I have a "script" from a story/script website that ironically had this scene that was word for word (except for the actual script and cut for the movie) identical to the actual movie.
The scene you describe with said paradox was when ALEX faces off against FERRYMAN 'LAURIE' and FERRYMAN 'STILTS'. According to the script the scene was called "SEA OF DARKNESS". According to the "script" (in the movie except for the script/cut modification) the scene went like this:
Alex wakes up soaking wet after her dunking in her escape from the screamer, on a slat-board pier extending out into a sea of black water. The shore is completely desolate with the exception of the pier. Storm clouds have gathered above, and if you've seen a storm blowing in on the open sea, you know what it looks like...
...the end of the world.
ON THE HORIZON...
...TWO CITIES can be seen. Techno-citescapes, angular and metallic-looking, towers jutting up from the sea like knives.
AT THE END OF THE PIER...
...are two boats. Standing in them are two pale-faced, cloaked FIGURES. Like Charon, the boatman on the River Styx.
Somewhere off in the distance, the RINGING can be distinctly heard now. But ALEX is preoccupied now. As she moves down the pier, recognition dawns on her.
It's LAURIE and STILTS. They are dressed completely in black, hair slicked back and eyes empty. White-faced Gothic harlequins. Each is holding a wooden staff, staring into space.
ALEX Guys! Oh my God...
ALEX rushes forward, excited, but as she sees their faces excitement fades. A chill wind picks up and the sea laps at the pier like a metronome, lulling the world into stillness.
ALEX (Unsure) Laurie? Stilts?
Neither of them acknowledges ALEX with their eyes.
STILTS (Like ARCADE) You may ask one of us a question. One tells the truth, and the other lies. Who you ask remains your discretion. But if the answer is wrong, the questioner dies.
LAURIE motions to the techno-cities behind her.
LAURIE (Like ARCADE) One of these cities, is the place you seek. The Teller of Truth will take you there. But the City of Lies, is dark and bleak. And death is certain if you enter, beware.
STILTS I am the Liar. Where should I take you?
LAURIE I am the Truth Teller. Where should I take you?
ALEX stares at them for a moment, utterly confused. The sky darkens, and the wind picks up. She looks to the horizon, from one city to another, then back at her friends.
ALEX (Horrified) What did he do to you?
LAURIE Is that your question?
ALEX (Realizing) Wait! No! That is not it!
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! ALEX doesn't even need to look at her wrist display anymore. She begins to pace on the end of the pier, nervously glancing at the horizon. And yes, there's the FLASH followed by the SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM.
ALEX (To HERSELF) Think! I want to go to the City of Truth, and the Truth Teller is from there... but which one is which? The liar... think!
LAURIE You have no time. What is your question?
ALEX (Snapping at LAURIE) I'm thinking!
LAURIE You have no time.
THE SCREAMER is visible now, arms opening to engulf ALEX. Talk about pressure
ALEX The liar... Truth Teller... Liar... Liar...
ALEX rushes over to STILTS
ALEX Liar. Did you come from the city on the left, or the city on the right?
STILTS (Pointing) I came from the city on the left.
ALEX (Grins) But you always lie, so you didn't come from there. That means that the city on the left is the City of Truth.
THE SCREAMER has reached the end of the pier, rocketing over the wooden slats and shaking the entire structure...
ALEX (Mockingly, to THE SCREAMER) Too late!
ALEX turns to LAURIE.
ALEX (Quickly) Take me to the city on the left!
LAURIE nods and steps aside, making room for ALEX. making room for ALEX to climb into the boat. She does and...
THE SCREAMER...
...dissapates just before it reaches ALEX. It turns into mist and vanishes, the HOWL lingering as an echo long after the SCREAMER itself has gone.
At once, the boat begins to glide through the water, away from the pier. ALEX gets a last glimpse of STILTS standing in his boat, diminishing as ALEX and LAURIE move away from him. He looks like the loneliest person in the world.
Then ALEX continues to the CITY OF TRUTH after she retrieves a LITTLE BOY from the water (There was a brief Q&A session between ALEX and LAURIE prior to ALEX retrieving the LITTLE BOY).
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viper_s_a
17 years ago
I loved this movie as a kid, I compltely forgot about this scene till I saw this post...the liars paradox was explained above, you ask one what the other would say and go with the opposite
this same situation was presented in the movie Labyrinth with Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie...Sarah(connelly) is presented with 2 doors, one leads to the center one leads to certain doom and she gets to ask 1 question...one always tells the truth, 1 always lies, so she asks 1 door "would he say this door leads to the center of the labyrinth" and the door replies "yes" therefore it dosn't, because if the one she was talking to lied about the other one saying door 1 was the door, then that means door 2 is the door, how ever, if the door was telling the truth and said the other door lied saying that door 1 was the door, well sense he was the liar, then door 1 was not the right one...that make sense? lol
well in the end, she got the riddle right, yet still fell, so I'm still trying to figure that out, lol...like I said, same question as in Arcarde, just the specifics are different, I don't remember what they were in arcade, but the person above me wrote out the script of that scene, lol
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rgibson103
16 years ago
The liar's paradox solution only works if you have the set-up from a trustworthy third party. Both could be liars, because both "agree" that one says the truth and the other doesn't doesn't mean it's the truth per se. That's why it didn't work in Labyrinth.
_____
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=12320866
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jimmyderzko
10 years ago
Why does nobody else understand this about the a Labyrinth riddle? They always think it was because she said the words "a piece of cake"
She took for granted that it was just a riddle to solve like it was arranged to be "fair" and wasn't a trick
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lunarsight
17 years ago
I'm a little confused. If Stilts said he was the liar, then he was telling the truth about being the liar, and hence not lying. However, if Stilts was telling the truth about being the liar, then he couldn't be the truth-teller either.
It really makes your brain spin in circles if you think about it long enough.
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hurricanehorton
9 years ago
I'm a little confused. If Stilts said he was the liar, then he was telling the truth about being the liar, and hence not lying. However, if Stilts was telling the truth about being the liar, then he couldn't be the truth-teller either.
That's kind of the problem with this riddle. If the one who always lies, explains to you that premise of the riddle, then it doesn't make sense. (So, if a liar says; "One of us always lies, and ones of us tells the truth", then that statement itself is a lie.)
For the riddle to work, one must acknowledge that one always tells the truth and one always lies, irregardless of who gave you that information.
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ss5mmyers (160)
8 months ago
That's why the original version has an extra scene of Laurie attacking Alex when they reach the dock. She explains she lied about being the truth teller, rendering the riddle null.
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