I’m talking about a fan theory, that if true doesn’t drastically upend the fundamentals of the fiction it is set in.
Mine is that in the American Dad episode ‘Can I Be Frank With You’, that Snot’s uncle is actually just another Roger persona. He appears suddenly and conveniently to pitch a bizarre scheme, he loves hanging around with teen boys and doing drugs, and the very instant that the plan has a setback he kills himself out of sight of everyone else. That’s just Roger in a suit and glasses.
Edit: Ok, so, people are having trouble with the word “inconsequential”.
Throughout the Solo movie, Han tries to thread the needle multiple times and fails. In the end of the movie he finally succeeds but only after plugging Lando’s robo girlfriend’s brain into the Falcon. After that point they never suggest that they remove her from it. They never need an astromech to calculate jumps again and almost every single person that pilots the Falcon threads the needle at least once, including ray who has literally never flown before when she does it.
Han isn’t the pilot. He’s the captain of a ghost ship. Every mistake he’s made since then has been expertly corrected by the ship itself, now given a mind and one of the longest running navigation databases in the galaxy.
See, this one I like, because it’s one of those “man, I know the writers didn’t mean it that way, but it makes sense… and it’s horrifying!” theories.
The Falcon is so good, because for decades it has essentially had the crippled, half-dead “ghost” of a droid locked inside its computer systems, unable to fully die yet clearly devoid of her true consciousness.
Think of all the times the falcon stalls or shorts out or magically starts working again. That’s not Hans shitty maintenance, that’s the ship ignoring them until they figure out why it’s mad.
And, tbh, in the first movie (ANH), Han surprised and flies up behind Darth Vader, the Dark Jedi lord and best pilot flying a military TIE fighter, in the Falcon, essentially a souped up semi truck of a space ship. He then proceeds to shoot his ass out of the sky, the Force be damned.
Is it just me or is there something more going on here. That ship has some deep seated, Knight Rider, Herbie the Love Bug, strange magic going on.
Han and Chewie are good… But just maybe the Falcon is gooder.
Not only is it a military ship built for the exact type of situation out was in, but it was a custom build by Vader himself. Being a very skilled mechanic is almost more fundamental to his character then hating sand. He built a race winning podracer out of trash, imagine what he can do with 20 years more practice and the entire imperial budget.
And yet, an outdated tugboat from before he was born managed to take him down. That ship has soul.
In Empire, Han tells 3PO to “talk to the Falcon” and later 3P0 comments on the ship’s “peculiar dialect.” Obviously at the time those lines were written it was just a half joke half figure of speech, but you could argue in universe it implies Han knows the Falcon is conscious and 3P0 was referring to the fact that the Falcon was actually communicating with him, rather than just giving diagnostic data.
3P0: it uses a very peculiar dialect
Falcon: please… let me die…
In the Wizard of Oz, Glenda the “Good” Witch is actually a ruthless drug kingpin.
She used her magic powers to summon a tornado and then merks the Wicked Witch of the East with Dorothy’s house. She then puts WWotE’s shoes on Dorothy in order to make her a target for WWotE’s sister, the Wicked Witch of the West. Glenda then uses Dorothy as a stooge to bump off WWotW, thereby putting herself in control of Oz’s vast fields of opium poppies, and cornering the entire opium trade.
It doesn’t make sense any other way. Glenda could have told Dorothy to use the ruby slippers to get home at literally any point, but instead sends her on a wild goose chase, and uses her as a blunt instrument to take out the only other bases of power remaining in Oz: the WWotW, and the Wizard, who Dorothy exposes as a fraud. Only then does she tell Dorothy to click her heels, and poof: everything is all wrapped up with a bow, and Glenda’s hands are clean. Her two main rivals are dead, and the Wizard is fleeing Oz in disgrace.
It’s some fucking Kaiser Söze level shit.
This but she’s not a drug kingpin and didn’t do the Tornado.
A weird weather event drops a house on one of your 3 rivals and some farm girl steps out. Either it’s a bizarre coincidence or she’s an equally powerful if not more powerful mage. Either way, you don’t want her on your turf so you put a bright red target on her feet and send her after your next rival, who you think may be a fraud. Either she houses more people or she dies, either way it’s not Glenda’s problem.
In the end, she destroys a government, literally melts Glenda’s political and magical equal, and comes back like a lost puppy and Glenda can’t risk Dorothy accidentally melting her so age sends her home.
It wasn’t a pan, it was cleverly using your windfalls.
In the musical wicked which I suppose is canon and happens at the same time, Glenda reveals to Madame Morrible that the wicked witch of the west will probably show herself if her sister (the wicked witch of the east) is in danger. So Morrible summons the tornado to threaten the sister which coincidentally brings along Dorothy. Glenda secretly was good friends with Elphaba (WWotW) so wouldn’t have intentionally gotten her sister killed. There was a lot of politics and propaganda and stuff, but Glenda wasn’t really a villain, just a vain person who found it easier to support an autocracy. Someone who has read the books could probably explains it all, sorry if I’ve ruined your headcanon!
