Cars (franchise)/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
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** It's [[Cloudcuckoolander|Mater]]. Even if he knows how to drift he probably doesn't think about it as he's doing it, and he's making it up anyway.
* In Cars, where does the fuel come from? Where did the talking cars come from anyway?
** If the cars lack manual dexterity and require simplified interfaces to perform most tasks (pumping gas, opening doors, playing video games, etc.) then who built some of the more finely crafted items like trophies or the gas pumps themselves. This troper began to theorize that sapient cars and humans coexisted in the film universe, and that the cars simply ran over all the humans once everything had been built and they were no longer needed.
*** Nah, I'm guessing that the builders of the cars (As well as most carbon-based life, apparently) were wiped out in some sort of apocalypse, but the cars survived and gradually forgot about their old history. Either that, or Cars was created by a bunch of computer animators, if you will, who didn't think things through all the way.
**** That last one is just crazy talk.
**** The movie takes place in the same universe as the short story Trucks.
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** Motor oil, chassis lube and antifreeze?
** Maybe gas stations are the car equivalent of a really cheap fast-food place? Except without the cheap part, judging by today's gas prices.
*** Eh. A real-life coupe (such as Sally) can go what, fifteen to twenty miles on three bucks of gasoline as of this writing? A larger vehicle (like Mater), eight to ten? How far do you think you can go on three bucks of American junk food? (okay, I'll do the math for you. [
** I'm guessing that Gas stations are a necessity, while Restaurants are more of a luxury (or for formal events, like a date).
** On the other hand, why is everyone freaked out of Fillmore naturist drinks? Is that gas without led, or drugs?
*** It's probably the Cars' Universe equivalent of Tofu. It sustains as well as normal gas but most don't prefer it.
* I can not be the only one bothered by Betsy. Is she a corpse or something?
** The convention seems to be that if you can't move under your own power, you're not sentient. Hence Mac's trailer doesn't have a mind of its own, nor do the train's cars other than the engine.
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*** This troper has seen more than a few [[Deviant ART]] samples of Cars reproduction, or at least birthing... as best as I can tell, they poop out windup toys via their exhausts.
*** Please, can we keep the autoerotica here to a minimum?
*** Actually, the Deviant ''Artist'' who draws a lot of the birthing stuff is looked down upon by the rest of the fandom this movie has.
*** When Mack finds McQueen in Radiator Springs, he exclaims "Thank the manufacturer, I found you!" Make of that as you will.
**** "The manufacturer" is God and "Jesus Chrysler" is... well you know.
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** The vast majority of any race will be subservient to some degree, we only saw the vehicles in a small section of the world. There could be truck CEOs for all we know.
*** There are. Well, small-business owners, anyway - Mater's salvage company is even named after him.
** They don't have to stay the same model (theoretically). One of the dropped ides was that a car's "brain" is its engine and could be transplanted into other vehicle-bodies (so the kid-car at the end could become a fighter jet one day). This would've been shown with Lightning having a nightmare where Mater (who was much more of a [[Jerkass]]) ''[[Nightmare Fuel|taking his body for a joyride]]'' while he was either trapped in Betsy's body, Mater's body, or [[Brain In
** Wait, did you just suggest that the family sedan could become a fighter jet just by putting the engine in an aircraft frame?
*** It's ''Cars''. They probably have laws to keep that under control. Oh...and different technology to get more generic engines.
* In a world of sapient vehicles that don't really use "organic" oil, why would they harvest plants? Is it just gardening on a massive scale or do they have an unseen trade agreement with a planet that has a lot of fossil fuel and poor soil?
** Biofuel?
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== Cars 1 ==
* Why is it that, at the end of the race, Lightning didn't win, then drive back to get the King so he would finish the race at 3rd?
** Because he didn't want King to suffer the same fate as Doc Hudson and the desire to prevent that became more important than winning the race.
** More specifically, it was his selflessness in helping the retiring racer finish his last race, despite the other car cheating, even when it was obvious that Lightning had all but won. It just underlines how much of a jerk that other car was, and how much Lightning had evolved through the movie.
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*** Because that would've been a shallow victory.
*** Could it also be an allusion to ''An Officer and a Gentleman''? Remember when Zack Mayo sacrificed his time over the assault course in order to help Seeger deal with the wall and thus qualify? As in "YOU WANT JETS?..."
