explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1589: Frankenstein

2015-10-12T22:39:50Z

Bartash:

I get all that—I came here to find out what the moon landing reference is all about. Any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 04:45, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
: xkcd has referred to "moon landing hoax" theories and their proponents (whom xkcd disparages) a few times, including [http://xkcd.com/202/ 202 "YouTube"], [http://xkcd.com/258/ 258 "Conspiracy Theories"], and [http://xkcd.com/1074/ 1074 "Moon Landing"]; this is (at least) the 4th such reference. [[User:Mrob27|Mrob27]] ([[User talk:Mrob27|talk]]) 05:16, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
: He says that, because he is a MONSTER, and has a damaged brain from a complete moron instead of from a famous scientist. You know - the plot of the movie ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.115.22|162.158.115.22]] 08:58, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
:: You think that because you're damaged by watching Young Frankenstein where they used a girl called Abbie Normal's brain. [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 22:18, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
Frankenstein A.K.A Elvis. Judging by that hairstyle [[User:Prack|Prack]] ([[User talk:Prack|talk]])
: I suggest the moon landing reference is simply Randall's monster subverting the attempt to redefine the canon. If Randall succeeds in redefining the monster's name, then it also becomes canonical that the moon landings were faked. Randall is unlikely to agree with the canon he has just created.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.127|141.101.98.127]] 10:16, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
:: That was my thought too (just not formulated quite as clearly). [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.33|198.41.238.33]] 11:38, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
::: I respectfully disagree. The monster saying that the moon landings were faked does not make anything surrounding the moon landings canon. It just makes it canon that the monster Frankenstein now holds this belief. Alternatively, in the story, The Doctor's creation was seen by the populace as an abomination amalgamated from human corpses. In the same vein, moon landing conspiracies are also amalgamated from several different sources each contributing their own theories to support the believer's general consensus, the moon landings were faked, and in the eyes of the populace this idea is an abomination. I'm surprised he didn't go for the low-hanging ''climate change is a hoax'' reference that would have been more recent for readers. In either case, it is fairly common for adherents of theories that run contrary to the scientific community to be labeled and name called by supporters of the scientific community. Especially in matters of religion.--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 16:36, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
:::: These are good points. It makes sense that Frankenstein was made with the brain of a conspiracy theorist. I don't think Frankenstein is trying to subvert The Doctor's or the comic author's canon-forming efforts, or anything so sophisticated. I ''do'' think these thoughts, in some form, should be in the article. It was not at all obvious why a moon landing hoax reference is in the comic, to me it was irrelevant noise. [[User:Mrob27|Mrob27]] ([[User talk:Mrob27|talk]]) 16:43, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
::::: In Randall's version, claiming the moon landing fake is what makes Frankenstein an abomination, instead of being hideous and committing murder (note Randall's Frankenstein doesn't seem to have much of a bad look, and the story ends immediately). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.66.23|141.101.66.23]] 18:11, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
:::::: I appreciate the more succinct explanation. I added this as an additional explanation above after the bit about the derivative works. I've never read the original story so I referenced the wiki for accuracy. My apologies if I made a mistake or didn't take the analogy far enough. --[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 20:01, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
::::Re "Climate change is a hoax": Except for the small detail that a significant percentage of the population does, indeed, believe climate change is a hoax. I'm not one of them, but still. Anonymous 21:31, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
"The doctor" is a joke in itself because it's analog to "The monster" of the original, so it's likely to start the same discussions the other way around. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.212|162.158.90.212]] 09:36, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
: While it is also likely a direct callback to the Doctor Who naming issue by capitalizing the word "doctor", I agree that the alt-text is intended to make both "Doctor Frankenstein" or "The Doctor" correct, like the comic makes both "Frankenstein" and "the monster" both now canonically correct. "The Doctor" naming issue is also fairly commonly corrected, but for a different reason and is extremely specific to people who grew up watching the original show. For quite a while during the Classic era, The Doctor's actor at the time was credited as "Dr. Who" or "Doctor Who", despite often being introduced (by himself or his companions) as "The Doctor" during the actual dialogue of the show. So, I'm guessing that Randall's saying that either name in all three of these cases (the monster/Frankenstein, the doctor/Dr. Frankenstein, and The Doctor/Doctor Who) would be the correct name to use. {{unsigned|PopeChris}}
::The credits issue isn't just specific to people who grew up watching the classic show. The Ninth Doctor in 2005 was also credited as "Doctor Who", and Eccleston and Piper regularly referred to the character that way. Capaldi now does so as well (probably because he grew up in the era when the character was credited that way). Just as producer John Nathan-Turner went on a crusade in 1981 to get everyone to start calling the character "The Doctor", actor David Tennant did the same thing in 2006. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 22:18, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking that the mouse over text is a matter of intentionally misunderstanding that the question wasn't about Dr. Who? --some guy[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.175|108.162.238.175]] 13:51, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
:Or you can intentionally misunderstand it even further—if you accept this comic as your canon, The Doctor, as in the character from Doctor Who, created Frankenstein, as in the monster. And he also probably wrote the story too. Why not? He started Nero's fire, wrote half of Shakespeare's plays (and one of his companions inspired half of the rest), manipulated someone into killing JFK… --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 22:39, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

Regarding the monster's "real" name, I thought either Dr. Frankenstein or the monster himself named him "Adam", as in "Adam and Eve". Anonymous 21:31, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
:The monster uses that name, but only metaphorically. Early on, he calls himself "the Adam of your labors", and later he says that he would have been "your Adam" but instead became "your fallen angel". Meanwhile, the fact that Dr. Frankenstein refuses to give the monster a name is an intentional symbol of his rejection of his creation, which the monster picks up on, which is a big part of what he struggles with. So, to say that "his name is Adam" would be a big stretch, and missing the point of the story.

