Questions tagged [realism]

The general attempt to depict things accurately in films and tv shows.

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Is the Unix operating system featured in Jurassic Park real?

When the film Jurassic Park came out, and I saw that scene where Ariana Richards is sitting in front of the computer and says; This is a Unix system. I know this. It's the files for the whole ...
Reactgular's user avatar
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93 votes
3 answers
20k views

How accurate is this computer hardware in the movie Wall Street?

In the movie Wall Street, there are two monitors that look like some kind of computers with funny looking keypads. What are they? Did they really use this kind of equipment back then?
Yu Zhang's user avatar
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75 votes
2 answers
8k views

Why is Discovery One covered in sulphur in "2010: The Year We Make Contact"?

In the first half of 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the Soviet ship Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov is tasked with approaching the American USSC Discovery One, the main craft from 2001: Among the first ...
Jules's user avatar
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66 votes
10 answers
64k views

Is it really as easy to knock someone out in real life as in the movies?

As a child I watched (with my father) a boxing match which lasted 12 rounds. At the end neither fighter resembled his previous pretty self, but nobody got knocked out either. I just watched Terra ...
1Up's user avatar
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64 votes
2 answers
38k views

Why were mouse holes often represented in cartoons and movies like this?

I was recollecting on some old Tom & Jerry cartoons and began to wonder why mouse holes were often represented like the picture below. Did it just have to do with the cartoonist trying to ...
landocalrissian's user avatar
62 votes
2 answers
14k views

Why does the roadrunner say "beep beep"?

What is the reasoning behind having the roadrunner say "beep beep" constantly? Do real roadrunner birds make a similar sound?
sanpaco's user avatar
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61 votes
4 answers
35k views

Can a single bullet from a handgun kill three people in the way Deadpool did?

In Deadpool's bullet-counting action scene, Deadpool kills three guys with his last bullet. The bullet is shown going through all the three men's skulls. So, how feasible is that in the real world (...
Dawny33's user avatar
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61 votes
1 answer
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Was a supercomputer really needed in "The Martian"?

In "The Martian", Rich Parnell uses a supercomputer to calculate a life saving slingshot trajectory that allows Watney to be saved. The entire film is renowned for its scientific care, so I was ...
Stilez's user avatar
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57 votes
4 answers
15k views

How does a rifle fire backwards?

In the movie, The American, Jack modifies a rifle for a female assassin; later he realises this rifle will be used to kill him so he modifies it further without telling the female assassin. When the ...
Yu Zhang's user avatar
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53 votes
3 answers
12k views

Why do movies think the speed of sound is as fast as the speed of light?

In action movies where things blow up or heroes are shot by snipers from a long distance, or where fireworks are shown, the sound and the flash of the thing making the sound usually occur ...
matt_black's user avatar
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49 votes
5 answers
14k views

"A galaxy far, far away..." -- from where?

I have a question about Star Wars. Recently, I pay more attention to the text and come up with a question. There's a quote in the text. Long time ago. In a galaxy far, far away... Far away from ...
ashura91's user avatar
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46 votes
4 answers
14k views

Are scorpions frequent in US suburb gardens or is this a plot exaggeration?

In Walt Disney Pictures-produced comic science-fiction 1989 movie Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, the Shrunken Kids are faced with a scorpion when trying to find their way back home from the jungle of their ...
wip's user avatar
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44 votes
4 answers
12k views

Why would a ship that is able to recycle all water consumed have trouble running out of water?

In battlestar galactica season 1 episode 2 their watertanks were sabotaged and they lost Almost 60% of total potable water reserves. The rest of the episode were them looking for more water. Their ...
Daniel Vestøl's user avatar
44 votes
3 answers
21k views

Why do movies & TV use this police radio clip over and over?

Quick background The sound I am referring to can be heard in this video, in the police radio at 0.26. It sounds like, "one-four-one celibacy". I've noticed this sound for a long time. So, the ...
Mr. Manager's user avatar
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43 votes
3 answers
20k views

Was Tim's reaction to the electric fence realistic?

In Jurassic Park when Tim, Dr. Grant and Lex are climbing the fence and Tim gets shocked, he immediately goes flying off the fence. How realistic was this behavior?
Charles's user avatar
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42 votes
6 answers
14k views

What could have resulted in such a huge crater in WW I?

In the movie, 1917, there is huge crater filled with muddy water and bodies, what could have caused it? It is a bit too big for an artillery shell.
Yu Zhang's user avatar
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41 votes
3 answers
10k views

Would a DeLorean actually break apart into a million pieces if hit by a freight train?

The scene in Back to the Future III where the freight train destroys the DeLorean seems a bit unrealistic to me. It makes the car look like it was made of wood or cinder blocks. Maybe if the train was ...
masospaghetti's user avatar
40 votes
4 answers
85k views

Is it really possible to produce 99.9% crystal meth?

