Month: May 2016

“Brawndo has what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.”

From: Idiocracy

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: The population of the future!

The story behind the quote: Although he became popular due to his animated outings like Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill, Mike Judge has actually achieved a modicum of success from his live-action films. One of those films is the 2006 cult hit, Idiocracy.

In the film, Corporal “Average” Joe Bauers (played by Luke Wilson) becomes a guinea pig for a suspended animation experiment. However, the experiment is forgotten and “Average” Joe wakes up 500 years in the future to a world that has evolved in such a way that intellectualism is scoffed at, leading to the world’s population to be of less than average intelligence, making “Average” Joe the smartest man on the planet.

The quote comes from the middle of the film. Joe advises that, instead of using the energy drink Brawndo, to irrigate the world’s failing crops, they should just use water instead. However, the cabinet just can’t see why ordinary water would be better than Brawndo…

Geek wisdom: It may seem sad, but there are some people that do emulate the future population featured in Idiocracy. These are the same people that only assure what they’ve been told is correct without even checking if its true or not. They blindly follow what they’ve been told because it sounds good but it might not actually be. People sometimes have to think about things rather than just accepting them.

“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

From: WarGames

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Joshua/WOPR

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the 1983 science fiction thriller, WarGames. In the film, all of the United States nuclear launch capabilities is given to a computer called “Joshua” or WOPR, which stands for War Operation Plan Response. It is programmed to consistently run military simulations to concoct the best plan of an attack if nuclear retaliation is needed. David Lightman (played by Matthew Broderick) unwittingly hacks into Joshua and causes the computer to think that the Soviet Union has launched missiles at the United States.

The quote comes from the very end of the film. David forces Joshuato play tic-tac-toe against itself in the attempt to make it understand the concept of mutually assured destruction. As Joshua obtains the final launch code, it runs through all the possible scenarios in an attempt to find a winning plan. After cycling through all of them and not finding one where anyone survives, the machine delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: War is ultimately useless as, while history may say there are winners and losers, there really aren’t as both sides suffer massive losses. No matter which side comes out on top, it’s usually not worth the pain and suffering it does and the only real way to not have war is to not participate.

“They’re dinosaurs. ‘Wow’ enough.”

From: Jurassic World

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Owen Grady

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Jurassic World. Jurassic World is the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise and also serves as a way to revive the franchise and update the movies for today’s audiences. In the film, the theme park, Jurassic World, is looking to create a new dinosaur. As such, they create the Indominus Rex, a hybrid of a variety of dinosaurs… with predictably dire consequences.

In the film, Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) brings Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt) to the Indominus Rex’s holding pen. She explains that they needed to do this to reinvigorate interest in the park and to do that, they used genetic modification to “up the wow factor.” This is when Owen snidely delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: There’s a lot of amazing things in the world at this very moment. Whether it be something simple and trite as watching the sunrise or a technological marvel like the engineering and manpower that was put into the construction of a building, we just seem to be bored with it as we’ve gotten used to it. As such, we just can’t seem to appreciate these special things. However, that doesn’t make these things any less fantastic.

We have to learn to recognize the beauty of the things around us and appreciate them rather than take them for granted.

“E. T. phone home.”

From: E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial 

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: E. T., Elliot and Gertie

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the classic Steven Spielberg film, Steven Spielberg. The movie is all about an alien who gets left on Earth and is found by a group of kids. The kids attempt to find a way for the alien, who calls himself E. T., to send a message to his home planet in order to rescue him.

The quote comes fairly early in the film. Gertie (played by a very young Drew Barrymore) manages to teach E. T. a few rudimentary words. After returning home, Elliot (played by Henry Thomas) discovers E. T. can talk and starts trying to communicate with him as well. E. T. manages to string together the words he’s learned from Gertie to deliver the quote and to convey what he needs to do.

Geek wisdom: Tomorrow is Mother’s Day! Don’t forget to call your Mother on this special day! I’m sure she’ll appreciate it!