But how the hell did they get out of there?

[kidsick5000]

Why did Diane's parents not bat an eyelid at their underage child bringing a strange man back to the house (even if she made him sleep in the hall)?

What I got from them in the film is that they are those wealthy, "cool" liberal type parents. The type that want to be a friend more than a parent - hence their underage daughter going out clubbing and shagging. Eh, Billy Ray

[El Unicornio, mang]

I'd like to know how General Zod and his cohorts can speak English.

See also: every sci-fi movie/TV show ever made. I guess we have to suspend our disbelief a bit on those since it would be a logistical nightmare for them to come up with new languages for every alien species, and then figure out a way to have them all communicate with each other.

[Gulftastic]

I'd like to know how General Zod and his cohorts can speak English.

Under Earth's yellow sun, their minds become like super-computers, and they learn the language instantly, upon hearing a couple of sentences. Sadly, this doesn't work for Non, who I guess becomes a super-retard.

Actually, speaking of 'Non', at the start, when they are reading out the charges against Zod and co, they list some heinous crimes for Zod and Ursa, but Non's crime is apparantly being a creature incapable of thought. Krypton is the clearly the Texas of Outer Space as his mental age is no excuse.

[Mister Six]

All this talk about Silence of the Lambs and nobody's explained (or wondered) how the hell one picks a lock with a pen lid.

There was a good 'how did they get out of there' moment in an episode of Pokemon[nb]It was Saturday morning, I was hungover and... well, it was actually quite a fun series.[/nb] where the two incompetent villains, Jesse and James, are left suspended over a spike pit. When they confront the heroes later in the episode, one of the goodies asks how on Earth they escaped. 'We don't know,' says James, 'and neither do the writers.'

[MojoJojo]

I haven't seen it in a while but in that instance isn't he using a keyboard and screen to control his interaction rather than the head plug thing. I think Neo comes up behind him during that scene and disturbs him?

It's edited like that, yes - Neo comes in, Cypher panics a bit and turns off his screen.
But it doesn't really work, since Cypher spends a lot of time going on about how tasty the steak is in the restaurant.

It's not hard to believe he could have set the thing up on automatic to put him in for some set time. But then they have to tap into the matrix somewhere, and it's hard to imagine they could do that without someone noticing.
Of course since he is meeting up with some agents it's possible they set up a radio link or something.

Summary - who cares.

[CollaterlySisters]

See also: every sci-fi movie/TV show ever made. I guess we have to suspend our disbelief a bit on those since it would be a logistical nightmare for them to come up with new languages for every alien species, and then figure out a way to have them all communicate with each other.

Except tHHGttG of course :)

[Ignatius_S]

yea... and but nobody on the ship was supposed to check that The Emperor and Darth Vader are ok? The Emporer and Vader are off fighting somewhere with no troops gurading outside the door... 'How did they get out of there?'  (also, it should never been about to blow up, the rebels had no good way of destroying such a huge heavily armed destroyer, )....

Well, the question of 'what happened to the Emperor's Imperial Guard?' has been asked before.

As for the rest of them - give the guys a break! They were probably on minimum wage anyway and with Vader's temper, you think they would risk interrupting on the off chance that it wouldn't be appreciated?

[lipsink]

Well, the question of 'what happened to the Emperor's Imperial Guard?' has been asked before.

As for the rest of them - give the guys a break! They were probably on minimum wage anyway and with Vader's temper, you think they would risk interrupting on the off chance that it wouldn't be appreciated?

It's the equivalent of interupting a managers meeting to warn them that the office is burning down. I wouldn't bother either.

[mycroft]

To tie the languages thing with Star Wars, I was always bugged by the way aliens would talk in their own languages, but then the human characters would understand and reply in English. And then when C-3PO is translating for Jabba the Hutt and the bounty hunter Leia is disguised as, he talks to both in English and is understood.

I imagine there's some piece of obscure fiction in a Star Wars novel somewhere that explains every citizen has a tiny translator chip in their ear or something...

[Ambient Sheep]

Except tHHGttG of course :)

...and Star Trek (Universal Translator) and Doctor Who (the TARDIS fucks with your brain to do it).


I think Star Trek's excuse comes last, to be honest.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

What I don't get about the universal translator is, why do the aliens' mouths still sync up with what they're saying?

[Mister Six]

I'm not a scientist, but I believe it's something to do with space magic.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Aint no magic in space, boy!