In Breaking Bad Walter White is known to be the master chef of blue meth, while yielding unheard of 99.9% purity. Is this possible or it is a big myth from the beginning?
eYe's user avatar
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40 votes
2 answers
8k views

Is it scientifically possible to grow potatoes in Martian soil?

In The Martian (2015) we see the protagonist planting potatoes in soil that he dug out from the surface of Mars. Wouldn't the soil be incapable of sustaining life for the potatoes (let alone giving ...
Ahmad's user avatar
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39 votes
4 answers
8k views

Equivalent of 555 for IP addresses

I came across a tweet complaining about 24 using 2.718.281.828 as an IP address, which obviously wouldn't work. Others responded that using a non-functional IP address is like using 555 for phone ...
Golden Cuy's user avatar
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36 votes
2 answers
8k views

Is NYC taxi cab number 86Z5 reserved for filming?

I was just watching Jessica Jones and noticed the cab she was riding in was number 86Z5. Immediately afterwards I watched an episode of The Leftovers set in NYC, and one of the characters also hailed ...
miken32's user avatar
  • 561
35 votes
1 answer
10k views

Do janitors really earn more than the resident doctors in the US?

This is in reference to Scrubs season 2 episode 22 - My Dream Job. In this episode, Janitor tells J.D. that he earns quite more than the latter. Here is their conversation: J.D.: Mornin'. Janitor: I ...
Ravindra S's user avatar
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34 votes
1 answer
14k views

Is the device Beca uses in Pitch Perfect 2 a real musical device?

In the Pitch Perfect movies, Beca creates beats with this key-pad-like device with colorful square buttons that don't have labels. I don't know what to call it and I haven't been able to find anything ...
Josh Withee's user avatar
34 votes
1 answer
7k views

Did the actors in All Creatures Great and Small actually have their hands in the animals?

During the holidays I started watching the old BBC show, All Creatures Great and Small again. Some scenes in the Yorkshire stables seem a little strange. Did Christopher Timothy actually have his hand ...
Black Senator's user avatar
34 votes
3 answers
10k views

How far from reality is 'Black Hawk Down' when a Delta sergeant carries an unsecured weapon during a barbecue?

In a scene from the film Black Hawk Down the soldiers are having a barbecue at the base, and while grabbing some salad a Delta operator is confronted by a Ranger about his "hot" weapon (safety off and ...
pat3d3r's user avatar
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34 votes
1 answer
8k views

Why do some Chinese shows avoid using real toponyms?

While watching the 2023 Chinese tv adaptation of Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem with English subtitles, I noticed a peculiarity: Instead of using actual place names, the show appears to use ...
O. R. Mapper's user avatar
33 votes
3 answers
36k views

Is this mask really possible?

Sometimes we see a mask is used by an actor of a film by which he drastically changes his face. I was under the impression that only after plastic surgery one can change his face. I stumbled upon this ...
Mistu4u's user avatar
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33 votes
2 answers
6k views

In the movies - Do wire transfers really work?

In a lot of the movies the bad guys seem to prefer wire transfers as their payment method of choice. In the recent movie Non-Stop, the terrorist provides a bank account number and demands a payment of ...
TheBlackBenzKid's user avatar
32 votes
5 answers
166k views

How real are Bear Grylls TV shows? (Ultimate Survival in particular)

In Ultimate Survival on Discovery channel, we see Bear Grylls do amazing stuff, hunting dangerous animals, climbing dangerous mountains and all that fun stuff. There was another similar show on that ...
Lynob's user avatar
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31 votes
1 answer
15k views

Is the drug used to stop infection in The Rock real?

In The Rock (1996), Nicolas Cage used an injection to stop himself from being infected by the deadly virus. Is that a real drug in real life or just some fictional creation? How does it stop virus ...
user1589188's user avatar
31 votes
1 answer
5k views

How much of Twister is true?

Obviously I know that it's a story but . . . Has anyone actually successfully placed an instrument package into a tornado and received scientific data? In this respect, was the film Twister (1996) ...
Pat Dobson's user avatar
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31 votes
1 answer
5k views

Why is the ring of debris (accretion disk) surrounding Gargantua shaped the way it is?

Why does the depiction of the black hole Gargantua in Interstellar look the way it does? I understand why the ring is bright (due to the friction) but why does it loop around what seems to be two ...
hello_there_andy's user avatar
30 votes
2 answers
8k views

Source code on Nedry's workstation: real programming language/s?

There is what appears to be source code depicted on Nedry's work station before he shuts down the gates, I wanted to know if this belongs to real programming language/s? (so we can all laugh/cry at ...
hello_there_andy's user avatar
29 votes
3 answers
9k views

Are the computers in Severance real?

