them both invisible to normal people and makes them able to pass through solid objects. It was a wonderful episode until you realize that they are able to walk on the floors the entire time and take shelter from a phased weapons explosion behind unphased furniture, but hey if the entertainment value is there the magical sub atomic particle that can only be found in living human brains know as a “ploton” can be used to plug any hole that might get in the way of telling a story.

[Rev. Darkstar]

Damn, you need to get over to this site ASAP !!!

http://www.nitpickers.com/

;-)

[Funk, E.]

*LOL*

Damn! I thought I was bad! Great site suggestion. Thanx.

[Lord_Humungous]

NASTY!   How did you find that site of pain?   There's no b-movie in the world that could come close to being trapped in a room full of people nitpicking Red Dwarf's editing flubs.

[Funk, E.]

Yeah know... there are just certain things that there's no point in nitpicking and Red Dwarf is one of them. I thought it was funny in a sad sort of way. Kind of like relatives, nice to visit, but don't stay too long.  8-D

I'm convinced these people have only read about procreation (which might be a good thing).

[Lord_Humungous]

I like Red Dwarf( or at least the first several seasons), but then I grew up watching british comedies and Doctor Who(comedy? Sci-Fi?).

I think I like it primarily because Lister strikes such a chord with me:

Computer Judge: "State your name and occupation."
Lister: "Lister....ah, um.....Bum."

[Rev. Darkstar]

It's the Star Trek ones that get me, theirs always some one who got the complete Star Trek technical manuals who cut to ribbons the bullsh*t jargon from episode such and such.

[Funk, E.]

I like Red Dwarf too. It's just rediculous to expect any consistency really.

The Trekies ahh the trekies. Anyone who argues the merits of an episode based on fictional logistic established in a previous episode has never seen how many people have written ST episodes. What are they all supposed to do, see EVERY preceeding episode before writing their script?

It hysterical listening to trekies trying to explain why Klingons were green men in the original and bumpy headed things after the first movie. And now "Enterprise" which supposedly occures before the original show has Klingons with bumpy heads. The nerds are going to loose sleep over that one! tee-hee!

[Lord_Humungous]

Actually I think Star Trek has more continuity people on staff than almost any other Sci-Fi show.   I watched a behind-the-scenes that showed the process.  The writers write the dialog and write "insert tech"  When technical mumbo jumbo is required.  The script then goes to the staff geeks who fill in the blanks from a library of tech manuals that has been constantly updated since the beginning.

And The smooth headed klingons were dealt with in a DS9 episode( the one where they re-visit the tribbles).  When Warf was called on it he gave an ominous "It's something we Klingons don't like to talk about" answer as if they were some illegitimate half-breeds.  Nice catch.  :)

[Lord_Humungous]

Am I a Trekkie?  God, no!  And I'll bust a phase coil in the punk's ass that says so!

Oh, and I have it on good authority that Trekkies prefer the term 'Trekker'.  Please make a note of it.  :P

[Funk, E.]

Yeah, I saw that too, but still if you look at the whole franchise your talking about easily what 5 or 6 hundred episodes worth of technobable, developing galactic and personal histories and such stuff. There's just no way they're going to catch everything. Kudos that they even try though.

[Funk, E.]

Blah blah blah... *mumbled under breath* Trekkers, PC nazi lovin' motherfu... *grumble, growl, grumble*

;-)

[Rev. Darkstar]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.............

What have I started???

[Albert]

The thing I don't understand about later Star Trek (post-TNG era) is why they even need the technobabble at all. Back in the original show, all Scotty had to say was, "I can fix it, but it'll take time!" We didn't need this "I can reroute power from the gravometric plating back to the flux capacitor" crap. It's funny to notice how much trouble James Doohan had spitting out technobabble in ST: Generations. He obviously wasn't used to it.

And going back to Superman: the Movie, the flying sequence with Supes and Lois always struck me as odd, but it's certainly not the worst aspect of that scene. If StM had been an awful movie, most people would be too busy harping on Margot Kidder reading "Can You Read My Mind?" to worry much about the aerodynamics.

[Flangepart]

"Of the picking of nits, there is no end." Good one, Funk,E. The bullet and gunshot points barely redgestered, till you said that. D'oh! And thank you, fellow Dwarfers. The middle of the shows, when Kriton came into the team, made for the best stories. Hey, its a comedy, i don't need to make sense!....except as per character consistancy. When, on the planet of the waxdroids, and Arnold Judas gots his comeuppance, it was Lister in perfect form! Lister would revenge himself on "Smeghead" that way, but not the others. Humor that derives from the personalites is one thing that, indeed, make us forgive many, many, faults. Kind of like family.........