Line #326 Headscratchers/FindingNemo


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder:Bafflingly Bad Barracuda Behaviour]]
4	* Somebody please tell me why the hell the barracuda attacked Marlin's family? Barracuda don't eat fish eggs, nor do they eat clownfish.
5	** RuleOfDrama. Maybe the barracuda was just really hungry, and willing to eat whatever it could sink its teeth into.
6	** Maybe the barracuda was just AxCrazy and not doing it for food?
7	** Many predators kill for personal enjoyment, not just for food.
8	[[/folder]]
9
10	[[folder:Why Did Dory Press the Button?]]
11	* When Marlin and Dory are cornered by the relapsed Bruce, what made Dory press that button to unleash the torpedo? How did she know it would fire it? How did she know it would even do anything at all?
12	** Each time Bruce rammed the sub, it made the torpedo shift in its...socket-thing. You could tell by looking at it that the button Dory pressed was keeping it from sliding out.
13	[[/folder]]
14
15	[[folder:Allergic to Water?]]
16	* One of the supporting cast has an allergy to water. So he sneezes. Was I the only one who was scratching their head after that?
17	** RuleOfFunny
18	** Probably he was just exaggerating for fun.
19	** Maybe he was lying about being allergic to water or, due to being a kid with limited logical abilities, mistakenly thought he was.
20	** It seemed like all the kids were exaggerating for fun, or to try and make Nemo feel more welcome. The squid claimed one of her tentacles was ''slightly'' shorter than all the others, and the other fish proclaimed "I'm obnoxious!", when that's not even an actual disability.
21	*** In the obnoxiousness case, maybe they weren't sharing disabilities so much as what made them unique.
22	*** Also, they're kids. The kid had probably been called / overheard someone refer to him as obnoxious and, not knowing what it meant, just assumed it was a condition of some kind.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:The Light of the Whale]]
26	* Why is there light ''inside'' a ''whale''?
27	** [[RuleOfPerception Because a blank screen doesn't make for an interesting movie.]]
28	** Bioluminescent parasites in its stomach?
29	** Possibly it's the sensory equivalent of a TranslationConvention: Marlin and Dory can't see anything inside the whale's pitch-black mouth, but they can ''feel'' their approximate surroundings with their lateral lines, so have roughly the same degree of perception about their surroundings as a human would have in very dim light.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Swim Down! But Why?]]]
33	* Not that Nemo or Marlin would have known this, but the fishermen would have just thrown Dory back once they pulled up that net.
34	** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By-catch Possibly.]]
35	** She'd be dead by then.
36	** And they wanted to save all those ''other'' fish as well, y'know.
37	** And, most importantly, they didn't know that she would be thrown back.
38	** Maybe they wanted to save everyone later? Others were also fish.
39	** By the time the fishermen found her, Dory might've been squashed to death underneath the pile of somewhat larger fish she'd been hauled up with. So it's not like her life was in ''no'' danger, just not as much as the others realized.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Fish are Friends, but What is Food?]]
43	* What ''does'' a vegetarian shark eat?
44	** They weren't vegetarian. They're more than willing to eat dolphins. Also, nothing is said of non-fish aquatic animals, such as crabs and octopi. And lastly, they're apparently not very good at keeping their oath.
45	*** Although to be fair, that's only because one of them got the scent of blood -- the others seemed okay.
46	*** They were supposed to bring a buddy, and one of the shark's 'buddies' ended up a skeleton between his teeth...
47	** Plankton, that's what whale sharks eat.
48	*** Without gills that can strain plankton out of the water, they won't be able to do this.
49	** RealLife sharks are usually content to scavenge as an alternative to hunting. Perhaps they could work part-time as "undertakers" when there aren't any dolphins handy?
50	** Bruce shares his name with [[Film/{{Jaws}} a famous fictional man-eating great white shark]][[note]]Or rather, the nickname of the prop that represented that man-eating shark in the movie.[[/note]]. Humans aren't fish, so they're still on the menu...
51	*** In real life, sharks rarely eat humans, and when they do attack humans, it's usually because they've mistaken them for one of their normal aquatic prey.
52	** Kelp and seaweed and stuff, maybe?
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Blinkin' Unrealistic]]
56	* It appears that every fish in the movie has eyelids. Why?
57	** MostWritersAreHuman.
