The Big Fat UHF Topic

alberta1 · Post by **alberta1** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:12 am

At the end of UHF R J Fletcher pulls out a plug and says 'this party is over'. My question is....what was he stopping??? If it was the clock that he was stopping it was kind of pointless because it was a few seconds away from finishing. If someone could clarify this because that part of the movie tends to confuse me.

cheers

Post by **scottidog** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 7:32 am

I merged the topic "Pulling The Plug on UHF" with this thread.

Ah, I love my new Mod powers...

al fan300 · Post by **al fan300** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 1:39 am

i agree scottie...Your not truly a mod unless you can do all these nifty tricks...except for contorting yourself yo don`t really need that unless you dress as a surgeon when you do it....haveing a nice crown with moderator on there heads might please you guys.But who cares...
Anyway,did anyone notice right after the part where R.J says "this party is over mr. newman" a child who played a extra in the crowd yelled some profanity....I read it on the IMDB`s UHF message board.
I never knew that....and did Emo REALLY cut off his thumb?I sked my science teacher if it possible to resow it but he said fingers are hard to put together for complicated reasons.Someone said he obviously hid his thumb behind his hand but it is confirmed twice between two parts of al`s life,not only al said it but Emo did too.
what else to ask really?

Wed Dec 17, 2003 5:59 pm

Nah, he didn't cut it off. You can reattach a severed finger, but there's no guarantee you'll get all the function back. And it involves a lot of complicated & expensive microsurgery. Emo's UHF royalties wouldn't have stretched that far.

AL look-AL-ike · Post by **AL look-AL-ike** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:40 pm

I wonder if any kid tried to put all those ingredients to make plutonium in their microwave. A kid watched Bevis and Butthead and set his bed on fire, are the kids that watch UHF smarter than that, I wonder?

Manda · Post by **Manda** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 12:54 am

I would think kid's that watch UHF are smarter, or you would hearing a lot about flying poodles.

Thu Dec 18, 2003 3:07 am

To say nothing of kids drinking from fire hoses.

alberta1 · Post by **alberta1** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 4:37 am

thats not what bothers me about the movie. Its at the end where R.J. Fletcher pulls the plug at the fund raiser and stops the clock i think it is. Its kind of pointless as the clock had already reached ten oclock

look up, look down, now meet mr frying pan

CatraDhtem · Post by **CatraDhtem** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:05 am

alberta1 @ Dec 17 2003, 09:37 PM wrote: Its at the end where R.J. Fletcher pulls the plug at the fund raiser and stops the clock i think it is. Its kind of pointless as the clock had already reached ten oclock

Ah, but you see R.J. wasn't just pulling the plug on the clock, it was symbolism. He was also pulling the plug on George's chances to buy the station, pulling the plug on George's dreams.

The plug represented the power of the underdog. U-62 wasn't just any TV station, it was also the alternative to the big corporate "network affiliate." It was the place where the little guys could have their own programs. It also offered the chance of opinions and ideas that may have differed from the network ideology.

By pulling the plug, R.J. was trying to silence the little guy, take away the outlet for other voices and ideas. When he exclaims, "This party's over, Mr. Newman!" he meant it both literally and figuratively. A party is a place where different kinds of people have fun and socialize. R.J. was pulling the plug on interaction, wanting only one voice to preach to everyone else. One idea. One opinion.

The fact that it was a clock being unplugged also has meaning. A clock may stop, but time still goes on. R.J. may have unplugged the outlet for the alternative and radical ideas, but the ideas would continue to appear. That's why it was so important for him to unplug the clock. He needed to squash the new ideas by hopefully cutting off their conduit (the plug) to the people (the party).

R.J. wasn't just unplugging a clock, he was unplugging everything that George, Bob, and the others had worked so hard for. That's why George is so visibly angered by it. R.J. had unplugged his work, the only meaningful work he had ever done.

But alas, R.J.'s actions were also his undoing. Right after he unplugged the clock, what did he do? He got up onto the stage (a platform) and started to preach his own ideals. Unfortunately for him, though, the crowd (the party) had already seen his underhanded ways, but since R.J. had no interest in what they thought of him (a new opinion), he continued to brag and taunt.

Meanwhile George had to come up with a new idea to still win, despite the bleakness of the situation. Had R.J. not been so busy preaching and boasting, trying to browbeat the unreceptive party, he would have easily seen George sneaking around and would have been able to stop him. In a way, his own desperation to cling to just his ideas was his own undoing.

Thankfully he didn't notice until it was already too late, which seems to have mirrored the success of U-62 before it even bothered R.J. The clock (the outlet) had been unplugged, but the new ideas still triumphed.

Oh wait, I'm sorry. Wrong movie. I was thinking of "Star Wars." R.J. unplugged the clock because he's evil.

Post by **scottidog** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:09 am

That may have been the best on topic post ever. I bow to your brilliance, CD. And you have been thinking about this WAY too much.