When it's clear no one bothered to research

Lexxie · Aug 6, 2012

absitinvidia said:
For me, the show that will always and forever have the single biggest WTF? is The Tudors.

And this is because in the show, Henry VIII has one sister, who dies young after producing no children.

Think about that for a minute. Go on, try to wrap your brain around that one.

I realize the show is not about historical accuracy, but FFS, they've wiped out THE ENTIRE ROYAL LINE SINCE 1603.

Heh, this made me think of the book 'The Frog Prince' where Queen Margrethe of Denmark (who is the actual queen of Denmark) has a daughter :O The real queen has two sons and no daughters, and I wondered what the queen thought about being used as a fictional character like that... It could have been more subtle, and used an actual fictional queen.

EMaree · Aug 6, 2012

meowzbark said:
Maybe its just me, but I think the most memorable offense to date is when someone fist-fought a zombie and won the fight without being infected.

I know it's science fiction but how is that remotely possible?

A) You don't ever get close to zombies.

B) Zombies are insanely strong.

C) You usually can only kill zombies by decapitation.

D) Even the tiniest scratch by a zombie will turn you into a zombie. Never known anyone to survive a bar fight or the equivalent without getting at least one bruise or scratch.

Zombie rules vary a lot depending on the writer. There's no set of rules that every zombie show or book will follow to the letter, so as long as the rules have been established to allow fist-fighting a zombie I'm fine with it. Did they bother to establish any rules or just go straight to the punch-up?

Quite a few takes on zombies have it only spread by blood-on-blood, or blood contact is fine and only a bite will kill you. Some shows even have characters that are flat-out immune to infection and can do what they like in a fight as long as they survive it.

Personally, I prefer when shows depict zombies without superstrength -- just walking corpses (none of that running dead business), complete with falling apart brittleness.

NeuroFizz · Aug 6, 2012

...and what if zombies hated the taste of brains, instead lusting for the taste of butt-bacon. Wouldn't it be frightening having to deal with zombies running around trying to bite everyone in the a$$?

scarletpeaches · Aug 6, 2012

NeuroFizz said:
...and what if zombies hated the taste of brains, instead lusting for the taste of butt-bacon. Wouldn't it be frightening having to to deal with zombies running around trying to bite everyone in the a$$?

I think I love you.

Stacia Kane · Aug 6, 2012

meowzbark said:
Maybe its just me, but I think the most memorable offense to date is when someone fist-fought a zombie and won the fight without being infected.

I know it's science fiction but how is that remotely possible?

A) You don't ever get close to zombies.

B) Zombies are insanely strong.

C) You usually can only kill zombies by decapitation.

D) Even the tiniest scratch by a zombie will turn you into a zombie. Never known anyone to survive a bar fight or the equivalent without getting at least one bruise or scratch.

Yeah, as EMaree said, zombies aren't real, so the writer can make up whatever they want. In PERSONAL DEMONS I had basically the exact situation you've described; the heroine fought off a couple of zombies with a showerhead and a bottle of hairspray & lighter (shooting flames). One zombie bites her.

The hero, after cleaning her wound because zombies are "filthy things," explains that the stereotypical "zombie" doesn't exist and what she fought are corpses re-animated magically. Their speed and strength varies according to the strength of the magic practitioner behind them--someone not very powerful would create very slow, weak zombies, and vice versa. Because they're re-animated by magic, they can't "spread" zombieism; they don't carry some disease that makes them zombies. So the only real danger to the heroine is a nasty infection.

In CHASING MAGIC I have people who are essentially turned into "zombies" because of the effects of some very powerful magic that gets into their system via adulterated drugs, combined with the effects of a spellbag on or near them. So again, a wound from them is no more likely to "turn" someone than a scratch from a rat would turn someone into a rat.

We don't all have to follow the rules set in place by the Living Dead movies. We're allowed to invent our own.

I can see thee might be a question if this isn't explained at all, but still. I have to admit I take a bit of issue with the idea that I was somehow wrong and "inaccurate" to create my own rules for fictional creatures in my own world.

LindaJeanne · Aug 6, 2012

Wasn't "Night of the Living Dead" the first Zombie movie? And in that, didn't you have to actually die to turn into a zombie?

The idea of the living being "infected" came much later, I think (and, I suspect, in response to collective fears about SARS, avian flu, aids, ebola, etc).

I think it's interesting to watch trends in what monsters are popular and ask what it says about the collective fears of society. Zombies in their "modern" form seem, to me, to represent both the fear of global pandemics and the fear of the rise in extremist forms of fundamentalism (i.e. group-think mindless hordes that want to eat your brains and make you just like them).

crunchyblanket · Aug 6, 2012

NeuroFizz said:
...and what if zombies hated the taste of brains, instead lusting for the taste of butt-bacon. Wouldn't it be frightening having to to deal with zombies running around trying to bite everyone in the a$$?

