Was the line about the cat being called Neutron an ironic comment made by Ruth or just really bad science?
It seems to be a famous cult line now and wondered if it achieved this status by being the best example of 50s sci-fi getting their facts so wrong or just being a really witty remark.
See another thread entitled "A Remake of THIS ISLAND EARTH may be in the works" at
http://imdb.com/title/tt0047577/board/flat/22166049 .
As I said there, "My favorite line is about Neutron the cat: "We call him that because he's so positive". Besides the obvious technical error here, I have often wondered whether, before the censors got involved, he might have been named that for another more delicate reason."
There's other info about the cat in that thread, too.
I always thought she said it to sort of ease the tension between Cal and Steve, and at the same time trying to feel him out, see if she and Steve can trust Cal.
shareAnd what delicate reason might that be?
shareBefore the censors got the script, Ruth probably said 'We call him that ['Neutron'] because he's been 'fixed''. As far as I know, the actual cat ('Orangey')was never neutered, but if he was, that would lend credence to my theory.
-----------You said----------
"And what delicate reason might that be?"
OMG..............
I'm glad we don't live in the 50's anymore. What touchy people the censors were in those days
Maybe the cat should have been named "Proton".
shareI always thought that the name was supposed to be a joke or ironic. I have friends that named their pets strange names such as naming a big shep dog "tiny" and a little mouse "Godzilla". Another example of this is naming the Skunk from Bambi "Flower".
I used to work with someone named Electron. He had siblings named Neutron and Proton. Seriously. Their parents were physicists.
shareYou MUST be kidding...although my Mom, a nurse, had a patient once who named her daughter "Intravenous." Too bad there's no test you have to pass to become a parent.
shareMy mother taught for 30+ years in NYC. She had a student named female (pronounced FEE-MALE). My mother pronounced it (FE-MAL-A) and was correct.
Turns out the mother didnt name the baby at birth and the birth certificate must be filled out with both first and last names. In the absence of a 1st name they wrote "Female". The mother just kept it.
This sound like a joke or urban legend, I know, but it sadly is true.
So 8 5 1/4" floppys hold the key to time travel? - Tom Servo
actually, i think it's kinda sexy. a girl or woman named "female." like, she's a "woman woman." the essence of femaleness. a pure, uncut concatenation of estrogen. i'm sure a lot of men became interested in her based on her name alone. and perhaps, as a result of her name, they saw qualities in her that she may not have possessed in real life....
shareI'm not so sure about that. I mean, how many women would be intrigued by a man named Testosterone?
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
more than you might imagine. and some men, as well........
Jonathan Becker
Hey, it's no stranger than Frank Zappa naming his daughter Moon Unit and his son Dweezil!
Dejael
My grandmother's heart specialist, actually a fairly famous doctor in northeast Oklahoma, was named Safety First. I'll bet his parents got a real kick out of it. Maybe that's why he became a successful cardiologist: "I'll show them! I'll show them ALL!"
But the weirdest names I ever heard were "Latrinia" and (I have to spell this with dashes) "S-h-i-t-h-e-a-d." You read that right, but it's supposed to be pronounced "sheh-THAY-ad." Poor "Shehthayad's" parents had to enroll her in school three times, because the first two times school officials thought her enrollment papers were a joke.
And yes, both of those unfortunate girls were black.
As for the Neutron the Cat, I figured the scriptwriter just screwed up.
Nah, I'm sure Franklin Coen was using some comic irony in that line. He had a great sense of humor, and included a few other humorous lines in the film script:
CAL MEACHAM: "Within reason"
JOE WILSON: "If there is any REASON around here!"
(Coen deliberately inserted this inside joke in the script, because he knew that Rex Reason had already been cast as Cal Meacham.)
and this other gem:
CAL MEACHAM (inside the Metaluna saucer conversion tube):
"I feel like a new toothbrush!"
Dejael
Dejael: "...I'm sure Franklin Coen was using some comic irony in that line."
I will bow to your greater familiarity with the writer. However, I'll still maintain that either Faith Domergue blew it by not delivering the line sarcastically, or the director did by not instructing her to.
Yes, you're right that the line was not delivered with any innuendo, so Faith's character Dr. Ruth Adams sounds like she doesn't know what she's talking about.
Dejael
My daughter went to school with a girl named Crystal Lear. Of course her parents gave her the middle name "Shanda".
shareInteresting. One of my teachers, circa 1960, said that she had a little girl in her class named "Femily." Not Emily, but Femily. Story was, her mother was nearly illiterate. When she saw the birth certificate, she was dismayed to find that only two names were available, Molly and Femily.
This teacher was a nun, so she couldn't by lying, right? ;)
My Dad once had a patient whose last name was King, and the mother couldn't think of a name so she took inspiration from a sign she saw on the door of her hospital room...Her son ended up being named Nosmo. Get it?
Also, my girlfriend went to school with a kid whose name was Laser Alert. Ridiculous.
Also, my girlfriend went to school with a kid whose name was Laser Alert. Ridiculous.
His parents weren't rock musicians or actors by any chance, were they?
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
Turns out the mother didnt name the baby at birth and the birth certificate must be filled out with both first and last names. In the absence of a 1st name they wrote "Female". The mother just kept it.
I used to know a man whose parents hadn't yet named him after his mother left the hospital. To this day, the name on his birth certificate is "Baby Boy Jewett." Sounds like a 1930s gangster.
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
[deleted]
I used to work with someone named Electron. He had siblings named Neutron and Proton. Seriously. Their parents were physicists.
Physicist, shmysicist. Anyone who names their kids Proton, Neutron and Electron needs professional help. Their kids are probably still in therapy.
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
Maybe the cat should have been named "Proton".
Either that, or Ruth should have said, "We call him Neutron because he just doesn't give a f---"!
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
Regarding weird and strange names; I went to grade school with a guy whose parents named him "Pete Moss"...
What a sense of humor!!!!!!
Well, I knew a guy named Mike Hunt, and another gentlemen named Richard Goesinya, but he liked to be called Dick.
shareWell, I knew a guy named Mike Hunt, and another gentlemen named Richard Goesinya, but he liked to be called Dick.
Then who's Dick Hertz?
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
I have a dog with only 3 legs, half a tail, one ear almost bitten off and blind in one eye. And he has fleas too. He answers to the name "Lucky".
Copyright 1932.
I have a dog with only 3 legs, half a tail, one ear almost bitten off and blind in one eye. And he has fleas too. He answers to the name "Lucky".
Copyright 1932.
Hell, that joke's probably even older than that. That joke must have been old when Henny Youngman was a fetus.
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
It seems too basic an error to be genuine. I think the statement about him being 'so positive' was just sarcasm, after all cats tend to have lazy, selfish characteristics, and are not creatures you would normally describe as "positive".
share