Not Actually the Ultimate Question: Difference between revisions

The other character then answers by going into [[Contemplate Our Navels|a long monologue about the meaning of life, the existence of God, everyone's place in the world, how it is all one big mystery, and no one may ever know for sure.]]

 

 

In a variation, it's obvious from the first that the question is about something specific, and the very act of treating it like a big question in the first place makes for a joke.

Mostly seen as the first lines of the first scene or a new scene. This can also be used as an [[Mr. Exposition|exposition]] shortcut.

 

 

== Anime ==

* An episode of ''[[Goodness Gracious Me]]'' had two teenagers in a Hindu temple, one of whom asked the other "why are we here?" After the second gave a long philosophical speech the first asked "No, why are we ''here''? We're Sikhs."

* In a ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' sketch, Dennis Moore, who robs from the rich and gives to the poor, is asked by his latest victims "What do you want? Why are you here?" He takes this as a philosophical question despite the fact that he just swung into their window to steal their possessions for the third time.

{{quote| '''Morden''': What do you want?<br />

'''G'Kar''': Well, what do you mean, what do I want?<br />

** And then it's played with and returned to in a later episode.

{{quote| ''"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"''<br />

** Similarly, the Blood Gulch Chronicles series ends with another character asking the same question, and the other gives a rant about how hate should be a personal thing, not a product of prejudice. The other just wanted to know why they were standing in the open sun when they could stand in the shade. It even gives a [[Shout Out]] to [[Halo]] and how they'd be fighting aliens if Master Chief hadn't blown up the Covenant armada single-handed.

** And given a [[Double Subversion]], combined with a [[Call Back]] in ''Revelation'', Chapter 18. {{spoiler|Sarge asks each and every one of the remaining Reds and Blues why they are here. Grif begins reading his lines from Season One, when Sarge cuts him off and explains that he meant to ask an even more meaningful question - why are each of the Reds and Blues still in this group, when they could be off somewhere else? He then delivers a [[Rousing Speech]] that brings the both teams together and makes them ready to kick ass.}}