It was mentioned on the Kill James Bond podcast; The James Bond character continuum.
The reason why James Bond looks different over the years is because James Bond is a position and not a person. Multiple agents have held this position. When one is killed or captured, another agent takes over.
So, where did the different agents end up?
Well, JB by Sean Connery was imprisoned in the US for his many crimes, rape included.
Lazenby quit after his wife was murdered.
Roger Moore, I don’t remember. Killed by Dolph Lundgren, probably.
Timothy Dalton, don’t remember.
Pierce Brosnan was captured by North Korea.
And here are the implications: Sean Connerys James Bond was imprisoned on Alcatraz, and his later life is depicted in the movie The Rock.
Pierce Brosnan is still in an NK cell, deprived of any social contact, tortured, 99% PTSD by what little remains of his body weight. As a coping strategy he has escaped into a fantasy world of his own making. And from this we get the movie Mamma Mia.
Timothy Dalton’s James Bond died deep under double cover in Hollywood in a tragic airship related rocket pack accident.
A risk we all take when going undercover as a nazi…
James Bond is a position and not a person.
This is also true about Carmen Sandiego, which is why no one can find “her”
Carmen Sandiego is a metaphor for all that you don’t know, which is why you’re always chasing “her“.
I heard this theory in the 80s, and I believe there have been in-jokes about it in the last 2 or 3 Daniel Craig Bond films. It’s likely head-canon for most Bond fans.
That’s why I think this I one of the best comments here.
Roger has a character that every single person can’t recognize… Maybe that was the one for all of us!
This is my favorite fan theory, originally created by the Four Finger Discount people, I’m told, but I can’t find it on their site:
In Simpsons episode 9F10, “Marge vs. the Monorail”, the town meeting is interrupted by a mysterious character named Mr. Snrub. It’s a strange scene, because we never actually find out who Snrub is, and he doesn’t show up again in the rest of the episode, or indeed, in the rest of the series. However, I think I might have figured out why: Mr. Snrub is actually Mr. Burns in disguise.
I know it sounds implausible, but here is my reasoning:
Notice that “Snrub” has the same number of letters as “Monty”, Mr. Burns’s first name. Coincidence? Maybe, but there’s more.
Notice how quick Smithers is to agree with Snrub. I think the writers added this line as a subtle hint to the audience that there is some connection between Snrub and Burns. It also explains why Smithers was so willing to help Snrub in his time of need; because Snrub reminds him of Burns in some deep, ineffable way. If you listen closely to Snrub’s voice, it sounds an awful lot like Harry Shearer. Harry Shearer does the voice of many characters on The Simpsons, including Reverend Lovejoy, Seymour Skinner, Ned Flanders, and… Mr Burns. This doesn’t tell use for sure that Snrub is Burns, but it does narrow down the possibilities considerably.
When Snrub stands up to speak, he mentions that he comes from “someplace far away”. The writers of The Simpsons have always said that they consider Springfield to be somewhat flexible in its reality. For example, in one episode, Moe’s Bar is a short walk from the Simpsons’ house, but in the movie, it’s right next to the church. It is quite possible that, for the purpose of this scene, the writers wanted Mr Burns’ home to be “far away” from the Town Hall.
Notice that, in the above scene, when everyone in the Town Hall starts to get angry, Snrub instinctively tents his fingers, not unlike Mr Burns’ signature gesture. Now, to be fair, we occasionally see this gesture done by other characters, such as Homer, Bart, and even Lisa. But, I mean, still.
I will admit that this theory has some flaws. For example:
If Snrub is Burns, how did he grow the moustache so quickly? We saw Burns earlier in the episode dumping nuclear waste in the park, and he didn’t have a moustache then. This could partly be explained by the fact that, strictly speaking, we don’t know how much time has passed between that scene and the scene in the Town Hall. Perhaps this was enough time for Burns to grow the moustache that would disguise him as Snrub?
We all know that Smithers is in love with Burns, and that Burns doesn’t return Smithers’ affection. So, why is Burns so quick to embrace Smithers and hang on to him as they escape the building?
Look at this comparison of Snrub and Burns. They look almost nothing alike. For one thing, notice that Snrub has an extra wrinkle under his left eye. His face also settles into an expression that is open and happy, in contrast with Mr Burns’ scowl. In addition, Snrub has a more prominent overbite, the three liver spots on his head are further apart. I haven’t even gotten started on the colours: Snrub wears a dark blue suit with a black tie, and has light blue hair. Burns, in contrast, wears a teal suit with a pink tie, and has gray hair.
If Burns really was at the Town Hall, then who was running the nuclear plant? The lights are on in the building, which clearly means that the power is working. Snrub’s suggestion is that the city give the two million dollars to the Nuclear Power Plant. Why would Mr. Burns do this, since Burns already knows that the power plant is where the money came from? This leaves us with the possibility that Snrub was just an innocent person who spoke at the town meeting without being fully informed about the background details (hence why everybody was so mad at him for being so ignorant and unprepared).