58	** And it would look too freaky ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids for a kids movie at least]]) if the majority of the cast never blinked.
59	*** Especially during the scenes where they're sleeping.
60	** Also, it's a movie with ''talking fish'' in it. So really, eyelids are the least of your worries.
61	** It is kind of surprising they kept the incidental blinking. Imagine all the extra work on those poor animators!
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Dory's Age]]
65	* How old is Dory? I always thought she was like a teenager, but now that I'm older she seems almost Marlin's age.
66	** Well, considering lifespan and all, she probably went ahead...[[FridgeHorror oh my...]]
67	*** The 2015 sequel is called Finding Dory, so unless it's zombie Dory, we're good.
68	** The actress who voiced Dory is almost the age of the actor who voiced Marlin. [[DawsonCasting Not that that necessarily means anything.]]
69	** Confirmed by the fact that the actress who voiced Destiny (Dory's childhood friend) is nearly 20 years younger than Ellen Degeneres.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Bloat vs. Bag]]
73	* Shouldn't that pufferfish, um, Bloat, right? Shouldn't he have popped that bag? I don't know if those spikes are actually sharp at all (but I think they are?) but pufferfish suck up water so they can inflate in the first place, so he would have pretty much inhaled the bag.
74	** Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they sell non-lethal types of puffers for doctor's offices and households? Also, judging by how much water was in the bag, he might've suffocated himself in the attempt.
75	*** Pufferfish are only deadly if eaten, and their spines aren't very sharp or stiff enough to pop a plastic bag.
76	*** Bloat is a porcupine fish, not the poisonous puffer.
77	** The holes would have been tiny, several orders of magnitude too small for him to swim through.
78	** Also, the end credits imply them to have escaped those bags ''anyway''.
79	*** The credits seem to be just a non-canonical curtain call, given that the characters interact with the credits and that Mike Wizowski shows up somehow.
80	*** They appear in the stinger of ''Finding Dory'': [[spoiler:they never escaped the bags and were taken into the Marine Life Institute.]]
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Kissy Fishies]]
84	* Were Marlin and Dory meant to be just friends or is there some sort of text behind the subtext?
85	** Hmm... I never really got the vibe that it was more than friendship.
86	** I can never see those two as more than just friends.
87	** Well, we ''do'' have this little exchange from one point where Marlin tries to (politely) tell Dory to leave, because her scatterbrained nature is causing him delays in his quest to find Nemo:
88	-->'''Dory:''' (Tearing) You... you mean you don't... like me? (Cries)
89	-->'''Marlin:''' No, of course I like you, it's ''because'' I like you I don't want to be with you... it's a... ''complicated emotion''... Don't cry, ''I like you''...
90	*** That doesn't mean they're in love. He's saying he doesn't want to be with her because he likes her and thus doesn't want her to be in danger.
91	** I think the filmmakers said that Dory was intended to be a surrogate child of sorts for Marlin.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Dangerous or Dumb Dinner]]
95	* Marlin is able to hold his own against a pelican from INSIDE ITS THROAT! How do any of these pelicans eat if fish can do this? Or are the fish (who HAVE been eaten) just dumb enough to not even try to avoid being swallowed?
96	** Marlin was at that point REALLY DETERMINED TO FIND NEMO. Maybe that's what gave him the ability to hold his own against the pelican?
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Linguistics]]
100	* How come every aquatic animal from octopi to fish to pelicans to turtles speak the same language but whales apparently don't? A fish to mammal isn't any more different than a fish to a reptile, or a fish to a bird, or a fish to a cephalopod (ok, they're obviously not all the same, but you get the point).
101	** They do. They just speak it veeeeerrrrrrry slooooooooowwwwwwly.
102	** In ''Finding Dory'', there's a beluga whale named Bailey who speaks the same language as the protagonists (and presumably also can speak whale, but doesn't appear to).
103	** Also, RuleOfFunny.
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Floating Away from Physics]]
107	* Quick point: Those fish bags at the end of the film wouldn't have floated above the water .... Being filled with H2Oc, gravity would have had the bags mostly or completely underwater. Obviously, this would have been less funny to humans (air breathing and claustrophobic and all), but it still drives me nuts.
108	** There's still room for buoyancy with the air in the bag, though, so it wouldn't have sank. It'd just have floated at a slightly lower elevation.
