Thread: The silliest moment you saw on a cartoon or any TV show

Title says it all. I know that that TV shows are meant to be enjoyed and it's all in good fun but there are some moments that make me want to either laugh at the sheer stupidity or groan at how it made no sense. Here's a thread dedicated to those kind of moments.

I'll start it off with a moment from episode one of The Magic School Bus titled "Lost In Space" (obviously named after that bad movie). At the end of the episode, one of the characters, Arnold, takes his space helmet off while on the Planet Pluto (this was before it was demoted to a dwarf planet) in response to his braggy ***** of a cousin, Janet, wanting to stay on the Planet if she didn't get to take rocks from the planet. Does he die as a result of no oxygen in space? Nope, his body merely froze over and he's taken back to Earth where he's thawed out and receives a small cold.

Wow. Where do I begin?

1. As I said before, he'd die from the lack of oxygen and NOT freeze. I knew this and, as a result, this scene freaked the crap out of me years ago.

2. He does this to show Janet what'd happen if she'd stay on Pluto when Miss Frizzle could've just easily managed the situation as a teacher. In short, he put his life at risk because of his *****y cousin in a reckless manner that'd make Ash from Pokemon bow in admiration.

3. THIS IS A SHOW MEANT TO EDUCATE KIDS ABOUT SCIENCE! 'Nuff said.

The video can be found here (it's edited to make it seem like Arnold died so don't mind that part): Arnold from the Magic School Bus Dies - YouTube

Anyways, what was the stupidest thing you ever saw on TV, be it fiction or not fiction? If you can find a video of it, show it. If not, be sure to be clear when recalling it from memory.

So, go wild, guys. List your stupidest moment(s) you saw on a TV show and have fun.

I agree with you on that Magic school bus thing. I know that it's a kid's show and some kid's shows are reluctiant about speaking about death, but yeah he would have died before he even left the space shuttle/bus. So yeah he would freeze but he would be dead before then.

I remember that scene so well. Even as a kid, I knew there was something wrong with that part.

But that scene sounds smart compared to the following concept. You're free to look it up on YouTube if you really hold such little value on your intelligence... I mean, this is something that could probably literally make you dumber upon watching. Are you ready? Here we go.

Captain Planet... teaching kids... about AIDS.

That not only seriously exists, but even goes into detail about unprotected sex and drug needles. To make matters even more insulting, the writers seem to have a very loose grip on what AIDS even is. It's just torturous to watch. Just thinking about it makes me long for something sweet, light-hearted and comforting from my childhood. Oh, Sonic the Hedgehog, please take me under your innocent, nostalgic rapture.



Mother of god.

Wasn't there a thread like this before? Oh well, doesn't matter.

I agree with both, I seen the MSB one before and I heard of the Captain Planet one before from the Nostalgia Critic.

It's about SCIENCE. He could die, for all I care. Arnold, I mean.

The Magic School Bus also had an episode where kids turned into bats, and another one where they shrunk so they could go on a voyage inside Ralphie's body. The whole premise, inherent in the title, is fantastical. If you're going to take issue with the fact that they don't have them die of oxygen loss from taking their helmets off (and really, you expect the show to just kill off Arnold like that?), you may as well take issue with the fact that they had to have been traveling faster than the speed of light in order to reach all the planets that fast and yet they never addressed the issues with relativity. I would imagine that a kid who is smart enough to be picking up the show's science facts would also be smart enough to realize that, you know, buses can't actually magically turn into spaceships or submarines or bats and therefore, the show is going to take some liberties to make it more fun. I managed to figure that out as a kid.

You may as well also get mad at Captain Planet also because you can't actually summon wind or water or whatever-the-fuck "heart" is supposed to be with a magical ring. The whole point is to create these fantasy situations in order to make learning more "fun."

I would say the stupidest moment I've ever seen on a TV show is almost every episode of Glee, a show that is supposed to be set in a realistic universe and yet is utterly insane and stupid. (And no, I'm not talking about the fact that they break into song at random moments. That's expected in a musical. I'm talking about...well, just about everything else about that show.)

Originally Posted by Goodbye Blue Monday

The Magic School Bus also had an episode where kids turned into bats, and another one where they shrunk so they could go on a voyage inside Ralphie's body. The whole premise, inherent in the title, is fantastical. If you're going to take issue with the fact that they don't have them die of oxygen loss from taking their helmets off (and really, you expect the show to just kill off Arnold like that?), you may as well take issue with the fact that they had to have been traveling faster than the speed of light in order to reach all the planets that fast and yet they never addressed the issues with relativity. I would imagine that a kid who is smart enough to be picking up the show's science facts would also be smart enough to realize that, you know, buses can't actually magically turn into spaceships or submarines or bats and therefore, the show is going to take some liberties to make it more fun. I managed to figure that out as a kid.

