1212: Interstellar Memes

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Interstellar Memes

Title text: The strongest incentive we have to develop faster-than-light travel is that it would let us apologize in advance.

A larger version of this picture can be found by clicking the comic on xkcd.

Explanation

This explanation is incomplete: Needs explanations for memes If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Randall highlights various memes from popular culture. A meme is a phenomenon, often in this scenario in the form of a movie quote, a musical reference, a catchphrase or other notable saying that spreads quickly by word-of-mouth. Memes become popular because people hear about them and repeat them to others. Randall points out that if the assumed intelligent life from other star systems were listening to the things we said, then they would just now be hearing and popularizing memes started years ago on earth. The delay is due to the time that it takes for expressions of the meme to travel (presumably via radio waves) to distant star systems.

Our solar system, from where the electromagnetic waves are emitted, is located just left of the center of the picture. The other star systems are arranged roughly according to their distance from the sun, while their size corresponds to the size of the star compared with that of the sun.

The meme for Sirius is a pun; it refers to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius Black.

Radio waves travel at the speed of light. The title text jokes that these memes are so annoying that it would give us further incentive to develop the technology to travel faster than light, just simply to be able to outrun the radio waves, reach a distant star system, and apologize in advance to the "residents" about the memes, before the memes arrive.

Table with memes

The table below lists all the memes described, and the star at which the comics states those memes should be heard by the time when the comic was released in 2013. The year of the meme plus the number of light years to the star should end up close to 2013.

Most end up within the range 2011-2013 which may indicate the meme became popular one or two years later (on Earth or at the distant star system.) Two memes reach the targets in 2014. Some of those errors may be caused by the inaccuracy of the distances.

The The Spanish Inquisition from Monty Python would have reached its destination in 2006. Because they're still watching Monty Python's Flying Circus in 2013 it must be very popular or maybe it took seven years to decipher that British humour.