109	** Ever gotten a fish from the store, and let the bag float in the tank? (you're supposed btw, it lets the temp adjust and has less chance of putting the fish into shock) The bags ''do'' float.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Splash Trash]]
113	* Why would the dentist put a bag of water in the trash can?
114	** This is the same guy that thought he was saving Nemo when he took him away from Marlin. The writers probably dropped him the IdiotBall.
115	** In his defense, he didn't know any better. All he saw was a disabled fish in a very, very dangerous environment; it's no secret that in nature, the weak perish easily, so from his perspective, Nemo was living on borrowed time before a predator eventually got him. It's not like he saw Nemo safe and secured in coral and decided to get him out anyway.
116	** This is what may have happened if Nigel didn't show up then and there: the dentist would place the bag containing the "dead" Nemo in the garbage, get Darla's checkup over with, then once she was out of the dentist's chair and back in the waiting room (to probably wait for her mom to pick her up), he'd take the bag out of the garbage can and to the bathroom, where Nemo would be flushed down the toilet. Hopefully the kid could play dead long enough to have this happen.
117	*** He wouldn't have to play dead as long as nobody was looking though. And apparently nobody would be while he was in the trash can. He'd just have to know when to play dead (probably when the dentist would open the trash can back up to get him out).
118	** Maybe he was planning to put Nemo himself in the trash, then empty the bag into the sink.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Sea Turtles Not Breathing]]
122	* How come the sea turtles never seemed to have any concern about resurfacing to breathe? They can hold their breath for long, but not '''THAT''' long.
123	** We don't know how long they've been down there. Maybe not too long after [[OneSceneWonder their scene is over]], they resurface.
124	** I've read somewhere that sea turtles can hold their breath for several hours. They can even sleep underwater.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Illiterate Father, Literate Son]]
128	* If Marlin can't read the writing on the back of the scuba mask, how come Nemo knew the tank fish were talking about Darla when they tried CensorshipBySpelling?
129	** They were spelling her name in fish language, the scuba mask's writing was in English.
130	** Either that or they also knew how to read. These are the same fish that were familiar with the dentist's work, maybe they also inadvertently learned how to read from him also.
131	** Oh, they know how to read. It's just that Nemo shouldn't be able to, thus he shouldn't know what they're spelling. Fish language was a possibility I hadn't considered, though.
132	*** Who's to say Nemo ''didn't'' learn to read (or spell) while he was there. Sure he had been there for only a few days, but how long does it take a fish to learn to read?
133	** Marlin couldn't read the mask because it was upside down, but he didn't realize it(as he says "What do these markings mean?!", we see it from his point of view and he's looking at it upside down). If he was looking at it right side up, he probably could have read it.
134	*** No, he couldn't. It's specifically noted as unusual that Dory can read, judging by Marlin's amazement at this fact, and the fact that he explicitly says, "I can't read human", and thus asks her to read the mask even during a moment where he could've done it himself.
135	*** I'm pretty sure the joke was that he'd never seen human writing before, so when he saw the upside-down writing on the mask, he figured that ''that'' was what their language looked like, which was indecipherable to him, and then never bothered looking at it again. He left reading it up to Dory because he never realized she was just looking at the text right-side-up in order to read it.
136	** Maybe Nemo just guessed from context? That's what I always thought, while Dory and the Tank Fish actually can read.
137	*** Also 'Dar' and 'D-A-R' sound pretty similar.
138	*** Yeah, even a four-year-old human child could guess that from context.
139	*** But that asks the question if "Darla" is spoken the same in fish language. If a human were to listen very closely, would he hear "Bloop gloop Darla bloop glug gloop"?
140	*** Actually it would probably be more like "Whoop whoop Darla grrr bopopopo skrrskrrskrr".
141	*** Sure, but the audience is hearing the English (or whatever language they're watching in) equivalent of the fish spelling. Just like words are translated by TranslationConvention, the letters and arrangement thereof would be translated.
142	*** I don't think there's any indication the fish have their own alphabet. They understand human speech, and some of them can clearly read English writing.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Moby Dick]]
146	* How does Marlin know who ''Literature/MobyDick'' is? (Inside the whale, he yells "Do I taste good, Moby?") Is Sandy Plankton also a literature expert?