[Antiseptic Poetry]

What I don't get about the universal translator is, why do the aliens' mouths still sync up with what they're saying?

What I don't get it; how comes Worf usually talks in English, but sometimes uses words of untranslated Klingon? Surely it should all come out in English..

[Mister Six]

...and Star Trek (Universal Translator) and Doctor Who (the TARDIS fucks with your brain to do it).


I think Star Trek's excuse comes last, to be honest.

And Farscape, in which microbes crawl into your ear and rewire your brain so that you see and hear things differently.

[Zero Gravitas]

EAR!? You're confusing translator microbes with the babel fish!

[lipsink]

In Doctor Who if someone says "I'm getting déjà vu" should it come out as "I'm getting already seen"?

EDIT: Oh yeah, of course the TARDIS would already translate Doc 10's "Allons-y" to "Let's go". The TARDIS must think: Doh, he's being eccentric again!

[Zetetic]

Nah, it's much easier to explain things like that away in Doctor Who (which ostensibly relies on telepathy, or at least knowing how the brains of everyone involved are wired), than in Star Trek (which ostensibly manages radical translation and extrapolation based on short snatches of conversation). (I suppose, that if you were stretching you might claim that the Star Trek translators simply find themselves unable to work out what certain words mean based on their limited data. It's not utterly unreasonable to suppose that it'd struggle more with non-concrete terms, if we're somehow believing that it copes with anything.)

The TARDIS doesn't take sound (in some language) as input and English noise as output - it takes intention[nb]sort of[/nb] as input and then attempts to render this appropriately to each individual. I'm not even sure that there's any reason why (the Doctor and) each companion should 'hear' the same words.

[An tSaoi]

The universal translator was illustrated well in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, when Kirk and McCoy were on trial. Christopher Plummer is talking in Klingon, and our two heroes listen in on walkie-talkie things, where they hear a slightly delayed English translation (like at the UN) playing over his Klingon barks. Eventually, the English translation starts to get more inline with Plummer's lip movements, to the point where he continues the scene in English (ie in the world of the characters it wouldn't match his lips, but for the sake of the drama they sync it up).

I think it was the first time they addressed the mechanics of the technology.

[The Region Legion]

I think it was the first time they addressed the mechanics of the technology.

Actually they give quite a laboured explanation of it in the original series episode "Metamorphosis", fact fans.

[Barberism]

Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra. Shaka. When the walls fell.

[wheatgod]

Temba. His arms wide.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Shaka

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!

[Gulftastic]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!

Bravo! Great big fucking BRAVO!

[Zero Gravitas]

. Eventually, the English translation starts to get more inline with Plummer's lip movements, to the point where he continues the scene in English (ie in the world of the characters it wouldn't match his lips, but for the sake of the drama they sync it up).

Oh no it's a better solution than that!

Plummer initially speaks in Klingon and the only way we can understand is subtitles then there's a cut to the bank of translators that are relaying to kirk in English which we hear over Plummer's Klingon Dialogue then there's a cut back Plummer where he is speaking normally in English which perfectly follows from the last words of the translators although they are now inaudible.

It's a wonderful series of transitions dealing with the language problem in any case.

[The Region Legion]

Although Plummer's Klingon is pretty bad in the opening of that scene. Sounds more like clearing his throat than a language.

[mobias]

In Trainspotting, how did convicted thief Renton get a job in London as an estate agent?

You're kidding, right? Have you ever met a London estate agent? They're all fucking crooks.

[non capisco]

Well, I've mentioned it before, but BOTH the original King Kong and the Peter Jackson remake fail to explain just how Denholm and his cohorts manage to get a church-sized ape to fucking New York with only a small (and heavily weathered in the latter film) fishing vessel as transportation.  What, you can add over an hour's running time, Jacko, but you can't throw in some explanatory dialogue?  You FUCK!

Or why they discovered there were DINOSAURS running about on that island and they were still only bothered about bringing back the ape.

[non capisco]

Sadly, this doesn't work for Non, who I guess becomes a super-retard.

I'm really just a bit quiet.

[kidsick5000]

Or why they discovered there were DINOSAURS running about on that island and they were still only bothered about bringing back the ape.

Oddly enough, my gripe about transporting King Kong also blocked out the fact that there were dinos.
This means that with a lack of dinosaurs and a clear picture of how the ape was transported, the 1977 version is closest to the truth[nb]It is based on true events, isn't it?[/nb]