:While nobody ever explicitly calls him "Frankenstein's monster", Dr. Frankenstein calls him "the monster" once, and a few others refer to him as "your monster" or "the monster". The doctor calls him "the creature" far more often, and uses other descriptions like "the demon", "you vile insect", etc., but "Frankenstein's monster" seems like the best name for the character.

:Finally, calling him "Frankenstein" isn't that silly. Why shouldn't he have the same last name as his father? James Whale's movie called him Frankenstein, and almost everything that's come since has been based far more on Whale's movie than Shelley's book. (If you think electricity was involved in bringing him to life, or that he was made of an amalgam of parts from different people, you're no thinking of the book.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.52|162.158.255.52]] 22:31, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

When Cueball says "Frankenstein is alive! I am a modern Prometheus!" he is confusing things more. The original book's title is "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" but now the Modern Prometheus and Frankenstein are different entities. [[User:Bartash|Bartash]] ([[User talk:Bartash|talk]]) 22:39, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1584: Moments of Inspiration

2015-09-30T16:27:49Z

Bartash:

Needs to explain who Lise Meitner is - I'd never heard of her, she's not on a level with the others in public consciousness. {{unsigned ip|141.101.70.43}}
: Using Marie Skłodowska Curie (instead of Lise Meitner) would be more understandable - both of them made groundbreaking discoveries in radioactivity research and Ms Curie is definitely more famous than Ms Meitner. But the author probably did not want to join everyone else in using Ms Curie as "the only one token lady scientist" - as discussed in [[896: Marie Curie]], where Lise Meitner (as well as Emmy Noether) is mentioned.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.77|141.101.106.77]] 07:52, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
:: Never let it be said that XKCD doesn't educate! (I think it's a good thing to have used Lise as the example. If everyone knows just about Marie Curie but few people know Lise Meitner, having read the comic they now know ''two'' influential women in physics, twice as many as before! Compare and contrast others such as Florence Nightingale and Rosalind Franklin. Ada Lovelace and Dame Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley.) Also, can anyone think of an observation that Marie could have made that wasn't what she did anyway, i.e. the ability of an electrometer to measure radiation, or that pitchblende is more radioactive than uranium.
::: Reading the {{w|Steve_Shirley|wiki article about Dame Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley}}, I suspect that being woman in man-dominated field was her only notable accomplishment. Not comparable with {{w|Ada Lovelace|Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace}}, who was at worst second programmer ever and discovered first computer bug. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:45, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
:::: But I assume you'd probably not heard of her, before just now, so it works as the example I was trying to give as a comparison to the fame of Lord Byron's daughter. I was actually tempted to use {{w|Joan Clarke}}, but doubtless everyone here has seen {{w|The Imitation Game}} if they didn't know about her already. And then there's {{w|Grace Hopper}}, if you want to talk about the ''term'' "computer bug". (Meanwhile {{w|Sophie Wilson}} is probably also probably just too niche, and British, to be worth a mention if you didn't think Steve was good enough.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.188|141.101.98.188]] 15:15, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
:: Anyway, who do you think {{w|Meitnerium|element 109}} was named after? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.188|141.101.98.188]] 10:05, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

Does anyone know who "John and Mildred" might be?
--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 09:13, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
:May Mildred be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Lager Mildred Lager]? An "american pioneer of natural foods and health food", but there's no mention of "John" in this article. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.217|162.158.114.217]] 11:19, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
::I doubt it since Mildred Larger was born after Darwin's death. I was wondering too who they might be, but I'm coming up empty. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 12:47, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
I'd like to point out that Newton really was inspired by watching apple fall, that isn't a myth. The myth is that he was actually hit by the apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Apple_incident [[User:KingSupernova|KingSupernova]] ([[User talk:KingSupernova|talk]]) 12:17, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

according to the german wikipedia, today's the tenth birthday of xkcd. i wonder if there's a connection between that and this strip's title... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.157|162.158.114.157]] 14:43, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

This comic seems to be about our desire to have neat stories that explain scientific discoveries. Each panel has an increasingly ridiculous story that explains a "Moment of Inspiration". [[User:Bartash|Bartash]] ([[User talk:Bartash|talk]]) 16:27, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

1550: Episode VII

2015-07-13T18:38:22Z

Bartash:

{{comic
| number = 1550
| date = July 13, 2015
| title = Episode VII
| image = episode_vii.png
| titletext = The Lord of the Rings sequel, set years after the Ring hubbub has died down, is just Samwise discreetly creeping back to Bag End to finish dropping the eaves.
}}

{{Incomplete|Clean up background, keep minutia and trivia out of first explanation section}}

==Explanation==
Sequels are often made to resolve issues that are left unresolved in the original works. In this comic Randell attempts to humorously resolves all the unresolved issues in the Star Wars Franchise in a single scene.