Is this computer, as in hardware, fictional? It has a very strange keyboard layout. Everything with the computers is wrong, given the high-tech background of Lumon Industries.
Yu Zhang's user avatar
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29 votes
4 answers
4k views

Scientific accuracy of Jurassic Park's premise?

I was just watching a documentary about dinosaurs and this question came to my mind. In Jurassic Park, the whole story is based on the premise that dinosaurs were recreated using the blood found in an ...
Ankit's user avatar
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28 votes
14 answers
44k views

How credible is the ending of Collateral?

Here's what happens at the end of Collateral (2004): The taxi driver manages to defeat a highly skilled hitman. Is it mere luck? Should we accept this as a screw-up on the part of the movie ...
tshepang's user avatar
  • 2,239
28 votes
8 answers
56k views

How realistic was Gus Fring's demise scene?

I have always wondered about this one scene in Breaking Bad where Hector blows up the hospital and then we see Gustavo Fring walking out of the room while fixing his tie. It is then revealed that half ...
eYe's user avatar
  • 16k
28 votes
4 answers
12k views

Could someone actually survive an F-5 category tornado in this manner?

In Twister, there is a scene near the end of the film featuring Bill and Jo strapping themselves onto a metal pipe that apparently goes down into the ground 30 feet. Here! These pipes go down at ...
steelersquirrel's user avatar
27 votes
1 answer
9k views

Terminator Haircut Change

Is there a reason why Terminator haircut changes after he crashes into the wall? Is there a deleted scene by any chance that was cut out as one can see that haircut of terminator changes. This is in ...
Matas Vaitkevicius's user avatar
26 votes
2 answers
8k views

How realistic is it to have maggots to remove dead flesh?

In House of the Dragon, S01E02, the maester is giving King Viserys I a very unique treatment for his pinky finger. By burying it into a swamp of maggots. The purpose is to allow maggots to eat away ...
Yu Zhang's user avatar
  • 16.4k
26 votes
4 answers
8k views

Is it really possible to cause military-grade explosives to explode with a gun shot?

At the end of Suicide Squad: According to IMDB Goof's, it states, Military-grade explosives do not explode when shot at; the (sic) require a blasting cap to be set off. This is a safety feature of ...
Mishra Shreyanshu's user avatar
25 votes
10 answers
4k views

Why are computer hackers shown to either be geniuses, or show them doing it in fantastic ways?

I was watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Lisbeth Salander was really good at hacking computers as well as other security breaking skills, to the point where it was way too easy to do from a ...
Anonymous's user avatar
  • 383
25 votes
1 answer
9k views

Why was this sailor painting a Swastika on a US Destroyer?

In the WWII movie Greyhound (2020), at about 25:00 we can see a sailor painting a Swastika symbol on the ship. This happens right after they have sunk a Nazi U-Boat. Why was this sailor painting a ...
Rahul's user avatar
  • 12k
25 votes
4 answers
93k views

Is the 10th man rule purely fictional, or is it based in fact?

In World War Z, one of the characters described something called "the tenth man rule." After several disasters that NO ONE thought could happen, the Council decided that if a vote was unanimous ...
David Stratton's user avatar
25 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is HBO's Chernobyl accurate about the sequence of instructions causing reactor stall?

In the series finale of Chernobyl on HBO, Dyatlov orders Akimov and Toptenov to bring the reactor power down to 700 MW, as per the written test instructions, and then leaves the room without giving a ...
GrayOnGray's user avatar
24 votes
6 answers
48k views

Is it really possible to create a mind palace?

In Sherlock the BBC TV series the protagonist Sherlock and the villain Magnussen are able to recall information from their mind similar to searching for a file in Windows. Is this really possible? If ...
Cool_Coder's user avatar
  • 1,708
24 votes
5 answers
11k views

Is Eisenheim's sword illusion realistic?

Eisenheim performs a sword illusion in The Illusionist (2006). Is this illusion realistic? Could it be practiced in real life? Here is a YouTube video showing what I mean:
Mehper C. Palavuzlar's user avatar
23 votes
4 answers
10k views

Are helicopters capable of carrying this type of giants?

In The BFG, UK helicopters carry giants and leave them on an island: Are helicopters capable of carrying this type of giants?
Richard Matthews's user avatar
23 votes
3 answers
21k views

Can a headshot from a sniper really cause muscle spasm?

It seems like a common thing in television and movies to have a bad guy in a stand down with the cops but they won't shoot him even though they have a clear shot because he has a gun on a hostage or ...
sanpaco's user avatar
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23 votes
2 answers
18k views

How could Eisenheim achieve those reflections on the scene in that era?

In The Illusionist (2006), how could Eisenheim achieve those reflections (visions) on the scene? Even in one of the scenes, there was a (ghost) boy walking through the audience. Given that the film ...
Mehper C. Palavuzlar's user avatar

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