Meme	Star	Origin	Year	Distance to star	Sum year	Explanation
Yabba dabba doo!	Castor	The Flintstones	1960	51 ± 3 ly	2011 ± 3	The catchphrase used by Fred Flintstone in the series The Flintstones whenever something good happens (like a work shift ending).
You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?"	Lambda Aurigae	Dirty Harry	1971	41.2 ± 0.1 ly	2012
Where's the beef?	HR 1614	Slogan for Wendy's	1984	28 ly	2012	Catchy slogan used in many Wendy's commercials that caught on and became a meme in its own right.
And now for something completely different.	Capella	Monty Python's Flying Circus	1969	42 ly	2011
Here's lookin' at you, kid.	Kappa Reticuli	Casablanca	1942	70 ly	2012
My spoon is too big!	Kapteyn's Star	Rejected	2000	12 ly	2012
May the force be with you.	Delta Trianguli	Star Wars	1977	35 ly	2012	This is a phrase used a lot in the Star Wars franchise. It is a benediction used to bid a hopeful farewell, mostly by/to/between those who are aligned to the Jedi creed.
Peanut butter jelly time!	Luyten's Star	an Internet meme	2002	12 ly	2014
Rosebud.	Alpha Hydri	Citizen Kane	1941	71 ly	2012	In the opening scene of Citizen Kane, the eponymous Mr. Kane dies, saying "Rosebud" as his last words. The rest of the movie focuses on the people in his life trying to determine what the meaning of this word was.
Oh my god, they killed Kenny! – You bastards!	AD Leonis	South Park	1997	15.9 ± 0.2 ly	2013	This is usually said whenever the character Kenny from South Park is killed. This is a recurring reference, as Kenny dies in every episode of South Park. In its most referenced form, another of the child characters then swears at the antagonists, fate and/or the writer's of the show, whichever party may be responsible, but this may be toned down in later depictions.
...God kills a kitten! – A what?	Procyon	an Internet meme	2002	11.5 ly	2013	The reply for this meme notes that kittens aren't on any other planets[citation needed], so the other person is confused about what a kitten is.
I still can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it.	Sirius	Harry Potter (book 5)	2003	8.6 ly	2012	In the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Bellatrix Lestrange fires a spell at Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. This spell knocks Sirius backward through an archway which is a physical doorway into the afterlife such that, when Sirius fell through it, he left the realm of the living and died. The star Sirius is obviously upset about this, as Sirius Black was named after him.
Ninjas fight all the time!	Epsilon Eridani	The Official Ninja Webpage	2002	10 ly	2012	Ninja is the Japanese word for spy. In the 16th century, Japanese spycraft was codified into a profession, and spies had a significant influence on feudal intrigue during the Japanese warring states period. These spies inspired a lot of literature, some fantastical, which over time developed into a popular stock character and a rich array of associated tropes. The Official Ninja Webpage is a satire website written from the perspective of a teenage American boy who is obsessed with the stock character and its associated tropes. One of these tropes, as written on the front page of the website, is that "Ninjas fight ALL the time."
D'oh!	HR 753	The Simpsons	1989	23 ly	2012	This is what Homer Simpson, the father figure of The SimpsonsThe Simpsons, exclaims whenever he's annoyed.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!	Beta Virginis	Monty Python's Flying Circus	1970	35,6 ly	2006	Monty Python was an absurdist sketch show. In a particular episode, a character in a scene (a meeting between a mill-owner and his workers) complained about being asked some questions by saying they "did not expect a Spanish Inquisition", a superlative that was common at the time the sketch aired. At this point, several characters dressed in the uniforms of the Spanish Inquisition burst into the scene declaring that "nobody expects the Spanish inquisition", diverting the original sketch's direction. At the very end of the episode, a different character in a different (courtroom) sketch says that they "didn't expected the Spanish Inquisition" and everyone turns towards the door in expectation. The remainder of the episode follows the Spanish Inquisition rushing to the scene, and barely starting to 'surprise' everyone there before time runs out.
All your base are belong to us.	Tau Ceti	Zero Wing	2001	11.9 ly	2013	This is a meme resulting from a mistranslated line in the game Zero Wing. The correct translation was "We have taken all of your bases."
Take me to your leader! – No, Steve.	Caph	Take me to your leader (phrase)	1957	55 ly	2012	"Take me to your leader" is a stock phrase attributed to aliens in 1950s science fiction during first contact. The first recorded instance is a New Yorker cartoon where aliens ask this question to a horse, illustrating the weirdness of aliens being able to communicate the phrase but not understanding the structure of society. Later usage was more sincere, with both humans and aliens asking each other to take them to their leaders. Since people near Caph would be aliens, one could ask them to take you to their leader. However, because the aliens on Caph are saying the meme to each other, the second speaker is personally familiar with the one making the request, apparently named Steve, which makes the request pointless. So the second speaker refuses the request because it is not important.
Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.	Wolf 359	Chuck Norris facts	2005	7.8 ly	2013	Chuck Norris is an American movie star, typically taking on roles where he would perform implausible feats of physical prowess. People online started making lists of many other implausible or impossible feats that Chuck Norris was supposedly capable of, including this one. Normal humans have a physiological need for sleep, with sleep deprivation having many negative health effects. That Chuck Norris does not sleep but instead waits implies a superhuman resistance to insomnia, while simultaneously explaining his inaction as a form of theodicy.
♬ Numa numa ♪	Lalande 21185	Numa Numa song	2004	8.3 ly	2012	"Numa numa" is part of the lyrics of the chorus of a Romanian-language europop song Dragostea Din Tei. A webcam recording of Gary Brolsma enthousiastically singing along with the song was uploaded to youtube and widely shared.
I can haz?	Luhman 16	Lolcats	2006	6.6 ± 0.5 ly	2013	An early image macro meme format was captioning pictures of cats, as alluded to in xkcd 262. One popular image featured an overweight Scottish Fold cat with the caption "I can haz cheezburger?", implying the cat is overweight because it likes eating cheeseburgers.
Internets!	Gliese 65	George W. Bush Internet meme	2004	8.7	2013
Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals!	Gliese 1	Hampster Dance and/or Dancing Baby	1998	14 ly	2012	Hampster Dance was a website featuring a set of tiled animated GIFs of cartoon hamsters dancing. The Dancing Baby is an animated GIF of a computer generated human baby dancing in a cha-cha style. Gliese 1 is not familiar with hamsters and human species, but since they are both mammals it refers to one or both as "tiny dancing Earth mammals". It is unclear how Gliese 1 knows that they are mammals, or what mammals are.
Wasssuup!?!	Van Maanen's star	Budweiser Beer advertising campaign	1999	14 ly	2013	A compounded way of saying "What's up", a common greeting, with the compounded version being more common in 1990s' African American Vernacular English. In the commercial, two friends are lounging and watching a sports game, calling each other using an analog wired telephone. Using these telephones, multiple people in the same household could pick up phones connected to the same in-home telephone network and all participate in the conversation. Several other friends use this function to join the call and say "Wassuupp!?!" at each other in an escalatingly large group and then hang up to go back to doing their own thing.
Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker.	Beta Hydri	Die Hard	1988	24 ly	2012
I pity the fool!	Groombridge 1830	Rocky III (Mr. T)	1982	30 ly	2012	In Rocky III, the main antagonist Clubber Lang expresses pity towards protagonist Rocky Balboa, who is foolish enough to compete with him in a boxing match. The implication being that Lang is obviously going to win and cause Balboa a lot of unnecessary pain. The actor playing Clubber Lang, Mr. T, adopted this as his catchphrase, using it in different media.
The cake is a lie!	Alpha Centauri A/B	Portal	2007	4.3 ly	2011	This is a phrase that appears scrawled on a wall in the video game Portal foreshadowing the ending where, despite being promised cake, the player character is not given it and is almost killed by the antagonist.
♪ Never gonna give you up ♫	Alpha Centauri A/B	Rickrolling	2007	4.3 ly	2011	This is a reference to an act of tricking someone to watch/listen to the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" involuntarily.
I'm on a boat!	Proxima Centauri	I'm on a Boat	2009	4.243 ± 0.002 ly	2013	The hook of a satirical hip-hop single with the same name, by The Lonely Island and T-Pain. The song is about winning a free boat ride and then being ridiculously proud of being on a boat.
♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫	Barnard's Star	Tay Zonday: Chocolate Rain video	2007	6 ly	2013	Chocolate Rain is a song uploaded to youtube by Tay Zonday, with video of him recording the voice track. "Chocolate rain" is the hook of the song that recurs every other line, and in the lyrics chocolate rain serves as an analogy for systemic racism.
Leave Britney alone!	Barnard's Star	Cara Cunningham: LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!	2007	6 ly	2013	Britney Spears is an American singer and pop star, who was ridiculed by the press and popular discourse for drama in her personal life. A highly watched early youtube video featured Cara filming herself in a highly emotional state, begging people to "leave Britney alone" because she had it hard enough.
You're the man now, dog!	Epsilon Indi	YTMND	2001	11.8	2013
More cowbell!	Kruger 60	Saturday Night Live	2000	13 ly	2013	Saturday Night Live is a famous show that creates comedy sketchs every Saturday night. One of these sketches was the "More cowbell" sketch. This sketch was about the recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", a song by the Blue Öyster Cult. In this skit, Gene Frenkle (a fictional character, played by Will Ferrell) was playing the cowbell. However, because the cowbell was so distracting, the band stops playing and tells him to stop. This upsets Frenkel, who starts playing more and more annoyingly as the sketch goes on. Bruce Dickinson, played by Christopher Walken, encourages Frenkel to play the cowbell louder saying the iconic line, "Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!". Christopher Walken later said that the sketch "ruined his life", because of how popular it became.
Hasta la vista, baby.	Gliese 892	Terminator 2	1991	21 ly	2012
Let's get ready to ruuumble!	Zeta Tucanae	Michael Buffer	1984	28 ly	2012	This meme originated from the main catchphrase of ring announcer Michael Buffer, which he has used since 1984. The catchphrase has also made an appearance in the 1996 Disney movie Space Jam.
You talkin' to me?	Arcturus	Taxi Driver	1976	36.7 ± 0.3 ly	2013
Did I do that?	Boötis	Family Matters (Steve Urkel)	1989	21.89 ± 0.07 ly	2011
Welcome to Good Burger, home of the good burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know.	70 Ophiuchi	Good Burger slogan	1997	16.58 ± 0.07 ly	2014
Badger badger badger badger	Ross 154	Badger Badger Badger	2003	9.7 ly	2013
Live long and prosper. – OK.	HD 211415	Star Trek	1967	44 ly	2011
Name's Bond. James Bond.	51 Pegasi	Dr. No (James Bond)	1962	50.9 ± 0.3 ly	2013	James Bond is the protagonist of a series of spy fiction, who has a habit of introducing himself with this exact phrase.
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.	Alpha Serpentis	Gone with the Wind	1939	74.0 ± 0.3 ly	2013
Mr. T ate my balls!	Altair	an Internet meme	1996	16.7 ly	2013
I want the truth. – You can't handle the truth!	Delta Pavonis	A Few Good Men	1992	20 ly	2012
I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.	Beta Trianguli Australis	The Godfather	1972	40 ly	2012
Resistance is futile.	Vega	Star Trek (Borg)	1988	25 ly	2013	The Borg are a fictional hypercollectivist superpower in the Milky Way galaxy depicted in the Star Trek franchise. The Borg expand by violently conquering the hundreds of species that exist in the galaxy, using cyborg implants to force conquered people to work for their collective in body and mind. When a Borg spaceship encounters resistance, it sends out a standard message explaining its intent to add the to-be-conquered people's biological and cultural distinctiveness to their own, and that resistance is futile.
Oh... My... Gaawd	Sigma Draconis	Friends (Janice Goralnik)	1994	18.8 ly	2013
Ehh, what's up, Doc?	Gienah	Bugs Bunny	1940	73 ly	2013	This is the main catchphrase of Bugs Bunny, the main character of the loony toons.
EXTERMINATE!	Alderamin	Doctor Who (The Daleks)	1963	49 ly	2012	The main catchphrase of the Daleks of Doctor Who, used when they fire their gunsticks resulting in the extermination of whatever was hit. It wasn't actually used in this context in the TV series until Power of the Daleks, three years after their debut, though some of the very first scenes had them discussing amongst themselves the "extermination" of their newly rediscovered (and, at that time, mostly oblivious) enemies.

