Yay! That's where I found it too! But has it been confirmed by anyone here? Elsewhere someone says it isn't there. Doesn't mention if they meant the book, tv version, or radio show though.
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Umm... you mean it can only be found by someone who is not looking for it? *checks his HP books*. Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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That's where I thought it was from - HHGttG - though I didn't come out and say so - so you'll probably think I'm just jumping on the bandwagon.
But all along I've been able to hear (in my head of course) Zaphod Beeblebrox saying it to Arthur Dent. Now I've only seen the TV series based on the radio play - was this the same as the film but just shown in instalments.
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Still think it's a combination of familiar-sounding lines, a combination that was never actually said.
I've pointed out where the "That's the beauty of it" line could have come from, and the cadence and absurdity of the statements "feels" like Hitchhikers Guide.
That's my prediction, and I'm sticking with it.
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Nope, it's not from Hitchiker's Guide. I never read it, and I know the context of the quote. I'm absolutely sure aspectre had the context of dicussing an invention. In fact, if memory serves, it was a very notably useless-looking invention. However, since I can't picture the actor saying it (not trying), I can't recall where I saw it. I doubt it was Sienfeld, but it could have been. If I get some extra time, I'll see what I can do (my memory is good, but sometimes requires work to extract details).
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It wasn't the 10th anniversary edition of Far Side, where Gary Larson discusses "Mr. Thingy," was it?
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I've got all three on my computer right now, have listened to them (and ctrl-f'd the ebook) many times, including once in the last day, and it's not there.
If it exists, it surely wouldn't be too much work to capture the audio and/or video, no? Because that's the only way I'll believe it.
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It's not Hitchhiker's Guide, unless Chris is right and the quote was lifted from it and alternate versions were repeated by other sources. I've never read the book, and I've seen the quote somewhere.
Truth be told, it stinks of Heller. Something along the lines of Catch 22, though I'm fairly sure it's nowhere to be found in that specific book.
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I don't think the quote was lifted and changed, I think it's just the same style/attitude/cadence so that it sounds like it ought to be from HGTTG.
And yup, at this point we'd need either a sound clip or complete and precise reference to where it was written.
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Similar quotes that could contribute to the familiarity of this one:
Moe: What's yer watch say? Curly: It don't say nuthin', you gotta look at it. any number of Three Stooges movies
Charlie: What's it do? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, said in several different ways, but never with an answer resembling our puzzle
Colin Pillock: So, which of them is it, Mr. Perrin? A social venture for the benefit of mankind? Purely a commercial venture? Or a con trick? Reginald Perrin: Yes. It's all three of them. That's the beauty of it. The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin
Mrs. Peacock: What does your husband do? Mrs. White: Nothing. Mrs. Peacock: Nothing? Mrs. White: Well, he just lies around on his back all day. Miss Scarlet: Sounds like hard work to me. Clue
Homer: What does it do? Marge: It doesn't do anything. Homer: No really, come on. Marge: If it does anything, it's doing it right now. The Simpsons
Janet: What have you done to Brad! Frank: Nothing. Why, do you think I should? Rocky Horror Picture Show
Spock: Weren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy? Kirk: And they will be again. That's the beauty of it. Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home
It invokes the kind of internally-consistent, bizarre-from-the-outside logic we're familair with these sources and from Hitchhiker's Guide, The Animaniacs, Cheers, Monty Python, and a zillion other places. But I don't think that quote, as it's listed, has been said.
[ March 11, 2004, 06:04 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
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Does anyone here know who is writing the screenplay for the new HHGTTG? I will seek them out, and demand with all my skill and aptitude that they include it in the new film!
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I still vote for M.A.S.H. - episode 206, "Depressing News" - where Hawkeye builds a tower of tongue depressors and I think he says it to the guy who interviews him about it ...
I don't watch Simpsons, and I'm pretty sure I've heard this, so I'm pretty sure it's not Simpsons.
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I won't believe anyone until I hear the clip, or at least get a precise to the minute indicator of where it is in the movie so I can make a clip.
quote:Name......: (Anonymous) Question..: "What does it do?" "It doesn't DO anything. That's the beauty of it!" It's from The Simpsons in the episode where Homer's half brother (I think, maybe step brother) Herb Powell is explaining his invention. He is talking about the 'drinking' bird and Homer asks, "What does it do?"
Thank you for answering that question for our readers. Judith Egerton
Answer above by the voice of Danny Devito.
Can anyone verify this? And if anyone's already proved or disproved it, I'm sorry, but I don't want to go through 3 pages of thread to find out. So tough.
I currently hear Val Kilmer's voice saying it in my brain. But that doesn't mean he actually said it. Maybe it's just because he plays a heck of a good nerd cause he really is one.
AJ
(and re-reading the thread, I'm guessing Gary Larson is a pretty darn good bet.)
quote:Well, there's at least one other possibility. Others might be afraid to mention this as a possibility, but I have a high embarrassment threshold, a healthy degree of paranoia, and a good imagination.
We could be the victims of careless meddlers in the timestream.
I reckon something like the following could have happened.
In our original timestream, there was a very popular movie that most of us watched. The most memorable line of the movie was the one we've all been trying to track down. Maybe it won an Oscar (probably just for soundtrack, costume, or special effects, though.).
That was the original timestream. Here's where it gets dicey. I figure some irresponsible traveller from our future (maybe even our present - I don't read too many technical journals) made trip into our collective pasts and did something - something that - either by accident or design, resulted in this movie never being shown or maybe even made.
So this movie that made an impression on so many of us no longer exists. But the memory of our favorite line, like a ghost track on a poorly rerecorded casette tape, still rings in our memory.
Looks like the future is much the same as the present - there's never a Time Cop around when you need one.
posted
You know, this could be the basis for the next Hatrack gathering. We can get together with a bunch of the 'contenders' and have screenings to see if we can find once and for all where this quotation comes from.
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quote:Can anyone verify this? And if anyone's already proved or disproved it, I'm sorry, but I don't want to go through 3 pages of thread to find out. So tough.
I hadn't heard that theory before, but I just watched the episode, and it's not in there.
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Adressing the problem of Deagol and Smeagol. In the Complete Guide to Middle Earth, It clearly states that they were cousins. Under Deagol, it states:
Stoor of the Gladden Feilds. While fishing with his cousin Smeagol, he found the One Ring and was murdered by smeagol, who coveted it.
posted
Robert Foster. But, I beleive he had permission from Tolkein's family to write it. All of his information is taken from Tolkeins books and works either way.
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If this quote existed, I believe it would have been found by now and a .wav excerpt posted. There are enough obsessive people on the Internet to pretty much guarantee this.
Tolkein didn't write Encyclopedis of Arda either, but I've seen it quoted tons of times. not that I don't agree that it would have ben better if he had written it.
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Disclosure: I've never made it all the way through The Two Towers, and didn't even start Return of the King. I am geeky about many things, but not about this.
Having said that, my opinion: If Tolkein didn't write it, it's not canon. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:"Hey, .. Can I ask you a question?" "Shoot." "What the hell are these things for?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, what do they do?" "What do you mean what do they do? You run 'em along the floor, like this." "Ok. So what does it do? It's not any cleaner." "Don't know. Maybe it looks for cracks on the floor or it does something to the metal .. makes it stronger. I don't know." "So you don't know either?" "No." "Well .. I guess it's time for lunch." "Yep."
It's from Babylon 5, season 5, episode titled "A View from the Gallery"
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