And suddenly, my next novel is born.

BigWords · Aug 6, 2012

LindaJeanne said:
Wasn't "Night of the Living Dead" the first Zombie movie? And in that, didn't you have to actually die to turn into a zombie?

Nope. Technically it isn't a zombie movie (they are called ghouls throughout), and there are much, much earlier films such as I Walked With A Zombie, White Zombie, and so on... Most of the earlier films were more in line with the Houdou tradition rather than the modern interpretation (which, FWIW, Night started).

LindaJeanne said:
The idea of the living being "infected" came much later, I think (and, I suspect, in response to collective fears about SARS, avian flu, aids, ebola, etc).

The "infected" part came largely from Dawn Of The Dead, and the numerous Italian knock-offs. Zombie Holocaust, in particular - with scenes set in a mortuary - plays on this fear.

Anninyn · Aug 6, 2012

It's not jsut books that do it either.

OK, so I know a lot about gaming. I am a gamer, I write about gaming, all that good stuff.

The TV show NCIS Has an episode with the worst misrepresentation of the hobby I've ever seen. Not in terms of 'all gamers are evil murderes!!' but jsut a complete misunderstanding of how it works and what different genres mean. Other gamers will cringe when I tell you that a line was (paraphrased)

"You have the highest scores in all the MMO's out there!"

NONONONONO.

It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that it was central to the plot of the whole episode.

scarletpeaches · Aug 6, 2012

crunchyblanket said:
And suddenly, my next novel is born.

Call it Butt-Bacon Boogie and dedicate it to me.

crunchyblanket · Aug 6, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
Call it Butt-Bacon Boogie and dedicate it to me.

Done, and done.

EMaree · Aug 6, 2012

Anninyn said:
"You have the highest scores in all the MMO's out there!"

Aauuuughhh my brain.

I do hate misrepresentations of gaming and gamer culture... and it makes me sad how very few female gamers are ever represented (and how even fewer are represented as something other than a rare and lustworthy creature). I think I've only ever seen webcomics come close to an accurate portrayal.

onesecondglance · Aug 6, 2012

Every time a "video game" reference talks about "lives" rather than save points, and high scores rather than achievements or rank, the writers are showing they either haven't played a game for fifteen years, or they think their audience haven't. I'm not sure which is worse... probably the latter. Assuming your audience is too stupid to recognise anything but the most obvious of clichés is just insulting.

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 6, 2012

Manuel Royal said:
If a writer uses the premise "something prevents electrical and electronic devices from working, but does not interfere with the electrochemical processes of life", that's fine. They don't even have to explain how it works. The premise itself is not inherently ignorant, nor is it an indication of lack of research. Now, if we find, with time, that the writers of the show are clueless about the questions such a premise brings up, then you've got a basis for your complaint.

Their Wikipedia page says batteries don't work either.

They seem to be saying that electrochemical processes work in bodies and the Earth, but not if they are put into battery casings.

writerjohnb · Aug 6, 2012

I've seen a lot of butt-bacon out there that even a zombie wouldn't want to bite.

Stacia Kane · Aug 6, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
Call it Butt-Bacon Boogie and dedicate it to me.

Out in the country past the city limit sign
Well there's a cemetery near the county line
The joint starts jumpin’ every night when the sun goes down
They got entrails, detached limbs & brains
It's where all the zombie folk go to butt-bacon boogie

I died twenty years ago but I still kick around
When it's eatin’ time I climb up out of the ground
My legs are kinda weak but I head toward the town
I go stumblin' cross the road to that old folk's home
Stuck out in the woods to do the butt-bacon boogie

Yeah, feets, toes, dosey doe come on baby let's eat the butt-bacon
Oh, Cadillac, blackjack, baby slice up those backs we're gonna boogie
Oh tear em up, gobble up now we sup the butt-bacon boogie

crunchyblanket · Aug 6, 2012

Stacia Kane said:
Out in the country past the city limit sign
Well there's a cemetery near the county line
The joint starts jumpin’ every night when the sun goes down
They got entrails, detached limbs & brains
It's where all the zombie folk go to butt-bacon boogie

I died twenty years ago but I still kick around
When it's eatin’ time I climb up out of the ground
My legs are kinda weak but I head toward the town
I go stumblin' cross the road to that old folk's home
Stuck out in the woods to do the butt-bacon boogie

Yeah, feets, toes, dosey doe come on baby let's eat the butt-bacon
Oh, Cadillac, blackjack, baby slice up those backs we're gonna boogie
Oh tear em up, gobble up now we sup the butt-bacon boogie

Catchy stuff

Sunflowerrei · Aug 6, 2012

blacbird said:
But it could simply be the result of a New York editor/publisher. My experience with New Yorkers in general is that they are the most geographically-challenged of all Americans. If you live much west of Newark, it's all the same place to them.

caw

We think we're the center of the universe, that's true, but I wouldn't say we're all geographically challenged. I'm not. There's a famous New Yorker cartoon of Manhattan and then the rest of the world behind it. But to native New Yorkers, Manhattan is largely the island of people from Iowa or whatever pretending to be New Yorkers...so I blame them for giving the impression that we're not good with other places.

absitinvidia said:
For me, the show that will always and forever have the single biggest WTF? is The Tudors.