Transcript

[On a black background yellow circles and white bubbles are shown. Caption above the picture:]

If other star systems are listening in on our pop culture, given the speed-of-light delay, these are the jokes and catchphrases they just learned about and are currently repeating way too much:

[On a black background a map of star systems in relation to the Sun, which is roughly in the center, sending out radio waves is shown. Each star is a yellow circle of differing sizes, with a speech bubble (or more). The list is ordered from closest to furthest.]

Proxima Centauri: I'm on a boat!

Alpha Centauri A B: The cake is a lie! – ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫

Luhman 16: I can haz?

Barnard's star: Leave Britney alone! – ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫

Wolf 359: Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.

Lalande 21185: ♬ Numa numa ♪

Sirius: I still can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it.

Gliese 65: INTERNETS!

Epsilon Eridani: Ninjas fight all the time!

Procyon: ...God kills a kitten! – A what?

Epsilon Indi: You're the man now, dog!

Tau Ceti: All your base are belong to us.

Luyten's Star: Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Kapteyn's star: My spoon is too big!

Kruger 60: MORE COWBELL!

Gliese 1: Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals!

Van Maanen's star: WASSSUUP!?!

Ad Leonis: Oh my God, they killed Kenny! – You bastards!

70 Ophiuchi: Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know.

Altair: Mr. T ate my balls!

Sigma Draconis: Oh ... my ... gaawd.

Delta Pavonis: I want the truth. – You can't handle the truth!

Gliese 892: Hasta la vista, baby.

Xi Boötis: Did I do that?

HR 753: D'oh!

Beta Hydri: Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker.

Vega: Resistance is futile.

Zeta Tucanae: Let's get ready to ruuumble!

HR 1614: Where's the beef?

Groombridge 1830: I pity the fool!

Delta Trianguli: May the Force be with you.

Beta Virginis: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Arcturus: You talkin' to me ?

Beta Trianguli Australis: I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.

Lamda Aurigae: You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'

Capella: And now for something completely different.

