This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Disney Villain Death: From YKTTW
Invader Sin: I'm not really sure what the appropriate edit would be, or if this point is really relevant to the article, so I'll say it here: "terminal velocity" does not refer to the minimum velocity at which an organism would have to hit the ground in order to die. It means the maximum velocity that a given falling object in an atmosphere will reach: the point at which air resistance counteracts the force of gravity enough to prevent the object accelerating any further. Maybe it could be said that in general, a cat's terminal velocity will be so low that it won't die in a fall (if that's actually true, anyway.)
As far as Delgo is concerned, the queen's wings are not real; she actually has a whole wardrobe of wings. I can see where the confusion would come from, Delgo has literally the worst plot sequencing of any movie I have ever seen. But although the plot writers are inept, they are not quite bad enough to have the villain die because she forgot she could fly.
TTD: Cutting the Cat Natter. We do have a Cats Land On Their Feet trope, no?
- "Cats always land on" etc...
- Believe it or not, justified. There have been actual studies showing that a cat will never be killed by a fall, because of their mass being such that they will never reach their terminal velocity.
- Completely false. The reason most cat's deaths never show up in studies, is because the studies are based on vet's reports - and only live cats get taken to the vet! What really happens, is that cats that fall from a height of seven stories or more, will relax, and spread out like a glider. This slows the fall some, allowing more to survive. Cats that fall from LESS than seven stories, often go splat.
- This troper's cat once fell from a third floor and survived
- Not even the fat ones? But anyway, rats too, and most insects, and numerous other tiny critters. As this troper found out through his local vet, they CAN sometimes break their legs, because they don't always hit it the way TV says they should.
- If you fell from twenty stories, do you think it would really matter which way you landed?
On another topic entirely, what about the Persian messenger who got kicked down the well by King Leonidas of Sparta? I know that this story predates the comic and film '300', but I'm not sure if this actually happened or if it simply a myth which sprang up around the events leading Thermopylae.
Fantasy Cat: Gaston's death = epic? I wonder if the troper who wrote that was being sarcastic. I think it was one of the most bland Disney villain deaths to have a villain just slip off the roof.
N Keel: I have to agree with the troper. Gaston's death, though it seems bland, was very well animated. It's something about the way he falls, how he screams, the atmosphere, etc. It just stands out as one of the best, and probably Disney's best take on this. And since it's called "Disney Villain Death", it seems appropriate that Gaston's picture is on the page.
