Category: Television

“Life is like a hurricane”

From: Duck Tales

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: Opening Song

The story behind the quote: The song comes from the one of the most popular cartoons from the late 80’s, Disney’s Duck Tales. While we were generally familiar with Donald Duck and his animated shorts, Disney decided to put out new 30 minute adventures instead, with more complex storylines as well as more action. During the first episode, it’s explained that Donald will be out sea for an extended period of time (he’s a sailor, remember?) so he will not be able to take care of his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. He leaves them in the care of Scrooge McDuck, his uncle and who also happens to be the richest duck in the world.

They all go on fantastic adventures around the world to find new treasures to increase Uncle Scrooge’s wealth. They come across new new friends like Launchpad McQuack, “ace” pilot and come in contact with new memorable foes such as Flintheart Glomgold, the second richest duck in the world who always schemes to eventually surpass Uncle Scrooge in wealth.

The quote, as you all probably know, comes from the extremely catchy theme song of the show, which you can hear below.

Geek wisdom: Life can be hard and unpredictable. It will throw various challenges and difficulties at you during the most unexpected times. The best thing to do is to take on these challenges as they come rather than just complain about them and do nothing about it.

Besides, when you do tackle them and succeed in overcoming your problems, like Uncle Scrooge and his friends, you’ll have your own fantastic tales to tell later!

“Six seasons and a movie!”

From: Community

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Abed Nadir

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the NBC sitcom Community. The idea behind the series is that Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale) get caught practicing being a lawyer without having a proper law degree. In desperation, he decides to enroll in the Glendale Community College to get a college degree quickly.

Unfortunately, the school is filled with crazy people who don’t appear to be there to actually study. However, Joel actually manages to make true friends in the school, something he didn’t expect.

The quote is delivered by pop culture freak Abed Nadir. His favorite show was The Cape, an extremely short lived (and real) television show about a man who finds a cape that gives him superpowers. While pretending to be the superhero, he knocks over Joel’s lunch. Joel McHale angrily yells at Abed that the show will be cancelled early. Abed disagrees with him.

Geek wisdom: It’s nice to set goals. Even if they seem impossible, it’s important that, when you have a dream, you go after it. The great thing about setting goals is that it gives a person direction in life.

In Community, Abed Nadir is a dreamer. Hence, he and his friend, Troy Barnes, usually imagine things that are pretty difficult to implement in real life. In the show, however, they manage to do a lot of these impossible things, like building a pillow/blanket fort that covered the entire campus… in two separate instances.

Things may seem impossible. But they are only impossible if you don’t attempt to do them.

“Dead dove. Do not eat.”

From: Arrested Development

Genre: Television

Who said wrote it?: Gob Bluth

The story behind the quote: Arrested Development is a critically acclaimed sitcom. The show features the Bluths, a family of crazy characters. However, it is this craziness that made this show get a cult following. Arrested Development was initially cancelled at the end of their 3rd season. However, because of the show’s cult following, as well as gaining popularity after the series ended, a 4th season was developed by Netflix… 6 years after season 3 ended!

The quote comes from the second episode of the first season. Gob, the eldest of the Bluth siblings and failed magician, buys a dove but accidentally kills it as he is exiting the store. He, however, hopes to return the dead bird to the store so he stores it in a brown bag, puts a note on it,  in the refrigerator. Michael Bluth, the “responsible” brother, reads the note but is still astonished with its contents.

Geek wisdom: We can sometimes not trust a lot of things until we see it in front of us. Even when the evidence overwhelmingly supports something, we just have to see it for ourselves to believe it. And then when we actually do experience it, we think to ourselves that it was stupid to think otherwise.

We all have these moments once in a while. The important thing to do is to realize is that there are going to be times that we have to believe something, not because we have seen it, but because logic tells us it’s true.

“How you doin'”

From: Friends

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Joey Tribbiani

The story behind the quote: Friends was a extremely popular NBC sitcom during the 90’s. Even today, all 10 seasons of the show are still replayed in syndication throughout the world. Each episode revolves around 6 friends: the fashion conscious Rachel Green, free spirit Phoebe Buffay, the sarcastic Chandler Bing, the perfectionist Monica Gellar and her somewhat arrogant brother Ross Gellar, and the struggling actor, Joey Tribbiani.

Please take note that the rundowns for each character is a pretty barebones description for all of them. One of the things that made Friends so memorable is that each and every one in this group of friends are all different yet interact well with each other. Not only that, they all grow to some degree and some of them even get romantically involved with each other.

The quote comes from Joey Tribbiani. He has an uncanny knack of picking up beautiful women because of his confidence. All he has to do to hook up with a girl is to walk up to her and say the quote in the way he says it and they will (most of the time) fall for him.