*** The way I see it, Lightning HAD to not win the race. He needed to show that he understood that some things are more important than winning, and finishing the race in first and then helping the King, while it still would have been nice, would have made the gesture less significant. By sacrificing the win, he was able to be a hero and show Chick's true colors (if they weren't obvious enough already) in one fell swoop. He had to sacrifice the win in order for his gesture to mean anything.
** Once you cross the finish line, you are not allowed to go back on racetrack. That would be in the rules to prevent blocking. On the other hand, physical contact is obviously not against the rules, and they probably never made a rule about reversing. If McQueen had crossed the finish line, he wouldn't have been able to do what he did.
* The homologation rules for the Piston Cup must be a hell of a lot looser than the stock car series that it's based on. How else could you explain why a Plymouth Superbird is taking on a 1980s Buick, which is taking on the love child of a stock car and a Group 5 sports car? Actually, how did Lightning McQueen manage to get homologated at all? He's clearly not based on a production car model, even as a silhouette version.
** They had to put a variety of cars in there somehow. Besides, I always thought McQueen looked a little like a Corvette, but different enough that they didn't have to acquire the Chevy license.
* What exactly does Dinoco do? I have theories but a confirmation would be nice.
** They're a gas company, and an [[Fictional Counterpart]] of Texaco.
** There was a Dinoco gas station in the first ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' (that was where Buzz Lightyear beat up Woody, and caused both of them to get separated from Andy). I would assume their logo is a reference to the [[wikipedia:Sinclair Oil Corporation|Sinclair]] company.
* Towards the end, Chuck blows one of Lightning's tires and only gets a yellow flag. This is bad enough, Lightning beats the pace car out of the pits. Unless the rules are different in this movie, you're not allowed to overtake the pace car.
** He didn't "overtake" the pace car, he just happened to get back onto the track before he could be lapped.
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* Why are the champion racer and his wife called Mr. and Mrs. "The King"? Isn't that just a title? His name is Strip Weathers, so why not call him Mr. Weathers?
** "The King" is likely a nickname, and thus how he's known to the rest of the world, so that's what people call him, especially big fans like Lightning.
*** And the only one in the movie who called his wife "Mrs. The King" was Mater, who is... [[Cloudcuckoolander|well, Mater.]]
* When Mac and Lightning are on their way to Cali, they get passed by a minivan with a mattress on the top. What use would cars have for mattresses?
** To keep their human slaves cozy?
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** I've wondered that too, even though I love Chick. I never understood either why he seemingly waited for the King's final race to 'attempt to murder' him. You bring up a very good, very humourous point.
** Having seen the movie again, it looks like Chick was simply pushed over the [[Moral Event Horizon]] after he and The King were passed by McQueen. It's not that Chick wanted to murder The King, but he didn't want to come in ''third'' in the biggest race in history.
{{quote|
* I just noticed, before the final race, When Chick is flashing his little metallic C in Lightning's face, '''why is the reflected C not backwards?!'''
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** Don't blame Disney, don't blame Pixar, blame my kids. My son ''wasn't even born'' when Cars came out, and it's still his favorite movie, and the only things he has asked for for birthday and Christmas are Cars-themed toys. Now personally I find it to be ''far'' from Pixar's "worst" movie and like it a lot. Just not to the single-minded intensity of a 3-year-old boy.
** I'll have to agree with the OP on this one. When [[Hannah Montana]] became popular, Disney started pimping out her shows and similar ones like there was no tommorrow, and it wasn't until fairly recently that they realized how much they really alienated their male audience. They saw how successful Cars was, and realized that they could use it to get their male audience back again.
** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Pixar's take on sequels is that they only make them if they think they have a story that can top the original. What better way to do that than with your least excellent film? Also, their third-lowest-rated film, ''[[
* This film has been Pixar's lowest rating film yet. Why make a sequel? It's not like it was a cliffhanger or anything. Why not make one for the bigger films, like [[Finding Nemo]] or [[Monsters, Inc.]]?
** Touched on above. There's no real way to make a [[Finding Nemo]] 2 anyway, and [[Monsters, Inc.]] supposedly is indeed getting a prequel.
** There's also the fact that while it was their worst film, it was still pretty damn good. Plus racecars are cool - much cooler than fish.
** '''Merchandising'''. Kids want anything Cars-related, and Disney will milk that cow until it's bone-dry. Think of it as the blockbuster an actor does so they can afford to do a low-budget prestige picture.
*** Not to mention that yes, ''Disney is now making their biggest merchandising profit in stores off of Cars products, and have been for years!'' Pixar wouldn't have been caught dead to pass up supporting themselves in this type of economy otherwise, especially if Disney ''bought'' them and can make all the rules, regardless if John Lasseter and other employees their are car enthusiasts or not.
