Jon Sandys

20th Jan 2024

RoboCop (2014)

Stupidity: Robocop is just about to be unveiled to the press for the first time, and they decide right beforehand is the perfect time to upload a massive amount of data, including his own attempted murder. Then, they seem shocked when that causes problems. No reason to do that right before a very public, time-sensitive moment except for the sake of the plot.

Jon Sandys

Stupidity: Kora and Gunnar arrive at the town to find the rebel Bloodaxes via a contact of Gunnar's. They literally see this contact being hauled out of a bar by bounty hunters who work for the Imperium...and then walk straight into the same bar and start openly talking about needing to find the rebels right in front of the bartender and other patrons, who for all they know are all Imperium-aligned.

Jon Sandys

Stupidity: When the flying snowmobiles attack, Bond tells Elektra to go into the gully, and he'll lead them into the trees...completely ignoring the fact that these bad guys are here to kill her, so why would they follow him instead? Of course they all do. Either a plot contrivance or a blatant set up, which he doesn't remotely consider.

Jon Sandys

9th Oct 2023

Ahsoka (2023)

Show generally

Stupidity: Recurring issue when Ahsoka is fighting with dual sabers - there are often times in a duel when one saber is clashing with the other person, but she still has a hand free with her shoto that she could use to stab/slash and win the fight easily. Would make for shorter battles of course.

Jon Sandys

9th Oct 2023

Ahsoka (2023)

7th Oct 2023

Licence to Kill (1989)

Stupidity: The "$32 million" facility for processing the gas/cocaine apparently doesn't have a sprinkler system or any real fire control. The second the fire starts, which is still fairly small, in a single room, and could easily be contained, basically everyone evacuates the entire complex and just leaves it to burn/explode.

Jon Sandys

5th Oct 2023

Licence to Kill (1989)

Stupidity: Felix and the DEA capture Sanchez, a very powerful drug lord, in a very public way, have the wedding...then everyone just goes home. No concept of extra security or concern about his minions getting revenge. So of course they can then just wander into his house with no problems whatsoever to capture him and murder his wife. Bond's clearly concerned when he learns Sanchez has escaped, but he must have realised there'd be plenty of goons still around before that point.

Jon Sandys

21st Sep 2023

Upload (2020)

Robin Hood - S2-E3

Stupidity: Nora fled to the Ludds at the end of season one because someone was trying to kill her because she was getting close to what went on. Here they suggest she goes back to Horizen to work undercover, and she just...goes. Nobody seems worried that she'll be exposed and vulnerable.

Jon Sandys

21st Sep 2023

Upload (2020)

Dinner Party - S2-E2

Stupidity: Nathan sees who he thinks is Nora at the Dinner Party - despite her boss using her avatar once before, so he knows not to assume it's her, especially given she's been missing for weeks. He's completely thrown by her unusual behaviour, and it doesn't even occur to him it might be someone else.

Jon Sandys

20th Sep 2023

Upload (2020)

Show generally

Stupidity: Nora's dad believes in heaven and doesn't want to upload himself, because he wants to be reunited with his wife. When visiting Lakeview, he tells Nathan that Nathan's soul went to "real heaven," so he's just talking to a simulation. Which means there's no reason he can't upload himself. His soul will go to real heaven like he wants to, and he can leave a simulation behind for his daughter to be with. Everyone would be happy, but nobody makes that argument.

Jon Sandys

Stupidity: The "keep everyone in the stadium" plan is foiled when gold is scattered around the outside and everyone leaves. The bad guys didn't consider locking the doors? Not least because once the terrifying sky tendrils descend and boiling red clouds start filling the arena, surely people would have started bolting for the wide open exits.

Jon Sandys

Stupidity: The humans return to Pandora knowing how things went last time...and still haven't improved the cockpit glass to be able to resist a bow and arrow?

Jon Sandys

6th Apr 2023

Castle (2009)

Secret's Safe with Me - S5-E3

Stupidity: Castle casually smashes two dolls expecting there to be something hidden inside, but a) he knows they're valuable collectibles which the captain would take serious issue with him smashing, and b) anything inside must have gotten inside somehow non-destructively, so there's no need to smash the dolls, why not get whatever's inside out the same way it got in?

Jon Sandys

6th Apr 2023

Castle (2009)

A Dance with Death - S4-E18

Stupidity: The dancing show is appallingly organised - they launch into the opening dance without any of the production crew knowing where one of the two dancers is, leaving everyone mystified when she misses her cue (because she's dead in her dressing room). They wouldn't even have started filming without her being offstage ready to go.

Jon Sandys

23rd Mar 2023

Castle (2009)

Countdown - S3-E17

Stupidity: Castle and Beckett are trapped in a refrigerated container - they bang against a steel door and shoot it, but never even consider doing anything with the refrigeration coils or vents which are visible, accessible, and what keeps the container cold. Damage them and the space they're trapped in wouldn't be below freezing any more, which is the main danger to them.

Jon Sandys

Q & A - S4-E15

Stupidity: Harold isn't sure whether to trust the flash drive Claire gives him, worrying connecting it to his laptop will send Samaritan all his personal connections. Somehow it doesn't occur to him to just use a completely disconnected / airgapped laptop, in a Faraday cage or similar like the one he kept Root in. If the flash drive had malicious code on it, nothing could be transmitted anyway.

Jon Sandys

20th Nov 2022

Bones (2005)

The Signs in the Silence - S6-E21

Stupidity: Bones realises she could pull a wisdom tooth from Amy in order to identify where she grew up and find her birth parents. Which works, but at no point do they consider simply going through missing person records with the relevant info. They know how old she is, they know roughly when she disappeared, not like there are hundreds of 3 year olds going missing every year, especially not with Waardenburg syndrome. By that age her deafness would have been apparent, which would narrow the pool hugely.

Jon Sandys

23rd Sep 2022

Andor (2022)

Reckoning - S1-E3

Stupidity: Andor and Luthen set a vehicle to drive and distract the security team. The vehicle is destroyed, and they immediately round the corner in full view of the team on a speeder and drive away, then blow up the vehicle. They could have driven away on any number of other streets without revealing that they weren't in the vehicle, keeping their escape secret. And if they blew it up before the team looked too closely they might have even been deemed to have been killed in the crash.

Jon Sandys

21st Sep 2022

Bones (2005)

Bodies in the Book - S2-E15

Stupidity: Booth shoots the stalker's door lock...and then kicks the door in anyway. Shooting the lock achieves nothing, it wouldn't have made the door any easier to kick in, it's just him generating paperwork and an issue with his shrink.

Jon Sandys

19th Sep 2022

Riddick (2013)

Stupidity: They go to great pains to lock the nodes behind an explosive lock, then have a debate about whether Riddick's somehow broken in. They eventually unlock them, check they're still in place...then just leave the locker completely unattended and unlocked while they discuss plans, and Riddick of course steals the nodes.

Jon Sandys

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