Geek wisdom: There’s actually two pieces of wisdom you can pull from these simple three words. First, let’s talk about the words themselves. Sometimes, simply asking someone how they’re feeling can make them feel better. It’s a simple act of concern that we tend to forget to do in our daily lives.

The second piece of wisdom we can derive from Joey catchphrase is by the way he delivers it. The reason why Joey manages to use these words so effectively when meeting women is not because of the words themselves. Rather, it’s the confidence he displays when delivering them. A lot of times, when you present yourself as a person with confidence, you can gain much needed respect from others. This in turn will also increase your self-respect.

“But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld. A place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit… a DARKSIDE!”

From: Tales from the Darkside

Genre: Television

Who said it?: The narrator

The story behind the quote: The show falls along the vein of other horror anthology programs such as Creepshow and The Twilight Zone. Each episode of Tales from the Darkside would be a self-contained story, usually delving in horror and science fiction. Most of the stories are actually adaptions of stuff that was written by popular horror authors, such as Stephen King and Clive Barker.

Since each episode usually doesn’t have any connection with any of the other episodes in the series, there is no steady cast of actors. The only real constant of the series would be the opening narration, which is where the quote comes from.

Geek wisdom: As with the quote, there is always a good and bad side to everything. Even the nicest person you know has some deep, dark, unspeakable secret he or she would like to keep hidden from everyone. I mean everyone, even you, the person that’s reading this right now.  But here’s the thing: we keep this part of us hidden.

Keeping this “darkside” hidden is something we all wrestle with as this is what actually gives order to society. Imagine if we just unleashed this part of ourselves to society. It’s not a pleasant thought.

We have to restrain ourselves from a lot of our most heinous thoughts because, if we don’t, anarchy would reign.

“Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

From: The Incredible Hulk

Genre: Television, Comics

Who said it?: “David” Bruce Banner

The story behind the quote: The Incredible Hulk television series was based on the comic book character of the same name. However, the TV series differs greatly from the comic version. While the origin for the Hulk is pretty much the same (the hapless scientist gets bombarded by gamma rays which alters his DNA), every thing else is different. Even the scientist’s name was changed from Bruce Banner to David Banner (Bruce became his middle name). The plot was altered so that The Hulk (played by Lou Ferrigno) is being hunted for the alleged murders of the scientist that was helping Banner. This causes David Banner (portrayed by Bill Bixby) to drift to different towns to escape law enforcement as well as trying to help people he meets along the way.

The quote actually comes from the very first episode, where David Banner catches a tabloid reporter snooping around near the place where the experiments had taken place. David Banner catches the reporter and delivers the quote, stating that he should stop looking into the story or else.

Geek wisdom: Don’t poke the bear! We all have the tendency to be bullies (yes, even the bullied will bully people even weaker people). We think there are going to be no consequences to teasing and riffing on people; we think they won’t do anything. We may think that but we have no way of thinking what they’ll do in the future.

We’ve seen movies, television shows and comics where the person being bullied becomes someone extremely powerful and then take it out on those who bullied them. In fact, we have even seen people just snap and go on shooting rampages just so they can get some form of “revenge” on society. We have no idea how they’ll focus their anger in the future. Sure, they may be in control of it now. But we have no idea how they’ll deal with it in the future.

David Banner may seem like a weakling but, well, don’t get him angry. That goes for other people as well. We have no idea if they will just Hulk out one day.

“To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy’s first law of Equivalent Exchange.”

From: Fullmetal Alchemist

Genre: Cartoons, Television, Anime

Who said it?: Alphonse Elric

The story behind the quote: Fullmetal Alchemist is an extremely popular manga and anime set in an alternate timeline where people still use alchemy instead of modern chemistry. According to the series, alchemy evolved into the practice of transmuting basic components into various items. For example, if you collect the broken parts of a radio, you wouldn’t need to send it to a repairman; using alchemy, you can simply use these parts to rebuild the radio. As long as the elements are in the right amounts, you can theoretically anything.

By the way, MINOR SPOILERS…

The main characters of the series are the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse. They are in search for the legendary Philosopher’s Stone because of a disastrous accident they caused. When their mother died, they decided to try to revive their mother through alchemy (which is forbidden). They managed to get the necessary elements to supposedly resurrect her but there was a reason why it’s strictly forbidden to perform alchemy on a human.

While all of the necessary earthly elements and materials are all there, it does not include the spiritual soul that is still lacking. Because of this, Edward lost his right arm and left leg and Alphonse’s spirit is trapped in a suit of armor. The brothers believe that the Philosopher’s Stone, which will enable an alchemist to bypass the need for the elements to be exact. But they’re not doing to to try to resurrect their mother anymore. They’re doing it to restore their bodies.