147	** Maybe Moby existed in this universe and is something of a legend.
148	** It's also possible that escaped or released pet fish would have taught ocean dwellers about it. The fish in the dentist office know a lot about dental care, so it's not unreasonable to assume that a librarian's fish could have listened to a reading of Moby Dick before leaving the tank and teaching it to other fish.
149	** This admittedly isn't as good an answer as the previous two, but it could also be explained by RuleOfFunny.
150	** Alternatively, some fish overheard the story being told by sailors, and passed it on to other fish. I could imagine Moby being as much of a legend in the sea as he is on land.
151	[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Why Not Stay in the Barrel?]]
154	* When the tank fish think Darla is coming, Gil hides Nemo inside a barrel prop thingy. Why didn't they just have him stay there until Darla left?
155	** Well, the kid they were reacting to turned out to not be Darla, so they all thought he was safe. Additionally, they had just woken up and hadn't had much time to think of a plan. With a little more time they would have just kept him there until Darla arrived and then left.
156	** They ''did'' keep him there. The dentist caught him in the net when he was peeking out from inside the barrel.
157	[[/folder]]
158
159	[[folder:Why Another Fish?]]
160	* Why did the dentist decide to give Darla another fish as a present if she already proved she can't take care of one?
161	** She probably threw a fit.
162	** The dentist was already proven to be pretty dumb. He wears an invisible IdiotBall.
163	** Yeah. I mean, she clearly shakes the bag violently and he does nothing to stop her. He's not kinda an idiot. He's ''really'' an idiot.
164	** She's also a year older, he may have expected her to be more mature.
165	** He probably thinks tropical pet fish are the coolest hobby anyone could ever have. He really takes pretty good care of his tank of fish, from his POV. Maybe he's just one of those uncles who is terrible at coming up with gift ideas so he always gets the same thing over and over.
166	** To be ''entirely'' fair to the good Mr. P Sherman of 42 Wallaby Way Sydney, who seems to be the recipient of some not-entirely-deserved sneers here, Darla ''clearly'' likes fish. She's just not quite mature enough to realise the fishies don't like it when she bangs on the tank or shakes the bag up and down. Obviously from the perspective of the fish she's a monster, but from her uncle's perspective she's just an excitable little girl who might like a pet. He was probably hoping that she just wouldn't accidently kill ''this'' fish.
167	** Goldfish are a dime-a-dozen. Young clownfish imported direct from the great barrier reef, not so much. Nemo was more valuable and exotic than the other guy was, so it's not much to assume that the dentist was HOPING Darla would try to be more reasonable with Nemo. Especially since quality tropic fish are like a jewel. And to be fair, Darla only started shaking Nemo's bag thinking he was asleep. Had Nemo been swimming around the bag actively, maybe she would have been a better caregiver than we think...
168	* Only the fish seem to be aware of her inappropriate behavior. The picture depicting her with a dead Chuckles could have been taken by her parents and given to Dr. Sherman, and he's never taken the time to see the small detail of Chuckles being belly-up. Plus, story-wise, she is the ticking clock: Nemo needs to escape before her birthday, and her on-screen appearance is definitely from the fishes' perceptive, which is why she appears so monstrous & scary.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder:Properly Paranoid Papa]]
172	* Did anyone else view Marlin as more on the ProperlyParanoid side since Nemo swimming out to the boat got him lost in the first place?
173	** Although Nemo only swam out to the boat in the first place because Marlin's obsessive need to make sure he was safe was getting out of control. Had Marlin just relaxed a bit, it probably wouldn't have happened. He's not wrong that the ocean's dangerous; he's wrong in that he's stifling Nemo rather than protecting him.
174	** Nemo had already declined his friends' requests that he try to swim out to the boat, showing that even though his father was overprotective of him, it still paid off to a reasonable degree. He didn't try to swim out there until Marlin went even further by suggesting that just going to school was too much for him, which would've come especially hard to Nemo considering how he'd just abided by what Marlin had been teaching him all those years.
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Gulls Don't Gab... or Do They?]]
178	* During the one little montage scene thing where various aquatic creatures are talking about Marlin, and his quest to find his son, there's a flock of seagulls talking about it. But in every other instance when there's a seagull on the screen...
179	--> MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE.