So, at the end of the day, it’s hard to say who Snrub really is. It’s even more difficult to say why he showed up in only that one scene, and why he never showed up again — perhaps he was a character the writers wanted to introduce to the show, but could never find a good enough story for.
Like many fan theories, it’s probably not true, and I’m probably over-analyzing it, but it’s sure fun to think about!
Uh, whenever you notice something like that- a wizard did it.
But…
Maybe I’m just not quite awake yet and am missing the joke… but did you seriously miss the fact that “Snrub” is just “Burns” in reverse?
Yes, I think you are missing the joke. I’ll explain it, because that can only make it funnier.
In the show, it’s quite obvious that it’s just Mr. Burns with a fake mustache. He apparently didn’t even think of a fake name until he’s called upon to suggest what to do with the money, because he says, “Mr…Snrub. Yes, that’ll do.”
The writeup is ignoring that and writing out the theory, with supporting evidence, as though realizing Mr. Snrub, is, in fact, Mr. Burns would be a major revelation to everyone. (Also it’s not my theory, I just reposted it, as noted at the top of my comment.)
Is he Mr. Burns exact double like Guy Incognito to Homer Simpson?
I’ve always liked the idea that Kevin from Home Alone grew up to be the Jigsaw killer…
In Buffy season 5, I’m convinced there’s a connection between Ben and Glory.
Terminator, the Matrix and Dune are all the same universe at different points in time.
Well, at least we beat back Ai and survive…
Eventually…
Snowpiercer is the sequel to Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
https://nerdist.com/article/willy-wonka-chocolate-factory-snowpiercer-sequel-fan-theory-dan-cave/
The funniest thing about watching Snowpiercer in 2023 with people who’d never seen it before was after the big reveal about what the protein bars are made of, and how horrified the characters were, all my friends were like “oh, is that it? That makes sense actually. We thought it was going to be the missing children or something terrible”
Oooo
Sisko was killed in TNG’s universe. Sisko survived in DS9’s universe due to the prophets saving him. The Trek universe diverged at Wolf 359.
The Dominion War has drastically different outcomes. Existential crisis in one universe where Sisko does a lot of meddling; barely mentioned in the other.
The biggest change to the cast is that Worf marries Jadzia Dax and becomes Ambassador to the Klingon Empire in one universe; in the other universe, he does a brief inconsequential stint at DS9 (without Sisko), never marries, then returns to the Enterprise E as pretty much the same character from TNG, and at some later point, he gets the Enterprise E destroyed.
The Picard timeline is set in the universe where Sisko died at Wolf 359.
Fascinating, but I’m not buying it.
Still, well formed and fascinating.
Edit: this makes sense if you played Star Trek Online, and I’ll give OP a break for that, but most of the crazy stuff that would have supported this theory 6 years ago has been ironed-out in-canon. Even if it wasn’t done well.
Still, I really enjoyed the alt history version!
The Lion King is an experiment being run by the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The music is diegetic and is used to modify behavior.
We know they can implant images and subconscious commands, and that this is perceived through music. That’s why they can coordinate musical numbers on the spot, and why sudden changes in behavior and attitude are accompanied by music.
In particular, the most critical character change comes when Simba wanders off to be alone, sees a vision in the sky, and the soundtrack kicks in with an extended version of the alien music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Suddenly he’s doing a 180 and running back towards his assigned role in the story.
That’s fucking crazy and I absolutely lovd it! 🤣
Mine is that in Star Trek, at least all the computers advanced enough to be used on a starship are actually sentient. At some point you have enough self aware hologram programs and rogue AIs that you should start to wonder if they’re actually anomalous.
My take is that a true AI would be so far ahead of the humans that it wouldn’t want to slow down enough to interact with them. The AI would treat the humans the way we treat intestinal bacteria; we want them healthy and thriving, but don’t really care much about them day to day.
Honestly, I avoid conversations that matter because I expect most people around me aren’t on the level to contribute. AGI will certainly not give two shits.
This was somewhat of a plot point in a season of Discovery.
I would suggest reading some Ian Banks.
When drinking with Zefram Cochrane, Deanna Troi had no idea what tequila was. She went to Star Fleet Academy in San Fransisco, and even without warp drive and transporters, that’s not far from the major agave growing regions on Earth. Cadets gonna drink whenever they have the chance, and they’ll seek out non-synthehol stuff if they can.
Agave isn’t being farmed sustainably right now. It could also have been hit hard by Star Trek’s WWIII. It’s possible agave didn’t survive into the 22nd century. Zef may have even been going through the last bottles of it.
Elsa used ice crystals at a nanoscopic scale to alter her dress during the Let It Go sequence.
Is that not exactly what we see in the movie?
The Teletubbies are the Elois from HG Well’s The Time Machine.