And this is because in the show, Henry VIII has one sister, who dies young after producing no children.

Think about that for a minute. Go on, try to wrap your brain around that one.

I realize the show is not about historical accuracy, but FFS, they've wiped out THE ENTIRE ROYAL LINE SINCE 1603.

I remember in the last season, Henry goes on progress and he keeps going on about his Scottish nephew, the Scots king James, and how he's going to meet with them in Yorkshire and on and on. Historically accurate, because James was Margaret Tudor's son. Didn't make sense in-show because his one sister didn't marry the Scottish king.

And where did Charles Brandon's ten-year-old son come from? Who was that child's mother supposed be?

MDSchafer · Aug 6, 2012

So I'm watching "Tomorrow,When the War began," and despite the fact it's essentially the Australian version of Red Dawn (Some scenes are almost shot for shot) there's just one massive plot hole I can't really get past... who would attack Australia?

Seriously? How messed up do you have to be to try conquer Australia? They're largely detached from the world politically, have a massive land area and America and England (Okay, so it would be mostly America but Britain would "Help") would essentially remove modern technology from your country via strategic bombing so fast you're population would think they always lived in the stone age. This plot hole is so large they don't even address it in the movie. The attackers are vaguely Asian, don't speak any recognizable language and seemingly have no motivation for attacking. At one point the writers hang a lantern on it when they say, "What difference does a flag make," and then never address the subject again.

crunchyblanket · Aug 6, 2012

there's just one massive plot hole I can't really get past... who would attack Australia?

People who really, really don't like poisonous spiders.

BunnyMaz · Aug 6, 2012

Anninyn said:
It's not jsut books that do it either.

OK, so I know a lot about gaming. I am a gamer, I write about gaming, all that good stuff.

The TV show NCIS Has an episode with the worst misrepresentation of the hobby I've ever seen. Not in terms of 'all gamers are evil murderes!!' but jsut a complete misunderstanding of how it works and what different genres mean. Other gamers will cringe when I tell you that a line was (paraphrased)

"You have the highest scores in all the MMO's out there!"

NONONONONO.

It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that it was central to the plot of the whole episode.

This episode? To be fair, I think with NCIS you kind of have to have very low expectations or phenomenal suspension of disbelief to get through any episode.

BigWords · Aug 6, 2012

Riiight, and the CSI (? Or was that another stellar piece of scriptwriting on Law & Order? Numb3rs possibly?) episode with gamers running around shooting people with a little clicker to notch up how many people they have killed was completely fine...

Any time there is an episode centered around gaming I tend to switch over. Not worth the inevitable increase in my blood pressure.

BunnyMaz · Aug 6, 2012

I think Cracked ran a fairly amusing article about this... something about TV people having no idea how technology works.

scarletpeaches · Aug 6, 2012

Stacia Kane said:
Out in the country past the city limit sign
Well there's a cemetery near the county line
The joint starts jumpin’ every night when the sun goes down
They got entrails, detached limbs & brains
It's where all the zombie folk go to butt-bacon boogie

I died twenty years ago but I still kick around
When it's eatin’ time I climb up out of the ground
My legs are kinda weak but I head toward the town
I go stumblin' cross the road to that old folk's home
Stuck out in the woods to do the butt-bacon boogie

Yeah, feets, toes, dosey doe come on baby let's eat the butt-bacon
Oh, Cadillac, blackjack, baby slice up those backs we're gonna boogie
Oh tear em up, gobble up now we sup the butt-bacon boogie

I love you so much right now, I'd give you my Colin Farrell DVD collection*.

*This may or may not be a true indication of the level of my adoration.

Stacia Kane · Aug 6, 2012

MDSchafer said:
So I'm watching "Tomorrow,When the War began," and despite the fact it's essentially the Australian version of Red Dawn (Some scenes are almost shot for shot) there's just one massive plot hole I can't really get past... who would attack Australia?

Seriously? How messed up do you have to be to try conquer Australia?

Well, I dunno. I usually started there when I played RISK, and I always ended up winning the game in the end, so...

*officially sliding completely into irreverence*

Plus, Australians are awesome, in general.

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