180	** They're speaking in translated seagull language? I also notice that they're female voices. Perhaps WomenAreWiser to the point that only female seagulls can say more than just "Mine!"?
181	*** This troper has noted that seagull calls can sound a lot like "Mine!"
182	** I always thought those were albatrosses and not sea gulls (they're soaring rather than flapping their wings and appear to have [[GiantFlyer rather large wings]]).
183	*** I have a book called "Pixarpedia" that claims they're albatrosses. I think. It's been a while since I read it.
184	** I'm pretty sure those were supposed to be pelicans or something.
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	[[folder:Temperature Measurement]]
188	* Given that it was sold in Australia, shouldn't the Aquascum 2003 have given the water temperature in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit?
189	** Yes. Unless it was a cheap import.
190	** Chalk it up to Pixar's American worldview.
191	[[/folder]]
192
193	[[folder:Annoying Computer Voice]]
194	* The Aquascum 2003 scans the tank every five minutes. Every time it does, it announces the results with a computerized voice. Wouldn't that get really annoying really fast?
195	** Maybe the scanning time can be adjusted and five minutes is just the default.
196	*** We're only shown the scanning process once, so perhaps Dr Sherman DID change the scanning time to avoid his own personal annoyance. (His patients would probably get annoyed too, depending on how long they'd be in his office.)
197	** Maybe the voice is optional and Dr. Sherman hadn't finished reading through the manual.
198	** The voice might only happen once an hour, the scanning ALONE might be every five minutes. Plus, maybe the voice is too quiet to be heard from more than a few feet away.
199	[[/folder]]
200
201	[[folder:The Way Home]]
202	* How do they find their way back to the anemone at the end? If nothing else, the trip in the whale after being so lost they're going in circles should have completely messed up their ability to backtrack.
203	** By now Marlin's pretty famous, so it might not be hard to find some fans and ask for directions. And it's not as if they had much of a sense of how to get to their destination the first time.
204	** Also, the only part of their journey during which they were really lost was in the fog before the whale ate them, which can be solved by asking for directions back to the EAC and then just circumventing the fog until they get there. Marlin probably insisted on going through it the first time because he wanted to save Nemo as quickly as possible, but now that Nemo's been rescued they can take their time on the way back.
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder:Villainous Vocabulary]]
208	* If the sharks can speak fine, why the barracuda and anglerfish just roar, growl and screech?
209	** Because there's no reason for them to say anything. They just want to eat.
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder:Why Not Use the Volcano?]]
213	* When the Tank Gang use the "Ring of Fire" in order to rescue Nemo from Darla, they seem to aim it pretty well on their first try. Instead of jamming the filter or any of the other escape plans they'd tried before, couldn't they have just done the same thing and aimed for the little sink Gill sends Nemo through to get him back to the ocean?
214	** They probably wouldn't fit in it.
215	** Nemo was, clearly, the smallest one of the fish in the tank. The others wouldn't fit in. Also, Gill has tried a lot of (failed) escape attempts, one of them could have used the Ring of Fire
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder:Determined Dentist]]
219	* Why did the dentist go all the way out to the ocean for ''one fish''? And continuing from that question, why did he get each fish in his aquarium from a different pet store? Of course, it's most likely that there were specific sea creatures he wanted in his aquarium, but why? Could there be another reason besides "he's got the IdiotBall?"
220	** The dentist was in the reef with another person. It's more likely that they were there just for the photos/scuba diving and found Nemo by chance.
221	** Indeed, the dentist himself says he found Nemo "struggling for life" just off the reef and saved him, meaning he probably didn't plan on catching any fish.
222	*** Then what was the net for?
223	*** ... In case he wanted to scoop something out of the water. He might not have ''planned'' on doing so, but that doesn't mean he absolutely positively 100% certainly would not be wanting to scoop anything out of the water with no possible chance of changing his mind. The point is simply that he didn't go all the way to the reef just to catch one single fish as the OP was suggesting.
224	[[/folder]]
225
226	[[folder:P. Sherman's Buddy]]
227	* I'm probably overquestioning here but who I'm a little curious who the dentist in the reef with. Probably just a friend, but it seems odd that they would put another person there. Having the dentist go alone wouldn't change much.
