Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 November 10

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 10

Indiana Jones

Was Indiana Jones based on the famous archeologist Giovanni Belzoni? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:0:0:0:EA04 (talk) 02:53, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

According to the article, that is one of the possibilities. See the "Historical models" section for others. RudolfRed (talk) 02:55, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

As I recall from "Making of..." reports at the time, George Lucas' inspiration piece for the movie was a typical old western scene of a horseman jumping onto a stagecoach. That image was echoed in the scene where Indy jumps from a horse onto the truck transporting the Ark. The movie was also inspired by the action-packed serials of the 30s and 40s, with the hero, the heroine, and the villain (whom George compared to Paul Henreid). Given all that, it's likely that George drew on many sources for Indy himself. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:37, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

You're probably thinking of Halo Jones or Lara Croft. Tevildo (talk) 07:46, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Lara Croft's debut post-dates Indiana Jones' by about 15 years. I cannot think of any similarity whatever between Halo Jones and Indiana Jones. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.138.27 (talk) 21:05, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Well, the name is a hint. How many fictional characters called Jones might be familiar to someone not steeped in popular culture? Indiana, Halo, Bridget (obviously female), Davy (obviously male), Casey (obviously male) - er - "Along Came", who our article tells me was named "Melody"? If VoteX were genuinely confused, Halo seems like an obvious candidate. Tevildo (talk) 10:23, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

Indy's birth name was Henry. "Indiana" was the name of his dog. As with John Wayne, whose childhood dog was named Duke. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:02, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

Innovative captions

The caption under a picture in the Daily Telegraph of 2 November was

Bathroom scales Gary Morrisey of Tyne and Wear saw a corn snake emerge from the overflow as he took a shower.

Are there many pictures with inventive captions like this one? 82.14.24.95 (talk) 12:33, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Many? Uncountably many, in fact. The pun is the lifeblood of the sub-editor-cum-photo captioner. Pick up any newspaper, and you'll find some. Some well-known ones: [1], [2]. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:00, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

See also The 60 greatest newspaper headline puns. This is usually tabloid newspaper territory; the upmarket Daily Telegraph seems to be plumbing new depths here (if you'll pardon the pun). Alansplodge (talk) 09:41, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

True manufacturer of these "lego building blocks"

This video for kids features a clown building an aeroplane from "lego building blocks". But I don't find Lego blocks that really look like this. So I assume these are blocks of some Lego competitor. Who actually produces this style of building blocks? --KnightMove (talk) 13:59, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

See Lego clone for a list of possibilities. Google should then help you identify the ones in your video. Wymspen (talk) 15:31, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, but unfortunately not. This is a similar system, but incompatible to Lego. Looking for this very shape I've found many building block stock photos, but no actual examples. I started to think that these blocks do not exist in reality, only as symbols. It was only the clown that proved otherwise to me. --KnightMove (talk) 12:49, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

They remind of écoiffier abrick [3] but there are probably many others. Some may be unnamed to be easier confused with Lego without actually using their trademark. PrimeHunter (talk)

This webpage lists numerous lego and lego-like building systems. --Jayron32 15:35, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

Captain Obvious prototypes back in 1960's

I'm thinking to make yet another attempt to write about ill-fated Captain Obvious at ru-wiki. While looking for all RS on the subject, I found this soubtle hint at ign.com forum (and yes, this is not RS, I know):

In the mid-sixties there actually was a "Captain Obvious" who had his own limited animation cartoon show. On it, there was a group of all conspicuously white kids who constantly did completely moronic things to endanger their lives, necessitating Captain Obvious's involvement to save them from themselves.

He always appeared just in the nick of time to state the obvious, which was his main super power, and thus save the children. Who can forget such classic moments of television yesteryear as when Captain Obvious flew in to say, "Hey kids, setting yourselves on fire may seem like fun, but it's a really bad idea!"

I am pretty sure that the story (if true) is about Captain Marvel, not some "Captain Obvious". But I'm not an American so cannot recall anything like that from 1960's. Maybe it will ring some bells here. Any help or hint is much appreciated. --Neolexx (talk) 16:36, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Just to make it explicit, today there is a series of TV commercials with "Captain Obvious" as a recurring character. But Neo is referring to earlier uses of that name. --69.159.60.147 (talk) 22:46, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

That is correct. Plus "Captain Obvious" by Brandon Moynihan is not only moronic but he is not C.O. at all (as he's a sea captain - something C.O. never was or will be). In other circumstances we could sue Twitter for the image insult by issuing that "official account". :-) To make it even more clear, changed the topic title a bit. --Neolexx (talk) 11:27, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

Oh my God, they killed Kenny! trademarked Captain Obvious... Just almost now, effective Nov.7
The US sometimes is so... cool. I'm amazed nobody collects royalties yet for bs or mf expressions. --Neolexx (talk) 22:13, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

USPTO trademark-search-result links aren't stable, so that didn't work. Anyway, it's commonplace for an everyday word or phrase to be trademarked: this only applies to its use to identify a particular business, product, etc., and other uses are unaffected. Royalties may apply to some other forms of intellectual property such as copyrights and patents, but are irrelevant to trademarks. See Trademark#Fundamental concepts. See Apple Corps v Apple Computer for an interesting case where this question of scope was important. --69.159.60.147 (talk) 11:03, 12 November 2017 (UTC)

Yeah I keep forgetting the USPTO forced limitations. Rather than using screenhots I'll better give an instruction:

1. go to http://tmsearch.uspto.gov
2. choose Basic Word Mark Search (New User)
3. in Search Term: type in captain obvious and press Submit Query

Actually the new trademark (effective Nov.07 2017) even more liberal: "Travel agency services, namely, making reservations and bookings for transportation and providing information concerning travel and providing travel information over computer networks, global communication networks and mobile networks; customer services, namely, providing confirmations of bookings for transportation via email."

From 2008 and till Oct.05 2017 it was more broad "Motion picture films and films for television featuring children's entertainment".

All this fine but what about 1960's cartoons (the original topic). Is anyone recalling anything similar? --Neolexx (talk) 17:39, 12 November 2017 (UTC)