1648: Famous Duos
Famous Duos |
Title text: The Romeo and Butt-Head film actually got two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates. |
Explanation
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Needs to be expanded; Needs more for the main explanation and more info on what the combos would mean to people compared to the originals. It would be great if the cycles below was updated to fit with the table, so Thelma and Louise was 1 in both (and all the other numbers in the cycles thus also increased by one.) More wiki link in the first table. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
In popular culture (the term is loosely used in this case) there are many famous duos, such as Calvin & Hobbes (six-year-old boy and his toy tiger, from the cartoon strip with the same name) or David & Goliath (future King of Israel and giant, from the Book of Samuel, Old Testament). In this table, Randall describes a fictional parallel universe where the same names are used in different combinations -- instead of Calvin, it is now Thelma (from the movie Thelma & Louise) who is paired up with Hobbes, and Calvin is instead paired of with the King, from Anna and the King. In all cases the one mentioned first on the list is also mentioned first in our universe, so it is always of the form Calvin and the King, never Calvin and Anna. There are 24 duos, and all 48 partners are mentioned (they go through four cycles).
The humor of this comic comes from the ridiculousness of the pairings, and the reader's imagination of the stories that are created with the pairs. See the whole list of real duos as well as the list of alternative duos below.
In the title text, alternative movie Romeo and Butt-Head is mentioned, the fifth entry on the list. This is a combination of the famous Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet", which was filmed (among other times) as Romeo + Juliet in 1996 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the leading roles. Butt-Head is the less stupid one in the duo from the animated TV series Beavis and Butt-Head (and a film). As Romeo and Juliet is one of the best known love stories and Butt-Head is one of the most disgusting teens ever depicted on the big screen, the combination could create disturbing pictures in people's heads (especially of teenage girls).
In the alternative universe this movie has been released, and here it gets the best possible review of two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates. Gene Siskel was paired with Roger Ebert, when they reviewed movies as the famous duo Siskel and Ebert. They were widely known for the "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries, with their best combined review being Two Thumbs Up.
In the alternative universe Siskel gives the film a (surprising) thumbs up, but Ebert has been replaced with Oates, who also approves of the film. This is a reference to John Oates of Hall & Oates, an American musical duo from Philadelphia.
There also exists a comedy duo named Garfunkel and Oates, formed by Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who chose the "Garfunkel and Oates" name by combining the second names from Hall & Oates and Simon and Garfunkel (who are both mentioned in the main comic). Although this exact combo would not be possible in the XKCD version, as it takes the second names from two duos rather than the first name from one and the second name from another, there may definitely be a deliberate reference to this group as well which has taken the parallel universe idea into our universe.
List of real duos
- See the list of alternative duos below.
Name | pairing | Partner | From | Name index | Partner index | Explanation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thelma | and | Louise | road trip film | 1 | 3 | |
When Harry | Met | Sally | romantic comedy film | 2 | 16 | |
Batman | and | Robin | comic book characters | 3 | 4 | |
Antony | and | Cleopatra | historical figures | 4 | 12 | |
Romeo | and | Juliet | Shakespeare characters | 5 | 24 | |
Bonnie | and | Clyde | historical figures | 6 | 7 | |
Pinky | and | the Brain | TV show | 7 | 20 | |
Simon | and | Garfunkel | musical duo | 8 | 22 | |
Beauty | and | the Beast | fairy tale characters | 9 | 10 | |
Beavis | and | Butthead | TV show | 10 | 5 | |
Rocky | and | Bullwinkle | TV show | 11 | 2 | |
Abbott | and | Costello | comedy duo | 12 | 17 | |
Dr. Jekyll | and | Mr. Hyde | book | 13 | 15 | |
Samson | and | Delilah | Biblical characters | 14 | 11 | |
Butch Cassidy | and | the Sundance Kid | historical characters and famous movie | 15 | 23 | |
Bill | and | Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey | movie series | 16 | 6 | |
David | and | Goliath | Biblical characters | 17 | 8 | |
Sherlock Holmes | and | Dr. Watson | Arthur Conan Doyle characters | 18 | 19 | |
Jay | and | Silent Bob | View Askewniverse characters (Clerks movies) | 19 | 18 | |
Anna | and | the King | movie, based on Anna and the King of Siam | 20 | 21 | |
Calvin | and | Hobbes | comic series | 21 | 1 | |
Timon | and | Pumbaa | characters from the Lion King film series | 22 | 14 | |
Mary Kate | and | Ashley Olsen | twin actresses | 23 | 13 | |
Mario | and | Luigi | video game characters | 24 | 9 |
List of alternative duos
- See the list of real duos above.
