Supermallet

From that link:
"The phrase 'forget everything you've seen in the movies' is generally followed by information that is, sadly, exactly the same as seen in the movies."

UAIOE

I've come to realize that no matter what wacky shit the Japanese cook up, Godzilla is gonna stomping half of Tokyo and most of the military. He's like an earthquake or typhoon, prepare all you like, but stuff is gonna get trashed.

I still haven't figured out why people always act surprised when he shows up. The military gets massive finding to build wacky ass laser arrays to stop him, and the general public is unaware of what this is for and why they are paying for it?

Drexl

I don't know if it counts, but the Back to the Future series is full of these because obviously people in a time period aren't aware of future (or past) technology and culture.

majorjoe23

Superhero comics existed in Watchmen, Hollis Mason talks about being inspired by now forgotten characters like Superman, it's just that with real superheroes, people lost interest in reading about fictionalized versions and things like pirate comics took off in popularity.

milo bloom

Not really. An example of this in BTTF would be if Doc were tell Mary he had built a time machine and Marty wouldn't have known what a time machine was and Doc would have had to explain it. Actually, it's been so long since I've seen this movie, is Marty aware of what it is or does Doc have to explain it to him (and the audience?)

Groucho

Marty clearly is aware of the pop culture concept of a time machine, as evidenced by the famous line "Dr. Scott, are you saying that you turned this sports car into a time traveling device?!"

Supermallet

Wait, what?

Dan

Regarding Time Travel:
Start at 2:46. End at 2:58.

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Drexl

Well, I was thinking of stuff like people not knowing about rock and roll, or the kids in 2015 wondering why you have to use your hands on an arcade machine.

Supermallet

While the timing isn't exactly right (by November 1955 several rock and roll records had been released [including Chuck Berry, although the song Johnny B. Goode wouldn't be released until 1958]), and Rock Around The Clock was already a chart topping hit as of July 1955, I could see how a group of high schoolers in the suburbs may have been surprised by a rock and roll song, especially performed as forcefully as that.

As for the kids in the second movie, I think it's fairly easy to see how kids are often ignorant of things before their time.

Rockmjd23

The conversation between Marty and the guy at the diner is really dated today with the Pepsi Free and Tab references. I think I'd be smart enough not to order a Coke Zero or Pepsi Max if I found myself in 1980.

majorjoe23

You want a Coke, pal, you gotta pay for it!

Groucho

I've noted this before, but if Marty traveled forward in time to today and tried to place the same order, the conversation would be almost identical.

majorjoe23

On the opposite end of this idea, I've caught a few episodes of CSI where they come running in with guns drawn yelling "CSI!" but I have to think that if it weren't for the show most people wouldn't know what CSI means.

So is there a CSI show in the CSI universe?

Supermallet

To me that's not nearly as big of a problem as the fact that I highly doubt that CSI teams run anywhere with guns drawn shouting "CSI!" in the first place.

Drexl

Right, and that's why I figured they wouldn't count. Obviously in a time travel movie, characters are expected to not be aware of stuff outside their time period. This thread seems to be about things people are supposed to know.

Solid Snake

Didn't DAM take place in 1999? But that's irrelevent cuz that timeline doesn't exist anymore. Cuz of all the new timelines...ugh.

The best timeline in terms of making sense was the Heisei series.

majorjoe23

That struck me as odd too.

rw2516

The 50s kids didn't go WTF? until Marty went all Hendrix with the guitar solo.

Navinabob

I figure enough people know about CSI... It's NCIS that gets me. Even with a Justice degree I had no clue what they were before they show and EVERYONE they meet just takes it in stride.

Dr Mabuse

You are now breathing manually.

milo bloom

Not exactly pop culture, but on shows like Star Trek where they repeat the plot and not one character ever goes "say, this is like that thing last year...."

Or ever wonder why the senior staff so rarely ever gets killed (and if they do it's near the end of the year...)

uberjoe

Actually, it's an ongoing joke (especially in the first couple of seasons) that few people outside the military or other federal agencies know about NCIS. Tony and Ziva were detained by a security guard, a Halloween partygoer told Gibbs he misspelled CSI on his hat, etc.

paradicelost

I was shocked the other day to see someone with a can of Tab, i was unaware they still made those.

ThomasB

Yes, and in fact, the "Muffin Man" episode of The Sarah Silverman Program includes a subplot entirely about TaB.