You may as well also get mad at Captain Planet also because you can't actually summon wind or water or whatever-the-fuck "heart" is supposed to be with a magical ring. The whole point is to create these fantasy situations in order to make learning more "fun."

I would say the stupidest moment I've ever seen on a TV show is almost every episode of Glee, a show that is supposed to be set in a realistic universe and yet is utterly insane and stupid. (And no, I'm not talking about the fact that they break into song at random moments. That's expected in a musical. I'm talking about...well, just about everything else about that show.)

Well, as it is called the "Magic School Bus," the reason we dismiss whatever physics the bus breaks is because it's literally "magic," the go-to excuse for plotholes and ignorance to physics, but when it's actually attempting to demonstrate something in an attempt to educate us (like what would happen if we removed our space helmet on Pluto) and then get it totally wrong, is where it gets a little... stupid, to say the least. As for Captain Planet, when they're teaching a mature subject such as AIDS to kids and then show a very loose understanding of what the disease is, it's kind of... well, it's probably better left unwritten. With that said, you are right. They are just kids shows and they're jut doing what they can make learning fun and easy to understand for a first-grade demographic. But does that mean we can't make fun of their blunders or highly questionable moments? Nope, that's the point of this thread.

I'm not sure where you're getting the impression that anyone is "mad" at the shows mentioned. Yeah, those are some pretty silly moments, but really, it's these moments that make shows more memorable. Yeah, the Captain Planet one was all sorts of ignorant, distasteful, and way too mature for its target audience, but in an equally disturbing way, it was really funny because of it. I'm not "mad" at them for trying to teach kids about AIDS, I'm laughing at them. Besides, I could have talked about their horribly-written attempt at educating kids about gang violence, which was even worse because the entire episode focused on the moral rather than the narrative. But again, I'm not "mad" at them for it. It's just funny and deserved special attention for being extremely uneducated while trying to educate the audience on the subject.

In other words, it's just fun making fun of shows. Don't take a thread about it so seriously. =P

As for Glee, I agree, that whole show is just one stupid moment in the TV show that is human history.

For the record, I wasn't addressing the Captain Planet AIDS episode, just using it as an example for why I thought the worry over Magic School Bus was unwarranted.

And I was being tongue-in-cheek when talking about people being "mad," but I do think that if we're going to gripe about the freezing thing, there is a lot of science that they left out, like the relativity thing. I just assume that they probably discussed whether or not they should have Arnold deal with a lack of oxygen or freezing, and decided that since they didn't want Arnold to die freezing (as I presume they saw it as more reversible) made more sense in the context of the show even if it didn't in real life. Just as they realized it made no sense to address a physics concept (relativity) that most kids that age wouldn't understand anyway. And let's be honest, is this really that glaring of an omission? It's not like the kids watching the show are ever going to travel to Pluto on a whim or something (well, probably not, we don't know where science will be in 100 years but let's say, most likely not). As you said, a mistake about AIDS is much worse because that's more of a real-life issue.

Or to give an example from Glee: that show sometimes tries to deliver some kind of "moral" and it usually fails miserably. One that particularly bugged me, though, as a music major, was in the third season where Rachel and Kurt only applied to one school and their application, audition and admission (or rejection) to it came way later in the year than was realistic for real-life college applicants. That actually bothered me a lot because there are likely a lot of teenagers watching Glee who are interested in going into the performing arts, and telling them that they should pin all their hopes on one school and also acting like they had way longer than they actually did to make that decision? Really irresponsible. While it's one thing to refuse to give up on your dreams by only applying to safety schools (like some people I knew in high school felt they had to do), you should apply to some. You should be realistic that you're not the only person with that dream and have back-ups in case you, basically, have to delay it (since going to a just-okay undergrad doesn't prevent you from choosing a better place for grad school, for example). As someone who went through that whole process in high school that really, really bugged me as a message that could have done a lot of damage for Glee viewers.

Originally Posted by Goodbye Blue Monday

For the record, I wasn't addressing the Captain Planet AIDS episode, just using it as an example for why I thought the worry over Magic School Bus was unwarranted.

And I was being tongue-in-cheek when talking about people being "mad," but I do think that if we're going to gripe about the freezing thing, there is a lot of science that they left out, like the relativity thing. I just assume that they probably discussed whether or not they should have Arnold deal with a lack of oxygen or freezing, and decided that since they didn't want Arnold to die freezing (as I presume they saw it as more reversible) made more sense in the context of the show even if it didn't in real life. Just as they realized it made no sense to address a physics concept (relativity) that most kids that age wouldn't understand anyway. And let's be honest, is this really that glaring of an omission? It's not like the kids watching the show are ever going to travel to Pluto on a whim or something (well, probably not, we don't know where science will be in 100 hours but let's say, most likely not). As you said, a mistake about AIDS is much worse because that's more of a real-life issue.