228	** There were two people because the one who took the picture of Marlin made him too disoriented to go after Nemo right away (however the boat's propellers stopped him from doing so at all). The presence of two and the photographing both clarifies the academic/hobbyist nature of their diving and adds to the terrifying atmosphere of the scene. It also makes it obvious that the dentist (or whoever captured Nemo) wasn't out in the open ocean all by himself.
229	** However, we don't know for sure which one was the dentist, or even whether the dentist was actually one of the divers at all (no, seriously; "P. Sherman" is never actually revealed to be the dentist's name!), since he doesn't seem a very reliable source (saying he "saved" Nemo).
230	*** For what it's worth, I once read a children's book that identified the dentist as Dr. Peter Sherman. And when he said he "saved" Nemo, he was referring to how he came across a tiny fish with an injured fin, who was swimming around frantically far out in open water, where he was easy prey.
231	*** Wikia states the dentist's name is Philip Sherman.
232	*** His name definitely is Philip Sherman. On the DVD, we get a good look at his diploma when they're showing closeups of the various items in the dentist's office.
233	** Probably his wife or significant other.
234	** Actually, solo scuba diving is ill-advised and dangerous. It is a somewhat controversial topic in the hobby, but at least most can agree that amateurs shouldn't be diving solo.
235	[[/folder]]
236
237	[[folder:Psychic Dory?]]
238	* When Dory lifts the crab above the water, how did she know that the seagulls were there?
239	** She may ''not'' have known: as a water-breathing fish, Dory may have assumed that exposing the crab to air was a perfectly-good threat in itself.
240	** Perhaps she ''did'' know. It's actually pretty simple; she just saw them from a safer distance before swimming closer and lifting the crab out.
241	** Maybe it was the equivalent of grabbing someone by the collar-- not a death threat, just intimidation.
242	[[/folder]]
243
244	[[folder:Not the Only One]]
245	* A bit of PlotHole: Gill says that Nemo's the only one who can fit in the filter--but Jacques the shrimp is ''smaller'' than Nemo. ''He'' could've gone up there too.
246	** Gill's exact words were that Nemo was the only one who could get into and out of the filter. Yes, Jacques is smaller than Nemo, but that means that the blades of the filter could more easily shred him to pieces if he were to try and climb inside. Nemo was too large for the filter to do the same to him, but still small enough to fit past the blades and get inside.
247	[[/folder]]
248
249	[[folder:"Now What?" Indeed]]
250	* So how ''did'' the Tank Gang get out of the plastic baggies? We later see them happily swimming in the open ocean with no explanation of how they got out of the baggies. How ''did'' they solve that one flaw of Gill's plan?
251	** They may have gotten the attention of some other fish/crabs/friendly pelicans who were willing to help them open the bags and escape. They'd made it that close to freedom - they certainly weren't going to let something as simple as being trapped in a bag stop them.
252	** Pufferfish have jaws strong enough to chew their way out of a shark's stomach. A bit of plastic would be no trouble for Bloat.
253	** We may actually find out exactly how they did it, too, once ''Finding Dory'' comes out - I've heard that the Tank Gang are expected to appear.
254	*** [[spoiler: They appear after the credits. They are still in those bags.]]
255	** Considering how Nigel seems to have it as part of his routine to visit the dentist's window and chat with the gang
256	every so often, it seems plausible for them to call out to him as he flies by and have him help.
257	** Seeing as they appeared at the relocation facility in ''Finding Dory'', some humans probably took them out of the bags.
258	[[/folder]]
259
260	[[folder:Saltwater Goldfish]]
261	* Chuckles, the fish that Dr. Sherman gave his niece the previous year, is a freshwater goldfish. The other fish live in a saltwater tank. Did it occur to anyone that maybe Chuckles was dead before Darla even had a chance to hold the bag?
262	** Given the way the other Tank Gang talk fondly about their time with Chuckles, as well as how the art book mentions him doing things like hanging out in the pirate ship's crow's nest, Chuckles was apparently fine living in the tank. Chalk it up to the writers' not doing enough research, or Chuckles being a mutant goldfish who could breathe in saltwater.
263	** That last bit was admittedly a bit of a joke - I was getting around to thinking maybe Chuckles was some pet-store goldfish that the Tank Gang felt sympathy for due to having to watch his grisly death, but...if there's an art book that mentions him spending time in the tank, that's certainly a different story... (Them writers must've been ''pretty'' dern lazy, though, not being able to realize that you can't put what is essentially the simplest, most common household pet into a tank with saltwater in it.)