** Yeah, as said above, just because it's Pixar's "worst" film doesn't mean that it's bad at all. It's actually a fantastic movie. It's just that everything Pixar makes is pure gold; Pixar's worst movie is about the same quality as Dreamworks' best movies (Shrek and [[
*** I wouldn't say "fantastic", but yeah it's pretty good.
*** That argument is absurd if [[Rotten Tomatoes]] is considered an accurate measure and by that standard ''Cars'' at only 74% and even more so ''[[Cars 2]]'' (39%) obviously trail against the first two ''Shreks'' (both RT 89%), ''[[
* The sequel. This troper just saw the trailer and admits it does look ''very'' interesting, but HOW IN THE WORLD do you go from a relatively realistic film of friendship and learning there's more to life than winning, to SPIES and ESPIONAGE?!?! That's like making a sequel to WALL-E where aliens invade the Earth and threaten to destroy all of mankind!!!
** You gave them an idea!!! You jinxed it!!! Now we're all doomed!!! [[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]]
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*** I'm not sure when you think it was implied that he was going to give up racing, and the fact that he held onto the Rusteeze contract would suggest the opposite.
* About the sequel. [[Pixar]], from what I've heard, only makes sequels if they have a story that's good enough for a sequel. So....what happened with Cars? Not to say that secret agents isn't an interesting concept or anything but it seems generic and it really doesn't fit in with the original Cars. Why does Pixar seem to be going the [[Disney]] road with the sequel here?
** Maybe after the bittersweet emotional rollercoaster of ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'', a lighthearted action-adventure-race pic is a good thing? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FF7js6H34 The latest trailer] also seems to suggest that Mater will have to confront his status as a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and laughing stock...
* It appears that the weaponry that the vehicles use are hidden behind panels. So does that mean that {{spoiler|Mater}}, Shiftwell and McMissile have been surgically altered into fighting machines? Yeah, that brings up a bit of [[Fridge Horror]] for me.
** More like the spy genre and the cyberpunk genre are the same thing in their world.
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** I haven't seen the movie yet but I know Mater causes Lighting to lose a stage in Grand Prix so I figure Mater tries to explain all the weird [[Espionage Tropes]] that are occurring to Lightning. Lightning, who's been told all of [[Pixar Shorts|Mater's tall tales]] before, doesn't believe him.
*** Thank you. Yes, now that's probably the closest one it gets. Still, eh... {{spoiler|1=Mater does not try to bring Espionage Tropes to light, as he does not yet even know that his new girlfriend is a spy. Because of that, his story does not sound implausible at all (heard the voice of my date, got out of the pit box, saw a martial arts festival, got into a fight...) - and McQueen doesn't seem too disbelieving, knowing Mater's previous antics - more like angry and annoyed at having lost the race. Not much of a tall tale, I think. But it's close, yeah.}}
* There already is a question regarding homologation rules in the original, but in the [[Squal Escalation|sequel]] . The World Grand Prix openly includes all types of racers, from open-wheel F1 (like [http://cars2movie.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/FrancescoBernoulli-300x168.jpg Bernoulli]{{Dead link}}) through sports (like [http://cars2movie.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Shu-poster-300x168.jpg that]{{Dead link}} Japanese guy) to rally cars (like [http://cars2movie.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Raoul-poster-300x168.jpg that one]{{Dead link}} from France). They even make an attempt at justifying it, saying that the race tracks have various parts, like strips of dirt-track where rally cars would be able to gain an advantage. Not being a racing aficionado, I would like to know how much sense it makes to those who are. Or is the WGP officially a charity event, making the rules more relaxed?
** Repeat [[The MST 3 K Mantra]] a few times...there is no possible way you could fairly race F1 cars, NASCAR cars, rally cars, drifters, etc. against each other, ESPECIALLY not with different track sections--on a grand prix track the F1 cars would demolish the others, a rally-style stage would shred the other cars' bodies, which can't take dirt racing and aren't meant to, drifters are entirely different concept. [[Cars]] cars seem to be able to adapt themselves to conditions, real cars cannot.
* In the scene where McMissile and Holly are outfitting Mater with spy gadgets, they offer to repair him, as his, ahem, less-than-perfect paint job interferes with their state-of-the-art holographic camouflage. Mater, of course, proudly refuses (can't let minor nuisances such as this alter the image of our protagonist, all right). But the reason he gives is that all these dents and scratches were received during his adventures with Lightning. Only... he totally was looking exactly like that when Lightning first met him in the original film. Fine, I could've let that one fly... but from that moment onwards, the holographic camo works like a charm on top of his rust without ever shorting out like it did the first time.
