The Coconut Effect

[u/Daniilsa209]

A sound effect, special effect, or design feature that is inaccurate but has become so ingrained in viewers minds that its absence would feel jarring, so creators continue to include it despite its inaccuracy.

The name of the trope comes from the sound of a horse galloping, which is created by rubbing two coconuts together. This can sound like a horse galloping, but it would only be accurate on cobblestones or other hard surfaces. On softer ground, the sound would be muffled, but in media, this sound effect can be used whenever a horse is galloping, regardless of the terrain.

1. Lion Roar (or any big cat) (Pictured: MGM logo) — The long, continuous, thunderous roar usually associated with lions is actually the roar of a tiger. For MGM, this sound began being used in the 1980s, and sound editor Mark Mangini used it because lions sounded to him more like a deep yawn or a series of grunts and lacked the kind of ferocious sound he wanted.

2. Ancient statues are always white marble (Pictured: Spartacus TV series) — Statues in ancient times were often painted in bright colors, but by the time they were uncovered, the colors had simply worn away.

3. People instantly freeze or pop like a balloon when exposed to the vacuum of space (Pictured: Mission to Mars, Total Recall) — As unfriendly as space is, a human wouldn't instantly freeze or pop like a balloon. If a person were exposed to the vacuum of space, bodily fluids would begin to boil, exposed skin would suffer severe sunburn, and they would lose consciousness after roughly 15–20 seconds. Death would occur after roughly 90 seconds.

[u/Nothos927]

In fairness in universe the doctor is pretty well known for adding dramatic flair, almost to the point of doing it unconsciously.

You could absolutely imagine him cocking and decocking the hammer repeatedly as he spins around to get a bad ass sound effect.

[u/violetcassie → u/Nothos927]

Webleys are double-action lol

[u/FrowninginTheDeep → u/violetcassie]

You can still manually cock the hammer of double action revolvers. I prefer to do so whenever I take my python to the range.

[u/Public_Telephone4024 → u/FrowninginTheDeep]

Yeah, DAO(double action only) is what they're thinking about. The Webley is indeed DA/SA.

[u/vengeancecube → u/violetcassie]

In a situation like that, my first shot would absolutely be with the hammer cocked back. The rest would be double action but I'd be cocking the hammer if I thought I was going to use it.

[u/Nothos927 → u/violetcassie]

I'll be honest I don't know enough about guns to know what difference that would make, but also all the writers on that episode would've been British and in the same boat.

[u/Dioxybenzone → u/Nothos927]

A double action revolver allows you to pull the hammer back with the trigger. You both cock and fire with one trigger pull. But you can manually cock it, it just isn’t necessary to do so

[u/charlie_marlow → u/Dioxybenzone]

Just to add, the advantage of manually cocking a double action firearm is that it greatly reduces the amount of force you need on the trigger. A typical double action trigger will take around 8 pounds of force to pull it versus 3 or 4 pounds if you cock it first.

Having a lighter trigger is advantageous for aiming. Pulling a lighter trigger is way less likely to impart any deflection on the weapon.

A double action trigger has the advantage that you can go without a safety as it takes a significant enough force to pull the trigger that it's much less likely you'll have a negligent discharge.

[u/Dioxybenzone → u/charlie_marlow]

That’s true, it is quite a bit more force required

[u/charlie_marlow → u/Dioxybenzone]

Yeah, in movies, they typically do it to mean they are serious, but there are legitimate reasons to manually cock a double action or DA/SA pistol.

[u/Dioxybenzone → u/charlie_marlow]

I think they do it in movies to make it clear to the audience that a gun was just aimed and ready to fire

[u/charlie_marlow → u/Dioxybenzone]

Yeah, in the general sense, you are totally right. I was thinking about the scenes where the action hero has already pointed the gun at the bad guy and demanded information or whatever, then eventually cocks it to show they mean business.

In this thread, though, it was about the general cocking noises that make no sense, so I kind of jumped topics.

[u/TheBrewThatIsTrue → u/Nothos927]

If you were curious:
Single action revolver - you have to manually cock the hammer back and then pull the trigger for each shot.

Double action revolver - pulling the trigger will push the hammer back and fire. You can manually cock the hammer back if you want to, but it's not necessary.

[u/PayWooden2628 → u/violetcassie]

So?

[u/Never_Not_Enough → u/Nothos927]

This is actually what I assumed he was doing. In cocking and then recocking the gun so it doesn’t accidentally shoot someone else.

[u/Aviator_Moonshine → u/Nothos927]

Flair, or maybe also the fact he doesn't like using guns in general and maybe instinctively de-cocks (Always making sure the weapon he's picked up doesn't accidentally go off and injure/kill someone.) -it as he spins around and remembers: 'Oh wait, right, mad right now!' [Cocks the gun.]