264	** Maybe ''that's'' what actually killed him, and Darla shaking the bag was just the (almost literal) final nail in the coffin.
265	[[/folder]]
266
267	[[folder:Marlin's Grown]]
268	* In the scene where everything goes dark after Marlin's scuffle with the barracuda...Is it me, or does he seem a lot larger than he was before when he leaves the anemone?
269	[[/folder]]
270
271	[[folder:Arbitrary Anterograde Amnesia]]
272	* How could Dory remember the boat but then forget meeting Marlin?
273	** Is short-term memory loss really that specifically selective? It didn't look like Dory's was; she just seems to forget things and then remember them again on a whim, usually after being reminded about them by someone or something else.
274	[[/folder]]
275
276	[[folder:Fishnapping]]
277	* Forgive me if I'm wrong - I don't happen to live anywhere near an ocean - but is it legal for someone to go diving near the Great Barrier Reef and just...capture the first flailing fish they see and take it home with them? It seems like there should be a lot more to the process than that, but maybe I'm wrong. Aren't reefs like that supposed to be protected? (I know that it's unlikely the dentist would get caught for doing this, BTW - I'm just wondering whether it was legal for him to do?)
278	** It can be illegal for fishing boats to go to certain areas - because they're going to catch a lot and could endanger a species. There are certain periods of the year when the fish are breeding that boats aren't allowed to in order to protect the species. But fish reproduce much quicker and in bigger numbers than mammals, so one diver catching a stray fish isn't going to affect the ecosystem that much. The protection covers regular fishing that's going to deplete numbers for a while (most boats have a quota of how many they're allowed to catch).
279	** Recreational fishing is generally banned, or at least discouraged, around the Reef, but as noted one diver bringing up a single junior clownfish that's clearly injured probably isn't going to be noticed or get the Australian Federal Police on his case.
280	* One needs a licence in order to harvest marine life from the Great Barrier Reef National Park area, which covers about 95% of the reef (there are some remote areas in Papuan waters), which is expensive & hard to get.
281	* Perhaps the other diver (the one with the camera) was a ranger or government agent who didn't see the harm in abducting one little fish that was clearly not an endangered species and regularly sold in pet stores.
282	[[/folder]]
283
284	[[folder:Out-of-Character Dory]]
285	* When Dory forgets who Marlin is and says the "Will you quit it?" speech, isn't she a bit out of character? I get that she didn't know what Marlin's intentions were but she's generally more polite than to say things like "Do ya? Do ya? Ya want a piece of me?" and "Stop following me, OK?!" Why didn't she just ask him politely why he was following?
286	** The first time they meet, he was a traumatized fish that needed help. At the second time he was just a stalker. Two different first impressions.
287	[[/folder]]
288
289	[[folder:Why Not Ask for a Lift?]]
290	* Since the tank fish wanted to escape so badly, how come they didn't just ask Nigel to snatch them all up in his beak and fly away while the dentist wasn't looking?
291	** Same reason a human wouldn't ask a friendly, talking great white shark to carry them to safety in their mouth, probably. Even if their minds like and trust Nigel, their instincts don't. Also, Bloat could do a ''lot'' of damage to Nigel's mouth if he panicked and puffed up mid-flight.
292	*** Although Bloat's puffing up seems to be more of an anger response in the movie than a fear response.
293	** Really, who's to say that ''wasn't'' one of Gil's failed plans before Nemo joined them in the tank?
294	** Also, it seems to be the one plan the dentist could anticipate.
295	** There might not be enough space at the top of the tank for Nigel to scoop up the fish.
296	** The fish tank appears to have a lid that would prevent Nigel from dipping his beak in there (this would be a fairly common sense precaution to take anyway, and the dentist, after all, doesn't seem entirely surprised to encounter a sea bird staring "hungrily" at his fish).
297	[[/folder]]
298
299	[[folder:Everyone Else's Reflections]]
300	* How come Deb thinks her reflection is another fish but doesn't notice everyone else's reflections?
301	[[/folder]]
302
303	[[folder:If Nemo Were a Girl]]
304	* This might sound a bit odd but Marlin gave Nemo his name because Coral liked it. What if he was born a girl? Would his name still be [[GenderBlenderName Nemo?]]