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*** It does work on dents flawlessly after a little adjustment, we saw that when they disguised Mater as Ivan. As for the second part: Mater was new and shiny once, too. If you don't do body repair, you end up with a rusty car with missing parts and a battered paint job. And I did say "non-truck".
*** Part 1- She'd really only be using it on spy missions. Most of the time she'd look normal. Part 2- Mater seemed to have started rusting and not looking new after [[Tear Jerker|no one came to the town,]] you can conclude that he sort of stopped caring about appearances after that, which probably wouldn't happen to Holly. Plus, again, she wouldn't be missing parts and not being a truck would make a lot of difference.
** Holley says that she is "keeping this one" because of its value. Between it being her first battle damage as a field agent and it reminding her of meeting Mater, it's reasonable that she doesn't take up the habit entirely and just keeps that one dent.
* In all of the Japan scenes from the sequel, how the heck did [[Pixar Shorts|Kabuto]] get his modifications back? He should've stayed naked because of Mater the last time they met!
** Maybe all of Mater's tall tales never really happened, and the only thing that actually happened was him telling his stories. That would mean that Kabuto can still exist, but he just never ran in with Mater.
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* Why are many people saying that Pixar is [[Jumping the Shark]] with Cars 2? It may be a [[Broken Streak]], but it came after some of the highest-rated Pixar films, and Brave seems reliable enough. Isn't Cars 2 nothing more than a fun little [[Breather Episode]]?
** Ditto
** Justifiably or not, this ''is'' the film that stopped Pixar's winning streak with critics, it has the stigma of not only being a sequel to Pixar's worst movie, but also a sequel made only made to sell toys, and the fact that after Brave is a [[Monsters, Inc.]] prequel, and it was made right after a [[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] sequel. In short: Chalk it up to [[Fan Dumb]] that thinks that one slightly sub par movie means Pixar will be [[Merchandise-Driven]] [[Sequelitis|sequels]] [[Ruined FOREVER|FOREVER!!!]] What I want to know: Why is it that Pixar makes one slightly sub par movie and that's all everyone wants to talk about, but you're an automatic hater if you mention any of the lesser [[Dreamworks Animation]] films?
** This is just me and my sources could be wrong, but I heard Pixar's being controlled by Disney now. Look at how many Disney movies got sequels. Now look at how many Disney movie sequels didn't suck. That's enough to kind of make me worry about what's coming next.
*** What's coming next is an original film, a prequel, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110903215959/http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/37907/pixar-announces-november-27-2013-as-release-date-for-next-movie another original film.] Also, if Disney just wanted to play it safe and only make Pixar make sequels, why would they let them do any of the mature stuff they did in Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3?
*** I heard it was recent, like after those movies. And I never said they were going to play it safe and have them make sequels, but even if I did, when the heck did Ratatouille become serious?
**** The scene between Remy and his father outside the shop with all the hanging rat corpses, the scene where Linguini finds out that Remy let the other rats into the food stores, the scene where Ego writes his review despite the potential risk to his reputation...
**** It was while those movies were in Preproduction (i.e., the point where Disney could come in and say "That's too risque, get rid of that), Brave was the last movie in the pipeline from before the purchase.
* Anyone else notice that ladder during the scene where Mater and the other two are driving through the airport? I mean, they're having some sort of chase scene AND THERE IS A FREAKING LADDER CONNECTED TO ONE OF THE BOARDING GATES IN THE BACKGROUND. Did the animators just not care, or something? Unless we're going with the 'human slave' WMG theory. Which admittedly explains a lot.
* Why are so many people trying to theorize that Pixar pulled a "Torch and Burn" on the franchise for this film? Everywhere I see Pixar talking about the film, even from John Lasseter himself, they sound utterly '''ENTHUSIASTIC''' about it, and will go well into details about their love for towns and cars. The film hardly killed the franchise, it pretty much did the opposite, as it was still very successful, has a spinoff coming from it, and despite its [[Critical Dissonance]], can still point to a lot of high profile critics like [[Roger Ebert]] and Pete Travers. Are people this desperate to try and assure themselves it was all part of some covert plan?
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Pixar (Creator)/Headscratchers]]▼
[[Category:Cars]]▼
[[Category:Headscratchers]]
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