Duo name | Explanation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Thelma and Hobbes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
When Harry met Bullwinkle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batman and Louise | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Antony and Robin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Romeo and Butthead | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bonnie and Ted's excellent adventure | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pinky and Clyde | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simon and Goliath | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Beauty and Luigi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Beavis and the Beast | Beavis starts with the same letters as Beauty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rocky and Delilah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abbot and Cleopatra | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samson and Pumbaa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Butch Cassidy and Mr. Hyde | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bill and Sally's Bogus Journey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David and Costello | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jay and Dr. Watson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anna and the Brain | The Brain desires to take over the world; the King is ruler of his domain. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Calvin and the King | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Timon and Garfunkel | Timon is put together with Garfunkel, which makes it a close match to Simon and Garfunkel. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mary-Kate and the Sundance Kid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mario and Juliet | Mario would have no issue with balconies.}
CyclesThere are four cycles. The longest starts with "Thelma" and ends with "Louise" as follows:
Thelma & Louise Calvin & Hobbes Anna & the King Pinky & the Brain Bonnie & Clyde Bill & Ted Harry & Sally Rocky & Bullwinkle Samson & Delilah Timon & Pumbaa Simon & Garfunkel David & Goliath Abbot & Costello Antony & Cleopatra Batman & Robin This means, it starts with "Thelma", paired with "Hobbes" diagonally down, from "Hobbes" to "Calvin", who is paired with "the King" and so on, until "Batman" is paired with "Louise", completing the cycle.
Romeo & Juliet Beavis & Butthead Beauty & the Beast Mario & Luigi
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson Jay & Silent Bob Assigning an index starting with 0 (= Thelma & Louise) to 23 (= Mario & Luigi), they can be written as: (0, 20, 19, 6, 5, 15, 1, 10, 13, 21, 7, 16, 11, 3, 2) (4, 9, 8, 23) (12, 22, 14) (17, 18) Transcript
Discussion
It appears the pairings are completely random. I was looking for some deeper meaning to them but it seems this is one of those comics to be taken entirely at face value. 108.162.216.12 14:18, 26 February 2016 (UTC) Aren't "Pinky and Clyde" also the names of the pink and orange Pacman ghosts? 108.162.216.36 11:48, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
You've already posted the correct pairs, but of course I wanted to draw them with lines, nursery school style: http://i.imgur.com/tWTJAYC.gif 108.162.228.143 15:33, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
Possible inspiration: the comedy music duo calling themselves Garfunkel and Oates 108.162.216.48 15:45, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
As currently described, the cycles thing does not make any sense to me. The order seems wrong. For example, the way the first cycle makes sense is to start with Thelma and Louise, Batman and Robin; and end with Anna and the King,Calvin and Hobbes. That way you've arrived back at the top and would only repeat if you continued. Can anyone justify the current order? Trlkly (talk) 19:01, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
The rating system for "At the Movies", at least during Siskel and Ebert's term, was that each reviewer would give a thumbs up or thumbs down. "Two thumbs up" referred to the aggregate rating when both reviewers liked the film. The explanation said that Siskel gave Romeo and Butthead two thumbs up, which wouldn't make sense if we assume that the show's rules were the same. Fryhole (talk) 20:47, 26 February 2016 (UTC) Haven't there been some similar comics? I cannot remember which... The style reminds of 1625: Substitutions 2 and 1288: Substitutions. But they are not like this in theme. --Kynde (talk) 23:08, 26 February 2016 (UTC) I thought it was interesting how there's only one "Bill" and one "Ted", but both their movies are represented, I thought it indicated that there was some mismatch, like an incomplete pair somewhere... But sorting it out, I realize now that's it's only that "Bill" got one complete title, "Ted" the other. Oh well. Usually view these on my iPad, I needed a computer to truly analyze. Turns out I nerd-sniped myself, LOL! - NiceGuy1 198.41.235.191 00:47, 27 February 2016 (UTC) Seems to me that Harry/Sally are outliers here. Every other pair is exclusively, or by far most commonly, known by the same regular pairing format of "A&B," but Harry/Sally are not most often named as a duo, as 'Harry & Sally,' but through the movie's title, "When Harry Met Sally." When I saw 'Sally' in my first read-through, I instantly wondered "Who's the X in 'X & Sally?" (Having already managed to forget 'When Harry Met' above.) The only 'A&B format' pairing which I could casually dredge up with a 'Sally' was "Sally Rand And Her Magic Fan," a risqué 1930's-40's burlesque performance in which a seemingly near-nude Ms. Rand held & used large ostrich feather fans as strategic cover, thereby teasing the audience. However, in that instance not only was Sally's A&B 'partner' an inanimate object (& thus not quite a "duo"), Sally was the pair's 'A,' while the comic's pattern requires her to be the second, 'B' name. Miamiclay (talk) 18:09, 27 February 2016 (UTC) "Mario and Joliet" is the title of an episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show that retells Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. --Tepples (talk) 02:30, 1 March 2016 (UTC) |