The quote comes from the English version of the anime, which you can see below.

Geek wisdom: In order to get something really difficult to obtain, we must be ready to put the necessary work into getting it. Sure, there are going to be those lucky that beat the odds without any real effort, but we really shouldn’t bank on it happening to us. That’s why not everyone is rich. Think of the people that are highly successful and, most of the time, they will tell you that they had to work hard for what they have. The problem is that we usually just see the end result of all their hard work and assume they had it easy all the time.

Anything and everything you want to achieve can be achieved most of the time. The only thing is that you have to be willing to put in the backbreaking work to make it all the way to your goal.

“Wonder Twins Powers activate!”

From: Super Friends

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Zan and Jayna

The story behind the quote: The Super Friends cartoon starred DC Comics’ most popular heroes, including Superman and Batman among others. Apparently, they didn’t think that it was enough to have Earth’s mightiest heroes in a cartoon so the producers of the show decided to add the Wonder Twins… who were created specifically for the show. Oh, and they have a space monkey.

The Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, are alien twins who do not have any special abilities by themselves. However, by coming into contact with each other (or having something connect them together… like using Gleek, their aforementioned space monkey), they can actually change into any shape. Zan, the male, has the ability to change into anything made of water. Jayna, on the other hand can change to any animal (even a dinosaur).

Geek wisdom: Teamwork is extremely important. The Wonder Twins themselves cannot use their shapeshifting powers unless they come into contact with each other. People are generally the same thing. While we can feel utterly helpless as individuals, we can actually perform great things if we work together.

Even when we are a part of a team, we can still feel useless and not contribute to the group’s success. While Gleek’s only ability is to lengthen his tail, he is able to help the Wonder Twins by acting as a conduit for them to use their powers. This goes with us; while our contribution is only going to be minimal, it doesn’t mean that the contribution is not meaningful. As the old saying goes: Every little bit helps.

“It’s over 9,000!”

From: Dragon Ball Z

Genre: Cartoons, Television, Anime

Who said it?: Vegeta

The story behind the quote: The original Dragon Ball series was about a young Son Goku and his friends in search for the legendary Dragon Balls. Their search for these magical items is more than just a treasure hunt. The reason is, if all 9 Dragon Balls are gathered, they will summon Shen Lon, a mystical dragon that will be able to grant any wish, even reviving someone from the dead.

However, with Dragon Ball Z, that all changed. While the characters still searched for them, the Dragon Balls actually took a backseat to all of the fighting. Here, Son Goku is now an adult and his actual origins are explored more deeply. During the first story arc (the Saiyan Saga), it is explained that the reason why Goku is an extremely powerful fighter is because he is actually an alien from the planet Vegeta and he was actually supposed to conquer the planet (but bumped his head and forgot).

Now, the prince of Goku’s home planet, who also happens to be named Vegeta, goes to planet Earth and tries to rule over it. Goku steps in to defend the Earth. While Vegeta was originally unimpressed with Goku as his scouter, a device that measures fighting ability, shows that Goku isn’t that impressive.

However, that all changes when Goku powers up…

Geek wisdom: We can easily underestimate people. It’s easy to see someone who did not have any formal education and dismiss that person as a failure. We tend to forget that there are a lot of successful college dropouts, like Bill Gates and the guy who developed Facebook.

What a person can or cannot is something anyone can measure. Everyone has the potential to do great things so it’s a pretty dumb idea to count them out just because of the way they look.

“Wile E. Coyote… Super Genius!”

From: Looney Tunes

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Wile. E. Coyote

The story behind the quote: We think of Wile E. Coyote as the main antagonist of the Road Runner. We also think of him as someone that cannot talk (being a coyote and all). However, Wile E. Coyote actually didn’t just chase after very fast birds. He also has a taste for rabbits as well. Oh, and he’s very articulate as well.

There were actually around 5 episodes where Wile E. tried to take on Looney Tunes’ main star, Bugs Bunny. During these bouts, he would actually announce himself to Bugs and proclaim that he will capture and eat the bunny. After all, as he is much smarter than a rabbit, he will easily be able to outwit the long-eared creature with very little trouble. In fact, he is a (self-proclaimed) “super genius.”

Well, we all know how that’ll turn out, right?

Geek wisdom: We put ourselves in high regard and that’s a good thing. We actually have to do that; it builds confidence. It becomes bad when it goes to the realm of overconfidence. The speaking Wile E. Coyote believes that he’s of superior intellect to Bugs Bunny. Yet, he’s outsmarted time and time again by the rabbit. In fact, if you think about it, something as simple as the Road Runner (who can’t even speak!) can actually outsmart ol’ Wile E.

Yes, it’s good to be confident with your abilities and knowledge. But don’t get too overboard with it.