HD 211415: Live long and prosper. – Ok.

Alderamin: EXTERMINATE!

51 Pegasi: Name's bond. James Bond.

Caph: Take me to your leader! – No, Steve.

Kappa Reticuli: Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Alpha Hydri: Rosebud.

Gienah: Ehh, what's up doc?

Alpha Serpentis: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

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Discussion

I'm surprised ponies didn't make the list given how massively and completely they took over the Internet in recent years. Then again, xkcd hasn't made any mention of the phenomenon, which is pretty nice, I guess. 76.106.251.87 04:35, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Given that the closest one, "I'm on a boat," predates the first episode of MLP:FiM by more than a year (the brony phenomenon by even more), it's safe to say that ponies have not reached the nearest star yet. --24.145.230.202 04:42, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Agreed. MLP:FIM premiered in October 2010. The show will hit the Alpha Centauri system early 2015. Frijole (talk) 16:28, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

I didn't have the date/distance chart at the time of posting, and indeed didn't realize how much time had past since some of these became popular. I feel much older with that in perspective. 76.106.251.87 04:03, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

As of this writing, the MLP premiere would now be at Luhman 16... and this very comic would be at Proxima Centauri.162.158.186.42 00:17, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

It would be great to have the distances (in light years) of the stars as a fourth column. This would also provide a chronological order. --84.75.61.103 08:06, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

If I look at the page source, there is no transcript this time... Kaa-ching (talk) 08:41, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

anyone else notice Sirius is getting the Bellatrix one? Xseo (talk) 08:49, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, it was funny :D Zakator (talk) 10:55, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Should this reference be mentioned? On the one hand, it is a spoiler, but on the other hand, a) we *are* here to explain the jokes, and b) the book is almost a decade old, so I'm pretty sure there's a statute of limitations involved here. Curtmack (talk) 14:56, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

It's also funny that Sirius is a character in Harry Potter books/films. Double joke? --Dangerkeith3000 (talk) 15:21, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Sorta, but it's Rowling's joke, not Randall's. The entire Black family (except for Narcissa, who was named before her family ties were established) is named after objects in the sky. Sirius is the only one in range. Of the ones I can remember, Regulus is 77 ly away, Bellatrix is roughly 250 ly away, and Andromeda is an entirely separate galaxy. --Druid816 (talk) 21:43, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

If any civilization have nothing better to do that repeating our memes, there is no need to apologize to them: they will obviously be glad they have at least something. How many people on our planet are repeating memes from other civilizations? None. (The circles in crop doesn't count, they are not send by radio.) -- Hkmaly (talk) 08:51, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Given that the Rick Astley one is on the same star as Portal, which came out in 2007, it's probably meant to refer to rickrolling (and thus the date should also be 2007 for that one). Zakator (talk) 10:55, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

All your base are belong to us didn't start as a meme in the 1970. I don't have precise data right now but I'm pretty sure it was 1997-99 when it first appeared on the internet. Also, what is the Sun doing? 195.32.50.126 11:14, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

1998 according to knowyourmeme. And I think the Sun is probably sending out all those radio waves for the aliens to listen to, or something? But I couldn't find an accurate way to portray it, so I just left it at that. Zakator (talk) 11:18, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

The map only shows stars, or rather star systems. We live in the sol system, where all these memes originate from, hence the sun is shown as the origin of the "radio waves". In the same fashion, these supposed aliens don't actually live on the stars themselves, but rather on planets (or maybe moons?) around the stars. --Buggz (talk) 11:49, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

In "Take me to your leader! - No, Steve", what is the "No, Steve" part referencing? The link currently is just for the "take me to your leader" part. 72.92.72.222 15:14, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

I thought that the "No, Steve" made it into an explicit reference to Newsboys album/song (Steve Taylor wrote the lyrics for it). But then, that's a song fron 1996, and it would not be consistent with distance, while 1953 makes more sense... 195.32.50.126 15:49, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

"Steve" is an alien. "Take me to your leader," is a meme which "Steve" has been repeating. It helps if you read it with a somewhat exasparated inflection.--108.28.112.92 18:47, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