Or to give an example from Glee: that show sometimes tries to deliver some kind of "moral" and it usually fails miserably. One that particularly bugged me, though, as a music major, was in the third season where Rachel and Kurt only applied to one school and their application, audition and admission (or rejection) to it came way later in the year than was realistic for real-life college applicants. That actually bothered me a lot because there are likely a lot of teenagers watching Glee who are interested in going into the performing arts, and telling them that they should pin all their hopes on one school and also acting like they had way longer than they actually did to make that decision? Really irresponsible. While it's one thing to refuse to give up on your dreams by only applying to safety schools (like some people I knew in high school felt they had to do), you should apply to some. You should be realistic that you're not the only person with that dream and have back-ups in case you, basically, have to delay it (since going to a just-okay undergrad doesn't prevent you from choosing a better place for grad school, for example). As someone who went through that whole process in high school that really, really bugged me as a message that could have done a lot of damage for Glee viewers.

My apologies, I guess I misunderstood your point. It's just that I have met a lot of people who will take making fun of cartoons so seriously, so I guess I rushed into that assumption without fully analyzing the tone and context.

Anyway, you are probably right about the Magic School Bus thing. They probably knew that it was unrealistic and they certainly couldn't have Arnold dying from lack of oxygen or freezing to death. With that said, though, it really wouldn't have hurt to just think of a completely different scene since it was obviously a no-win situation, especially since it really didn't make much sense given the situation at hand. I guess he was trying to show Janet that eventually she'll run out of oxygen or her space suit will cease to function or whatever and she'll succumb to some horrible consequences, but really, that's like cutting off your own hand to show someone what will happen if they don't learn to properly hold a knife. So I still say that it particularly stood out as a moment that even in a realm of its own insanity probably could have been a little more thought out. But who am I talk? I'm a huge fan of the Sonic franchise, and according to Sonic physics, not only is it perfectly possible to breathe in outer space without the aid of a space suit, but there's also plenty of gravity, but there's also places with no gravity and basically the laws of physics just do whatever they want, yet I never questioned it until five years later.

Also, that moral in Glee is sadly just one example of many different shows where they sort of teach you that if you want to get somewhere, you're guaranteed to do so on the first try if you just stay in school and study really hard. I guess they just wanted to motivate the viewers and make them believe in themselves, but like you said, when it's filled to the brim with inaccuracies and rushed pacing, it leaves the viewer expecting the same result and thus actually causes more damage than it does motivates.

In Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, an old woman tells a little girl that there's no such thing as monsters. Even though the Power Rangers are seen fighting them and I doubt even a old bag could miss the Megazord duking it out with a giant monsters. Linkara said it best when he dubbed her the "dumbest person in Power Rangers." Granted, Power Rangers is pretty silly but that old lady was worth mentioning if you ask me.

Stupidest moment? Let me think... Oh right. Remember kids, they are not called rice balls, they are DONUTS!!

Virtually any moment in the Pokemon anime can count as one of these, one in particular being when Ash lost to a legendary in the league, among other moments

I didn't hate Yu-Gi-Oh or anything, but that whole "Heart of the Cards" thing drove me nuts. Whenever my parents would walk in on me and watching and they would mention it, I'd be so embarrassed. Like "I swear the rest of the show is not this stupid."

The opening scene of the first episode of MLP. Was so stupid I couldn't watch another second of it.

The Jockey Land scene from the Saddlesore Galactica episode of The Simpsons. Homer gets transported to a happy and magical land of Jockey Elves, who threaten to kill him if he and Bart win the next horse race. There have probably been even more ridiculous moments in the show since then, but this will always be the one that sticks in my mind. Despite always being a cartoon, The Simpsons had always been a fairly down-to-earth and realistic show, and whilst there had been a number of silly and unrealistic sight gags in the show before, that's all they were - gags. They were never vital to the plot up until this episode, and it has forever left a sour taste in my mouth.

Of course, I believe the episode was suppose to be a trolling episode, but that only makes me hate it more. Many writers are far too happy to show their contempt for viewers these days.

Watching GI Joe: A Real American Hero last night on the Hub gave me the chance to see a real doozy.

The episode was called "The Wrong Stuff" and it involved Cobra taking satellites out of orbit so they could take over the world's television stations. (Yeah, this is starting out great, ain't it?) On their first attack, a team of three Joes, in Skystrikers (which are jets!) head out into space in order to take down Cobra's satellite. Well, Cobra actually has a manned orbitting space station, complete with weapons array and shoots all three of them down. As the hapless Joes spin out of control, the Joes decide to use the oxygen in their spacesuits to propel themselves to Earth so they can hit the atmosphere and pop their chutes.

Uh, yeah. You guys would kinda sorta BURN UP ON REENTRY!!

And people said that G1 Transformers was bad. Sure, it had a few goofy moments but wow. GI Joe just takes it.