History Headscratchers / TwoThousandTwelve

** Said pyroclastic cloud seems to have magically vanished by the end of the movie. While we're at that, a gigantic eruption like that of Yellowstone didn't have much of an impact on post-crisis climate. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora Smaller]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinatubo eruptions]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Chichón than that]] have been known to mess up the climate for months, if not years... What do you mean, it was probably drowned under a megatsunami? But [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa volcano + water]] = [[StuffBlowingUp Even]] [[FromBadToWorse more]] [[UpToEleven problematic!]]

* When Jackson is looking for the right map in Charlie's van... why doesn't he grab ''all the maps'' and not hold his party up at the plane??? Like, okay, RuleOfDrama, but ''why???''

* When Jackson is looking for the right map in Charlie's van... why doesn't he grab 'all the maps' and not hold his party up at the plane??? Like, okay, RuleOfDrama, but 'why???'

** My guess is that it's a lost-a-decimal-place flub, meant to make Woody's video seem more like he doesn't necessarily know what he's talking about. He ''should'' have said 65 ''million'' years, but by having him get it wrong, the writers hoped to build suspense as to whether his entire "secret arks in China" story is bogus too.

** If they'd opted to go with a December date, the volcanic ash falling all over North America would've looked too much like snow to seem appropriately-shocking.

*** Simple: If they'd shown cows or whatever standing on the platforms, it wouldn't have been as clear that they were saving ''wild'' animals and thus, conserving species other than our own, rather than planning to turn them into hamburgers. And giraffes and elephants are among the few animals large and distinctive-looking enough to be recognized instantly as exotic wildlife in those hanging-from-helicopters shots.

** Or in {{Troperithmetic}}: DerailingLoveInterests + FirstFatherWins + HeroicSacrifice = ForgottenFallenFriend.

** Emmerich obviously wanted to give a political message as subtle as an anvil, but not quite unrealistic. Nevertheless most politicians are intellectuals, administrators, scientist and the like, with the exception of military dictatorships, most people in high ranking offices are there because they exceed in some profesional and intellectual field. Merkel is a scientists for example. Billionaires on the other hand are pretty useless, specially those that heir their fortunes (the ones that make it may at least be useful in some ways). The irony here is that, unless they saved some common people, all the hard work that was gonna be needed to recreate the civilization (like growing food and build houses) would have to be done by rich people (although I guess now would be done by the workers they let in).

* Emmerich obviously wanted to give a political message as subtle as an anvil, but not quite unrealistic. Nevertheless most politicians are intellectuals, administrators, scientist and the like, with the exception of military dictatorships, most people in high ranking offices are there because they exceed in some profesional and intellectual field. Merkel is a scientists for example. Billionaires on the other hand are pretty useless, specially those that heir their fortunes (the ones that make it may at least be useful in some ways). The irony here is that, unless they saved some common people, all the hard work that was gonna be needed to recreate the civilization (like growing food and build houses) would have to be done by rich people (although I guess now would be done by the workers they let in).

** There's probably an issue about secrecy. If they let the survival to each nation sooner or later the poorer countries would make thing public when they find themselves unable to make a funcional surviving flotilla (I mean there are countries that literally do not have an army, do you really think the Palau Islands are going to be able to build even ONE ark?), thus the best way to maintain the secrecy needed is to buy the silence of the poorer nations inviting them in.