If you order the list by distance, further stars should get memes from earlier times, but this is not always the case. I think that some of the memes deserve more investigation, namely: "Internets!", "You're the man now, dog" and "All your base are belong to us!". Sort the list by distance and it becomes immediately apparent what I mean. 195.32.50.126 15:54, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

"Internets" was from George W Bush but in 2004. internets meme--145.253.244.103 16:08, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

"You're the man now, dog" refers to a web site launched in 2001 which fits to the approx. 12 Lj.--Dgbrt (talk) 18:29, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

"All your base are belong to us!" should also belong to 2001. I found this wired.com which explains that the internet meme probably began in 2001. But I am not sure.--Dgbrt (talk) 18:37, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Wouldn't "I'm on a boat!", as a popular and well-known meme known to the wider public, refer to the Old Spice commercial, rather than a song by the The Lonely Island? None of the few I spoke with had ever heard of the group, but all credited the quote to "the Old Spice guy". 67.51.59.66 17:56, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

I thought about this also before. But "I'm on a boat!" is the meme published by "The Lonely Island".--Dgbrt (talk) 18:02, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

>meme

>published

pick one Xseo (talk) 21:36, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Old Spice Guy says "You're on a boat", and finishes with "I'm on a horse"[1]... "I'm on a boat" isn't quite right for OSG. --SurturZ (talk) 03:45, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

I sit corrected. 67.51.59.66 16:18, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Title text: "The strongest incentive we have to develop faster-than-light travel is that it would let us apologize in advance." Is this an error by Randall? Faster-than-light would work if that travel did start at the time of transmission of those memes. Actually all messages had arrive at their targets so only Time-Travel would help. Nevertheless both ideas are impossible.--Dgbrt (talk) 18:51, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

It's too late to apologize to the stars on this comic, but we could apologize to the ones farther out who have yet to be annoyed by us. --Druid816 (talk) 21:45, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

No, it is possible. That's relativity! With faster than light travel we can still reach them. (Effect is similar as time travel!) Sebastian --178.26.118.249 04:59, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Actually, depending on the reference frame (speed and movement direction of the observer) the notion of simultaneity does not hold for objects being spaciously apart. Sebastian --178.26.45.117 13:14, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

We can also apologize for newer memes. 76.106.251.87 04:03, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I guess I'm not too surprised that residents circling Beta Virginis are still doing the Spanish Inquisition schtick 7+ years later. But they got Holy Grail over two years ago. So I assume they're also pretending to be Knights Who Say Ni by now. Opusthepenguin (talk) 16:34, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

It's worth mentioning that Randall debunks this idea of an interstellar audience in http://what-if.xkcd.com/47/.108.162.219.7 23:53, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

The problem, though, with the older memes here, i.e. Gone With the Wind, Casablanca and Bugs Bunny, is that they were released to the public in film. They would have to wait until television broadcast in the '50s and '60s to be exported interstellarly. Most the other movies too, only they wouldn't have to wait so long. But we certainly wouldn't have stars 70 light-years away imitating us because that content hasn't gotten there yet. 108.162.250.223 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

A clever point, yet disputable. One can imagine that the catchphrases of those days were repeated in radio. Similarly, "The cake is a lie" will probably not be observed from space due to its occurrence in a video game but from the subsequent repetition of the phrase in ether media. Mumiemonstret (talk) 15:39, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

http://abstrusegoose.com/163 is a similar concept --199.27.133.106 09:55, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Fixed the transcript. This is my first time editing. Please help my fixing any mistakes I made. Thanks.Dontknow (talk) 05:20, 2 March 2017 (UTC)

The first public radio broadcast in 1910 would have reached 109 Piscium not too long ago.162.158.186.42 02:54, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Hi aliens from Barnard’s Star! (It’s like Hi Youtube)! 162.158.214.82 13:40, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

I didn't expect the spanish inquisition ^{[citation needed]} 07:08, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

Hey someone removed my no cake thing ⯅A dream demon⯅ (talk) 18:31, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

I have joined the effort to add things to the table. Right now it's an explanation of 'what's up doc?' and 'all your base are belong to us.' DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 17:27, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Added explanation of lets get ready to rumble. DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 19:03, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
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