You Can See That, Right?

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
(Redirected from Did You See That Too)

You've come across something so bizarre and inexplicable, you're not even sure it's real. The solution? Ask the guy standing next to you, "You Can See That, Right?" Usually the bystander confirms what you are seeing, be it a monster or a rip in space-time. Variations include, "Is anybody else seeing this?" and, "Did you hear that?"

Distinct from Pinch Me in that it usually is very real.

A second type of this trope is where the bystander says: "No, I don't see [exact description of event] and if you know what's good for you, neither do you."

Compare Weirdness Censor. See also By the Eyes of the Blind, to which this is usually said in response. Also see You Can See Me? and I See Them, Too.

You can see that... right?

Examples of You Can See That, Right? include:

Comic Books

  • Can't remember the details, but there was a Secret Avengers story where they were facing an army of Skrulls or something, and Spider-Man says something like, "Is everyone else seeing this? 'Cause if you're not, that'd be great."

Film

  • Cars: As Lightning McQueen tears up the road, Filmore the blissed-out VW bus asks, "I'm not the only one seeing this, right?"
  • Raising Arizona: "What is he?" "You see him, too?"
  • The Jumanji movie: "You just saw three monkeys go by on a motorcycle, didn't you?" "Yes..." "Good girl."
  • Near the end of a A Beautiful Mind John Forbes Nash asked a student to confirm a new person is real, a sensible precaution given his frequent hallucinations.
  • In Star Trek IV, two garbagemen watch as the main characters emerge from thin air (actually a cloaked Bird-Of-Prey). One asks the other this question, leading to the second variation.
  • Disney's Dumbo. When the "Pink Elephants on Parade" segment starts, Timothy Mouse asks Dumbo "Dumbo! You see what I see?"
  • The Andromeda Strain (1971). Dr. Ruth Leavitt and Dr. Jeremy Stone are examining the meteorite and the green stains on it. While Dr. Stone isn't looking at the screen, the stain changes color and expands, then returns to normal. Dr. Leavitt is tired and isn't sure she really saw something.

Dr. Leavitt: Jeremy?
Dr. Stone: What?
Dr. Leavitt: Nothing.
[The stain changes color and expands again while Dr. Stone is watching]
Dr. Leavitt: Did you see that?

Literature

  • Narnia book and film, numerous times with Aslan apparently playing hide and seek with the characters to gauge their level of commitment.

Lucy: You saw him too, didn't you?
Trumpkin: Do you see him... now?

Shaman: You didn't just see two men go through upside down on a broomstick, shouting and screaming at each other, did you?
Boy: Certainly not.
Shaman: Thank goodness for that. Neither did I.

Live-Action TV

Dennis: Is that a dog?
Nina: Oh, thank God! You see it, too.

  • In Class Act, Joanna Lumley's character is driving a forklift toward a religious group meeting. Detective Inspector Latham asks a constable what the hell that is, the constable describes the scene quite succinctly and Latham replies, "I am so glad you can see it, too."
  • In the pilot of Lost, Claire asks "Did anyone else just see that?" after seeing several trees ripped up by the monster. There are over 40 people around her and only one responds.
    • Later in the series, Hurley is frequently visited by ghosts of the dead people that only he can see. One of them turns out to be not so dead after all...

Locke: I assure you, I'm very much alive.
Hurley: Hey, Nurse, am I talking to a dude in a wheelchair right now?
Nurse: Yep.
Hurley: Whoa!

  • Mystery Science Theater 3000 - When Mr. B Natural materializes in a music store and starts yelping his/her spiel, Buzz wails "Mom, Dad, tell me you heard that!"
  • Community 2011 Christmas episode. When the protagonists walk into their study room, they see a guy sitting at a piano. Chevy Chase's character asks the other characters if they see him too, and they all nod "yes".
  • Lost in Space episode "Wild Adventure". When Dr. Smith sees a green alien woman floating around in space outside the Jupiter 2, he asks the Robot "You see her, don't you?"

Newspaper Comics

  • In Beetle Bailey, General Halftrack is leaning out his office window, watching Miss Buxley interact with various soldiers. As she stops and talks with one, the General falls out of the window. Lt. Fuzz and the Captain walk by just at that moment, looking up in the sky:

Lt. Fuzz: Did you see that?
Captain: No, and neither did you.

Radio

  • In a fan-favorite segment of Phil Hendrie's mock-talkshow, "guest" Jeff Dowder explains how California brush fires really get started. It's because in hot weather, jackrabbits build up a static charge that ignites the dry underbrush. When pressed further, Dowder stated that he and a friend both observed rabbits running around, followed by this flame trail...during a peyote trip.

Video Games

Khelgar Ironfist: Just to make sure my eyes aren’t lying to me – a huge suit of armor did smash through here, attack the githyanki – and us – then we drove it back to the portal?
Neeshka: No… no, that’s about right.
Khelgar Ironfist: Good. Because if my drinking is catching up with me, I’m stopping right now.

Web Comics

Web Original

Charlie: ...Who is that? No, no really. You guys see it right? I gotta be honest, I'm getting creeped out here, somebody say something.

  • Ruby Quest: "Tom says that if you saw a huge door lined with teeth leading into some sort of horrible abyss then yes, he saw the same thing."
    • In this case, it wasn't simply that the sight itself was so bizarre—at that point, a common player theory was that Ruby was insane and therefore an Unreliable Narrator; hence, whenever she saw something bizarre, they needed to ask Tom for confirmation.

Western Animation

Pilot 1: Did you see that?
Pilot 2: No, and neither did you.

"Am I seeing a robot penguin playing checkers with a frog?"
"I see it too, Skipper."
"More rack-time, boys."

Plastic Man: Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Because I'm seeing gorillas with harpoon guns, riding pterodactyls, stealing a boat.

  • Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Time Trap". When the Klingon battlecruiser disappears Kirk says "Mr. Spock, did you see what I think I just saw?"
See what? There's nothing there.
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