Cartoon Theories that don't make sense... (1 Viewer)

Heh, Here's one.

With the death of Tony Jay this week, I brought out some of my old Ninja Turtles 1987 episodes from the final season. I cna only turn it up so loud down here, since sound travels far .

Anyway, I got a chance to talk with the new writer of the final season after I beleive david wise left. In one plot, Carter uses Donatello's computer (wich apparently has no internet connection in 1996 ), to send a radio wave bouncing off of a star ten light years away. In Carters theory, it should come back bouncing to Earth 20 years later, and boom, he's right because here come his time travel friends instantaniously.

I told him I didn't think this was plausable, and then he points out to my 19 year or so old self, "You don't beleive that, but you think Time Travel in a device as small as a baseball is no problem at all?", or something along those lines. It's amazing.. I guess Ivan Reitmans Domino of reality theory is correct .

any other logic points like that one you can think up?

another classic post by neil.

ummm....neil, try not to post late at night when you're all hopped up on pixy sticks and soda.

kevin t

You really need to rent a girlfriend.

I think it is time to up Neil's meds.

Are we going to start discussing girlfriends again?

We should have a moderator create a "Neil V" section here at the HTF .

OK mods, just delete the thread. I know when I'm being made fun of, and sometimes it gets tiring..so much for creating something I thought would be fun...'logic' you would except as a kid but would find puzzling as an adult.

It also dosn't help I'm sick as a dog today and don't particularly feel like I'm in a good mood to begin with.

Neil:

I'm sorry, I just thought you were goofing around, because based on what you wrote I'm not sure what "theory" you are having a problem with. If you bounce a signal off an object 10 light years away the "echo" will return in 20 years. (Assuming you can send such a narrow beam that it "bounce" and be detectable on its return.)

What is it that "makes no sense" in all this? The ability to actually do that? The lack of an internet connection. The arrival of the Time Travellers? (What time travellers? I'm not familiar with the story - or who "Carl" is for that matter - so this is a little difficult to follow.)

I thought the - er - vagueness of the post was part of the gag. But if you're not feeling well and just having trouble getting your thoughts down on pixels I can understand that. But I think you also need to understand that what you posted isn't exactly a model of coherence and people are going to react to what you wrote, not what you meant to write or thought you wrote.

Regards,

Joe

needing to get a girlfriend comments are always inappropriate
otherwise i was goofing with you.

who is tony jay

Not to mention that, since the nearest antecedent of "him" is a cartoon character, you seem to be carrying on a two-sided argument with a fictional character. Quick, Watson, the needle!

I honestly tried to understand the orignal post without success. Perhaps you should clarify. Ninja Turtles (the cartoon) rule.

Anyway, I don't have a girlfriend either.

--
H

Ok, how about "It remains a mystery how with thoughts like this, one can be single."?

I'll try to explain this a bit better.. but now the cold is full blown ON, so I don't know if it'll make it sound even worse...

First I'll start with the plot, and keep in mind this episode was written around 1995 when the net just got started as we know it today.. and yes, I know it's science fiction, and there dosn't have to be realities in a toon plot. But keep in mind the thought pattern of a then 17 year old kid who still knows nothing about science....


The tulrtles Human Ally, Carter, needs to rescue the Turtles from Dreggs alien spaceship in Orbit. Seems he has drained all their intelligence, strength, and life force to become the most wisest of all ninjas with the skills to boot and is almost unstoppable. After Carter Transports to Earth via a transmat device, he returns to the turtles layer and uses a Pre-Windows 95 computer. He has heard of the adventures of the turtles trip to the future, and the two time travelers they had met who where trying to stop the alien Dregg from further conquering the galaxy. In their possesion was a time travel device the size of a baseball that could not only bring them to the past and present...but to different time preiods in different countries and dimensions as well.

He uses Donatello's computer, wich did have INTERNET written on the screen, to send a radio wave signal with a message bouncing off a star 10 light years away. When it came back 20 years in the future, the time travelers received it instantly, and arrived right beside Carter.



Now, after all that fantastic toon stuff, the one peice of plot my teen self zeroed in on was the 'bouncing a signal off a star to be received in the future' plot point. Yet I Accepted all the other 'logic' of time traveling devices, interdimensional time traveling, inter country time traveling, brain and strength draining, and alien spaceships...

That clear things up, or did my slight headach cause me to confuse things further? OK, off to having some veggies for lunch...maybe that'll help things...

Neil, I wasn't making fun. I love your posts and always have to click on any of your new threads. You're like a celeb around here Like why the turtles need to wear 'masks' in the first place? Would we all of a sudden be like "Oh my god! It's a turtle!" if they took the mask off?

OK, I read the thing quite a few times (it's still not a beacon of clarity) and understood the story. My question: What part do you object to? You've not made clear the section of the story you find implausible. Within the rules of the universe of a sci-fi show whose target audience is pre-teen boys, the story sounds quite reasonnable. Bouncing a signal off an object 10 light years away in order to get to people who will be in the source's location in 20 years is pretty damn clever, and should fire up the imagination and curiosity of 10 year olds everywhere.

So what's the beef?

--
H

Has anyone gotten salmonella poisoning from touching the turtles?

I think the problem here is not all of us followed "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and thus had no idea what you were talking about. I was 31 at the time and thought I had better uses of my time.
In my youth, I never questioned how Wil-E-Cyoyte (sp?) could survive repeated falls and anvil falls on his head or how Daffy could get shot and still speak, it was just funny. Whenever I watch an animated cartoon, I never question reality, I simply enjoy. I do see the purpose of your thread, there, i've just given you my two theories that do not make sense.

The big problem with "bouncing a signal off a star" is twofold. First, stars emit radio energy, but they're not what you'd call reflectors any more than a light bulb is a mirror. Second, while you can use a Laser to bounce a signal off a reflector placed on the Moon (about 1 light second away) during the Apollo project (how's that for evidence that it wasn't faked!), the spread in any conceivable kind of beam after 10 light years is such that only a tiny fraction of the signal would hit its target, and if that target is a sphere, even if perfectly reflective, that fraction is going to be re-radiated into a hemisphere of space, so the amount of signal returned to Earth would be effectively zero. Certainly it wouldn't be "loud" enough for anyone who didn't already know about it to pick up!

Oh yeah. I just spent umpteen words critiquing the science in an episode of a remarkably silly cartoon. /ambles away, whistling, hands in pockets/

or the main fact: If he could afford all of those ACME contraptions (to capture and eat the Road Runner)...why didn't he just BUY FOOD instead of the contraptions??!!!

I think it's time to decrease Neil's meds, at least the self-prescribed ones.