305	** Maybe. I personally think Nemo sounds androgynous enough to pass for a unisex name, especially since there are other fish shown in the film who don't even have normal human names. If not that, maybe he would've just named her [[DeadGuyJunior Coral]].
306	*** Indeed; he was anticipating naming any daughters he had "Coral Jr." anyway.
307	[[/folder]]
308
309	[[folder:Why Not Take Nemo Back?]]
310	* The dentist said that he "saved" Nemo since he was "struggling for life in the reef." If he was actually trying to help Nemo, he should have taken him back to the reef, especially since he was just a quick swim away from it. He could just scoop Nemo up in his net, swim toward the reef and let him go. That would be much better than taking Nemo back to his aquarium. You can't just take any fish you find in the ocean away from their natural habitat and bring them back to a place where they may not have as good a chance of surviving. Even worse, it was really a terrible idea for him to give him as a present to his niece who clearly ''does not'' take good care of the fish he gives her.
311	** As mentioned elsewhere, Doc Sherman is a well-intentioned guy but not terribly bright. As for giving Nemo to Darla, it's a joke on how adults are often oblivious to/overlook kids' nastier sides.
312	** When the dentist says he found Nemo "struggling for life", he presumably meant in general, not just at that specific moment. Looking at it from his perspective for a moment, and keeping in mind the fact that he's not aware of fish society or Nemo's family arrangements, he's come across a junior clownfish with a seriously deformed and shredded fin having strayed into deeper waters, where it appears to be flapping about aimlessly; such a fish is easy prey for a predator whether he takes it back to the reef or not. So from his point of view, he might as well take it to an enclosed aquarium free from predators where it might stand a better chance of living a longer life. Perhaps not strict conservationist / naturalist practice, but as mentioned above he means well.
313	[[/folder]]
314
315	[[folder:Why Swallow Them?]]
316	* Why didn't the whale open his mouth and let Marlin and Dory swim out instead of advising them to go down his throat?
317	** Since his mouth wasn't completely filled with water at the time, if he'd tried to open it, so much would've been sucked in to fill that space that Marlin and Dory wouldn't have been able to swim against it and get themselves out. Going through the blowhole was the only way.
318	[[/folder]]
319
320	[[folder:Everything Talks.. Except The Whale]]
321	* If every other sea creature in the Nemoverse talks.. why didn't the ''whale'' talk? I know it had to not speak because it showed that Dory could speak whale in a way, but it doesn't make much sense in hindsight.
322	** It's not just the whale. The barracuda, anglerfish and jellyfish don't speak, and the seagulls, while technically vocal, are limited to just saying "Mine" over and over. Essentially, the sea creatures in Nemo don't all speak or communicate the same way, much like real life animals.
323	[[/folder]]
324
325	[[folder: Where were Marlin & Dory planning on going?]]
326	* First, apropos of nothing, what was stopping Marlin from getting rid of Dory after he'd memorised the address written on the scuba mask that she translated for him? Secondly, 42 Wallaby Way is presumably Dr. Sherman's ''home'' address. What was Marlin going to do once he got to Sydney Harbour, leap out of the water and flop all the way to Sherman's house?
327	** I suppose also it's incredibly lucky Dr. Sherman has his office in a harbourside building and not, say, in Cabramatta (Sydney is actually comprised of at least ten municipal councils, and covers about 20mi. from the seaside to the Blue Mountains). For some reason, you do tend to find a lot of dental clinics in out in bland suburbs like those.
328	** Marlin was hoping that Nemo had managed to somehow leave the boat once it had reached its destination, and would have started searching for Nemo around the waters of Sydney had the pelican not tried to eat him and Dory. If not, he'd probably have to resort to asking fish around the harbour (like what Nemo and Dory do when they're looking for Marlin near the end) or perhaps wait for the divers to come back to the boat, deliberately get captured by one of them, and then hope that Nemo is still on the boat in some capacity... that's really all it would come down to. Oh, and as for getting rid of Dory, he DOES try and get rid of her in the scene with the school of fish, but he makes her cry, and probably felt too guilty after that scene to try and abandon her.
329	** They're fish. What do they know about how human houses work? Would Marlin even have a concept of humans living in places that aren't near the water? It's likely that he just didn't think that far ahead.

Context Headscratchers / FindingNemo