From: quetzal@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Quetzal)
Subject: Re: Observations regarding TLM
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 03:33:00 GMT

In <1ipfgbINN7tf@network.ucsd.edu> rcook@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Robert Cook) writes:
>In article <1993Jan9.231145.3739@nic.csu.net> jtinkle@sparc1.sparc1.csubak.edu (j. tinkle ) writes:
>>In article <1993Jan5.012910.23048@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> quetzal@yoyo.cc.monas
>>h.edu.au (Quetzal) writes:

>>>3.  Just how many feathers does Scuttle lose in the entire film?  And
>>>howcome he can still fly even minus these feathers?  Or is this somthing
>>>like the bumblebee which isn't supposed to be able to fly either?
>>What bumblebee?

>He meant *real* bumblebees, which seem to defy several laws of
>aerodynamics.

*Thank* you.  At least *someone* knows that bumblebees physically can't
fly.  It's just that no one has ever had the heart to tell them :)

>>>6.  What *is* it that Grimsby says to Eric just before Eric says "A girl
>>>rescued me"?
>>"Oh, Eric I do think you delight in these strains on my blood pressure."
>>Or something very much like that.

>That's close--it goes something like this: "Oh, you really delight in
>these sadistic strains on my blood pressure, don't you?"

Sounds even better.  I agree on the word "Sadistic".

>>>16. Why does everyone persist in this idea that mermaids are *fish?*
>>>There is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that they are mammals:
>>There is quite a lot of evidence to suggest they WERE fiction.
>Then why does the label on my can of tuna say "Mermaid-safe," hmmm? :-)

Ha!  He's got you there, hasn't he?

>I still think that Ariel's voice has some kind of hypnotic power.  I'm
>sure Ursula was aware of it, and used it for that purpose (for
>insurance).  Note that the magic light which spellbinds Eric comes
>from the shell that contains Ariel's voice.  He had to hear her
>voice to marry her anyway, so the hypnosis was inevitable.  Hmmm,
>then why didn't it work just after Ariel saved Eric from drowning?
>Maybe there wasn't enough exposure.

At the risk of making people think I've been reading those awfully dull
Dune novels (which I have, but that's beside the point), I'll use the
word "Imprint" here.  My theory is that a mermaid's voice imprints
hearers (human ones only, I presume) to the *voice*, not its owner.  So
when Ariel sings to Eric he is "imprinted" with the voice.  Since he
didn't get more than a glimpse of Ariel, he naturally assumed (don't we
all?) that the girl attached to the voice would be the same one for all
time.  If you look at the expression on Eric's face in the instrumental
interlude in "Part of your World (Reprise)" (where Grimsby mutters his
line) he looks quite hypnotised at the time.  (If you can follow all
this, tell me.  This is hard to put into words.)  When, later, Vanessa
rolls along and sings with Ariel's voice (interesting to hear Jodi
Benson with a harsh voice for once) Eric gets hypnotised again (or
still) and chooses to marry the voice's current owner.  Hey, it's just a
theory. . .

>>>24. Where did that dress Ariel wears as she walks out of the shallows
>>>into Eric's arms at the end come from?
>>It was magic that let her walk out of the waves, I suppose it could clothe
>>her too.
>I'm still wondering where her shoes came from when she was on the
>wedding ship....

Um, Yeah.  I didn't notice that until you said so.  As to where they
*went* after sunset, or where those seashells magically reappeared from,
I just can't say.

Tim Pickett