At the time of the comic, the movie ''{{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}'' (also known as ''Episode VII''), directed by {{w|J. J. Abrams}}, was unreleased, and is was reveled to be a sequel to the {{w|Return_of_the_Jedi}} and therefore a sequel to the the original trilogy.

In ''{{w|Star Wars (film)|Star Wars}}'' (''Episode IV: A New Hope''), {{w|Owen Lars}} tells his (step-)nephew, {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, to clean two newly purchased droids ({{w|R2-D2}} and {{w|C-3PO}}), to which Luke complains that he had plans to pick up some power converters in Tosche Station. Luke starts cleaning the droids first, but then discovers a message which starts Luke's quest through the events in the original trilogy.

In Randall’s vision of the movie, Luke returns to {{w|Tatooine}} years later with R2-D2 to finish the errand that was interrupted. Luke goes to Tosche Station and says “I’m here for '''those''' power converters”, thus completing this unresolved task from the first movie. The action is framed by the opening and {{w|closing credits}}, suggesting this uneventful scene comprises the entire film. Thus the joke being that there were not many, if any, unresolved issues in the other films, and that getting the power converters was the most pressing. It is clear that this might possibly be the most boring event that could have formed the basis for a film.

The title text alludes to another fantasy franchise, ''{{w|Lord of the Rings}}'', and how {{w|Samwise Gamgee}} was similarly interrupted from a menial task of gardening and listening in on conversations outside {{w|Bag End}} by {{w|Gandalf}} and his quest to save the world at the start of the first film. The title text uses the term “dropping eaves” as Samwise did in his denial of eavesdropping in on the conversation between Frodo and Gandalf. In both cases, the issue of collecting power converters and Sam’s gardening duties were left unresolved in their respective stories.

The weekend prior to this comic’s release, Abrams and others involved in the film appeared in a panel at San Diego Comic-Con to unveil many important details about the film.

===Star Wars Background===
In Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope), Owen Lars tells his (step-)nephew, Luke Skywalker, to clean two newly purchased droids (R2-D2 and C-3PO), to which Luke complains that he had other plans:
:'''Uncle Owen:''' Luke! Take these two over to the garage will ya? I want ’em cleaned up before dinner.
:'''Luke:''' But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!
:'''Uncle Owen:''' You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done. Now, come on. Get to it.

Luke’s line in this exchange is among many well-known and oft-quoted lines from the films. This line in particular is often quoted as an example of how Luke is initially portrayed as a whiny teenager. By the end of the {{W|Return of the Jedi|''Episode VI:Return of the Jedi''}}, Luke has grown into a mature and powerful Jedi, completing his transformation though the original trilogy.

====Star Wars Trivia====
''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' is the seventh live-action film in the {{w|Star Wars}} franchise. The film is the first since the rights to the franchise were sold by Lucas to the Disney Company. The film has also been entrusted to producer/director J.J. Abrams, who in 2009 produced and directed the ''{{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek}}'' reboot. Much of the early buzz around the film surrounded the nature of the new film's plot: For example, whether it would be a prequel or a sequel, and whether it would feature any of the original cast/characters.

The Star Wars franchise features some of the most well-known science fiction films of all time, and several of the highest-grossing films of all-time. The prior films consist of a trilogy, released between 1977 and 1983, and a prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005. The prequel trilogy, especially the first film, was heavily criticized by many and considered poor in comparison to the original trilogy. The creator, George Lucas, has been criticized for his constant "tinkering" with the films, amending them even after their release. Notably, he started reworking the original trilogy in the 1990s, adding and replacing old special effects using computer graphics, and adding or revising various scenes according to his "original vision". Many consider George Lucas to have made many negative contributions to the film franchise since the original trilogy was released. One of the most notable of these was the scene in which Han Solo is introduced, where he is accosted by a bounty hunter who, in the revised scene, shoots at Han first. This change was widely criticized as severely altering the nature of Han Solo's character.

==Transcript==
:[Black background, lettering in the style of the Star Wars logo]
:Star Wars The Force Awakens

:[Building in the desert, two men in the background, another running in front of the building. Next to the building is a sign.]
:sign: Tosche Station

:[Hooded man standing next to R2D2]
:Hooded man: Hello.

:[Closeup of hooded man. The man has a mustache and a beard.]
:Hooded man: I’m here for those power converters.

:[Black background, white letters (to resemble movie credits)]
:Directed by J.J. Abrams

Title text: The Lord of the Rings sequel, set years after the Ring hubbub has died down, is just Samwise discreetly creeping back to Bag End to finish dropping the eaves.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]