Monty Python and The Holy Grail/Headscratchers


 * What is your name?
 * This Troper.


 * What is your quest?
 * That's classified.


 * What is your favorite color?
 * Octarine.
 * Hooloovoo.
 * Orange, the color of soft sunsets.
 * Black. Black that's blacker than the blackest black. Times infinity.
 * As black as this cup of coffee.
 * Clear.
 * Other.
 * I don't knowaaaaaAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
 * Red. No, waiAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
 * Infra-Black/Odegra


 * What is the capital of Assyria?
 * Ninevah. Well, technically it was the LAST capital of Assyria. The first was Ashur, then Calah and Dar Sharrukin before Ninevah but I figure the last capital is what you meant. You might want to clarify things better next time.
 * No, no, no. It's clearly "A".
 * Nami-swan on a Robin-chawn Island.
 * What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
 * 42.
 * Best available estimate is 11 meters per second.
 * Was that the speed of an African or an European swallow?
 * They migrate, you know.
 * The trick is it's the average *velocity*, which includes direction. Since unladen swallows eventually migrate back to, and tend to die near, their birthplaces, the average velocity of an unladen swallow is approximately zero.
 * Where are you pulling the word "average" from? Ye olde dictionarie says nothing about "airspeed" and "average" being synonymous.
 * Yes, but to the uneducated "airspeed" and "velocity" are fairly synonymous, ergo, "what is the speed speed..." it doesn't sound right does it?
 * THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER.
 * Listen, in order to maintain airspeed velocity a swallow must beat its wings 43 times per second, correct?
 * Only hummingbirds beat their wings that fast. Swallows beat their wings about 8 times a second.


 * This troper hated the ending. It was like the Life of Brian, I was expecting this really great ending and in both cases, the ending left me feeling flat, cheated, truly pissed. I haven't watched either movie since I watched it the first time.
 * Because they wanted a Cop Out ending.
 * Regardless, the resolution was foreshadowed midway through the movie after Lancelot started killing innocent bystanders (especially the history professor) in passing. If you're wondering why they chose to do it that way, it's because Monty Python is a group of silly people who like to play on audience expectations not only for humor, but on general principle. Forward all relevant complaints to GRK--
 * Forward all complaints to GRK? I thought it was AAAAGGHHH--
 * Any complaints about the humourous qualities of this record should be directed to: British Airways, Ingrams Drive, Greenwich.
 * No no, AAAWWWWWRRRGGHHH--back of the throat.
 * Was that Lancelot? None of the Knights of the Round Table had horses in the movie, but the knight who killed the professor clearly did. You'd think that the woman who witnessed the murder would have noticed this. Plus, King Arthur's armor looked nothing like the killer knight's, but the woman apparently forgot this too when identifying the killer. Additionally, Lancelot was shown as having been arrested previously anyway, so if the killer was him, the police would have had no reason to arrest Arthur and Bedevere.
 * I'm pretty sure that the police would assume that the knight who just brutally murdered a man was connected to the large group of men also dressed up as knights who are about to ransack some annoying French-men's castle. As for Lancelot, perhaps while they were detaining him he started rambling about how he had to help his 'King Arthur and Bedevere find the Holy Grail' and assume that he had accomplices.
 * Actually, I heard they DID have a battle planned but they ran out of money so they had the cops come in at the end. Personally, I think it was funnier that way.
 * Pretty sure it was a money issue, for example the fact that they didn't use horses in the movie was because they couldn't afford them so having a massive battle seems far beyond their budget.
 * I thought it was because one of the actors was having trouble riding the horses?
 * Which turned out alright later ("The African Swallow or the European one?")
 * Apparently, the ending is the result of 2 real-world events: The Pythons ran out of money and actually did get arrested for not having the proper permits for filming at their current location. They decided to keep the footage in and write a subplot revolving around the real-life arrest.
 * The original ending was the Knights finding the Grail in a department-store window.
 * D'oh!
 * Keep in mind, Python was famous for not having punchlines to sketches. A great number of sketches ended with people getting arrested. Why should their movies be any different?
 * Nooooooobody expects the [credits] oww, bugger.
 * This always bugged me too. I'm glad I'm not the only one.


 * This strip gave me a gripe with the misuse of this.
 * And that's one of the few areas where I disagree with that comic. Sure, if people are obnoxious, that's annoying, but just because the humor quality of the movie has changed over time for many is no reason to begrudge them that humor.
 * Not for nothing, the alt-text kinda seemed like something Holden Caulfield would say.


 * Why does Bedevere's voice suddenly become higher-pitched after their first encounter with the French Knights? And why does Tim the Enchanter's accent become much thicker between the two scenes that he appears in?
 * because they thought they could get away with it.
 * This is a Python film and you're bothered by accents?


 * Why is there a Just Bugs Me page for this film?
 * Just to bug YOU!!!
 * Scratch that, let's head out.


 * It's always bugged me that Galahad gets yelled at for suggesting that the author of the "Castle Aaaaaagghh" carving was dictating. It's much more sensible than what everyone else was saying.
 * Maybe that was the joke?
 * He was Completely Missing the Point, which is how stupid Arthur found the whole thing; none of them were as interested in such details as he.


 * Are they honestly suggesting that coconuts migrate?
 * Not at all! It could be carried!
 * What, a swallow carrying a coconut?
 * It could grip it by the husk!
 * It's not a question of where he--oh, screw it.


 * Why do people sometimes call this movie Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail (search/quest/whatever)? That's not its freaking name!!
 * Linkara calls it Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail in his end credits for some reason, but that bugs me too. I think it's because you can then shorten it to Quest for the Holy Grail the same way you might Life of Brian or Meaning of Life. For some reason, just calling it Holy Grail seems weird.
 * Technically those were "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and "Monty Python's Meaning of Life," so following that convention this movie would be "And the Holy Grail."
 * This troper sometimes calls it "Monty Grail".


 * Why do they call it the Black Beast of Arrrggghhh when it's clearly green?
 * Perhaps they mean "black" more in the sense of "evil" than the color.
 * They're in a cave without a lot of light, so they probably wouldn't see more than its eyes from their point of view.
 * "It's black!" "No, it's green!" "No, it's AAAAAAARRRRRRGH!"
 * Good PR. Would you want to go by "the green beast"?
 * The animator realized his mistake after having already drawn most of the sequence. The shock and embarrassment caused him to have a heart attack.


 * Why didn't Tim The Enchanter just point at the original Killer Rabbit and blast it to crispy smithereens?
 * Judging by the way he was laughing I'd guess he enjoys watching clueless knights get slaughtered.
 * Well, it did take a Holy Hand Grenade to take it out. Perhaps it's a demonic rabbit that can only be killed by holy artifacts, hence, Tim couldn't do a thing to it.
 * He's being a wuss. He'd rather not even be around the thing. It's irrational fear.
 * Hardly irrational. Look at the bones!
 * Here are 2 other reasons:
 * 1. He ran out of pyrotechnics.
 * 2. He knew that the rabbit would simply dodge the fireball and bite his head off.


 * why did the scales have to be When I noticed this, it ruined the magnificent scene of the witch trial.
 * Because the whole point of that scene is it's all bullshit? How did you miss that?
 * I missed that because I was too busy laughing, thinking it's about the absurdity of a witch weighing the same as a duck, not about.